Destruction and Memory on the Athenian Acropolis

Author(s): Rachel Kousser

Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 91, No. 3 (September 2009), pp. 263-282
Published by: College Art Association
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Destructionand Memoryon theAthenianAcropolis
RachelKousser

The Parthenon,constructed between447 and 432 BCE on This analysisoftheParthenonand itsantecedentshas also
theAthenianAcropolis,standsas themostlavish,technically a broadersignificance as partof thehistory ofOrientalism, a
refined, and programmatically cohesivetempleon theGreek topicofmuchrecentinterest forscholarsofClassicalGreece.
mainland,a fitting commemoration of the Athenians'spec- Philologistshave researchedthe use of Orientalisttropesin
tacularand unexpectedvictories in thePersianWars(Fig. 1). variousliterarygenres,5while art historianshave analyzed
The immense,all-marblestructure was designedaround a such topicsas the depictionof Persiansin Greekart,6the
colossalstatueofAthenaParthenos,depictedbythesculptor receptionof Achaemenidmaterialculturein Athens,7and
Pheidiasfullyarmed,and withan image of the goddessof representations of thePersianWarsin publicAthenianmon-
victory, Nike,alighting on herlefthand (Fig. 2) . In itsarchi- uments.8One hithertoneglectedarea ofinquiryhasbeen the
tecturalsculptureas well,the Parthenonrepeatedlyalluded interconnections betweenOrientalismand iconoclasm.The
to the Greeks'struggleagainstthe Persians,for instance, destructionof an enemy'ssanctuarieswas commonplacein
throughfamousmythological contests:battlesbetweenmen ancientwarfare, and had been practicedbyGreeksas wellas
and centaurs,Atheniansand Amazons,Greeksand Trojans, Persians.Yet followingthe Acropolissack,such iconoclastic
godsand giants. activity came to be seen as a paradigmaticexampleof "Ori-
An intriguing but rarelynotedfeatureof thesebattlenar- ental"impietyand violence.This consistentand highlyinflu-
rativesis thattheycombineimagesof effortless victorywith entialthemeof Orientalistdiscourseoriginatedin the Early
thoseof valiantbut unmistakabledefeat.The Parthenon's Classicalperiodand culminatedin thePerikleanParthenon.
southmetopes,forexample,includednotonlyscenesofmen The significance ofthisdiscourseis twofold. To beginwith,
triumphing over centaursbut also imagesof these human it is criticalforour interpretation of the Parthenon,which
protagonists caught,wounded,or trampledto deathbytheir mustbe understoodas a responseto the destruction - the
bestialopponents(Fig. 3) . So, too,on thewestmetopesand -
desecration of the ArchaicAcropolissanctuaryand itsim-
theshieldofAthenaParthenos, we see dead Atheniansas well ages. In thisway,it is connectedto a seriesof Orientalist
as dead Amazons(Figs.4, 5). These scenesof loss,although monumentsand textsfromEarlyClassicalGreeceand adopts
neglectedbyscholars,werein factcriticalto theParthenon's theirpreviously establishednarrative strategies(forinstance,
visualprogram;theyrepresented,throughthe distancing the use of mythological analogies the Persians), albeitin
for
guise of myth,the price paid in human suffering for the a morecomprehensive and far-reachingmanner.Seen from
achievement of Greekvictory. an Orientalistperspective, the Parthenonthereforeappears
Scholarshave oftenstressedthe thematicimportanceof lessas a unique,unprecedentedmonumentthanas partofa
the PersianWarsof 490 and 480-479 BCE for the art of well-established tradition,in whichworksof art helped to
ClassicalAthens,above all, forthe Perikleanbuildingpro- preserve and transformthememoryofthePersiansackforan
gramon the Acropolis.1But theyhave not paid sufficient Athenianaudience. This allowsus to appreciatemore fully
attentionto the Athenians'most directexperienceof the the debtsto history of this"timeless"monument.9
wars:thedestruction of theircity'smajorsanctuariesbythe The Athenians'extremelyeffectivepresentationof the
Persiansin 480 BCE2 and thesackof theentirepolisin 479.3 Acropolissack as a typically barbaricact has also had signif-
The visualprogramof the Parthenon,shot throughwith icantlong-term consequencesforscholarshipin the history
scenesof suffering and loss,suggeststhe meritof reexamin- of art.As Zainab Bahranihas argued,"Aligningthemselves
ing the temple in these terms.So does thebuilding'ssite,on withthe ancientGreeks,[scholars]see the mutilationand
theAcropolis - indeed,on theveryfoundations of an earlier theftof statuesas a barbaricact of violence."10And their
templedestroyed by the Persians. conclusionshavebeen shapedbyOrientalist Greektextsand
It is thusheuristically usefulto considerthe Parthenonas monuments, ratherthan relevantNear Eastern sources:
a responseto the ancientworld'smostfamous - and notori-
ous- act of iconoclasm.At the same time,it is importantto not onlyhave stereotypes been utilizedin the interpreta-
show how this responsewas neitherinevitablenor easily tionofthis[iconoclastic]practice,buta privileging ofone
achieved.It wasinsteadtheculmination ofa lengthy process, type of ancient textover all others has also aided in its
one thatis rarelystudied,butworthour attention, because it perception as a "senseless"act ofviolence,and thusserves
helps to illuminatethe end result.This processincludesa thepurposesof theOrientalist model byvalidatingtwoof
seriesof Athenianresponsesto the Persiansack,fromthe itsmainabstractions as definedby [Edward]Said: Orien-
reuse of architectural fragments in the citadelwalls to the tal violenceand Orientaldespotism.11
sculpturalprogram of the Periklean Parthenon.As the dis-
of to
play damagedobjectsgaveway reworkings of the story Thishas complicatedtheinterpretation
ofNearEasternicon-
withinthe timelessworldof myth,the memoryof the sack oclasm,obscuringits connectionto deep-seatedbeliefsre-
becameincreasingly divorcedfromitshistorical foundation.4 gardingthe close relationbetweenimageand prototype.

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264 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

1 TempleofAthenaParthenos,
Athens,447-432BCE
Acropolis,
(photograph FA6523-0_2
100006,1,
providedbytheForschungsarchiv
für
AntikePlastik,
Köln)

A like attitudehas had a similarly problematiceffecton topography oftheAcropolis.This rockyoutcropsouthof the

classicalscholarship.It has discouragedthe analysisof icon- Archaiccitycenterhad been inhabitedfromMyceneantimes
oclasmin Hellenicculture,althoughwell-documented inci- onward,and by480 BCE was boththesiteof theAthenians'
dentssuch as the mutilationof the hermsin Athensin 415 mostimportanttemplesand dedicationsand a well-fortified
BCE duringthePeloponnesianWarsdemonstrate itssignifi- citadel.13On thisprominent, highlyvisiblesitewerelocated
cance for the Greeks.12But the discourseon iconoclasm two major buildings.To the northstood the Late Archaic
preservedin Hellenicliterary sources- in whichit is always TempleofAthenaPolias,whichhouseda reveredolive-wood
theworkofbarbariansor socialdeviants - has allowedschol- statueof the goddess,so old thatthe Atheniansbelievedit
arsto characterizethedestruction ofimagesin Greekculture had fallenfromheaven.14To the southwas an all-marble
as a limitedand marginalphenomenon,unworthy of study. temple(the so-calledOlder Parthenon),likelyinitiatedafter
In so doing,historians of classicalarthave arbitrarilyclosed thefirstPersianWarin 490 BCE, and stillunderconstruction;
offapotentially avenueofapproachto theirtopic.Yet
fruitful at the time of the sack, the buildingreached only to the
thestudyof Helleniciconoclasmhas important implications heightof the thirdcolumn drum.15Besides these major
forthe role of the imagein Greeksociety. temples,the siteaccommodateda numberof more modest
but stillsignificant
constructions:a monumentalramp and
The Acropolisin 480 BCE: Siege and Destruction gatewayto theAcropolis,16 a greataltar,17
a shrineto Athena
To understandthe significance of the Persiansack forthe Nike,18and a seriesof small-scalebuildingsgenerallyidenti-
Athenians,it is necessaryto considerfirstthe functionsand fiedas sacredtreasuries,
whosearchitectural adornmenthas

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIANACROPOLIS 265

been preserved butwhosefoundations havenotsurvived, due

to laterrebuildingon thesite.19
Complementing thisarchitectural ensemblewasan impres-
sivepopulationof statuesand othervotivededications.Best
knownare thekorai,whichnumberedat leastfifty at thetime
ofthesack(Figs.6, 8);20therewerealso a seriesofequestrian
statues,liketheRampinRider,as wellas victory monuments,
suchas thededicationofKallimachos, whichlikelycommem-
oratedthismilitary leader's role in the Athenianvictoryat
Marathonin 490 BCE.21Such costlymarblestatuesweremost
oftensetup bythewealthy, butwe haveas wellmorehumble
votives:black-and red-figure vases,terracotta reliefs,bronze
figurines, and cult equipment.22 As even this brieflist of
monumentssuggests,the maps and modelsof the Late Ar-
chaicAcropolisare thussomewhatmisleading.In additionto
the majorbuildingstheyshow,we have to imaginea space
crammedwithobjectsofall sorts,everywhere; thiswasforthe
Athenians thebestwayto paytributeto thenuminouspower
thatsuffused theentiresite.
Thesebuildingsand monuments offerabundanttestimony
to the sacred characterof the Late ArchaicAcropolis.Yet
althoughtheAtheniansthemselves, and, subsequently, mod-
ern scholars,have tendedto focuson thisaspect,the site's
strategicimportance in 480 BCE is also clear.In fact,thisdual
natureof the Acropolis - as both citadeland sanctuary23 -
helps to explainthe thoroughness of the Persians'destruc-
tionof thesiteand, at thesame time,thevehemenceof the
Athenians'responseto it.
In 480, theAcropoliswasfortified all aroundwithancient
and imposingwalls, constructedof immense,irregularly
shapedboulders,whichidentifies themas Myceneanin ori-
gin (Fig. 7) .24Withintheseancientwalls,augmentedat the
topbynewwoodenpalisades,thedefendersofAthensmade ofAthena
2 AllenLeQuire,afterPheidias,reconstruction
theirlast stand againstthe Persians.The storyis givenin Parthenos.
NashvilleParthenon,Tennessee(photograph
Herodotos,who providesour onlyextensiveaccountof the theMetropolitan
copyright Government ofNashville
/Gary
Persiansack;hisdescription, moreover, can be corroborated Layda2004)
at manypointsbythe archaeologicalevidence.25 According
to Herodotos,thedefendersof thecitadelwerefewin num-
ber,sincemostAthenianshad agreed to abandon the city; be consideredmilitarilyuseful.As thearchaeologicalremains
following the plan of theirgeneral,Themistokles, theyhad theynot only destroyedthe citadel's walls- which
testify,
sailedto thenearbyislandof Salamisand stakedtheirhopes were,froma strategicpointof view,the logical target - but
on a navalvictory.26 But thosewho remainedin Athensput also burnedthetemples,toredowntheirarchitectural adorn-
up a valiantdefense,manningthe wallsand rollingdown ment,attackedstatues,overturnedreliefs,smashedpots.30
bouldersontotheoncomingPersians.27 Theirdefensesfailed Althoughrecentscholarshave correctly challengedthe tra-
at lastonlybecause the Persianscame up the difficult east ditionalview (in whichall damage to Archaicmaterialwas
side oftheAcropolis,whichtheAthenianshad leftunguard- automatically attributedto the vindictive
Persians),enough
ed.28The defenders, overwhelmed, threwthemselves offthe evidenceremainsto suggestthatthiswasa quiteimpressively
citadelwallsor soughtsanctuaryin the Temple of Athena thoroughgoing and targetedeffort.31
Polias,wheretheyweremassacredbythePersians.29 The new The damagewroughtbythePersianscan be clearlyseen in
mastersof the citadeltoredown the walls,then plundered their treatmentof statues.To begin with,it is useful to
and setfireto thebuildingswithin. considerthe monumentof Kallimachosmentionedabove,
It is important to stressthatthiswas,in termsof wartime withan inscribedcolumntoppedbya sculptedfigureofNike
strategy, an eminently sensibledecisionbythePersians.The or possiblyIris,messengerofthegods.32Aboutsixteenand a
Acropolishad servedas Athens'scitadel fromMycenean halffeet(fivemeters)talland setup in a prominentlocation
timesonward;it was a well-fortified and defensiblemilitary northeastof the Older Parthenon,it was a highlyvisible
site,notjust a collectionof temples.Giventhatthe Persians celebrationofthelopsidedAthenianvictory overthePersians
did notintendto use it themselves, theywerewelladvisedto at Marathon;accordingto Herodotos,6,400 Persiansper-
destroy it,lestitproveagaina formidable base of operations ished in the battleto 192 Athenians.33Kallimachos'smonu-
fortheAthenians. mentappears to have attractedparticularattentionduring
However,thePersiansin 480 wentfarbeyondwhatmight the Acropolissack. The inscribedcolumnwas brokeninto

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256 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER 3

3 Southmetope28 oftheParthenon,
Athens.BritishMuseum,London
(artworkin thepublicdomain;
photograph © The Trusteesof the
British
Museum)

morethanone hundredpieces,whilethestatuehad itsface seems to me unlikely.40 As close observationof the statues

smashedand itsbodycut in two. shows,the damage followspredictablepatterns,and the
Elsewhereon theAcropolis,mutilatedstatuesproliferate. marksof beheadingare congruentwiththose observedon
One korehad herhead,feet,and armsbrokenoff;herbody sculpturesclearlyattackedbythe Persians,as on theAcrop-
was also cut offat the knees- modernrestorationhas left olis koreattackedwithan axe (Fig.8) . Theyare also congru-
tracesof the ancientactionvisible - and the torsoattacked, entwithmaterialthatcan be associatedwithPersianattacks
notablyaround the breastsand buttocks(Fig. 8). To judge on other cities,and more broadlywithattackson statues
fromthelong,narrowscars,thiswas done withan ax.34The elsewherein theAncientNear East.41I would thereforesee
head ofanotherkorewaslikewiseattackedwithan ax,whose the broken,battered,and beheaded statuesof the Archaic
marksare visibleparticularly in a long cut to theback of the Acropolisas predominantly Persian,not Athenian,handi-
head, made as thoughto splittheskull.35 These are onlythe work.
mostobviouscases;otherstatuesmanifest tracesofburning, An illuminating
contrastmaybe drawnbetweentheAcrop-
theirsurfacespittedwithsmallblackmarksor signsof ther- olisstatuesinjuredbythePersiansand thegravemonuments
malfracture analogousto thoseseen in thecolumndrumsof takendownand reusedbytheAtheniansto rebuildtheircity
the Older Parthenon.36 Or the noses,cheeks,or chinshave wall in 479 BCE.42Some scholarshave soughtto read the
been smashedwithwhatlookslikea hammeror mallet(Fig. reworkingand reuse of these gravemonumentsas highly
6); on male statues,the same weapon seems oftento have motivated, whetheras the defacementof the imagesof the
been turnedagainsttheirgenitalia.37 old aristocracyby the new postwardemocratsor as the en-
Recently, scholarshave arguedthatthe destructiveness of listment ofpowerful heroicancestorsin defenseofthecity.43
thePersiansackhas been exaggerated, and thatmoreallow- CatherineKeeslinghas suggestedthatin some cases,at least,
ance should be made for accidentand for laterAthenian faceswereobliteratedin orderto deprivethestatuesof their
actions.38It is, of course,reasonableto see some injuriesas "power"priorto incorporation in the wall.44Close observa-
accidental.The heads,arms,and feetofstatuesare necessar- tionofthesculptures, however, castsdoubton thesetheories.
ilyfragileand tend to break off,even withouticonoclastic While the Acropolisstatueswere injuredin a mannerthat
effort.Other injuriesare harder to explain in thisway- mighthavebeen directedtowardlivehumanbeings- throats
breaksat thewaist,one ofthethickest and mostsolidpartsof slit,hands and feetcut off- the gravemonumentsappear
sculptures39- and manybear tracesof humaneffort, suchas more arbitrarilyand pragmatically altered.For reliefs,pro-
the ax and hammermarksdescribedabove. It has been jectingsurfacesweresmootheddown (such as NationalMu-
proposedthattheAtheniansthemselves mighthave injured seum,Athens,inv.nos. 5826, 2687), and monumentsin the
someArchaicsculpturesto desacralizethembeforeburial- roundwerelopped and trimmedto approximate,insofaras
"
beheadingthemas a formof"quasi-ritual 'killing' - butthis possible,foursquareblocks (such as KerameikosMuseum,

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS 267

4 WestMetope13 oftheParthenon, showingan Amazon(on

horseback) a fallenAthenian(drawing
attacking byMarion
Cox,artwork©JohnBoardman)

5 ShieldofAthenaParthenos showing a battlebetween 6 KorefromtheAthenianAcropolis, ca. 520-510BCE,found

Atheniansand Amazons, witha dead Athenianand a dead in a cacheof 14 statuesneartheErechtheion. Acropolis
Amazonat thebase oftheshield(drawing byE. B. Harrison, Museum,Athens,670 (artwork in thepublicdomain;
artwork© E. B. Harrison) photograph providedbyWernerForman /ArtResource)

45
Athens,inv.no. P 1052). In bothcases,thesculptures were On the Acropolis,the attackson sculptures,and the de-
treatedin a mannerdesignedto enhance theirusefulness structionof the sanctuarymore broadly,must have de-
withintheirnew setting:the Themistokleanwall,rebuiltin mandedlengthy and painstakingeffort.
Whywasitnecessary?
hastebytheAthenians justaftertheconclusionofthePersian To answerthisquestion,one should begin bystressing that
Wars.46The gravemonuments fromthelowercityofAthens Athenswas not the onlycityto suffersuch an attackat the
thusfurnisha usefulexampleof the pragmatic despoliation handsofthePersians.Theirinvadingarmieshad destroyed as
and reuseofimages,whereastheAcropolissculpturesexem- well,forexample,templesof Apollo at Eretria,Abae, and
plifytheprogrammaticmutilationof worksof art.47 Didyma.48So, too, we know that the Persiansattackedor

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268 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

7 A stretchofMycenaeanwallincorporated
intothatof the
ClassicalPropylaea,
late13thcentury
BCE,Acropolis,Athens
(photograph providedbyJ.M. Hurwit)

abductedimagesin a numberof cities:thestatueofArtemis

BrauroniafromBrauron,of Apollo fromDidyma,and of 8 KoreattackedbythePersians,withax markson thetorso.
MardukfromBabylon;49 fromAthensitself,theytookthefirst AcropolisMuseum,Athens,595 (artworkin thepublic
versionof the Tyrannicidesmonument,subsequentlyre- domain;photographprovidedbytheAcropolisMuseum)
turnedfromSusa to its place in the AthenianAgora by
Alexanderthe Greator one of the Seleucids.50The Persian
activityin Athenscould be taken to be part of a broader
culturalpractice,whichhas been documentedas well for Troy;only then can the citybe taken.This popular myth
other ancient Near Easterncultures,such as the Medes, indicatesthatthe Greeksalso founda powerfulconnection
Babylonians,and Elamites.51 As Bahrani has pointed out, betweenthe physicalformof the statueand the god it rep-
these incidentswere by no means random.52Rather,they resented.54So does the Greek practiceof chainingdown
to thewidespreadancientNear Easternbeliefthatthe
testify potentiallywayward statues,regularlyattestedin the literary
imagecould functionas a substitute,
an uncannydouble,for sources,as well as the frequentresortto dolls inhabitedby
the person or god represented;therefore,damage to the spiritsin magicrites.55 - such as the
And historicalincidents
image could injure the prototypealso, even beyond the mutilation ofthehermsduringthePeloponnesianWars,56 or
grave. thedestruction of theportraits of PhilipV and his ancestors
Althoughsuch convictionswere denigrated,or even re- in 200 BCE57- demonstrate thatlaterAtheniansat leastwere
jected, in Greek philosophicalspeculation,theycan fre- wellawareofthepowerful effectssuchiconoclasticactscould
quentlybe discernedin Panhellenicmythas well as local have,forgood or ill. Whatis distinctive in Greekattitudes
Theyappear,forexample,in the myth
religiouspractices.53 towardiconoclasmseems to be the mannerin whichit was
of the Abductionof the Palladion,in whichOdysseusand both practicedand problematized - oftentypedas barbaric
Diomedes abduct the statueof Pallas Athenathatprotects or deviant,yetrecurrent in Hellenicculture.

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIANACROPOLIS 269

It consequentlyseems reasonable to assume that the attentionto the architectural remains,whetherleftin ruinsor
Greeksrecognizedand understoodthe motivations behind used as spolia.Atthesame time,I haveconcentrated on those
thePersiansackoftheAcropolis.Indeed,theirownprevious monumentsthatare demonstrably Archaicin date and that
actionsmayhaveconstituted a concretehistoricalprecedent were thereforeavailableto the Persiansat the timeof the
forit.Accordingto Herodotos(5.102), thePersiansjustified sack.62They seem to me to offerthe clearestand most
forAthens'sinvolvement
theirattackas retaliation in thesack concreteevidenceforwhattheAtheniansdid in responseto
ofthePersianprovincial capitalSardis,including destruc-
the the Persians'actions.
tionof the templeof Cybelethere,in 499.58Notorietyhas Let us beginwithwhatwas,significantly, notdone, thatis,
attacheditselfto thePersiansackof theAthenianAcropolis, withthe templesleftin ruins.Taken together,the literary,
ratherthan,say,Sardisor Eretria,notbecauseitwasunusual epigraphic,and archaeologicalevidence suggeststhat the
at thetimebutbecauseoftheextraordinary waysinwhichthe templeson the Acropolisremainedvirtually as the Persians
Athenians chose to commemorate it;theiractionsthusmerit had leftthem,withthepossibleexceptionofsomeshoringup
scrutinynext. of the Temple of Athena Polias.63The treatmentof the
ruinedtemplesconstituted themostnotableofthecommem-
InitialAthenianResponses,479-447 BCE: Ruins,Relics, orativepracticesadopted by the Atheniansand musthave
and RitualBurial had the mostfar-reaching impacton the inhabitants'lived
Followingtheirfinalvictory overthePersiansat theBattleof experience. Afterall, in the Archaicperiod,thesehad been
Plataiain 479, the Atheniansreturnedto theircityto con- thepreeminentreligiousbuildingsofAthensand theculmi-
fronta desolate landscape of broken statuesand smoke- nation of the most importantfestival,the Panathenaia.64
scarredtemples.As is wellknown,theydid not undertakea Theycontinuedto presideoveractsofworship - theveryday
large-scalerebuildingof the templeson theAcropolisuntil afterthe sack, the Persian King Xerxes had his Athenian
the initiationof the Parthenonin 447, some thirtyyears followers carryout sacrifices -
on theAcropolis65 and itmust
later.59In the interval,theywere by no means inactive. have been quite striking forthe Atheniansto conducttheir
Rather,theyengagedin a numberof commemorative prac- obsequiesamongruins,fora periodofthirty years.66Evenfor
tices- creating,in essence,ruins,relics,and ritualburials- thosewho rarelyventuredto the citadel,therewould have
whosetracesin thelandscapeweresignificant forthe devel- been indicationsof the destructionin Athens'sskyline.The
opmentofthecitadellateron. These practiceshavealso their Archaictemplesof the Acropoliswere substantial,promi-
owninherent interest,as a seriesofattempts bytheAthenians nentlyplaced buildings,and the largestamong them,the
to come to termswith,to represent, and sometimesto con- Temple of AthenaPolias,musthave been visiblefromafar,
ceal thetraumaof thePersiansack.In thisway,theyhelp to just as the Parthenonis today.And then theywere gone.
illustrate
theworkings of thecollectivememoryof theAthe- Especiallyin the immediateaftermath of the sack, the ab-
niansin the EarlyClassicalperiod.The commemorative ac- sence of these familiarlandmarksmust itselfhave repre-
tionstooktwoforms:practicesinvolving thedamagedterrain senteda kindof presence,a constantreminderof whatwas
of theAcropolisitself,and EarlyClassicalrepresentations of no longerthere.
thePersianWarsin literature and art.Taken together,they Such reminderswere, it should be said, by no means
showthe mannerin whichthe destructionof monuments restricted to Athens.Even in the second centuryCE (thatis,
began to be depictedbythe Greeksas exclusively, and char- some six hundredyearsafterthe PersianWars),the Greek
barbaric
acteristically, - a paradigmatic example of the Per- travelwriterPausaniasclaimedhe sawtemplesscarredbythe
sians' capacityfor senselessviolence.Typed as something Persians:the Temple of Hera on Samos, of Athenaat Pho-
Greeksdid not do, iconoclasmbecame "other,"a develop- caea, of Hera on the road to Phaleron, of Demeter at
mentwithimportant consequencesforthefuture. Phaleron,of Apollo at Abae, and all the templesin the
In recentyears,scholarshave paid particularattentionto territoryof Haliartus.67
thequestionofwhichmonuments, weredestroyed
precisely, Later literarysources,and most modern scholars,have
by the Persians.60Beginning with Jeffrey Hurwit in 1989, explainedtheseruinedtempleswithreferenceto oathssworn
thesescholarshavereexaminedtheevidenceforthedestruc- bytheGreeks,mostfamously, in thecase ofAthens,themuch
tion layeron the Acropolis(the so-calledPerserschutt) ; the debated "Oath of Plataia."Accordingto the late-fourth-cen-
emphasis has been on usingarchaeological evidence to iden- turyAthenianoratorLykourgos,the Greeksfighting at the
tifywhichdepositsconsistedsolelyof Archaicmaterialand BattleofPlataiain 479 BCE promisedthat"ofall thetemples
whichweremixed,incorporating sculptures oflaterdatealso. burned and throwndown by the barbariansI will rebuild
The goal has been to elucidate,withgreaterprecision,the none, but I willleave themas a memorialforfuturegenera-
chronological development ofGreeksculpture;thishas been tionsoftheimpiety ofthebarbarians"{Against Leokrates81) ,68
mostrecentlyand thoroughly carriedout byAndrewStew- A similar oath was sworn by the Ionians, according to
art.61 Isokrates,an earlier-fourth-century orator (Panegyricus 155-
Whilemyresearchis muchindebtedto thesescholars,my 57) . The PlataiaOath is also given,withsome alterations, by
approachand aimsare different. I drawon a widerrangeof thefirst-century BCE historianDiodorusSiculus(11.29.3-4),
evidence(includinghistorical and epigraphicsourcesas well and Pausanias(10.35.2) explainstheruinedtemplesat Abae
as archaeology)to analyzethe Athenians'interventions on and Phaleronin analogoustermsduringtheRomanperiod.
theAcropolisduringtheEarlyClassicalperiod;myfocusis on There thusarose in the fourthcentury, ifnot earlier,a very
thevariedstrategies theyadoptedin orderto come to terms consistent and frequently replicatedliterarydiscourselinking
withthe Persiansack. In consequence,I have paid more the ruinsto memory, witheach smoke-scarred templefune-

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270 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

9 Viewofa sectionofwallnorthwest
oftheErechtheion,containing
parts
oftheentablatureoftheTempleof
AthenaPolias,Acropolis,
Athens
(photographbytheauthor)

tioningas a memorial(hypomnema) to Orientalviolenceand destroyedtemplesbeforeactingunilaterally. However,the

impiety. authenticityof the CongressDecree, like thatof the Plataia
These oaths, althoughconvenientexplanationsfor the Oath, has frequently been questioned;as it is preservedin
ruinedtemples,are problematic, the "Oath of Plataia"par- onlyone source,writtenover fivehundredyearsafterthe
ticularlyso. It does notappearin contemporary fifth-century event,skepticism is perhapsin order.75
sources;itsabsencein Herodotos,withhisveryfullaccountof Therefore,ratherthanplacingstresson a formalPanhel-
the Battle of Plataia, is particularly striking.So, too, the lenic oath or decree, the existenceof whichis difficult to
Plataia Oath is givendifferently on the onlyotherfourth- prove,I wouldemphasizeinsteadhowtheAtheniansacted -
centurysourceforit,an inscribedstelaset up in Acharnae, leavingthetemplesin ruinsforthefirst years,and then
thirty
wherethe"templesclause"is leftout;69Athenianaccountsof graduallybeginningthe processof reconstruction, withthe
itwereattackedas "falsified" bythefourth-century historian Parthenonfirst, thentheothertempleson theAcropolis,and
Theopompos;70and Lykourgosis demonstrably inaccurate continuing evenintothefourthcentury withsanctuariessuch
on historicalquestionselsewherein his speech.71Finally,in as that of Apollo Patroos in the Agora.76Moreover,it is
the case of Athens,at least,the oath was conspicuously vio- noteworthy thatthese temples,set up to replace the ones
lated by the construction of a series of templesfromthe destroyedby the Persians,stillcoexistedwithmonuments
mid-fifth century BCE on, includingnot onlytheParthenon morevisiblyconnectedto thesack.Herodotos,forinstance,
but also the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, Nemesisat saw walls scarredby the firesof the Persian sack on the
Rhamnous,and Athenaat Pallene,all on the sitesof Attic Acropolis,and Pausaniasrecordedblackenedand battered
sanctuariesdestroyed bythe Persians.72 statuesofAthenathereas well.77It is even possiblethatthe
Clearly,the writtensources on the Plataia Oath are in back roomof theTemple ofAthenaPolias survivedthe sack
tensionwithone another,as wellas withthe archaeological and wasshoredup enoughto be used untiltheErechtheion,
evidence.Scholarshavestruggledto reconcilethem,propos- a smallIonic temple,was completedat the end of the fifth
ing,forexample,thatthe oath mayhave been abrogated century BCE; this,at anyrate,is suggestedbyinscriptionsthat
aftertheconclusionin about450 BCE ofa finalpeace treaty referto preciousofferingsstoredin the"Opisthodomos"(the
withPersia.73In supportof thistheory,some have cited a Greektermforthebackroomofa temple),and Xenophon's
passagein Plutarch'sPerikles (17), describingwhatis known notice that the "ancienttempleof Athena Polias" burned
to modernscholarsas the CongressDecree.74Accordingto downonlyin 406/5 BCE.78
Plutarch,thisdecree of about 450 BCE invitedthe Greek Fragmentsof the ruinedtempleswerealso preservedand
citiesto a meetingin Athens,to discuss,among othermat- displayedas partof the rebuiltwallsof the citadel (Figs.9,
ters,"the Greektempleswhichthe barbarianshad burnt"; 10). Here we are on more secure ground than with the
whenthe Spartansrefusedto attend,the idea was dropped. "Opisthodomos,"since besides literarysourcesputtingthe
The account in Plutarch,if accurate,could help to justify rebuiltwallsin theEarlyClassicalperiod,we havethearchae-
Athenianrebuildingat thistime;theAthenianscould claim ologicalevidenceof the wallsthemselves and of the excava-
to have soughta Panhellenicsolutionto the issue of the tions conducted in associationwiththem. There are two

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIANACROPOLIS 271

10 Viewofa sectionofwallnortheast
oftheErechtheion,containing
columndrumsfromtheOlder
Parthenon,
Acropolis,Athens
(photographbytheauthor)

majorstretchesof the rebuiltwallswithtemplefragments: fragments on displaywere powerfulbecause of theirdirect

the firstnorthwest of the present-day Erechtheion,contain- connectionto the Persiansack,because of their,as it were,
ing partsof theentablatureof theTemple ofAthenaPolias participation in Athens's suffering.But withoutdenyingthe
(Fig.9), and thesecondnortheast oftheErechtheion, incor- sorrowful and commemorative functionof the reusedmate-
poratingmarblecolumndrumsoftheOlder Parthenon(Fig. rials,I feelit is also importantto stressthattheirincorpora-
10). tionwithinthewallsofthecitadel- strong,high,wellbuilt-
It has been arguedthatthe reuse of thesefragments was made themequallyemblemsof powerand pride.Afterall,
pragmatic, an economical choice in the aftermath of a costly thewartheycommemorated broughtsuffering toAthensbut
war,79 but I do not findthisconvincing.The fragments are also, eventually, victory.
too carefully arranged;the stretchnorthwest of the Erech- The kindof commemoration displayedin thecitadelwalls
theion, for example, included the architrave,triglyph- was appropriateto the period in whichtheywere created,
metopefrieze,and cornicefromthe Temple of AthenaPo- soon afterthe conclusionof the PersianWars.Althoughwe
lias,theblocksarrangedjust as theywouldhavebeen on the cannotpin downthechronologyofeverysectionof thewalls
temple itself.In addition, the fragments appear too unwieldy with absolutecertainty, we have archaeologicaland architec-
foruse on purelypragmaticgrounds;thecolumndrums,for turalevidencesettingthe constructionof the relevantsec-
example,weighseventonseach,and thereare twenty-nine of tionsofthenorthwallshortly afterthewar.84The buildingof
them.80 Nor are thefragments selectedthosethatwerebest thewallcame in conjunctionwithbroaderefforts to reshape
to
adapted building a wall; of
plenty plainrectangular blocks the landscape of the as
Acropolis, terracinghelped to pro-
in the templeswereavailable,but thesewere not the ones duce a moreleveland largersurfacearea. Interestingly, it is
chosen.81Instead,what we see are the most distinctively in the fillof these terracesthatwe findthe greatArchaic
templelikearchitectural fragments, arrangedin a manner sculpturesof the Acropolis:the pedimentsof the Athena
thatseems insistently to recall theirformerpurpose- the Polias Temple,thefreestanding equestrians,and, especially,
columndrumslinedup in a row,theentablature extendedto the korai.85Best documentedis a cache of at least nine
a distanceveryclose to the lengthof the originaltemple. statuesdamaged in the Persiansack,whichwere founddi-
Fromsignificant viewing locations within thelower city,such rectlybehind the sectionof the northwall containingthe
as the Agora,theyare even now highlyvisible;for Early ruins of the Athena Polias Temple.86It is clear that the
Classicalviewers, they would have been yetmore striking,as statues were buried and the wall constructedat the same
theyoriginally would have been brightly painted.82 time; thiscan be dated soon afterthe warson the basis of
Such an arrangement, I believe,wasnotaccidental.It was, numismatic evidence.87
rather,a carefully calculatedformof commemoration, al- The twoactions- the burialof statuesand the displayof
thoughits meaningfor the Atheniansis disputed.It has architectural fragments - showinterrelated but differingre-
recently been interpreted by Hurwit as "a movingdisplay of sponses to material damaged in the sack of the Acropolis.
ruinshigh above the cityof Athens,loomingtestimony to Whereas the damaged architecturalfragmentswere con-
Persiansacrilege,an eternallament."83It is true that the verted,throughreuse in the citadelwalls,into a symbolof

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272 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

it servedto evokeprouder,moretriumphant memories;the

goddess looked toward Salamis, site of Athens'sgreatnaval
victory over the Persians.93 In laterliterarysources,at least,
the colossalstatuecommemorated Athens'smilitary success
in a verydirectand specificway;accordingto Pausanias,itwas
"a tithefromthe Persianswho landed at Marathon,"while
Demosthenesdeclaredit"dedicatedbythecityas a memorial
of the war against the barbarians,the Greeks givingthe
moneyforit."94
The sitingand fundingfor the statueare relatively well
documented,butitsappearancecan be reconstructed onlyin
a veryschematic,hypothetical manner.Fabricatedfroman
exceptionally valuableand easilyrecyclablematerial,bronze,
it was melteddown,and it leftscant tracesin the artistic
record.95A few points can, however,be made. The first
11 G. P. Stevens, oftheClassicalAcropolis,
drawing looking concernsitscolossalscale, so immense,accordingto Pausa-
fromthePropylaeatowardtheBronzeAthenabyPheidias, nias (1.28.2), thatsailorscomingintoportcould see thesun
ca. 467-447BCE. AmericanSchoolofClassicalStudiesat
Athens,GorhamP. StevensPapers(artwork© and photograph glintingoffthe tip of the statue'sspear.The statuewas also
providedbytheAmerican SchoolofClassicalStudiesat tremendouslyexpensive,as the fragmentarily preserved
Athens) buildingaccountsforit testify; constructed overa periodof
nineyears,itis estimatedto havecostabout83 talents.96 Ata
timewhen the annual tributefromthe AthenianEmpire
equaled about 400 talents,thiswas an extraordinary sum to
strength, the same could not be done for the sculptures. be spendingon a singleworkof art.97The bronzeAthena
Although, as Pausanias(1.27.6) tellsus, a fewweredisplayed therefore standsas the largest,mostambitiousstatueknown
in theirruinedstate,the vastmajority were simplyburied. to us in the EarlyClassicalperiod; particularly in the years
Perhapsthecorporealformofthestatuesmade theirappear- precedingthe construction of the Parthenon,it musthave
ance too distressing forviewers;even today,thereis some- dominatedtheAcropolisand providedan eye-catching land-
thingviscerally upsettingabout seeing theirfacessmashed, markfortheentirecity.In thisway,it offereda striking and
theirthroatsslit,and theirhands and feetbrokenoff.As unsubtleassertionof Athens'sresurgenceafterthe Persian
religiousvotives,though,theycould not simplybe thrown Wars.
out.88So the sculptureswereassembledtogetherand care- The statue'svisualprogrammaylikewisehave alluded to
fullyburiedwithinthe sacredspace of theAcropolis,where thewars,albeitin a more oblique and metaphoricmanner.
theyremained - in a remarkablestateof preservation, even Accordingto Pausanias (1.28.2), the statue'sshieldwas dec-
theirpaint stillfresh - untildisinterredat the end of the oratedwithimagesof thebattlebetweenmen and centaurs.
nineteenthcentury.89 This choice of decorationwas highlysignificant; it was the
Thus,in theyearsfollowing thePersiandestruction of the Athenians'firstattempt,on the Acropolis,to representthe
Acropolis, we can observe theAthenians experimenting with PersianWarsthroughmyth.The statue'sdecorationcan be
a rangeofdifferent responses to the sack.One responsewas seen to foreshadowthe more elaborate mythological pro-
simply to leave as
things they were, memorializing the de- gramof the Parthenon,withitscentaurs,Amazons,Trojans,
structionthroughthe ruinsit created;thiswas the course and giants.That such a representation was indeed plausible
followedwiththe major temples.A second option was to forthe EarlyClassicalperiod is bestdemonstrated byother
reusethedamagedartifacts so as to recall,in programmatic worksof artand literature fromthe era.
fashion,both the attackitselfand the eventualAthenian
victory, as architectural fragments fromthe destroyedtem- The PersianWarsin the GreekImagination:Inventing the
ples were used to build the new walls of the citadel.And a Myth of OrientalViolence in the EarlyClassicalEra
thirdoptionwas to erase,insofaras possible,thememoryof Afterthe decisiveHellenic victoryat Plataia in 479 BCE,
the destruction, byburyingthe statuesthatso viscerally re- Greekartists,poets,and oratorsbeganalmostimmediately to
called it. produce works inspiredby the PersianWars. Whether osten-
In additionto thesecommemorative closelycon-
strategies, in natureor ofa moreallusive,mythological
sibly"historical"
nectedto the ruinsthemselves, we have evidencefora few character,these artisticproductionsall aimed to highlight
monumentsof a more distancedand creativecharacter.90 the broader resonancesof the warsfor a Greek audience
Mostsignificant amongthemwasthecolossalbronzeAthena seekingto understandtheirextraordinary and unexpected
by Pheidias, set up on theAcropolisin about 467-447 BCE militarysuccess.These poems,speeches, and artworksof the
(Fig. II).91 Facingthesanctuary's entrance,itwasplaced on Early Classicalperiod presented the wars as a strugglebe-
axis withthe ruinedTemple of AthenaPolias,as is demon- tweenpolar opposites:pious,self-controlled, freedom-loving
stratedby the foundationsof the statue'simmensebase, Greeksversusimpious,uncontrollably violentPersiansruled
preservedin situ.92Like the northwall,and the (still-stand- by an autocraticmonarch.Furthermore, theseworksoften
ing?) ruinsthemselves, the statueperhapsservedto remind treatedthe desecrationof templesand imagesas a paradig-
viewersof thetraumasof thePersiansack.At thesame time, maticexampleof Persianimpietyand violence,as discussed

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS 273

above. The representations of the Persian Wars in Early

Classicalliteratureand art, mythological as well as more
historical treatments, reveal interconnections betweenOrien-
talismand iconoclasmthatanticipatedthe treatment of the
same themesin the Parthenon.
Among the most prominentand influentialOrientalist
monuments of EarlyClassicalAthenswas the Stoa Poikile.98
Commissioned byPeisianax,thebrother-in-law of theimpor-
tantpoliticianKimon,thismultifunctional civicstructure was
erectedin the northwest cornerof the AthenianAgora in
about 470-60 BCE." The building'sfoundationsare pre-
servedand have recentlybeen excavated;long gone, how-
ever,are the paintingsthatwere its most distinctive and
significantfeature.100 These includeddepictionsof the Tro-
jan Warand itsaftermath, the fightbetweenAtheniansand
Amazons,and theAthenianvictory overthePersiansat Mar-
athon in 490 BCE (Pausanias 1.15.1-16.1). The paintings
thusjuxtaposedmythological withhistorical wars,suggesting
analogiesbetweenthem.This proveda useful,and veryin-
fluential,narrative strategy. Throughthisjuxtaposition,the
victorsat Marathonwereplaced on par withthe greatHel-
lenicheroes,whereasthePersianswerecharacterized as anal-
ogousto theirimpiousand womanly opponents.Setup in the
Athenianciviccenter,commissioned bya close relativeofthe
era's leadingpolitician,and executedbymajorartists,101 the
Stoa Poikilebroughtmythand history togetherintoa highly
effective synthesis; itssignificance is demonstrated byitsre-
flectionin laterartworks, as well as by the numerousrefer-
ences to it in literary texts.102
Elsewherein Athensas well, paintingson mythological
themesweredeployedallusively to commemorate recenthis-
tory.One such is a shrineto the Athenianhero Theseus,
featuring as itsdecorationscenesfromthehero'slife,includ-
ing his battles withcentaursand Amazons.The shrinealso
heldTheseus'sbones,providentially discoveredbyKimonon
Skyros, exhumed, and brought to Athens in 475 BCE.103Like
the Stoa Poikile,then,the shrineto Theseus had a clear
connectionto contemporary politics,particularly those of
Kimon;itspaintings werealso executedbysome of thesame
artists.104It consequentlyseems reasonableto assume that 12 Attributed to theGroupofPolygnotos, dinos,
red-figure
here as well the paintingswere intendedto commemorate depictingthebattlebetweenTheseusand theAmazons,
thePersianWars,withthecentaursand Amazonsstandingin ca. 450 BCE, height10V& in. British
Museum,London,
forthebestialand effeminate Persians. 99.7.21.5(artwork in thepublicdomain;photograph© The
Trusteesof theBritish Museum)
This hypothesis is strengthened byan analysisof contem-
porary vase paintings. In the EarlyClassical period, vases
decoratedwithAmazons strikingly emphasized both the
Athenianprotagonists in the battle - withTheseus to the Orientalizedcostume.Similarscenes recurelsewhere,espe-
fore- and the "Oriental"characterof the warriorwomen, ciallyin the worksof the vase painterPolygnotosand his
who wearthe soft,floppyheadgearand brightly patterned circle,workingin Athensin about 450 BCE. They provide
costumesofPersiansand fight, likethem,withbowand arrow abundanttestimony to theassimilation
ofAmazonsand Per-
or on horseback.On a red-figure dinos (a largemixingbowl) sians(a practicealreadyvisiblefromtheLate Archaicera105),
attributed to the Groupof Polygnotos, forexample,a nude and to the denigrationof the latter,as the Amazons are
Theseuslungesforward to attackthe fallenAmazonAndro- depictedas ungallant,ineffectivewarriors.
mache;both are identifiedby inscriptions(Fig. 12). While In literarytexts,similaranalogies betweenmythological
Andromacheherselfwearsthe costumeof a Greekhoplite, and historicalfoesweredrawn,likewiseto the detriment of
she is armedwitha bow and emptyquiveras wellas a small the Persians.In newlydiscoveredfragments, the Keian poet
ax,likewise popularin Persianscenes;hercomradesridingin SimonidesexaltedtheGreekswhodied at Plataiabycompar-
on horsebacksporta mixof Persianand Hellenicdressand ing themto the HomericheroesAchillesand Patroklos;the
weaponry. AnotherAmazon,on the reverse,stabsa Greek Persians,by contrast,were implicitlyequated withthe Tro-
frombehind- a cowardlyactionassociatedwithher highly jans, including the "evil-minded"(kakophron)Paris.106
The

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274 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

fragments also mentioneda "chariotof Justice,"perhaps but also the ostensibly less polemicalhistorians.Herodotos
fighting the Greek side; this,too, appears to inject a
on furnished a veryextensivecatalogof the Persiandestruction
moralizingtone intothe depictionof thewar.107 of templesand statues;besidesXerxes' attackon the Athe-
A comparably moralizingtonesoundsevenmoreclearlyin nianAcropolis,he listedCambyses'burningof thestatuesof
Hellenic oratory.Accordingto Herodotos (9.27), the Athe- theKabeiroiat Memphisin Egypt(3.37), Darius'splundering
niansgainedthehonorofleadingtheleftwingat theBattle and burningof the Temple ofApollo at Didyma(6.19), the
of Plataia by means of a speech theymade in whichthey sameking'ssackofthesanctuaries ofEretria(6.101), Xerxes'
enumeratedall theirgreatdeeds fromheroic timesto the destruction of theTemple ofApollo at Abae (8.33), and his
present.In theirspeech,theAtheniansdescribedthemselves desecrationofthecultstatueofPoseidonat Potidaea (8.129).
as the defendersof the weak and unjustlytreated - having ForHerodotos,then,iconoclasmappearedas a long-standing
aided the childrenof Heraklesagainstthe proud and tyran- and frequently repeated tacticof Persianwar making,de-
nical Eurystheus and ensuredthe pious burialof the Seven ployedagainst other foreigners(the Egyptians, forone) as
against Thebes - as well as the upholdersof a traditionof wellas Greeks.
Greekvictory stretchingfromthebattleagainsttheAmazons Later historiansechoed Herodotos'sconclusions.In his
to Troyand Marathon.So, too, the epitaphioi logoi(annual historyof the PeloponnesianWars,Thucydidesrarelymen-
funeraryorationsforAthens'swar dead, buried at public tionedthedestruction of templesand images;in an account
expense) presentedthe city'sgreatdeeds as both glorious of battlesbetweenGreeks,it oughtnot to have occurred.In
and morallyrighteous; characteristic examplesincludedMar- theexceptionalinstancewhenithappened- whentheAthe-
athon,veryregularly, as wellas thedefeat oftheAmazonsand nians occupied and fortifieda Boeotian sanctuaryat De-
thebattlefortheburialoftheSevenagainstThebes.108 Thus, lium- itwascondemnedin speechesas contrary to "universal
in thesepoetic and oratoricaltexts,as in the monumental custom"and "thelaw the of Hellenes" (4.97), thusbolstering
paintingsand decoratedpots of the period,we can see the Herodotos'spointby arguingits converse.For Polybius,by
beginningsof a consistent, repetitive, and rhetorically
pow- contrast,thedesecrationof templesand cultstatuessignaled
erfuldiscoursein whichthe Greeksalwaysfoughton the the hubristicoverreachingand barbaric - indeed, mentally
"right"side, againstfoeswho were by turnsbestial,effemi- -
deranged characterof the Macedonian King PhilipV; in
nate,impious,proud,tyrannical. the pragmaticauthor'swords,"the excessivedestroying of
Giventhenegativemoralcharacterattributed, byimplica- templesand statuesand all theirfurnishings, whichneither
tion,to thePersians,itis perhapsnotsurprising thatviolence offersaid to one's own affairsin preparingresistance,nor
towardimagesshouldhavebeen added to thecatalogoftheir cripplesthe enemygoingin to battle- how can one not say
misdeeds.Itwasin factpresentedas theparticularly offensive that this is the act of a maddened mind and attitude?"
outgrowth of two of theirleading negativecharacteristics: (5.11.4-5). Philip,in Polybius'sview,wouldhavedone better
theirimpietyand theircapacityfor senselessviolence.As to followthe example of his predecessorAlexander the
such,thedestruction ofimageswashighlighted byAeschylus Great,who in his conquest of Persia "spared the things
in the Persians, producedin 472 BCE. At the climaxof the dedicatedto the gods, althoughit was in thiswaythatthe
play,Aeschylus has thePersianKingDarius- come backas a Persianshad mosterredwhenin Greece" (5.10.8).
ghostto advisehiswifeand son afterthecatastrophic defeats Giventhe importanceaccorded to Persianiconoclasmin
at Salamisand Plataia- declare thatit was thisdestruction texts,we mightfruitfully
literary inquirewhetheritfiguredin
thatbroughton divinevengeance:"Forcomingto theland of Greekartas well.Here theevidenceis morelimited,and less
Hellas [the Persians]were not restrainedby religiousawe explicit.Greekvase paintingsoccasionallydepictedPersians,
fromlootingthe statuesof the gods nor fromburningtem- but theywere mostcommonlyshownin battlescenes,not
ples. But altarsweredestroyed, the statuesof the gods over- sackingcitiesor destroying temples.109We do, however,have
turnedfromtheirbases in utterconfusion"(Aeschylus, Per- numerousEarlyClassicalimagesof a citysacked,itssanctu-
sians 809-12). In Herodotos (8.109), Themistoklesin a ariesviolated,and itsinhabitants killed.The cityin question
speechafterSalamisdescribedXerxesas "one whoactsin the is Troy.Scholarshave suggestedthat these scenes, for in-
samewaytowardtemplesand privateproperty, burningand stance,on thefamousVivenziohydria(waterjug) in Naples,
throwing down the statuesof the gods, who even scourged wereinspiredbytheAthenianartists'experiencesduringthe
thesea and sankshacklesin it."And in rejectingthePersian PersianWars.110 To speculatefurther, one mightsaythatthe
Mardonios'sofferof an alliancein 479 BCE, theAthenians images of the violationof sanctuaryin particular - Priam
claimed,accordingto Herodotos (8.144), that therewere killedwhileseatedon an altar,KassandratornbyAjax from
manyobstaclesto collaboration, "firstand mostimportantly, a statueofAthena- referencedtheAcropolissack,universal-
thereis thefiringand burningof thestatuesof thegods and ized throughthe invocationof canonical Hellenic myth.If
theirdwellings,and we mustavenge them to the utmost thishypothesis is correct,thenthe scenesprovideda wayof
ratherthanmakinga treaty withthosewho have done such representing the Persiandestructionof the Acropolisthat
things." was verydifferent in characterfromthe ruins and relics
These judgments - and perhaps others,no longer pre- discussedabove. Here notjust the aftereffects but the sack
-
served werehighlyinfluential, as is demonstrated by later itselfwas shown,its violentand impiousslaughterplaced
textsthat commemoratedthe Persian destructionof the centerstage.At the same time,itwas distancedthroughthe
Acropolisand characterized iconoclasmas an un-Greek, "bar- use of myth,with the real Athenianskilled in 480 BCE
barian"activity. These includednot onlythe fourth-century replacedbythe suffering Trojans.111 This narrative strategy,
oratorsdiscussedabove in relationto the "Oath of Plataia" in whichmythservedto exalthistory and simultaneously to

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIANACROPOLIS 275

permita contemplativedistancefromit,wouldsubsequently metaphoric connectionto pasthistory, as theconflictbetween

be deployedto greatadvantagebythe sculptorsof the Par- Athens and Persia was retold and reconfiguredthrough
thenon. myth.Taken together,these differing but complementary
commemorative strategieshelped to create a temple bal-
Victory MonumentandWarMemorial:The Construction of anced betweenopposing tensions,both victorymonument
theParthenon, 447-432 BCE and warmemorial.In thisway,theycontributed to thesense
By 447 BCE, the Atheniansinhabiteda verydifferent city of balance,and of the reconciliationof opposites,thatis so
fromthe one destroyedbythe Persians.Theyhad scoreda characteristica featureof the Parthenon.
seriesof military successesagainsttheirold enemies,most In their"recycling" of buildingmaterials,thearchitects of
the Battle of theEurymedonof about 466, and the Parthenonwereparticularly ingenious but by no means
prominently
theircityhad becomebyfarthepreeminentnavalpowerin unique. The buildersof a Classicalwall and footbridgeat
Greece.112Athens'sinternalpoliticswere radicallydemo- EleusislikewisereusedmaterialsfromtheArchaicsanctuary,
cratic,itsforeignpolicy,imperialistic; theconjunctionof the as theirepigraphicaccountsdescribein detail.117 Elsewhere
twoencouragedmassivespendingon publicworksprojects on theAcropoliswe haveevidenceforrecycling, forinstance,
such as the Parthenon,overseenby a committeeand com- the flightof stepswestof the Parthenon,constructedfrom
pletedin theremarkably briefspan of fifteen In its
years.113 blocksoftheTempleofAthenaPolias.118 Still,theParthenon
visualform - above all, in itscostlymaterials,complexicon- standsout in thisrespectforthe extentof materialrecycled
styleof ex- and the limitationsthis placed on the design of the new
ographieprogram,and technically sophisticated
ecution - the greattempleconstituted both documentand temple.119 To beginwith,thebuildingoccupiedthefootprint
celebration oftheseachievements; as such,itfunctionedas a of itsruinedpredecessor,a massivelimestonepodiumsome
monument, as noted by manyscholars.114 But this feet(elevenmeters)highon itssouthernside (Fig.
thirty-six
victory
triumphal so
rhetoric, ably communicated bytheParthenon, 13).120The onlychange was a sixteen-and-a-half-foot (five-
shouldnotobscurethebuilding'sdebtto thepastand itsrole meter) extensionof the platformto the north,made to
in commemorating In fact,itwasonlythrough accommodatethe broadercella of the new temple;thiswas
pastsuffering.
the evocationof thissuffering thatthe achievements of the requiredbecause of the colossalstatueof AthenaParthenos
tookon - the triumphs ofthenew to be housedin itsinterior.121The extensionbroughta small
present meaning glittering
AthenianEmpirethrownintosharprelief,as itwere,against preexistingshrine,perhaps that of Athena Ergane, men-
thebackgroundof a darkerand moredifficult history. tionedbyPausanias,122 withinthe wallsof the ClassicalPar-
In the Parthenon,this historywas made manifestin a thenon.The locationand architectural componentsof the
shrinewerecarefully maintained,its heightraised,and the
numberof different ways.As AndrewStewarthas recently
demonstrated, building'sproportionsrelatedit to the
the northerncolonnade of the new temple designed so that
theshrinefitcomfortably withinit.Thus,as thesanctuary was
destroyed TempleofAthenaPolias;thewidthof theParthe-
non'scellaequaled thatoftheplatform oftheearliertemple, renewedand expanded,the old cultswere maintained;the
almost70 feet(21.3 meters),or 72 Atticfeet.115 The same effort thisentailedsuggeststhecontinuedimportanceto the
72-footmodulewas used throughout the Perikleanbuilding Atheniansoftheestablishedsacredtopography ofthesite.123
program,determining as well The Parthenonalso incorporatedwithinits architectural
formall the remainingblocksof itsruinedpredecessor;the
the Propylaia'seast and westporches,the Erechtheion's onlyexceptionswerethosetoo damagedbythermalfracture
entirewesternside,and thelengthof itscella. Moreover, to be useful,suchas thecolumndrumsbuiltintothecitadel's
theErechtheionand Parthenonare twomodulesapartat northwall.124 This,too,wasa decisionthathad considerable
theirnearestpoint;the Parthenon'swesternterracelies implications thedesignofthenewbuilding.The diameter
for
one moduleto theeastofthePropylaia'sprojectedcentral of the columndrums,forexample,was criticalin determin-
axis; and the shrineof Kekrops (an extensionof the ing proportionalrelationsthroughoutthe temple.125 At the
Erechtheion'swesternside) is fourmodulesdistantfrom same time,the reusedblockshad to be deployedverycare-
thePropylaia'seast porch.116 fully,due to the refinements - the subtledeparturesfroma
monotonous,mathematically determinedsameness - seen in
The pervasiveuse ofthismodulecannotbe chance;rather,it boththeClassicalbuildingand itspredecessor.126 The Older
mustreflectthe architect'sintentionto incorporatewithin Parthenonhad alreadyincorporatedintoitsfoundationsthe
thenewbuildingprograma traceof the past,bythismeans upwardcurvature,bowingtowardthe centerof each side,
to make the destroyedtemplelive again. These elements thatis so vividand effective a featureof the Classicaltem-
indicate the careful comprehensiveness with which the ple.127 Because of thisfeature, the blocksused to construct
Perikleanbuildingprogramwas planned,as each building the Archaicbuildingwere not of uniformdimensions,but
was at once connectedto itsfellowsand to its ruinedante- variedslightlydependingon theirplacementwithinthetem-
cedent. as
ple, they accommodated and extendedthecurvature seen
Forthosewithout thearchitect's
advancedtechnicalknowl- in thefoundations. Recycled for the ClassicalParthenon, they
edge, however, other connections to the past would have had to be measuredcarefully, placed selectively, and in some
been morestriking. Two seem particularly here.
significant cases reworkedfornewlocationswithinthe building.128
One was the Parthenon'sdirectphysical connectionto the As withthe reusedfragments in the citadelwalls,so, too,
past,as thebuildingoccupied the site,and utilizedthe ma- therecycledmaterialsdeployedin theParthenonhavesome-
ofitsruinedpredecessor.
terials, The secondwasthetemple's timesbeen explained in pragmatic,economic terms.It is

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276 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

13 Foundations fromtheOlder
Parthenon visiblebeneaththe
Classicaltemple,Acropolis,Athens
(photograph providedbythe
Archaeological Photographic
Collection,AmericanSchoolof
ClassicalStudiesat Athens)

certainly truethattheseprecut,readilyavailableblockswould That price is figuredveryexplicitlyon the Parthenon's

have saved the Atheniansmoney - estimatedat about one- metopes.Southmetope28 depictsone ofthescenesofbattle
quarterof the construction budgetforthe temple129 - since betweenmenand centaurs;on it,thecentaur'svictory is clear
quarryingand transportfiguredhugelyin the cost of any (Fig.3) . The centaurdominatesthemetope,hisbodycutting
stonebuilding.But thereusedblockshad a significance that a greatdiagonalswathacrossit,fromhisleftarm,raisedin a
wentbeyondthe purelyeconomic.As the Athenianscon- commandinggesture,to his triumphantly wavingtail.Rear-
structed theirnewtempleon thesiteoftheOlderParthenon, ing on his hindlegs,he is poised to come crashingdownon
usingmaterialsderivedfromit,theycould imaginethatthe the chestof his unfortunate victim.Even the animalskinhe
ruined sanctuaryhad been reborn,largerin scale, more wearsseemsto have takenon his aggressive, victoriouschar-
elaboratein itssculpturaldecoration,butalso physically con- acter,as itsjaws and clawspointdirectly downat thedefeated
nectedto the past.130 enemy.Bycontrast,thecentaur'svictimhas no hope. While
Itisworthhighlighting thedifference betweenthisreuseof hisknees (and once, perhaps,his armsalso) arc upwardin a
architectural fragments and that seen earlieron the citadel semblanceof resistance, it can end onlyin futility.
His body,
walls.On the walls,the damaged materialsstandout; they crumpled on the ground,already has the appearance of a
visuallyasserttheirseparationfromtheirsurroundings and corpse.
theirconnectionto the past.The recycledfragments in the This metope,withitsclearand deliberatedepictionof the
Parthenon, are integrated
bycontrast, intotheirarchitectural man'sdefeat,is byno meansunique. Usefulcomparisonsare
setting, often indistinguishablefrom new materials.The aim metope 1 (wherethe man seems about to be liftedoffthe
herewas to createa unifiedimpression, so thatone saw the groundand strangled) , metope4 (wherehe is beingbashed
buildingas an organicwhole, not as a collectionof frag- on the head by a winejug) , and metope 30 (wherehe is
ments.The memoryof destruction was effaced- or, at any thrustdownto theground,flailing, withthecentauraboutto
rate,coveredover,in themannerofa palimpsest - witha new attackfromabove). Indeed,oftheeighteenmetopeswiththe
creation. themeofmen fighting centaurs,fullya thirdof themdisplay
Yet the architectural ensemble does not tell the whole the men in mortaldanger,and a numberof othersare
story. In the Parthenon, the memoryof thePersiansackwas equivocal.There are, of course,imageswherethe men are
preserved not so much throughconcretereferenceto the successful, as in metope27.131But as an ensemble,the Par-
historical as
past symbolically, throughmyth. As notedabove, thenonsouthmetopeshighlightthe priceof victory, not its
the battlesdisplayedin the metopes and on the Athena effortless achievement.
Parthenosstatueare criticalhere. Theyconnectedthe Per- Nor are thesouthmetopesunique; theiremphasison the
sianswithnegativemythological exemplarssuch as the cen- priceof victory is typicalforthe othercontestsdepictedon
taursand Amazons,perhapsinspiredbytheOrientalist mon- the Parthenon.The westmetopes,forexample,presentthe
umentsdiscussedabove,suchas theStoa Poikile.Atthesame battlebetweenmenand Amazons.Theyare poorlypreserved,
time,by depictingdefeatedand dyingGreeks,the images but throughclose analysisof thefragments and comparison
testified to theformidable qualitiesoftheGreeks'opponents withsimilarimageryon contemporary vasepaintings,we can
and the highpricepaid to securevictory againstthem. reconstruct themin part.Abouthalfthe metopesappear to

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 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS 277

have carriedthe image of a mountedAmazon attackinga a distancingeffectforviewers.Finally,mythology offeredthe

fallenGreeksoldier;thisvisualformulaindicatedthatthe opportunity to, as it were, rewrite to
history, memorialize
Greekwoulddie (Fig.4). Here,then,evenmorethanon the initialdefeatsas thenaturalconcomitantof eventualvictory.
southside oftheParthenon,thebattlewashardfought,and Afterall, in the mythological battlesdepictedon theParthe-
frequently the Amazons - mythologicalanalogues for the non, theGreeks alwayswin; theAcropolisin 480 BCE, the
on
Persiansforat leasta generation - wereshowntriumphant. realitywas otherwise. In thisway,the mythological images
The othercontestsdepictedon theParthenonmetopesare thatdecoratedthe Parthenoncan be understoodas central
even harderto read; the sceneswere hacked awayby later to itscommemorative purpose;as theyretoldhistory through
occupantsof thebuilding,mostlikelyearlyChristians.132 In myth,they served the selectiveprocessof memorializing and
the case of the gigantomachy (battlebetween gods and gi- forgetting necessary to collective memory.139
ants)on theeastmetopes,at least,we shouldprobablyimag- Lookingback,we findthatpatternsofcommemoration on
inethatscenesoffailurewereabsent;thegodscould nothave theAthenianAcropolisseenjust afterthePersiansackdiffer
been picturedlosing.Nonetheless,the metopes' focus on radicallyfromthosefoundin the PerikleanParthenon.Re-
defeatas wellas victory is significant.And it was reiterated sponses to the sack in its immediate aftermathwere
elsewhereon the Parthenon,most notablyon a series of grounded in the concretehistoricalcircumstancesof the
sculptures fromthe chryselephantine statueof AthenaPar- event,commemorating it withruins,relics,and the ritual
thenos. burialofdamagedsculptures. In theParthenon,however, the
The colossalstatueof Athenahas not been preserved;it historyof the sack was, quite literally, fundamental the
to
waslikelydestroyed bya firethatstrucktheParthenonin the building,as the templemade use of thefootprint and archi-
thirdcentury CE.133However,we knowfromreplicasof it as tecturalremainsofitsdestroyed predecessor.ButtheParthe-
well as literaryaccountsthatthe same mythological cycles non's relationto the pastwas at the same timeobscured,as
seen on the metopesornamentedthe statue;the centauro- theseelementswereintegratedintoa new architectural cre-
machyfiguredon Athena'ssandals,the Amazonomachy on ation,whichappeared as an organicwhole.In itssculptural
theexteriorof her shield,and the battlebetweengods and decoration,thisconnectionto thepastwas thoroughly trans-
giantson theinterior oftheshield.134 The Amazonomachy is formed,as history was retoldthroughmyth.
particularly welldocumented,bothin statuettes, such as the These perceptions yieldan enhancedunderstanding ofthe
PatrasAthena,and in a seriesoffull-scale copiesknownas the Parthenonand its relationto the past,as well as some illu-
Piraeusreliefs.135 Whatthecopies makeclear,throughtheir minatingbroader implicationsconcerningthe role of the
depictionof a fortified citadelas thesetting,is thatwe have imagein Greeksociety.Scholarshaveofteninterpreted mon-
here the AthenianAmazonomachy, that is, the Amazons' umentssuch as the Parthenonsimplyas sophisticated works
attackon the AthenianAcropolisaftertheirleader, Hip- of art,focusingon issues of connoisseurship(chronology,
polyta,was abductedby Theseus.136The parallelswiththe attribution, workshopstyle)or, more recently, semiotics.Al-
Persianattackare highlighted, forinstance,throughscenes thoughsuch scholarlyapproacheshave added much to our
of theAmazonsscalingthewallsand bringingtorchesto set insightof Greekart,theyhave at the same timetended to
fireto thecitadel,just as thePersiansdid.137So, too,thefight obscuresome keyaspectsof it. In particular,theyhave sub-
is setwithina rockylandscape,and thedefeated,suchas the ordinateditsfunctional effect;in so
qualitiesto its aesthetic
figureknownas the "deathleap" Amazon,throwthemselves doing, they have deprived Greek images of some of their
downfromtheheights(Fig.5, at lowerright).This focuson affective power.
theAcropolissettingforthebattleis veryunusualwithinthe The balance can be redressedbyfocusingparticularly on
contextofClassicalAmazonomachies, and itdid notemerge, thefunctions ofimagesand on emotiveratherthanaesthetic
at leastin preservedmonuments, priorto thebuildingofthe responsesto them.As I have shown,objects such as the
Parthenon.138 Itsuse here is significant; it servesto enhance Acropoliskoraiwereintendedto evokea powerfulreaction
thehistorical resonancesofthisexemplary myth, to makethe fromviewers - so powerful thattheywereburnedand hacked
connectionsclearerforcontemporary viewers. to pieces, and then buried to hide the tracesof such an
At the same time,the Athenians'use of myth,in the attack.And monumentslike the architectural fragments in
ParthenosAmazonomachy as elsewhere,had a numberof the Acropolisnorthwall or, in later years,the Parthenon
advantages over the direct representation of contemporary itselfwerenot createdsimplyto delightthe eyes,and satisfy
events.To beginwith,itgavethePersianWarsa heroic,even the pride,of theirAthenianviewers.Theywere insteadin-
cosmologicalsignificance, recastingthe historicaleventsas tendedto memorializecollectiveexperienceand to shape the
part of a transcendental strugglebetweengood and evil, Athenians'memoriesof theirtraumatic, butultimately victo-
civilizationand barbarism. As theAthenianswerepicturedas rious, past history.This powerfuland, indeed, generative
heroesand the Persiansbeastsor women,the moral com- functionformonumentsis bestexpressedbyDemosthenes,
plexitiesof the eventsin questionweresmoothedawayand who once urgedhis Athenianaudience,"Reflect,then,that
theirparadigmatic characterheightened;theybecameeasier, yourancestorssetup thosetrophies,notthatyoumaygaze at
more comfortable, to remember.Similarly,the traumaof themin wonder,but thatyou mayalso imitatethevirtuesof
theseeventswaslessenedthroughtheuse ofmyth.Whilethe the men who set themup."140
batteredkoraihad provedtoo painfulto endure (too vivida
reminder, perhaps,of thesufferings of theactualAthenians
killedin thesack), thedefeatand deathof Greekswaseasier at BrooklynCollegeand
Rachel Kousseris an associateprofessor
to acceptwhenrefracted throughthe lens of myth;thishad member ofthedoctoral
faculty at theCUNY GraduateCenter,where

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278 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

sheteachesthehistory
ofGreekand Roman art. She is theauthorof 11. Ibid.,364; cf.EdwardSaid, Orientalism (NewYork:VintageBooks,
Hellenisticand Roman Ideal Sculpture:The Allureof the 1978), 4.
12. On the mutilation of the herms,see Douglas MacDowell,ed., On the
Classical (CambridgeUniversity
Press,2008) [Department
ofArt, Andokides
Mysteries: (1962; Oxford:ClarendonPress,1989);J. L. Marr,
BrooklynCollege,2900 BedfordAvenue, Brooklyn,N.Y. 11210, "Andocides'Partin the Mysteries and HermaeAffairs of 415 B.C.,"
ClassicalQuarterly 21, no. 2 (1971): 326-38; RobinOsborne,"The
cuny.edu].
rkousser@brooklyn. Erectionand Mutilationof the Hermae,"Proceedings oftheCambridge
Philological Society 31 (1985): 47-73; and S. C. Todd, "Revisiting the
Hermsand the Mysteries," in Law,Rhetoric, and Comedy in ClassicalAth-
Notes ens,ed. D. L. Cairnsand R. A. Knox (Swansea:ClassicalPressof
Wales,2004), 87-102.A fewscholarshaveexaminedcases of the de-
This projecthas benefitedfromthegenerosity of manyscholarsand institu- struction of imagesin Greece;theseincludeCarolineHouser,"Slain
tions.Thanksare due to RichardPowell,MarianneWardle,and the three Statues:ClassicalMurderMysteries," in Praktika touXII Diethnous
anonymousreadersof TheArtBulletin; to audiencesat ColumbiaUniversity, Sunedriou Klasikes Archaiologias (Athens,1988), 112-15;and Catherine
the Universityof Toronto,and WinthropCollege; to AndrewStewartand Keesling,"Endoios'sPaintingfromtheThemistoklean Wall:A Recon-
CatherineKeeslingformakingtheirforthcoming workavailableto me;and to struction," Hesperia 68, no. 4 (1999): 509-48.
AndreasGeisslerof the Forschungsarchiv fürAntikePlastik,Cologne; Gary 13. For the MyceneanAcropolis,see SpyrosE. Iakovidis,TheMycenaean
Laydaof theMetropolitan Government of Nashville;MeghanMazellaof the
Acropolis ofAthens, trans.MiriamCaskey(Athens:ArchaeologicalSoci-
BritishMuseum;JohnBoardman;TriciaSmithofArtResource;J.M. Hurwit;
the staffof theAcropolisMuseum;EvelynHarrison;and NataliaVogeikoff- etyat Athens,2006); thebesthistoricalsurveyisJeffrey Hurwit,The
Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, andArchaeology fromtheNeolithic
Broganof theAmericanSchool of ClassicalStudiesat Athens,forassistance Era tothePresent (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1999).
withphotographs.This projectwas made possible throughthe financial
14. On the olive-wood statue,see Pausanias1.26.6.For theTemple of
supportof thedean of GraduateStudies,Brooklyn College,theNewFaculty
Fund,theWhiting Foundation,and thePSC-CUNYResearchFoundation.To AthenaPolias,see WilliamChilds,"The Date of the Old Temple of
EvelynHarrison, whohastaughtme so muchabouttheParthenon, thisarticle Athenaon theAthenianAcropolis,"in TheArchaeology ofAthens and
is lovingly
dedicated. AtticaundertheDemocracy, ed. WilliamCoulsonet al. (Oxford:Oxbow
Books,1994), 1-6, arguingfora date aftertheestablishment of the
1. See, forexample,DavidCastriota, Myth, Ethos,and Actuality: Official democracyin 510 BCE; and ManolisKorres,"AthenianClassicalAr-
ArtinFifth Century B.C. Athens (Madison:University ofWisconsin chitecture," in Athens: FromtheClassicalPeriodtothePresent Day,ed.
Press,1992);Jeffrey The
Hurwit, Acropolis in the
AgeofPerikles (Cam- Korreset al. (New Castle,Del.: Oak KnollPress,2003), 7, reiterating
bridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,2004), esp. chap. 2, "Landscape a date duringthe reignof the Peisistratid tyrants, about 525 BCE.
of Memory:The Paston theClassicalAcropolis,"49-86; andj. J. Pol-
15. Whilea date priorto the PersianWarsforthe Older Parthenonhas
litt,"Consciousness and Conscience,"chap. 2 of Artand Experience in
sometimesbeen disputed - forexample,byJ.A. Bundgaard,Parthenon
ClassicalGreece
(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1972), 15-63. and theMycenean Cityon theHeights (Copenhagen:NationalMuseum
2. These sanctuaries includednotonlythoseof theAcropolis,whichare of Denmark,1976), esp. 48-53, 61-70; and RhysCarpenter,TheArchi-
thefocusof attentionhere,butalso manyin theAgora,amongthem tectsoftheParthenon (Harmondsworth, U.K.: PenguinBooks,1970),
theMetroonand TempleofApolloPatroos,as wellas thesanctuary esp. 66-67- it has nowbeen givenadditionalsupportfromthe evi-
of Poseidonat Sounion,and likelythesanctuary of Demeterat Eleu- dence of thermalcrackingin the building'scolumndrums,presum-
sis.On theAgorasanctuaries, see T. Leslie ShearJr.,"The Persian ablycaused byfireduringthe Persiansackof theAcropolis.A helpful
Destruction ofAthens:EvidencefromtheAgoraDeposits,"Hesperia discussionthatmakesuse of newarchaeologicalevidencefromthe
62, no. 4 (1993): 383-482; and HomerThompson,"AthensFacesAd- recentreconstruction of thebuildingis in ManolisKorres,"Die
versity,"Hesperia50 (1981): 344-46; on Sounion,see I. Shear,entry aufder Akropolis," in KultundKultbauten
Athena-Tempel aufderAk-
in thePrinceton Encyclopedia ofClassicalSites(Princeton:PrincetonUni- ed. WolframHoepfner(Berlin:Schriften des Seminarsfür
ropolis,
versityPress,1976),s.v."Sounion,"854; and on Eleusis,see Deborah KlassischeArchäologieder FreienUniversität Berlin,1997), 218-43;
Boedecker,"The ViewfromEleusis:Demeterin the PersianWars,"in on the controversy, see Hurwit,TheAcropolis in theAgeofPerikles, 67-
CulturalResponsestothePersianWars,ed. EmmaBridges,EdithHall, 75.
and P. J. Rhodes (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,2007), 70-71.
16. On the rampand gateway, see W. B. DinsmoorJr.,ThePropylaia tothe
3. Herodotos9.13. Athenian 2 vols. (Princeton:AmericanSchool of Classical
Acropolis,
4. In myemphasison memory, I havebeen inspiredabove all bythe Studiesat Athens,1980-2004),vol. 1, 38-54, arguingforthe exis-
researchof MauriceHalbwachs,On Collective Memory, trans.LewisA. tenceof an "OlderPropylon"initiatedunderthe democracyand, like
Coser (Chicago:University of ChicagoPress,1992); and PierreNora, the Older Parthenon,neverfinished;and HarrisonEiteljorgII, The
ed., RealmsofMemory: TheConstruction oftheFrench Past,trans.Arthur Entrance totheAthenian Acropolis before Mnesicles(Dubuque, la.: Ken-
Goldhammer, 3 vols.(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversity Press,1996-). dall/Hunt,1995), 85-86, who disputestheexistenceof the Older
For theancientworld,usefulcontributions havebeen made bySusan Propylonand sees onlyan earlierMyceneangateway.
Alcock,Archaeologies oftheGreek Past:Landscape, Monuments, and Memo- 17. Hurwit,TheAthenian Acropolis, 192.
ries(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,2002); CarlaAntonac-
cio, AnArchaeology ofAncestors:TombCultand HeroCultin EarlyGreece 18. Ira Mark,TheSanctuary ofAthenaNikein Athens: ArchitecturalStagesand
(Lanham,Md.: Rowmanand Littlefield, 1995); and Nicole Loraux, Chronology (Princeton:AmericanSchool of ClassicalStudiesat Athens,
DividedCity:On Memory andForgetting in Ancient Athens, trans.Corinne 1993), 31-35, 125-28;and lone MylonasShear,"The WesternAp-
Pache withJeffFort(NewYork:Zone Books,2002). So far,however, proachto theAthenianAcropolis," JournalofHellenic Studies119
archaeologicalapproachesto thestudyof memoryin ClassicalAthens (1999): 86-127, esp. 120-25.
havenotbeen essayed. 19. Hurwit,TheAthenian Acropolis, 112-15.Recently, Tonio Hölscherhas
5. For example,fortragedy, EdithHall, Inventing theBarbarian: GreekSelf- identified thesebuildingsas spacesforritualdining,perhapsin con-
(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1989); and junctionwiththe PanathenaicFestival.Hölscher,"Schatzhäuser - Ban-
Definitionthrough Tragedy
ThomasHarrison,TheEmptiness ofAsia:Aeschylus' "Persians"
and the ketthäuser?" in Ithake: FestschriftfürJörgSchäfer zum75 Geburtstag am 25
HistoryoftheFifth Century (London: Duckworth, 2000); forhistory, April2001,ed. StephanieBöhmand Klaus-Valtin von Eickstedt(Würz-
PericlesGeorges,Barbarian Asiaand theGreek fromtheArchaic
Experience burg:ErgonVerlag,2001), 143-52.
PeriodtotheAgeofXenophon (Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity 20. KaterinaKarakasi,Archaic Korai,trans.J. Paul GettyTrust(Los Ange-
Press,1994); and forfunerary orations,Nicole Loraux,TheInvention les: GettyPublications, 2003), 115-41; CatherineM. Keesling,TheVo-
ofAthens: TheFuneralOrationin theClassicalCity, trans.Alan Sheridan tiveStatuesoftheAthenian Acropolis (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity Press,1986), esp. 155-71. Press,2003), 97-161; ErnstLanglotz,"Die Koren,"in Die Archaischen
6. WulfRaeck,ZumBarbarenbild in derKunstAthens im6. und5. Jahrhun- Marmorbildwerke derAkropolis, 2 vols.,ed. Hans Schrader(Frankfurt:
dertv. Chr.(Bonn: RudolfHabel, 1981). VittorioKlostermann, 1939),vol. 1, 3-184; and MaryStieber,ThePoet-
7. MargaretMiller,Athens and Persiain theFifthCentury B.C.: A Studyin icsofAppearance in theAtticKorai(Austin:University ofTexas Press,
Cultural (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
Receptivity Press,1997). 2004). The korefromtheAthenianAcropolis(Fig. 6) wasfoundin a
cache of fourteenstatuesnear the Erechtheion.
8. Castriota, Myth,Ethos,and Actuality.
21. EvelynHarrison,"The Victory of Kallimachos,"Greek, Roman,and Byz-
9. The Parthenon'sreputationas a timelessmonumentgoes back to the antineStudies12, no. 1 (1971): 1-24; CatherineKeesling,"The Kalli-
ancientworlditself;see Plutarch,Perikles 13.1-5. machosMonumenton theAthenianAcropolis( CEG256) and Athe-
10. Zainab Bahrani,"Assaultand Abduction:The Fate of theRoyalImage nian Commemoration of the PersianWars,"in AudeTechneessa Lithou:
in theAncientNear East,"ArtHistory 18, no. 3 (1995): 363-82, at Archaic and ClassicalGreek Epigrams, ed. ManuelBaumbach,Andrej
372. Petrovic, and Ivana Petrovic(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORYON THE ATHENIANACROPOLIS 279

forthcoming); Konstantin Kissa,Die AttischenStatuen- undStelenbasen 40. Hurwit,"The KritiosBoy,"62; and Keesling,TheVotive 49-50.
Statues,
Archaischer Zeit(Bonn: RudolfHabelt,2000), 195-98,no. 54; Manolis For examplesof post-Persian monumentalbronzesculpturesthathave
Korres,"RecentDiscoverieson theAcropolis,"in Acropolis Restoration: been decapitated,see Houser,"SlainStatues";forSevereStylemarble
TheCCAMInterventions, ed. RichardEconomakis(London: Academy statuesthathavesuffered a similarfate,see Stewart, "The Persianand
Editions,1994), 174-79,esp. 178;AntonyRaubitschek, Dedications Carthaginian Invasions,"388, 407.
fromtheAthenian Akropolis(Cambridge,Mass.:ArchaeologicalInstitute 41. On Persiandestruction layerselsewhere,see MaryBoyce,"PersianRe-
ofAmerica,1949), 18-20, no. 13; and idem,"TwoMonuments ThePersianPeriod,ed.
ErectedaftertheVictory of Marathon," American ligionin theAchemenidAge,"in Introduction:
Journal ofArchaeology W. Daviesand Louis Finkelstein, CambridgeHistoryofJudaism(Cam-
44, no. 1 (1940): 53-59. On the inscription, see also P. A. Hansen, Press,1984), 279-307, esp. 293-94
1983- bridge:CambridgeUniversity
Carmina Epigraphica Graeca,2 vols.(Berlin:Walterde Gruyter, (Babylon);Lindenlauf,"Der Perserschutt der AthenerAkropolis," 84-
89), vol. 1, 256 (hereafter, ŒG); and Inscriptiones Graecae,3rd ed. 85; T. L. Shear,"The PersianDestructionofAthens"(AthenianAg-
(Berlin:Walterde Gruyter, 1981-),vol. 1, 784 (hereafter, IG). For the ora); K. Tuchelt,"Die Perserzerstörung von Branchidai-Didyma und
otherArchaicsculptures of theAcropolis,see GuyDickins,Archaic ihreFolgen- Archäologisch Betrachtet," 103,
ArchäologischerAnzeiger
Sculpture,vol. 1, Catalogue oftheAcropolis Museum(Cambridge:Cam- no. 3 (1988): 427-38 (Didyma);and Volkmarvon Graeve,"Grabung
bridgeUniversity Press,1912); and Schrader,Die Archaischen Marmor- aufdem Kalabaktepe,"Istanbuler 36 (1986): 37-51 (Mile-
Mitteilungen
bildwerke derAkropolis. tos). On attackson statuesin the ancientNear East,see Bahrani,"As-
22. Foran overview of therangeof dedicationsseen on theAcropolis, saultand Abduction";T. Beran,"Leben und Tod der Bilder,"in Ad
see Hurwit,TheAthenian Acropolis,57-61. BeneetFideliter Seminandum: FestgabefürKarlheinz ed. Gerlinde
Deller,
23. Cf.ibid.,98. Mauerand UrsulaMagen (Kevelaer:VerlagButzonund Bercker,
1988), 55-60; and PrudenceHarperand PierreAmiet,"The Meso-
24. Ibid.,74-78. potamianPresence:MesopotamianMonumentsFound at Susa,"in
25. Herodotos8.51-53.Archaeological corroboration of Herodotos'sac- TheRoyalCityofSusa,ed. Harper,JoanAruz,and FrançoiseTalion
countincludesthematerialevidenceof thefiresetbythe Persians, (NewYork:Metropolitan MuseumofArt,1992), 159-82.
on whichsee ManolisKorres,"On theNorthAcropolisWall,"in Exca- 42. BalbinaBäbler,"Die archaischenattischenGrabstelenin der themis-
vatingClassicalCulture: RecentArchaeologicalDiscoveries
in Greece, ed. tokleischenStadtmauer:Grabschändung oder Apotropaion?" Philolo-
MariaStamatopoulou and MarinaYeroulanou,BARInternational Se-
gus145,no. 1 (2001): 3-15; and Keesling,"Endoios'sPaintingfrom
ries(Oxford:Archeopress, 2002), 179-86, esp. 184. There is also the theThemistoklean Wall."
recentdiscovery of theshrineofAglauroson theeastside of the
wherethehistorian(Herodotos8.53) assertsthatthe Per- 43. Againstaristocrats: LambertSchneiderand ChristophHöcker,Grie-
Acropolis, chischesFestland:AntikundByzanz, IslamundKlassizismus zwischenKorin-
siansscaledthewalls.GeorgeDontas,"The True Aglaurion," Hesperia
52, no. 1 (1983): 48-63.
thischem Golfundnordgriechischen Bergland (Cologne: DuMontBuchver-
lag, 1996), 123; and enlistingancestors:KlausStähler,Formund
26. Herodotos7.143. Funktion: Kunstwerke als politisches
Ausdrucksmittel (Münster:UGARIT-
27. Herodotos8.52. Verlag,1993), 18-23.
28. Herodotos8.53. 44. Keesling,"Endoios'sPaintingfromtheThemistoklean Wall,"518.
29. Ibid. 45. A fewexamplesexistof monumentsfromtheThemistoklean wall
30. Hurwit,TheAthenian 135-36. wherethe sculptures'facesappear to have been targeted;it is not
Acropolis, clear,however,thatthiswas necessarily done at the timeof the incor-
31. Forscholarly challengesto the traditional view,see Jeffrey Hurwit, porationof theseimagesintothewallratherthanearlier,forexam-
"The KritiosBoy:Discovery, Reconstruction, and Date,"American Jour- ple, bythe Persians.For one such sculpture,see Keesling,"Endoios's
nal ofArchaeology 93 (1989): 41-80; AstridLindenlauf,"Der Perser- PaintingfromtheThemistoklean Wall."Surveying the sculpturesfrom
schuttderAthenerAkropolis," in Hoepfner,KultundKultbauten auf thewallas a group,however,one's overallimpressionis of pragmatic
derAkropolis, 46-115, esp. 86-92; MartinSteskal,DerZerstörungsbefund alterationto fitthe requirements of thewall.
480/79derAthener Akropolis:EineFallstudiezumetablierten Chronologie- 46. Thucydides1.93.3.
gerüst(Hamburg:VerlagDr. Kovac,2004), esp. 165-80; and Andrew
Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian Invasions of 480 B.C.E, and 47. I thankDr.JuttaStroszeckof the KerameikosMuseumfordiscussing
theBeginningof theClassicalStyle,"pt. 1, "The Stratigraphy, Chro- theseissueswithme.
nology,and Significance of theAcropolisDeposits,"American Journal 48. Herodotos6.101 (Eretria),8.33 (Abae), 6.19 (Didyma).
ofArchaeology 112,no. 3 (2008): 377-412. However,comparisonwith
49. Pausanias8.46 (Brauronand Didyma);Herodotos1.183 (Babylon;
other,better-documented sites,such as theAthenianAgora,clearly
illustratesthedestructiveness of thePersiansack,on whichsee T. L. Herodotosnamesthisgod Zeus).
Shear,"The PersianDestruction ofAthens."And Steskal'sapproach 50. Pausanias1.8.5;Pliny,NaturalHistory 34.70; and Arrian,Anabasis
in particular has been critiqued,forinstance,byMariaChiaraMo- 3.16.7-8.
naco,"La ColmataPersiana:Appuntisull'esistenza e la definizionedi 51. See n. 41 above;cf.also Paul-AlainBeaulieu,"AnEpisode in the Fall
una fantasma," Annuario dellaScuolaArcheologica di Atene82 (2004): of Babylonto the Persians," 52, no. 4
487-95. JournalofNearEastern Studies
(1993): 241-61, describingthe firstattackbythe Persianson Babylon,
32. On theNike,see n. 21 above.On itspossibleidentification as Iris,see whenthe defendersgatheredup all the cultstatuesof the surround-
Keesling,"The KallimachosMonument." ing territoriesand broughttheminsidethe cityforprotection.
33. Herodotos6.117. 52. Bahrani,"Assaultand Abduction."
34. Lindenlauf, "Der Perserschutt der AthenerAkropolis," 90-92. 53. Deborah Steiner,Imagesin Mind:Statuesin Archaic and ClassicalGreek
35. AcropolisMuseum,Athens,inv.no. 303. Literatureand Thought (Princeton:PrincetonUniversity Press,2001).
36. Lindenlauf, "Der Perserschutt der AthenerAkropolis," 86-89. Lin- 54. Christopher Faraone,Talismans and TrojanHorses:GuardianStatuesin
denlaufsis themostthoroughrecentdiscussionof evidenceforfire Ancient Greek Mythand Ritual(Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,1992),
94-112.
damage,althoughshe disputestheidea thatall marksof fireare nec-
essarilyfromthePersiansack.Accordingto her,amongthesculp- 55. Chainedstatues:Pausanias3.15.7-10;and GeorgiosDespinis,"Ein
turesmostclearlyinjuredbyfireare AcropolisMuseuminv.nos. 293, Gefesseltes Götterbild," in Museion:Beiträge zurantikenPlastik;
452,588,655,658,665, 672,673, 676, 680, 686, 687, 690, 6478. On zu EhrenvonPeterCornelis
Festschrift Boi,ed. Hans von Steuben,Götz
theevidenceforthermalfracture in the Older Parthenonmaterial, Lahusen,and HaritiniKotsidu(Möhnesee:Bibliopolis,2007), 235-45;
see Korres,"On theNorthAcropolisWall." voodoo dolls:Christopher Faraone,"Bindingand Buryingthe Forces
37. For thekoraiwithinjuredfacesfoundin a cache bytheErechtheion, of Evil:The DefensiveUse of 'Voodoo Dolls' in AncientGreece,"Clas-
see Lindenlauf, "Der Perserschutt derAthenerAkropolis," 79. To me, sicalAntiquity 10, no. 2 (1991): 165-205.
thesekorailook mostlikelydamagedbya hammeror mallet,since 56. See n. 12 above.
themarksare smalland discretein character, whencomparedto the 57. Livy31.44.4-9; HarrietFlower,TheArtofForgetting: and Obliv-
Disgrace
broad,longstrokesof axes seen elsewhere(Fig. 8). For male figures, ionin RomanPoliticalCulture (Chapel Hill: University of NorthCaro-
one mightconsideralso,forexample,AcropolisMuseum,inv.nos. lina Press,2006), 34-41; CarolineHouser,"GreekMonumental
599,624 (the CalfBearer),692, 3719. BronzeSculptureof the Fifthand FourthCenturiesB.C." (PhD diss.,
38. Hurwit, "The KritiosBoy,"esp. 60-61; Lindenlauf,"Der Perserschutt HarvardUniversity, 1975), 255-81; and T. Leslie ShearJr.,"The Athe-
derAthenerAkropolis," 75-92; Steskal,DerZerstörungsbefund 480/79 nian Agora:Excavationsof 1971,"Hesperia 42 (1973): 121-79,esp.
derAthener Akropolis, 165-80. 130-34, 165-68.
39. For example,AcropolisMuseum,inv.nos. 601, 602, 626, 684, 685, 58. GeorgeHanfmann,"The FourthCampaignat Sardis(1961)," Bulletin
686. oftheAmerican SchoolsofOriental Research166,no. 1 (1962): 1-57,esp.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
280 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

5-15; andJohnPedley,Ancient Literary Sources on Sardis,Archaeological 73. For example,Hurwit,TheAthenian Acropolis,157-58;Korres,"Athe-

Exploration ofSardis(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity Press, nian ClassicalArchitecture," 10; and Pollitt,ArtandExperience in Classi-
1972),48-49, 74. cal Greece,
65-66.
59. IG I3. 436-51. W. B. Dinsmoor,"AtticBuildingAccounts,"pt. 1, "The 74. On the CongressDecree,see E. F. Bloedow," 'Olympian'Thoughts:
Parthenon," American Journal ofArchaeology 17, no. 1 (1913): 53-80; pt. Plutarchon Pericles'CongressDecree,"OpusculaAtheniensia 21
5, "Supplementary Notes,"25, no. 3 (1921): 233-47; and B. D. Mer- (1996): 7-12; BrianMacDonald,"The Authenticity of the Congress
ritt,"Fragments ofAtticBuildingAccounts,"American Journal ofArchae- Decree,"Historia31, no. 1 (1982): 120-23; and Meiggs,TheAthenian
ology 36, no. 4 (1932): 472-76. Empire, 152-53.
60. Hurwit,"The KritiosBoy";Lindenlauf,"Der Perserschutt der Athener 75. The mostextensiveand convincing statement of the skepticalposition
Akropolis"; Steskal,DerZerstörungsbefund 480/79derAthener Akropolis; is thatof RobinSeager,"The CongressDecree: Some Doubtsand a
and Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian Invasions." Hypothesis," Historia18, no. 2 (1969): 129-41.
61. Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian Invasions."Steskal,DerZer- 76. On theslowprocessofAthenianrebuilding, see Mark,TheSanctuary
störungsbefund 480/79derAthener Akropolis, has lookedalso at vase ofAthenaNikein Athens, 101-2.
painting,in orderto arguethattheinventionof red-figure postdates 77. Herodotos5.77; and Pausanias1.27.6.
thePersiansack.For criticisms of his methodand conclusions,see n.
31 above. 78. Inscriptions: IG Is. 52A,lines 15-18 (firstKalliasdecree), IG Is. 52B,
lines24-25 (second Kalliasdecree); and Xenophon,Hellanica1.6.1.
62. It is clearthatgiventheextraordinarily largeamountof fillneeded On the muchvexedquestionof theconnectionbetweenthe
forterracing - some 13,000cubicyards(10,000cubicmeters)forthe mentionedin inscriptions and literarysourcesand
"Opisthodomos"
northwall,and 52,000-59,000cubicyards(40,000-45,000cubic theArchaicTemple ofAthenaPolias,see thejudicioussummary in
meters)forthesouthwall- muchwasbroughtup fromthe lowercity Jeffrey Hurwit,"Space and Theme:The Settingof the Parthenon," in
(Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian Invasions," 389); we cannot, TheParthenon tothePresent,ed. JeniferNeils (Cambridge:
from Antiquity
therefore, be certainthateverything foundon theAcropoliswas origi- Press,2005), 9-33, esp. 22-25.
CambridgeUniversity
nallyset up there.In myanalysis,I haveconsequently focusedon
79. For example,Steskal,DerZerstörungsbefund
thosemonuments thatcan mostplausiblybe associatedwiththe 480/79derAthener Akropolis,
210-11.
Acropolis,forexample,thearchitectural fragments and statuessuch
as thekoraiand theNikeof Kallimachos.The Nike'sbase wasfound 80. Hurwit,TheAthenian 142.
Acropolis,
in situ,as werethoseof some korai. 81. It is truethat,due to Greekbuildingmethods,the columndrumsof
63. The TempleofAthenaPoliasis discussedbelow.Literary sources,the the Older Parthenonwerethe majormaterialsavailableforuse from
mostdetailedofwhichis Plutarch{Perikles 12-14), makeclearthat thattemple;such drumswerethe firstcomponentslaid downin any
thetempleswerenotrebuiltuntiltheage of Perikles.We are also for- newbuilding.However,ifthe buildersof the northwallhad simply
tunatein havingdatedinscriptional evidence,mostsignificantly, fi- wishedto build in a hurrywithwhatever came to hand,theymight
nancialaccountsof thebuildingprocess,on whichsee n. 59 above. also have made use of materialfromthe podiumand floorof the
Finally,thereis archaeologicalevidencefromthe excavationscarried temple,bothcomposedof largerectilinear blocksthatmighthave
out on theAcropolis,althoughthe mostsignificant are fromthe late been thoughtconvenientforerectinga wall.
nineteenth century and imperfectly recorded.Nonetheless,theyshow 82. I thankLinda Safranforpointingthisout to me.
clearlythatthearea aroundtheParthenonwas reterraced in associa-
83. Hurwit,TheAcropolis in theAgeofPerikles,70.
tionwiththeconstruction of the temple;thiscan be dated to the
mid-fifth century bymeansof findsin the fill(Hurwit,"The Kritios 84. The mostabundantevidencefordatingcomesfromthe stretchof the
Boy,"62-63). For thepossiblesurvival intotheEarlyClassicalperiod northwallthatcontainsfragments of theTempleofAthenaPolias.
of partof theTempleofAthenaPolias,see n. 78 below. An excavationof the area behindit in 1886 byP. Kawadiasand G.
64. On thePanathenaia,seeJenifer Athena: Pana- Kaweraubroughtto lightchipsfrombuildingthewall,Archaicstatues
Neils,ed., Worshipping
thenaiaandParthenon ofWisconsinPress,1996). and inscriptions, and a hoardof Late Archaiccoins.For the excava-
(Madison:University
tion,see Kawadias,"Anaskaphaien teiAkropolei,"Archaiologike Ephe-
65. Herodotos8.54. meris, 1886,73-82; Kawadiasand Kawerau,Die Ausgrabung derAkropo-
66. For thekindof activities thattookplace on theAcropolis,see Hurwit, lis vomJahre1885 bisJahre1890 (Athens:Hestia,1906), 24-32; and
"The Acropolisin AthenianLifeand Literature," chap. 3 of TheAthe- Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian Invasions," 381-85. On the
nianAcropolis, 35-63. coins,see ChesterG. Starr,Athenian Coinage, 480-449 B.C. (Oxford:
ClarendonPress,1970), 3-7; and Stewart, 383-85. Additionalinfor-
67. Pausanias7.5.4 (Samosand Phocaea), 10.35.2-3(Phaleron,Abae,
mationon the datingof thenorthwallcomesfromthestudyof its
Haliartus). architectural construction (Korres,"On theNorthAcropolisWall").
68. Majorrecentdiscussionsof the oath froma historicalperspective in- Some scholarshavedated the construction of the northwallto the
clude PeterSiewert, DerEid vonPlataia(Munich:C. H. Beck'scheVer- Kimonianperiod,some tenyearsafterThemistokles, includingVassi-
lagsbuchhandlung, 1972) (affirming itshistoricity but denyingthatof lis Lambrinoudakis, "Le murde l'enceinteclassiqued'Acropole
the"templesclause");RussellMeiggs,TheAthenian Empire (Oxford: d'Athèneset son rôle de péribole,"Comptes Rendusde l'Académie des
OxfordUniversity Press,1999), 152-56,504-7 (affirming itshistoric- InscriptionsetBelles-Lettres,
1999,551-61; and Steskal,DerZerstörungsbe-
ity);P. J. Rhodesand RobinOsborne,Greek Historical Inscriptions,404- fund480/79derAthener Akropolis,210-11. In so doing,theyrelyon
323 B.C. (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,2003), 440-49 (declaring literaryevidencelinkingthe southwallto Kimon(Plutarch,Kimon
thatwiththeevidencecurrently available,no securedecisioncan be 13.6-7; Nepos, Cimon5.2). Butsince thesouthwallalone is specifi-
"
reached);and Hans vanWees, 'The Oath of the SwornBands': The callymentionedin theliterary sources,thisis not necessarily convinc-
AcharnaeStela,theOath of Plataea,and ArchaicSpartanWarfare," in ing.
Das FrüheSparta,ed. MischaMeier,AndreasLuther,and LukasThom-
85. For the findspots of thesculptures, see Schrader,Die Archaischen Mar-
men (Munich:FrankSteinerVerlag,2006), 124-64 (arguingfora
morbildwerke
derAkropolis.
kernelof historical truth,butalso muchfourth-century invention, es-
peciallyincludingthe "templesclause"). 86. The numberof statuesfoundin thiscache has been debated.Lan-
69. PeterKrenz,"The Oath of Marathon,Not Plataia?"Hesperia 76, no. 4 glotz,"Die Koren,"8, 33 n. 4, in his fundamental publicationon the
(2007): 731-42; and Louis Robert,Étudesépigraphiques etphilologiques Acropoliskorai,identified fourteenstatuesfromthislocation,but
Stewart, "The Persianand Carthaginian 382 n. 21, has re-
Invasions,"
(Paris:LibrairieAncienneHonoré Champion,1938), 302-16; the
formerarguesthattheAcharnaestelaactuallypreserves an earlier centlydemonstrated thatthiswasbased on a misunderstanding, that
oathswornat Marathon. onlynine are securelyidentifiable now.The identifiable sculptures
are the koraiin theAcropolisMuseum,inv.nos. 670, 672,673, 677,
70. "The HellenicoathwhichtheAthenianssaythe Hellenessworebe- 678, 680-82, and the Nike,AcropolisMuseum,inv.no. 690.
forethebattleat Plataiais falsified as is the treaty of theAthenians 87. For the excavationand the numismatic
and theHelleneswithKingDarius.And furthermore, he saysthebat- evidence,see n. 84 above.
Findsfromthe cache includedat leastnine sculptures as wellas five
tleat Marathonwasnotwhateveryonekeepsrepeatingitwas,and 'all Archaicinscriptions, a columndrumof theTem-
theotherthingsthatthecityof theAtheniansbragsaboutand uses buildingmaterials,
to dupe theHellenes.'" Theopompos,quoted in Theon,Progymnas- ple ofAthenaPolias,and variousstatuebases,sherds,and ashes.For
the inscriptions, see Raubitschek,Dedications
fromtheAthenian Akropo-
mata2, trans.W. RobertConnor,Theopompus andFifth-Century Athens
D.C.: CenterforHellenicStudies,1968), 78; on the pas- lis,nos. 6, 13, 14, 197,217.
(Washington,
sage,see Connor,78-89. 88. On thewidespreadbelief,in Classicalantiquity, thatreligiousvotives
could not be discardedbut requiredburialwithina sanctuary, see
71. Rhodesand Osborne,Greek Historical 444-45.
Inscriptions, MichaelDonderer,"Irreversible Deponierungvon Grossplastik bei
72. On the templesin theAtticcountryside, see Korres,"AthenianClassi- Griechen,Etruskern und Römern," desÖsterrächischenAr-
Jahreshefte
cal Architecture," 21-23. chäologischenInstitutesin Wien61 (1991-92): 192-275,esp. 203-7.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 DESTRUCTION AND MEMORY ON THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS 281

89. On thepaintingofArchaicsculptures, and

see VinzenzBrinckmann no. 1 (1976): 3-18, esp. 14-15; and MargaretMiller,"Priam,Kingof
antikerSkulptur
Raimund Wünsche, eds., Bunte Götter:Die Farbigkeit ed.
Troy," in The AgesofHomer:A TributetoEmilyTownsendVermeule,
(Munich:StaatlicheAntikensammlung
und Glyptothek,2004). JaneCarterand SarahMorris(Austin:University ofTexas Press,
90. FoVexample,the "MourningAthena"steladescribedbyPierreDe- 1995), 449-65, esp. 460.
margne in Lexiconiconographicum classicele(Zurich: Artemis
mythologiae 111. The factthattheTrojanswereheredepictedsympathetically, and
Verlag,1981), s.v."Athena,"1015,no. 625; and theAthenaLemnia, elsewhere(as in theStoa Poikileand Simonides)in a polemicaland
describedin Pausanias1.28.2and byDemargne,s.v."Athena,"976, unsympathetic manner,is testimony to themalleabilityof mythin
no. 197. ClassicalGreekculture.
91. The statueis oftenreferred to in thescholarlyliteratureas the 112. For Greekmilitary history in theEarlyClassicalperiod,particularly
AthenaPromachos.Since thistitleis attestedonlyin one, verylate, Athens,see P. J. Rhodes,"The Delian League to 449 B.C.,"in The
source- a scholiumto Demosthenes'Against Androtion (597.5)- I FifthCenturyB.C.,ed. D. M. Lewiset al., CambridgeAncientHistory
haveavoidedthe name here.For thedatingof the statue,see Evelyn (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1992),34-61.
Harrison,"Pheidias,"in Personal in Greek
Styles Sculpture,ed. J.J. Pollitt
and Olga Palagia,Yale ClassicalStudies(Cambridge:CambridgeUni-
113. For committeeoversight of expenditures relatingto theParthenon,
see the financialaccountsdiscussedin n. 59 above.As to thespeed of
versityPress,1996), 16-65, esp. 30. Otherusefuldiscussionsof the
statueincludeHurwit,TheAthenian 151-52;and Carol Mat- building,ManolisKorreshas calculatedthatwiththestoneworking
Acropolis, toolsavailabletoday,and usingthesame numberof masonsand
tusch, Classical Bronzes:The Artand Craftof Greekand Roman Statuary construction on the Parthenonwouldtakeat leasttwiceas
(Ithaca,N.Y.:CornellUniversity Press,1996), 125-28;forliterary sculptors,
long.Korres,FromPentelicon totheParthenon(Athens:MelissaPublish-
sources,we havedescriptions in Pausanias(1.28) and Demosthenes
19.272),and inscriptional
(Defalsalegatione evidencefortheconstruc- ing House, 1995), 7.
tionof thestatueand itscost (IG I3. 435, lines427-31). For a restora- 114. For example,Hurwit,TheAthenian esp. 228-32;Jenifer
Acropolis,
tionand interpretationof the inscription, see W. B. Dinsmoor,"Attic Neils,TheParthenon Frieze(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,
BuildingAccounts,"pt. 4, "The StatueofAthenaPromachos,"Ameri- 2001), 173-201;AlexiaPetsalis-Diomidis, "Twenty-FirstCenturyPer-
can JournalofArchaeology
25, no. 2 (1921): 118-29. spectiveson theParthenon," JournalofHellenicStudies123 (2003):
92. Hurwit, The AthenianAcropolis,152. 191-96; Pollitt,Artand Experiencein Classical Greece,80-82; and
The Metopesof thePar-
ofVictory:
KatherineSchwab,"Celebrations
93. Ibid., 151-53. 159-97.
thenon,"in Neils,TheParthenon,
94. Pausanias1.28.2;and Demosthenes, De falsalegatione
19.272. 115. Stewart,Classical Greeceand theBirthof Western
Art,132-33.
of it are on Roman-eraAthenian
95. The onlycertainrepresentations 116. Ibid.,133.
coins,whichdepict,in abbreviatedand schematicform,some of the
117. IG I2. 81, lines5-9. T. LeslieShearJr.,"The DemolishedTempleat
majormonuments on theAcropolis.Harrison,"Pheidias,"32-34.
Sculpture,and Topography
Eleusis," in Studiesin AthenianArchitecture,
96. Dinsmoor,"The StatueofAthenaPromachos,"126. (Princeton:AmericanSchool of ClassicalStudiesat Athens,1982),
Art (Cam-
97. Andrew Stewart,Classical Greeceand theBirthof Western 128-40.
bridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,2008), 7. 118. Hurwit,"The Settingof the Parthenon," 26.
98. On the Stoa Poikile,see MarkStansbury-O'Donnell, "The Painting 119. BarbaraBarletta,"The Architecture and Architects of theClassical
Programin theStoa Poikile,"in Periklean Athensand ItsLegacy,ed. Ju- Parthenon," in Neils,TheParthenon,67-99,esp. 68-72.
dithBarringer andJeffrey Hurwit(Austin:University ofTexas Press,
120. The recentreconstruction of thebuildinghistory on thesiteof the
2005), 73-87, withabundantpreviousbibliography.
ParthenonbyManolisKorres("Die Athena-Tempel aufder Akropo-
99. For thedatingof the monument, determinedthroughpottery from lis") includesnotone buta seriesof predecessors: an "Ur-Parthenon"
itsfoundations,see ibid.,81. followedbytwoLate Archaic
datingto theearlyto mid-sixth century,
100. On theexcavation,see T. Leslie ShearJr.,"The AthenianAgora:Ex- buildingphases,one in poros (a softstone),theothermarble.Most
cavationsof 1980-1982,"Hesperia 53, no. 1 (1984): 1-57,esp. 13-16, significant,however,is themarblepredecessordatedto about490
18. BCE and destroyed bythePersians,our focushere.
101. The paintingswereexecutedbysome of the mostfamousartistsof 121. Hurwit, The AthenianAcropolis,166.
theEarlyClassicalera. Polygnotos is said to havedone theTrojan 122. For theshrine,see especiallyKorres,"Die Athena-Tempel aufderAk-
Warscenes (Plutarch,Kimon4.5-6), Mikon,theAmazons(Aristo- withAthenaErgane,see Hur-
ropolis,"227; and foritsidentification
phanes,Lysistrata677-79), whileMarathonis variously ascribedto
wit,TheAcropolis 74-76; and Pausanias1.24.3.
in theAgeofPerikles,
Polygnotos,Mikon,or a thirdcandidate,Panainos,brotherof
Pheidias.Aelian,De naturaanimalium 7.38 (Polygnotos or Mikon); 123. For analogousexamplesof thiskindof "historic preservation," see
Pausanias5.11.6 (Panainos); Pliny,NaturalHistory 35.57 (Panainos). Hurwit,"Landscapeof Memory:The Presenceof the Paston the
AthenianAcropolis,"chap. 2 of TheAcropolis in theAgeofPerikles, 49-
102. For possiblereflectionsin laterart,see EvelynHarrison,"The South 86.
Friezeof theNikeTemple and the MarathonPaintingin the Painted
Stoa,"American JournalofArchaeology 76 (1972): 353-78; thearticle 124. Korres,"On theNorthAcropolisWall,"184.
also providesa usefulcatalogof the mostrelevantliterary sourcesfor 125. On theproportional relationswithinthe ClassicalParthenon, see Bar-
thepaintings, whichshouldbe supplementedbythe morebroad- letta,"The Architecture and Architectsof theClassicalParthenon,"
rangingselectionon thebuildingin R. E. Wycherley, and Epi-
Literary 72-74; and ManolisKorres,"The Architecture of theParthenon," in
graphicalTestimonia,vol. 3, The AthenianAgora: ResultsofExcavations TheParthenon and ItsImpactin ModernTimes, ed. Panayotis Tourniki-
ConductedbytheAmericanSchoolof Classical Studiesat Athens(Princeton: otis (Athens:MelissaPublishingHouse, 1994),55-97,esp. 88-90. The
AmericanSchool of ClassicalStudiesat Athens,1957), 31-45. columndrumswerereçut,reducingtheirdiameterabout8 inches(20
103. Pausanias1.17.2-6;forotherliterary references
to theTheseion,see centimeters). Korres,FromPentelicon totheParthenon, 56, 60 n. 37.
Wycherley,LiteraryandEpigraphical 113-19;theshrine's
Testimonia, 126. LotharHaselberger,"BendingtheTruth:Curvature and OtherRe-
decorationis discussedin Castriota,Myth, 33-63.
Ethos,and Actuality, finements in the Parthenon," in Neils,TheParthenon, 100-157.
104. Polygnotosis mentionedbyHarpokration(Wycherley, Literaryand 127. For thecurvature of the Older Parthenon, see ibid.,119. It shouldbe
Testimonia,
Epigraphical 114); and MikonbyPausanias(1.17.3). notedthat,due to theextensionof thepodiumand thedifferent
105. PierreDevambezand AlikiKauffmann-Samaras, entryin Lexiconicono- plan of the newbuilding,thecurvature had to be reworked, on which
classicae,s.v. "Amazones," 637.
graphicummythologiae see FrancisCranmerPenrose,An Investigation ofthePrinciples ofAthe-
106. TheOxyrhynchus ed. and trans.BernardP. Grenfelland Arthur nianArchitecture (1888; Washington, D.C.: McGrath,1973),20, 29-35.
Papyri,
S. Hunt,72 vols.(London: EgyptExplorationFund,1898-), 3965 and 128. I thankFrancescoBenelliforpointingout thechallengesinvolvedin
2327 (hereafterPOxy),trans.Deborah Boedeckerand David Sider, thisto me. On the reuseof materials, see Korres,FromPentelicon tothe
eds., The New Simonides:ContextsofPraise and Desire (Oxford: Oxford Parthenon,56. Bundgaard,Parthenon and theMycenean City,61-67, dis-
University Press,2001), 25, 28-29; thevolumealso containsa selec- cussesreusedmaterialfromtheOlder Parthenon,althoughhiscon-
tionof essayson Simonidesusefulhere. clusion- thatthe entirebuildingwasessentially takenapart,altered
107. POxy.2327,lines 11-12; trans.Boedeckerand Sider,TheNewSimo- veryminimally, and put togetheragain- cannotstandin lightof
morerecentdiscoveries, on whichsee especiallyKorres,"RecentDis-
nides,28. Cf.Eva Stehle,"A Bard of the IronAge and His Auxiliary
Muse,"in Boedeckerand Sider,106-19, esp. 113. coverieson theAcropolis."
108. Loraux,TheInvention 132-71. 129. SpencerA. Pope, "FinancingtheDesign:The Developmentof the
ofAthens, ParthenonProgramand the ParthenonBuildingAccounts," in Miscel-
109. Raeck,ZumBarbarenbild in derKunstAthens. laneaMediterranea, ed. RossHolloway,ArchaeologicaTransatlantica
110. JohnBoardman,"The KleophradesPainterat Troy,"Antike Kunst19, (Providence:BrownUniversity, 2000), 61-69, esp. 65-66.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
282 ART BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2009 VOLUME XCI NUMBER3

130. As arguedby,forexample,Hurwit,TheAcropolis in theAgeofPerikles, 135. On theAmazonomachy, see EvelynHarrison,"The Compositionof

72-76. theAmazonomachy on the ShieldofAthenaParthenos,"Hesperia 35,
131. AndrewStewart, Greek An Exploration no. 2 (1966): 107-33;idem,"Motifsof the City-Siege on the Shieldof
Sculpture: (New Haven:Yale Uni- AthenaParthenos," American
Press,1990), pl. 320. JournalofArchaeology 85, no. 3 (1981):
versity
281-317;and V. M. Strocka,PiräusreliefsundParthenosschild (Bochum:
132. G. Rodenwaldt, "InterpretatioCristiana,"
Archäologischer 3-4
Anzeiger BuchhandlungWasmuth,1967).
(1933): 401-5. 136. The AthenianAmazonomachy is describedin Aeschylus(Eumenides
133. MaryBeard, TheParthenon (Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity 688), Plutarch(Theseus26-27), and Pausanias(1.2.1). For the argu-
Press,2003), 54. mentin favorof theAthenianAmazonomachy, see especiallyHarri-
134. Literarydescriptions of thestatueare preservedin Pliny(NaturalHis- son, "Motifsof the City-Siege."
tory36.18-19) and Pausanias(1.24.5-7). Ofmodernstudies,particu- 137. Harrison,"Motifsof the City-Siege," 295-96.
larlyusefulare MiletteGaifman,"Statue,Cultand Reproduction," Art 138. Devambezand Rauffmann-Samaras, Lexiconiconographicum
29, no. 2 (2006): 258-79; KennethLapatin,"The Statueof mythologiae
History s.v."Amazones,"601-3, nos. 232-47.
classicae,
Athenaand OtherTreasuresin the Parthenon," in Neils,TheParthe-
non,260-91; Neda Leipen,AthenaParthenos: A Reconstruction
(Toron- 139. On collectivememory, see n. 4 above.
to: RoyalOntarioMuseum,1971); and GabrieleNick,Die AthenaPar- 140. Demosthenes,Fortheliberty oftheRhodians 35, in Demosthenes,trans.
thenos:StudienzumGriechischen Kultbild
undseinerRezeption(Mainz: J. H. Vince (Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity Press,1930),vol. 1,
VerlagPhilippvon Zabern,2002). 432.

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