Before examining how far the frieze represents the Panathenaic procession in detail, it may be well to state what facts respecting the festival have been handed down to us by ancient authors. Its origin was ascribed in antiquity to pre-historic times. Its mythic founder was Erichthonios, the son of Hephaestos and foster-son of Athenè herself; and the festival is said to have been renewed by Theseus when he united all the Attic demes into one city. The goddess in whose honour it was celebrated was Athenè Polias, the tutelary deity of the Athenian Acropolis, where she was supposed to dwell in the "Old Temple," and where her worship was associated with that of Erechtheus, who dwelt under the same roof.
A solemn sacrifice, equestrian and gymnastic contests, and the Pyrrhic dance, were all included in the ceremonial; but its principal feature was the offering of a new robe, peplos, to the Goddess on her birthday. The peplos of Athenè was a woven mantle renewed every four years. On the ground, which is described as dark violet and also as saffron-coloured, was interwoven the battle of the Gods and the Giants, in which Zeus and Athenè were represented. It was used to drape the rude wooden image of Athenè.
The festival was originally an annual one, but after a time it was celebrated once every four years with more splendour and solemnity. The institution of this greater Panathenaia is attributed to Peisistratos. From his time (b.c. 560-527) dates the distinction between the Greater and the Lesser Panathenaia. The sons of Peisistratos added a contest of rhapsodes reciting the Homeric poems. The festival was further amplified by Pericles, who introduced a musical contest and himself acted as athlothetes or judge.
On the birthday of the Goddess the procession which conveyed the peplos to her temple assembled in the outer Cerameicos, and passed through the lower city round the Acropolis, which it ascended through the Propylæa. During its passage through the city the peplos was displayed on the mast and yard of a ship, which was drawn on rollers. In the procession of Rosalia at Palermo, a ship is employed for a similar purpose (Brydone, Tour, Letter xxx.). In this solemn ceremony, the whole body of Athenian citizens were represented. Among those who are particularly mentioned as taking part in the procession were the noble Athenian maidens, Canephori, who bore baskets, kanea, with implements and offerings for the sacrifice; the Diphrophori, who attended the Canephori with stools (diphroi); the metoik or alien Scaphephori, whose function it was to carry certain trays, skaphæ, containing cakes and other offerings; the aged Athenian citizens who bore olive branches, and were hence called Thallophori. It has also recently been ascertained that the selected maidens who prepared the peplos (the Ergastinae, and perhaps the Arrhephori) also took part in the Panathenaic procession. An Attic decree of 98 b.c. records that these maidens had performed all their duties, and had walked in the procession in the manner ordained with the utmost beauty and grace (πεπομπευ[κέναι κα]τὰ τὰ προστεταγμένα ὡς ὅτι κ[άλλισ]τα καὶ εὐσχημονέ[στατα]), and had subscribed for a silver cup which they wished to dedicate to Athenè. After this preamble the decree doubtless awarded certain public honours such as are enumerated in an inscription found by Mr. Murray at Petworth. (Bull. de Corr. Hellénique, xiii., p. 169; Athenische Mittheilungen, viii., p. 57.) At the Greater Panathenaia each town in which land had been assigned to Athenian settlers contributed animals to the sacrifice, perhaps a cow and two sheep. The colonies also appear to have sent envoys who had charge of the victims. Chariots and horsemen took an important part in the procession. On this occasion appeared certain quadrigæ, which were only used in procession, and were hence called pompic chariots; and an escort of Athenian cavalry and heavy infantry completed the show. The arrangements for the sacrifice were under the direction of the hieropoioi, and the multitudinous procession was marshalled and kept in order by the demarchs, the hipparchs, and by the heralds of a particular gens, the Euneidæ.
When, with a knowledge of these facts, we examine the composition of the frieze, we may recognise in its design the main features of the actual procession. In our description we begin with No. 1, on the left of the east side. We first observe Canephori and others leading the procession of which the main part is seen on the south side. Next are persons, perhaps Hieropoioi or magistrates receiving this procession. In the centre of this side a solemn act (commonly supposed to be the delivery of the peplos) is being performed in the presence of an assembly of deities, separated into two groups interjected among the heads of the procession who have arrived and stand waiting. These deities are supposed to be invisible, and doubtless in a picture they would have been placed in the background, seated in a semicircle and looking inwards. In the narrow space of a frieze a combined arrangement was necessary, such as we see here. Next we see the persons receiving the procession on the north side, and then at the head of that procession are Canephori, victims with their attendants, Scaphephori, Spondophori, musicians, pompic chariots and cavalry. After going down the north side, meeting the procession, we pass along the west side, where it is still in a state of preparation for departure. We then pursue the other main stream along the south side of the Temple passing the cavalry, chariots and victims. All through the frieze are magistrates and heralds marshalling the order of the procession. It has been objected that many features which we know to have formed a part of the original ceremony, as, for instance, the ship on which the peplos was borne, are not found on the frieze; but Pheidias would only select for his composition such details from the actual procession as he considered suitable for representation in sculpture, working, as he here did, under certain architectonic conditions.
NOTE. The numbers of the slabs, painted in Roman figures on the lower moulding, and placed in the right-hand margin of this catalogue, agree throughout with the numbers of Michaelis. The numbers of the separate figures assigned to them here and painted in Arabic numerals above the frieze, do not agree with those of Michaelis, except in the case of the west side.
East Frieze of the Parthenon.
324. 1. I. A man standing on the return face of slab xliv. (South Frieze), looks back as if to make a signal to the procession approaching along the south side, and thus makes a connection between the south and east sides of the frieze.
2-5. II. With slab ii. the band of maidens leading the southern half of the procession begins. When complete the slab contained five maidens, each probably carrying a circular bowl, with a boss in the centre (φιάλη ὀμφαλωτή); portions now remain of four alone; compare however No. 345, 1. They are draped in long chiton and mantle. [Two casts of the slab are exhibited, side by side, in order to represent the missing portion.]
6-10. III. Five maidens carry each a wine jug, supposed to be of gold or silver. Several such vessels occur in the Treasure lists of the Parthenon. No. 6 wears a chiton with diploïdion; Nos. 7-10 have a chiton and mantle.
11-14. In front of these are four maidens, walking in pairs. Nos. 12 and 14 each carry in the right hand an object not unlike the stand of an ancient candelabrum, which tapers upwards from its base. This object is more distinctly shown on the marble between Nos. 11 and 12, than between Nos. 13 and 14. It is encircled by a double torus moulding at the top, and above this moulding a hole is pierced in the marble, as if there was here a ring for suspension or to serve as a handle. It is probable that these are metallic objects of some kind, which, like the censer carried by No. 55 on the opposite side of the eastern frieze, were part of the sacred furniture used in the festival and usually kept in the Treasury of Athenè. Michaelis suggests that they may be the stands, krateutae, in which turned the ends of the spits used in roasting the sacrifice. This would explain the ring at the top.
15, 16. A pair of maidens with empty hands leads the procession. Nos. 11-16 are all dressed alike, in long chiton, with diploïdion, together with a small mantle. They also appear to have the hair similarly dressed. It falls in a mass on the shoulders, as in the Caryatid of the Erechtheion (No. 407).
17. In front of the procession is a man, probably one of the marshals, who seems to approach a group of five persons, and to hold out his hand as if with a gesture of greeting to the nearest of the group. This figure is turned towards the marshal, and leans heavily on his staff which is seen below his knees. The marble fragment with parts of the feet of Nos. 16 and 17 was acquired from the collection of M. Steinhäuser. The lower part of 18.No. 18 is cast from a fragment at Athens.
19-22. IV. On the left of the next slab are four men of the same character as No. 18. They all wear himation and boots. They converse in pairs and stand in easy attitudes, leaning on their staffs. There is a corresponding group of four male figures (Nos. 42-45) on slab vi., and Michaelis supposes that the group of five figures (Nos. 18-22) and the opposite group (Nos. 42-45) of four figures represent the nine Archons. That they are functionaries of high rank can hardly be doubted, when we consider their privileged place between the head of the procession on each side and the seated divinities, but they might well be Athlothetae, who controlled all the arrangements (Aristotle, Ἀ θ. πολ. ed. Kenyon, 60).
23-40. The central portion of the eastern frieze now to be described has been the subject of much controversy. Nearly all the authorities who have written on this question agree in recognising the two groups of seated figures as deities. This is indicated not only by the dignity of their appearance but also by their scale. While the figures of the mortals are about 3 ft. 2 in. high, those of the deities are about 4 ft. 4 in. high. Though by the principle known as Isokephalism the heads in a relief are usually nearly on a level, this marked difference of scale can hardly fail to indicate divine rank; compare the frieze of the Theseion (No. 404). There is, however, a wide divergence of opinion as to the particular divinities here represented. From the destruction of most of the faces and the absence of attributes or other indications by which the figures can be severally identified, it is very difficult to judge between the rival schemes of interpretation which have been proposed. In Michaelis' Parthenon, pp. 262, 263, a tabular view is given of these schemes (cf. Guide to the Elgin Room, I., Table C). The attributions proposed by Michaelis himself are for the most part adopted here, with certain changes suggested by Flasch in his memoir: Zum Parthenonfries (Würzburg, 1877).
The interpretations proposed by those who hold that the seated figures are deities, are of two kinds. Most writers have tried to identify some at least of the figures with personages who were worshipped near the Acropolis, or connected with the mythological history of Athens. By this system, deities of lower rank such as the Dioscuri, or heroes like Triptolemos are admitted, on the frieze, to the company of the Olympian Gods. Petersen and Flasch, on the other hand, argue that the twelve Olympian deities are represented in the two groups, without regard to local considerations. Hestia alone is omitted, who always stays in Olympos to keep the hearth. (Plato, Phaedr., 247a). Petersen substitutes Peitho for Hestia; he also introduces Dionysos (24), making No. 38 Apollo. Artemis is thus excluded from his scheme. The arrangement of Flasch is happier, as Hestia alone is excluded of the Olympian divinities. The attributions proposed by Michaelis, Petersen, and Flasch are as follow, where they differ between themselves:—