DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15098#0053
41
PLATE III.
[ Length of this portion, 6 f. 4 in. of the whole slab, 14 f. 8 in.
Old No. 18. New No. 19.]
The great object of this lengthened procession was to conduct
to the Temple of Minerva the splendid peplus, which was renewed
at every recurrence of this festival; to celebrate its presentation
in the temple with solemn ceremonies; to commemorate the
achievements and acknowledge the protection of the Virgin God-
dess in songs and sacred choruses. This peplus, we have seen,
was conveyed upon a carriage in the form of a ship, upon which it
was spread as a sail ; when arrived at the entrance of the
temple it would be removed from the ship, folded up and con-
veyed into the edifice, and delivered to the person who was pecu-
liarly charged with the arrangements for its due appropriation
to the purposes for which it was ultimately designed, and
especially with the superintendence of the ceremonies by which
it was upon this solemn occasion dedicated to the service of
Minerva. Some charge regarding the weaving of this splendid
drapery, and other circumstances connected with it, we know to
have been entrusted to illustrious young women from the age of
seven to eleven ; and if we may be allowed to take the sculpture
as an illustration of the history, or rather as an aid to supply
omissions, we shall see that a duty was imposed upon young
people of the other sex, that of delivering the sacred peplus to
the appointed superintendent; for in this plate we observe a
youth in the act of presenting it to an aged priest. The young
men in the procession are stated to have worn the chlamys,
and in the course of the procession we shall see various instances
of it; but there is a kind of garment called pandamicus, accord-
ing to Hesychius, who describes it as a chiton appropriated to
PLATE III.
[ Length of this portion, 6 f. 4 in. of the whole slab, 14 f. 8 in.
Old No. 18. New No. 19.]
The great object of this lengthened procession was to conduct
to the Temple of Minerva the splendid peplus, which was renewed
at every recurrence of this festival; to celebrate its presentation
in the temple with solemn ceremonies; to commemorate the
achievements and acknowledge the protection of the Virgin God-
dess in songs and sacred choruses. This peplus, we have seen,
was conveyed upon a carriage in the form of a ship, upon which it
was spread as a sail ; when arrived at the entrance of the
temple it would be removed from the ship, folded up and con-
veyed into the edifice, and delivered to the person who was pecu-
liarly charged with the arrangements for its due appropriation
to the purposes for which it was ultimately designed, and
especially with the superintendence of the ceremonies by which
it was upon this solemn occasion dedicated to the service of
Minerva. Some charge regarding the weaving of this splendid
drapery, and other circumstances connected with it, we know to
have been entrusted to illustrious young women from the age of
seven to eleven ; and if we may be allowed to take the sculpture
as an illustration of the history, or rather as an aid to supply
omissions, we shall see that a duty was imposed upon young
people of the other sex, that of delivering the sacred peplus to
the appointed superintendent; for in this plate we observe a
youth in the act of presenting it to an aged priest. The young
men in the procession are stated to have worn the chlamys,
and in the course of the procession we shall see various instances
of it; but there is a kind of garment called pandamicus, accord-
ing to Hesychius, who describes it as a chiton appropriated to