LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE HEAD OF YOUTH, FROM NORTH FRIEZE I. VIEW OF PARTHENON II. ST. PETERSBURG VASE AND EAST PEDIMENT OF OLYMPIA III. WEST PEDIMENT OF PARTHENON (CARREY). IV. FRAGMENT of T (West PEDIMENT), Bronze Group, V. ILISSOS, HORSES' HEADS, AMPHITRITÈ AND LEU COTHEA VI. EAST PEDIMENT (CARREY) VIII. VICTORY AND THREE FATES XVII. PARTS OF FRIEZE. DRAWN BY CARREY AND STUART 9 126 133 36 144 THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY [PLATE I.] HEN the Parthenon stood forth complete on the WH Acropolis of Athens in or about the year 438 B.C., there was no other building in the whole of Greece comparable even in the mere extent and variety of its sculptures.' Imagine a frieze 522 feet in length sculptured all along with figures nearly half life size, in many parts densely crowded till the marble could carry no more, the whole in very low relief and executed with marvellous detail. Above the columns externally and round all the four sides of the temple were ninety-two metopes, each consisting of a group of two figures two-thirds life size, in the highest possible 1 Plutarch, Pericles, xiii., speaking of the buildings then being erected in Athens under the auspices of Pericles, including, of course, the Parthenon, says, "As the buildings rose, stately in size and unsurpassed in form and grace, B the workmen vied with each other that the quality of their work might be enhanced by its artistic beauty. Most wonderful of all was the rapidity of the construction." (H. Stuart Jones, Selected Passages, etc.) |