DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.973#0023
STATUE OF ATHENS PARTHENOS. 15
near the Pnyx, at Athens. Lenormant, Gazette des Beaux Arts,
1860, VIII., p. 133; Jahn, Pop. Aufsatze, p. 215, pi. 1 \
Michaelis, pi. 15, fig. 1, p. 273; Overbeck, Gr. Plast, 3rd ed.,
I., p. 253, fig. 54; Brunn, Denkmaeler, No. 38; Wolters,
No. 466; Harrison,!Mythology and Monuments of Anc. Athens,.
p. 449. Collignon, I., pp. 539, 540; Gardner, Handbook, p. 254.
For the Pandora relief, see Puchstein, in Jahrbuch des Arch.
Inst, V., p. 113.
302. Fragment of shield supposed to be a rough copy from
the shield of the statue of Athene Parthenos. Pliny
(H. N., xxxvi., 18) and Pausanias (i., 17, 2) state that the
outside of the shield was ornamented with the representa-
tion of a battle between Greeks and Amazons. Plutarch
adds (Pericles, 31) that one of the figures represented
Pheidias himself as an old bald-headed man raising a
stone with both hands, while in another figure, who was
represented fighting against an Amazon, with one hand
holding out a spear in such a way as to conceal the face,
the sculptor introduced the likeness of Pericles. He also
states that the placing of these portraits on the shield was
one of the pretexts for the disgrace of Pheidias. But
the story is probably of late origin, and invented to-
account for two characteristic figures on the shield. A
head of Medusa, encircled by two serpents, forms the
centre of the composition. Below is a Greek warrior
(a, cf. No. 301), bald-headed, who raises both hands above
his head to strike with a battle-axe. This figure has been
thought to be the Pheidias of the original design. Next
to him on the right is a Greek (6) who plants his left
foot on the body of a fallen Amazon (c) and is in the act
of dealing a blow with his right hand; his right arm is
raised across his face and conceals the greater part of it.
The action of this figure again corresponds with that of
Pericles as described by Plutarch. To the right are two
Greeks: the one advances to the right; the other
(d) seizes by the hair an Amazon falling on the right.
near the Pnyx, at Athens. Lenormant, Gazette des Beaux Arts,
1860, VIII., p. 133; Jahn, Pop. Aufsatze, p. 215, pi. 1 \
Michaelis, pi. 15, fig. 1, p. 273; Overbeck, Gr. Plast, 3rd ed.,
I., p. 253, fig. 54; Brunn, Denkmaeler, No. 38; Wolters,
No. 466; Harrison,!Mythology and Monuments of Anc. Athens,.
p. 449. Collignon, I., pp. 539, 540; Gardner, Handbook, p. 254.
For the Pandora relief, see Puchstein, in Jahrbuch des Arch.
Inst, V., p. 113.
302. Fragment of shield supposed to be a rough copy from
the shield of the statue of Athene Parthenos. Pliny
(H. N., xxxvi., 18) and Pausanias (i., 17, 2) state that the
outside of the shield was ornamented with the representa-
tion of a battle between Greeks and Amazons. Plutarch
adds (Pericles, 31) that one of the figures represented
Pheidias himself as an old bald-headed man raising a
stone with both hands, while in another figure, who was
represented fighting against an Amazon, with one hand
holding out a spear in such a way as to conceal the face,
the sculptor introduced the likeness of Pericles. He also
states that the placing of these portraits on the shield was
one of the pretexts for the disgrace of Pheidias. But
the story is probably of late origin, and invented to-
account for two characteristic figures on the shield. A
head of Medusa, encircled by two serpents, forms the
centre of the composition. Below is a Greek warrior
(a, cf. No. 301), bald-headed, who raises both hands above
his head to strike with a battle-axe. This figure has been
thought to be the Pheidias of the original design. Next
to him on the right is a Greek (6) who plants his left
foot on the body of a fallen Amazon (c) and is in the act
of dealing a blow with his right hand; his right arm is
raised across his face and conceals the greater part of it.
The action of this figure again corresponds with that of
Pericles as described by Plutarch. To the right are two
Greeks: the one advances to the right; the other
(d) seizes by the hair an Amazon falling on the right.