statue; pediment

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Object Type: statue; pediment
Museum number: 1816,0610.93
Title: Series: The Parthenon Sculptures
Description: Marble statue from the East pediment of the Parthenon (East pediment D). The East pediment showed the miraculous birth of the goddess Athena from the head of her father Zeus. Many of the figures from the central scene are now fragmentary or entirely lost. A figure of a naked man reclines on a rock, leaning on his left arm in a relaxed attitude, facing towards the chariot of Helios in the left corner of the pediment. His legs are bent, the left one drawn back behind the right. Over the rock on which the figure rests, a mantle is thrown, under which an animal skin is visible, its claws suggesting that it was a feline. Figure D is the only pediment sculpture to survive with its head intact. Still visible at the rear are traces of two braids across the nape of the neck. Both hands and feet are now missing, although the left foot was still seen and drawn by Carrey in 1674. The right foot was made separately and attached by means of a metal pin. Above the left foot is a hole for a metal attachment, perhaps an anklet. The statue has been identified as Dionysos, but Herakles and Theseus have also been suggested.
Producer name: Designed by: Pheidias
Cultures/periods: Classical Greek
Production date: 438BC-432BC
Production place: Made in: Athens
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Parthenon
Materials: marble
Bibliographic references: Sculpture / Catalogue of Greek Sculpture in the British Museum (303.D); Smith 1892 / A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (pp.107-108); Smith 1910 / The sculptures of the Parthenon (pp.9-10, pl.2); Brommer 1963 / Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel (pp.7-9, pl.26-32); Palagia 1993 / The pediments of the Parthenon (pp.19-20, 61, fig.32-36); Choremi-Spetsieri 2004 / The Sculptures of the Parthenon: Acropolis, British Museum, Louvre (pp.121, 125, 127, fig.88)
Location: On display (G18)
Exhibition history: 2015, 26 Mar-5 Jul, The British Museum, Defining Beauty: the body in ancient Greek art.
Subjects: classical deity; birth
Associated names: Representation of: Herakles/Hercules (possibly); Representation of: Dionysos/Bacchus (possibly)
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
Acquisition date: 1816
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1816,0610.93
Conservation: Treatment: 26 Jan 1994; Treatment: 19 Feb 2015

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