Smith, Arthur H.; British Museum <London> / Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities [Hrsg.]: A Catalogue of the sculptures of the Parthenon, in the British Museum (London, 1900)

WESTERN PEDIMENT OF PAKTHENON. 33

WESTERN PEDIMENT OP THE PARTHENON.

304. The subject of the western pediment of the Parthenon
according to Pausanias (i., 24, 5) was the strife of Poseidon
with Athene for the soil of Attica. This contest, accord-
ing to tradition, took place on the Acropolis itself.
Poseidon, striking the ground with his trident, produced
a salt spring, or, according to another and later version, a
horse. Athene showed her power by making the soil
produce the olive-tree. The victory in the contest was
adjudged to Athene. The award was made with Cecrops
acting as judge (Callimachns, in Schol. 17., xvii., 54) or
as witness before a tribunal of gods (Apollodorus, Bibl.,
iiL, 177-9). The spot where this double miracle took
place was marked in subsequent times by the joint temple
of Erechtheus and Athene Polias; within the precincts of
which were the sacred olive-tree produced by Athene, and
the salt spring of Poseidon.

In the time of Carrey, the composition in this pediment
was nearly perfect, and to understand the torsos which
remain, reference should be made to Carrey's drawing,
(Plate iii. fig. 2). If we omit a few of the early writers
on the Parthenon, who mistook the western pediment for
that which contained the representation of the birth of
Athene, we find that it has been usually supposed that
the space bounded by the reclining figures in the angles
represents the Acropolis between the two rivers of
Athens, and that the figures to the left of Athene are
Attic deities or heroes, who would sympathize actively
with her in the contest which is the subject of the pedi-
ment, while those to the right of Poseidon are the
subordinate marine deities who would naturally be
present as the supporters of the Euler of the sea. A
dissentient theory is that of Biunn (Ber. d. k. layer.