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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,
FRAGMENT OF METOPE 16, SOUTH SIDE

V. ILISSOS, HORSES' HEADS, AMPHITRITÈ AND LEU

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XII. NORTH METOPES

XIII. FRIEZE

In pocket of Cover

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XVI. FRAGMENTS OF FRIEZE, ORIGINALS IN ATHENS .

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XVII. PARTS OF FRIEZE. DRAWN BY CARREY AND

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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,

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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.)

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