An appreciation of the pediments on the Parthenon.

Friday, July 31, 2020

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The pediments on the Parthenon were built between 48-4 BC and were the last part of the sculptures on the Parthenon to be completed. They formed low triangles that were nearly 100ft long. The pediments comprised of more than fifty different sculptures, which ranged in size from just over life-size to eleven feet high and no more than three feet from front to back because of the shallow space of the pediments.


They could be carved at leisure because they were lifted up in to place, and the roofing of the temple did not depend on them being in position in the first place. Phidias seems to have left Athens after he finished making the great statue of Athena in 48 BC. It was at the same time that serious work began on the pediments, so although Phidias may have designed the pediments, their implementation must have been mostly done without him.


The triangular shape of both pediments ensured careful organisation of the scene. The most important figures appear in the middle where they can appear bigger because the height is about eleven feet. Moving outwards from the centre the figures become smaller or are shown sitting, reclining or just with the upper part of their body showing. There is a problem though with the scale of the figures on the pediments as there is no consistency of scale. The Gods in the centre are gigantic while the figures in the corners are diminished. The pediments of the Parthenon were significantly wider than those at Aegina and Olympia, so that it was proportionately more complicated to represent figures on a consistent scale, despite this it is still surprising that even after the great advancements that had been made in pedimental designs from the end of the 6th century BC, the figures furthest from the centre in the Parthenon pediments are just shown as smaller than those that are in the centre, this is the same as the pediment of the Parthenon which was create in about 55 BC.


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More than twice as much of the pediments have been lost as have actually survived. Therefore most of what we know about the pediments comes from what survives, what we think existed, writings from the historian and explorer Pausanias who travelled through Greece in the nd century AD and told us the subjects of both the east and west pediments and the drawings of Carrey in about 1674.


Although the West pediment was at the back of the temple, it was the first pediment which you would see as you approached the Parthenon. It depicted the struggle between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Attica. Athena and Poseidon arrived simultaneously on the Acropolis ready to claim patronage of the city. In the centre of the pediment they are shown striding away from each other, but turning to look back (as in the bull metope at Olympia). During the contest, Poseidon offered a salt-spring and Athena offered an olive-tree. The figures are carved in the round, so that they are like freestanding statues attached to the floor of the pediment. Athena and Poseidon each have a weapon. Athena has a spear while Poseidon has a trident. Athena has just made an olive-tree miracously appear on the Acropolis, which allowed her to win the patronage of Attica. The olive tree probably filled the centre of the pediment. At the appearance of it Athena and Poseidon seem to draw back in excitement. Their heads are turned towards the centre. Excitement ripples outward through the assembled audience of gods and heroes. The entire pediment is filled with lively figures. To the right and left of them are their rearing horses, which are reigned by Nike and Amphitrite. On either side of the horses are attendant messenger deities Hermes is on the side of Athena and Iris is on the side of Poseidon, they conducted the central groups to the contest. Many figures look like they are disturbed by shock-waves which radiate from the centre of the pediment. For example Iris who is winged and rushes forward once the contest has taken place. Patterns of light and shade are shown over the surface of her figure. Gods and heroes are lined up on either side as far as the corners. Those flanking the chariot-groups may have represented the renowned founding figures of Athens. But, because of the damage, especially to the centre of the pediment, the names and the position of the figures on the pediment are only partially known from Pausanias and Jacques Carrey who drew a picture of the pediment in about 1674 when little more than the horses of Poseidon were missing. Some of the other figures on the west pediment may be King Cecrops and a snake or a snaky tail, a river god, either Cephisus or Ilissus and possibly Oreithyia, daughter of Erectheus, a legendary King of Athens holding two children.


The most complete surviving figure from the west pediment is the river god (Cephisus or Ilisuss) in the left-hand corner. He is little affected by the activity in the centre. He is shown on the point of turning round to see what is going on, raising himself up on his left arm and turning his head to get a better view of the contest. We can see the tension and relaxation of his muscles and skin under his wet and clinging drapery. In position and function, he is similar to the river god in the east pediment at Olympia, but in style he is different. The river god at Olympia is caused to be in terms of grand simplification while the one on the Parthenon is charactised by a wealth of subtle anatomical detail and modifications of great fragility. The back view of the Parthenon river god reveals the drapery, which seems to almost lap at the body as if the current were sweeping by.


The east pediment depicts the birth of Athena. It shows the moment after the event. The earliest extant version of the legend of Athene's birth is given by the poet Hesiod (about 700 BC). Athena is said to have had a miraculous birth springing fully-armed from the head of her father Zeus (which was split open by the axe of Hephaistos). Zeus had previously swallowed Metis, Athena's mother, because of the fear that she would give birth to a son stronger than himself. The central group of the pediment were destroyed many centuries ago probably when the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church and an apse was built at its east end. A seated Zeus and Athena probably occupied the centre of the pediment in her full glory standing next to him. As in the west pediment, these figures probably created an explosive centre with the astonishing news of her birth which decreased in intensity as it reached the corners.


The whole scene was framed by the rising of the sun, with the sun-god Helios, on the left, In his chariot; and on the right, by the setting of the moon with the moon-goddess Selene.


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