Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 086 G
Priest, Priestess, Child Assistant, and Peplos (Slab 5); Parthenon Frieze East

Marble (Pentelic)
Frieze
W 107 cm

The slab was probably first removed from the frieze when the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church. It was not drawn by Carrey, but later by Stuart who saw it incorporated into medieval or Turkish fortification walls on the Acropolis. From there it was removed by Lord Elgin in 1802 and subsequently transferred to London.
United Kingdom, London, British Museum
High Classical, ca. 440-432 BC

Preservation:
The surface of the relief is heavily worn and abraded. The figures are battered, especially their faces are worn off completely.

Description:
Depicted are three figures, two adults and a child. To the left is a woman, shown in left profile, turning her back to the other figures. She is clad in chiton and himation, and with her arms reaches out to another figure further to the left (A 86f) and to the object this figure carries. Next to her stands a slightly taller, mature and bearded man, depicted in three-quarter profile from the right in a contrapostal position, clad in a long, ungirt chiton. Facing him is a much smaller child depicted in left profile, wearing a long garment open on the left side. The man has lowered his head, while the child’s head is raised, so that their gaze meets. In between them, held up by the man, is a folded fabric to which the child reaches out.

Discussion:
Most scholars agree that this scene depicts the central event of the Parthenon frieze: the dedication of a new peplos to Athena (accordingly, the procession depicted in the frieze is usually interpreted as Panathenaic processesion). Traditionally, the man in the centre is identified as Archon Basileus, the official in charge of the peplos ceremony. His long, ungirt chiton is typical for priests, and therefore most appropriate for this religious procedure. The woman behind him is usually interpreted as the Priestess of Athena Polias. Far more controversial is the identification of the child to the right: Opinions are evenly divided between seeing it as a girl or a boy. The presence of Venus rings on the child’s neck has been cited as evidence that it must be female; others have explained the presence of these rings with the child’s young age and argued that the dress, exposing the child’s naked body, would be unsuitable for a girl, and that it therefore must represent a boy. In this case he would be a temple servant (although no boy is attested in this function for the Classical period); for a girl the most likely identification would be as an arrhephore, one of the girls charged with weaving the new peplos. Although it is generally agreed that the garment represented is the new peplos, it is not clear whether it is folded or unfolded here, or where the action takes place. It might show a scene on the Agora, or on the Acropolis. Recently a radically different theory has been proposed arguing that all the figures represented are in fact mythical: Erechtheus, the first king of Athens, in the centre, behind him his wife Queen Praxithea, and to the right their youngest daughter. According to this theory the daughter is about to be sacrificed for the salvation of Athens from the invading Eleusinian army of Eumolpos, son of Poseidon, and her father is handing her the sacrificial shroud that she will wear for the actual ritual (her older sisters, awaiting a similar fate, being shown further to the left). The procession on the frieze would then be the very first Panathenaea following this event, and the horsemen and chariots symbolise the victorious Athenian army. Although this theory offers an attractive mythological framework for the entire sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, concentrating on the repulsion of outside enemies by the Athenians and complementing the topic of the west pediment with events of the next generation, it has not been generally accepted. Critics have, among other things, pointed out that this version of the myth is attested in literary sources only after the Parthenon and extremely rarely depicted in the visual arts, and doubted the identification of the small child as a girl.

Bibliography:
F. Brommer, Der Parthenonfries (Mainz 1977) 112-116 pls. 163.1-2; 174-175 A very detailed study of the Parthenon frieze including previous bibliography and ample photographic documentation.
J. Boardman, "Notes on the Parthenon East Frieze": M. Schmidt (ed.), Kanon. Festschrift Ernst Berger (Basel 1988) 9-14 pls. 4-5 Argues that the child on the right must be a girl.
I. Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (London 1994) 78-79 The latest official documentation of the frieze by the British Museum. Jenkins has renumbered some of the slabs and put them in a different order.
B. Wesenberg, "Panathenäische Peplosdedikation und Arrhephorie. Zur Thematik des Parthenonfrieses" (JdI 110 1995) 149-178 Wesenberg suggests that the female figure on the left belongs to a ritual connected to the arrhephoria, and only the two figures on the right to the dedication of the Panathenaic peplos to Athena.
J. Connelly, "Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze" (AJA 100 1996) 53-80 Connelly interprets the figures as King Eumolpos, Queen Praxithea, and their youngest daughter, who is about to be sacrificed.
E. Berger and M. Gisler-Huwiler, Der Parthenon in Basel. Dokumentation zum Fries (Basel 1996) 155-161; 171-175 pl. 133 Detailed study of the Parthenon frieze based on the reconstruction in the Basel cast collection, including an extensive bibliography.