Head of the Horse of Selene by SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst

Description

The head of one of the horses of Selene has become one of the most widely-recognised and popular of the Parthenon sculptures. Built as a monument to the goddess Athena, much of the Parthenon’s sculptural decoration depicts various stages in the life of the city’s patron goddess, as well as representations of other events fundamental to the city of Athens, including the Panathenaic procession and scenes of the mythical battles between the Gods and Giants, Lapiths and Centaurs. The East Pediment of the building is especially concerned with the birth of Athena, fully grown and armed, from the head of her father, Zeus, underneath the central gable of the pediment. Other gods and goddesses are present, bearing witness to this important event and filling in the triangular space either side of the main scene. At either corner of the pediment, the artist has alluded to the time of day by depicting, on the left side, Helios the sun-god and his chariot rising from the East, and on the right, Selene, goddess of the moon sets with her own horses. The Selene horse head we are familiar with today is all that remains of the quadriga drawn by Selene. Though both the east and west pediments are severely damaged, fortunately the traveller Pausanias recorded descriptions of the sculptural decoration when he visited the Acropolis at the end of the second century AD, which can help us to build up a picture of what the original composition may have looked like. The horse of Selene itself was…