On the right of the slab is a warrior pursuing a foe flying to the right.--_Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 1 feet 5-1/2 inches; length, 6 feet 8-1/2 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 160 (259); Ross, pl. 11, i.; _Mus.
Marbles_, IX., pl. 9; Baumeister, fig. 1240; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 118.
[Sidenote: =422.=]
The first figure on the left of the slab appears to be hastening to the a.s.sistance of the flying warrior on the right of the slab just described. Next is a complicated group of five warriors fighting for the body of a wounded man. The latter has sunk helplessly on the ground. He is half raised and clasped under the arms by a friend who attempts to draw him away; a foe tries to seize an ankle, and covers himself meanwhile with his outstretched shield. More in the background two adversaries are engaged in hot combat. The warrior on the left probably had a sword, and that on the right a spear. A friend of the fallen man hastens up from the left. The right thigh of this figure, which is now wanting, is preserved in a drawing by Pars.
On the right are two pairs of combatants. In one of these groups a warrior, who has fallen on his right knee, tries to defend himself with his shield, while with the right hand he seizes a stone.
The antagonist has his right arm raised to strike, perhaps with a battleaxe, and seizes with his left hand the shield of the kneeling figure. On the right of the slab one of the warriors flies before the a.s.sault of his antagonist, whose arms are both raised to strike him.--_Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 5-1/2 inches; length, 6 feet 7-3/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 161 (260); Ross, pl. 11, k.; _Mus.
Marbles_, IX., pl. 10; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd. ed., I., fig.
81, p. q.; Baumeister, fig. 1239; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 118.
On the right of the slab described was the return of the corner slab of the south side, with a combat of two warriors.
Ross, pl. 11, 1.; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 81, r.
There is a considerable variety of costumes on the west side of the frieze. Some of the figures are nude; others wear the chlamys only, the chiton only, or the two garments together. The chiton is sometimes worn on both shoulders, and some times only on one shoulder. The warriors are for the most part armed with helmets and large bucklers.
In two instances a cap of a flexible material is worn instead of a helmet. None, however, of the costumes are non-h.e.l.lenic; and further the attempt made by Overbeck (i. p. 365), to show that the helmet of the figure on the extreme right of the frieze is distinctively B[oe]otian, is untenable (Wolters, p. 284).
THE NORTH AND SOUTH FRIEZES.
[Sidenote: =423.=]
Slab containing a part of the battle between Greeks and Persians. In the first group on the left, a Persian has fallen on his right knee, raising his right arm to defend his head. The antagonist presses his left foot on the right thigh of the Persian, raising his right arm for a spear thrust, and probably seizing the hair of the Persian with his left hand. Next is a group of two Persians and a Greek. One of the Persians lies dead on the ground; his mounted comrade urges his horse against the Greek, who draws back, and raises his arm to strike with a battle-axe.
The next group is composed of two Persians on foot and a Greek. In the centre is a wounded Persian, who has been forced down on his left knee and extends his arms forward in entreaty to the Greek, who drags him along, grasping the head of the Persian with his left hand. The right hand of the Greek must have held either a spear or a sword. On the right the other Persian turns back to defend his fallen comrade against the Greek. Both arms are raised to strike, and probably wielded a battle-axe. At his left side hangs a quiver. On the extreme right is a Greek moving to the right in pursuit of a flying Persian of whom only the leg and part of the drapery round the loins remain. The ground on which this scene takes place is rocky.--_Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 5-1/2 inches; length, 5 feet 10 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 158 (258); Ross, pl. 12, o; _Mus.
Marbles_, IX., pl. 7; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig.
81, i-l; Baumeister, fig. 1237; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 117.
[Sidenote: =424.=]
The first pair of combatants on the left are a Persian, who has fallen on his right knee, and who holds up a shield in the form of a crescent, on his left arm to defend himself, and his antagonist, who advances from the right.
Next is a combat between a Greek on foot and a mounted Persian. The latter draws back his right hand, which must have been armed with a spear aimed at the Greek advancing from the left. The horse of the Persian rears as if to strike down with his forefeet the left arm of the Greek, which is thrust forward, protected by his shield. A dead Persian lies on the ground.
Behind the mounted Persian is a comrade, hastening to the left, and pursued by a Greek of whom nothing remains except part of his shield and of the drapery round his loins. This closes the scene on the right.--_Elgin Coll._
Pentelic marble; height, 1 foot 5-1/2 inches; length, 6 feet 1-1/4 inches. _Synopsis_, No. 159 (257); Ross, pl. 12, fig. g; _Mus.
Marbles_, IX., pl. 8; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig.
81, m, n; Baumeister, fig. 1238; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 117. On the position of these slabs, cf. p. 240.
[Sidenote: =425.=]
A plaster cast from one of the slabs now in position on the temple. On the left is a mutilated group representing a Greek warrior turning to a.s.sist a comrade who has fallen on his right knee. Next is a Greek moving forward to pursue a mounted Persian who is flying to the right.
On the extreme right a Persian on foot flies in the same direction. A slain Persian lies in the foreground. The position of this slab on the temple at the south-east angle is fixed by the relief on its return face which is part of the composition of the eastern front. This return is not given in the cast here described.
Height, 1 foot 5-1/2 inches; length, 3 feet 11-1/4 inches. Ross, pl. 12, fig. a; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 81, g, h; Murray, II., pl. 16, fig. 1.
The dress of the Persians in this frieze is the usual chiton with long sleeves, girt at the waist, and close-fitting trousers, _anaxyrides_.
One of them, the kneeling figure in No. 424, wears a quiver and bow case, _gorytos_, from which appears the end of his bow, and two others wear quivers. The only Persian whose face is preserved is bearded, and wears the Persian headdress, the _kidaris_. The heads and weapons of both sets of combatants have been nearly all destroyed. Some of the Greeks are armed with the Argolic buckler. Others have a chlamys wound round the left arm or hanging loose from the body.
CASTS FROM THE BAl.u.s.tRADE OF THE TEMPLE OF NIKe APTEROS.
The temple of Nike Apteros stood on a lofty projecting bastion, as may be seen from the model of the Acropolis. This bastion was surrounded for safety with a breast-high parapet, consisting of a frieze of sculpture in relief, facing outwards, surmounted by a bronze screen.
Several fragments of the frieze or bal.u.s.trade were discovered on the site, in 1835. (Ross, pl. 13.) Additional fragments were found by Beule in 1852, and in more recent excavations to the east of the temple of Nike, and on the south slope of the Acropolis. They are preserved in the Acropolis Museum at Athens.
The sculptures are too mutilated to be arranged in one composition.
It is evident, however, that the frieze consisted of figures of Victories, variously engaged. Some lead bulls to sacrifice, while others are erecting or decking trophies in the presence of Athene.
There is some uncertainty as to the date of the frieze. It cannot be older than the temple, and therefore not earlier than 432 B.C. Kekule (_Bal.u.s.trade_, p. 22), and Wolters (p. 289) hold that the frieze was produced immediately after that date. But a more admissible view is that which puts the bal.u.s.trade at the very close of the fifth century.
If the different fragments of the bal.u.s.trade are examined, they seem to reveal a combination of various schools and methods. No. 426, severely draped in chiton and diplodion, seems to have the somewhat stiff dignity best seen in sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, but occasionally suggested by the Parthenon sculptures. The figures of Athene (Kekule, _Bal.u.s.trade_, pl. ii.), have the spirit of the Parthenon frieze. In No. 427 and No. 428, the artist dwells on and emphasises the nude form, displaying it through transparent drapery in a manner that may well be supposed to have been that of the transition from Pheidias to Praxiteles. Finally, in the figure leading the bull (No. 429), there is a florid wealth of drapery, which, among early works, only finds a partial a.n.a.logy in the frieze of Phigaleia, and which appears more akin to the Nike of Samothrace than to Attic work of the fifth century. This want of uniformity in style suggests a time of transition in which the traditions of the school of Pheidias were still to some extent operative, while newer tendencies were beginning to make themselves felt. Perhaps also they indicate that the work was spread over a s.p.a.ce of several years, such as might be expected in the troubled close of the fifth century B.C.
Height of Bal.u.s.trade, 3 feet 2 inches. Ross, p. 17, pl. 13 (cf.
ante, p. 241); Michaelis, _Arch. Zeit._, 1862, p. 249. All the materials are collected by Kekule, _Die Reliefs an der Bal.u.s.trade der Athena Nike_ (1881), which superseded Kekule, _Die Bal.u.s.tr. d.
Tempels d. Athena Nike_ (1869). See also Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 369; Murray, II., p. 186; Wolters, Nos. 761-804.
_Stereoscopic_, Nos. 158-160.
[Sidenote: =426.=]
Victory standing, half turned to the left. She holds a greave in her left hand, with which she was probably decking a trophy. She wears a leather helmet.
Kekule, _Bal.u.s.trade_, pl. 5, fig. R; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 82.
[Sidenote: =427.=]
Winged Victory turned to the left stoops forward, raising her right foot in order to adjust or unfasten her sandal. A somewhat similar incident is seen on the Parthenon frieze, (west side, No. 29). There, however, the figure has his foot resting on a rock, while here the Victory balances herself on the left foot with the right leg high in the air, in a position of effort such as does not occur on the frieze of the Parthenon.
Ross, pl. 13, figs. B, Bb; Kekule, _Bal.u.s.trade_, pl. 4, fig. O; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 82; Murray, II., pl. 16, fig. 4; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 35. The meaning of the subject is not known. In the ritual inscription of Andania the initiated are ordered to have bare feet, and possibly the Victory is supposed to be removing her sandals before entering a shrine. Dittenberger, _Syll._, 388, 15, cf. _ibidem_, 357, 25.
[Sidenote: =428=]
Winged Victory standing turned to the left, the right arm advanced.
The right hand and all the left arm being broken away, the motive of this figure has not been ascertained, but probably the Victory was decking a trophy.
Kekule, _Bal.u.s.trade_, pl. 4, fig. M; _Arch. Zeit._, 1862, pl. 162; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 82; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 35.
[Sidenote: =429.=]
Two winged Victories about to sacrifice a bull, which one of them is holding back as it springs forward. The other Victory leads the way, moving to the right.
Ross, pl. 13, fig. A; Kekule, _Bal.u.s.trade_, pl. 1, fig. A; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., fig. 82; Murray, II., pl. 16, fig. 3; Brunn, _Denkmaeler_, No. 34.