A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume 1 (of 2)

by A. H. Smith

Mus. Marbles, VI., pl. 12; Michaelis, pl. 6, figs. 18, 18a; Murray, II., pl. 6; Stereoscopic, No. 109.

WESTERN PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON.

304. The subject of the western pediment of the Parthenon according to Pausanias (i., 24, 5) was the strife of Poseidon with Athenè for the soil of Attica. This contest, according to tradition, took place on the Acropolis itself. Athenè, on this occasion, showed her power by making the soil produce the olive-tree; Poseidon, striking the ground with his trident, produced a salt spring, or, according to another and later version, a horse. The victory in the contest was adjudged to Athenè. The spot where this double miracle took place was marked in subsequent times by the joint temple of Erechtheus and Athenè Polias; within the precincts of which were the sacred olive-tree produced by Athenè, and the salt spring of Poseidon.

In the time of Carrey, the composition in this pediment was nearly perfect, and to understand the torsos which remain, reference should be made to Carrey's drawing (Plate v., fig. 2), or to the large model of the Parthenon. A few of the early writers on the Parthenon (Spon, Woods, Leake, Weber) mistook the western pediment for that which contained the representation of the birth of Athenè. If we omit the archaeologists who were under this misapprehension, we find that, while there is much difference of opinion as to the identification of the single figures in the western pediment as drawn by Carrey, it is generally admitted that the space bounded by the reclining figures in the angles represents the Acropolis between the two rivers of Athens, and that the figures to the left of Athenè are Attic deities or heroes, who would sympathise actively with her in the contest which is the subject of the pediment, while those to the right of Poseidon are the subordinate marine deities who would naturally be present as the supporters of the Ruler of the sea. The most interesting dissentient theory is that of Brunn (Ber. d. k. bayer. Akad. Phil. hist. Cl., 1874, ii., p. 23). By an ingenious but inconclusive series of arguments he has endeavoured to show that the west pediment contains a personified representation of the whole coast of Attica, from the borders of Megaris to Cape Sunium.

The great destruction of the western pediment since it was seen by Carrey may have been partly due to the explosion during the siege, but was chiefly the work of the Venetian General Morosini. After taking the Acropolis he tried to lower the horses of the car of Athenè, but the tackle he used broke, and this matchless group fell to the ground. If the fragments had been then collected and put together, much of this beautiful design might have been saved, but they remained on the spot where they fell till after the establishment of the Greek kingdom at Athens (1833), when such of them as were extant were gathered up and placed in a magazine on the Acropolis. They were subsequently moulded, and casts of them are now exhibited in the Elgin Room. Between the time of Morosini and the middle of the last century, when Dalton drew the western pediment, the work of destruction had been carried much further. In the right wing of the composition the figures N, O, Q, S, T, and in the left wing only four figures, A, B, C, and F(?) are shown in position on the pediment in Dalton's Plate. In the intervening middle space, two torsos are lying on the floor of the pediment. One of these is probably the Poseidon; the other may be the figure marked H. On the ground below the pediment lies the body of a draped figure, perhaps Athenè, and a fragment which may belong to the Poseidon.

All that remained in position in the western pediment when Lord Elgin's agents came to Athens were the figures B and C in the north angle, and in the south angle the lower part of the reclining female figure W. The figures are still in position, and the west end of the Parthenon was therefore not touched by Lord Elgin. The River-god A and the torsos H, L, M, O were found under the north-west angle of the pediment, after taking down a Turkish house built against the columns. The lower part of a female figure Q may also have been found on this spot.

After the Acropolis passed into the possession of the Greek government, the ground round the Parthenon was partly cleared of its ruins, and this led to the discovery, in 1835, of the crouching male figure V and of many fragments, among which are remains of the horses lowered by Morosini. The sculptures removed by Lord Elgin are exhibited in combination with casts of the remains now at Athens. The description that follows begins from the left or northern angle of the pediment.

304 A. Ilissos or Kephissos.—This figure, reclining in the angle of the pediment, is universally admitted to be a River-god, (cf. the description by Pausanias (v., 10, 7) of the pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia). The figure is popularly known as the Ilissos, but it may represent the Athenian Kephissos. According to Brunn's topographical scheme, it is a less familiar Kephissos, near Eleusis. This figure appears not to have suffered much since Carrey drew it. It was still in the pediment in Stuart's time, but had been thrown down at the date of Lord Elgin's mission. The body, half reclined, rests on the left arm, over which is the end of an himation, which falls behind the back in undulating lines, and is drawn up to the right knee. As the head and most of the right arm are wanting, their action must be a matter of conjecture; the general motion of the figure seems to indicate the moment of sudden transition from repose to action, and would be consistent with the supposition that the head was turned towards the central group, watching the momentous issue of the contest, and that the River-god was in the act of rising. In that case his right hand may have been drawing forward the end of his himation over his right knee. This figure has been long and deservedly celebrated for the perfection of its anatomy. In the front of the body, the flexibility of the abdominal muscles is finely contrasted with the strong framework of the ribs. The supple elastic character of the skin is here rendered with the same mastery as in the horse's head of the eastern pediment. At the back some of the surface has retained its original polish. In the undulating lines of the drapery, the sculptor has succeeded in suggesting the idea of flowing water without having recourse to direct or conventional imitation. The ground on which the figure reclines is a rock. The left hand rested on the bed of the pediment. A drawing by Pars taken during his visit to Athens in 1765-66 (engraved Stuart, ii., chap. I., pl. 9), shows part of the right forearm not shown in Carrey's drawing, and the outline of the four fingers of the left hand overlapping the edge of the pediment. A small attribute, probably of marble, was attached to the floor of the pediment in front of the figure.