伦敦大英博物馆(The British Museum)的巴特农神庙大理石雕塑

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The Parthenon frieze was originally located within the pteroma at the top of the cella walls. It wrapped around the entire building and was 524 feet long. It is 3 feet, 3 inches high. Unlike the metopes, it is carved in very low relief, about 3 inches deep and slightly higher at the top for greater visibility. In its original situation, it was indirectly lit. But, it appears to have been carved in situ since the composition takes into account the columns of the peristyle. The frieze was carved entirely out of Pentelic marble. The grain runs horizontally. Like the other Parthenon sculptures, the frieze was originally painted and the background was bright blue! Today about 420 feet of the frieze survives. About 60 percent of it was removed by Lord Elgin and is presently located in the British Museum in London. Most of the rest of the frieze is in the New Akropolis Museum in Athens, however, parts can also be found today in Paris, Rome, Palermo, Vienna, and Heidelberg. The subject of the frieze is a procession that starts at the southwestern corner of the building and wraps around both sides, meeting in the center of the east frieze on the front of the building. Most scholars believe that the frieze represents the Panathenaic procession, however, the details of this identification are very controversial. The Panathenaia was the greatest festival of the year in Athens, an all-encompassing celebration of civic pride, that culminated on 28 Hekatombaion, Athena's birthday. This was the day that the procession took place. The focal point of the procession was the presentation of a new robe (peplos) to the old Archaic cult statue of Athena that was housed in the Erechtheion. Only two slabs of the West Frieze were removed by Lord Elgin and the rest of the West Frieze remained in situ on the Parthenon until it was removed to the Akropolis Museum in the late twentieth century (now at the New Akropolis Museum in Athens). The overall subject of the West Frieze is the preparation for the procession with figures lacing up shoes, getting attired, and mounting horses. The directional flow is from right to left (south to north) with some figures that turn back to the south in order to create a compositional unity with the South Frieze. Slab 2 is one of the most well-known, featuring two magnificent, heroically nude riders (probably carved by two different sculptors). The front rider has a three-quarters face and he looks back and raises his left hand to his head, a signal to the cavalcade behind him. (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?f1)
West Frieze Slab 2 was removed by Elgin and is today in the British Museum. The theme represented is that of two young horsemen galloping their horses, one behind the other, toward the left. The second horse overlaps the first only slightly. The first rider (2) at the left is the only nude horseman and he has long hair that blows out behind him with the speed of the horse. Fastened at his neck with a brooch is his chlamys, which blows out behind him in a beautiful sequence of folds. With his right hand he holds the reins and he turns back so that his body is almost frontal and his head turned even more toward the figure behind him (3). His left arm is raised in a gesture not entirely clear, perhaps to adjust the stephane on his head, perhaps to give a signal to the next horseman.
The youth (133) on block N XLVII makes a similar gesture. Horseman (3) wears a modelled cuirass over a short chiton, just as do figures (7) and (18), and he is shod in boots. (http://www.ekt.gr/parthenonfriez ... /block2.jsp?lang=en)

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South Metope 27. Scene from the Centauromachy. It is today located in the British Museum.
The 92 metopes were the first of the sculptural decoration to be made for the Temple. They were carved on the ground by different teams of sculptors and stone-cutters, who undertook the work in separate teams. Among them were also metics, (resident aliens), who had come to Athens mainly from the Aegean islands. This explains the slight differences of style in the metopes.

On the metopes of the Parthenon there are four main themes, known from the sculptures of many other Greek temples, as well as from various other works of art. The themes are connected with The Contest, the struggle between two adversaries, whoever they may be. This expression of The Contest is unsurpassed and stands as a symbol of the eternal fight between the opposing and counterpoised forces in nature, in human society and in the human soul. (http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr ... 2&collection=14)
Carved in very high relief, metope #27 is the greatest masterpiece of all the Parthenon metopes. The crossed diagonal composition (the exploding "V") is remarkably successful in capturing the idea of opposing forces pulling against each other, and it is also very readable from a distance. The beautiful figure of the heroically nude Lapith, with his smoothly integrated musculature, is carved free from the background of the metope, and is set against a spreading mantle that serves as a theatrical, textural, and chromatic (once blue) backdrop with masterfully rendered catenary folds. This Lapith may possibly represent Theseus, the great hero of the Athenian democracy. The centaur is attempting to pull a knife (a "civilized weapon") out of his back. (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?m34)

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West pediment figure A. It is today located in the British Museum.
The pediments, the triangular spaces formed by the horizontal and raking cornices of the roof at each end of the Temple, were the last parts of the building to receive sculptural decoration (437-432 BC). They comprised colossal statues in the round and the themes were drawn from Attic mythology.

The West pediment illustrates the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the claim of the land of Attica, a legendary fight that resulted in Athena’s victory. (http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr ... tion=15&item=50)  
The West Pediment, which is the first sculpture seen by a visitor to the Parthenon, represents an important foundation myth of the city of Athens: the contest of Athena and Poseidon for Attica (Herodotus 8.55; Apollodorus 3.14.1; Pausanias 1.24.5). In this myth, Poseidon came first to Attica and struck his trident in the rock of the Akropolis causing a salt water spring to appear. Athena came second and caused an olive tree to grow out of the rock of the Akropolis. The gods (or the Athenians) judged Athena to be the winner and she gave her name to the city of Athens and became its patron goddess. Unfortunately, today the West Pediment is rather poorly preserved. The sculptures were severely damaged in 1687 when the Turkish powder magazine in the Parthenon exploded as the result of Venetian bombardment. Furthermore, in 1688, the Venetian commander Francesco Morosini, attempted to remove the central figures of Poseidon and Athena (with their chariots), but they fell to the ground and were completely shattered. Fragments of these figures were recovered by Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1801), agent of Lord Elgin, who removed the remaining figures from the pediment and shipped them to London. Other fragments found in later excavations remain in Athens.
Figure A (from the north corner of the pediment), however, is the best preserved and is usually identified as a river god possibly the Ilissos, the Kephisos, or the Eridanos. The use of local river gods to localize a scene has a precedent in the East Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The idea of a river god is also indicated here by the remarkably fluid depiction of bodily forms and how the drapery clings to body as if wet. (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?pp10)

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East pediment figure D. It is today located in the British Museum.
The East pediment above the Temple entrance depicted the birth of the Goddess Athena from the head of her father, Zeus, in the presence of the Olympic gods.
The East Pediment, which is the most significant sculpture on the front of the Parthenon, represents an important foundation myth of the city of Athens: the birth of the goddess Athena, fully grown and fully armed, from the head of her father Zeus. Unfortunately, today the East Pediment is rather poorly preserved. Because of its poor state of preservation, the identifications of the figures, the attribution of the fragments, and the reconstruction of the central scene are very controversial. Several figures may also be missing. Figure D, for example, has been identified as Theseus (Athenian hero), Dionysos (god of wine), Ares (god of war), and most likely Herakles (Greek hero). Despite this iconographic controversy, everyone agrees that Figure D is a sculptural masterpiece. He is a reclining, youthful male nude, with a powerful physique in a relaxed pose. His right arm is raised, perhaps to hold a cup of wine (Dionysos or Herakles). He is the only pedimental figure with an extant head and although it is not well-preserved, one can make out long hair that is braided and wrapped around his head (an Archaic style). He is seated on a feline animal skin that was one painted so as to be identifiable as a panther skin (Dionysos) or a lion skin (Herakles). (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?pp36)

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East pediment figures K, L, and M. They are today located in the British Museum.
Figures K, L, and M, the famous three goddesses, have been variously identified as the Fates (Moirai), the Seasons (Horai), the Hesperides, or more likely as Hestia (goddess of home and hearth), Dione (mother of Aphrodite), and Aphrodite (goddess of sexual love). A recent theory, however, also suggests Artemis, Leto (mother of Artemis and Apollo), and Aphrodite while positing a missing figure of Apollo between Figures K and L. Either way, the attractive but disruptive idea of sexual love is here presented in the context of the family, the home, and the hearth-the fundamental building blocks of the Athenian polis. Figure K is represented sitting on a rock, wearing a chiton, himation and sandals. Note the remarkable richness of her draperies, the realistic stretch folds that form between her legs, the suggestive slipping of her chiton at her right shoulder, and the indication of her underlying anatomy. Figures L and M are carved from one block of marble-an act of incredible virtuosity! Figure L sits and Figure M reclines on a stepped rock. Both wear the chiton and himation. Figure L's drapery is held in place by a conservative shoulder cord (appropriate for a conservative state goddess like Hestia). Figure M's drapery, however, slips seductively from her right shoulder and clings to her breasts as if wet. Her himation is wrapped around her legs in such a way as to enhance the contours of her body and lead the viewer's eye to her genital region. She is a remarkably daring figure who must certainly represent Aphrodite! Fully nude representations of Aphrodite do not appear until the late fourth century B.C.E. (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?pp57)

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East pediment figure O. It is today located in the British Museum.
Figure O is the best preserved of the four horses belonging to the descending chariot of the moon goddess Selene (Figure N). Oddly, the top of its mane and its left ear were deliberately broken off to accommodate the raking cornice. Figure O is also an unusual example of the use of a piece of marble flawed by a micaceous streak (most visible on the back side). Nevertheless, Figure O has been widely admired as a perfect sculptural form, a precise blending of naturalism and abstraction. Goethe called it the "Urpferd." (http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/slides.cgi?pp7)

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新卫城博物館(New Acropolis Museum)，從最初構想到完工，整整花了30年。由美國建築師伯納褚米(Bernard Tschumi)，和希腊建築師 Michael Photiadis 共同設計的新卫城博物館，在2009年正式開放，每天可望吸引上萬名遊客，成為到雅典旅遊必訪的新勝地。

該博物館建於卫城山山腳下。希腊保存的已有2500年曆史的巴特农神庙雕像將會在館內與神庙大小完全一樣的神庙模型內展出。但該神庙模型內本應放置埃尔金大理石雕的那部分仍將是空的。埃尔金大理石雕在19世紀初被埃尔金從巴特农神庙中取走。該石雕現存放於伦敦大英博物館中，希腊多年以來一直與英方交涉，希望英方能將它們送回，但迄今仍未成功。
(http://www.forgemind.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=13660)

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今年5月伦敦邮展不幸希腊邮局没有参与。 我准备巴特农神庙大理石雕塑明信片，不能成功把伦敦邮戳盖在希腊巴特农神庙大理石雕塑邮票上。

张福魁

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