303 G. Iris (?).—This figure is moving rapidly to our left, the right knee bent. The left arm was probably extended; the right was bent nearly at a right angle. Both hands probably held parts of the mantle, of which a remnant floats behind, bellied out by the resistance of the air to the rapid movement of the figure. The feet are wanting from the instep. The figure was let into a socket about two inches deep, on the floor of the pediment. It seems to be exactly in the same condition as when Carrey saw it, except that in his drawing rather more of the neck appears than now remains. The dress is a Doric chiton, schistos, open down the left side, except for the girdle. Over this falls a diploïdion. The arms of this figure are small in proportion to the strength of the lower limbs, and the breasts undeveloped like those of a young girl. This would be consistent with the type of Iris as the messenger of Zeus and Hera, trained to swift movement. The head may have been half turned back towards the central group, but too little remains of the neck to make this certain. From the rapid movement of the figure in a direction turned away from the centre of the composition, archæologists have been nearly unanimous in thinking that the figure is Iris on her way to announce the event of the birth to the world outside Olympos. But the action is not that of a steady flight through the air, for which the Nikè of Paionios (No. 192) should be compared. It is rather that of a person starting aside in alarm. Moreover, the figure has not the wings of Iris, and on these grounds she has been called Eileithyia (Murray, ii., p. 71), Hebè (Brunn, Ber. d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. hist. Cl., 1874, ii., p. 19), or simply a terrified maiden (Wolters, p. 254).
Mus. Marbles, VI., pls. 6, 7; Baumeister, Denkmaeler, p. 1183, fig. 1373; Stereoscopic, No. 106; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 12, 12a; Murray, II., pl. 4; Mitchell, Selections, pl. 6.
303 H. Cast of a torso of Hephaestos or Prometheus. Powerful male torso, from the neck to the groin. The action of the shoulders, and of the muscles of the ribs and back shows that the arms were raised. Perhaps both hands held an axe above the head, as if about to strike. This is the only fragment besides No. 303 J. which has any claim to be assigned to the central group of the eastern pediment. Though we have little knowledge of how the central group of this pediment was composed, we may suppose that the personage would not have been omitted through whose act of cleaving the head of Zeus with an axe the birth of Athenè was accomplished. In the most generally diffused version of the myth this was done by Hephaestos, but Attic tradition preferred to attribute the deed to Prometheus. The original, which was discovered on the east side of the Parthenon in 1836, is at Athens.
Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 13, 13a.
303 J. Nikè, or Victory. Torso of a female figure, moving rapidly to the front, and to our left, with the right arm extended in the same direction. The figure wears a short sleeveless chiton with a diploïdion which is confined under the girdle, to facilitate rapid motion. A piece of bronze, which is fixed in the marble about the middle of the left thigh, may have served for the attachment of a metallic object, perhaps a taenia held in the left hand. At the back the drapery is tied together, so as to leave the shoulder-blades bare. On each shoulder-blade is a deep oblong sinking, which can only have served for the insertion of the wings, which must have been attached by dowels in the holes pierced round the sinkings. It may be inferred from the size of these sinkings that the wings were of marble, not metal.
It has generally been taken for granted, that this figure belongs to the eastern pediment, and it has been inferred from its height that it was not placed much nearer the centre than its present position.
This depends, however, on the original position of the wings. If they were raised above the head, the figure must have occupied a place nearer to the centre than it does at present. But it should be observed, that in Carrey's drawing of the eastern pediment this figure is not given, and, though Visconti states that it was found lying on the ground below the front of the temple, it has been contended that he may have been misinformed on this point, and that the figure so closely resembles one in the western pediment as drawn by Carrey and Dalton that it is probably the same. (See [plate v]., fig. 2, N, Michaelis, p. 175, pl. 7, fig. N, and Hilfstafel, fig. N.) This resemblance may be admitted; but if, on this ground, we identify the torso of Nikè with the figure in the western pediment (N), which stands by the car of Amphitritè, we have a Victory associated with the side of Poseidon, which seems inconsistent with the entire conception of the western pediment. Moreover, the figure in Carrey's drawing has a scarf hanging from the left arm, which seems not in character with the type of Victory; and, further, Carrey gives no indication of wings. On the other hand, the composition in the eastern pediment would be incomplete if Nikè were not present to welcome the new-born Athenè. On the whole, therefore, there is strong reason for leaving this torso in the pediment to which it was originally assigned by Visconti. In recent years two valuable additions have been made to this figure. The right thigh was identified and added in 1860, and the left knee in 1875. The figure is placed by Sauer in profile to the left.
Mus. Marbles, VI., pl. 9; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 14, 14a; Baumeister, Denkmaeler, p. 1182, fig. 1372.