Parthenon Sculpture, Metope XXX, Centaur and Lapith, 5th cent. BC / Μονομαχία Κένταυρου με Λάπιθο, στο Βρετανικό Μουσείο

Artifacts

Bas-relief, High - Relief, Scurlpurs, ect,,./ Ανάγλυφο,κτλπ

(Για Ελληνικά πάτε κάτω)

Parthenon Sculpture, Metope XXX, Centaur and Lapith, 5th cent. BC 

The metopes (pentelic marble slabs about four feet square carved in high relief) in this sequence come from the south side of the Parthenon, above the architrave.

Here, the dominant centaur tramples down on the Lapith, who tries to keep him at arms length whilst rather feebly reaching for a stone with which to fight back.

This is one of a series showing the battle between the centaurs, a wild tribe with the lower body of a horse, and the Lapiths a people from the mountains of Thessaly in northern Greece. The symbolism is the struggle between barbarism and civilisation.

The British Museum, London

Οι Μετόπες του Παρθενώνα κοσμούσαν, άλλοτε, την δωρικού ρυθμού ζωφόρο του περιστυλίου (ή προστώου) του Παρθενώνα στην Ακρόπολη. Αυτές, αποτελούν το ένα τμήμα των ανάγλυφων παραστάσεων των ζωφόρων του ναού, καθώς, ανάλογες παραστάσεις, υπάρχουν και στη ζωφόρο του σηκού του ναού, στο ίδιο ύψος. Τα 92 ανάγλυφα εικονίζουν ένα θέμα διαφορετικό για κάθε πλευρά, ενώ μαζί με το αέτωμα, την ιωνικού ρυθμού ζωφόρο και το άγαλμα της Προμάχου Αθηνάς αποτελούσαν ένα ολοκληρωμένο σύνολο εξέχουσας γλυπτικής τέχνης.

Οι μετόπες της νότιας όψης είχαν ως θέμα τη μάχη των Λαπίθων με τους Κενταύρους, τη γνωστή Κενταυρομαχία, στην οποία πήρε μέρος ο μυθικός βασιλιάς των Αθηνών, Θησέας. Μια από τις μετόπες βρίσκεται ακόμα στην Αθήνα, ενώ μια άλλη εκτίθεται στο Λούβρο και δεκαπέντε άλλες στο Βρετανικό Μουσείο, μετά την λεηλασία των γλυπτών από τον Λόρδο του Έλγιν.

ECHR reject first-ever legal bid to return Parthenon Marbles

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

The first-ever legal bid to force the UK to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece was thrown out by the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday.

The court ruled that because the alleged theft of the sculptures from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple took place more than 150 years before the UK signed up to the human rights convention, it did not have the power to consider the lawsuit.

Campaigners for the return of the sculptures pointed out that the court had not made a ruling on the “merits of the case”.

The marbles were taken from the temple by the Earl of Elgin in the 1800s and he then sold them to the British Government in 1816 after running into financial difficulties.

At the time, Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Lord Elgin obtained a ‘firman’, a legal document, that apparently allowed him to take some stones but some believe it did not entitle him to cut sculptures from the building.

The marbles are regarded as some of the finest sculptures ever created and the Parthenon, built by the democratic Athenians after victory over the Persian Empire, is arguably the most important historical monument in Europe.

The Greek Government was given extensive legal advice from lawyers Amal Clooney and Geoffrey Robertson, but appears to have decided against taking Britain to court.

Instead, the case against the UK was brought by the Athenians’ Association, a cultural group, after the British Government refused an offer last year by UNESCO to mediate between Greece and Britain.

The British Government and the British Museum, where about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures are on display, insist the Earl of Elgin acquired them legally.

On July 10, a cross-party group of British MPs launched a Bill to return the sculptures to Athens, where the new Acropolis Museum was built specifically to house them within sight of the Parthenon.

“The Acropolis Museum allows the Parthenon sculptures that are in Athens to be appreciated against the backdrop of ancient Greek and Athenian history,” read a British Museum statement.

“The Parthenon sculptures in London are an important representation of ancient Athenian civilisation in the context of world history.”