DOI Artikel:
Essay V: The eastern pediment of the Parthenon, and Thalassa and Gaia
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0211
V.] THE EASTERN PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 183
more on coins published by Ryckius1 representing the Capitoline
Temple itself. In all these works, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva
are represented in the centre of the pediment, and several have
the distinct personifications of nature surrounding them. In the
relief published by Piranesi and Muller the gods being in the
centre are surrounded on either side by Helios and Selene (or
rather Sol and Luna), and these are followed by reclining figures
in either angle, evidently, from analogies to be considered later,
the two great personifications of terrestrial nature. There are
also figures above the cornice. On smaller representations, such
as coins, the whole scene is very much curtailed, the main features
of the pediment being recorded. So on the reverse of a bronze
coin2 struck under Antoninus Pius, we have a circular rim contain-
ing the signs of the zodiac, and in the centre Jupiter enthroned,
and below his feet on the right Gaia, and on the left a figure
which may be male or female on a seaLmonster, with what appears
a sickle in one hand, either Pontos or Thalassa. Above these
and to the right and left of Zeus are Helios and Selene in chariots.
The same coin is figured by Mionnet3. A medallion relief in
the Villa Albani4 at Rome, which appears to have been restored
after the coin, differs from the coin in that Okeanos with an oar
is here on the right and Gaia with a cornucopia is on the left.
An analogous representation still more curtailed is on a coin
from Pergamon6. Here Helios and Selene are cut down to the
busts of these figures, the one with a crown, the other with a
half-moon, while below on the left is Thalassa with an oar leaning
on an urn from which water is streaming, and on the right Gaia
with a branch.
The above-quoted relief in the Vatican is fragmentary and
merely contains the centre, together with the left wing of what was
represented in the pediment0. The centre contains the three gods,
accompanied by Fortuna (who in Roman mythology seems to
take the place of Nike in the Greek as a symbol of the success and
power of the gods). At the angle, Helios preceded by one of the
1 De Capitol. Ch. XIII., also Monum. incdit. d. Instil. 11. 33, 34.
2 Midler I.e. II. PI. 76, No. 26. :1 Descript. de Medailles Suppl. v. p. 78.
4 Hurt, Bilderbuch, PI. 2, No. 3. 5 Morelli, Specimen Rei Num. I. 3.
" We can hardly err in assuming that the other wing contained Selene ami Gaia.
more on coins published by Ryckius1 representing the Capitoline
Temple itself. In all these works, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva
are represented in the centre of the pediment, and several have
the distinct personifications of nature surrounding them. In the
relief published by Piranesi and Muller the gods being in the
centre are surrounded on either side by Helios and Selene (or
rather Sol and Luna), and these are followed by reclining figures
in either angle, evidently, from analogies to be considered later,
the two great personifications of terrestrial nature. There are
also figures above the cornice. On smaller representations, such
as coins, the whole scene is very much curtailed, the main features
of the pediment being recorded. So on the reverse of a bronze
coin2 struck under Antoninus Pius, we have a circular rim contain-
ing the signs of the zodiac, and in the centre Jupiter enthroned,
and below his feet on the right Gaia, and on the left a figure
which may be male or female on a seaLmonster, with what appears
a sickle in one hand, either Pontos or Thalassa. Above these
and to the right and left of Zeus are Helios and Selene in chariots.
The same coin is figured by Mionnet3. A medallion relief in
the Villa Albani4 at Rome, which appears to have been restored
after the coin, differs from the coin in that Okeanos with an oar
is here on the right and Gaia with a cornucopia is on the left.
An analogous representation still more curtailed is on a coin
from Pergamon6. Here Helios and Selene are cut down to the
busts of these figures, the one with a crown, the other with a
half-moon, while below on the left is Thalassa with an oar leaning
on an urn from which water is streaming, and on the right Gaia
with a branch.
The above-quoted relief in the Vatican is fragmentary and
merely contains the centre, together with the left wing of what was
represented in the pediment0. The centre contains the three gods,
accompanied by Fortuna (who in Roman mythology seems to
take the place of Nike in the Greek as a symbol of the success and
power of the gods). At the angle, Helios preceded by one of the
1 De Capitol. Ch. XIII., also Monum. incdit. d. Instil. 11. 33, 34.
2 Midler I.e. II. PI. 76, No. 26. :1 Descript. de Medailles Suppl. v. p. 78.
4 Hurt, Bilderbuch, PI. 2, No. 3. 5 Morelli, Specimen Rei Num. I. 3.
" We can hardly err in assuming that the other wing contained Selene ami Gaia.