Art Assignment : West Pediment of the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece

Fragments of the west pediment, Temple of Zeus, 460 BC, Olympia, Greece.

The west pediment of the Temple of Zeus depicts the battle of the lapiths and the centaurs at the wedding of the king of the lapiths, Pirithous. The scene laid out is of drunken centaurs who tasted wine for the first time and tried to carry off the bride and the women. Being under the influence of wine or beauty of women is pathos, yielding to your feelings. The centaurs are pathetic because they submit to their passions. However, the victims of the assault, the lapith women, are not pathetic because they do not yield to their emotions. Their eyes and faces are fixed on their true nature, their tellos, despite the sin being done to them. . Apollo from the center of the scene, with a restrained, right angled gesture, gives order to the chaos. He leads the conquest over the barbarian centaurs, and bring order to the chaos.

To the viewer, this represents more than just a fight. It is more than just a conquest over physical barbarism; it is the conquest over the barbarism of within us, the barbarism of pathos. To give in to pathos, to lose sight of your tellos, is barbaric and to do evil to yourself. The women avoid evil by not yielding to their feelings. They are portrayed nobly, and cause the viewer to see that they are the noble ones. They teach the view that no evil can befall them because no evil can disrupt their tellos, their purpose. Overall, the scene teaches that order, cosmos, is desired, and to lose yourself to pathos brings on chaos, the disruption of your tellos, the purpose of your life.