DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14134#0019
sent her as on the point of passing from the boundary of
Olympos to the outer world. (Mus. Marbles, vi., pi. 5 ;
Harrison, No. 695; Caldesi, No. 4.)
[G.] Iris.—This figure is moving rapidly to the left, the
right knee bent. The left arm, broken off at the shoulder,
was probably extended; the right, now broken off below
the elbow, was bent probably nearly at a right angle. The
right and left feet are wanting from the instep. This figure
seems to be exactly in the same condition as when Carrey
saw it, except that in his drawing rather more of the neck
appears than now remains. The dress is a Doric chiton,
open at the left side, so as to show the lower limbs from
the hip downwards and the side of the body from above
the girdle to the armpit. Over this falls a diploidion,
reaching below the girdle in front, and a little lower at
the sides. The remnant of a mantle floats behind, bellied
out by the resistance of the air to the rapid movement of
the figure. The arms of this figure are small in proportion
to the strength of the lower limbs, and the breasts
undeveloped like those of a young girl. This would
be consistent with the type of Iris as the messenger of
Zeus, trained to swift movement. The general motive
is forcibly expressed, though the main lines of the figure
seem rather meagre. But the original composition may
have suffered much from the mutilation of the mantle
and from the loss of both arms. From the rapid move-
ment of the figure in a direction turned away from the
centre of the composition, we can hardly doubt that she is
on her ^ay to announce the event of the Birth to the
world outside Olympos. Such a motive cannot be recon-
ciled with the theory advanced by Dr. Brunn, that the
composition in this pediment represents not the Birth, but
the moment immediately preceding it. It has been
thought that the head was half turned back towards the
central group, but too little remains of the neck to make
Olympos to the outer world. (Mus. Marbles, vi., pi. 5 ;
Harrison, No. 695; Caldesi, No. 4.)
[G.] Iris.—This figure is moving rapidly to the left, the
right knee bent. The left arm, broken off at the shoulder,
was probably extended; the right, now broken off below
the elbow, was bent probably nearly at a right angle. The
right and left feet are wanting from the instep. This figure
seems to be exactly in the same condition as when Carrey
saw it, except that in his drawing rather more of the neck
appears than now remains. The dress is a Doric chiton,
open at the left side, so as to show the lower limbs from
the hip downwards and the side of the body from above
the girdle to the armpit. Over this falls a diploidion,
reaching below the girdle in front, and a little lower at
the sides. The remnant of a mantle floats behind, bellied
out by the resistance of the air to the rapid movement of
the figure. The arms of this figure are small in proportion
to the strength of the lower limbs, and the breasts
undeveloped like those of a young girl. This would
be consistent with the type of Iris as the messenger of
Zeus, trained to swift movement. The general motive
is forcibly expressed, though the main lines of the figure
seem rather meagre. But the original composition may
have suffered much from the mutilation of the mantle
and from the loss of both arms. From the rapid move-
ment of the figure in a direction turned away from the
centre of the composition, we can hardly doubt that she is
on her ^ay to announce the event of the Birth to the
world outside Olympos. Such a motive cannot be recon-
ciled with the theory advanced by Dr. Brunn, that the
composition in this pediment represents not the Birth, but
the moment immediately preceding it. It has been
thought that the head was half turned back towards the
central group, but too little remains of the neck to make