Panathenaic Ships: The Iconographic Evidence

by Shelley Wachsmann

Hesperia, Volume 81, Issue 2
Page(s): 237-266
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.81.2.0237
Year: 2012
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ABSTRACT:

The author examines the limited surviving iconographic evidence for the physical appearance of the Panathenaic ship. The Calendar Frieze on the Church of Ayios Eleutherios (Little Metropolis) in Athens presumably depicts the 12 Athenian months, with the Panathenaic ship representing the month of Hekatombaion. Although badly damaged, the frieze preserves details of the vessel, its rig, and land transport system. This representation demonstrates clearly that the Panathenaic ship is patterned after an Archaic galley. A ship model/lamp from the Erechtheion may represent the Panathenaic ship. Finally, the author evaluates two additional ship representations—one from the Kerameikos and one from the City Eleusinion—identified previously as representations of the Panathenaic ship.