Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 088
Youths and Cow (Slab 41 [40]); Parthenon Frieze South

Marble (Pentelic)
Frieze
W 122 cm

The slab belongs to the large section of the frieze removed by Lord Elgin in 1802 and was subsequently transferred to London.
United Kingdom, London, British Museum
High Classical, ca. 440-432 BC

Preservation:
On the original slab both sides are partly preserved. The upper corners are missing; a large section of the lower left corner is preserved as a separate fragment, but not included in this cast. The surface of the relief is badly battered in some places, obliterating the facial features of the figure on the left completely and those of the two other figures in large parts. The lower rim of the slab with parts of the figures’ feet is severely damaged. Only faint traces of a further figure on the right are preserved. This cast includes only a section of the original slab. Its vertical left side does not coincide with the original left border of the slab, and the lower right corner has been cut off in order to join the neighbouring cast (A 89). The sequence of these casts as represented in the Cast Gallery is therefore wrong.

Description:
The slab depicts a group of four figures leading a sacrificial cattle, all moving to the right. The man on the left, draped in a himation that leaves the right shoulder bare, seems to lead the animal on a (painted?) rope. He has turned back to the neighbouring slab. Next to him, behind the cattle, walk a youth tightly wrapped in a himation, and a further man, dressed like the first, who has turned around and reaches backwards with his right arm. The last figure on the right already belongs to a different group. The animal has strained its neck upwards.

Discussion:
The south frieze shows a procession very similar to the north frieze (cf. A 81). This scene belongs to a section depicting the sacrificial cattle. Disturbed by some action behind him, the figure on the left, assisted by another man, seems to tighten the tether of the animal in his charge. The cattle appears to protest by straining its head upwards, thereby offering a moving contrast to the calm animals depicted on the following slabs. The correct sequence of the slabs from this section of the south frieze is highly controversial; the current arrangement of the cast in the Cast Gallery is almost certainly wrong (the neighbouring slab on the right belongs elsewhere).

Bibliography:
F. Brommer, Der Parthenonfries (Mainz 1977) 101-102 pls. 155; 158; 159.3 A very detailed study of the Parthenon frieze including previous bibliography and ample photographic documentation.
I. Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze (London 1994) 72-73 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) 140-141 pl. 114 Detailed study of the Parthenon frieze based on the reconstruction in the Basel cast collection, including an extensive bibliography.