temple-relief
- Museum number
- 1816,0610.21-22
- Title
- Series: The Parthenon Sculptures
- Description
-
Marble part of relief (Block VI) from the East frieze of the Parthenon. The frieze shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena.
This block survives in two fragments. The left part shows four men each leaning on a stick and seemingly engaged in conversation. These are seen either as magistrates or four of the ten eponymous heroes who gave their names to the ten tribes of Athens. They should be taken together with the male figures at the head of the Southern branch of the procession on Block III and IV. They provide a transition between the gods seated on one side and the procession approaching on the other. Lounging on staves, they are pictorially half-way between the seated gods and the fully upright processional figures. These figures were sadly mutilated shortly before Lord Elgin’s men arrived on the Acropolis in 1801. They can be reconstructed with the help of casts from moulds taken by the French diplomat Le Comte de Choiseul–Gouffier.
The other fragment continues with two marshals who stand back to back. The figure on the right faces the Northern branch of the procession, while his companion turns his back on it and beckons with his raised right arm and crooked finger. This gesture must be intended for the head of the procession, coming up from the South side of the frieze. The two figures are pictorial opposites: the one static, the other dynamic; one perpendicular, the other bent like a bow; one intent on the procession of the north side, the other occupied with that on the south. Together, they act as a pivot on which the action of the frieze turns from the procession proper to the figures waiting at the head of it, first the standing magistrates or heroes lounging on staves and then the seated gods.
For more information on the pedestrian-procession see East frieze Block III.
- Production date
- 438BC-432BC
- Curator's comments
- These figures were sadly mutilated shortly before Lord Elgin’s men arrived on the Acropolis in 1801. They can be reconstructed with the help of casts from moulds taken by the French diplomat Le Comte de Choiseul–Gouffier.
For more information on the pedestrian-procession see East frieze Block III.
- Location
- On display (G18)
- Acquisition date
- 1816
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1816,0610.21-22
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: East Frieze, Block VI
