Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 086 J
Aphrodite and Eros (Slab 6); Parthenon Frieze East

Marble (Pentelic)
Frieze
W 98 cm

The entire slab was drawn intact by Carrey; L. Ross in 1832 drew the left half only that by then was kept inside the Parthenon. Later it was transferred to the Acropolis museum. Much of the remaining slab was more heavily damaged; most of the preserved fragments were found during the 19th century scattered over the Acropolis (one fragment was identified as late as 1972). Another fragment (the right foot of Artemis) was identified in 1893 in the Museum of Palermo, to which it had been bequested as part an old collection.
United Kingdom, London, British Museum
High Classical, ca. 440-432 BC

Preservation:
The upper and lower rims of the relief are heavily damaged, much of the relief ground on top is missing (and restored on the cast). There is a large chip on the face of the man on the right. Most of the body of the left figure is missing. (Several fragments, among them a part of her head and body with her right lower arm were found only after the cast was made and are not included here.) The cast itself goes back to a mould taken for Fauvel in 1786-1792, and shows a far better state of preservation than the original today.

Description:
The relief shows three figures (and a small fragment of a fourth), all facing to the right. Seated on the left is a female figure wearing a chiton with buttoned sleeves and a mantle that is draped over her lower body. A separate piece of cloth is draped over her stool. She leans back and rests against a figure further to the left (A 87i), whose right foot is visible below. Her left arm is stretched forward and rests on the left shoulder of a naked, childish male figure in front of her, her fingers pointing forward. This figure is winged; he holds a parasol in his left and casually leans back against the woman behind him. Further to the right is the standing figure of a mature, bearded man. He wears a himation that is wrapped around his lower body and held up in a bundle under his left armpit with which he heavily leans forward on a long staff.

Discussion:
This scene marks the transition from the assembly of the Olympian gods to the procession around them. Seated on the left is Aphrodite, clearly identified by the winged figure of Eros standing beside her. With her left she points towards the approaching procession, thus linking the divine and human spheres. In terms of compositorial symmetry, Eros corresponds to the figure of Iris that accompanies Hera further to the left (A 86e). The male figure on the right belongs to a distinct group oft ten men, either the eponymous heroes of Athens or important Athenian officials (cf. A 86a/b).

Bibliography:
U. Kron, Die zehn attischen Phylenheroen (= AM, 5. Beiheft) (Berlin 1976) 202-214 pls. 30-31 Discusses the figures on the Parthenon frieze among other evidence for the Attic tribal heroes.
F. Brommer, Der Parthenonfries (Mainz 1977) 117-121 pls. 179; 183 A very detailed study of the Parthenon frieze including previous bibliography and ample photographic documentation.
I. Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (London 1994) 80 pl. 1 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.
E. Berger and M. Gisler-Huwiler, Der Parthenon in Basel. Dokumentation zum Fries (Basel 1996) 161-164 pl. 136 Detailed study of the Parthenon frieze based on the reconstruction in the Basel cast collection, including an extensive bibliography.