Though we know from Pausanias that the strife between Athenè and Poseidon for the soil of Attica was the subject of the western pediment, the exact action represented by the central group cannot be determined. Most writers suppose that the combatants have produced their respective tokens, and that the strife is just decided. Among the fragments found on the Acropolis were three which are certainly parts of an olive-tree (Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 15). The scale of these fragments, casts of which are exhibited (see below, Nos. 339, _15-17_), would be suitable for a tree placed in the centre of the pediment between the two contending deities. If these fragments belong to the Parthenon (of which there is no positive proof), it seems natural to suppose that Athenè is represented as having produced her olive, which stood in the centre of the pediment, and was fixed in a rectangular socket, well adapted to support it (Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, xvi., pl. 3, p. 72). In this case the two gods are seen starting asunder, but looking inwards, after the decisive moment. The salt spring produced by the trident of Poseidon may also have had a place in the composition, though no trace of it is to be found either among the fragments or in Carrey's drawing. The chief divergent theory is that of Stephani, who published a vase-painting representing the contest (_Compte Rendu_, 1872, pl. 1, p. 5; _Journ. of Hellenic Studies_, iii., p. 245). In that design Poseidon and Athenè form an antagonistic group, which in composition presents some resemblance with the central group in the pediment. The olive-tree is placed between them, and Poseidon controls, with his left hand, the upspringing horse. Stephani argues from the vase-painting that Pheidias made Poseidon produce the horse--a variant tradition, of which there are traces in late literature--that Poseidon was represented striking the ground with his trident and Athenè striking it with her lance to produce the tokens, which are shown, by anticipation, in the pediment itself. It is more likely that on the vase the tokens have been produced and Poseidon attacks, while Athenè defends the olive. But neither in the protagonists nor in the rest of the design on the vase is there that close correspondence in type and action which would justify the conclusion that the vase-painter copied directly any portion of the pedimental composition. On the other hand, considerable portions of the bodies of three horses in addition to those represented by casts in the British Museum (No. 341) have been discovered in the excavations on the Acropolis (Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, xvi., pl. 3, p. 73), and there can be little doubt that the figure known as Amphitritè (O) acted as the charioteer of Poseidon, and drove a pair of horses which corresponded closely to the team of Athenè, and completed the symmetry of the composition. Inasmuch therefore as each deity has a similar pair of horses, it is