Pope Francis has decided to return three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures which have been held in the Vatican museums, in the form of a “donation” to the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Athens, and All Greece Ieronymos II, ANA reports.
The three fragments of Pentelic marble, which came into the Vatican in the 19th century, are part of the decorative sculpture of the Parthenon, the temple built on the Acropolis at Athens by Pericles (447-432 B.C.). The figurative decoration of the temple is the creative genius of the Athenian sculptor, Phidias. The head of a horse comes from the west front of the building, on which Athena and Poseidon were shown competing for dominion over Attica; the fragment here has been identified as the fourth horse pulling Athena’s chariot. The relief with the head of a boy has been identified as one of the figures from the frieze that went around the cella of the temple: he is carrying a tray of votive cakes which were offered during the Panathenaic procession in honor of Athena. The bearded male head, however, has been attributed to one of the metopes from the southern side of the building where there was a battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs.
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