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Undergraduate
Classics Teaching Collections |
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Forward |
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| Name: |
Horse of Selene |
| Picture: |
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| Description: |
Figure
'O', east pediment of the Parthenon. London, British Museum. L. 0.32m.
Horse's head, one of a team drawing Selene's chariot over into Ocean.
If compared to the horses of Helios' chariot, Selene's horse is exhausted
and labouring after its night's work. Its eyes bulge out, the ears
are flicked back, the nostrils flare, and the veins stand out on its
face. Its mouth hangs open as it gasps for breath. |
| Date: |
438-432 B.C. |
| Discussion: |
The
east pediment of the Parthenon is very fragmentary, making identifications
uncertain, although it is definite that the group shows the birth
of Athena. In the centre stood Hera, Zeus and Hephaistos, surrounded
by chariot groups and divinities attending the scene. At either side
of the pediment, Helios and Selene with their chariots represent the
edges of the cosmos over which the gods hold sway, bound by Ocean.
See Robertson 1981: 96-7; Stewart 1990: 150-60; 353 (ill.). |
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