Inventory number
Ακρ. 702
Artist
Attic workshop
Category
Sculpture
Period
Archaic Period
Date
500-490 BC
Dimensions
0.395 x 0.425 m
Material
Marble from Paros
Location
Archaic Acropolis Gallery
The relief was pieced together by two fragments, one found in 1888 on the Parthenon΄s southwest corner, the other in 1889 near the Propylaia.
Three women and a young boy hold hands and dance to the accompaniment of music played by a man at the head of the procession who holds a double flute. The musical instrument is held in front of his mouth with leather straps. The women, each with a different hairstyle and a stephane, are wearing chitons and the first one is holding a fruit. The surfaces around the folds of the women's chitons are flattened which shows they were once wearing over their dress himation that the artist had rendered in paint. Today, red and yellow paint can still be seen on the figures' hair and clothes, while the green of the relief's background was once actually blue, now oxidized.
The women, some archaeologists suggest, represent the three Graces, while the flute-player is Hermes, who was often worshipped with them. The Graces were revered on the Acropolis, particularly near the Propylaia, where the largest fragment of this relief was found. But the presence of the small boy behind the women led others to the assumption that the figures here represent Hermes and the three daughters of king Kekrops, Pandrosos, Herse and Aglauros, along with their brother, the young Erysichthon.
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