DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0220
184
PHETDIAS UNDER PERICLES.
of Nike—six feet in height, and wearing a garland—holding either a
garland or a tcenia in her hands, with which to crown the victor.1 In
her left hand the Parthenos held her spear, but rather as a sceptre
than a weapon ; and on the same side, resting on the ground, was the
large circular shield, half concealed by which the Erechthonian ser-
pent,2 emblem of the autochthonous Athenians, reared its formidable
head. The comparatively blank right side of the figure may have
been filled up by more ample folds of the dress, and by the moral
weight of the figure of Victory. These accessories—the Nike, the
Serpent, and the Sphinx—were objects of the highest admiration to
ancient amateurs.3
With regard to the material, we may say generally, that the nude
parts were of ivory, the eyes partly of ivory and partly of precious
stones, and the dress and weapons of gold.1 Thucydidess gives
the value of the removable (irspiaipiTov) robe at forty talents, and
Diodorus Siculusc at fifty; perhaps the latter included the metal
which was permanently fastened to the statue. The front of the
basis of the statue was adorned with reliefs representing the Birth of
Pandora (or rather her creation by Hephaestus) in the presence of
twenty Gods." On the sides of the high golden soles of the sandals
the Battle of the Centaurs and Lapithce was chiselled.8 The convex
surface of the shield contained a Battle of the Amazons, and the
concave a GigantoniacJiia, arranged as a frieze round the handle.
Very careful and elaborate attempts have been made to restore the
Parthenos of Pheidias, by the help of descriptions by ancient authors,
1 In some Attic reliefs with a similar
motif, Nike is represented flying away from
the goddess with a garland in her hand, and
in others Athene herself holds out the crown
of victory.
2 Pausan. i. 24. 5 : Erechthonius, son of
Hephaestus and Ge, either wholly or half
serpent in form, was adopted by Athene, and
entrusted to Herse, Aglauros, and Pandrosos,
daughters of Cecrops, in a chest, which the
sisters were forbidden to open. Pandrosos
alone was obedient to the command. The
other two opened the fatal box, and seeing
the child in the form of a serpent ('infantem-
que vident, apporrectumque draconem,'Ovid,
Met. ii. 56), threw themselves in despair
from the Acropolis. Apollodor. iii. 14. 6.
Hygin. Fab. 166. Eurip. Jon, 260. Of
this serpent Plutarch (De Jsideel Osiride, 75)
remarks that Pheidias added the serpent to
the statue of Athene, and the tortoise to that
of Aphrodite, to indicate that virgins need
a guard, and that home-staying and silence
become married women.
' Plin. N. H. xxxvi. iS.
4 Plato, Hipp. Ma/, p. 290 B,
6 ii. 13. 6 xii. 40.
' Pausan. i. 24. 3.
* ' Adeo momenta omnia artis capacia
illi fuere' (sc. Phidiie). Plin. xxxvi. 18.
PHETDIAS UNDER PERICLES.
of Nike—six feet in height, and wearing a garland—holding either a
garland or a tcenia in her hands, with which to crown the victor.1 In
her left hand the Parthenos held her spear, but rather as a sceptre
than a weapon ; and on the same side, resting on the ground, was the
large circular shield, half concealed by which the Erechthonian ser-
pent,2 emblem of the autochthonous Athenians, reared its formidable
head. The comparatively blank right side of the figure may have
been filled up by more ample folds of the dress, and by the moral
weight of the figure of Victory. These accessories—the Nike, the
Serpent, and the Sphinx—were objects of the highest admiration to
ancient amateurs.3
With regard to the material, we may say generally, that the nude
parts were of ivory, the eyes partly of ivory and partly of precious
stones, and the dress and weapons of gold.1 Thucydidess gives
the value of the removable (irspiaipiTov) robe at forty talents, and
Diodorus Siculusc at fifty; perhaps the latter included the metal
which was permanently fastened to the statue. The front of the
basis of the statue was adorned with reliefs representing the Birth of
Pandora (or rather her creation by Hephaestus) in the presence of
twenty Gods." On the sides of the high golden soles of the sandals
the Battle of the Centaurs and Lapithce was chiselled.8 The convex
surface of the shield contained a Battle of the Amazons, and the
concave a GigantoniacJiia, arranged as a frieze round the handle.
Very careful and elaborate attempts have been made to restore the
Parthenos of Pheidias, by the help of descriptions by ancient authors,
1 In some Attic reliefs with a similar
motif, Nike is represented flying away from
the goddess with a garland in her hand, and
in others Athene herself holds out the crown
of victory.
2 Pausan. i. 24. 5 : Erechthonius, son of
Hephaestus and Ge, either wholly or half
serpent in form, was adopted by Athene, and
entrusted to Herse, Aglauros, and Pandrosos,
daughters of Cecrops, in a chest, which the
sisters were forbidden to open. Pandrosos
alone was obedient to the command. The
other two opened the fatal box, and seeing
the child in the form of a serpent ('infantem-
que vident, apporrectumque draconem,'Ovid,
Met. ii. 56), threw themselves in despair
from the Acropolis. Apollodor. iii. 14. 6.
Hygin. Fab. 166. Eurip. Jon, 260. Of
this serpent Plutarch (De Jsideel Osiride, 75)
remarks that Pheidias added the serpent to
the statue of Athene, and the tortoise to that
of Aphrodite, to indicate that virgins need
a guard, and that home-staying and silence
become married women.
' Plin. N. H. xxxvi. iS.
4 Plato, Hipp. Ma/, p. 290 B,
6 ii. 13. 6 xii. 40.
' Pausan. i. 24. 3.
* ' Adeo momenta omnia artis capacia
illi fuere' (sc. Phidiie). Plin. xxxvi. 18.