brought by the Persians, before the battle of Marathon, to be erected in commemoration of the capture of Athens.

Casts of Archaic Sculpture. The Archaic Room contains a small series of casts of archaic sculpture, to supplement the originals. Further examples will be found in the Gallery of Casts (p. 97).

135-137. Casts from Selinus.-Selinus, a colony of Megara, in the west of Sicily, was founded about 628 B.C. The temple (commonly known as C) from which the sculptures, nos. 135-137, were obtained, is the oldest temple on the acropolis of that town, and it is therefore probable that its construction was begun not long after the foundation of the city. The earlier sculptures are therefore assigned to the end of the seventh century B.C. They represent a chariot group; Heracles carrying off the robber dwarfs, the Kerkopes, tied to his bow; Perseus cutting off the head of the Gorgon Medusa. In the last, the sculptor attempts to express two successive events in one scene, for Medusa clasps in her arms the horse Pegasus, which did not spring into existence till after she was decapitated. The head of the Medusa, with round eyes, large tusks, and lolling tongue, is already a traditional type.

138-139. Casts of two metopes, from a somewhat later temple at Selinus, with subjects taken from the war of the gods and giants.

160-183. Casts of Sculptures from Aegina. The large groups on the walls of the room are casts from the figures that once filled the pediments (or gables) of the temple at Aegina.

They were excavated in 1811 by a party of English and German explorers, and the sculptures discovered were purchased in 1812 by the Crown Prince of Bavaria. The principal figures were restored at Rome by Thorwaldsen and J. M. Wagner. In 1828 the collection was placed in the Glyptothek at Munich. The site of the temple was again excavated in 1901 by the late Prof. Furtwaengler on behalf of the Prince Regent of Bavaria.

The temple from which they were obtained was long supposed to have been dedicated to Athenè, but an inscription discovered in the excavations of 1901 makes it probable that the patron deity of the temple was a local goddess, Aphaia, having affinities with Artemis.

The Aeginetan sculptures belong to the latest stage of archaic Greek art, and are the most important extant works of that period. They are assigned to about 480 B.C. A minute analysis of the sculptures shows that the east pediment is distinctly more advanced than the west in the expression of emotion, in the rendering of drapery, of the features, the beards, the veins; and in the general proportions. The inequalities of style are, however, probably due to different sculptors being employed, rather than to a lapse of time. In each pediment the subject is a contest between Greeks and Trojans. In the east pediment, Heracles is fighting with the Greeks, and the scene is therefore thought to be a battle in the war which Heracles, aided by Telamon of Aegina, waged against Laomedon, king of Troy. In the west pediment the kneeling archer

on the right was long known as Paris, but he may be a typical archer. In each case Athenè was standing in the middle, as if presiding over the combat. It may be noted that there is an archaic formality of pose and composition in the Athenè of the west pediment, which shows that the artist has adopted a traditional type of temple-image.

After a minute study of the newly-found fragments, and of the fragments not utilised by Thorwaldsen, Prof. Furtwaengler proposed a profoundly different disposition of the sculptures. The general features of the new arrangement are shown in the accompanying illustrations. It will be observed that the general effect of the proposed change is that in each pediment, instead of a single combat waged in front of Athenè, combats symmetrically disposed occupy each wing of the two pediments. Outside the groups of combatants are archers, turned in the one case towards the centre, and in the other towards the extremities of the pediment. In the annexed blocks an attempt has been made to distinguish the original portions from the conjectural restorations by strong and dotted lines.respectively. The distinguishing letters used by Furtwaengler, and the numbers of the British Museum casts are placed beneath.

Considering the extent to which many of the figures are based on inference and conjecture, it is not surprising that Furtwaengler's scheme has not met with entire acceptance. A more recent writer (Mackenzie, Brit. School at Athens Annual XV.) has proposed to modify the Eastern group in a way that brings it into closer parallelism with the Western group.

Near the south-west corner of the room is a bronze chariot from the neighbourhood of Orvieto. The ancient metal plating has been replaced on a modern wooden core, so as to reproduce its original form. Probably of the sixth century B.C.

[Between the Room of Archaic Sculpture and the Ephesus Room is a small Ante-Room leading into the Ephesus Room, and thence into the Elgin Room.]

ANTE-ROOM.*

1300. On the east side of the Ante-room is a seated statue of Demeter (Ceres) (Plate XV.), found by Sir C. T. Newton in the sanctuary of Demeter at Cnidos. The artist appears to have sought to represent the sorrow of the goddess for the loss of her daughter Persephone (Proserpine). The statue, which is of singular dignity and beauty, is usually assigned to the middle of the fourth century B.C.

*See the Catalogue of Sculpture.

The sanctuary occupied a narrow platform or terrace, at the foot of a cliff, on the south side of the acropolis of Cnidos. A large number of votive objects were found in the sanctuary, including the calves and pigs shown on each side of the Demeter, and in the opposite case the fine votive figure of Persephonè, no. 1302, and also certain votive objects, and imprecatory inscriptions on rolls of lead, shown in the room of Greek and Roman Life (p. 152).

On the opposite side are cases for the exhibition of statuettes and other small objects of marble. In the case on the left are many smaller statuettes from Naucratis (a Greek settlement in the Egyptian Delta), and from Rhodes. These show clear indications of the influence of Egyptian types and models.

[We pass through the Ephesus Room (see p. 82) and next examine the contents of the Elgin Room.]

ELGIN ROOM.*

SUBJECT:-THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON, AND OTHER ATHENIAN BUILDINGS.

The Elgin Room is thus named in honour of Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin (1766-1841), whose collection forms a large part of its contents. Lord Elgin was appointed British Ambassador to the Porte in 1799. On his appointment he resolved to make his time of office of service to the cause of art, and accordingly engaged a body of two architects, a draughtsman, and two formatori, under Lusieri, a Neapolitan landscape painter, to make casts, plans and drawings from the remains in Greece, and more particularly at Athens. While this work was in progress, Lord Elgin became aware of the rapid destruction that was taking. place in the sculptures of Athens, and at the same time the success of the British arms in Egypt had made the disposition of the Porte favourable to the British Ambassador. Hence, although it had not been a part of Lord Elgin's original design to collect marbles, a second firman was obtained in 1801 which sanctioned the removal of the sculptures.

The whole collection formed by Lord Elgin's agents was, after long negotiations and an enquiry by a Select Committee of the House of Commons, purchased of Lord Elgin for £35,000 in 1816. It consists of sculptures and architectural fragments from the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, and other Athenian buildings; casts, which have now become of great value, from the Parthenon, the Theseion, and the Monument of Lysicrates; a considerable

*For a full description of this room see the Guide to the Sculptures of the Parthenon, and Catalogue of Sculpture, Vol. I., Part III. (sold separately at 18.). See also The Sculptures of the Parthenon, with folio text and plates, by A. H. Smith, 1910. Price £5 15s. (Published by the Trustees of the British Museum.)

number of Greek reliefs and inscriptions, principally from Athens; fragments from Mycenae and elsewhere; drawings and plans. It will be seen that the 'Elgin collection' and Elgin marbles are by no means co-extensive with the sculptures of the Parthenon, to which the terms are sometimes incorrectly restricted.

If it is necessary to justify the conduct of Lord Elgin, in respect of actions which have from time to time been severely censured, it must be pointed out that the Parthenon marbles were suffering daily injury, and that there was no prospect of better care being taken of them. In the fifty years immediately before Lord Elgin four figures had entirely disappeared from the west pediment, and others had been much injured. The frieze was suffering in the same manner, and we are told that the Athenians of that day thought that they heard the sculptures that were removed groaning for the fate of those that were left behind in captivity.

A further justification of his action is supplied by the additional deterioration which the sculptures that were left in position have suffered since Lord Elgin's time. If the visitor will examine the two series of casts of the west frieze of the Parthenon (exhibited behind the east pediment) he will have conclusive evidence on this point. The upper series of casts were taken from the frieze in 1872, and the lower series were taken by Lord Elgin. The later series are the better casts, but the earlier series contain so much that has since perished that they are now of great value. (For further details see p. 46.) A careful comparison of photographs made in 1897 with the casts taken in 1872 shows further lamentable injuries-partly in the loss of particular fragments, and partly in the scaling away of the original surface.

It may be added that Lord Elgin's agents refrained to a large extent from taking sculptures whose removal would involve injury to the surrounding architecture. They took casts of the west frieze, and left the south-west angle metope in its place. The only concomitant injury suffered by the Parthenon was the loss of some of the cornice above the metopes of the south side, and at the south end of the east pediment.

THE PARTHENON.

The sculptures of the Parthenon are believed to illustrate the style of Pheidias, the greatest of Greek sculptors.

Pheidias, son of Charmides, the Athenian, was born soon after 500 B.C. His youth was passed during the period of the Persian wars, and his maturity was principally devoted to the adornment of Athens during the administration of Pericles.

After the glorious repulse of the Persian invasions at Marathon (490 B.C.), Salamis (480 B.C.), and Plataea (479 B.C.), a great part of the Greek world was for a while united in the confederacy of Delos, under the leadership of Athens. From the first some of the confederate states had preferred to contribute money rather than ships or men, for the common defence. The tribute was in the first instance lodged at Delos, but in 454 B.C. the custody of the joint funds was transferred from Delos to Athens. The ground alleged by Pericles for this step was the necessity of placing the treasure in a fortified place of deposit, but, in fact, the change indicated that Athens had now assumed a nearly complete responsibility for naval defence. The Athenian claim naturally followed that, provided the fleet was adequately maintained, the State could not be called to account for its management of the funds, and might spend the tribute on the decoration of the capital city.