The Horse Of Silene by Phidias - (5th century B.C.). As part of The Elgin Marbles this horse's head is one of the principal attractions of the British Museum. The British government in 1816 purchased it and other marble statues after Lord Elgin had arranged for their removal from the Acropolis in Athens and for their shipment to England. Before 1800 the head had been situated in the sharp angle of the east pediment of the Parthenon. Phidias, the greatest sculptor of the fifth century B.C. had represented the horse beside two others drawing the chariot of the moon goddess Silene across the night sky. The exhausting journey was near completion; the chariot had dropped below the horizon, the distended nostrils and drooping lip of the horse giving evidence of fatigue. It was a poetical conception. The dawn was breaking. At the opposite end of the pediment, other horses drawing the sun chariot of Helios appeared to be rising from below. We have a limited supply of marble bases and will switch to wooden bases as that supply is exhausted.
