Plaque Of The Ergastines Analysis

434 Words2 Pages

The Plaque of the Ergastines was originally a part of the Parthenon temple. This ionic frieze decorated the east pediment of the temple. The Plaque of the Ergastines was built to glorify the Athens victory over the Persians and honor their divine protector, Athena. The Parthenon temple was originally located in Athens, Greece at the highest point of the Acropolis. Parts of the frieze scene were broken up and are now located in fragments in multiple museums. The Plaque of the Ergastines is currently located in the Louvre in Paris. The artwork on the left is from Persepolis. In Persepolis people would come to visit the King Darius I the Great and bring offerings. Also seen in the Parthenon frieze, every four years young women would offer a new peplos to Athena. In Persepolis King Darius’s power to unite a …show more content…

The drapery folds on the left image are later seen in the forms of the characteristics of Archaic Greek sculptures and are one of the main influences of Achaemenid style. The folds and drapery seen in the Plaque of the Ergastines follow the form of the bodies and are seen flatter in some areas, but very curvilinear in other areas. One deviation between the image on the left from Persepolis and the Plaque of the Ergastines is the Contrapposto Style. Contrapposto style is seen in the figures of the Plaque of the Ergastines, the women have the weight bearing on one leg and the other leg is illustrated moving forward. This reveals the alterations between movement and static. In the left image from Persepolis the figures are static, mostly in profile view. The iconography of the contrapposto style is easily seen through the Plaque of the Ergastines figure’s with bent knees. The Plaque of the Ergastines show the mastery of relief carving by the artisans at the time, providing a series of angled views; frontal, side, and three-quarter