If the subject has any connection with Theseus, the theory of
K. O. Müller seems the best that has been proposed. According to
Müller (_Kunstarch. Werke_, iv. p. 1) it represents the Athenians
under Theseus attacking the Pallantidae, or sons of Pallas, who
was a son of Pandion, king of Attica. These in Attic legend (Plut.
_Theseus_, 13) formed a league against Theseus. Müller supposes
them to have been a race akin to the giants. Compare Soph. _Ægeus,
fr._ 19, ed. Dindorf, [Greek: ho sklêros houtos kai gigantas
ektrephôn Pallas]. See also Müller (p. 8) on the close connection
between Pallas, son of Pandion, and the Attic Pallenè, with Pallas
the giant and the Thracian Pallenè, the field of the great war of
the gods and giants.
[Sidenote: =404.= 1.]
On the left of the slab, two armed warriors carrying large shields
on the left arm, and wearing, one a chlamys and one a chiton over
the left shoulder only (_heteromaschalos_), advance to the right.
Before them is a conquered adversary, who has been forced down on
his knees by the victor, who appears to tread down his buttock,
while his hands are engaged binding the hands of the prisoner. The
victor wears a chlamys, but the prisoner is nude. The head of the
prisoner was probably turned towards the victor. On the extreme
right of the slab there remains the right foot of a figure. The
original is extant (cf. Stuart, vol. iii. ch. i. pl. 15), and is a
nude armed figure, moving to the right. The head is lost.
Height of this and the following slabs, 2 feet 9-1/2 inches;
length, 4 feet 6 inches. _Mus. Marbles_, IX., pl. 12.
[Sidenote: 2.]
On the next slab is a group of three deities seated on rocks, of
whom the figure on the right is male and the other two female.
The two female deities wear long chitons, in the one case with a
diploïdion, and in the other case with sleeves. The figure on the
left has the right hand, which is still preserved, by her side. It
evidently held a spear. In Stuart's engraving this figure wears a
helmet, but the drawing published by Le Roy (_Les Ruines des
plus beaux Monuments de la Grèce_, 1758), though in most
respects worthless, seems to show conclusively that the heads are
conjecturally restored in Stuart, vol. iii. ch. i. pls. 15, 16,
while in pls. 17 to 20 no restoration is attempted. The remains of
the figure make it probable that the goddess here represented is
Athenè.
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