Persepolis, Palace.
Stone.
Fifth century BCE.
Persepolis, Iran.
H 40 in., W 60 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 187.

This is part of a relief representing one corner of a canopy above the image of the king. From the side of a doorway to the Hall of One Hundred Columns at Persepolis. Rows of rosettes separate rows of bulls and of lions. At the head of each file of animals is a winged disk. The cast was made from a mold taken in Persepolis in 1892 by the plaster-maker Lorenzo Giuntini (1844-1920), son of an Italian plaster-maker, and an English mother. Giuntini accompanied Herbert Weld Blundell on an expedition to Persepolis in 1891-1892, to make casts of the reliefs. Thereafter the molds were destroyed. This and other of Giuntin's casts from Persepolis are preserved in the British Museum.


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See Cecil H. Smith, Catalogue of Casts of Sculptures from Persepolis (London, 1892). Figure 1.]]> Ashmole and Yalouris figs. H and I.
H 36 in., W 52 in., D 20 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 469.
Cast Location: DeLaskey Bldg- front hall

In this group, a centaur attacks a Greek woman who attempts to fight him off. The centaur is intended to look barbaric: he has disheveled hair and beard and a vicious expression. The face of the Lapith woman, however, is smooth and untroubled by expression of any sort, as if to show that the Greeks are above all this barbarity.

~Nathan Barber


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See Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967), figs. H and I, pls. 110-117.]]> Parian marble.
Ca. 456 BCE.
Olympia, Museum.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast numbers 468 and 469.

The first Olympic games were held at Olympia, supposedly in 776 BCE, and every four years thereafter until pagan celebrations were banned by the Roman emperor Theodosius in 391 CE. The temple of Zeus, built in the fifth century BCE, was the major building in the sanctuary, known as the Altis. The huge temple of Zeus is in the center of the sanctuary, and the gold and ivory statue of Zeus that it housed was one of the seven wonders of the world. The temple itself was constructed of plastered limestone, its sculptures of white marble from the Aegean island of Paros. The sculptures from the west pediment (gable) of the temple illustrate the Centauromachy, the war between the Greeks and their neighbors the centaurs, a mythical race said to be half man and half horse. The occasion was the wedding of King Perithoos, grandson of Zeus and king of the Lapiths. He invited the centaurs, who had too much to drink and began attacking the women and boys at the party. The sculptures in the east pediment (gable) of the temple illustrate the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus. Pelops was the suitor of Hippodamia, daughter of king Oenomaus, who did not approve of Pelops, and challenged him to a chariot race, as he had done with all previous suitors of his daughter. When he won those races, Oenomaus killed the suitor. Pelops defeated Oenomaus by replacing the linch-pins holding the wheels on the chariot of Oenomaus with wax: after the race, he killed the father of the bride. According to one story, that race was the founding event of the ancient Olympic Games.


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See Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967), figs. H and I, pls. 110-117 (2);fig. N, pls. 31-40 (3); fig. E, pls. 41-43, and fig. B pls. 50-52 (4); and fig. L, pls. 58-61, and fig. N pls. 31-38 (5)]]> Ashmole and Yalouris fig. N.
H 55 in., W 72 in., D 17 1/2 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 468.
Cast Location: SUB I- 2nd floor

This Old Seer is one of the onlookers at the chariot race, which has not yet begun. The old man knits his brow and opens his mouth slightly in horror at his knowledge of what is about to happen. An uneven seam around the right shoulder shows where the cast-makers reconstructed parts of this figure that were missing on the marble original. The restorations of this and all the casts were overseen by Georg Treu (1843-1921), director of the German excavations at Olympia from 1875 to 1881, and curator of sculpture in Dresden's Albertinum from 1882 to 1915.
~Nathan Barber


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See Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967), fig. N, pls. 31-40.]]> Ashmole and Yalouris figs. B and E.
Lifesize, W 39 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 468.
Cast Location: Mason Hall- Stairwell facing Concert Hall

The naked boy sits on a flattened piece of drapery that folds over his left arm and fingers one of his toes, waiting quietly but nervously for the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus to begin. The head of the marble boy is missing, but the cast-makers were evidently not comfortable with the sculpture in that condition, so they attached a new head to the plaster, this one a cast taken from the head of a somewhat older kneeling youth in the east pediment of the temple. Figure 4. Figure 4 before cleaning and joining of two separate plaster sections.


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See Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967), fig. E, pls. 41-43, and fig. B pls. 50-52 .]]> Ashmole and Yalouris figs. L and N.
H 15 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 469.


About half of this head was preserved, but not the nose, the lower part of the face, or the beard. Georg Treu at the Albertinum in Dresden had all these segments restored when casts was produced, so as to make a complete head. The curving seams delineate what was replaced. The right side of the face and 34head is original, and comes from the head of what has been identified as another "Seer" in the east pediment (figure L). The beard appears to be molded from that of the Old Seer in the east pediment (figure N, and above no. 3). Fig. 5.


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See Bernard Ashmole and Nicholas Yalouris, Olympia. The Sculptures of the Temple of Zeus (London, 1967),fig. N pls. 31-38.]]> Pentelic marble.
447-438 BCE.
London, British Museum.
H 40 in., W 41 - 48 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: All casts are no. 530.
Long-term loans.
Cast Location: Harris Theatre Lobby

The frieze from the Parthenon represents a procession to the Akropolis of Athenians celebrating the Panathenaia, a festival held every four years to honor Athena, the city's patron deity. There were athletic competitions, sacrifices, and the procession culminating in the presentation of a new peplos (dress) that was draped over an ancient wooden image of the goddess. The Parthenon's continuous frieze, to which these three slabs belonged, was sculpted in low relief and surrounded the entire building within the peristyle (colonnade). These riders on galloping horses are most likely to represent the tribes of Athens gathering to compete in the Panathenaic Games and to celebrate the birthday of Athena. In the early nineteenth century, much of the Parthenon’s 515-foot frieze was removed from the building and shipped to London, where the blocks now remain on view in the British Museum. Those blocks that are in Athens are on exhibit in the new Akropolis Museum. Cast no. 8 is in need of repair.  

~Kristin Ware


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See Ian Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (London, 2002); Frank Brommer, Sculptures of the Parthenon (1979); A. H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum,vol. 1 (London, 1892), 91-192. Fig. 6. Fig. 7.]]> Probably found in Rome.
Marble.
Roman, Neo-Attic in style.
Madrid, Archaeological Museum no. 2691.
H 39 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 508.
Long-term loan.
Cast Location: Mason Hall Atrium

This marble well-head was probably made in Rome during the later first century CE, and may have ornamented a luxuriously appointed Roman garden. Its subject is a reflection of the scene of the Birth of Athena as it was carved for the east pediment (gable) of the Parthenon (448-432 BCE) in Athens. Since those figures from the Parthenon have been lost, this relief has served scholars as a guide in reconstructing the original appearance of the scene. Zeus, seated on his throne, is the central figure. Behind him stands Hephaistos with the mallet that he has just used to crack open Zeus's forehead. To the right of Zeus, a Nike (Victory) holding a victor's wreath flies towards Athena, who has just sprung from her father's forehead. Fully grown and wearing chiton, himation, aegis, and helmet, Athena carries a round shield on her left arm. To the right of Athena are the three Fates, spinning the thread of life.
~Helen Watson Obiechina


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See Ian Jenkins, The Parthenon Sculptures (Cambridge, Mass., 2007); Evelyn B. Harrison, "Athena and Athens in the East Pediment of the Parthenon," American Journal of Archaeology 71, 1967, 27-80; Rhys Carpenter, "The Lost Statues of the East Pediment of the Parthenon," Hesperia 2, 1933, 1-88. Figure 9. Figure. photograph of no. 9 by Andrew Zimmerman. Figure. Anonymous engraving, early 19th century. Rolled-out view of the Madrid Puteal.]]> Marble. 323-322 BCE.
Athens, Akropolis Museum no. 1338.
H 13 in., L 36 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 927.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 Hallway

The marble relief of armed dancers is part of one side of an inscribed base for a statue dedicated by Atarbos in honor of victory in the pyrrhic dance at the Panathenaic Games. A second block with more figures in relief joins this one. At the left of this block, the chorus leader, wearing a chiton and himation, inclines her head in the direction of two groups of four dancers each. The naked men wear small Attic helmets, carry round shields on outstretched left arms, and clench their lowered right hands. They walk in step, rhythmically and gracefully, right foot forward, left foot back, their bodies turned slightly outwards. The name of Atarbos can easily be distinguished at the center of the inscription on the molding above the dancers.



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See Inscriptiones Graecae 2.2, 3025; A. Kosmopoulou, “The Relief Base of Atarbos, Akropolis Museum 1338,” in K. Hartswick and M. Sturgeon eds., Stephanos. Studies in Honor of Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway (Philadelphia, 1998); http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Athens, Acropolis 1338&object=Sculp Fig. 10.]]> From Athens, west slope of the Akropolis, 1880.
Marble. Ca. 300 BCE.
Athens, Akropolis Museum no. 1326.
H 18 in., W 12 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 924.


This relief was once on one side of the base for a statue. The subject represented is a competition in the Panathenaic festival, in which a nude competitor with helmet and shield jumped off and on a speeding four-horse chariot driven by a charioteer. The monument of which this relief was a part was probably a votive offering from a victor in this Athenian competition.


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See Loula Kypreou, The Acropolis of Athens and its Museum (Athens, 1972), 45 and 47, no. 1326. Fig. 11.]]>