Ares on Parthenon Frieze

Interlaced Fingers and Knotted Limbs: The Hostile Posture of Quarrelsome Ares on theParthenon FriezeAuthor(s): Ann M. NicgorskiSource: Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 33, ΧΑΡΙΣ: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr (2004),pp. 291-303Published by: American School of Classical Studies at AthensStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1354074 .Accessed: 25/01/2011 18:57

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CHAPTER 15

INTERLACED FINGERS AND

KNOTTED LIMBS: THE HOSTILE

POSTURE OF QUARRELSOME ARES

ON THE PARTHENON FRIEZE

by Ann M. Nicgorski

In the impressive abundance of ancient Greek art that survives today, rep- resentations of war god Ares are remarkably few, and when he does appear he is rarely in a central or prominent location within the composition.1 One notable exception to this general pattern, however, is the unique pre- sentation of Ares on the east segment of the sculpted frieze of the Parthenon in Athens. Dated ca. 442-438 B.C., the frieze is now in the British Muse- um in London (Fig. 15.1). In this unusual depiction of the war god, his quarrelsome nature and the expression of his general hostility (especially toward Athena) is presented not through attributes or obvious action, but through the subtle language of gesture so characteristic of High Classical Pheidian sculpture. In order to arrive at a full understanding of the remarkable depiction of Ares on the Parthenon frieze, it is first necessary to review his relationship with Athena in Greek mythology and the typical iconography usually associated with him in the Greek Archaic and Classi- cal periods.

In Iliad 5.846-909, the war god Ares returns to Mount Olympos after being severely wounded on the Trojan battlefield by the Greek hero Diomedes, whose spear was guided by the warrior goddess Athena. Upon his arrival, Ares is greeted with harsh words from his very own father, Zeus, the king of the gods: "To me you are the most hateful of all the gods who hold Olympos. Forever quarreling is dear to your heart, wars and battles."2 But this is the very meaning of the name Ares, the "Destroyer," a name derived from an ancient abstract noun denoting the throng of battle. The god Ares is the god War, rather than the god of war, a dark personifi- cation of manslaughter and murderous battle whose companions are q)063os

1. Beck 1984; LIMC II, 1984, p. 492, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); Ridgway 1990, p. 85.

This article is dedicated to my teacher and friend, Professor Sara A. Immerwahr, whose generous gifts of time, expertise, patience, and kindness enriched beyond measure my student experiences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Ackland

Art Museum, and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. I am grateful as well to the Departement des Antiquites Grecques, Etrusques, et Romaines of the Musee du Louvre in Paris, and to the Antikenmuseum des Archaologisches Institut der Univer- sitat Heidelberg in Germany for permission to publish photographs of vases in their collections. I would also

like to thank my advisor and mentor M. C. Sturgeon, my colleagues M. D. Usher and R. P. Hull, as well as the anonymous reviewers who read this manuscript and offered many valuable comments. The errors remain mine.

2. Lattimore 1951, p. 152. 3. GGR3, p. 518; Burkert 1985,

p. 169.

ANN M. NICGORSKI

/:

and AeltIoq, "Fear" and "Terror."4 Fierce and insatiable, Ares was unloved

by his own father, by most other gods, as well as by most ancient Greeks, who rarely honored him with a temple cult or sacrificed to him except while waging war.5 In fact, one of the only places where Ares is often referred to with respect, as well as fear, is in the numerous inscriptions that

accompanied the grave markers of those who fell in battle, as in the elo-

quent epigram of the famous funerary kouros found in Attica at Anavyssos: "Stay and mourn at the monument for the dead Kroisos whom violent Ares destroyed, fighting in the front rank."6

Ares' status as one of the twelve Olympian gods is owed almost en-

tirely to Homer, who is also responsible for most of what little mythology we have concerning the god War.7 The poet, however, was no friend to Ares. In the Iliad, for example, he repeatedly presents the war god to great disadvantage, in contrast to the beloved Athena. In the Theomachy (II. 20.48-53), when the goddess lets forth a great battle cry on the Greek

side, she is answered by Ares in the form of a dark storm cloud bellowing forth from the Trojan citadel and from the banks of the river Simoeis. In Iliad 15.110-142, the god Ares, sworn to avenge his dead son Askalaphos, is rebuked by Athena, who takes away his armor and forces him to sit

quietly in a chair. Later, in Iliad21.391-433, Athena and Ares clash in the battle of the gods. Ares hurls his spear in vain against Athena's aegis, which

yields not even to the thunderbolt of Zeus, and the goddess answers with a stone to his neck, causing him to measure seven hundred (Greek) feet in the dust. For Homer, Ares embodies all that is most hateful in war, while the glory of victory is reserved instead for the mighty Athena Areia.

This Homeric polarity between Ares and Athena is also reflected on an unusual black-figured amphora in Richmond, dated ca. 500 B.C. and attributed to the Diosphos Painter, that highlights only the two fiully armed, warlike deities in a powerful centrifugal composition.8 Here the viewer is

Figure 15.1. Ares, and detail of hands and knees; slab IV, east frieze, Parthenon, ca. 442-438 B.C.

(London, British Museum). A. Nicgorski

4. Potscher 1959, pp. 5-14; GGR3, pp. 517-519; Simon 1969, p. 256; Walter 1971, pp. 262-270; Burkert 1985.

5. Farnell 1909, pp. 396-414; GGR3, pp. 517-519; Linfert 1979, p. 46; Burkert 1985, p. 170.

6. Boardman 1978, fig. 107. 7. Walter 1971, pp. 262-264;

Burkert 1985, pp. 169-170. 8. Virginia Museum of Art 60.11.

Paralipomena 250; AncientArt, p. 86, no. 102; LIMC II, 1984, p. 483, no. 64, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau). The other side of this vase shows Herakles fighting Kyknos, a son of Ares.

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INTERLACED FINGERS AND KNOTTED LIMBS

invited to compare Ares and Athena and to contemplate their different

emphases. Violent Ares surely strikes an aggressive pose with spear raised. He moves energetically to the left, but his face is obscured by his shield and is therefore left to the viewer's imagination. Athena also assumes a combative posture with her protective aegis fully extended and her spear raised. An impressive figure wearing an Attic helmet that reveals her face, she strides confidently to the right-the direction of movement in Greek battle scenes that is usually associated with the victorious.

Homer's characterization of Ares as a murderous and foolish soldier continues in the Odyssey, in the song of Demodokos (8.266-369), in which the war god and his lover Aphrodite are caught in the invisible net created

by her deformed husband, Hephaistos, and are exposed to the ridicule of the gods.

Similarly, in the legend of the return of Hephaistos, Ares is again the

boasting fool, who fails in his mission to fetch Hephaistos back to Olympos in order to free Hera from her tricky golden throne with its invisible cords (Paus. 1.20.3). To his great shame, Ares is beaten off with burning torches

by the ugly and crippled Hephaistos, the inventor of artillery, who eventu-

ally returns to Olympos under the influence of the fruits of Dionysos.9 In the most elaborate representation of this tale, on the Francois vase of ca. 570 B.c.,10 the drunken Hephaistos appears astride an ithyphallic mule and is accompanied by a retinue of satyrs, approaching the enthroned Zeus and an impatient Hera. Behind these seated deities is a scene of consider- able interest featuring a fully armed figure of the god Ares, whose pose is

remarkably expressive. He sits unusually close to the ground on the edge of a low block, with his right leg drawn back, his torso leaning forward, and his head inclined. He appears defeated and crestfallen. And, as if to

emphasize this point, the goddess Athena, his great Homeric rival, stands before him with her arms akimbo and her head turned to face him. Per-

haps she is mocking him and forcing him to sit quietly on the sidelines once again.

The depiction of Ares on the Francois vase, with his almost poignant pose, is quite extraordinary, for elsewhere in Greek art fearsome Ares stands tall and proud, a fully armed warrior whose attributes, the spear and the

sword, are swift instruments of death. He appears in this guise, for in-

stance, on a red-figured kylix of ca. 480-470 B.C., attributed to the

Castelgiorgio Painter.11 Here the fully armed Ares stands alone at the cen- ter of a symmetrical composition between an enthroned Zeus (attended by Ganymede) and his mother, Hera (attended by Iris or Hebe), as an emblem of their archetypal animosity. Similarly, the war god often appears

9. Beazley 1986, pp. 28-29; Car- ca. 570 B.C. signed by Kleitias and pp. 28-29, pl. 25:4; Carpenter 1991, penter 1991, pp. 13-17. The myth is Ergotimos; Florence, Museo Archeo- pp. 13-15, fig. 2. known from brief allusions in ancient logico 4209. ABV76, no. 1; Paralipo- 11. London, British Museum E 67. writers and from numerous represen- mena 29; BeazleyAddenda2 7; Walter ARV2 386, no. 3; Cook 1940, III.ii, tations on vases. It was the subject 1971, pp. 262-264, fig. 238; Cristofani p. 1051, fig. 845; Beck 1984, pp. 24, of a lost 6th-century B.C. poem by 1981, pp. 71-72, figs. 89-93, 137, 138; 147, no. 36; LIMC IV, 1988, p. 461, Alcaeus of Lesbos and of several lost Beck 1984, pp. 21-22, 147, no. 33; no. 34, pl. 276, s.v. Hebe I (A.-F. 5th-century B.C. plays. LIMC II, 1984, p. 484, no. 74, pl. 366, Laurens); Neils 1999, p. 9, fig. 9.

10. A black-figured volute-krater of s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); Beazley 1986,

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ANN M. NICGORSKI

in Attic scenes of the birth of Athena, such as the black-figured amphoras of ca. 540 B.C. in Paris12 and Rome,13 both attributed to Group E. Again the fully armed Ares is typically isolated, restricted to the far right of the composition, opposite Poseidon, who frequently appears on the left of the scene-two potentially hostile spectators who may very well resent the emergence of their joint rival, the warlike Athena.14

In scenes of the Gigantomachy, in contrast, mighty Ares is shown in his proper milieu, the throng of battle. On a red-figured kylix signed by Aristophanes, now in Berlin and dating from the last quarter of the 5th century B.C., Ares is about to bring down his deadly spear on a crouch- ing opponent.15 On a red-figured pelike in Athens, also from the last quarter of the 5th century B.C. and painted in the manner of the Pronomos Painter, a giant raises his shield in vain against the powerful spear of the god War, who fights between the Dioskouroi at the top of the scene.16

In the Gigantomachy of the north frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi from ca. 525 B.C., Ares takes on three opponents, one of whom has already collapsed on the ground.17 Here, however, it is significant to note that Athena does not appear in the central position with Zeus and Herakles, as she typically does in Attic Gigantomachy scenes such as that on the well-known black-figured dinos signed by Lydos, ca. 560 B.C., and dedicated on the Athenian Akropolis.18 Instead, she battles against two opponents beside her rival Ares, in a compositional unit closed on the left by Hera or Aphrodite, who lunges in a leftward direction, and on the right by the back of Hermes, who moves in a more typical rightward direction.19 The two rival deities stand out here because of their identical poses. They both stride aggressively to the right with their left legs advanced and their left arms holding round shields (seen from the interior), while their right arms are raised up in order to wield their deadly spears (now missing). This common pose, as well as the unusual proximity of Athena and Ares within a distinct compositional unit, seems to invite the viewer to compare the warlike god and goddess and to contemplate their respective virtues, even as they work together to defeat a common enemy.

12. Musee du Louvre F 32. ABV 135, no. 43; Paralipomena 55; Beazley Addenda2 36; Beck 1984, p. 143, no. 3; LIMC II, 1984, p. 484, no. 70, pl. 365, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau). Beck (1984, pp. 1-13, 143-145) lists twenty-four scenes of the birth of Athena that include Ares.

13. Vatican Museums 353. ABV 138, no. 2; Beazley Addenda2 37; Cook 1940, III.i, p. 667, pl. 53; Beck 1984, p. 144, no. 10.

14. The rivalry between Athena and Poseidon is revealed in the story of their contest for the city of Athens. The first and fullest evidence for this momentous quarrel is preserved in the sculptural program of the Parthenon, as the subject of the West Pediment;

see Simon 1980; Boardman 1985, pp. 99-102; Stewart 1990, pp. 153-154; Palagia 1998, pp. 40-52.

15. Staatliche Museen 2531. ARV2 1318, no. 1; Paralipomena 478; BeazleyAddenda2 363; Beck 1984, pp. 41-43,153, no. 88; LIMC II, 1984, p. 486, no. 103, pl. 368, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau).

16. Athens, N.M. 1333. ARV2 1337, no. 8; Paralipomena 481; Beazley Addenda2 366; Beck 1984, pp. 41-42, 153, no. 84; LIMC II, 1984, p. 486, no. 104, pl. 369, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau).

17. Delphi, Archaeological Mu- seum. FdD IV, ii, p. 87; de la Coste- Messeliere and Mire 1957, fig. 84:1; Boardman 1978, fig. 212:1; Beck 1984, pp.31,38, 77-79, 168, no. 192;

LIMC II, 1984, p. 486, no. 106, pl. 369, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); Brink- mann 1985, pp. 96,123-125; 1994, pp. 174-175; Stewart 1990, pp. 128- 129.

18. Athens, Acropolis Museum 607. ABV107, no. 1; BeazleyAddenda2 29; Moore 1979.

19. Watrous 1982, p. 162. Beck (1984, pp. 29-43, 148-154) cites several vases on which Zeus, Herakles, Athena, and Ares are shown as a group leading the fight against the giants. It seems likely that Zeus and Herakles were represented in the now missing part of the north frieze that is sepa- rated from Athena and Ares by the figure of Hera or Aphrodite.

294


The rivalry of Athena and Ares is also displayed in over 100 6th-

century B.C. scenes, preserved in Attic vase painting, of the battle between Herakles and Ares' brigand son Kyknos.20 Significantly, this scene, which

represents both Athena and Herakles in vigorous, martial roles, was especially popular on vases and pinakes dedicated to Athena Promachos on the Akropolis in Athens.21 The most complete version of this scene appears on a black-figured oinochoe in Berlin, attributed to Lydos, from the third quarter of the 6th century B.C., in which Kyknos is already dead but violent Ares continues the fight against Herakles and Athena until Zeus, with his thunderbolt, intervenes to end it.22 Another version of the story appears on a black-figured hydria in Rome, dated ca. 510 B.C. and attributed to the Madrid Painter. It shows a powerful Herakles, supported by Athena of the terrible aegis, as he overtakes Kyknos, helped to no effect by his father, Ares, who is uncomfortably pressed into the right border of the scene.23 Most remarkable of all is an unusual red-figured calyx-krater in New York, of ca. 510 B.C. by Euphronios, that shows an aggressive Athena

charging ahead of Herakles and Kyknos in order to attack Ares.24 Here the competition of the two warlike deities is further emphasized by the confrontation of the real Medusa-head of Athena's aegis and its mirror

image on the shield of Ares. Herakles, the favorite hero of Athena, also caused the deaths of two

other sons of Ares (Lykaon and Diomedes), and a third son, the dragon at Thebes, was dispatched by Kadmos. This story is depicted on a red-figured calyx-krater in New York, dated ca. 450 B.C. and in the manner of the

Spreckels Painter, where Ares appears on the right, in support of his dragon son.25 He is balanced on the left by Athena, who lends her support to Kadmos.

Similarly, according to Pausanias (6.19.12), Ares was shown assisting Acheloos against Herakles and Athena as part of a set of gilded wooden statuettes in the Treasury of the Megarians at Olympia. Hostile to Athena's favorite hero, Ares also occasionally, and perhaps reluctantly, appears in scenes of Herakles' apotheosis on Olympos. An example on a black-figured lekythos in Berlin, from the last quarter of the 6th century B.C. and attributed to the

Leagros group, features the fully armed war god seated uneasily on the edge of a low block with his left leg drawn back, his arms akimbo, and his upper body twisted sharply into the picture plane-an uncomfortable and awk- ward pose that is possibly intended to express his displeasure at the disap- pointing turn of events.26

20. Shapiro 1984, p. 523. 21. Shapiro 1984, pp. 527-528. 22. Staatliche Museen 1732.

ABV110, no. 37; Paralipomena 44,48; BeazleyAddenda2 30; Beck 1984, p. 160, no. 145; LIMC II, 1984, p. 481, no. 42, pl. 362, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); Shapiro 1984, pp. 525-527, pl. 68, fig. 2; Schefold 1992, pp. 146-149, fig. 176.

23. Vatican Museums 16451. ABV 329, no. 1; Beazley Addenda2 89; Beck 1984, p. 158, no. 125; LIMC II, 1984,

p. 1004, no. 519, pl. 758, s.v. Athena (P. Demargne).

24. Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection (New York), formerly in the Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt Collection (Dallas, Tex.). Robertson 1981, pp. 29-34, figs. 13-18; Bothmer et al. 1983, pp. 58-61, no. 6; Beck 1984, p. 161, no. 155; Shapiro 1984, pp. 523-529; LIMC VII, 1994, pp. 976,989, no. 79, pl. 698, s.v. Kyknos I (A. Cambitoglou and S. A. Paspalas).

25. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 07.286.66. ARV2 617, no. 2; Paralipomena 398; Beazley Addenda2 261; Simon 1969, p. 260, fig. 249; Beck 1984, pp. 62, 163, no. 167; LIMC II, 1984, p. 485, no. 88, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau).

26. Staatliche Museen 1961.ABV 379, no. 273; M6bius 1916, p. 202, fig. 16; Beck 1984, pp. 17, 145, no. 26; and LIMC II, 1984, p. 484, no. 81, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau), where it is mis- identified as an amphora.

295

ANN M. NICGORSKI

In the relaxed company of the gods, quarrelsome Ares is infrequently represented, and when he does appear, he is often coupled with Aphrodite, his only constant companion. In the main scene on the Francois vase, for

example, Ares and Aphrodite arrive together in a chariot, as if husband and wife, in order to visit the newly married Peleus and Thetis.27 On the well-known red-figured kylix inTarquinia, ca. 510 B.C. and signed by Oltos, the same couple appears, seated at the far right edge of an assembly of the

gods.28 Here the innately quarrelsome nature of the god War is again revealed through his relatively restive pose. He sits slightly forward on his

camp stool with elbows jutting forth on either side and hands clutching his helmet, while he turns both his torso and his head sharply away from

Aphrodite and the other gods. Among these other deities, it is instructive to observe the presence of the goddess Athena, who sits somewhat more

firmly and comfortably beside her father, Zeus, as she turns back toward the messenger god Hermes. Yet she too is seated on a camp stool and has

brought along her spear and her helmet, which she holds in readiness for some future action. In the council of gods represented on the east frieze of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi, ca. 525 B.C., to which the Oltos kylix is

frequently compared, Ares sits with the other pro-Trojan gods on the left side of Zeus, who is here deciding the fate of Achilles and Memnon.29 And yet, although he is seated next to Aphrodite, Ares remains apart, isolated on the far left, while Aphrodite leans forward to converse with Artemis and Apollo. Here again Ares is fully armed with shield and spear, his right leg drawn back and ready for sudden action.

On the east frieze of the Parthenon, carved ca. 442-438 B.C. (Fig. 15.1), Ares appears again in the company of the gods who assemble to watch the Panathenaic procession in honor of Athena Polias, patroness of the city of Athens.30 Here, in contrast to the examples discussed above, Ares is not represented in the vicinity of Aphrodite, nor is he seated at the extreme edge of the composition. Rather, he appears in the middle of the group of gods who sit on the left side of the central scene-between Hermes, Dionysos, and Demeter on the left, and Hebe,31 Hera, and Zeus on the right. The hostile and friendless war god is here shown as a typically Phei- dian figure-youthful, beardless, and heroically nude, with a rich mantle

27. Cristofani 1981, fig. 78; Beck 1984, pp. 20-21,146, no. 32; LIMC II, 1984, p. 485, no. 84, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau).

28. Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale

Tarquiniense RC 6848. ARV2 60, no. 66, 1622; Paralipomena 327; Beaz- ley Addenda2 165; Arias, Hirmer, and Shefton 1962, pp. 321-322, fig. 103; Simon 1969, pp. 263-264, fig. 253; Beck 1984, pp. 23-24, 147, no. 35; LIMC II, 1984, p. 487, no. 112, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); LIMC II, 1984, p. 124, no. 1298, pl. 129, s.v. Aphrodite (A. Delivorrias).

29. Delphi, Archaeological Museum.

FdD IV, ii, pp. 107-109; de la Coste- Messeliere and Mire 1957, figs. 76, 80; Simon 1969, pp. 262-263, fig. 252; Boardman 1978, fig. 212:2; Beck 1984, pp. 69-70, 166, no. 183; LIMC II, 1984, p. 487, no. 115, pl. 371, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau); Brinkmann 1985, pp. 79-80,110-121; 1994, pp. 139-140; Stewart 1990, p. 129, figs. 192,194.

30. Simon 1969, p. 264, fig. 92; Walter 1971, p. 265, fig. 240; Brom- mer 1977, pp. 110-112,259, fig. 42, pls. 172, 173; Beck 1984, pp. 70-73, 166, no. 184; LIMC II, 1984, p. 487, no. 116, pl. 371, s.v. Ares (P. Bruneau);

Jenkins 1994, p. 78; Berger and Gisler- Huwiler 1996, pp. 154-155, pl. 132. Following Harrison 1996, Neils 1999, p. 18, note 2, and Neils 2001, pp. 173- 201 (contra Connelly 1996, pp. 53-80), I adopt here a conservative reading of the Parthenon frieze as a representation of the Panathenaic procession with close attention to iconographic details. As this paper is concerned primarily with the posture of Ares and its sig- nificance, I will not directly address the issue of the frieze's central scene.

31. For the identification of this figure as Hebe, see Neils 1999 pp. 8-11; 2001, pp. 164-166.

296


Figure 15.2. Patroklos seated in front of the "tent" of Achilles; early South Italian krater fragment, ca. 380 B.C.

(Heidelberg, Antikenmuseum des Archaologisches Institut der Univer- sitat Heidelberg 26.87). Antiken- museum des Archaologisches Institut der Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg

32. See the reconstruction drawing in Beck 1984, p. 71.

33. See, e.g., Simon 1963, p. 44; 1969, p. 264; Pemberton 1976, pp. 120-121; Brommer 1977, p. 259; Neils 1999, p. 7; 2001, pp. 105, 162.

34. Antikenmuseum des Archao- logisches Institut der Universitat Heidelberg 26.87. Trendall 1974, pp. 20,53, pl. 29; RVAp 165.5; LIMC I, 1981, p. 111, no. 457, pl. 105, s.v. Achilleus (A. Kossatz-Deissmann); Shapiro 1994, pp. 20-21, fig. 11.

draped across his lap. This surprising figure of Ares is also represented uncharacteristically without armor, except for his spear, which is preserved only in a narrow ridge of marble around which he hooks his left ankle. The rest of this spear, which must have passed between his elbows and behind his head, was represented in paint.32

Remarkable too is the posture of this Pheidian war god who, instead of sitting anxiously forward on the edge of his stool, as in the earlier repre- sentations discussed above, rocks back on his seat while grasping his up- raised right knee in his tightly interlocked fingers. This does not appear to be a static or relaxed pose, as both of the god's feet are off the ground. His precarious balance is maintained only by the shifting equilibrium between his upper body leaning backward and his arms reaching forward to grasp his right knee, while his left leg is anchored about his spear.

For generations, scholars have interpreted this unusual pose as a development from the restive posture of earlier seated figures of Ares, such as that on the Oltos kylix.33 This, they say, is the impatient and restless war god, forced to inaction against his will, who would rather rush into murderous battle than sit quietly in order to watch a parade. As such, he may be compared to other figures who adopt this uncommon pose. For in- stance, on a large fragment of an early South Italian red-figured krater in Heidelberg, of ca. 380 B.C. and attributed to the Sarpedon Painter (Fig. 15.2), Patroklos is shown in front of the monumental "tent" of Achil- les (here represented as an Ionic naiskos) in an identical seated pose that may suggest his unwilling absence from the Trojan war.34 A similar pose is adopted by one of the idle heroes, eager perhaps for another battle to

begin, on the famous red-figured calyx-krater in Paris that is dated ca. 450 B.C. and is attributed to the Niobid Painter; M. Denoyelle has recently

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ANN M. NICGORSKI

Figure 15.3. Peirithoos seated in the underworld; calyx-krater, ca. 450 B.C.

(Paris, Musee du Louvre G 341). C. Larrieu, Musee du Louvre, Paris

identified the scene as a representation of the Athenians at the shrine of Herakles after the battle of Marathon (Fig. 15.3).35

According to Pausanias (10.31.5), this is also the posture of Hektor, who sits with his hands clasped around his left knee, powerless and forever incapable of action, in Polygnotos's wall painting of the underworld in the Knidian Lesche at Delphi. Pausanias, however, characterizes this pose as an attitude of sorrow appropriate to one who grieves. In a very late, but perhaps still relevant, source, The Golden Ass of Apuleius (Met. 3.1), this posture is also adopted by Lucius when he awakes the morning after his dinner with Byrrhena believing that he had stabbed three robbers, which were actually three inflated wineskins, as he returned home in a drunken stupor. He sits, on the edge of his bed, hunched over his crossed legs with his fingers nervously intertwined around his knees, while imagining him- self, powerless and fearful, sentenced to death at his own trial for murder.36

A different explanation for this type of posture is also provided by Pliny the Elder (Nat. 28.17.59-60), who states that to sit in the presence of a pregnant woman, or when medicine is being administered to a pa- tient, with fingers interlaced like a comb, is to be guilty of sorcery.37 Ac- cording to Pliny, this sorcery is more powerful still if the hands are clasped around one or both knees, and also if one crosses the legs first in one way

35. Musee du Louvre G 341. ARV2 601, no. 22, 1661; Paralipomena 395; Beazley Addenda2 266; Arias, Hirmer, and Shefton 1962, pp. 354-356, figs. 173,174; Simon 1963, pp. 43-54; Denoyelle 1997.

36. Apul. Met. 3.1: Complicitis deni-

quepedibus acpalmulis in alternas digi- torum vicissitudines super genua conexis. This passage from Apuleius is perhaps doubly apt, as this is a tale of a young Greek with a fatal curiosity about

magic who adopts a pose of subtle sorcery (see below) at an imaginary trial that later becomes real. Apuleius him- self was very knowledgeable about magic, and the cleverly intertwined descriptive language of the original text suggests as well the rhetorical art of ekphrasis, with which he was also well acquainted. It is possible that he may have been describing a work of repre- sentational art not unlike the Ares of the Parthenon frieze; see Ancient

Writers: Greece and Rome II, 1982, pp. 1099-1116, s.v. Apuleius (J. Tatum).

37. Pliny, Nat. 28.17.59-60: Adsidere

gravidis, vel cum remedium alicui adhibe- atur, digitis pectinatim inter se inplexis veneficium est, idque conpertum tradunt Alcmena Herculem pariente, peius, si circa unum ambove genua, item poplites alternis

genibus inponi. ideo haec in consiliis du- cum potestatiumvefieri vetuere maiores velut omnem actum inpedientia, vetuere vero et sacris votisve simili modo interesse.

298


Figure 15.4. Odysseus seated in the tent of Achilles; pelike, ca. 470 B.C.

(Paris, Musee du Louvre G 374). M. Chuzeville and P. Chuzeville, Mus6e du Louvre, Paris

38. Morb.Sacr. 2.25-26: Mj8F 1T68oA EMt 7To8l e-eXv, [q8?: Xeipa Tct XerLPi

(Tcav-a yap TCaUTa xcoX6ux'aTa elvaL). 39. Ovid Met. 9.281-315: Utque

meos audit gemitus, subsedit in illa ante

fores ara, dextroque apoplite laevum

pressa genu et digitis inter sepectine iunctis sustinuitpartus.

40. Frazer [1913] 1980, pp. 298- 299.

41. "What can be more foreign to the respect which we owe to the purity of Our Lady the Virgin than to paint her sitting down with one of her knees placed over the other, and often with her sacred feet uncovered and naked. Let thanks be given to the Holy Inqui- sition which commands that this liberty be corrected" (Pacheco 1956, p. 289, trans. Steinberg [1989, pp. 499-500, note 40]).

42. Musee du Louvre G 163. ARV2 227, no. 12; Paralipomena 347;

Beazley Addenda2 199; LIMC I, 1981, p. 110, no. 448, pl. 105, s.v.Achilleus (A. Kossatz-Deissmann); Shapiro 1994, pp. 18-19, fig. 9.

and then in the other. According to a late-5th-century B.C. treatise from the Hippocratic corpus (Morb. Sacr. 2.25-26), these inhibitive postures were banned from patients being treated for epilepsy, a disease thought to be of divine origin.38 Such indeed was the sorcery of Eileithyia, in Ovid's tale of the birth of Herakles (Met. 9.281-315), for by sitting outside Alkmena's door with her legs crossed and her fingers interlocked, she was able to

prevent the hero's birth for seven days.39 The sorcery of this significant posture, which involves knotting the

fingers around the crossed or closed legs, can be attributed to the ancient and widespread superstitions concerning the tying of knots.40 According to the principles of homeopathic magic, to tie a knot was to hinder or to

stop the action at hand. To tie one's own body in a knot composed of

fingers and limbs is to present an obstacle to the transaction of business, and to express hostility toward those who wish to proceed. For this reason, according to Pliny (Nat. 28.17.59-60), the ancient Romans forbade such

postures at important councils of war or of magistrates, and at sacred rites or prayers. And, according to Francisco Pacheco, the Spanish art theorist and Censor of Paintings (Arte de lapintura, bk. 2, chap. 2), such obscene

postures were also forbidden by the Holy Inquisition in paintings of the

Virgin Mary.41 In Classical art, the inhibitive nature of the pose is perhaps best dem-

onstrated by the figure of Odysseus, who typically sits, with his left leg drawn over his right and his fingers interlaced around his raised left knee, while attempting to convince the obstinate Achilles to return to the

Trojan battlefield. Such a scene is depicted on a red-figured calyx-krater in Paris, ca. 490 B.C., attributed to the Eucharides Painter,42 and on a

very similar red-figured pelike also in Paris from ca. 470 B.C. (Fig. 15.4),

299

ANN M. NICGORSKI 300

attributed to Hermonax.43 Odysseus's adoption of this significant posture, rather than expressing an attitude of "studied nonchalance," as H. Alan Shapiro has recently claimed, is surely meant to convey the complete im- passe that occurred in these two negotiations-a stalemate that resulted in the failure of his mission.44

With these testimonia in mind, let us now return to the Ares of the Parthenon frieze, who sits in this exact pose, with his right knee drawn up into his tightly interlaced fingers and his left leg wrapped around his spear. Could it be that by means of this knotted posture, Ares reveals not only his quarrelsome nature, previously expressed through his fearsome armor and his restless pose at the edge of his seat, but also his generally hostile attitude toward his great Homeric rival, the goddess Athena, as well as his impatience at being detained at a procession largely in her honor and in the city that bears her name?

If, in fact, this unique and remarkable figure of Ares is expressing some disdain for the sacred festivities at hand by means of the subtle sorcery contained in his "passive-aggressive" pose, it might partly account for his close placement next to Demeter (on the left side) in the arrangement of seated deities on the east frieze-an aspect of the composition that has long puzzled many scholars.45 Demeter is shown with a similarly expressive pose, leaning forward with her right hand to her chin, brooding over the loss of her daughter Persephone.46 Although not openly hostile to Athena's parade, Demeter seems distracted, and like Ares, she probably would rather be elsewhere. Both figures are included, however, because of their status as important Olympian deities and because of the significant role each played in the victory over the giants, which Aristotle (and much recent scholarship) claims was the original motivation for the Panathenaic festival.47 Furthermore, Ares' placement next to Hebe, Hera, and Zeus (on the right side) emphasizes his role as part of this family group, presented as such despite its largely dysfunctional nature.48

Ares is certainly also included among the spectator gods of the Parthenon frieze because of his importance in the landscape of Periklean Athens, as attested by the nearby Areiopagos. In addition, Ares, the god War, underscores the Athenian military victories that are alluded to in the mythological battles represented on the Parthenon metopes and on the Parthenos cult statue itself. And yet, Ares is set apart because of his long- standing animosity toward the greater goddess Athena, who provides special glory to these same victories. It is, after all, the birth of Athena that is celebrated in the great scene on the east pediment of the Parthenon, a most significant mythological event that is here set in a cosmic frame (with the rising Helios and the setting Selene), suggesting the new Olympian day that now dawns for the resurrected city of Athens, which by means of the rebuilt Temple of Athena finally places the Persian sack of the Akropolis firmly in the past.

Yet the god Ares sits curiously restless in this peaceful and celebratory context, eager for the war to wage on, as he practices his inhibitive sorcery both on Athena's birth taking place on the east pediment and on the great Panathenaic procession that wraps around the cella walls. For the enlight- ened viewer, therefore, the unique Ares of the Parthenon frieze functions

43. Musee du Louvre G 374. ARV2 485, no. 28; BeazleyAddenda2 248; LIMCI, 1981, p. 110, no. 446, pl. 104, s.v. Achilleus (A. Kossatz-Deissmann).

44. Shapiro 1994, p. 19. 45. E.g., Pemberton 1976, pp. 120-

121. 46. Neils 1999, p. 7, note 14; 2001,

pp. 105,162. 47. Arist. Fr. 637 (a scholion to

Aristides' Panathenaicus 189.4). Ridg- way 1992, pp. 127,212, notes 31, 32.

48. Neils 1999, pp. 8-9.


49. Museo Nazionale Romana 8602. Bieber 1961, p. 41, fig. 103; Helbig4 III, pp. 268-270, no. 2345 (P. Zanker); Walter 1971, pp. 268-270, fig. 244; Lattimore 1979, pp. 73-76, fig. 1; Schefold 1981, p. 277, fig. 393; Beck 1984, pp. 115-122, 176, no. 216:1; LIMC II, 1984, p. 481, no. 24, pl. 360, s.v.Ares (P. Bruneau); Ridgway 1990, pp. 84-87, pls. 48, 49; Neils 1999, p. 16, fig. 20; 2001, pp. 220-223, fig. 158.

50. Helbig4 III, p. 268 (P. Zanker); Vierneisel-Schlorb 1979, p. 427.

51. Ridgway 1990, p. 85. 52. Ridgway 1990, p. 86.

(like the rebuilt north wall of the Akropolis that incorporates parts of the

temples destroyed by the Persians) as both a reminder of the horror and bloodshed of past wars as well as a warning that the reborn city of Athens will not always be at peace. Indeed, as Perikles stresses in his famous fu- neral oration (Thuc. 2.43), if Athens is to flourish in peace and glory as the new leader of the Greek world, and if Athenians are to achieve the happi- ness that is the fruit of freedom, itself the fruit of valor, war is inevitable and must be met with strength and courage.

Also generally similar to the subtly inhibitive pose of the inevitable and quarrelsome war god on the Parthenon frieze is the posture of the so- called Ludovisi Ares in Rome. An eclectic Antonine version of a Hellenis- tic original in a "Lysippan style" that may reflect the colossal bronze statue

by Skopas (Minor?), it is of a seated Ares, a statue that, according to Pliny the Elder (Nat. 36.26), was set up in the Temple of Brutus Callaecus (dedicated to Mars) near the Circus Flaminius in Rome, ca. 132 B.C.49 Like the war god of the Parthenon frieze, the Ares Ludovisi is seated and he draws one leg up into his arms, which are joined not by interlaced fingers but by hands clasped around the sheath of an elaborate sword (the latter is a fea- ture that, in its current state, is largely the work of the 17th-century sculp- tor Gianlorenzo Bernini, who also restored the right hand and two fingers of the left hand).50 It is quite unusual that this Ludovisi war god holds a sword (possibly the addition of the Roman copyist) rather than a spear, which is the more typical attribute of Ares, as shown on the Parthenon frieze.5" Also unlike the Parthenon Ares, the Ludovisi god does not lean back and his feet are not raised off the ground. Nevertheless, the general similarity of the Ludovisi statue's seated posture, with the god's arms clasped about his raised knee, to that of Ares on the Parthenon frieze, is striking. This similarity, taken together with the unfinished left side of the Ludovisi statue as well as the holes and attachment surfaces visible on its left shoul- der,52 suggest that the Ludovisi Ares and its earlier Hellenistic prototypes were also part of larger groups in which the impatient war god sits unwill-

ingly, eager for a battle to begin, his hostile intentions clearly conveyed to

contemporary viewers by his otherwise taboo pose.

30I

ANN M. NICGORSKI

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Documents

Ares on Parthenon Frieze