DOI article:
Essay VII: The central slab of the Parthenon frieze and the Copenhagen plaque
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0285
VII.] THE CENTRAL SLAB OF THE PARTHENON FRIEZE. 253
front. On the contrary, without being intrinsically weighty, its
meaning as an action in the sequence of performances of the
festival as indicated in the frieze is such, that it most properly
forms the central knot which finally ties together the two ends
of the composition. As I have said above, the real subject
represented on the frieze is the procession; and this is not
regarded as a mere means to the culminating point of interest,
the dedication of a peplos, not represented in the frieze ; and
if anything is suggested as taking place after the procession,
the elements of this act are contained within the representation
as it stands. These elements are the offerings and hecatombs
at the head of the procession, and the act which is to take place
after the procession represented on the frieze, is the sacrifice of
the hecatombs. When the representation of the procession
ends, the sacrifice begins, and all this is clearly expressed in the
composition of the frieze of the Parthenon. The composition
begins at the preparation for the procession, the bulk of the
composition ; and it ends with the scene of preparation for the
sacrifice, not expressed, but clearly suggested. Pheidias has as
a true artist left something to the imagination of the spectator
after the mere eye has done with the work before it; but, as will
always be found in the work of a great artist, it is something
clearly suggested, and decidedly not something directly opposed
to the suggestions themselves.
NOTE E.
Page 239. " To follow the suggestions found inherent in it."
It appears to me that the importance of the dedication of the peplos among the
ceremonies of the Panathenaic festival, especially in the time to which the erectio/i of
the Parthenon belongs, has been over-estimated. This, I believe, is chiefly to be at-
tributed to the fact that the current interpretation of the central slab of the frieze, so
long established and so often repeated, has become fixed in the minds of scholars as
the most striking feature of that work.
Though I have throughout this essay endeavoured to avoid formulating a new in-
terpretation of the Parthenon frieze, and, leaving the literary traditions, have striven to
limit myself, as far as possible, to those conclusions arrived at by an examination of
the monument itself, still I feel driven to point out certain conclusions concerning the
front. On the contrary, without being intrinsically weighty, its
meaning as an action in the sequence of performances of the
festival as indicated in the frieze is such, that it most properly
forms the central knot which finally ties together the two ends
of the composition. As I have said above, the real subject
represented on the frieze is the procession; and this is not
regarded as a mere means to the culminating point of interest,
the dedication of a peplos, not represented in the frieze ; and
if anything is suggested as taking place after the procession,
the elements of this act are contained within the representation
as it stands. These elements are the offerings and hecatombs
at the head of the procession, and the act which is to take place
after the procession represented on the frieze, is the sacrifice of
the hecatombs. When the representation of the procession
ends, the sacrifice begins, and all this is clearly expressed in the
composition of the frieze of the Parthenon. The composition
begins at the preparation for the procession, the bulk of the
composition ; and it ends with the scene of preparation for the
sacrifice, not expressed, but clearly suggested. Pheidias has as
a true artist left something to the imagination of the spectator
after the mere eye has done with the work before it; but, as will
always be found in the work of a great artist, it is something
clearly suggested, and decidedly not something directly opposed
to the suggestions themselves.
NOTE E.
Page 239. " To follow the suggestions found inherent in it."
It appears to me that the importance of the dedication of the peplos among the
ceremonies of the Panathenaic festival, especially in the time to which the erectio/i of
the Parthenon belongs, has been over-estimated. This, I believe, is chiefly to be at-
tributed to the fact that the current interpretation of the central slab of the frieze, so
long established and so often repeated, has become fixed in the minds of scholars as
the most striking feature of that work.
Though I have throughout this essay endeavoured to avoid formulating a new in-
terpretation of the Parthenon frieze, and, leaving the literary traditions, have striven to
limit myself, as far as possible, to those conclusions arrived at by an examination of
the monument itself, still I feel driven to point out certain conclusions concerning the