DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14134#0057
48
procession, and were hence called pompic chariots ; and an
escort of Athenian cavalry and heavy infantry completed
the show. The whole ceremony was under the direction
of the Hieropoioi, and the multitudinous throng was
marshalled and kept in order by the Demarchs and by the
heralds of a particular Gens, the Euneidae.
When, with a knowledge of these facts, we examine the
composition of the frieze, we may recognise in its design
the main features of the actual procession. On the Eastern
frieze, the delivery of the peplos is- represented in the
presence of certain deities whose worship we must suppose
to have been associated with that of Athene in this festival.
Towards this central point converge two lines of procession,
which, starting from the west side of the temple, proceed
along its Northern and Southern sides, advancing towards
the centre of the eastern front. At the head of the
procession from the North side are Kanephori, victims and
their attendants, musicians, Skaphephori, Spondophori,
Thallophori, pompic chariots, cavalry. On the corresponding
part of the procession on the south side, we see Kanephori,
victims, chariots, cavalry. All through the frieze, at
intervals, are magistrates and heralds marshalling the
order of the procession. It has been objected that many
features which we know to have formed a part of the
original ceremony, as, for instance, the ship on which the
peplos was borne, are not found on the frieze; but, as
Michaelis justly remarks, Pheidias was not an Assyrian
but a Greek artist, and only selected for his composition
such details from the actual procession as he considered
suitable for representation in sculpture, working, as he here
did, under certain architectonic conditions. The design of
this frieze may be best understood if we begin by study-
ing the portion on the West side of the Parthenon.
procession, and were hence called pompic chariots ; and an
escort of Athenian cavalry and heavy infantry completed
the show. The whole ceremony was under the direction
of the Hieropoioi, and the multitudinous throng was
marshalled and kept in order by the Demarchs and by the
heralds of a particular Gens, the Euneidae.
When, with a knowledge of these facts, we examine the
composition of the frieze, we may recognise in its design
the main features of the actual procession. On the Eastern
frieze, the delivery of the peplos is- represented in the
presence of certain deities whose worship we must suppose
to have been associated with that of Athene in this festival.
Towards this central point converge two lines of procession,
which, starting from the west side of the temple, proceed
along its Northern and Southern sides, advancing towards
the centre of the eastern front. At the head of the
procession from the North side are Kanephori, victims and
their attendants, musicians, Skaphephori, Spondophori,
Thallophori, pompic chariots, cavalry. On the corresponding
part of the procession on the south side, we see Kanephori,
victims, chariots, cavalry. All through the frieze, at
intervals, are magistrates and heralds marshalling the
order of the procession. It has been objected that many
features which we know to have formed a part of the
original ceremony, as, for instance, the ship on which the
peplos was borne, are not found on the frieze; but, as
Michaelis justly remarks, Pheidias was not an Assyrian
but a Greek artist, and only selected for his composition
such details from the actual procession as he considered
suitable for representation in sculpture, working, as he here
did, under certain architectonic conditions. The design of
this frieze may be best understood if we begin by study-
ing the portion on the West side of the Parthenon.