DOI Artikel:
Essay V: The eastern pediment of the Parthenon, and Thalassa and Gaia
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0212
184
ESSAYS ON THE ART OE PHEIDIAS.
[V-
Dioskouroi is advancing with his chariot over a half-draped
reclining female figure leaning on an urn from which water is
streaming, in whom Thalassa has been recognised by all. Next
to her is a male figure half rising out of the ground with drapery
flowing like an arch above his head. I agree with Visconti, who
sees in this figure the personification of heaven, the Roman
Coelus, and that this is a higher region is indicated by the
attitude of Minerva, the figure placed next, who is looking
down into the lower regions. Just as 011 the one side of the
Parthenon pediment the figure of the reclining Olympos, towards
whom the sun is ascending, indicates the regions of the gods, so
here Coelus introduces us into the sphere of the three principal
Roman divinities. However great the variations of the theme,
it is manifest that in these Roman compositions we have a faint
echo of the principle of pedimental composition introduced by
Pheidias in his decoration of the Parthenon, and so the light
which is thrown by these Roman works upon the general signifi-
cance of the figures in the Parthenon pediment is none the less
important, however inferior in artistic qualities they may be.
We started our examination of this class of monuments
merely for the purpose of discovering whether personifications
of nature in ancient art were sufficiently common to justify us
in adhering to the interpretation of two of the figures from the
eastern pediment of the Parthenon as Gaia and Thalassa, the
interpretation having been founded upon a study of the indica-
tions in the works and the composition themselves. The result
has been that we find not only that these personifications are
most common, but also that the typical form of the composition
of a mythological subject which, like the birth of Athene, has
any cosmical significance, is that the central scene should be
closed by Helios and Selene at either end, followed by personifi-
cations with earth and sea in reclining figures ; and, if the scene
be localised more definitely, this is done by a reclining mountain-
god or nymph or by a figure like Coelus.
Let us now again attempt to complete the interpretation of
the eastern pediment. As in the Homeric Hymn, the birth of
Athene is conceived not only in a purely mythological but also in
a cosmical signification, so that it affects not only the personal
gods, who wrapped in wonder are the immediate spectators, but
ESSAYS ON THE ART OE PHEIDIAS.
[V-
Dioskouroi is advancing with his chariot over a half-draped
reclining female figure leaning on an urn from which water is
streaming, in whom Thalassa has been recognised by all. Next
to her is a male figure half rising out of the ground with drapery
flowing like an arch above his head. I agree with Visconti, who
sees in this figure the personification of heaven, the Roman
Coelus, and that this is a higher region is indicated by the
attitude of Minerva, the figure placed next, who is looking
down into the lower regions. Just as 011 the one side of the
Parthenon pediment the figure of the reclining Olympos, towards
whom the sun is ascending, indicates the regions of the gods, so
here Coelus introduces us into the sphere of the three principal
Roman divinities. However great the variations of the theme,
it is manifest that in these Roman compositions we have a faint
echo of the principle of pedimental composition introduced by
Pheidias in his decoration of the Parthenon, and so the light
which is thrown by these Roman works upon the general signifi-
cance of the figures in the Parthenon pediment is none the less
important, however inferior in artistic qualities they may be.
We started our examination of this class of monuments
merely for the purpose of discovering whether personifications
of nature in ancient art were sufficiently common to justify us
in adhering to the interpretation of two of the figures from the
eastern pediment of the Parthenon as Gaia and Thalassa, the
interpretation having been founded upon a study of the indica-
tions in the works and the composition themselves. The result
has been that we find not only that these personifications are
most common, but also that the typical form of the composition
of a mythological subject which, like the birth of Athene, has
any cosmical significance, is that the central scene should be
closed by Helios and Selene at either end, followed by personifi-
cations with earth and sea in reclining figures ; and, if the scene
be localised more definitely, this is done by a reclining mountain-
god or nymph or by a figure like Coelus.
Let us now again attempt to complete the interpretation of
the eastern pediment. As in the Homeric Hymn, the birth of
Athene is conceived not only in a purely mythological but also in
a cosmical signification, so that it affects not only the personal
gods, who wrapped in wonder are the immediate spectators, but