304 H. Hermes (?).—In the background, between the figure G and the horses, Carrey gives a male figure (H), who looks back at the charioteer, while he moves forward in the same direction as the horses. The figure drawn by Carrey has been generally recognised in the torso in the Museum which has lost the head and lower limbs since Carrey's time, and is probably the same torso which Dalton represents lying on the bed of the pediment. This figure has been called Erechtheus, Erichthonios, Ares, Cecrops, Theseus, Pan, or Hermes. He is evidently aiding the charioteer in the management of the horses; an office very appropriate to Hermes, whose general character as a guide is expressed by such epithets as πομπαῖος, and who on other monuments is represented conducting a chariot.
The drapery which hangs at the back of the torso evidently represents a chlamys, which must have been fastened in front just above the left clavicle, where a hole is pierced to receive a metallic fastening. There is another hole between the collar-bones. The right arm was probably advanced nearly in a horizontal direction; the left arm may have had the elbow a little drawn back; and a portion of the chlamys evidently passed round this arm, and was probably twisted round it, a fashion of drapery characteristic of Hermes. Among the fragments of the Parthenon at Athens is a small piece of the left shoulder of this figure, a cast of which has been adjusted to the marble in the Museum. The remains of the left thigh show that the left leg was advanced as in Carrey's drawing. The fragments described below, Nos. 339, 9, and 339, 10, may belong to this figure. A fragment of plinth, with two feet, sometimes assigned to it, is described below, No. 329.
Mus. Marbles, VI., pl. 15; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 3.
304 L, M. Athenè and Poseidon.—The Athenè of which L is the remnant is drawn by Carrey moving rapidly to the left; her right arm, broken off above the elbow, is advanced horizontally in the same direction. Her left arm is broken off below the shoulder; she wears a long chiton, over which is a diploïdion, reaching to the hips, and falling in a fold over the girdle. The ægis, folded like a narrow band, passes obliquely across the bosom between the breasts, and has extended from the right shoulder round the left side, and probably across the back. It is scalloped on its lower edge, and at the points holes are pierced for the attachment of serpents of metal. In the centre of the ægis is another hole, in which a circular object six inches in diameter, doubtless a Gorgoneion, has been fixed. Carrey's drawing shows the base of the neck, which was broken off before the time of Lord Elgin. It has been recognised among the fragments on the Acropolis, and a cast of it is now adjusted to the marble. It is evident from this that the head of the goddess was turned towards her antagonist.
Mus. Marbles, VI., pl. 16; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 13.
304 M. The torso of Poseidon is made up of three parts. The fragment with the shoulders and upper part of the chest was removed by Lord Elgin; the fragment containing the remainder of the breast and the abdomen nearly to the navel has been since discovered, and the original is at Athens. Since this torso was engraved in the work of Michaelis (pl. 8, fig. 16), a small piece has been added to the lower part of the abdomen. It appears from Carrey's drawing that Poseidon was starting back in a direction contrary to that of Athenè, with the weight of his body thrown on the left knee, which is bent. Carrey's drawing shows the same portion of the right upper arm, which is preserved. It is raised with the shoulder and may have been extended in a nearly horizontal direction. The head in Carrey's drawing is slightly inclined over the right shoulder. At the back the upper part of the shoulders is roughly cut away; the chiselling does not appear to be ancient, but may have been done after the figure had fallen from the pediment. The upper part of this torso is remarkable for the grandeur of the lines.
Mus. Marbles, VI., pl. 17; Lower part, Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 16; Laborde, Le Parthénon. The two parts are combined, Overbeck, Gr. Plast., 3rd ed., I., p. 312, fig. 65; Stereoscopic, No. 101.
Though we know from Pausanias that the strife between Athenè and Poseidon for the soil of Attica was the subject of the western pediment, the exact action represented by the central group cannot be determined. Most writers suppose that the combatants have produced their respective tokens, and that the strife is just decided. Among the fragments found on the Acropolis were three which are certainly parts of an olive-tree (Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 15). The scale of these fragments, casts of which are exhibited (see below, Nos. [339, 15-17]), would be suitable for a tree placed in the centre of the pediment between the two contending deities. If these fragments belong to the Parthenon (of which there is no positive proof), it seems natural to suppose that Athenè is represented as having produced her olive, which stood in the centre of the pediment, and was fixed in a rectangular socket, well adapted to support it (Sauer, Athenische Mittheilungen, xvi., pl. 3, p. 72). In this case the two gods are seen starting asunder, but looking inwards, after the decisive moment. The salt spring produced by the trident of Poseidon may also have had a place in the composition, though no trace of it is to be found either among the fragments or in Carrey's drawing.
The chief divergent theory is that of Stephani, who published a vase-painting representing the contest (Compte Rendu, 1872, pl. 1, p. 5; Journ. of Hellenic Studies, iii., p. 245). In that design Poseidon and Athenè form an antagonistic group, which in composition presents some resemblance with the central group in the pediment. The olive-tree is placed between them, and Poseidon controls, with his left hand, the upspringing horse. Stephani argues from the vase-painting that Pheidias made Poseidon produce the horse—a variant tradition, of which there are traces in late literature—that Poseidon was represented striking the ground with his trident and Athenè striking it with her lance to produce the tokens, which are shown, by anticipation, in the pediment itself. It is more likely that on the vase the tokens have been produced and Poseidon attacks, while Athenè defends the olive. But neither in the protagonists nor in the rest of the design on the vase is there that close correspondence in type and action which would justify the conclusion that the vase-painter copied directly any portion of the pedimental composition. On the other hand, considerable portions of the bodies of three horses in addition to those represented by casts in the British Museum (No. 341) have been discovered in the excavations on the Acropolis (Sauer, Athenische Mittheilungen, xvi., pl. 3, p. 73), and there can be little doubt that the figure known as Amphitritè (O) acted as the charioteer of Poseidon, and drove a pair of horses which corresponded closely to the team of Athenè, and completed the symmetry of the composition. Inasmuch therefore as each deity has a similar pair of horses, it is impossible to regard those of Poseidon as his distinctive token in the combat.
If we assume that this second pair of horses was attached to the chariot of Poseidon, room may be found for a representation of the salt spring either between the left leg of the Sea-god and the forelegs of his chariot horses, or beneath the horses.