Metopes of the Parthenon

The interpretations of these metopes are only conjectures, starting from mere silhouettes of figures, sometimes barely discernible, and comparing them to other contemporary representations (mainly vases).

[4][10] The construction site was entrusted to Ictinos, Callicrates and Phidias The decor project was both traditional in its form (pediments and metopes) albeit unprecedented in scale.

[28] The metopes on the east, north, and west sides have suffered chiefly from a systematic destruction by Christians around the sixth or the seventh century: it is therefore difficult to know exactly what they represented.

During the siege of Athens by the Venetians of Francesco Morosini in 1687, the metopes on the north side were badly damaged by the explosion of the powder reserve housed in the Parthenon.

The last remaining, located at each end of the Parthenon, represent the fight of the Centaurs and Lapiths, but the Central metopes, known only by drawings attributed to Jacques Carrey give rise to controversies of interpretation.

The last hypothesis synthesizes all the others: at the beginning of the construction, many artists were hired; but as the work progressed, the incompetents were gradually discarded, not without having already produced the first metopes, of lower quality.

[34][35][31][19] Several southern metopes are of such quality that it has been concluded that they must have been carved among the last;[N 3] in some cases, names of sculptors like Myron, Alcamenes or Phidias himself have been mentioned.

In 1674, an artist in the service of the Marquis de Nointel (French ambassador to the Porte), perhaps Jacques Carrey, drew a large part of the metopes which remained, unfortunately only on the south side.

The pieces of marble scattered around the ruins, including fragments of metopes, were reduced to lime or reused as building material, in the wall of the Acropolis, for example.

This ship was boarded by the British when the war resumed after the rupture of the peace of Amiens The marbles it was carrying ended up in London where they were acquired by Lord Elgin.

[56] Two frescoes representing the Amazonomachy already existed in Athens at the time: one in the heroon of Theseus (not yet found) and the other in the Stoa Poikile attributed to Micon who included in his work Amazons on horseback.

[63] The Greek on the left on the western metope IV would have grabbed the Amazon by the hair before giving her the fatal blow, in a gesture reminiscent of that of Harmodios in the group of the Tyrannicides.

[65] The western metope VIII is hardly more legible; what remains has been reconstructed by Praschniker,[66] for instance an Amazon on the left of a prancing horse; she would wear a short chiton and a floating cloak behind her.

From the Greek, of which remains the hips and torso, the trace of a round shield and behind his head a fragment of marble that suggests that he could have worn a Corinthian helmet (even if he is naked elsewhere).

Moreover, the choice to situate this nocturnal episode on the north façade was to play on the light of day that touched these metopes that rarely depending on the seasons.

[73] The fall of Troy was the theme of two frescoes by Polygnotos which could have served as an inspiration to the sculptors of metopes: one was in Stoa Poikile and the other was in the Lesche of the Knidians at Delphi.

Thus, the metope designated by the letter "A" (potentially north V) represents a rearing horse in the background with a human figure whose only torso and upper thighs remain in the foreground.

[99] On the north XXVII, there are two profile figures: a female, without a head, probably in peplos on the left and a male, naked with a chlamys, of which there remains only the bust, on the right.

[107] The most common interpretation for this Metope North XXXII is that to the left is Athena[108][109][110][29] and to the right of Hera [108][109][79][81][66] or sometimes Themis,[78][83] Aphrodite,[66][85] Cybele,[85] or even another unidentified female deity.

However, in the nineteenth century, Adolf Michaelis[101] suggested that the character on east II could be a Dionysus (identified thanks to the panther and snake that accompany him) attacking a giant on the run.

This composition would evoke the end of the fight and the imminent victory of the Olympians; the place of the confrontation would no longer be the plain of Phlegra but already the slopes of Olympus.

[33][118] The Athena crowned by Nike is the sign of the upcoming victory of the gods, but also a tribute and a glorification of the city of Athens and its citizens, as on the entire building.

[122] On the metope east IX, the figure on the left is probably a giant, holding in his right hand a club or a bronze torch (added given the hole of fixation).

According to the account of Pseudo-Apollodorus,[N 18] Zeus stopped the march of the Sun and the Moon to allow Athena to go to Heracles to Hades, the presence of the hero being necessary for the victory.

[132][19] On this side of the Parthenon, the preserved metopes represent the fight of the Centaurs and Lapiths[N 19] probably at the time of the marriage of the king of Thessaly Pirithoos with Hippodamia.

It is the fact that women are present in this centauromachy (as also on the west pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia) that identifies this specific episode, although it seems that some guests came with their shield, even throw them at the wedding.

[146] On the southern metope VI, an old man (apparent wrinkles, flaccid skin and drooping tail) Centaur, on the right is opposed to a young Lapith wearing a cloak.

He remains the Lapith's cloak, descending from his left shoulder to his thigh and the bottom of the beast's skin (perhaps of panther) which the Centaur wore on his right arm.

In the center is represented the moment when at the wedding the bride leaves the paternal house for that of her husband; the procession would then be disturbed by centaurs already drunk; the fight then extends to the outer metopes.

Several hypotheses are then advanced: the designer would not have seen that the beard had been broken; the ancient sculptor created with this metope a new canon of representation of the Centaurs as much younger.