DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.973#0087
EAST FKIEZE OP PARTHENON. 79
peplos of Athene. This view of Nos. 30-32 was neces-
sarily abandoned, when it had been perceived that the
objects held by the maidens are chairs, not baskets.
They can hardly be other than the Diphrophori or stool-
bearers, who are known to have taken part in the pro-
cession. It has been generally supposed, on the authority
of a scholiast (Schol. Aristoph. Aves, 1551), that the
Diphrophori carried the seats, for the convenience of the
Canephori, and they therefore seemed unworthy of a
central position. It has however been shown that this
is probably an error (Furtwaengler, Meisterwerke, p. 187),
and that the seats were probably carried, in order that
they might be solemnly set out, to invite and to suggest
the presence of the gods at the ceremony. The arrival
of the Diphrophori would thus be a piece of ritual of co-
ordinate importance with the delivery of the peplos.
(See below.) As regards Nos. 33, 34, the main arguments
for interpreting the cloth as the peplos are, that the
accounts of the procession preserved in ancient authors
show that the conveyance of the peplos of Athene was the
principal feature in it. If we look to the place assigned
to this group in the eastern frieze, we find that these two
groups (Nos. 30-34) stand in the centre of the eastern
front, under the apex of the pediment, and over the
eastern door of the cella. They therefore occupy the most
conspicuous place in the frieze, from the points of view
alike of the sculptured Gods and of the human spectator,
and accordingly may well be supposed to be busy with
the chief ceremony of the festival. This view is opposed
by Flasch, who argues that if the delivery of the peplos
is represented, there is a violation of the unity of time,
as the act which was the main motive of the procession is
being completed, while the procession is still in progress,
and in part has not yet started. Flasch therefore holds that
we have a mere scene of preparation and that the priestess
peplos of Athene. This view of Nos. 30-32 was neces-
sarily abandoned, when it had been perceived that the
objects held by the maidens are chairs, not baskets.
They can hardly be other than the Diphrophori or stool-
bearers, who are known to have taken part in the pro-
cession. It has been generally supposed, on the authority
of a scholiast (Schol. Aristoph. Aves, 1551), that the
Diphrophori carried the seats, for the convenience of the
Canephori, and they therefore seemed unworthy of a
central position. It has however been shown that this
is probably an error (Furtwaengler, Meisterwerke, p. 187),
and that the seats were probably carried, in order that
they might be solemnly set out, to invite and to suggest
the presence of the gods at the ceremony. The arrival
of the Diphrophori would thus be a piece of ritual of co-
ordinate importance with the delivery of the peplos.
(See below.) As regards Nos. 33, 34, the main arguments
for interpreting the cloth as the peplos are, that the
accounts of the procession preserved in ancient authors
show that the conveyance of the peplos of Athene was the
principal feature in it. If we look to the place assigned
to this group in the eastern frieze, we find that these two
groups (Nos. 30-34) stand in the centre of the eastern
front, under the apex of the pediment, and over the
eastern door of the cella. They therefore occupy the most
conspicuous place in the frieze, from the points of view
alike of the sculptured Gods and of the human spectator,
and accordingly may well be supposed to be busy with
the chief ceremony of the festival. This view is opposed
by Flasch, who argues that if the delivery of the peplos
is represented, there is a violation of the unity of time,
as the act which was the main motive of the procession is
being completed, while the procession is still in progress,
and in part has not yet started. Flasch therefore holds that
we have a mere scene of preparation and that the priestess