The "Olive Pediment"

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 52

Category

Architectural sculpture

Period

Archaic Period

Date

560-550 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.8 m
Length: 1.48 m

Material

Poros limestone

Location

Archaic Acropolis Gallery

Description
Bibliography

Fragments of a pedimental sculpture reassembled and restored. It probably once decorated the pediment of the small buildings, referred to as "oikemata", on the Archaic Acropolis. The fragments were discovered in 1888 in front of the Parthenon's east side.

In the centre of the pediment the façade of a small building with a pitched roof is depicted. At the entrance of the building stands a woman, dressed in a long red chiton and blue himation. On her head a circular object may be perhaps a stephane, or a cushion of fabric to support a water jar. A man, wearing a blue chiton and a red himation, approaches from the left while on the right a woman wearing a long chiton adorned with a meander pattern, appears to be walking away. A third figure, probably a woman, stands further to the left, next to a wall, on which is the inscribed image of an olive tree, a tree from which the pediment was named. The scene is crowned by a band with meander and cyma moulding decorated with red and blue leaves.

This enigmatic scene has long been variously interpreted. Some believe it depicts a ceremonial procession to the sanctuary of goddess Athena and others see an episode from the Trojan War with the death of Troilos near a fountain. There are others, however, who believe this is a depiction of a scene on the Acropolis, in front of the Sanctuary of Pandrosos, who was the daughter of Kekrops. In this case, the woman at the entrance would be Pandrosos herself, flanked by her sisters Herse and Aglauros. The Sanctuary of Pandrosos was located near the "Old Temple" of Athena Polias and inside the small sanctuary's enclosure wall there always grew an olive tree.

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