In Dalton's drawing a draped female torso, broken off at the knees,
is placed next to C, which Michaelis (p. 191), conjectures to be
the remains of F. Dalton has represented this figure with the chiton
slipped down from the right shoulder so as to show the right breast
and side. But the drawing by Pars shows next to C a part of a figure
which accords more with D as drawn by Carrey. This fragment consists
of a right arm bent at a right angle and advanced, and a line of
drapery falling down the right side below the armpit. There is no
reason to doubt that the figure to which the arm belonged was in
position on the pediment when Pars drew it, and, if so, Dalton's
drawing must be wholly inaccurate in respect to this figure. (See
Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 2.)
[Sidenote: =304 G.=]
Next in order in Carrey's drawing is the seated female figure (G), who
acts as charioteer to Athenè, and who has been generally recognised as
Nikè. The only fragment which can be attributed with any probability
to this figure is the head, obtained from Venice by Count de Laborde
(No. 339, _1_). A cast is exhibited in the Elgin Room.
[Sidenote: =304 H.=]
Hermes (?).--In the background, between the figure G and the horses,
Carrey gives a male figure (H), who looks back at the charioteer,
while he moves forward in the same direction as the horses. The figure
drawn by Carrey has been generally recognised in the torso in the
Museum which has lost the head and lower limbs since Carrey's time,
and is probably the same torso which Dalton represents lying on
the bed of the pediment. This figure has been called Erechtheus,
Erichthonios, Ares, Cecrops, Theseus, Pan, or Hermes. He is evidently
aiding the charioteer in the management of the horses; an office very
appropriate to Hermes, whose general character as a guide is expressed
by such epithets as [Greek: pompaios], and who on other monuments is
represented conducting a chariot.
The drapery which hangs at the back of the torso evidently represents
a chlamys, which must have been fastened in front just above the left
clavicle, where a hole is pierced to receive a metallic fastening.
There is another hole between the collar-bones. The right arm was
probably advanced nearly in a horizontal direction; the left arm may
have had the elbow a little drawn back; and a portion of the chlamys
evidently passed round this arm, and was probably twisted round it,
a fashion of drapery characteristic of Hermes. Among the fragments of
the Parthenon at Athens is a small piece of the left shoulder of this
figure, a cast of which has been adjusted to the marble in the Museum.
The remains of the left thigh show that the left leg was advanced as
in Carrey's drawing. The fragments described below, Nos. 339, _9_, and
339, _10_, may belong to this figure. A fragment of plinth, with two
feet, sometimes assigned to it, is described below, No. 329.
_Mus. Marbles_, VI., pl. 15; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 3.
[Sidenote: =304 L, M.=]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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