A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

Fig. 26.—Torso of a Statue of Theseus (?).

We may imagine that the representation upon this eastern pediment must have been magnificent. Of course the chosen goddess of Athens would be made to appear with great glory. The myth relates that Athena was born in an instant, by springing forth from the head of Zeus, or Jupiter, fully armed. It is believed that in this sculpture she was represented a moment after birth when she appeared in full, colossal majesty, shouting her war-cry and waving her lance—something as these lines represent the scene:

"Wonder strange possessed
The everlasting gods, that shape to see
Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously
Rush from the crest of ægis-bearing Jove.
Fearfully Heaven was shaken, and did move
Beneath the might of the Cærulean-eyed
Earth dreadfully surrounded far and wide,
And lifted from its depths; the sea swelled high
In purple billows."

It is very important, when considering the sculpture at Athens, to know something about the character of this goddess whose power and influence was so great there. I shall give an extract from an English writer on Greek sculpture, Mr. Walter Copeland Perry:

"It is a very remarkable fact, and one which gives us a deep insight into the character of the Athenians, that the central figure in their religion, the most perfect representative of their feelings, thoughts, and aspirations, was not Zeus or Hera (Juno), nor the most popular gods of all times and nations, Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus), but Athena, the virgin, the goddess of wise counsel and brave deed! She was enthroned in the very heart of their citadel; and she stood in colossal grandeur on the battlements to terrify their foes, and to give the first welcome to the mariner or the exile when he approached his divine and beautiful home, which reposed in safety under the protection of her lance and shield."

The attributes of this goddess, as given in Greek literature and shown forth in Greek art, are very varied and hard to be understood as belonging to one person. She is the patroness of war, and in Homer's Iliad she is represented as rushing into battle in this wise:

"The cuirass donn'd of cloud-compelling force
And stood accoutred for the bloody fray.
Her tasselled ægis round her shoulders next
She threw, with terror circled all around,
And on its face were figured deeds of arms
And Strife and Courage high, and panic Rout.
There too a Gorgon's head of monstrous size
Frown'd terrible, portent of angry Jove.
. . . . . . . In her hand
A spear she bore, long, weighty, tough, wherewith
The mighty daughter of a mighty sire
Sweeps down the ranks of those her hate pursues."

But this warlike goddess is also represented as the wise counsellor who restrains Achilles from rash action; and though she does not shrink from war and danger, yet the most precious gift to her people was not the war-horse, but the olive, the emblem of peace, and to her honor was this sacred tree planted. "She stands in full armor, with brandished lance, on the highest point of the Acropolis, and yet she is the patroness of all household and female work, in which she herself excels."

It is very interesting to notice that in the early representations of Athena, while she is very warlike in her bearing and raises her lance in her right hand, she also carries in her left the distaff and the spindle and the lamp of knowledge. In the later art of Phidias she is still stern and severe, but her face also expresses dignity and grandeur of thought and character. Later still, her warlike attributes are made less prominent: the shield rests on the ground, and the lance is more like a sceptre, until, in the decline of art, she is represented as lovely and gentle, and all her grand power is lost, and she is not above a great number of other goddesses who are attractive for their soft, lovely grace, but have no selfhood, no individuality to command our admiration or respect.

We come now to speak of the Elgin marbles from the frieze of the Parthenon. It was about thirty-five feet above the floor, three feet three inches broad, and about five hundred and twenty-two feet long. It represented a continuous procession, and the subject is called the great Panathenaic Procession. About four hundred feet of this frieze remains, so that a good judgment can be formed of it. First I must tell you what this procession means. The festival of the Panathenæa was the most important of all the splendid pomps which were celebrated at Athens. It is probable that this festival was held every year about the middle of August, but the great Panathenaic occurred only in the third year of each olympiad; an olympiad was a period of four years, extending from one celebration of the Olympic games to another, which was an event of great importance in reckoning time with the Greeks; thus we see that the great procession represented on the frieze occurred once in every four years. This festival continued several days, and all were filled with horse-racing, cock-fighting, gymnastic and musical contests, and a great variety of games; poets also recited their verses, and philosophers held arguments in public places.[A] But the most important day was that on which a procession went up to the Parthenon and carried the peplos, or garment for the great goddess, which had been woven by the maidens of Athens. This peplos was made of crocus-colored stuff, on which the figures of the gods engaged in their contests with the giants appeared in beautiful, rich embroidery. In later years, after the Athenians had fallen from their first high-minded simplicity, they sometimes embroidered on the peplos the likeness of a man whom they wished to flatter, as thus placing him in the company of the gods was a very great compliment.