A catalogue of sculpture in the Department of ... - Warburg Institute

EAST PEDIMENT OP PARTHENON. 109limbs in a rich composition of folds.On the right wristof the figure nearest the angle (E) is a dowel hole,probably for the attachment of a bracelet. Her comj)anion(F), who wore metal fibulae on each shoulder,extends her left arm towards the figure, which is advancingtowards her. Her head has been broken off at the baseof the neck, but it has probably been turned towards hercompanion, who rests her left arm affectionately on hershoulder, and who probably looked towards her, perhapsas if listening to the news brought by Iris. The seats,on which are laid folded carpets, are carved out of themarble with great care and delicacy of finish, the regulargeometrical lines being valuable in opposition to thevaried undulations of the drapery. In the sides andbacks of both seats are oblong sunk panels, in one ofwhich several archaeologists have tried unsuccessfully toread the name of an artist (see Michaelis, p. 174 ; Brunn,Griech. Kiinstler, i., p. 104). Most of the writers on the Parthenon,from Visconti downwards, have named this groupDemeter and Persephone, two deities, whose cult in Atticaranked second only to that of Athene herself. Thisattribution would be strengthened if the reclining malefigure could be identified with Dionysos, a deity whoseworship in Attica was closely connected with that of theEleusinian goddesses. The composition of the group hassuggested to other archaeologists a sisterly rather thana filial relation between the figures.Brondsted ( Voyageset Becherches, ii., p. xi.) suggested that these two figures,with G, were the three Horae or Seasons, worshipped inAttica under the names Thallo, Auxo and Karpo.Brunn(followed by Waldstein) supposes that the two figures areHorae, but that they must be viewed asthe warders ofthe gates of Olympos (Horn. 17., v., 749) rather than asAttic deities. On this theory the position of figure G,if it represents Iris, would indicate that she is on the