The Parthenon and its sculptures

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The Parthenon was built to glorify Athens. Pericles conceived its marble sculptures as an embodiment of the city's leadership of Greece, and of the Greeks' recent success in routing the Persians. Military heroes and kings are represented along with gods on the pediments. Athena Parthenosa dazzling gold and ivory statue, her helmet crowned with a sphinx, a spear at her sidewas an awe-inspiring figure. The building was also designed to encourage Athenians to worship the Olympian gods as a family rather than as individual deities. These underlying themes are explored with the aid of Finn's 229 dramatically lit photographs (15 in color), exceptional for their detail. Boardman, an Oxford archeologist, vividly recreates the thanksgiving festival, marked by animal sacrifices and offerings to gods, that was the inspiration for a 500-foot-long frieze of men, horses and chariots. He discusses the Parthenon's decline, the preservation of the Elgin marbles and the use of ancient drawings to devise hypothetical models showing how the magnificent sculptures must have looked. November 15

Library Journal

This book is a beautiful photographic study of the sculptures of the Parthenon. Created by Boardman, whose numerous works include Greek Sculpture: the Archaic Period (1978), and Finn, distinguished fine arts photographer, it should appeal to all admirers of classical sculpture. About 230 illustrationsincluding full-page color and black-and-white photographsreveal the beauty of the works that are largely regarded as the most influential in the history of Western sculpture. Boardman's text is in two parts: one places the Parthenon within the context of the ancient Athenian, the other surveys the documentary evidence about the building and its sculpture. Highly recommended. Edward H. Teague, Univ. of Florida Libs., Gainesville