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Visual & Performing Arts Faculty Publications Visual & Performing Arts Department

4-1994

The Charioteer in Parthenon North Metope I

Katherine Schwab Fairfield University, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/visualandperformingarts- facultypubs Originally appears in American Journal of Archaeology. Copyright 1994 Archaeological Institute of America.

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Repository Citation Schwab, Katherine, "The Charioteer in Parthenon North Metope I" (1994). Visual & Performing Arts Faculty Publications. 2. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/visualandperformingarts-facultypubs/2 Published Citation Schwab, Katherine. 1994. "The Charioteer in Parthenon North Metope I." AJA 98(2):322-322.

This item has been accepted for inclusion in DigitalCommons@Fairfield by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Fairfield. It is brought to you by DigitalCommons@Fairfield with permission from the rights- holder(s) and is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 322 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA [AJA 98 south prompted a reassessment,and the date was adjusted THE CHARIOTEER IN PARTHENON NORTH METOPE I: to the fourth with the Roman material now century B.C., Katherine A. Schwab, Fairfield University viewed as intrusive.Although most scholarshave found this date more acceptableon historicalgrounds, the later mate- Thirteen of the original 32 metopes along the north side rial in the fill (12% of the datable objects) has remained of the Parthenonare extant. Michaelisrecognized Menelaos unexplained. in N XXIV pursuing Helen in N XXV, thus establishingthe Reexaminationof the excavationpottery reveals that the theme of the Sack of Troy. The gender and action of some date originally assigned to the Roman material must be figures in the preserved metopes are linked to known icon- adjusted. Corinthianlamps from the fill are of a type (Bro- ographic motifs, while the charioteer in N I has been as- neer XXVII) now dated in the late second and third centu- signed both male and female identities and is the most ries A.D.; the potteryincludes a motto mug, an "oinophoros" disputed. jug, and micaceouswater jars of characteristicthird-century By a careful examinationof the figure in N I, in plaster form. castsand photographs,one can determinethe characteristics This redating precludes a Hadrianic date for the third that best describethe action of the figure, and to whom such period of the Pnyx. Since a major reconstructionof the action could belong. Previousdescriptions assume the char- monument in the third centuryA.D. is unlikelyon historical iot group is ascending; however, the charioteer displays a grounds, the fourth-centuryB.C. date is probablycorrect. checking motion by braking with the lowered right foot. A Careful reading of the excavation notebooks provides evi- parallel for this pose can be found in the west pediment dence that there was a disturbancebehind the retainingwall where Amphitrite, as charioteer for Poseidon, braces her of period III that the excavatorswere never able to isolate foot as if it were againsta rock. and identify. This disturbance was probablythe result of Helios and Nyx are among the names previouslyproposed quarryingactivities as third-centuryAthenians sought build- for the charioteerin N I and either would form a counterpart ing material,perhaps for work on the city'sdefenses. to the descending Selene in N XXIX. Although astraldeities normally continue their daily movement, and are shown driving chariotsor riding animals,the brakingaction of the charioteer in N I requires another identification.The cult PROPERTY AND PIETY: JOINT DEDICATIONS ON THE of Athena Hippias and the associated oinochoai from the LATE ARCHAIC AND EARLY CLASSICAL ATHENIAN north slope of the Acropolis showing Athena as charioteer a reconsiderationof the in N I as Athena. ACROPOLIS: Catherine M. Keesling, University of suggest figure Michigan In an appendix to his Dedicationson theAthenian Akropolis NOT YET A BRIDE: GREEK MAIDENS IN THE FOURTH (Cambridge,Mass. 1949), A.E. Raubitschekcalled attention CENTURY B.C. AND ON THE PARTHENON FRIEZE: to at least 33 dedications on the of surviving private part LindaJones Roccos, Rutgers University more than one individualthat date betweenca. 570 and 450 B.C. As they are preserved,only eight inscribedstone bases The identityof young women on fourth-centuryB.C. Attic clearly specify a family relationshipbetween the dedicants; funerary and votive monuments is obscure. These women, one base belongs to a dedication by two potters with no or rather girls, wear the distinctivegarment of the kanepho- known family relationship; the remaining 24 monuments ros, as she appears in contemporary terracotta statuettes were dedicated by individuals whose relationship to one carryinga large kanoun,or basket,on her head. The identity another remains uncertain. of certain maidens on the east frieze of the Parthenonis an In this paper I argue that, despite the fact that they enigma for similar reasons, and I show in this paper that comprisea small numberof the approximately400 inscribed both groups of girls can be identified by their dress, even bases that survive from the period in question,joint dedi- though their activityremains unclear. cations affect our understandingof who dedicated statues, Sincethe Archaicperiod, the kanephorosleads the proces- reliefs, and statuettesto Athena on the Acropolisand why. sion to sacrifice;she is sumptuouslydressed, often wearing One joint dedication can be attributedwith certaintyto a voluminousmantle hanging over her shouldersand down prominent aristocratscommemorating an athletic victory. her back. Because the Archaicmaidens and the kanephoros The remainder seem to reflect sharing of the costs of dedi- on a volute krater in Ferraracontemporary with the Par- cating statuaryon inscribedbases by individualsas a result thenon carry the kanoun on their heads, many scholars of either joint family property holdings or, in the case of doubt the identity of the maidens on the Parthenon frieze non-relatives,shared profits from business.The occurrence as kanephoroi,since they, like the fourth-centurymaidens, of the formula aparchai,or firstfruits, on 10 of the best- carry no kanoun. In the Classicalperiod, however,a youth, preserved examples suggests also a ritual context for the rather than a maiden, usually brings a small kanoun to the practice of joint dedication. In some cases that I discuss, sacrifice. renovation of inscribed bases and statues occurred when The kanephoros is the last of the roles for females pre- new dedicants contributed to existing dedications, a phe- ceding marriage(Ar. Lys.641-47), after arrhephoros,aletris, nomenon that has importantimplications for the chronology and arktos.The position is ceremonialand honorary,and it and interpretationof the Acropolisstatue bases as a whole. represents a critical stage in a girl's growth. Females in