Inventory number
Ακρ. 4865
Artist
Pheidias' workshop
Category
Architectural sculpture
Period
Classical Period
Date
442-438 BC
Dimensions
Fragment of the middle rider's head: 0.11 x 0.085 x 0.035 m
Material
Marble from Penteli
Location
Parthenon Gallery
Fragment from Block XI adjusted to the plaster cast of the original one kept today in the British Museum in London. The fragment was found in 1908 outside of the Beulé gate. It retains part of the middle horseman’s head. All three riders depicted on Block XI gallop to the viewer’s right and wear a cuirass over a short chiton and embades. Each horse partly overlaps with the preceding rider’s body and the scene extends to the adjacent Blocks XII (MA ANT. 008), and X (ΜΑ ΑΝΤ. 007), which are both housed in the British Museum.
.The frieze on the south side of the Parthenon depicts part of the procession formed by the people of Athens during the Panathenaic festival in honour of the protectress of the city, Athena. The procession's destination was the Temple of Athena Polias on the Acropolis. Its purpose was the transportation of the Panathenaic peplos destined to adorn the age-old xoanon of the goddess and the offer of a grand sacrifice of animals at the Great Altar outside of the temple.
On the south frieze the procession moves along the Panathenaic Way. Youths that lead sacrificial young cows precede. They are followed by more young men who carry offerings. Behind them come musicians with guitars, officials holding olive branches, eleven chariots that participate in an equestrian event, and finally sixty riders divided in ten groups.
The south frieze is fragmentarily preserved due to the bombardment of the Parthenon by the Venetians under the command of general Francesco Morosini in 1687 which caused extensive damages to the middle of the long sides of the temple. The drawings attributed to the painter Jacques Carrey, who visited the Acropolis in 1674, just thirteen years before its bombardment by Morosini, are an invaluable resource for our understanding of quite a few parts of this side of the frieze (Blocks XX - XXXVIII). Three blocks (XXII, XXX και XXXVIII) were already lost by then as they were removed during the conversion of the Parthenon into a Christian church so that windows would be opened in the blocks' positions.
The initial length of the south frieze was 58.70 m and consisted of 47 blocks. Today the blocks are divided between the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum in London, where they ended up after they were removed by Thomas Bruce, the lord of Elgin, in 1801-1804 when Greece was still under Ottoman occupation. In order to facilitate their transportation, Elgin's workmen, cut off with saws or crowbars only the faces of the blocks that bore the relief decoration. The Acropolis Museum exhibition includes the plaster casts of these blocks' faces on which some of the original fragments that fell off the monument, and thus escaped the looting, have been adjusted.
Schuchhardt, W.H., «Die Entstehung des Parthenonfrieses», Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 45, 1930, σελ. 245-254, εικ. 17
Tombropulu-Bruskari, M., «Parthenon-Fragmente», Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung 75, 1960, σελ. 7, πίν. 13, αρ. κατ. 14
Brommer, F., Der Parthenonfries, Mainz, 1977, σελ. 83, εικ. 109.1, 129, 192.6, 195.1, αρ. κατ. S XI 29. 30. 31
Παλαγγιά, Ό., Ο γλυπτός διάκοσμος του Παρθενώνα, Αθήνα, 1983, σελ. 56
Beschi, L., Il fregio del Partenone: una proposta di Lettura, Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, serie 8. Rendiconti, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 39, 1984, σελ. 179-180, 192 (App. I), εικ. I
Boardman, J., Finn, D., The Parthenon and its Sculptures, London, 1985, σελ. 238-239
Beschi, L., «Η Ζωφόρος του Παρθενώνα. Μια νέα πρόταση ερμηνείας», στο H. Kyrielies (επιμ.), Archaische und klassische griechische Plastik, Τόμος 2. Akten des internationalen Kolloqiums vom 22- 25. April 1985 in Athen, Rheim am Mainz, 1985, σελ. 204-206, 223, εικ. 2
Wesenberg, B., «Panathenäische Peplosdedikation und Arrhephorie. Zur Thematik des Parthenonfrieses», Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 110, 1995, σελ. 150, 172-178
Jenkins, I., «The South Frieze of the Parthenon: Problems in Arrangement», American Journal of Archaeology 99.3, 1995, σελ. 445-456
Berger, Ε., Gisler-Huwiler, M., Der Parthenon in Basel. Dokumentation zum Fries, Mainz, 1996, σελ. 116-117, εικ. 96, αρ. κατ. SÜD 11 (XI) 29-31
Harrison, E.B., «The Web of History: A Conservative Reading of the Parthenon Frieze», στο J. Neils (επιμ.), Worshipping Athena. Panathenaia and the Parthenon, Wisconsin, United States, 1996, σελ. 209
Pollitt, J., «The Meaning of the Parthenon Frieze», στο D. Buitron-Oliver (επιμ.), The Interpretation of Architectural Sculpture in Greece and Rome, Washington, 1997, σελ. 51-65
Τριάντη, Ι., Το Μουσείο Ακροπόλεως, Ο Κύκλος των Μουσείων, Αθήνα, 1998, σελ. 284, εικ. 290
Boardman, J., «The Parthenon Frieze, a Closer Look», Revue Archéologique Fasc. 2, 1999, σελ. 325-330
Lagerlöf, M.R., The Sculptures of the Parthenon. Aesthetics and Interpretation, Yale, 2000, σελ. 20-24, 41-45, 60-79, εικ. 19
Neils, J., The Parthenon Frieze, New York, 2001
Jenkins, I., The Parthenon Frieze, 2nd edition, London, 2002, σελ. 58-59
Stevenson, T., «The Parthenon Frieze as an idealized, contemporary Panathenaic festival», στο D.J. Phillips, D. Pritchard (επιμ.), Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World, Wales, 2003, σελ. 242, εικ. 6
Younger, J.G., «Work Sections and repeating patterns in the Parthenon Frieze», στο M.B. Cosmopoulos (επιμ.), The Parthenon and its sculptures, Cambridge, 2004, σελ. 63-68, 82-83
Symeonoglou, S., «A new analysis of the Parthenon Frieze», στο M.B. Cosmopoulos (επιμ.), The Parthenon and its sculptures, Cambridge, 2004, σελ. 5-6, 36-41
Jeppesen, K., «A fresh approach to the problems of the Parthenon Frieze», στο E. Hallager, J.T. Jensen (επιμ.), Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens V, Athens, 2007, σελ. 137
Wrede, H., Das Lob der Demokratie am Parthenonfries, Trierer Winckelmannsprogramme 21, 2008
Ellinghaus, C., Die Parthenonskulpturen. Der Bauschmuck eines öffentlichen Monumentes der demokratischen Gesellschaft Athens zur zeit des Perikles -Techniken in den bildenden Kunst zur Tradierung von Aussagen, Hamburg, 2011, σελ. 97-98, 102-103, 131-132
Borbein, A.H., «Die Skulpturen des Parthenon: Wie vollzieht sich Stilentwicklung?», Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 131, 2016, σελ. 107, 109-111, 118-126, εικ. 7
Osada, T., «The Parthenon Frieze - Display of Piety and Privilege», στο T. Osada (επιμ.), The Parthenon Frieze. The Ritual Communication between the Goddess and the Polis, Parthenon Project Japan 2011-2014, Wien, 2016, σελ. 11-30
Tanaka, E., «The Concept of Space in the Parthenon Frieze», στο T. Osada (επιμ.), The Parthenon Frieze. The Ritual Communication between the Goddess and the Polis, Parthenon Project Japan 2011-2014, Wien, 2016, σελ. 119-138
Nakamura, T., «The Clothing and Armour of the Horsemen and Warriors on the Parthenon Frieze», στο T. Osada (επιμ.), The Parthenon Frieze. The Ritual Communication between the Goddess and the Polis, Parthenon Project Japan 2011-2014, Wien, 2016, σελ. 61-82
Meyer, M., Athena, Göttin von Athen Kult und Mythos auf der Akropolis bis in klassische Zeit, Wien, 2017, σελ. 99-100, 104-107
Michaelis, Α., Der Parthenon, Leipzig, 1870 und 1871, σελ. 203-228:1-26, 232-234, 235, πίν. Χ, αρ. κατ. Platte XΙ
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site
The use of your data is described in the privacy settings