The groups in question are too well known to need a detailed description here. The first, [40] in a fairly good state of preservation, represents Herakles in his conflict with the Hydra, and at the left Iolaos, his charioteer, as a spectator. Corresponding to this, is the second group, [41] with Herakles overpowering the Triton; but the whole of this is so damaged that it is scarcely recognizable. Then there are two larger pediments in much higher relief, the one [42] repeating the scene of Herakles and the Triton, the other [43] representing the three-headed Typhon in conflict, as supposed, with Zeus. All four of these groups have been reconstructed from a great number of fragments. Many more pieces which are to be seen in these two rooms of the Museum surely belonged to the original works, though their relations and position cannot be determined. The circumstances of their discovery between the south supporting-wall of the Parthenon and Kimon's inner Acropolis wall make it certain that we are dealing with pre-Persian art. It is quite as certain, in spite of the fragmentary condition of the remains, that they were pedimental compositions and the earliest of the kind yet known.
Footnote 36:[ (return) ] Mitth. deutsch. arch. Inst. Athen., XIV, p. 67; XV, p. 84.
Footnote 37:[ (return) ] Rev. Arch., XVII, p. 304; XVIII, pp. 12, 137.
Footnote 38:[ (return) ] Mitth. Athen., XI, p. 61.
Footnote 39:[ (return) ] X, pp. 237, 322. Cf. Studniczka, Jahrbuch deutsch. arch. Inst., I, p. 87; Purgold, Έφημερίς Άρχαιολογική, 1884, p. 147, 1885, p. 234.
Footnote 40:[ (return) ] Mitth. Athen., X, cut opposite p. 237; Έφημερίς, 1884, πίναξ 7.
Footnote 41:[ (return) ] Mitth. Athen., XI, Taf. II.
Footnote 42:[ (return) ] Idem, XV, Taf. II.
Footnote 43:[ (return) ] Idem, XIV, Taf. II, III.
The first question which presents itself in the present consideration is: Why should these pedimental groups follow vase paintings? We might say that in vases we have practically the first products of Greek art; and further we might show resemblances, more or less material, between these archaic reliefs and vase pictures. But the proof of any connection between the two would still be wanting. Here the discoveries made by the Germans at Olympia and confirmed by later researches in Sicily and Magna Graecia, are of the utmost importance. [44] In the Byzantine west wall at Olympia were found great numbers of painted terracotta plates [45] which examination proved to have covered the cornices of the Geloan Treasury. They were fastened to the stone by iron nails, the distance between the nail-holes in terracottas and cornice blocks corresponding exactly. The fact that the stone, where covered, was only roughly worked made the connection still more sure. These plates were used on the cornice of the long side, and bounded the pediment space above and below. The corresponding cyma was of the same material and similarly decorated.