DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.973#0029
EASTERN PEDIMENT OP PARTHENON. 21
Theseus, reclines on a rock and faces the horses of Helios.
He leans on his left arm in an easy attitude. The right
arm is bent, but, as the hand is wanting, we can only
form conjectures as to what its action may have been. It
probably held a spear, or some other long object, the end
■of which may have been attached to the left ankle at the
place where a dowel hole is still visible. According to
some writers, the hole served for the attachment of the
laced work of a sandal in bronze. (Ber. d. h. sacks. Ges. d.
WissenscJiaften, 1880, p. 44.) The legs are bent, the left-
leg drawn back under the right. At the back of the
head are indications that the hair was brought in twisted
plaits round the head (cf. No. 209). The body is entirely
nude : over the rock on which the figure rests is thrown
a, mantle under which is spread a skin, the claws of
which are certainly those of some feline animal. The
figure is distinguished for its combination of easy grace
in the pose, and of ideal grandeur of form, not marred by
any exaggeration or extravagance in the rendering of its
various parts.
In type and position this figure presents so
much resemblance to the Heracles on the silver
coins of Croton in Lower Italy (Mus. Marbles, vi.,
title-page), that it was identified with that hero by
Viscouti, who supposed the skin on which he reclines to
be that of a lion. This skin, however, seems more like
that of a panther, on which ground the figure has been
thought to be Dionysos, v\ho appears in a very similar
reclining attitude on another Athenian work, the
Ohoragic monument of Lysicrates (No. 430,/). Compare
also the figure of Dionysos reclining, on a relief on an
askos in the British Museum, No. G42. The figure,
however, differs greatly in character, not only from the
figure on the monument of Lysicrates, but also from the
figure sometimes supposed to be Dionysos on the frieze
Theseus, reclines on a rock and faces the horses of Helios.
He leans on his left arm in an easy attitude. The right
arm is bent, but, as the hand is wanting, we can only
form conjectures as to what its action may have been. It
probably held a spear, or some other long object, the end
■of which may have been attached to the left ankle at the
place where a dowel hole is still visible. According to
some writers, the hole served for the attachment of the
laced work of a sandal in bronze. (Ber. d. h. sacks. Ges. d.
WissenscJiaften, 1880, p. 44.) The legs are bent, the left-
leg drawn back under the right. At the back of the
head are indications that the hair was brought in twisted
plaits round the head (cf. No. 209). The body is entirely
nude : over the rock on which the figure rests is thrown
a, mantle under which is spread a skin, the claws of
which are certainly those of some feline animal. The
figure is distinguished for its combination of easy grace
in the pose, and of ideal grandeur of form, not marred by
any exaggeration or extravagance in the rendering of its
various parts.
In type and position this figure presents so
much resemblance to the Heracles on the silver
coins of Croton in Lower Italy (Mus. Marbles, vi.,
title-page), that it was identified with that hero by
Viscouti, who supposed the skin on which he reclines to
be that of a lion. This skin, however, seems more like
that of a panther, on which ground the figure has been
thought to be Dionysos, v\ho appears in a very similar
reclining attitude on another Athenian work, the
Ohoragic monument of Lysicrates (No. 430,/). Compare
also the figure of Dionysos reclining, on a relief on an
askos in the British Museum, No. G42. The figure,
however, differs greatly in character, not only from the
figure on the monument of Lysicrates, but also from the
figure sometimes supposed to be Dionysos on the frieze