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123-517: It was sculpted between c.  443 and 437 BC, most likely under the direction of Phidias . Of the 160 meters (524 ft) of the original frieze, 128 meters (420 ft) survives—some 80 percent. The rest is known only from the drawings attributed to French artist Jacques Carrey in 1674, thirteen years before the Venetian bombardment that ruined the temple. Along with the Metopes of

246-464: A "foot-bond" (ποσίδεσμον), or he "knew many things" (πολλά εἰδότος or πολλά εἰδῶν). Beekes suggests that the word has probably a Pre-Greek origin. The original form was probably the Mycenean Greek Ποτ(σ)ειδάϝων ( Pot(s)eidawōn ). "The inervocalic aspiration suggests a Pre Greek (Pelasgian) origin rather than an Indoeuropean one". If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted,

369-416: A bull. In Greece the river god Acheloos is represented like a bull or a man-bull. Many people when sacrificed to Demeter should make a premilinary sacrifice to Acheloos At Phigalia Demeter had a sanctuary in a cavern and she was given the surname Melaina (black). The goddess was related to the black undeworld. In a similar myth Poseidon appears as horse and Demeter gives birth to a daughter whose name

492-575: A competition with Poseidon, though he remained on the Acropolis in the form of his surrogate, Erechtheus . After the fight, Poseidon sent a monstrous flood to the Attic plain to punish the Athenians for not choosing him. In similar competitions with other deities in different cities, he causes devastating floods when he loses. Poseidon is a horrifying and avenging god and must be honoured even when he

615-524: A copy of the Athena Lemnia in a statue of which the head is located in Bologna and the body is at Dresden . Some 5th-century   BC torsos of Athena have been found at Athens. The torso of Athena in the École des Beaux-Arts at Paris, which has lost its head, gives some idea of what the original statue may have looked like. For the ancient Greeks, two works of Phidias far outshone all others:

738-454: A cup inscribed on the bottom "Φειδίου εἰμί" (Pheidíou eimí) – "I belong to Phidias"; literally: "of Phidias I am", were found here, just where Pausanias said the statue was constructed. The discovery has enabled archaeologists to re-create the techniques used to make the statue and confirm its date. By 1910, mathematician Mark Barr began using the Greek letter Phi ( φ ) as a symbol for

861-667: A debt to the Parthenon. There also are traces found on the private commissions of grave stelae from the period, for example, the "cat stele" from Aegina bears a distinct similarity to figures N135–6. As does the Hermes of the four-figure relief known from a Roman copy. Later classicizing art of the Hellenistic and Roman eras also looked to the frieze for inspiration as attested by the Lycian Sarcophagus of Sidon, Phoenicia,

984-529: A horse and mating with Demeter was not localized in Arcadia. At Haliartos in Boeotia near Thebes Poseidon appears as stallion. He mates with Erinys near the spring of Tilpousa and she gives birth to the faboulous horse Arion . At Tilpusa we have a very old cult of the chthonic deities Erinys and Poseidon. The water-god Poseidon appears as a horse which seems to represent the water-spirit and Erinys

1107-569: A horse, and gave him a foal to swallow instead of the child. In the Homeric Hymn Demeter puts a dark mourning robe around her shoulders as a sign of her sorrow. Demeter's mare-form was worshipped into historical times. The xoanon of Melaina at Phigalia shows how the local cult interpreted her, as goddess of nature. A Medusa type with a horse's head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water. The myth of Poseidon appearing as

1230-399: A magnificent temple upon a hill, Pontomedon ( Ποντομέδων ), " lord of the sea" ( Pindar , Aeschylus ) and Kymothales ( Κυμοθαλής ), "abounding with waves", indicate that Poseidon was regarded as holding sway over the sea. Other epithets that relate him with the sea are, Porthmios ( Πόρθμιος ), "of strait, narrow sea" at Karpathos , Epactaeus ( Ἐπακταῖος ) "god worshipped on

1353-478: A mare to avoid Poseidon. Poseidon took the form of a stallion and after their mating she gave birth to a daughter whose name was not allowed to be told to the unitiated and a horse called Arion (very swift). Her daughter obviously had the shape of a mare too. At first Demeter became angry and she was given the surname Erinys (fury) by the Thelpusians. The Erinyes were deities of vangeance, and Erinys had

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1476-585: A sacrifice to Apollo, which shares the quiet dignity of the best of High Classical sculpture. The impact of the frieze may be sought in the Attic relief sculpture of the late fifth century; this resonance also may be discovered to some degree in the public works of the Hephaisteion frieze and the Nike Athena balustrade, where the imagery of the seated deities and the sandal-binder respectively, likely owes

1599-622: A sacrifice; in this way, according to a fragmentary papyrus , Alexander the Great paused at the Syrian seashore before the climactic battle of Issus , and resorted to prayers, "invoking Poseidon the sea-god, for whom he ordered a four-horse chariot to be cast into the waves". According to Pausanias , Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. Apollo and Poseidon worked closely in many realms: in colonization, for example, Delphic Apollo provided

1722-407: A similar function with the goddess Dike (Justice). In the very old myth of Thelpusa Demeter-Erinys and Poseidon are divinities of the underworld in a pre-mythic period. Poseidon appears as a horse. In Greek folklore the horses had chthonic associations and it was believed that they could create springs. In European folklore the water-creatures or water-spirits appear with the shape of a horse or

1845-492: A temple at Tainaron . Pausanias describes a sanctuary of Poseidon near Sparta beside the shrine of Alcon, where he had the surname Domatites ( Δωματίτης ), "of the house" Homer uses for Poseidon the title Kyanochaites ( Κυανοχαίτης ), "dark-haired, dark blue of the sea". Epithets like Pelagios ( Πελάγιος ) "of the open sea", Aegeus ( Αἰγαίος ), "of the high sea" in the town of Aegae in Euboea , where he had

1968-403: Is J.J. Politt's contention that the frieze embodies a Periclean manifesto, which favours the cultural institutions of agones (or contests, as witnessed by the apobatai ), sacrifices, and military training as well as a number of other democratic virtues. More recent scholarship pursuing this vein has made the frieze a site of ideological tension between the elite and the demos with perhaps, only

2091-409: Is a marshal dressing, W30, followed by several men preparing the horses W28–23 until figure W22 who, it has been suggested, may be engaged in the dokimasia , the tryout or enrollment of the knights . W24 is an ambiguous figure who might be either the protesting owner of a rejected horse or a keryx (herald) whose hand held part of an otherwise lost salpinx (trumpet), but either way this point marks

2214-630: Is a separate deity from the oldest Greek god of the sea Pontus . In Athens his name is superimposed οn the name of the non-Greek god Erechtheus Ἑρεχθεύς ( Poseidon Erechtheus ). In the Iliad , he is the lord of the sea and his golden palace is built in Aegai, in the depth of the sea. His significance is indicated by his titles Eurykreion ( Εὐρυκρείων ) "wide-ruling", an epithet also applied to Agamemnon and Helikonios anax ( Ἑλικώνιος ἂναξ ), "lord of Helicon or Helike " In Helike of Achaia he

2337-773: Is an epithet of Demeter . It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription (PN EN 609), however the interpretation is still under dispute. Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter as goddess of grain. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two ladies and the Lord" (or "to the Two Queens and the King": wa-na-soi , wa-na-ka-te ). Wa-na-ssoi may be related with Demeter and Persephone , or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. During

2460-476: Is an overall coherence to the work there are design differences on opposing sides of the frieze that has suggested to some scholars the possibility of more than one designer and a pattern of influence amongst them. There is greater nudity and frontally on the north than the south, the massing and distribution of figures is greatly different on the east than the more widely spaced west, and the east and north generally exhibit greater innovation. This evidence, along with

2583-516: Is common in Indoeuropean grammar (usually for chthonic deities like the Erinyes ) and the duality was used for Demeter and Persephone in classical Greece (the double named goddesses). Potnia and wanassa refer to identical deities or two aspects of the same deity. E-ri-nu ( Erinys ) is attested in the inscriptions. In some ancient cults Erinys is related to Poseidon and her name

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2706-454: Is identified in Linear B, as 𐀁𐀚𐀯𐀅𐀃𐀚 , E-ne-si-da-o-ne . Other epithets that relate him with the earthquakes are Gaieochos ( Γαιήοχος ) and Seisichthon ( Σεισίχθων ) The god who causes the earthquakes is also the protector against them, and he had the epithets Themeliouchos ( Θεμελιούχος ) "upholding the foundations", Asphaleios ( Ἀσφάλειος ) "securer, protector" with

2829-1148: Is not the patron deity of the city. Some scholars suggested that Poseidon was probably a Pelasgian god or a god of the Minyans . However it is possible that Poseidon, like Zeus , was a common god of all Greeks from the beginning. The earliest attested occurrence of the name, written in Linear B , is 𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀃 Po-se-da-o or 𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀺𐀚 Po-se-da-wo-ne , which correspond to Ποσειδάων ( Poseidaōn ) and Ποσειδάϝoνος ( Poseidawοnos ) in Mycenean Greek ; in Homeric Greek it appears as Ποσιδάων ( Posidaōn ); in Aeolic as Ποτε(ι)δάων ( Pote(i)daōn ); in Doric as Ποτειδάν ( Poteidan ) and Ποτειδᾶς ( Poteidas ); in Arcadic as Ποσoιδᾱν ( Posoidan ). In inscriptions with Laconic style from Tainaron , Helos and Thuria as Ποhoιδᾱν ( Pohoidan ), indicating that

2952-549: Is often credited as the main instigator of the Classical Greek sculptural design. Today, most critics and historians consider him one of the greatest of all ancient Greek sculptors. Of Phidias's life, little is known apart from his works. Although no original works exist that can be attributed to him with certainty, numerous Roman copies of varying degrees of fidelity are known to exist. The earliest of Phidias's works were dedications in memory of Marathon , celebrating

3075-516: Is possible that the Greeks did not bring with them other gods except Zeus , Eos , and the Dioskouroi . The Pelasgian god probably represented the fertilising power of water, and then he was he was considered god of the sea . As the sea encircles and holds the earth in its position, Poseidon is the god who holds the earth and who has the ability to shake the earth. The primeval water who encircled

3198-653: Is possible that the name of Poseidon Helikonios in Boeotia whose fest included horseracing derives from the mountain Helikon . The Minyans had trade contacts with Mycenean Pylos and the Achaeans adopted the cult of Poseidon Helikonios . The cult spread in Peloponnese and then to Ionia when the Achaeans migrated to Asia Minor . Nilsson suggested that Poseidon was probably a common god of all Greeks from

3321-509: Is probably the personification of a revenging earth-spirit. From earlier times at Delphi Poseidon was joined in a religious union with the earth-goddess Ge . She is represented as a snake which is a form of the earth-spirit. In the Theogony of Hesiod Poseidon once slept with the monstrous Medousa near the mountain Helikon . She conceived the winged horse Pegasus who sprang out of her body when Perseus cut off her head. Pegasus stuck

3444-400: Is that the blocks were carved on the wall. Additionally, on practical grounds it is easier to move a sculptor than a sculpture, and to use a crowbar to put them into place, potentially, could have chipped the edges. No information is recoverable on the workshop, but estimates range from three to 80 sculptors on the basis of style. However, American archeologist Jenifer Neils suggests nine, on

3567-503: Is the billowing chlamydes of the horsemen and the multi-pleated peploi of the women that lends a surface movement and tension to their otherwise, static poses. Variation in the manes of the horses has been of particular interest to some scholars attempting to discern the artistic personalities of sculptors who laboured on the frieze or perhaps, indicating deliberate representation of different regional traditions, so far this Morellian analysis has been without conclusion. As no description of

3690-604: The Ara Pacis Augustae , the Gemma Augustea , and many pieces of the Hadrianic generation. ISBN   978-3-85161-124-3 . Phidias Phidias or Pheidias ( / ˈ f ɪ d i ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Φειδίας , Pheidias ; c.  480  – c.  430 BC ) was an Ancient Greek sculptor , painter, and architect, active in the 5th century BC. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia

3813-513: The Arcadian myth Poseidon Hippios (horse) is mating with the mare-Demeter. At Thelpousa Demeter- Erinys gives birth to the horse Arion and to an unnamable daughter who has the shape of a mare. In some neighbour cults the daughter was called Despoina (mistress), which is another name of Persephone . The theriomorphic form of gods seems to be local in Arcadia in an old religion associated with xoana . According to some theories Poseidon

Parthenon Frieze - Misplaced Pages Continue

3936-560: The Athena Parthenos and his central role in the Periclean building programme that he is attributed authorship of the frieze. The frieze consists of 378 figures and 245 animals. It was 160 meters (524 ft) in length when complete, as well as 1 meter in height, and it projects 5.6 cm forward at its maximum depth. It is composed of 114 blocks of an average 1.22 meters in length, depicting two parallel files in procession. It

4059-501: The Athena Parthenos , Phidias was accused of embezzlement. Specifically, he was charged with shortchanging the amount of gold that was supposed to be used for the statue and keeping the extra for himself. It seems that the charge was politically motivated – a result of his friendship with Pericles, who had many enemies in Athens. Phidias supposedly weighed the gold robe of the Athena Parthenos to prove his innocence, but

4182-592: The Dorians took the name from the older population. The form Ποτειδάϝων ( Poteidawōn ) appears in Corinth. The origins of the name "Poseidon" are unclear and the possible etymologies are contradictive among the scholars. One theory breaks it down into an element meaning "husband" or "lord" (Greek πόσις ( posis ), from PIE *pótis ) and another element meaning "earth" ( δᾶ ( da ), Doric for γῆ ( gē )), producing something like lord or spouse of Da , i.e. of

4305-525: The Eleusinians . Thus, the deities turn their backs to prevent pollution from the sight of her death. A contentious subject in the field, Connelly's solution to the problem of meaning poses as many problems as it answers. A more recent interpretation advanced by William St Clair is that the frieze depicts the celebration of the birth of Ion, a descendant of Erechtheus . This interpretation has been rejected by Catharine Titi , who agrees with St Clair that

4428-744: The High Classical style of Attic sculpture. It stands between the gradual eclipse of the Severe style , as witnessed on the Parthenon metopes, and the evolution of the Late Classical Rich style , exemplified by the Nike balustrade . What sources the designer of the frieze drew upon is difficult to gauge, certainly large scale narrative art was familiar to 5th-century Athenians as in the Stoa poikile painting by Polygnotos of Thasos. While there

4551-599: The Mycenean period, the ancestral male gods of the Myceneans were probably not represented in human forms, and the information given by the tablets found at Pylos and Knossos is insufficient. Poseidon was the chief deity at Pylos and Thebes . He is identified with Anax and he carried the title "Master of the Underworld". Anax had probably a cult associated with the protection of the palace. In Acrocorinth he

4674-584: The Orphic Hymn . Persephone is sometimes depicted with her head emerging from the ground. During the Mycenean period Poseidon was worshipped in several regions in Greece. At Pylos and some other cities he was a god of the underworld (Lord of the Underworld) and his cult was related to the protection of the palace. He carried the title anax , king or protector. His consort potnia , lady or mistress,

4797-493: The golden ratio after Phidias. However, Barr later wrote that he thought it unlikely that Phidias actually used the golden ratio. Footnotes Citations Poseidon Poseidon ( / p ə ˈ s aɪ d ən , p ɒ -, p oʊ -/ ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ποσειδῶν ) is one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology , presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses. He

4920-540: The maenads , Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. A Hippocratic text of ca 400 BC, On the Sacred Disease says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy. Poseidon is still worshipped today in modern Hellenic religion, among other Greek gods. The worship of Greek gods has been recognized by the Greek government since 2017. Poseidon had a variety of roles, duties and attributes. He

5043-570: The names po-se-da-wo-ne and Po-se-da-o ("Poseidon") occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja ("Zeus"). A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia , is also found, indicating a lost consort goddess, in effect the precursor of Amphitrite . Poseidon was the chief god at Pylos . The title wa-na-ka appears in the inscriptions. Poseidon was identified with wanax from the Homeric era to classical Greece. ( anax ). The title didn't mean only king, but also protector. Wanax had chthonic aspects, and he

Parthenon Frieze - Misplaced Pages Continue

5166-408: The phiale ( phial or jug), oinochoai (wine jars), thymiaterion ( incense burner), and in the case of E50–51, evidently they have just handed the marshal E49 a kanoun , making the girl the kanephoros . The next groups E18–23, E43–46, are problematic. Six on the left and four on the right, if one does not count two other figures who may or may not be marshals, then this group might be taken to be

5289-469: The polis . Many fests of Poseidon included athletic competitions and horseracing. In Corinth his cult was related to the Isthmian games . In Arcadia his cult was related to the games "Hippocrateia" and at Sparta he had a temple near an Hippodrome . In Onchestos of Boeotia horseracing was a part of the athletic games in honour of the god. Poseidon was considered a symbol of unity. The Panionia

5412-985: The Beazley archive at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana , in the Skulpturhalle at Basel and elsewhere. The part of the frieze in London has been claimed by Greece, and British and Greek authorities are negotiating over its future. On March 24, 2023, a relief fragment of a young man from "Block 5" of the frieze was repatriated to the Acropolis Museum from the Vatican Museums . Plutarch 's Life of Pericles , 13.4–9, informs us "the man who directed all

5535-468: The Greek statesman Pericles , recording that enemies of Pericles tried to attack him through Phidias – who was accused of stealing gold intended for the Parthenon's statue of Athena, and of impiously portraying himself and Pericles on the shield of the statue. The historical value of this account, as well as the legend about accusations against the 'Periclean circle', is debatable, but Aristophanes mentions an incident with Phidias around that time. Phidias

5658-605: The Greek victory. His first commission was a group of national heroes with Miltiades as a central figure. At Delphi he created a great group in bronze including the figures of Greek gods Apollo and Athena , several Attic heroes, and General Miltiades the Younger . On the Acropolis of Athens, Phidias constructed a colossal bronze statue of Athena, the Athena Promachos , which was visible far out at sea. Athena

5781-470: The Olympians, they are one third taller than any other figure on the frieze and are arranged in two groups of six on diphroi (backless) stools, common forms of ancient furniture , with the exception of Zeus who is enthroned. Their backs are turned to what must be the culminating event of the procession E31–35; five figures (three children and two adults, and although badly corroded, the two children on

5904-703: The Parthenon and Pediments of the Parthenon , it forms the bulk of surviving sculpture from the building. The majority of the frieze is at the British Museum in London (forming the major part of the Elgin Marbles ); the largest proportion of the rest is at the Acropolis Museum in Athens , and the remainder of fragments shared between six other institutions. Casts of the frieze may be found in

6027-419: The absence of the allies and the ship, as these post-date the original practice of the sacrificial rite. In evidence she offers E35 as the future King Erichthonios presenting the first peplos to his predecessor Kekrops, iconographically similar to the boy's depiction on a fragmentary kylix of the 450s. A recent interpretation by Joan Breton Connelly identifies the central scene on the east frieze (hence above

6150-499: The aristocracy present, and merely veiled reference to the ten tribes. The pediments, metopes, and shield of the Parthenos all illustrate the mythological past and as the deities are observing on the east frieze, it is natural to reach for a mythological explanation. Chrysoula Kardara, has ventured that the relief shows us the first Panathenaic procession instituted under the mythical King Kekrops . This explanation would account for

6273-474: The authorization to go out and settle, while Poseidon watched over the colonists on their way, and provided the lustral water for the foundation-sacrifice. At one time Delphi belonged to him in common with Ge, but Apollo gave him the psychopompeion Kalaureia as a compensation for it. Xenophon 's Anabasis describes a group of Spartan soldiers in 400–399 BC singing to Poseidon a paean —a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo. Like Dionysus , who inflamed

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6396-540: The beginning of the procession proper. The following ranks W21–1 along with N75–136 and S1–61 are all of horsemen and constitute 46% of the whole frieze. They are divided into two lines of ten ranks – the same number as that of the Attic tribes. All figures are beardless youths with the exception of two, W8 and W15, who along with S2–7 wear Thracian dress of fur cap, a patterned cloak, and high boots; these have been identified by Martin Robertson as hipparchs . Next are

6519-562: The beginning. The Greeks occupied Thessaly , Boeotia and Peloponnese during the Bronze Age. In all these regions Poseidon was the god of the horses. The origin of his cult was Peloponnese and he was the inland god of the Achaeans , the god of the "horses" and the "earthquakes". When the Achaeans migrated to Ionia there was a transition to regarding Poseidon as the god of the sea because the Ionians were sea-dependent. With no doubt he

6642-675: The colossal chryselephantine Statue of Zeus ( c.  432   BC), which was erected in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia , and the Athena Parthenos (lit. "Athena the Virgin"), a sculpture of the virgin goddess Athena, which was housed in the Parthenon in Athens. Both sculptures belong to about the middle of the 5th century BC. A number of replicas and works inspired by it, both ancient and modern, have been made. Upon completing

6765-412: The complete loss of his ship and companions, and delaying his return by ten years. Poseidon is also the subject of a Homeric hymn . In Plato 's Timaeus and Critias , the legendary island of Atlantis was Poseidon's domain. Poseidon is famous for his contests with other deities for winning the patronage of the city. According to legend, Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens after

6888-456: The divine child. Potnia was the Mycenean goddess of nature and she was the consort of Poseidon at Pylos. She is mentioned together with bucrania in decorated jugs and he was associated with the animals and especially to the bull. In Athens Poseidon was an inland god who created the salt-sea Erecthēιs ( Ερεχθηίς ), "sea of Erechtheus". In Acropolis his cult was superimposed on the cult of

7011-419: The door to the cella and focal point of the procession) not as the handing over of Athena's peplos by the arrhephoroi , but the donning of sacrificial garb by the daughter of King Erechtheus in preparation for the sacrifice of her life. An interpretation suggested by the text of the fragmentary papyrus remains of Euripides 's Erichtheus, wherein her life is demanded in order to save the city from Eumolpos and

7134-724: The earth ( Oceanus ) is the origin of all rivers and springs. They are children of Oceanus and Tethys . Farnell suggested that Poseidon was originally the god of the Minyans who occupied Thessaly and Boeotia . There is a similarity between the Boeotian and Arcadian myths and especially between the myths which represent the god of the waters Poseidon as a horse. The mythical horse Arion appears in both regions. The offspring of Poseidon winged horse Pegasus creates famous springs near Helikon and at Troizen . Some springs of Poseidon have similar names in Boeotia and Peloponnese . It

7257-448: The earth; this would link him with Demeter , "Earth-mother". Burkert finds that "the second element δᾶ- remains hopelessly ambiguous" and finds a "husband of Earth" reading "quite impossible to prove". According to Beekes in Etymological Dictionary of Greek , "there is no indication that δᾶ means 'earth'", although the root da appears in the Linear B inscription E-ne-si-da-o-ne , "earth-shaker". Another, theory interprets

7380-416: The earthquakes. In some cults he was worshipped as the "bringer of safety" or "protector of the house and the foundations". The god was considered the creator of the first horse, and it was believed that he taught men the art of taming horses. He was depicted on horseback, or riding in a chariot drawn by two or four horses. He had a lot of temples in Arcadia , with the surname Hippios (of the horse) and he

7503-403: The female hydraiphoroi (only male hydrai bearers are portrayed), the thetes , slaves, metics , the Panathenaic ship, and some would suggest the kanephoros , although there is evidence that she is accounted for. That what we now see was meant to be a generic image of the religious festival is problematic since no other temple sculpture depicts a contemporary event involving mortals. Locating

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7626-440: The festival of all Ionians near Mycale were celebrated in honour of Poseidon Helikonios and was the place of meeting of the Ionian League . He was the patron god of the Amphictiony of Kalaureia . At Onchestos of Boeotia he was worshipped as Poseidon Helikonios . His sanctuary became the place of meeting of the second Boeotian league . At Helike of Achaea there was the famous temple of Poseidon Helikonios , which

7749-409: The figures are numbered left to right against the direction of the procession on the north and west and with it on the south. The narrative of the frieze begins at the southwest corner where the procession appears to divide into two separate files. The first third of the west frieze is not part of the procession, but instead, seems to be the preparatory stages for the participants. The first figure here

7872-406: The folk belief. In the Greek legends Arethusa and the river Alpheus traversed underground under the sea and reappeared at Ortygia . In any case, the early importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer 's Odyssey , where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events. In Homer, Poseidon is the master of the sea. He is described as a majestic, scary, and avenging monarch of

7995-428: The four cows and four sheep on the north and ten cows on the south meant for sacrifice on the acropolis , presumably an abbreviated form of the hecatomb usually offered on this occasion – there is an a-b-a rhythm of placid and restive cows. As the files converge on the east frieze we encounter the first women celebrants E2–27, E50–51, E53–63. The priestesses carry the sacrificial instruments and paraphernalia including

8118-409: The four-horse chariots , each with charioteer and armed passenger, there are ten on the south frieze and eleven on the north. Since these passengers are sometimes depicted as dismounting they may be taken to represent the apobatai , participants in the ceremonial race found in Attica and Boeotia . By N42 and S89 the equestrian parade is at an end, and the following 16 figures on the north and 18 on

8241-436: The frequency with which Greek artists are thought to have collaborated, has led Jenifer Neils to hypothesize the existence of two designers working on the sculpture. This would admit the possibility of a later designer comparing and competing with the earlier, and so, explain the observable changes in composition. Geographical orientations also may have dictated what would be represented on one side versus another, i.e., Amazons to

8364-407: The frieze begins to be pronounced around 430 BC. One example, an explicit copy, is a pelike attributed to the Wedding Painter of a youth "parking up" a horse exactly in the manner of figure W25 on the frieze. While those vase paintings that resemble the frieze cluster around 430, the vases that quote the pediments are datable nearer to the end of the century, giving further evidence of the priority of

8487-428: The frieze compared with the stiffness of the metopes along with an eye for such subtleties as knuckle joints, veins, and the careful articulation of musculature. One important innovation of the style is the use of drapery as an expression of motion, or to suggest the body beneath; in archaic and early classical sculpture, clothing fell over the body as if it were a curtain obscuring the form below, in these sculptures there

8610-431: The frieze depicts the founding myth of the city of Athens instead of the festival pompe has emerged. The contention that the scene depicts the festival for Athena is fraught with problems. Later sources indicate that a number of classes of individual who performed a role in the procession are not present in the frieze, these include: the hoplites , the allies in the Delian League , the skiaphoroi or umbrella bearers,

8733-419: The frieze survives from antiquity and many religious rituals involved secret symbolism and traditions left unspoken, so the question of the meaning of the sculpture has been a persistent and unresolved one. The first published attempt at interpretation belongs to Cyriacus of Ancona in the 15th century, who referred to it as the "victories of Athens in the time of Pericles ". What is now the more accepted view of

8856-411: The great works ordered by Greek statesman Pericles on the Acropolis . Ancient critics take a very high view of the merits of Phidias. They especially praise the ethos or permanent moral level of his works as compared with those of the later so called "pathetic" school. Both Pausanias and Plutarch mention works of his depicting the warlike Athena Areia . Demetrius calls his statues sublime, and at

8979-428: The ground with his hoof and created the famous spring Hippocrene near Helikon. Praxidicai were female deities of judicial punishment worshipped in the region of Haliartos in the historical times. Ttheir origin is probably the same with Erinys . Their images depicted only the heads of the goddesses probably a representation of the earth goddess emerging from the ground. Praxidice is and epithet of Persephone in

9102-469: The grounds that this would be the least number necessary to produce the work in the time given. It was finished with metal detailing and painted. No colour, however, survives, but perhaps the background was blue, judging by comparison with grave stelae and the paint remnants on the frieze of the Hephaisteion . Possibly figures held objects that were also rendered in paint such as Poseidon 's trident and

9225-460: The introduction of the horse and war-chariot from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 BC. In the Boeotian myth Poseidon is the water-god and Erinys is a goddess of the underworld. She is probably the personification of a revenging earth spirit and it seems that she had a similar function with the goddess Dike (Justice). At the spring "Tilpousa" she gives birth to the fabulous horse Arion . In

9348-519: The islands of the Aegean and in the cities of Asia Minor . At Lesbos and Epidauros the month was called Poseidios . During this month Poseidon was worshipped as the "master of the sea" in a bright cult. Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens , he was second only to Athena in importance, while in Corinth and many cities of Ionia and Magna Graecia he was the chief god of

9471-670: The laurel in Apollo 's hand. The many drill holes found in Hera 's and Apollo's heads indicate that a gilded bronze wreath would probably have crowned the deities. The system of numbering the frieze blocks dates back to Adolf Michaelis 's 1871 work Der Parthenon , and since then Ian Jenkins has revised this scheme in the light of recent discoveries. The convention, here preserved, is that blocks are numbered in Roman and figures in Arabic numerals ,

9594-421: The left appear to be girls bearing objects on their heads, while a third, perhaps a boy, assisting an adult who may be the archon basileus , in folding a piece of cloth. This frieze often is interpreted as the presentation of Athena 's peplos , perhaps by the arrhephoroi , but debate exists regarding who the figures represent more than what ritual is represented. The Parthenon frieze is the defining monument of

9717-533: The liquid element and the underworld. In Greek folklore the horse is associated with the underworld and it was believed that it had the ability to create springs. In the European folklore the water-spirit appears with the shape of a horse or a bull. In Greece the river god Acheloos is represented as a bull or a man-bull. Burkert suggests that the Hellenic cult of Poseidon as a horse god may be connected to

9840-409: The local ancestral figure Erechtheus . In Athens and Asine he was worshipped in the house of the king during the Mycenean period. The bull was the favourite animal for sacrifices and it seems that horses were rarely used during the burial of the Mycenean leaders. In the Arcadian myths, Poseidon is related to Demeter and Despoina (another name of Kore- Persephone ) and he was worshipped with

9963-462: The mood is one of celebration (rather than sacrifice) but argues that the celebration of the birth of Ion requires the presence of an infant but there is no infant on the frieze. The earliest surviving works of art that exhibit traces of the influence of the Parthenon frieze belong to the media of vase painting and grave stelae where we may find some echo not just of motifs, themes, poses, but tenor, as well. Direct imitation, and indeed quotation, of

10086-478: The musicians: four kithara (a variant of the lyre ) and four aulos (flute) players. N16–19 and S115–118 (conjectured) perhaps, as hydriaphoroi , the water-vessel carriers, here men, rather than metic girls mentioned in the literature on the Panathenaia . N13–15, S119–121 are the skaphephoroi , the tray bearers of the honeycombs and cakes used to entice the sacrificial animals to the altar. N1–12, S122–149 are

10209-581: The name of a Greek colony at the Syrian coast. In Ionia his cult was introduced by Achaean colonists from Greece in the 11th century BC. Traditionally the colonists came from Pylos where Poseidon was the principal god of the city. The god had a famous temple near the mountain Mycale . The month Poseidaon is the month of the winter-storms. The name of the month was used in Ionic territories, in Athens , in

10332-416: The oldest Greek myths appear in Boeotia . In ancient cults Poseidon was worshipped as a horse. The mythical horse Arion was a sire of Poseidon-horse with Erinys and the winged horse Pegasus a sire of Poseidon foaled by Medousa. At Onchestos he had an old famous festival which included horseracing. However it is possible that Poseidon like Zeus was a common god of all Greeks from the beginning. It

10455-543: The pedimental statues of the Parthenon were not brought to Athens until 433-434   BC. It is therefore possible that most of sculptural decoration of the Parthenon was the work of Phidias's workshop including pupils of Phidias, such as Alcamenes and Agoracritus . According to Pausanias (1.28.2), the original bronze Athena Lemnia was created by Phidias ( c.  450–440   BC) for Athenians living on Lemnos . He described it as "the best of all Pheidias's works to see". Adolf Furtwängler suggested that he found

10578-687: The piece, however, namely that it depicts the Greater Panathenaic procession from the Leokoreion by the Dipylon Gate , to the Acropolis, was mooted by Stuart and Revett in the second volume of their Antiquities of Athens , 1787. Subsequent interpretations have built largely on this theory, even if they disallow that a temple sculpture could represent a contemporary event rather than a mythological or historical one. It has only been in recent years that an alternative thesis in which

10701-445: The projects and was overseer [episkopos] for him [Pericles] was Phidias... Almost everything was under his supervision, and, as we have said, he was in charge, owing to his friendship with Perikles, of all the other artists". The description was not architekton , the term usually given to the creative influence behind a building project, rather episkopos . But it is from this claim, the circumstantial evidence of Phidias's known work on

10824-411: The rocks of Tempe with his trident. In Greek folklore the horse can also create springs . As god of the sea Poseidon was also god of fishing and especially of sea-fishing. Tuna was offered to him by the fishermen during the festal meal for the protection of the nets . Tuna and later dolphin was his attribute. He was worshipped in many islands and cities by the coast. At Corcyra a roaring bull near

10947-712: The same as the number Herodotos gives for the Athenian dead: 192. Equally suggestive of a reference to the Persian Wars is the similarity several scholars have noted of the frieze to the Apadana sculpture in Persepolis . This has variously been posited to be democratic Athens counter-posing itself to oriental tyranny, or, aristocratic Athens emulating the Imperial East. Further to this zeitgeist argument there

11070-586: The same time precise. In 447 BC, Pericles commissioned several sculptures for Athens from Phidias to celebrate the Greek victory against the Persians at the Battle of Marathon during the Greco-Persian Wars (490 BC). Pericles used some of the money from the maritime League of Delos , to rebuild and decorate Athens to celebrate this victory. Inscriptions prove that the marble blocks intended for

11193-532: The scene in mythical or historical time has been the principal difficulty of the line of inquiry. John Boardman has suggested that the cavalry portray the heroization of the Marathonomachoi , the hoplites who fell at Marathon in 490, and that, therefore these riders were the Athenians who took part in the last pre-war Greater Panathenaia. In support, he points out the number of horsemen, chariot passengers (but not charioteers), grooms, and marshals comes to

11316-602: The sculptural program. More accomplished painters also found inspiration in the sculpture, namely Polygnotos I and his group, especially the Peleus Painter, the Kleophon Painter and the late work of the Achilles Painter . Later painters of talent also managed to capture the mood of eusebeia , or thoughtful piety of the procession, as, for example, on the volute krater of the Kleophon Painter of

11439-435: The sea-shore quaranteed a good fishing. The devastating storm of Poseidon is related to fishermen and they poured drink offerings to Poseidon - savior into the sea. The god of inland waters is very close to vegetation and Poseidon was worshipped in many cities as god of vegetation. Haloa in Athens was a fest of vegetation. The Protrygaia , a wine-fest seem to belong to Dionysus and Poseidon. In several cities Poseidon

11562-402: The sea. In the primitive Boeotian and Arcadian myths Poseidon, the god of the underworld, appears as a horse and he is mating with the earth goddess. The earth goddess is called Erinys or Demeter and she gives birth to the fabulous horse Arion and the unnamed daughter Despoina , which is another name of Persephone . The horse represents the divine spirit ( numen ) and is related to

11685-599: The sea. The worship of Poseidon was extended all over Greece and southern Italy , but he was specially honoured in Peloponnese which is called "the residence of Poseidon" and in the Ionic cities. The significance of his cult is indicated by the names of cities like Poteidaia in the Chalkidiki peninsula and Poseidonia ( Paestum ), a Greek colony in Italy. Poseidion is a frequent Greek placename along coastlines and

11808-482: The sea. Boars and rams were also used and in Argolis horses were thrown into a well as a sacrifice to him. In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new islands and offering calm seas. When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes , drownings and shipwrecks . Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as

11931-441: The second element as related to the (presumed) Doric word *δᾶϝον dâwon , "water", Proto-Indo-European *dah₂- "water" or *dʰenh₂- "to run, flow", Sanskrit दन् dā́-nu- "fluid, drop, dew" and names of rivers such as Danube (< *Danuvius ) or Don . This would make * Posei-dawōn into the master of waters. Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two traditional etymologies: either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as

12054-783: The sky, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the sea, with the Earth and Mount Olympus belonging to all three. In Homer 's Iliad , Poseidon supports the Greeks against the Trojans during the Trojan War ; in the Odyssey , during the sea-voyage from Troy back home to Ithaca , the Greek hero Odysseus provokes Poseidon's fury by blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus , resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, causing

12177-519: The south are taken to be the elders of Athens judging by their braided hair, an attribute of distinguished age in Classical art. Four of these figures raise their right hand in a clenched fist gesture suggestive of a pose associated with the thallophoroi (olive branch bearers) who were older men chosen in competition for their good looks alone. No drill holes, however, exist for any branch to be inserted in their hands. Next in line (S107–114, N20–28) are

12300-416: The surname Hippios in many Arcadian cities. At Thelpusa and Phigalia there were sister worships which are very important for the study of primitive religions. In these cults Demeter and Poseidon were chthonic divinities of the underworld. Near Thelpusa the river Ladon descended to the sunctuary of Demeter Erinys (Demeter-Fury). During her wandering in search of her daughter Demeter changed into

12423-434: The ten eponymous heroes who gave their names to the ten tribes. Their proximity to the deities indicates their importance, but selecting differently, then nine of them may be the archons of the polis or athlothetai officials who managed the procession; there is insufficient iconographic evidence to determine which interpretation is correct. Interpretations of the figures varies. The twelve seated deities are taken to be

12546-461: The west, and so forth. This artistic period is one of discovery of the expressive possibilities of the human body; there is a greater freedom in the poses and gestures, and an increased attention to anatomical verisimilitude, as may be observed in the ponderated stances of figures W9 and W4, who partially anticipate the Doryphoros of Polykleitos . There is a noticeable ease to the physiques of

12669-454: Was a Pelasgian god or a god of the Minyans . Traditionally the Minyans are considered Pelasgians and they lived in Thessaly and Boeotia . In Thessaly ( Pelasgiotis ) there was a close relation to the horses. Poseidon created the first horse Skyphios hitting a rock with his trident and managed in the same way to drain the valley of Tempe. The Thessalians were famous charioteers. Some of

12792-444: Was a particular novelty of the Parthenon that the cella carries an Ionic frieze over the hexastyle pronaos rather than Doric metopes , as would have been expected of a Doric temple. Judging by the existence of regulae and guttae below the frieze on the east wall this was an innovation introduced late in the building process and replaced the ten metopes and triglyphs that might otherwise have been placed there. The marble

12915-491: Was a title which accompanied female goddesses. The goddess of nature survived in the Eleusinian cult , where the following words were uttered: "Mighty Potnia bore a strong son". In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenaean culture, there is not sufficient evidence that Poseidon was connected with the sea; it is unclear whether "Posedeia" was a sea-goddess. The Greeks invaders came from far inland and they were not familiarized with

13038-401: Was also transformed into a horse to seduce Demeter . Being the god of waters, Poseidon is related to the primeval water which encircles the earth ( Oceanus ), who is the father of all rivers and springs. He can create springs with the strike of his trident. He was worshipped as "ruler of the springs" and "leader of the nymphs" In Thessaly it was believed that he drained the area cutting

13161-498: Was closely associated with Poseidon, who had the title "Lord of the Underworld". The chthonic nature of Poseidon is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne (Earth-shaker) in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos . Through Homer the epithet was also used in classical Greece. (ennosigaios, ennosidas). Po-tini-ja ( potnia : lady or mistress) was the chief goddess at Pylos and she was closely associated with Poseidon. She

13284-573: Was not allowed to be told to the unitiated (At Lycosura her daughter was called Despoina ). Demeter angry with Poseidon put on a black dressing and shut herself in the cavern. When the fruits of the earth were perished, Zeus sent the Moirai to Demeter who listened to them and led aside her wrath. In this cult we have traces of a very old cult of Demeter and Poseidon as deities of the underworld. In another Arcadian myth when Rhea had given birth to Poseidon, she told Cronus that she had given birth to

13407-510: Was of a somewhat archaic type; the bust of Zeus found at Otricoli , which used to be regarded as a copy of the head of the Olympian statue, is certainly more than a century later in style. A significant advancement in the knowledge of Phidias's working methodology came during 1954–58 with the excavation of the workshop at Olympia where he created the Statue of Zeus. Tools, terracotta molds and

13530-780: Was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Phidias also designed the statues of the goddess Athena on the Athenian Acropolis , namely the Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon , and the Athena Promachos , a colossal bronze which stood between it and the Propylaea , a monumental gateway that served as the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. Phidias was the son of Charmides of Athens. The ancients believed that his masters were Hegias and Ageladas . Plutarch discusses Phidias's friendship with

13653-406: Was originally the god of the waters. The Greeks believed that the cause of the earthquakes was the erosion of the rocks by the waters, by the rivers in Peloponnese which they saw to disappear into the earth and then to burst out again. The god of the waters became the "earth-shaker". This is what the natural philosophers Thales Anaximenes and Aristotle believed and could not be different from

13776-455: Was put to death by the Eleans after he completed the Statue of Zeus at Olympia for them. From the late 5th century BC, small copies of the statue of Zeus were found on coins from Elis, which give a general notion of the pose and the character of the head. The god was seated on a throne, every part of which was used for sculptural decoration. His body was of ivory, his robe of gold. His head

13899-406: Was quarried from Mount Pentelicus and transported 19 km to the acropolis of Athens . A persistent question has been whether it was carved in situ . Just below the moulding and above the tenia there is a channel 17 mm high that would have served to give access to the sculptor's chisel when finishing the heads or feet on the relief; this scamillus or guide strip is the best evidence there

14022-400: Was regarded as the tamer or father of horses, who, with a strike of his trident, created springs (the terms for horses and springs are related in the Greek language). His Roman equivalent is Neptune . Homer and Hesiod suggest that Poseidon became lord of the sea when, following the overthrow of his father Cronus , the world was divided by lot among Cronus' three sons; Zeus was given

14145-598: Was specially honoured. Anax is identified in Mycenaean Greek ( Linear B ) as wa-na-ka , a title of Poseidon as king of the underworld. Aeschylus uses also the epithet anax and Pindar the epithet Eurymedon ( Εὐρυμέδων ) "widely ruling". Some of the epithets (or adjectives) applied to him like Enosigaios ( Ἐνοσίγαιος ), Enosichthon ( Ἐνοσίχθων ) ( Homer ) and Ennosidas ( Ἐννοσίδας ) ( Pindar ), mean "earth shaker". These epithets indicate his chthonic nature, and have an older evidence of use, as it

14268-663: Was the goddess of wisdom and warriors and the protector of Athens. At Pellene in Achaea , and at Plataea , Phidias made two other statues of Athena, as well as a statue of the goddess Aphrodite in ivory and gold for the people of Elis. In antiquity , Phidias was celebrated for his statues in bronze and his chryselephantine works (statues made of gold and ivory). In the Hippias Major , Plato claims that Phidias seldom, if ever, executed works in marble unlike many sculptors of his time. Plutarch writes that he superintended

14391-459: Was the Mycenean goddess of nature and Poseidon— Wanax is one from the gods who may be considered her "male paredros". The earth shaker received offerings in the cave of the goddess of childbirth Eileithyia at Amnisos in Crete . Poseidon is allied with Potnia and the divine child. Wa-na-ssa ( anassa :queen or lady) appears in the inscriptions usually in plural. (Wa-na-ssoi). The dual number

14514-414: Was the Mycenean goddess of nature. Her main aspects were birth and vegetation. Poseidon had the title "Enesidaon" (earth-shaker) and in Crete he was associated with the goddess of childbirth Eleithyia . Through Homer the Mycenean titles were also used in classical Greece with similar meaning. He was identified with anax and he carried the epithets "Ennosigaios" and "Ennosidas" (earth-shaker). Potnia

14637-463: Was the place of meeting of the Achaean League . The "master of the sea" creates clouds and storms, but he is also the protector of the sailors. He has the ability to calm the sea for a good voyage and save those who are in danger. He was worshipped with the surname "savior" as the protector of the seafarers and the fishermen. He is the "earthshaker", however he is also the protector against

14760-423: Was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cities and colonies. In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece , Poseidon was venerated as a chief deity at Pylos and Thebes , with the cult title "earth shaker"; in the myths of isolated Arcadia , he is related to Demeter and Persephone and was venerated as a horse, and as a god of the waters. Poseidon maintained both associations among most Greeks: he

14883-409: Was then accused of impiously portraying himself and Pericles on the shield of the statue, which was apparently true. Plutarch records that Phidias was imprisoned and died in jail. Aristophanes 's play Peace ( c.  421 BC ) mentions an unfortunate incident involving Phidias, but little context is provided. According to Philochorus , as quoted by a scholiast on Aristophanes, Phidias

15006-456: Was worshipped as Poseidon Anax during the Mycenean age. In the city there was the famous spring Peirene which in a myth is related to the winged horse Pegasus . In Attica there was a cult of Anax heroes who was connected to Poseidon. A cult title of Poseidon was "earth-shaker" and in Knossos he was worshipped together with the goddess Eleithyia who was related to the annual birth of

15129-475: Was worshipped in relation to the genealogy and the phratry . At Tinos he was worshipped as a healer-god, probably a forerunner of the famous Evangelistria . The bull is related to Poseidon mainly in Ionia. The sacrifice of a bull offered to Poseidon is mentioned by Homer in an Ionic festival. ( Panionia ) The sacrifices offered to Poseidon consisted of black and white bulls which were killed or thrown into

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