Marble metope from the Parthenon
The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, around 440 BC
1. A fight between a human Lapith and a Centaur
The sculpted decoration of the Parthenon included ninety-two metopes showing scenes of mythical battle. Those on the south flank of the temple included a series featuring human Lapiths in mortal combat with Centaurs. The Centaurs were part-man and part-horse, thus having a civil and a savage side to their nature. The Lapiths, a neighbouring Greek tribe, made the mistake of giving the Centaurs wine at the marriage feast of their king, Peirithoos. The Centaurs attempted to rape the women, with their leader Eurytion trying to carry off the bride. A general battle ensued, with the Lapiths finally victorious.Here a young Lapith holds a Centaur from behind with one hand, while preparing to deliver a blow with the other. The composition is perfectly balanced, with the protagonists pulling in opposite directions, around a central space filled by the cascading folds of the Lapith's cloak.
B.F. Cook, The Elgin Marbles, 2nd edition (London, The B.F. Cook, The Elgin Marbles, 2nd edition (London, The British Museum Press, 199)
2. Figure of Dionysos from the east pediment of the Parthenon
The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, about 438-432 BC
The central section of the east pediment of the Parthenon showed the birth of Athena. The myth was not often depicted in classical times, although it had been popular in the Archaic period, especially on vases. This reclining figure almost certainly represents Dionysos, god of wine. He looked out from the pediment towards the corner and the chariot of Helios, god of the sun, rising at daybreak.
Pediments are the triangular spaces formed by the pitch of the roof of a Greek temple, one at either end of the building. They were often filled with sculpture representing mythological subjects. The triangular frame of the pediment presented a challenge to the designers of the sculpture placed within. There was a danger that figures at the centre would appear as giants compared with those that occupied the corners. This discrepancy in scale was lessened by allowing figures towards the corners to sit, and right in the corners, to recline. This reclining male nude is well adapted to his position.
B.F. Cook, The Elgin Marbles, 2nd edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)
3. Figure of a river-god from the west pediment of the Parthenon
The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, about 438-432 BC
Possibly the river Ilissos
The reclining figures in the corners of the triangular composition perhaps represent the rivers of Attica. This figure, from the left-hand corner, is thought to personify the river Ilissos, by comparison with figures on the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia; the Greek historian Pausanias names them as the local rivers there.
The naked youth's languid form is well adapted to the raking angle of the pediment that framed him. He appears as if caught in the action of raising himself onto a rock. A piece of drapery hangs wet and clinging to his left arm.
B.F. Cook, The Elgin Marbles, 2nd edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)
