The Sculptures of the Parthenon. 대영 박물관(The British Museum). 런던(London)

The Sculptures of the Parthenon.

대영 박물관(The British Museum). 런던(London). 영국(England)

britishmuseum.org

 

Section diagram of the Parthenon

showing the position of the sculptures.

 

 

The Sculptures of the Parthenon

The Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens was constructed between 447 and 438 BC and was dedicated to Athena, patron goddess of the city; it housed a colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess by the sculptor Pheidias. The temple was richly decorated with sculptures representing scenes from mythology and cult: a frieze (carved in low relief) ran around all four sides of the building inside the colonnade.

Metopes (rectangular slabs carved in high relief) were placed above the architrave on the outside of the temple, and pedimental sculptures, carved in the round, filled the gables at either end (they were produced between 438 and 432 BC).

 

The Parthenon and its sculptures remained largely intact until the temple was converted into a church, perhaps around AD 500, when half of the east pediment was removed and most of the metopes were defaced. In 1687 the building was reduced to ruins by an explosion of gunpowder stored there by the Turkish garrison. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lord Elgin's agents removed a number of sculptures to England. Acquired by Parliament for The British Museum in 1816, they are now displayed in the gallery endowed by the late Lord Duveen.

 

Other museums where sculptures from the Parthenon may be seen include the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Louvre in Paris and the National Museum, Copenhagen.

 

 

The Parthenon seen from the north west.

 

The Frieze

 

The Parthenon Frieze (now displayed in the main body of this gallery) embellished all four sides of the building, high up on the outside of the walls beneath the ceiling of the colonnade.

It shows a procession, which begins at the west end and is then divided to run along both the north and south sides. on the east end the leaders of the procession converge towards the gods seated in two groups.

 

The procession is that of the Panathenaic Festival in which Athens commemorated the birthday of Athena, patron goddess of the city. Every fourth year the Festival was celebrated with particular splendour as the Great Panathenais, when the procession carried a specially woven robe, or peplos, to the Acropolis, where it was dedicated to the goddess.

 

The Frieze represents various groups who took part in the procession. The west frieze, which faces the entrance of the Acropolis and is still largely in AThens, shows horsemen preparing to mount or moving off. The cavalcade continues on the north side, where the riders occupy twenty-one of the forty-seven slabs. Ahead of them are chariots and then groups of pedestrians: elders, musicians, pitcher-bearers and attendants leading sacrificial victims. The procession follows a similar pattern on the south side of the building. It continues on to the east end with girls carrying paraphernalia for the cult, including jugs and bowls for pouring libations. Towards the middle of the frieze they approach groups of standing men, who may be magistrates or tribal heroes, and of seated gods, who are shown on a larger scale than the mortals. In the centre of the east frieze (shown opposite the entrance of the gallery) are the priestess of Athena, two girls carrying stools and the peplos itself in the hands of another religious official and a child.

 

 

 Parthenon metopes

 The Parthenon metopes are rectangular slabs placed over the columns on all four sides of teh temple. All ninety-two metopes of the Parthenon were carved in high relief with scenes from Greek mythology. on the west side the carvings show combat between Greeks and Amazons, on the north, scenes from the destruction of Troy. on the east side, gods battle with giants. The theme of teh surviving metopes on the south side is a fight between centaurs and human Lapiths, who were supposed to live in northern Greece.

 

All the metopes in the British Museum show this theme. The occasion for the battle is probably the wedding of Perithoos, king of the Lapiths. The centaurs, part man part horse, were invited to the feast but became drun, and a fight broke out as they tried to carry off the Lapith women.

 

 

East pediment

Pediments are the triangular gable ends of a Greek temple, which were often filled with sculpture. Pausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD. reports that the east pediment of the Parthenon represented the birth of Athena. Drawings made in 1674, probably by Jacques Carrey, show the positions of the few figures that survived in his day. Most of them are exhibited here and come from the two corners.

At the centre of the pediment and now lost were the colossal figures of Athena herself, her father Zeus and brother, Hephaistos, the god of smiths.

 

 

 

 

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