Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (5.1886-1890)

164

THE NEWLY DISCOVERED HEAD OF IRIS.

the dedication of the Peplos to Athene, by others the preparation on
the part of the Priest and Priestess to perform the sacrifice of the heca-
tombs offered to the goddess.

The gods, grouped on either side of the central scene, are seated in
dignified repose beside one another. After Athene we have, accord-
ing to Flasch,2 Hephaistos, then Poseidon, then Dionysos, and then
Demeter (called by others, perhaps correctly, Peitho). This last figure
and Dionysos fortunately have their heads preserved, and they form
two of the most perfect works that have come down to us from an-
tiquity. After Demeter we have Aphrodite, against whose knee the
youthful Eros is leaning, with whom the series of gods on this side
comes to an end. On the other side, next to Zeus, who is seated upon a
more elaborate throne, is his divine spouse, Hera, beside whom stands as
an attendant a youthful female figure, according to Flasch, Iris, accord-
ing to others, Hebe or Nike. Then follows Ares, then Artemis, then
Apollo, and the gods on this side are brought to a close by Hermes.

The bodiesof all these figures are in comparatively good preservation;
but the heads of all, with the exception of the two above mentioned,
have been so strongly corroded and worn or broken away, that no trace
of modelling remains. The central marble slab, beginning with Iris
and including the central scene, ended on the other side with Hephais-
tos. The upper corners of this slab were at some period broken away
and carried with them the head and neck of Iris, which figure was thus
found by Lord Elgin without a head and is to be seen in this state iu
the British Museum.

The excavations carried on to the southwest of the Akropolis, lay-
ing bare the wall built by Kimon, and descending to great depth to the
primeval rock of the Akropolis, showed that after the Persian invasion
Kimon levelled the surface of the Akropolis and filled in all those
portions where the rock sunk to considerable depth below the highest
point. His wall, surrounding the entire Akropolis, binds the whole
compactly together and joins the rocky bosses into the complete unity of
the levelled citadel as it has now come down to us. All the objects
found in the excavations carried on along this Kimonian wall in this
and other portions of the Akropolis, date from a period preceding the
Persian invasion when the enemy destroyed the buildings and monu-
ments on the citadel. And there can be no doubt that these objects

*Zum Parthenonfries: Wiirzburg, 1877.