The scene represented on the west pediment of the temple of Zeus is a familiar one in Greek art. As is clear from the pediment's reconstruction, it is the depiction of the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding of Peirithoos and Deidameia. The story of the conflict is described by Pseudo-Apollodorus and is frequently depicted in Greek art. A vase from London and the metopes from the Parthenon (447-432 B.C.) are good examples of other representations of the story. As the story goes, the Centaurs were invited to the wedding feast but had a very low tolerance for wine. The half-man-half-animal creatures soon got drunk and tried to carry off the Lapith women. The pedimental sculpture shows the heroes Theseus and Peirithoos trying to rescue women from the clutches of Centaurs on either side of the central figure. Pausanias identifies the central figure as Peirithoos, but this is doubtful for several reasons. Although Peirithoos was a grandson of Zeus and partly divine, he was hardly important enough to command such a central location, especially as a counterpart to Zeus on the east pediment. Also it is doubtful that the two heroes, Theseus and Peirithoos would be shown on such different scales (Ashmole, p. 17). Today the central figure is generally understood to represent Apollo, who does not directly participate in the battle but points out Eurytion, the Centaur-chief, who is trying to rape the bride (Stewart, p.144). Like that of the east pediment, the composition here is balanced without being symmetrical, despite the visual shift that is created by Apollo's gaze and gesture. The most important figures are those in the center, as we saw in the east pediment. On either side of the god is a group consisting of a hero, Lapith woman, and Centaur. The other figures in the pediment represent Centaurs attacking women and children and Lapith men trying to free them. Many of the figures are contorted and undulating, and, like in the east pediment, the equine bodies were used to ease the transition between the huge upright figures in the center and the smaller ones in the narrowing field (Ashmole, p. 18) In the 2nd century B.C. four female figures were added, two in each corner. These figures might have been replacements for damaged originals, or they might just have been used to fill in sparsely populated areas. Although the centauromachy was a familiar theme in mythology and art, at Olympia the story is understood to be a direct reference to the recent Greek struggle with the barbaric, uncivilized Persian invaders. The west pediment, then, shows the battle between and eventual triumph of Greek civilization and rationality over foreign barbarism. At the time of the temple's completion, this parallel was probably not lost on visitors to the sanctuary. More than just decorative ornamentation, the pedimental sculptures at Olympia communicated to their viewers themes and stories relevant to the contemporary history of Greece.
The Metopes | Analysis of the Sculptural Program This document was written by Rebecca Furer Check out the bibliography |
