The Treasures of the Parthenon and Erechtheion

1991

Dissertation, Princeton University 1991.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2010

So many books about the Parthenon have appeared in recent years that it is reasonable to ask whether the appearance of yet another is helpful. Iconic the building may be-and the editor of these essays, Jenifer Neils, whose knowledge of the building and its ornament is second to none, makes a good case for the use of that loaded term-but do we really need at this point in the history of Parthenon Studies another series of essays on the structure? The answer is predictable: yes, and no. No, if little or nothing is added to what is already published, and yes, if new evidence is brought to bear, or new theories, or new methods of enquiry and analytical techniques. Moreover, at a moment when the restoration work of Manolis Korres and his team has yielded so much new information, and the new museum at the foot of the Acropolis is now open, it can fairly be argued that another account of the building is timely. The contributors are all seasoned authorities. The contents of the book are as follows:

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. This content downloaded from 128.239.118.62 on Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:03:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ATHENIANS AND ELEUSINIANS IN THE WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON (PLATE 95) T HE IDENTIFICATION of the figures in the west pediment of the Parthenon has long been problematic. I The evidence readily enables us to reconstruct the composition of the pediment and to identify its central figures. The subsidiary figures, however, are rather more difficult to interpret. I propose that those on the left side of the pediment may be identified as members of the Athenian royal family, associated with the goddess Athena, and those on the right as members of the Eleusinian royal family, associated with the god Poseidon. This alignment reflects the strife of the two gods on a heroic level, by referring to the legendary war between Athens and Eleusis. The recognition of the disjunction between Athenians and Eleusinians and of parallelism and contrast between individuals and groups of figures on the pediment permits the identification of each figure. The reference to Eleusis in the pediment, moreover, indicates the importance of that city and its major cult, the Eleusinian Mysteries, to the Athenians. The reference reflects the development and exploitation of Athenian control of the Mysteries during the Archaic and Classical periods. This new proposal for the identification of the subsidiary figures of the west pediment thus has critical I This article has its origins in a paper I wrote in a graduate seminar directed by Professor John Pollini at The Johns Hopkins University in 1979. I returned to this paper to revise and expand its ideas during 1986/1987, when I held the Jacob Hirsch Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. In the summer of 1988, I was given a grant by the Committee on Research of Tulane University to conduct further research for the article. I express my sincere gratitude to the Tulane Committee on Research and to the American School of Classical Studies for their support. I also thank the following persons for their invaluable assistance with my research and the writing of this article: . Without their suggestions, criticisms, and encouragment, this article would not have been completed. Works frequently cited are abbreviated as follows: Becatti,"Postille" = G. Becatti, "Postille partenoniche," ArchCl 17, 1965, pp. 54-78 Brommer, Skulpturen = F. Brommer, Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel, Mainz 1963 Carrara, Eretteo = P. Carrara, Euripide: Eretteo, Florence 1977 Harrison, "U" = E. Harrison, "U and Her Neighbors in the West Pediment of the Parthenon," in Essays in the History of Art Presented to Rudolf Wittkower, London 1967, pp. 1-9 Jeppesen, "Bild" = K. Jeppesen, "Bild und Mythus an dem Parthenon," Acta Arch 34,1963, pp. 1-96 Kron, Phylenheroen = U. Kron, Die zehn attischen Phylenheroen. Geschichte, Mythos, Kult und Darstellungen, Berlin 1976 Kron, "Erechtheus" = U. Kron, s.v. Erechtheus, LIMC IV, i, 1988, pp. 923-951 Lacore = M. Lacore, "Euripide et le culte de Poseidon-Erechthee," REA 85, 1983, pp. 215-234 Murray = A. Murray, The Sculptures of the Parthenon, London 1903 Richardson, Hymn = The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, N. Richardson, ed., Oxford 1974 Toepifer, Genealogie = I. Toepifer, Attische Genealogie, Berlin 1889 Weidauer, "Eumolpus" = L. Weidauer, "Eumolpus und Athen. Eine ikonographische Studie," AA (JdI 100) 1985, pp. 195-210 This content downloaded from 128.239.118.62 on Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:03:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions implications for the interpretation of the pedimental composition as a whole and its role in Athenian propaganda of the Periclean period. THE EVIDENCE Although the explosion of 1687 caused serious damage to the west pediment and its sculptures, the surviving fragments of the sculptures and the Carrey drawings of the pediment (P1. 95), which predate the explosion, enable us to reconstruct the composition (Fig. 1).2 The pedimental composition is divided into three main groups: a central group, portrayed in violent motion, and on either side of this group a collection of figures portrayed at rest, watching the action of the center. From Pausanias (1.24.5) we know that this scene is the contention of Athena and Poseidon for Attica.3 Apollodoros (Bibl. 3.14.1) relates the details of this strife.4 The two divinities disputed the possession of Attica during the reign of King Kekrops. They each produced a sign indicating that they had taken possession of the city: Poseidon, by striking his trident on the ground, brought forth a salt spring; Athena produced an olive tree. A dispute then arose between the two gods, and Zeus appointed a judge: either one of the Attic kings (Kekrops, Kranaos, or Erysichthon), or the twelve gods. Athena was adjudged the winner of the contest, and Poseidon flooded the Thriasian plain in revenge. From this evidence and other literary and artistic depictions of the myth, all of which postdate the Parthenon, the figures of the central group of the pediment have been identified with reasonable certainty as Athena (Figure L) and Poseidon (Figure M), the charioteers Nike (Figure G) and Amphitrite (Figure 0), and the messenger gods Hermes (Figure H) and Iris (Figure N).5 2 The sculptures of the west pediment are published in Brommer, Skulpturen, pp. 30-61, pls. 81-131. For a bibliography of all work on the Parthenon and its sculptures up to 1984, see "Parthenon-Bibliographie," in Parthenon-Kongress Basel. Referate und Berichte 4. bis 8. April 1982, E. Berger, ed., Mainz 1984, pp. 459-495. For work on the sculpture of the west pediment since the publication of this bibliography, see the following: J. Binder, "The West Pediment of the Parthenon: Poseidon," Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on his 80th Birthday (GRBS Monographs 10), K. Rigsby, ed., Durham, North Carolina 1984, pp. 15-22; J. Boardman, The Parthenon and its Sculptures, London 1985; M. Wegner, "Wagenlenkerin der Athena aus dem Westgiebel des Parthenon," AM 101,1986, pp. 149-152; B. Cook, "Parthenon West Pediment B/C: The Serpent Fragment," in Kanon: Festschrift Ernst Berger (AntK Beiheft 15), M. Schmidt, ed., Basel 1988, pp. 4-7. The Carrey drawings are published in T. Bowie and D. Thimme, The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures, Bloomington, Indiana 1971. 3I use the word "contention" in this article in order to include both the actual contest of the gods and their later conflict over the results of that contest. As Erika Simon has shown in her article on the central group ("Die Mittelgruppe im Westgiebel des Parthenon," in Tainia: Festschriftfiur Roland Hampe, H. Cahn and E. Simon, edd., Mainz 1980, pp. 239-255), the actual moment depicted in the pediment is after the contest, when an angry Poseidon is attacking Attica; Zeus stops this conflict by hurling his thunderbolt between the two combatants. Simon's interpretation of the pediment recently has been corroborated in the discovery of a vase from Pella showing the thunderbolt between Athena and Poseidon. For the vase, see footnote 71 below. 20 H. Brunn, "Die Bildwerke des Parthenon," Kleine Schriften II, H. Bulle and H. Brunn, edd., Leipzig/Berlin 1905 (pp. 255-282), pp. 270-277. Brommer (Skulpturen, p. 182) gives a chart of Brunn's identifications. Since these identifications have been generally rejected, I do not cite them in my discussion of the identification of the individual figures below. 21 A. Furtwangler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, E. Sellers, ed., London 1895, p. 458. On the question of attributes, see also footnote 17 above. 22 See, e.g., Robertson (footnote 19 above), loc. cit.; B. Ridgway, review of F. Brommer, Die Giebel des

In memory of Erika Simonteacher, mentor, friend From earliest times there is a clear preference for snakes in the pediments of the Athenians' temples on the Acropolis. The limestone "Hekatompedon" constructed ca. 560 B.C. featured in one pediment a Triton being wrestled to the ground by Herakles and an enigmatic monster, nicknamed "Blue Beard", whose triple torsos terminate in three entwined snake appendages. The corners of the opposite pediment were filled with two undulating snakes flanking the central sculptural composition (Fig. 1). A much smaller pediment, possibly decorating a treasury, shows the hero Herakles again, here fighting the Hydra of Lerna that consists of multiple snakes. 1 The Old Athena Temple of ca. 500 B.C. displayed a striding Athena in its pediment, attacking a giant; in her left hand she clutches one of the many large snakes surrounding her aegis. 2 This predilection for snakes continues unabated in the Classical period; a large snake stood under the right hand of the chryselephantine Athena Parthenos of Pheidias holding Nike (see below). East metope 2 of the Parthenon depicted Dionysos accompanied by a large snake added in bronze during his attack on the giant Eurytos. 3 The Parthenon's pedimental sculpture continues the theme. In this chapter I present new identifications for the two male figures closely associated with snakes in the Parthenon's west pediment, and subsequently argue for new reaings of some of the subsidiary figures witnessing the central dramatic narrative, the "strife" between Athena and Poseidon, as identified by Pausanias (1.24.5). 4 The west pediment is the earliest surviving pictorial representation of this contest, and the earliest literary reference to this dispute appears in Herodotus (8.55) in his discussion of the olive tree on the Acropolis burned by the Persians. 5 The strife could in fact be a relatively new aetiological myth serving to link Athena more closely with the olive tree and explain what may have been an unusual saltwater spring on the Acropolis.

Kernos, 2021

The location of the temple of the mythical king Erechtheus, known as the “Erechtheion”, on the Acropolis of Athens is an old topographical problem. Over the centuries, the Erechtheion’s traditional identification with a part of the Karyatid Temple on the north side of the Acropolis has attracted considerable doubt. However, alternative locations have not been commonly accepted. The present article begins with an analysis of the problem and previous proposals. It then considers the hypothesis that the Erechtheion was situated on the so-called “Dörpfeld foundation” in the middle of the Acropolis, the site of an Archaic building that was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BCE. Many scholars already locate the Archaic incarnation of the Erechtheion in a part of this building and suppose that, following its destruction, the Erechtheion was relocated to the Karyatid Temple. The present article, however, argues that the Erechtheion was not moved, but continued to be recognized in the Dörpfeld foundation until the end of antiquity. L’emplacement du temple du roi mythique Érechthée, connu sous le nom d’Érechthéion, sur l’Acropole d’Athènes est un vieux problème topographique. Au fil des siècles, l’identification traditionnelle de l’Érechthéion avec une partie du temple des Caryatides dans la partie nord de l’Acropole a suscité de nombreux doutes. D’autres emplacements proposés n’ont toutefois pas été communément acceptés. Le présent article analyse tout d’abord le problème et les propositions antérieures. Il examine ensuite l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’Érechthéion était situé sur la « fondation Dörpfeld » au milieu de l’Acropole, le site d’un bâtiment archaïque détruit par les Perses en 480 avant notre ère. De nombreux savants situent déjà la version archaïque de l’Érechthéion dans une partie de ce bâtiment et supposent qu’après sa destruction, l’Érechthéion a été déplacé vers le temple des Caryatides. Le présent article soutient que l’Érechthéion n’a pas été déplacé, mais qu’il a continué à être reconnu dans la fondation Dörpfeld jusqu’à la fin de l’Antiquité. Please refer to the Kernos website to order the volume: http://web.philo.ulg.ac.be/kernos/

1995

Axon: Studies in Honor of Ronald S. Stroud, 2015

This essay provides the editio princeps of a fragmentary account found in the area of Plaka (Athens). The inscription dates to the second half of the 4th century B.C., probably in the Lycurgan period. It records expenses for building activity at an unknown location. It is possible, albeit not certain, that the account was issued by the officials of the Eleusinian cult and that it was originally set up in the City Eleusinion.

2016

One of the world’s most beautiful and iconic structures, the Parthenon, the temple of the Virgin goddess Athena, boldly displays the culmination of culture and civilization upon the Acropolis in Athens, Greece and in Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee. I have attempted to research the history, architecture, and sculpture of the magnificent marble edifice by analyzing the key themes and elements that compose the great work: culture, civilization, and rebirth. Using a musical sonata form to display my research, I wished to convey a digestible analysis of how the Parthenon and its connotations transcend time through rebirth in Nashville, Tennessee. Known as the “Athens of the South,” Nashville continues the culture displayed in Ancient Greece and symbolizes this through the city’s scale replication of the Parthenon within Centennial Park. In the first century A.D., Plutarch wrote Greek history so that the Greeks could recall the history that was gradually fading from their memorie...