#slide 16

Temple of Zeus, East Pediment Group by Unknown Greek

At Olympia, Temple of Zeus. Early Classical. 468-457BCE.

- Chariot race between Pelops from East Greek world and the king of Pisa

-  The king of Pisa loses the chariot race can maybe allegorically represent the city state of Elis conquer the city state of Pisa

- The king of Pisa was in love with his daughter and they actually had sex, but in the public he needed to have her married; he promised to suitors that if they won in a chariot race with him, he’d let his daughter marry him; however, the suitors don’t know the king was a hero and no mortals can ever win the king (where the hubris comes in); the king actually killed the suitors

-Tricking the suitors

- Killing the suitors

-Nailing the head on the palace gate

- Pelops asked the groom to pull out the axial pin and replaced with a wax one in the chariot cart of the king; he bribes the groom saying he’ll let the groom to sleep with the daughter; the king of Pisa is thrown to death and Pelops killed the groom

- There are no winners (double hubris on king of Pisa and double hubris on Pelops)

-Strong moral message

- Powerful, sacred, cautionary message for athletes to never break their oath and fair play

-  Zeus is the symbol of justice and is in the center (logical choice)

- The moment captured in the pediment at the sanctuary when Pelops and king of Pisa taking sacred oath right before the chariot race game at Zeus’ altar

-Both guys are exercising the new psychological movement of Free-will

-Early Classical sculptors really interested in exploration and representation of human psychology; sophrosyne or the path of hubris

-How complex and subtle the myth story representation becomes to get

We have Seer Iamos who has the cursed ability to foretell the future.  He knows what’s going to happen.  God is striking him down and he could not speak and tell the king what he’s seen.

This is an extraordinary figure; it has such naturalistic characterization. This is radically new.  This old man is not buffed up or muscular.  He got fat on, sagging, drooping-an aging process.  He started balding on the head, unlike the idealized and youthful figures which were popular in Archaic and Classical Greek figures. Basically, the seer is represented as a balding, wrinkled, aged man with sagging muscles.  His forehead is bulging because he is thinking.  We see deep brooding thinking lines on his forehead. He also has a nose bridge instead of a flat surface.  Also thoughtfulness and contemplativeness can be seen in his gesture, because he’s holding a hand near his chin.  The gesture represents the inner working of the mind. His head’s tilted down slightly and his eyes looking down.  The facial expression of the sculpture is recognized as very innovative and without precedent in earlier Greek sculpture.  We no longer see archaic smile.  Instead, we see true emotion through the terrified expression on his face.  The viewers have to understand the story and fill out these character, emotional details. Basically he is doing a lot of thinking: he knew about what’s going to happen, so it is not just introspection but also anxiety as he could not tell the truth.