MARBLE STATUES: Parthenon EAST PEDIMENT

Marble statues from the East pediment of the Parthenon. The East pediment showed the miraculous birth of the goddess Athena from the head of her father Zeus. Many of the figures from the central scene are now fragmentary or entirely lost.

Left: A seated woman is on the point or rising, seemingly startles by events to her right. The head is missing, but once looked towards the centre of the pediment. She wears a light tunic of delicate fabric with a heavier cloak over her knees. She is perhaps Hestia, goddess of the hearth.

Right: A woman reclines in the lap of her companion. Carved from one block, these two may represent Aphrodite, goddess of love in the lap of her mother Dione.