Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 1; Baumeister, Denkmaeler, p. 1175, fig. 1364; Michaelis, pl. 3, ii.; Stereoscopic, No. 80, A.
306. The Lapith attacks the Centaur from behind, resting his right knee on his crupper, and extending forward his right arm to seize the neck of his foe. The Centaur, standing to the left, turns his human body half round to meet his adversary. A skin is wound about his left arm by way of shield. An ample chlamys hangs from the shoulders of the Lapith, and he wears boots. His left arm was drawn back to strike. A hole near the pit between the collar-bones and another on the lowest left rib show where a sword-belt has been attached. Two similar holes are to be seen on the body of the Centaur. These may have served for the attachment of a bronze weapon held in the right hand. The head of the Centaur still existed when Carrey drew this metope, but had disappeared before the time of Stuart.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 2; Michaelis, pl. 3, iii.; Stereoscopic, No. 81.
307. The Centaur is victorious; with both hands raised above his head, he is about to hurl on his prostrate foe a large hydria. His equine body is rearing against the Lapith, who vainly endeavours to defend himself with his uplifted buckler, while the Centaur strikes at him with his fore feet. The right forearm of the Lapith, now wanting, has rested on the ground. A fragment of his right foot still remaining on the base of the metope below the left hind leg of the Centaur shows that this leg was extended nearly at full length, as it is drawn by Carrey. The heads of both these figures and the right arm of the Centaur are cast from the originals in the museum at Copenhagen, which were sent from Athens in 1688 by a Captain Hartmand, who probably served under Count Königsmark in Morosini's army. Round the head of the Lapith is a sinking into which a metallic band or wreath has been fitted. On the ground under the body of the Lapith are some folds of his chlamys, a fragment of which may be traced on his left arm. Michaelis adds to the Centaur's left hind-leg a hoof and lower part of leg, the original of which is in the museum at Copenhagen; but he expresses a doubt whether this fragment does not belong to the right hind-leg. When Carrey drew the metope, it was nearly perfect. On the upper margin of the marble still remains the bead and reel moulding which once ornamented all the metopes, but of which there are few traces elsewhere.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 7; Stereoscopic, No. 82. For the two heads, see Bröndsted, Voyages et Recherches, p. 171; Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 17; Michaelis, pl. 3, iv.
308. When Carrey saw this metope, the figure of the Lapith, now wanting, was still extant, and we must therefore supply the motive of the group by reference to his drawing (fig. 9). In the original composition, the Centaur, rearing up against his antagonist, grasps the Lapith's right thigh between his forelegs, extending his left arm towards him, probably to seize the hair of his head. The Lapith with extended right arm is trying to keep the Centaur at arm's length, while he struggles to escape; his left arm must have been raised. The right arm of the Centaur must have been drawn back to strike. All that now remains of the Lapith is a portion of the right wrist attached to the Centaur near his throat. A skin, fastened round the Centaur's neck, flies behind his back, falling over his left upper arm.
Mus. Marbles, VII., pl. 5; Michaelis, pl. 3, v.; Stereoscopic, No. 83.
Fig. 9.—Metopes 308, 309, from Carrey.
309. In this metope, as drawn by Carrey (fig. 9), the right arm of the Lapith is raised with the forearm bent; the right hand, which probably held a sword, was already broken off in Carrey's time. His drawing gives the head and part of the right upper arm of the Centaur, and the left leg and half the right leg of the Lapith, but not his head. The Centaur, while pressing his left hand on the left shoulder of the Lapith, draws back a little from the blow with which he is menaced. The action of both figures is rather tame, and the victory undecided. An ample chlamys is shown falling at the back of the Lapith. Part of the right hind leg of the Centaur has been added in plaster from the marble fragment now at Athens.