DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0273
240
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
hero fallen at the feet of the goddess Athena, stand-
ing in the middle of the pediment.
In number and arrangement, the figures in the
)V two pediments corresponded exactly one with the
other, as has been proved by Prachow and Lange
from the fragments in Munich.4'7 Besides, the two
halves of each pediment in composition were exact
repetitions of one another. On each side of the
goddess was a bended hero, stretched over as if to
snatch the dying man lying at her feet; and this
correspondence in the figures continued away to
the corners of the pediment, as will be seen from
; the plate which follows Lange's restoration (Fig.
• 118). The subject of these marbles is clearly from
! the Trojan combat, where Greeks, under the protec-
: tion of Pallas Athena, were led on to battle by their
greatest heroes, the ^Eginetan-born sons of Aiacos.
. The sculptors have failed to individualize the com-
« batants ; but it is, probably, a fallen Achilles about
i whom the battle rages in the west pediment, and,
in the east pediment, perhaps Oicles. The fierce-
ness of the contest about Achilles' body, as told in
the ^Ethiopis, that ancient epic by Arctinos of Mi-
letos (770 B.C.), gives us a conception of the im-
portance laid upon the possession of the body and
t armor of the fallen. The poet tells us that Achilles,
while struggling to gain an entrance at the Scaian
gate, was smitten by Paris' fatal arrow. About his
body, fabled to be as beautiful as that of his mother,
Thetis, the sea-nymph, and as powerful as that of
his mortal father, Peleus, there arose a stormy con-
LV-J E: flict. The Greeks were spurred on by their belief
that the hero's soul would forever wander a rest-
less shade were he deprived of burial, as would be
the case if in the enemy's hands ; and the Trojans
by the prospect of bearing away from the battle-
field the greatest champion of Hellas, and his
armor the proudest trophy. All day long the bat-
tle lasted ; mountains of slain warriors lay heaped
up about the body; and no respite came until
Zeus in a hurricane parted the contending foes.
The intense desire to secure the armor of the
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
hero fallen at the feet of the goddess Athena, stand-
ing in the middle of the pediment.
In number and arrangement, the figures in the
)V two pediments corresponded exactly one with the
other, as has been proved by Prachow and Lange
from the fragments in Munich.4'7 Besides, the two
halves of each pediment in composition were exact
repetitions of one another. On each side of the
goddess was a bended hero, stretched over as if to
snatch the dying man lying at her feet; and this
correspondence in the figures continued away to
the corners of the pediment, as will be seen from
; the plate which follows Lange's restoration (Fig.
• 118). The subject of these marbles is clearly from
! the Trojan combat, where Greeks, under the protec-
: tion of Pallas Athena, were led on to battle by their
greatest heroes, the ^Eginetan-born sons of Aiacos.
. The sculptors have failed to individualize the com-
« batants ; but it is, probably, a fallen Achilles about
i whom the battle rages in the west pediment, and,
in the east pediment, perhaps Oicles. The fierce-
ness of the contest about Achilles' body, as told in
the ^Ethiopis, that ancient epic by Arctinos of Mi-
letos (770 B.C.), gives us a conception of the im-
portance laid upon the possession of the body and
t armor of the fallen. The poet tells us that Achilles,
while struggling to gain an entrance at the Scaian
gate, was smitten by Paris' fatal arrow. About his
body, fabled to be as beautiful as that of his mother,
Thetis, the sea-nymph, and as powerful as that of
his mortal father, Peleus, there arose a stormy con-
LV-J E: flict. The Greeks were spurred on by their belief
that the hero's soul would forever wander a rest-
less shade were he deprived of burial, as would be
the case if in the enemy's hands ; and the Trojans
by the prospect of bearing away from the battle-
field the greatest champion of Hellas, and his
armor the proudest trophy. All day long the bat-
tle lasted ; mountains of slain warriors lay heaped
up about the body; and no respite came until
Zeus in a hurricane parted the contending foes.
The intense desire to secure the armor of the