Download READING THE PARTHENON

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READING THE PARTHENON
INTRODUCTION
SLIDE : Romantic Photograph of the Acropolis with Parthenon at the top
In the history of Western Civilization, there has never been a building as influential as the
Parthenon of Athens. The most famous of Greek temples, it was dedicated to the virgin
goddess Athena Parthenos and was begun in 447 B.C. and completed in just fifteen years
(432 B.C.).
The prime mover in getting the Parthenon project off the ground in the 440s was Pericles,
the Athenian aristocrat, democratic ideologue and general.
The building was badly damaged in an explosion in the 17th century and exists in a partly
restored state today.
SLIDE : Comparative Slide :
How the Parthenon looked in 1913 showing the clear effects of the 17th century
explosion
and
View of Parthenon as it appears today – giving you an idea of to what extent, the
structure has been revived.
The current restoration of the building and the controversy over the question of returning
the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum back to Greece, is a hot topic for the
international media particularly with the impending Olympics in Athens this year.
Temple, cathedral, mosque, ruin, symbol of democracy – it is hard to overstate the
Parthenon’s enduring status as an icon for all times.
I could fill an entire lecture listing the world’s important buildings modelled on the
Parthenon including The White House in Washington,
SLIDE
The British Museum of London,
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New York’s Custom House,
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the National Assembly in Paris and beyond the neo-classical….
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our own New Parliament House in Canberra.
Even in our own town of Newcastle, you can see the influence of the Parthenon in such
buildings as the Town Hall and the Hellenic centre of Hamilton.
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So what is it about this ancient Greek temple that inspires so much adulation? What
special formula was devised by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates and the sculptor
Pheidias who seems to have been a general supervisor for the project as well as creator of
its major art works. What did these men achieve with the Parthenon, that would set the
standards of beauty and excellence for centuries?
SLIDE – Parthenon, Western Pediment
I have lived in Greece since 1985 and have visited the Acropolis many times. Often, great
monuments are a victim of their own mythic reputation and disappoint upon close
encounter. An art historian friend who works in Rome has told me that people often
remark they prefer to look at the Coliseum in picture books and likewise, the Pyramids of
Giza often disappoint because of their close proximity to the modern urban sprawl. The
Parthenon is not one of those unlucky monuments. Despite sitting high above a sea of
cheap, concrete apartment buildings, and despite being little more than a remnant of its
former self, stripped bare by war, fire, acid rain, earthquakes and unscrupulous
collectors…it still manages to stop tourists in their tracks.
It is quite simply – the perfect ruin.
A combination of its sheer size, (some 70 meters in length) - the quality of material used
– Pentelic white marble, the harmony of its proportions and most importantly the way it
is sited majestically on top of this high outcrop of rock in the centre of Athens where
Attic blue skies provide the most flattering contrast to the temple’s outlines. That is what
attracts the modern viewer - the Parthenon answers all our pre-conceived ideas of a
classical ruin. It represents human excellence, eternity, permanence and a cultural
heritage that crosses boundaries - as such, visiting the Parthenon is an uplifting
experience only highlighted by the titillating stories surrounding the history of its
destruction or if you prefer; the history of its survival.
However we cannot be sure how the Parthenon was appreciated by Athenians of the fifth
century B.C. for whom the temple was the height of modernity, a sparkling new
statement of Athenian supremacy and the most lavish tribute to their patron goddess, ever
created.
SLIDE – computer generated reconstruction of the Parthenon. Several universities
are currently at work examining the temple and its sculptures with the latest hi-tech
equipment in order to re-create the Parthenon as close to its original appearance as
possible.
One problem is, that there are scarcely any written contemporary references to the
buildings of the Acropolis. (Diodorus, Heliodorus and Polemo provided detailed accounts
of the Acropolis?) Whilst we can be fairly confident to see the works carried out under
Pericles on the Acropolis as an important stage in the development of Greek culture and
in particular, the development of Greek sculpture, we do not quite know the place of art
in Greek society. We do not know, to what extent for them, a visit to the Parthenon was
an aesthetic experience. Since we are talking about temples and temple sculpture, their
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religious function is clearly important. Further, it is fair to say that we can link the artistic
project for the Perlicean Acropolis to the political position of Athens as victor in the
Persian Wars. Even so, we are not in much of a position to assess the value Athenians
placed on the works of art themselves. What we can do is look at the unwritten evidence,
the Parthenon and the sculptures that survive which allow us to begin to ask questions
about interpretation.
SLIDE – showing the torsos of the goddesses Dione and Aphrodite, from the East
Pediment group now in the British Museum
The problem with ruins is that as modern viewers we tend to romanticize our
interpretations. We are enamoured by the creamy marble and the poignant beauty of
statues without heads or limbs. In a way, we have come to expect our remnants of the
past to appear imperfect and if tomorrow, we dug up a Greek statue pristine in
appearance with all its limbs attached, its bright lips painted crimson and its gown
fastened with shiny metal girdles, we may consider it vulgar, shocking in its polychrome
finery. But in order to examine the mind set of the fifth century Athenian, we must detach
ourselves from the ruin-viewing experience and try to re-create the temple-viewing
process of Pericles’ time. Even if we are able to do this to a certain degree with the
assistance of archaeological reconstructions, we then have to address the particular
associations the fifth century viewer would have instantly made when approaching the
Parthenon :
Issues not only of religious worship but reflections on Athens’ economic and political
status in the ancient world.
The ancient viewer had the advantage of familiarity with both the architectural forms and
the myths and so may have only needed episodic narration, with each myth recognizable
from only a few elements. Still, we do not know how much of the pictorial programme,
whether narrative or symbolic, was readily perceivable by the viewer so with that in
mind, we must guard against over-interpretation or arguments which are based strictly on
logic. If it is certain the Parthenon sculptures did carry messages for the viewer, they may
not have been messages as logically constructed as we modern viewers seem to expect.
RECONSTRUCTIONS
What I would like to try to do today, is as far as possible, reconstruct the viewing process
of the fifth century Athenian in order that you can address issues more clearly that you
may choose to tackle next week in the tutorial essay that asks the question “Art or
Propaganda: do you think the temple was more concerned with celebrating the glory of
Athena – or the glory of the Athenian demos?”
Before turning to this case study, we modern observers must retool our visual reading
skills. To begin with I would like to look at reconstructions of the Parthenon in order that
we can divorce ourselves slightly from the iconic ruined temple and damaged sculptures
that we are accustomed to. We can not hope to recapture the ancient mentality or ancient
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visual acuity and sensitivity, but we can adjust our own reading skills to regard the
monuments with a more authentic approach.
SLIDE – you will find this diagram in your study guide
I will stop here for a moment - to make sure you are familiar with the placement of the
sculpture on the temple.
The Pedimental sculpture featured larger than life figures in the round, positioned in a
triangular frame 30 meters in length at the eastern and western, or the front and back
facades of the Parthenon, the metopes carved in high relief (35 cm) and separated by
triglyphs ran around the exterior of all four sides of the building and the Ionic frieze
carved in low relief (5 cm) around the cella was continuous, and considered finer than the
metopes.
In total, there are 92 metopes and the frieze measures 160 metres. Normally a feature of
Ionic temples, it was a real innovation to place a continuous frieze like this on the
Parthenon, which is of the Doric order.
Colour – the first thing we have to get used to in re-capturing the ancient Parthenon is the
idea of Colour.
SLIDE : Comparative Slide
Photograph of east end and
Watercolour of the east end of the Parthenon 1879-1881 by Benoit Loviot
Most reconstructions present the original Parthenon as having polychromic decoration.
Even when we come to accept, as most scholars do now, that some kind of colour was
applied to the marble – whether it a discreet background wash to reduce the glare of the
marble with careful highlighting of certain features or a gaudy palette of bright reds,
yellows and blues with gold accents? – we do not know. The fact that paint was used on
temples was first remarked upon by Stuart and Revett in the 1750s and made public in
the first volume of The Antiquities of Athens published in 1762. The discovery caused
surprise, disbelief, and disappointment among many Western artists and connoisseurs
who for long afterwards, and against mounting evidence to the contrary, continued to
assume that ‘classical’ sculptures were made of plain white marble, with the eyes vacant,
as appeared from the famous ancient statues which had been shown since the fifteenth
century in museums in Italy.
SLIDE : gilt and colour on a reconstruction
The hard evidence left today for painting on the Parthenon sculptures is quite slim – only
the faintest traces of colour have been found, mainly on blocks from the architrave which
does not help us much when looking at the metopes or the frieze. This reconstruction
shows the kind of decoration that is thought to have decorated the Parthenon.
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It is perhaps more useful to look at the sculpture programme for the Parthenon in the
context of Classical Greek art at large where we find that the role of colour was to
increase visibility and understanding of the motifs on architectural sculpture. We can
look to comparative examples such as the Erechteion shrine situated opposite the
Parthenon on the Acropolis where more colour was preserved and later sources like the
third century Macedonian tomb of Lyson and Kallikles at Levkadia which is highly
coloured and reproduces some of the Parthenon south metopes in paint
SLIDE – Alexander Sarcophagus
A valid source for consideration is the fourth century Alexander Sarcophagus – where
you can see traces here of red and blue colour still on the marble surface.
The importance of historiography also is to be considered since it is necessary to read
early travellers’ reports and excavation records, where they survive, to find these
observers’ comments on polychromy at the time of discovery on sculptures that are now
stripped bare.
At its extreme, this theory of polychromism results in offerings like this :
SLIDE 1868 ALMA-TADEMA painting of Pheidias showing his work on the frieze to
friends.
A more academic approach is found in these widely quoted images of a polychromic
reconstruction by French architects Loviot and Lambert published in Paris in 1879.
SLIDE – Loviot’s watercolour of the Doric Order whilst using a more correctly
archaeological approach, is nonetheless based largely on conjecture.
SLIDE – Metopes comparison
And also here, Paccard’s rendition of a centaur metope from the south side of the temple,
that featured the Centauromachia, the war between the Thessalian Lapiths and the wild,
bawdy centaurs who tried to carry off the Lapith women at a wedding. There were
twenty-three of these metopes on the south side all related to the same subject.
The problem with images such as these, is that they appear in myriad published guides
and picture books about the ancient world and on numerous websites where they can be
taken as verbatim.
SLIDE – Nashville
Anyone who visits the full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Nashville probably comes
away with the impression that all the exterior sculpture featured a red painted background
– which although likely, has never been proven.
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For the student of the Parthenon, it is confusing which view to take when you have
establishments as prestigious as the Getty Institute endorsing the Nashville model
(Kenneth Lapatin, Department of Antiquities) and declaring that the sculpture on the
Parthenon was painted at least in three bright colours, red, blue and green.
I would urge you take the view that we simply do not have enough evidence to decide to
what extent the sculptures were painted, if at all.
The next hurdle to cross when viewing reconstructions, is the arrangement of sculpture
on the building.
Our earliest known drawing is by Cyriac of Ancona who visited in the mid-15th century
and drew a quick sketch of the Pediments. But after that, there was really nothing until
these drawings by a French artist, Carrey in 1674.
SLIDE 1 – Carrey
SLIDE 2 – Carrey
If it were not for Carrey’s drawings, we would have very little idea of the character of
much of the original sculpture as only 13 years later, a huge amount was utterly lost in a
vast explosion.
SLIDE – plaster pediment reconstruction of the central figures of the West Pediment,
Poseidon and Athena (3.3metres)
If you visit the Acropolis Museum you will see this careful resconstruction of the Eastern
pedimental sculpture in miniature plaster figures. The truth is, we simply do not know
how the figures in the centre were arranged and you must be wary of complete
reconstructions as they only suggest, possible iconographic solutions.
Nevertheless, a lot of scholarship and research has gone into them and they are still valid
as tools for re-visiting the past. If anything, projects such as the full-scale re-creation of
the Parthenon and the statue of Athena in Nashville, for example – provide us with the
opportunity to understand and appreciate the skill that went into the making of the
original models.
Once we have become atuned to imagining the Parthenon as a complete structure
with sculpture in place and accept some degree of colour and possibly gilding was
present, the next step into the past is to be aware of the reasons the Parthenon was
built at all.
PERICLES AND THE PLAN TO RESTORE THE ACROPOLIS
SLIDE – Acropolis diagram
The Parthenon is only part of a larger development that included the Propylaia, the
Erechteion and the temple of Athene Nike. The whole development can be seen as the
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public statement of Athens’ recovery from the Persian sack of 480, in which the original
temple of Athena had been reduced to rubble. Athens went on to lead a League of Greek
states against the Persians. By the mid-century this had become more like an empire, with
the ‘contributions’ amounting to tribute. With the Persian problem solved the Athenian
statesman Pericles thought it fitting that temples should be rebuilt and League funds used
for the purpose. Athenians probably justified such an extravagant and costly building
programme as just recompense for the protection they were providing to the cities that
were their allies.
Finally, in this series of shrines for the principal civic religion, commonly called “the
Periclean Acropolis” - the Parthenon was not the home of the most sacred image - that
was in the Erechteion.
SLIDE – Erechteion
It is crucial to remember that the temenos (or sanctuary) was as important as the
individual shrine, and the bulk of the Acropolis is covered by a series of linked temenoi
of Athene. The Parthenon is merely the largest and most elaborate of the shrines.
SLIDE – Floorplan
You may have noticed in your Study Guide the unusual temple plan with a completely
separate room, the opisthodomos, to the west. This was used to house the state treasury,
and so links the building very closely with Athens’ imperial position. The function of the
Parthenon therefore appears to have been bifold : both shrine and treasury, with the bulk
of the interior space given over to a colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess over 12
metres high.
As a building, the Parthenon has long been famous for the extraordinary subtlety of its
stonework. The stylobate is curved upwards, a mere ten centimeters on the whole length
of 70 metres. The sides of the columns taper along a subtle curve; and their axes are
adjusted so that the columns lean very slightly inwards.
The layout of the naos, with its internal colonnade, two tiers of Doric columns running
right around the statue (and a shallow pool in front of it for reflected light), is even more
elaborate than the great temple of Zeus at Olympia which I think you are looking at in a
tutorial today?
SLIDE – Panathenaic sacred way as seen from the Agora
At the time when the Parthenon was built, visitors to the Acropolis approached the
sanctuary along a narrow steep road which zigzagged up the hill. It then led through the
Propylaea, a large marble ceremonial gateway, to the open ground of the Acropolis.
SLIDE - PROPYLAEA
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The approach ensured that visitors to the Acropolis would see the Parthenon as soon as
they passed through the Propylaea and not before.
We do not know exactly how much access to the shrine was allowed and to whom. Far
from the present image we have now of an open building, what actually faced visitors as
they walked up the steps towards the doorway of the main eastern chamber was a metal
fence. The temple was not, in general, designed to hold a congregation and was not seen
as a place of communal worship. In ancient Greece, religion was much more of an openair event; the key ritual of animal sacrifice took place around an outdoor altar. The
temple’s principal job was to house the deity (embodied by a statue).
ATHENA STATUE
SLIDE : Loviot - reconstruction of Chryselephantine statue of ATHENA
The main focus of attention for all visitors to the Parthenon was the cult statue of Athena
inside the temple and the various sacred objects and dedications preserved inside, all of
which are completely lost. We perhaps tend to forget this fact as centuries of fame have
built up the importance of the exterior sculptures since they constitute our surviving
evidence.
To give you an idea of this giant goddess, I turn to Pausanias who wrote :
“In the temple which they call the Parthenon… the cult image itself is made of ivory and
gold. In the middle of her helmet there is placed an image of a sphinx…and on each side
of the helmet griffins are represented…griffins are beasts which look like lions but have
the wings and the beak of an eagle…The statue of Athena stands upright and wears a
tunic that reaches to her feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa made of ivory, is
represented. In one hand she holds a figure of Victory about four cubits high and in the
other she holds a spear; at her feet is placed a shield, and near the shield is a serpent. This
serpent would be Erichtonios (mythic King of Athens). On the base the birth of Pandora
is represented in relief. The poems of Hesiod and others tell how Pandora was the first
woman. “ Pausanias I.24.5-7 (taken from page 56 of J.J. Pollitt, The Art of Ancient
Greece, Sources and Documents, Cambridge 1990)
As Pausanias observes, every available feature of this massive sculpture provided an
opportunity for Pheidias to show off his skill. Even the goddess’ sandals were carved
with scenes from the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs. No fewer than twenty Gods were
carved in relief on the panel of the base.
SLIDE - Nashville full-scale replica in plaster and gold leaf
SlIDE 2 - detail
To give you an idea of scale - The height of the Victory figure she holds in her hand is
about 6.ft. 4 inches.
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Plutarch and Pausanias offer the most detailed ancient descriptions we have; but neither
is contemporary. The first thing to notice is that neither author seems interested in the
architecture as such. Pausanias writing in the second century AD for Roman philhellenes,
has an antiquarian interest in the myths and dedications. He is impressed with the cult
statue and the pediments but does not even mention the frieze, so celebrated in modern
times.
In this first part of my talk today, I hope I have shown you some of the skills needed to
analyse this type of evidence, and also the difficulties of interpreting the works. After the
break, we will look more closely at the ancient viewing process in relation to the
sculptures of the Parthenon.
PART TWO
A VISIT TO THE PARTHENON and THE PARTHENON SCULPTURES
THE VIEWING PROCESS : ANCIENT and MODERN
IMAGE – Aerial photograph of Acropolis
Today, we experience cities at high speed and from removed vantage points such as tall
skyscrapers, moving trains or as in this photo of the Acropolis, from the sky. Not so for
the ancient Athenian who would have ascended the climb up to the Acropolis slowly and
on foot.
This more leisurely pace of the Periclean urban observer meant they had the opportunity
to read city environments in depth. In addition, the nature of their religious practice
allowed observers to read and reread the Parthenon narratives many times.
In turn, the authors of the Parthenon narratives in the frieze and the metopes, relied
heavily on their readers.
I would like to now discuss the narrative experienced by an observer arriving from
outside Athens by sea and moving toward the city centre and finally reading the stories
on the Parthenon itself.
The Acropolis narrative first became legible from the sea as Pausanias tells us of another
statue of Athena by Pheidias made of bronze which stood outside the Parthenon whose
spear and polished helmet shining in the sun was “visible to approaching sailors as soon
as they rounded Cape Sounion”.
I don’t have a photo of the Acropolis taken from the sea as there is too much pollution
and high rise these days to get a clear image, however I do have this photo I took a few
weeks ago, of the sea from the Parthenon – so looking in the opposite direction - to give
you an idea of the distance from which this bronze Athena Promachos was visible.
SLIDE : view to Piraeus port
So immediately for Athenians returning home the first thing they saw was their city’s
patron goddess and for foreigners or prisoners of war who had never stepped foot in
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Athens, the site of the Acropolis with its shining statues and incredible buildings of white
marble reflecting the Attic light, must have been a remarkable and intimidating sight.
As you approached Piraeus Harbour, the Parthenon would have come into view making it
a simple matter to find your directions once on land. As you made your way along the
Sacred Way, the temple stayed fixed in view with more details and statuary becoming
visible as you approached. Still today, in the midst of Europe’s most chaotic city, you can
orientate yourself in Athens by looking up toward the Parthenon.
Rising dramatically from the low-lying plain, the acropolis overshadowed all other
landmarks of Athens and the Parthenon outshone all other buildings in the capital.
All buildings faced East and when you walk through the main gate, the Propylaia, and
ascend the steps, it is clear that the temples on the Acropolis are designed to face the
viewer who enters along this route from the East.
SLIDE : Acropolis reconstruction showing the statues on the approach up to the
Propylaia
You will notice that in this reconstruction by Lambert he has populated the stairs leading
up to the Propylaia, or ceremonial gateway, the only entrance to the Acropolis…with
sculptures of gods and heroes, some in gold, some in bronze and marble.
The viewing process today, is almost devoid of sculpture. Apart from cast replicas of the
caryatids on the Erechteion a smaller shrine to the right of the Parthenon, and a few
pieces remaining on the Parthenon itself, the Acropolis today is just a bare rock.
SLIDE – Bare rock of Acropolis showing a procession of visitors winding up to the
Propylaia
We know that statues and stele were found all over the Acropolis and had been there long
before the Parthenon was built. We have found the bases upon which they stood, one for
example, bearing the signature of Hegias a sculptor of the Late Archaic age. (Pliny: N.H.
34.78 in Pollitt, p. 35)
So it is easy to forget, that one’s contact with works of art would have begun much earlier
on the ascent to the Parthenon and therefore, the messages these particular images
conveyed, would act as a kind of narrative prelude to the major visual text spelled out
across the Parthenon on the pinnacle of the rock.
Pausanias tells us the Propylaia contained a picture gallery, so we can presume that upon
entering the covered gateway, scenes of myths and Athenian legends already informed
the eye and set the mood for the ensuing pictorial programme provided by the sculpture
on the temple.
THE APPROACH TO THE PARTHENON
SLIDE – aerial diagram
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Observers easily read the Parthenon’s simple, rectangular shape from a great distance.
However, upon drawing closer to the temple, ancient observers found an intricately
detailed decorative scheme.
Once through the Propylaia – all eyes would have immediately been drawn to two things
- the colossal bronze statue of Athena Promachos which lay straight in front of the
Propylaia and upward to the Parthenon on the right. Nobody can be sure how the ancients
approached the temple itself, or if they chose to start at one point and reading the external
sculpture in a circuit from left to right or vice versa – performed a ritualistic tour around
the Parthenon.
SLIDE – tourists approaching the Parthenon
Modern visitors follow the sun – meaning they circumnavigate the temple in the direction
that has the best light showing off the building to advantage, leaving the shaded side to
last, or neglecting it altogether. Practically without exception, they all pose for
photographs in front of the East Pediment, the traditional entrance to the temple.
Compared to we modern urban observers, the Athenians of the late fifth century were far
more visually literate. In a society in which not everyone could read, visual imagery
functioned as a literal text legible to all. Athens’ inhabitants relied on images as much as
verbal sources for everyday information. Aristotle wrote “The soul never thinks without a
mental picture”, De An 432a 17 - a nice adage suggestive of the role of visual culture in
ancient Greece.
SLIDE – West frieze
Architectural sculpture was the means of visually communicating and transmitting epics
and mythology in a society where not everybody was literate. These narratives of various
divinities formed the connective tissue of Greek beliefs and influenced everyday life.
This is demonstrated by the fact that the polis manipulated mythology to their own
political aims. The martial image of the maiden goddess Athena, both inside and outside
the temple is related to the image of Athena Promachos (meaning war-like Athens), the 9
metre high bronze statue on the acropolis also by Pheidias. Fragments of the base of that
statue bear the dedication “from the spoils of the Persians”.
The iconography of the temple sculpture was propagandist in that the metopes all
illustrate famous mythical conflicts between barbarism and civilization in which the
forces of civilization triumphed. Then there is the frieze which illustrated a part of the
Panathenaic procession (or so we think) in honour of Athene.
SLIDE – British Museum – Elgin Hall
As the sculpture from the Parthenon is scattered in museums throughout the world,
we have developed the tendency to view them as separate from the building that
once housed them. When looking at an individual piece, whether it be in the British
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Museum, the Acropolis Museum or the Louvre…I urge you to look up its original
position on the Parthenon, as the sculpture was never meant, by its creators, to be
detached from the building and to be considered out of context.
SLIDE – Carrey Comparison
The other viewing process we must try not to lose sight of is the overall impact upon
the visitor of the Parthenon as an integrated whole; we have placed so much
emphasis on the importance of the sculpture, that we forget it was only one element
in the overall discourse of the building. For all we know, the dazzling whiteness of
the pure Pentelic marble and the perfection of the fluted columns, may have
impressed the fifth century viewer more than the now celebrated frieze, which after
all…ran high up in a narrow space between the two rows of columns and was not
easy to see.
SLIDE – Dionysus figure copy on the East Pediment today showing restored block
of marble on the pediment. Notice the contrast of the new with the original marble.
One wonders what the Greeks’ restoration project will result in – perhaps a
patchwork Parthenon.
From my own experience visiting the Parthenon, I know that curiosity is taken up by the
figures still visible on the Pediment – which have recently been replaced with copies. So I
expect, the ancient viewer may have been impressed first of all by the eastern pediment
sculptures, the Gods themselves, cavorting on the temple above our heads.
SLIDE – Paccard reconstruction of East Pediment in Colour
Scholars have reconstructed the composition of the pediments but as you saw in the
comparison to Carrey’s drawings, the remains are very fragmentary.
SLIDE – West pediment as it is today – showing in situ figures of Kekrops and his
daughter Pandrossos – again, the originals have recently been taken off the temple and
placed in the Acropolis museum.
SLIDE – Kekrops and Pandrossos in the Acropolis Museum – you can see the damage
from atmospheric pollution.
Nevertheless, what remains of the giant figures of the gods, is enough to show us the
quality of the sculpture. Generations of critics have made much of the aesthetic value of
the drapery sculpted against the bodies allowing us to read the shapes of the bodies
underneath. As in the…
SLIDE – Figure of Iris
Here is the flying Iris figure which has a thin material pressed against her body as she
rushes through the air. Her body is in the British Museum and her head is in the Louvre.
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You can see the indent at her waist where a bronze belt would have been attached. Iris,
messenger of the Gods, would have had great marble and wings attached to the back,
(possibly gilded) which have now disappeared, winged sandals and probably she would
have carried a kerykeion, the symbol of the herald.
I have not got time today to go into the complete details of iconography for the two
pedimental compositions, the metopes and the frieze - however I will have some
handouts on this next Monday.
Suffice it to say that the subject of the Eastern Pediment was the Birth of Athena from the
head of Zeus and on the Western Pediment, was the competition between Athena and
Poseidon for patronage of Attica.
These two foundation myths which the pedimental compositions commemorated were, to
the Athenians of the fifth century, not only very ancient, but we can be sure, directly
relevant to a proud people who claimed to be autochtonous, that is sprung from the native
earth (unlike other Hellenic cities which had been colonized by settlers), and whose
economic prosperity manifestly depended both on the land and the sea.
So after gazing up at the Gods on the pediments, the eyes would have been drawn smaller
scale but very animated images on the frieze of metopes –
SLIDE – Metope from the Elgin collection of the south side of the temple, showing a
Lapith fighting a Centaur
I find the Metopes interesting from point of view of showing us what a large number of
different sculptors of differing skill were involved on this enormous project.
To illustrate what I mean – I show you this metope compared to another from the
Centauromachia :
SLIDE – Comparison of Metopes
This may be explained by the fact that among the sculptors of the 92 metopes there would
have been settlers from the islands known as “metoikoi”, and therefore they imported
their different styles.
SLIDE - Just to show you what daring high relief the metopes were carved in, I took
these photos in the Athens museum of a beautiful female Lapith figure being carried
off by a centaur. You can see how she steps out into space, with the foot supported
by a small platform.
SLIDE – Lapith metope again
The themes depicted on the metopes are drawn from Greek mythology. Most of them,
show a subject that is always popular in Ancient Greek art, the struggle. On the east end
or the main façade of the temple are scenes from the Gigantomachia the struggle of the
Olympian Gods against the Giants.
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On the opposite side, the west façade, are scenes of the Amazonomachia where Greeks,
with their hero Theseus, confront the Amazons, a barbaric tribe of female warriors.
On the north side were scenes from the Trojan war, especially the fall and destruction of
Troy by the Greeks but in addition to the main theme, are mythological scenes such as
Athena in the presence of Hera.
Lastly, and as mentioned before, the south side of 23 metopes depicts the
Centauromachia.
Once the ancient visitor to the Parthenon had ascended the steps up to the portico, it
might have been possible to follow the frieze around the entire building.
SLIDE – Cella - and I show you here, the actual location of the frieze and you can get an
idea of the limited space within which the observer would have stood trying to look up
and see the frieze.
SLIDE – also I show you this interesting photograph, which is a piece of history because
this is a section of what was left of the west frieze before its removal from the temple in
1993, due to worries about pollution destroying it further. Apart from some damaged
Metopes remaining, this was the last piece of sculpture on the Parthenon to be in place, it
had been there for nearly 2,500 years.
Both the Pediments and the frieze relate to the myth of Athena: and the frieze is perhaps
the more interesting for us simply because it is the best preserved unit of all the temple
sculpture. Of the original 160 metres of relief – 130 still exist today, divided mainly
between the Acropolis and the British museum. Of the 30 metres that are lost, the scenes
of some 16 metres are known from Carrey’s drawings. The rest remains unknown.
FRIEZE :
SLIDE – peplos scene situated at the middle of the East end
Its continuous strip seems to be a picture of the annual Panathenaic procession (James
Stuart, Antiquities of Athens, 1789) - bringing the sacred robe, or peplos, to the ancient
olive wood image of Athena housed in the Erechteion. The frieze does not however,
show the sacred ship on wheels, which we know from other sources formed a vital part of
the procession, so it is clearly a selective iconography we are dealing with.
SLIDE – Hydria bearers from the North frieze
The frieze shows even greater uniformity than the metopes, perhaps because the team of
sculptors who worked on it were more used to working together. There is considerable
skill in adapting the composition to the long narrow band of the frieze. Figures are shown
mounted, standing in chariots, seated or leading animals in procession, all within the 1
metre height of the frieze. The procession moves insistently forward (very few figures
look back) – and yet the rhythym of figures and narrative changes constantly – galloping
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along the sides of the temple, but slowing down at the approach to the sacred scene over
the entrance of the birth of Athena.
The handling of relief too, is extremely skilful.
SLIDE – Horsemen rearing from the West Frieze
Notice here how the horses are shown overlapping, yet nowhere is the relief deeper than
5 cm. Visually, the frieze contrasts against the high relief of the metopes and the freestanding figures of the pediments, figures created in the round with even their backs
perfectly finished, despite never been seen by observers below. It is often a question
raised by modern art historians, why did they bother to create such a masterpiece as the
frieze, if it might only be glimpsed high up between the columns? I think the fact that the
Pediment figures were all created perfectly in the round, indicates that we are not looking
simply at decoration of a temple here for purely aesthetic purposes, in which case, the
partly hidden frieze need not have been so fine and the Pediment figures could have been
roughly finished at the back (as is the custom in much Christian art) - this all points to the
over-riding sacred nature of the exercise and is a strong reminder that the Greeks created
these superb works of art primarily to please the eyes of the Gods.
SLIDE – back of Ilissos
Despite the fame of the frieze today, we need to guard against exaggerating the regard for
these works at the time. I have already mentioned that Pausanias pays no attention to the
external sculpture in his description and this may indicate that for him, it was only one of
many sets of sculpture, and individual votive statues were better or more highly thought
of in ancient Greece.
CONCLUSION
Certainly our assessment of the Parthenon sculptures as ‘great works of art’ is not the
same as ‘reading’ them in the way a fifth-century Athenian might. We can however point
to aspects that may have been important such as the size of the temple which was the
largest we know of in Greece and the fact that no other temple had been as extensively
decorated with sculpture before – as factors that describe the prestige, even the identity,
of the polis which was intimately involved in the entire project.
Finally, we can say that the Parthenon helped to reinforce traditional values and to help
shape new ones. The huge effort and expense that went into the completion of the
Parthenon and its sculptures meant that Pericles commissioned the best living artists and
architects of the time. As a result, we can recognize that there is a development in Greek
art in which the Parthenon sculptures represent the High Classical Moment.
Just as modern viewers regard them as outstanding works of genius that have had a
civilizing influence on art since the eighteenth century, I like to think that Pericles too,
saw the Parthenon as raising awareness of the special nature and civilizing mission of
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Athens a sentiment that can be found in these words attributed to Pericles by Thucydides
:
“We are called a democracy because Athens is run with the interests of the majority in
mind…we are lovers of beauty yet without extravagance and lovers of wisdom without
being soft…our city as a whole is an education for Greece.”
THE END
(Thucydides History, Life of Pericles, speech delivered at the state funeral for the brave
warriors who had died in the first year of war).