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

WEST PEDIMENT OF PAKTHENON. 131304 V, Ilissos or Kephis^os and Callirrhoe (?). — (Casts ) TheW. draped female figure (W) reclining in the extreme angle ofthe pediment appears in Carrey's drawing leaning on herright elbow, and with her head turned towards the malefigure (V) who kneels on both knees, inclining his bodytowardshis companion, and leaning on his left arm. Themanner in which these figures are here associated suggestsan intimate relation between the two ; the female figurehas all the characteristics of a local Nymph, and theflow of her drapery would well accord with an aquatictype. It seems probable, therefore, that the celebratedAthenian fountain Callirrhoe may be personified by thisfigure, and in that case the male figure next toher (V),though not in the reclining attitude usually characteristicof Eiver-gods, may be the Ilissos, out of whosebed the fountain Callirrhoe rises. Brunn holds tliat Vis a personification of the Attic coast, Paralia. This,however, appears, from a recently-discovered inscriptitin,to be represented as female (^Athenische Mittheilungen,xiii., p. 221); W according to the same archaeologist is apersonification of the Myrtoan Sea. Dalton's drawingshows no indication of either of these figures, though thelower half of the Callirrhoe is to this day in position onthe pediment. The torso of the male figure had beenbroken, and was found in two places in the excavationson the Acropolis in 1833. The head, arms, and left leghave disappeared since Carrey's time. The right leg isdoubled np under the figure ; the left knee must havebeen somewhat higher. This figure is nude with theexception of a chlamys which falls down the back andpasses in front over the right ankle. For a fragmentwhich may belong to the left hand, see No. 339, 20. Thisagrees with the statement of Sauer {Aihenische Mittheilungen,1891, p. 81), that the figure leant with open handon the ground.K 2