Throne

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 1366

Category

Furniture

Period

Classical or Roman Period

Date

4th cent. BC or 2nd cent. AD

Dimensions

Height: 0.75 m
Length: 0.65 m
Width: 0.62 m

Material

Marble from Penteli

Location

First Floor, North

Description
Bibliography

Found in 1836 between the peristyle and the pronaos of the Parthenon. It was reassembled and restored, while certain parts of it are missing. One of those was lost in modern times but has been made known from a plaster copy of the throne that is located in Berlin.

On the upper, outer part of the throne’s back only three letters have survived from the inscription which was once carved on the now missing piece. The inscription read: [ΕΠΙ---]ΡΑΤΟ ΑΡ[Χ]ΟΝΤΟ[Σ] which is a reference to an Eponymous Archon whose name ends in «…stratos», such as Kallistratos an Eponymous Archon of the 4th cent. BC, or Demostratos, an Archon of the 2nd cent. AD.

The throne has solid sides, rounded backrest and is decorated with relief hybrid creatures of eastern provenance. On the backside a winged male figure is depicted whose legs turn into spiraling stalks with long palm and acanthus leaves. The figure is dressed in long-sleeved Persian attire and as we know from similar thrones, he would have worn a polos and a band around his head. The throne’s armrests have the form of winged lions with snake’s body and tail in the shape of an acanthus.

The dating of this throne is uncertain. Some consider it an original work of the 4th cent. BC, while others view it as a 2nd cent. AD copy. In any case it belonged to an ancient public building but after the conversion of the Parthenon into a Christian Church it was transported there to be used as an episcopal throne.

Gerhard, Ed., «II. Scultura», Annali dell'Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica. Annales de l'Institut de correspondance archéologique 9, 1837, σελ. 116, αρ.κατ. 2
Poppe, C., Sammlung von Ornamenten und Fragmenten antiker Architektur, Sculptur, Mosaik und Toreutik, Berlin, 1845, εικ. 8.3
Ross, L., Archäologische Aufsätze I: Ausgrabungsberichte aus Athen. Zur Kunstgeschichte und Topographie von Athen und Attika, Leipzig, 1855, σελ. 113
Rey, E., Voyage en Grèce et dans le Levant fait en 1843 et 1844 par A.-M. Chevanard, architect, professeur à l’école impériale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, 1858, σελ. 21-26, εικ. XXVI
Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum II, pt. 3, αρ.κατ. 1524
Sybel, L. von, Katalog der Sculpturen zu Athen, Marburg, 1881, σελ. 385, αρ.κατ. 6153
Friederichs, C., Wolters, P., Die Gipsabgüsse antiker Bildwerke, Berlin, 1885, σελ. 491, αρ.κατ. 1332
Le Bas, M.P., Reinach, S., Voyage Archéologique en Grèce et en Asie Mineure 1842-1844, σχολιασμένη έκδοση, Paris, 1888, σελ. 131, εικ. 13
Lepsius, R., Griechische Marmorstudien, Berlin, 1890, σελ. 76, αρ.κατ. 91
Καστριώτης, Π., Κατάλογος του Μουσείου της Ακροπόλεως, Αθήνα, 1895, σελ. 66, αρ.κατ. 1366
Furtwängler, A., Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, London, 1895, σελ. 441-442
Inscriptiones Graecae II2 , αρ.κατ. 5165
Casson, S., Brooke, D., Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum. Sculpture and Architectural Fragments, with a section upon the Terracottas, II, Cambridge, 1921, σελ. 278-280, αρ.κατ. 1366
Möbius, H., «Eine dreiseitige Basis in Athen», Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung 51, 1926, σελ. 117-124, εικ. XIX
Richter, G., «The Marble Throne on the Acropolis and its Replicas», American Journal of Archaeology 58, 1954, σελ. 271-276
Richter, G., The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, London, 1966, σελ. 32-33, εικ. 154-161
Möbius, H., Eine dreiseitige Basis in Athen, Studia Varia, Wiesbaden, 1967, σελ. 64-68
Fittschen, K., Über den Beitrag der Bildhauer in Athen zur Kunstproduktion im römischen Reich, Μουσείο Μπενάκη 2008, Αθήνα; Μουσείο Μπενάκη, 4ο Παράρτημα, σελ. 327, 333, εικ. υποσημ. 19
Schöll, A., Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Griechenland, Dogma, Bremen, 2012, σελ. 119
Παντερμαλής, Δ., Ελευθεράτου, Σ., Βλασσοπούλου, Χ., Μουσείο Ακρόπολης. Οδηγός, Αθήνα, 2016, σελ. 302, εικ. 364