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The Parthenon, east pediment A–C

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

B. F. Cook
B. F. Cook*
Affiliation:
British Museum
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Abstract

A new examination, prompted by Dr Peter Calligas, of Parthenon East Pediment C (two horses of Helios), suggests that the underside was trimmed when the group was installed in the pediment. The recutting of pedimental sculptures of the Parthenon to fit beneath the raking cornice is well attested for other figures, but has not previously been suggested for this block.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 88 , November 1993 , pp. 183 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1993

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References

1 I am grateful to Peter Calligas for raising this topic in the first place, and to I. D. Jenkins, O. Palagia, and D. J. R. Williams for reading and improving my typescript. The photographs, specially taken by P. E. Nicholls of the British Museum Photographic Service, who also prepared the photomontage, are published by permission of the British Museum. Special abbreviations:

‘Brommer, Giebel’ = Brommer, F., Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel (Mainz, 1963)Google Scholar

‘Smith’ = Smith, A. H., The Sculptures of the Parthenon (London, 1910)Google Scholar

2 Fuchs, W., review of Brommer, Giebel, in Gnomon, 39 (1967), 160.Google Scholar

3 Brommer, F., ‘Studien zu den Parthenongiebeln V’, AM 84 (1969), 105, pl. 40. 2.Google Scholar

4 Sauer, B., ‘Untersuchungen über die Giebelgruppen des Parthenon’, AM 16 (1891), 84.Google Scholar I know of no earlier suggestion that such cuttings (including that in the head of the horse of Selene to accommodate the raking cornice) were made when the sculptures were set in the pediment. Many later authors mention the phenomenon.

5 ‘Die Unterseite des Blocks ist nicht ganz eben, sondern ist am rechten Ende der Vorderansicht etwas mehr abgearbeitet, so dass die Unterseite dort nicht ganz aufliegt’. Brommer, Giebel, 5; cf. pl. 20. 2; Smith pl. 1.

6 Smith, 14, with fig. 26.

7 Cf. Fuchs, , Gnomon, 39 (1967), 161.Google Scholar Not the plinth, as suggested by Sauer, , AM 16 (1891), 81.Google Scholar

8 Smith, 9, fig. 15; Palagia, O., The Pediments of the Parthenon (Leiden, 1993)Google Scholar, fig. 30 (photograph DAI Athens 75/530, taken before the block was removed from the pediment in 1988). I am grateful to Dr Palagia for allowing me to consult her typescript before publication.

9 Smith, 8, fig. 13.

10 Smith, 9; cf. Brommer, Giebel, pl. 24. 1.