Whose Daughters Are These?
The World Is Wide, Go Have Fun 66
Beside the Parthenon stand six young women. Full-figured and poised, they hold their heads high, supporting a roof – a story that stretches back more than 2,400 years.
Whose daughters are these? Aren’t they tired after standing for so long?
Their home is the Erechtheion. This temple, with its tongue-twisting name, is named after Erechtheus, a legendary ancient king of Athens.
This is a deeply sacred place. According to legend, Athena and Poseidon competed here to become the city’s patron deity. Poseidon struck the rock with his trident, bringing forth a saltwater spring; Athena offered an olive tree. The temple preserved sacred traces of these stories and honored Athena, Poseidon, Erechtheus, and other gods and heroes. An olive tree still grows beside it today, planted in later times to commemorate the legendary sacred tree.
The temple was built between 421 and 406 BC, a little later than the Parthenon. Its architect has not been firmly identified, though it may have been Mnesikles. The six maidens are attributed to the sculptor Alcamenes and his circle.
Their bodies serve as columns, their heads supporting the roof. Their robes fall in folds, their hair tightly braided. Each stands firmly on one leg, with the other slightly bent. They have the grace of young women, yet they also seem steady and dependable, capable of carrying a great responsibility.
Looking up at them, I see guardians and sentinels of the Acropolis. Through wars and storms, through the rise and fall of eras, they have kept their watch.
But in the early nineteenth century, things changed. Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, took a liking to one of the maidens. He had her removed and shipped to Britain, where she eventually entered the British Museum.
There is a story told in Athens: while the maiden waited below the Acropolis to be taken away, her five sisters lamented in the night, and she answered them with cries just as sorrowful.
Of course – how could being torn from your family not hurt? Stone cannot speak. Perhaps those cries came from the Athenians who could not bear to see her leave, weeping on the sisters’ behalf.
But there is something I should tell you: in 1979, to protect their marble bodies from further damage caused by air pollution, the five maidens remaining in Athens were moved into the Acropolis Museum of that time. Replicas took over the burden above their heads.
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Hearing that they had been relieved of duty, I felt my own shoulders relax. Yes, yes, let them go indoors and have a good rest. Thinking of yesterday afternoon’s downpour, I worried about them. After so many years of wind and rain, girls, please take good care of yourselves!
It was pleasantly cool that day. I found somewhere to sit and sketched one of the temple’s column capitals in the breeze. What do you think? Not too bad?
Through an opening in the yellow-brown stone wall, I could see the blue sky and white clouds drifting slowly past. So I made another sketch, to keep a little of that beauty.
As I drew, I wondered: whose daughters were these six young women? Could there once have been girls like them who stood before the sculptor, left him their likenesses, and then went home to live their own lives? Of course, that is only my imagination.
Their likenesses have remained on the Acropolis, and in the blink of an eye, more than 2,400 years have passed. I hope the maiden far from home can return soon!
Suddenly, I remembered a bust of a woman across from Hadrian’s Arch. I had photographed it and read about her. Her name was Melina Mercouri. She was an actress and also served as Greece’s Minister of Culture.
In 1982, at UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies in Mexico City, she called on Britain to return the Parthenon sculptures, campaigning to bring Greece’s displaced treasures home.
Look – a woman helping another woman. I add my prayers to her efforts, hoping for the maiden’s early return.
Beside the Erechtheion, the olive tree commemorating Athena’s gift sways gracefully in the sunlight. Here is a photograph for you to enjoy.
