statue; pediment

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Object Type: statue; pediment
Museum number: 1816,0610.97
Title: Series: The Parthenon Sculptures
Description: Marble statue of two female figures from the East pediment of the Parthenon (East pediment L and M). The East pediment showed the miraculous birth of the goddess Athena from the head of her father Zeus. Many of the figures from the central scene are now fragmentary or entirely lost. Figure L sits and M reclines on a stepped rock covered with a himation. Both wear girdled chitons with buttoned sleeves and a himation. L's chiton is additionally fastened with a cord across the shoulders. M reclines in L's lap, her right shoulder exposed. A dowel hole indicates that she wore a bracelet on her right arm. The figures are carved from one block. The heads, hands and feet are missing. They are perhaps, from left to right, Hestia, Dione, and her daughter Aphrodite. However, another suggestion is that the two figures on the right are the personification of the Sea (Thalassa) in the lap of the Earth (Gaia).
Producer name: Designed by: Pheidias
Cultures/periods: Classical Greek
Production date: 438BC-432BC
Production place: Made in: Athens
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Parthenon
Materials: marble
Dimensions: Height: 123 centimetres (maximum approx); Length: 233 centimetres
Bibliographic references: Sculpture / Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum (303.L); Smith 1892 / A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (pp.113-115); Smith 1910 / The sculptures of the Parthenon (p.13, pl.5); Brommer 1963 / Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel (pp.17-21, pl.45, 48-51); Palagia 1993 / The pediments of the Parthenon (pp.21-22, 61, fig.42-43, 45-46); Choremi-Spetsieri 2004 / The Sculptures of the Parthenon: Acropolis, British Museum, Louvre (pp.127, 131, fig.93)
Location: On display (G18)
Exhibition history: 2018, 26 Apr-29 Jul,The British Museum, Rodin and the art of ancient Greece
Subjects: classical deity
Associated names: Representation of: Aphrodite/Venus (perhaps); Representation of: Dione (perhaps); Representation of: Thalassa (perhaps); Representation of: Gaia (perhaps)
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
Acquisition date: 1816
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1816,0610.97
Conservation: Treatment.: 26/3/18

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