Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/120

 I04 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. Fig. 96. — W. Metope, 10 : from Ebersole, with Persian shields from Vases. »j-^^oigift> :>.iKfc. j;tjiBj3(iy ivoian^faygj is probable that the whole front related to the warlike exploits of the Athenians." The idea that the foes were Amazons arose, doubtless, from the fact that the Persian warriors wore skirts, but this inference applied at first only to two of the panels, 10 and 14, which in " Museum Marbles " are said to represent Greeks and Amazons. In Cockerell's restoration only the last figure of all is shown as female. The general arrangement of the series put a horseman, usually with a fallen antagonist, in each alternate panel, the others having pairs of war- riors on foot. They have been recently examined from a scaffolding by Mr Ebersole.* He considers that the subject is most probably the Amazonomachia, although his de- tailed description in no way sub- stantiates his opinion. A large number of the figures are certainly men, not one is obviously a woman, nor, curiously enough, does he sug- gest of any one that it is a woman. According to custom it should be the Amazons who ride, yet several of the riders were almost nude, and the wounded antagonists are also nude, or nearly so. Not one rider seems to have been getting the worst of the combat, indeed, all the horse groups were of the usual victory for- mula where a warrior rides down a foe. Surely all this can only be explained by supposing that these metopes did not represent a battle of Greeks and Amazons, Figs. 97 and 98.- topes, 13 and Ebersole. ■W. Me- 4 : from
 * Am. Journ. ArchaoL, 1S9S-99.