Inventory number
Ακρ. 1071
Artist
Attic workshop
Category
Architectural sculpture
Period
Classical Period
Date
409-406 BC
Dimensions
Height: 0.49 m
Length: 0.31 m
Width: 0.1 m
Material
Marble from Paros
Location
First Floor, West
Part of the frieze from the Erechtheion's cella which depicts two women moving to the viewer’s right. The first woman seems to take the initiative and open the way supporting her companion by the shoulders. The latter is of young age as her almost flat bosom suggests.
The group possibly represents Demeter and her daughter, Persephone. It has also been suggested that the two women are two of Kekrops' daughters whom Athena had entrusted with guarding the box that contained Erichthonios. Kekrops' grave was anyhow located in the northwest part of the Erechtheion, behind the Korai porch. According to another approach, the left figure belongs to a man, Pelias, who is guided by one of his daughters.
The Erechtheion's frieze ran along the upper part of the walls of the cella, as well as the north porch. It was adorned with figures of gods, heroes and mortals with the figures depicted on the porch frieze rendered slightly larger in size than the rest. They all were worked on all sides except the back side, carved in white marble from the island of Paros and fastened with metal brackets onto background slabs of gray stone from Eleusis. The surviving frieze fragments are just a few, therefore, our understanding of the frieze's original theme, which possibly relates to the myths and cults associated with the Erechtheion and more specifically Erichthonios, is not possible. The inscription Ακρ. 6667 δ preserves the names of some of the artists who sculpted the figures as well as their wages.
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