DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14134#0027
Of these, the male figure by the side of the chariot (H)
has been called Ares, Hermes, or one of the Attic heroes,
Erechtheus, Erichthonios, or Kekrops. Next follow the
charioteer (G), probably Nike, and a group of two female
figures and a boy (D, E, F), which may represent Demeter
and Kore with Iakehos, and between this group and the
reclining figure in the angle a male and female figure (B, C)
grouped together, who may be Asklepios and Hygieia or
Kekrops and one of his daughters.
Much as archaeologists ditfer in the identification of the
single figures in the western pediment as drawn by
Carrey, it is generally admitted that the space bounded
by the reclining figures in the angles represents the
Akropolis itself between the two rivers of Athens, and
that the figures on the left of Athene are Attic deities or
heroes, who would sympathize actively with her in the con-
test which is the subject of the pediment, while those on the
right of Poseidon are the subordinate marine deities who
would naturally be present as the supporters of the Ruler of
the sea. This general idea of the composition as it existed
in the time of Carrey should be kept in view in the study
of the few fragments which now remain of it. The great
destruction of the western pediment since it was seen by
Carrey may have been partly due to the explosion dxiring
the siege. After taking the Akropolis, Morosini tried to
lower the horses of the car of Athene, but the tackle he
used broke, and this matchless group fell to the ground.
If the fragments had been then collected and put together,
probably much of this beautiful design might have been
saved, but they remained on the spot where they fell till
after the establishment of the Greek kingdom at Athens
(1833), when they were gathered up and placed in a
magazine on the Akropolis. They were subsequently
moulded, and casts of them are now exhibited in the
Elgin Rooni. Between the time of Morosini and the
c 2
has been called Ares, Hermes, or one of the Attic heroes,
Erechtheus, Erichthonios, or Kekrops. Next follow the
charioteer (G), probably Nike, and a group of two female
figures and a boy (D, E, F), which may represent Demeter
and Kore with Iakehos, and between this group and the
reclining figure in the angle a male and female figure (B, C)
grouped together, who may be Asklepios and Hygieia or
Kekrops and one of his daughters.
Much as archaeologists ditfer in the identification of the
single figures in the western pediment as drawn by
Carrey, it is generally admitted that the space bounded
by the reclining figures in the angles represents the
Akropolis itself between the two rivers of Athens, and
that the figures on the left of Athene are Attic deities or
heroes, who would sympathize actively with her in the con-
test which is the subject of the pediment, while those on the
right of Poseidon are the subordinate marine deities who
would naturally be present as the supporters of the Ruler of
the sea. This general idea of the composition as it existed
in the time of Carrey should be kept in view in the study
of the few fragments which now remain of it. The great
destruction of the western pediment since it was seen by
Carrey may have been partly due to the explosion dxiring
the siege. After taking the Akropolis, Morosini tried to
lower the horses of the car of Athene, but the tackle he
used broke, and this matchless group fell to the ground.
If the fragments had been then collected and put together,
probably much of this beautiful design might have been
saved, but they remained on the spot where they fell till
after the establishment of the Greek kingdom at Athens
(1833), when they were gathered up and placed in a
magazine on the Akropolis. They were subsequently
moulded, and casts of them are now exhibited in the
Elgin Rooni. Between the time of Morosini and the
c 2