DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15096#0039
22
It was perfectly conformable to the religious notions which,
according to Pausanias, prevailed in various parts of Greece, but
particularly in Athens, to represent each of the contending deities
under the distinguishing title of lirmoQ. Their claim to the intro-
duction of the horse for the use of man, and of rendering it sub-
servient to his purposes, being esteemed equal, and their worship
as Neptune "Trrnog^ and Minerva "-Kma^ being every where esta-
blished. The magnificence and variety obtained by the introduc-
tion of the horses into the group was doubtless an additional
inducement with the artist in the general design. On the left
Minerva points to the car of Victory; Erectheus, as her Trdpsdpog or
assistant in the invention of war chariots, accompanies her. In
the frize of the Panathenaic procession a similar disposition of figures
is frequently observable.
It is highly probable that the group next to the Victoria Apteros
are Ceres and Proserpine, and the young Iacchus.(8>
It is a sufficient reason for the appearance of these deities in the
train of Minerva, on an occasion so interesting to the Athenians,
that they were the peculiar objects of worship in the Eleusinian
mysteries. Their importance too in the mythology of this people
would entitle them to marked distinction in a composition, the ob-
ject of which was to gratify the national pride as well as the religion
of Athens.
It is probable that the principal figure of the following group
may represent Cecrops, whom the Athenians revered as a god, and
who had been witness, before the assembly of the divinities, to the
6 Paus. lib. i. c. ii. lib. vi. c. xx. lib. vii. c. xxi. lib. viii. c. xxv.
7 Paus. lib. viii. c. xlvii. lib. i. c. xxx. lib. i. c. xxxi. lib. v. c. xv.
8 See M. Quatremere de Quincy, Restitution des deux Frontons du Temple de
Minerve, p. 40. Col. Leake has suggested that they might represent Cecrops and
his three daughters, Pandrosos, Herse, and Aglauros, and his son Erysichthon;
but, though at the first sight this supposition is highly plausible, it is not probable
that the deities or personages in the train of Minerva would be inferior in conse-
quence to those on the side of Neptune.
It was perfectly conformable to the religious notions which,
according to Pausanias, prevailed in various parts of Greece, but
particularly in Athens, to represent each of the contending deities
under the distinguishing title of lirmoQ. Their claim to the intro-
duction of the horse for the use of man, and of rendering it sub-
servient to his purposes, being esteemed equal, and their worship
as Neptune "Trrnog^ and Minerva "-Kma^ being every where esta-
blished. The magnificence and variety obtained by the introduc-
tion of the horses into the group was doubtless an additional
inducement with the artist in the general design. On the left
Minerva points to the car of Victory; Erectheus, as her Trdpsdpog or
assistant in the invention of war chariots, accompanies her. In
the frize of the Panathenaic procession a similar disposition of figures
is frequently observable.
It is highly probable that the group next to the Victoria Apteros
are Ceres and Proserpine, and the young Iacchus.(8>
It is a sufficient reason for the appearance of these deities in the
train of Minerva, on an occasion so interesting to the Athenians,
that they were the peculiar objects of worship in the Eleusinian
mysteries. Their importance too in the mythology of this people
would entitle them to marked distinction in a composition, the ob-
ject of which was to gratify the national pride as well as the religion
of Athens.
It is probable that the principal figure of the following group
may represent Cecrops, whom the Athenians revered as a god, and
who had been witness, before the assembly of the divinities, to the
6 Paus. lib. i. c. ii. lib. vi. c. xx. lib. vii. c. xxi. lib. viii. c. xxv.
7 Paus. lib. viii. c. xlvii. lib. i. c. xxx. lib. i. c. xxxi. lib. v. c. xv.
8 See M. Quatremere de Quincy, Restitution des deux Frontons du Temple de
Minerve, p. 40. Col. Leake has suggested that they might represent Cecrops and
his three daughters, Pandrosos, Herse, and Aglauros, and his son Erysichthon;
but, though at the first sight this supposition is highly plausible, it is not probable
that the deities or personages in the train of Minerva would be inferior in conse-
quence to those on the side of Neptune.