Relief depicting a trireme. "The Lenormant Relief"

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Provision of image

Inventory number

Ακρ. 1339

Category

Sculpture

Period

Classical Period

Date

End of 5th cent. BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.4 m
Length: 0.54 m

Material

Marble from Penteli

Location

First Floor, North

Fragmentarily preserved relief with a trireme scene. The biggest fragment was found in 1852 near the Erechtheion. One more fragment was retrieved in 1876 in Serpentzes.

Ten nude oarsmen are rowing vigorously. The vessel is a warship that sails to the right and the three rows of oars indicate that it is a trireme. Above the oarsmen, several figures are discerned on the deck, wrapped in their himatia, seated or reclining.

Originally the ship would have had twenty-five rowers in the top bank, the helmsman at the stern, the forward officer at the bow, the warriors on the deck and a young man in the right upper corner. The latter, rendered in larger size, is identified with the hero Paralos, the mythical inventor of navigation. Therefore, the ship is most likely the famous Paralos, a trireme of the Athenian state that participated in sacred and public missions, usually of an urgent nature.

This relief, known as "the Lenormant Relief" named after the archaeologist who discovered it, was dedicated on the Acropolis at a time of intense Athenian naval activity, and therefore the role played by this revered trireme was of particular importance. The dedication of the relief coincides with the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Aigos Potamoi in 405 BC, about which the Paralos brought the sad news back to Athens.

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