The figure by the side of Athena's horses is probably. Ares, partly because he is always closely connected with Athena, and his presence here heightens the impression of her victory upon the beholder, and partly because the trunk of this figure, which is preserved, together with a part of its thighs, belongs to a strong and well-wrought body, such as would exactly suit Ares, especially by the side of a figure like that of Athena, the character of which may still be seen in the extant fragment of the upper part of her body. In the great fragment of Ares we still perceive the same turn of the neck, which we find in the drawing. Let us now proceed, first on Poseidon's side. The chariot of Amphitrite was drawn by Hippocampæ, or sea-horses. This is certain, from the fact of the whole figure of a dolphin being visible under the foot of the goddess; her chariot therefore was halting in the water, for which reason it was undoubtedly shaped quite differently from that of Nice, and just as different were the Hippocampæ from the horses, so that a beautiful variety was produced. This is fully confirmed by a fragment of the serpent-like legs of the animals 29, which is of such a thickness that it cannot possibly have belonged to the serpent of Erichthonius, which, according to Mr. Cockerell's opinion, was entwined around the olive tree of Athena. The nakedness of her leg is very characteristic of a goddess riding through the sea. The Hippocampæ, together with the chariot, were probably removed at the time when Christian masons executed the work in the centre of the pediment which we see in the drawing of Carrey. The three goddesses who follow after Amphitrite, are Leucothea with her son Melicertes, in honour of whom a muchfrequented festival was celebrated on the neighbouring isthmus, Aphrodite with Eros, the former sitting on the knee of her mother Dione. It was one of the most perverse conjectures in this field, which is so rich in explanations, to suppose that the first of these goddesses was Latona with her two children. The children are of unequal size, which is incompatible with the fact of their being twins 30. 29 It is mentioned in the Synopsis of the contents of the British Museum, No. 102, and figured in pl. 2. 30 Müller, in the last page of his The one whom I call Meli above-mentioned treatise, supposes that the larger figure is Artemis, probably on account of the tradition that Artemis was born first, and that she, as Eileithyia, certes is a full-grown boy, standing by the side of his mother, by whose cloak he was half covered, as may be seen from the portion of his body which is preserved on the left side of the fragment of the goddess. If Phidias had deemed this a fit place for Apollo and Artemis, he would certainly not have represented their birth, which must necessarily be meant by a Leto with her children in her arms. However the drawing shews distinctly enough, that the children do not belong to one but to two goddesses of the group. This fact also refutes Bröndsted's opinion that Ge koupоrpópoç is represented here by the side of Poseidon, her protector. I should farther remark, that Ge, whom I should not look for in this connection with other divinities, does not exactly stand under the protection and influence of Poseidon as Gе коvρоτрópоs, and that in this capacity she is usually united with very different divinities. Aphrodite is naked, as the goddess born from the sea, and because she is here introduced among marine divinities; but she is not completely naked, for some drapery is lying across her left leg, and covers her lap. Eros alone would certainly have sufficed to indicate the goddess of love; but Phidias took the opportunity of gracing his work, which is adorned with several male figures completely naked, also by the beauty of a youthful female form. Mr. Millingen has expressed some doubts as to the correctness of this explanation, because it is said that Praxiteles was the first who represented Aphrodite naked. But in works of art there is a wide difference between entire nakedness and the nakedness of the greater part of the body, and there is just as great a difference between a temple-statue consecrated for worship, and a figure placed among a number of others as an object of admiration and as an ornament of a temple. It is a fact that there is here an almost naked goddess—a goddess only can be conceived in this place-and to which goddess is nakedness more appropriate than to Aphrodite? We thus see in this instance also how cautiously we should receive statements respecting priority. The manner in which Aphrodite is grouped together with her mother is extremely curious, as though the artist had wished to allude to delivered her mother of her twin-brother. But this tradition was probably current only among midwives or other particular worshippers of the Brauronian goddess, and, at all events, an enigmatical allusion to her would in no way have suited Phidias. the width and depth of the first causes, and to the powers and the mysterious forms of Greek theology. The next goddess is in my opinion no other than Peitho, who was represented on the pedestal of the Olympian throne in the act of crowning Aphrodite as she rose from the sea, and who appears so often as her companion and minister. There was an ancient temple at Athens, said to have been built by Theseus, containing two wooden images of Aphrodite and Peitho31. As Aphrodite is added to the empire of Poseidon, it is still further extended by the representation of a divinity who is most closely connected with Aphrodite, and there is no necessity for looking for any other marine divinity behind Aphrodite, such as Galene or Thetis, whom some antiquaries have introduced here. The divinities on the other side of the pediment, who correspond with those of the side just explained, present themselves, as it were, at once, as Demeter, Iacchus, and Persephone. Iacchus is indicated by his age, which lies between that of a boy and a young man, and by his nakedness, but more especially by a comparison with the small figures, which form a whole series, and were discovered a few years ago in the temple of Athena Polias; but they are yet little known. This mystic connection with the goddesses is expressed by his throwing himself into the lap of Demeter, the sitting goddess, and by Persephone at the same time drawing him towards herself. The gods of Eleusis were from the earliest times of great importance in Attica, and their worship was so highly peculiar to the country, that they could not be absent from the circle of the goddess who gave to the country its name, and was its Polias. It is moreover a favourite custom to contrast the divinities of the earth with those of the sea, and the former stand also in a close relation to Athena, as the goddess of the ethereal warmth and of the blessing of fields, in which capacities she was worshipped in many places, and from which she received even particular names. The next group tells us most strikingly that the figures are Heracles and Hebe. The goddess puts her arm around the neck and her hand on the shoulder of her husband, who is reclining and looking at her with affection. The garment has slipped down from one of her breasts, whereby the artist cha 31 Pausan, I. 22. 3. racterized the goddess, and expressed her full bloom of youth. The close bond between Heracles and Athena is now well known, from numerous monuments which have been brought to light in modern times, and for the explanation of which we are particularly indebted to Dr. Emil Braun. Thus a vase-painting of Phrynus represents on the one side the birth of Athena, and on the other Athena introducing Heracles to Zeus, that is, into Olympus. There are three paintings in which Heracles is present even at the birth of Athena. This indicates an extravagant zeal for his divinity, inasmuch as it was particularly developed in his connection with Athena; but Phidias himself represented him on the pedestal of the Olympian throne, among the witnesses of Aphrodite rising from the sea, and as forming with Athena the highest pair of divinities. In the ancient large patera of Sosias, which is in the museum of Berlin, Heracles is one of the twelve gods, just as in the Capitoline puteal. In the group of our pediment too he must be conceived as a god, which is clear from the figure of Hebe. There cannot be the least doubt as to the propriety of introducing him into this circle of divinities; he is represented with sufficient distinctness by his figure, face, and beard, and especially by his being grouped together with Hebe32. No similar pair offered itself for the corresponding place on the other side; but at least the male figure by the side of Poseidon, which corresponds with Heracles by the side of Athena, must have belonged in general to the same class, or have had some particular relation to him. And it is impossible to find 39 See the large drawing in Stuart (Tom. II. ch. i. pl. 9), who saw this splendid group in a more perfect condition. It has been left in its place, but afterwards suffered much injury. It is said that the head of the male figure was taken away in 1803, and that more than one block of marble fell down from the western pediment during an earthquake in 1805. Stuart's drawing led Colonel Leake, in the second edition of his Topography of Athens, p. 539, to the belief that something is wanting between Ilissus and the group of Heracles and Hebe, in whom, as well as in Heracles, he sees an old Attic king. But from the drawing of Carrey it is clear that only the piece of the cornice before which there was a vacant space in the group, had given way in the time of Stuart; and I convinced myself, in the pediment of the Parthenon itself, and standing close by the remnants of the group, that between it and Ilissus there was not room for another whole figure. Nor can I agree with those who believe that even before the time of Carrey a figure, which Colonel Leake calls Ilissus, had fallen down at the other end, between Theseus, as I call him, or Cephissus, according to Colonel Leake, and Callirrhoë. any other that could have been placed by his side with greater justice than Theseus. As he is a son of Egeus, he is at the same time closely connected with Poseidon himself, whose son he is even called 33. Popular poetry had become accustomed to compare him to the Doric Heracles, and placed him by his side. Being the only hero in this assemblage, he is raised as it were to the rank of a god, as indeed the transportation of his remains from Scyros to Athens, which had taken place not very long before, and every thing connected with that event, had raised his worship as a hero so as to make it approach that of a god. As there was no goddess to be joined to him, Peitho was added instead to the preceding group of divinities, but by her somewhat greater distance from the sitting Theseus the artist made the relation of the female figure to Aphrodite striking to the eye of the beholder, and prevented her being considered as 'connected with Theseus. Visconti took this figure for the hero Colonus, Colonel Leake for Ares, Quatremère for Bacchus (with Libera, as he interpreted the Callirrhoë in the corner), Müller for Halirrhothius, and Bröndsted for Cephissus. The figures in the corners, as has been recognized already by Visconti, are Ilissus and the sacred well Callirrhoë in his vicinity. The figure of the former is obviously more indicative of a river-god than of Theseus. Phidias seems to have chosen these male and female figures to correspond with Helios and Selene in the other pediment, for he might have chosen Cephissus, just as Pæonius placed Alpheius and Cladrus in the two corners of the front pediment of the Olympian temple. But Phidias would certainly not have placed Cephissus in any other part of the pediment than where he has represented Ilissus; he would not have chosen the place which we assign to Theseus, nor would he have chosen his attitude for a rivergod. Bröndsted took Theseus for Ilissus, and he accordingly might be uncertain as to whether the figure in the corner was meant for Callirrhoë or Praxithea. The relation of the two corner figures to each other, as river-god and a nymph of a well, is beyond all doubt. The only ones, among all these personages, whose attention is directed towards the decision of the dispute, are Nice on the 33 Pausan. 1. 7. 3. |