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Undergraduate
Classics Teaching Collections |
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| Name: |
Head
of Deidameia |
| Picture: |
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| Description: |
West
pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Olympia Museum. H. (of
original figure) 2.35m. Deidamea's face shows no panic, only distaste
or contempt for her abductor Eurytion. Her hair is bound under a sakkos,
fastened over the forehead in a knot. She elbows the centaur in the
face and pulls her body away from him, glancing down in disgust at
his hand on her left breast. |
| Date: |
470-451 B.C. |
| Discussion: |
The
west pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia shows the myth of Perithous'
wedding to Deidameia. Perithous was king of the Lapiths of Thessaly,
and invited his kin, the Centaurs, to his wedding-feast. Unfortunately,
Centaurs and alcohol did not mix, resulting in the Centaurs attempting
to abduct the Lapith women. The central figure in the pediment was
Apollo, encouraging Perithous to avenge his bride, who is carried
off by the Centaur-king, Eurytion. According to Pausanias (5.10.2-10),
Alkamenes sculpted the west pediment, although Robertson 1981: 88
points out that the artist must have been a very young prodigy for
the dates to tally. See Robertson 1981: 86-8, fig. 126; Stewart 1990:
142-6, 150-1, 253-4; 271, 273 (ills.). |
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