Inventory number
Ακρ. 1288
Artist
Attic workshop
Category
Architectural sculpture
Period
Classical Period
Date
409-406 BC
Dimensions
Height: 0.19 m
Length: 0.28 m
Width: 0.14 m
Material
Marble from Paros
Location
First Floor, West
Fragment from the Erechtheion's cella frieze on which preserved is part of a group of female figures. The woman on the viewer’s left kneels next to the legs of another standing woman. The group most possibly relates to the myth of Kekrops' three daughters whom Athena entrusted with guarding baby Erichthonios. The kneeling woman may be Aglauros who asks the goddess for forgiveness or Pandrosos who asks Athena to forgive her sister. It has been also suggested that the kneeling woman is Pandrosos shown at the moment the goddess gives her Erichthonios.
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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