| |
Volume 99 No. 4
October 1995
 |
Abstract |
 |
|
|
|
 |
The Central Group in the Gigantomachy of the Old Athena Temple on the Acropolis
Mary B. Moore
Recent examination of the preserved sculpture from the Gigantomachy pediment of the Old Athena Temple on the Athenian Acropolis has shown that a frontal chariot team occupied the center. Two fragmentary horses belong to the team and, judging from what remains, they are a pole horse and a trace horse, thus proving that the team was a quadriga, not a biga. Stähler suggested that Zeus stood in the chariot, but did not speculate upon the presence of a passenger. On the basis of the iconography established for this myth, with Zeus, Athena, and Herakles always fighting in close proximity, I suggest that Herakles was a passenger in the chariot. This interpretation would explain the hole in the right breast of the wounded giant further to the right as evidence of an arrow shot by the hero.
|
|
