The sculptures of the Parthenon occur in four groups: the Ionic or inner
frieze, the Doric or outer frieze, the east pediment, and the west
pediment.
As the subtlety of the builders of the Parthenon emphasized their
intellect, so the sculptures emphasized their religion. The Greeks were
not idolaters in the sense that they bowed down to gold and ivory. They
loved to chisel in marble the beautiful forms that represented to them
their gods who dwelt on Mount Olympus. A characteristic of the Greeks of
this period was that, in their art, they always presented their
goddesses fully clothed and, almost always, their gods in the nude.
While the origin of the Parthenon has the most of its roots firmly fixed
in Egypt, many of the sculptures were derived from the Assyrians.
Particularly is this true of the smaller figures, winged mythical
creatures, as well as lions and horses, typical of the Assyrian
bas-reliefs. The heavier figures, notably those of the pediments, are
essentially Greek.
In the life and times of Phidias, a love for the beautiful was so
general that it was comparable to the air which they breathed. It was
not difficult, therefore, for him to find men, almost as accomplished as
himself, upon whose shoulders he could lay the greater part of the work.
It is a matter of keen regret that so few of the sculptures of the
Parthenon have been preserved. For this reason, the most difficult
problem in the task of the reproduction of the Parthenon at Nashville
was the reproduction of the sculptures.
When the Parthenon was destroyed in 1687 the sculptures were blown off
the temple and, to a great extent, broken up by the explosion. As
already noted, only two of the pedimental groups remain on the ruin, one
on each pediment. Plaster casts of these are now in the British Museum.
A much larger proportion of the figures of the friezes remain on the
ruin but they are so badly damaged that identification is practically
impossible; this is especially true of the Doric frieze.
[Illustration: Interior Corridor, South Side, Showing Elgin Marbles]
In 1801, after the fragments of the sculptures had lain in the debris
around the temple for approximately one hundred and fifteen years, Lord
Elgin, Minister to Turkey from England, persuaded the Turks, who had
again conquered the Greeks, to let him go to Athens and dig up all the
sculptures that he could find around the ruins. He sold these fragments
to the British government, and they are now the most highly prized
possessions of the British Museum, known as the Elgin Marbles.
It is popular in some quarters to criticize Lord Elgin for his action in
taking the fragments from the Parthenon to England. Some have gone so
far as to say that he actually robbed the temple of its sculptures.
Unquestionably, the correct view of the matter is that Lord Elgin did
the world a great service in salvaging the fragments from the earth in
which they had deteriorated for many years and, but for him, might have
suffered greater injury.
In the west room of the Parthenon at Nashville and along the corridors
of the east room may be seen casts which form the only complete set of
the pedimental sculptures outside of the British Museum. Many isolated
groups of these may be found in America and in Europe, but all of them
may be seen only at Nashville. Here they are mounted on wooden bases
forming a most interesting exhibit and were obtained through the
courtesy of the British Museum.
In the east room of the Parthenon at the west end of the south corridor
is the head of one of Selene's steeds, considered by many as the finest
example of a horse's head in the world. Just beyond, through the door at
the end of the corridor, is seen in the west room the figure of
Heracles. It is interesting to note that in the report of the artists
who passed on the value of the Elgin marbles a statement was
incorporated to the effect that the back muscles of the Heracles
represented the finest example of physiological art known to the world
of that day. Another most interesting group of sculptures, the three
Fates, is seen near by in the west end of the east room. This group,
thought to be the work of Phidias, is generally regarded as one of the
most beautiful examples of sculptural art existing today.
The casts of the Elgin marbles in the Parthenon at Nashville, which were
made by the British Government, were not obtained primarily as an
exhibit but as a study for the reproduction of those sculptures now on
the building. However, it was not thought inappropriate to mount the
fragments and use them as an exhibit so as to permit visitors to compare
the completed figures with them. The comparison can only cover
approximately half the figures on the pediments as the remainder have
been lost beyond recovery. Quite naturally, the question arises in the
mind of the reader as to how it was possible for the artists to
reproduce all of them.
In 1674, just thirteen years before the explosion which destroyed the
Parthenon, young Jacques Carrey, a French artist attached to the French
embassay to Turkey, on a voyage from Paris to Constantinople with the
ambassador stopped off at Athens and sketched the temple sculptures.
These sketches are preserved in the National Library at Paris and were
made available for the artists. From a study of the Elgin marbles and
the Carrey drawings, supplemented by further study of Greek contemporary
art and Greek history, the artists at Nashville succeeded in making a
wonderful reproduction of the Parthenon's sculptures.
[Illustration: Figures from the Ionic Frieze]