wall that separated the two parts of the temple, while probably retaining also the two lateral ones, that seem to have existed as part of the original building. To complete the change the central pillar, which supported the gallery, was removed and replaced by an arch. But the greatest change was to close the original eastern entrance and replace it by an apse, the foundations of which can yet be traced, of the same diameter as that of the three domes which replaced the original roof.

In plan the Parthenon was divided into two principal apartments, the opisthodomos and the hekatompedon. The former occupied nearly one-third of the whole length, including the thickness of the division wall, or forty-six feet, ten inches, as compared with ninety-eight feet. Its roof was supported by four Ionic columns, which are entirely gone.

In 1862 Herr Boetticher discovered distinct traces of two doorways leading from the opisthodomos to the hekatompedon. These were about five feet in width and were closed by bronze doors in two valves, the marks of which were distinctly traceable on the pave

ment.

The cella or interior apartment was called in ancient times by the Greeks the hekatompedon or the hundred footed, though it does not merit that appellation when measured by the high standard we are accustomed to find in Parthenon measurements.

The chryselephantine statue of Minerva, which this

temple was erected to enshrine, was, as we learn from Pliny, twenty-six cubits in height, or nearly forty feet.

The walls were certainly painted probably in deep Venetian red or maroon colour, with a dark dado and relieved by frets and ornaments of the infinity of patterns the Greeks knew so well how to design. The main roof of the building was probably in cedar displaying its natural colours, but the roofs of the galleries would certainly be adorned with patterns like those found by Mr. Penrose on the roofs of the Propylæa close at hand. The abacus of the columns we know was adorned with a fret and the echinus was probably ornamented with one of the numerous varieties of the honeysuckle pattern-probably all differing -of which the Greeks were so fond.

There is, in fact, no reason for doubting that the interior of the Parthenon was as richly and as completely adorned with colour as our most ornate drawing-rooms or festal halls, and carried out with all the skill and taste that characterized the age of Pericles, it probably surpassed in beauty anything seen before or since.

But in addition to these permanent decorations both the Parthenon and the hekatompedon were crowded to an almost inconceivable extent by the offerings of the votaries of the goddess. Crowns of gold and wreaths of every form, curtains and tissues of every conceivable variety, statues and statuettes and jewelry and objets d'art of every sort, testified to the devotion of the worshippers, and the wealth that was devoted to its expression. No medieval

shrine of the most fashionable saint of the Christian Church had ever such a wealth of votive offering presented to it as the Parthenon had, and none, we may safely add, that could be compared with it for beauty of design or faultlessness of execution.

THE SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON

A. S. MURRAY

HEN the Parthenon stood forth complete on the

WHE

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 relief and full of the most beautiful workmanship. Within each of the two pediments or gables was an immense group of statues, the smallest equal to life-size, the central figure colossal. Lastly, inside the Parthenon was the stupendous statue of Athenè herself in gold and

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, 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.

ivory by Pheidias. It was he who directed the whole of the work.

The greater the extent and variety of the sculptures the more urgent was the need of a unifying purpose to bring the whole together into one scheme. The Parthenon was a new temple to the goddess Athenè. To her the sculptor necessarily turned for inspiration. Her birth, her influence on the civilization of mankind, her special services to Attica, and the consequent gratitude of the Athenians, these were the themes which naturally arose in his mind. Accordingly in the east pediment, the most conspicuous place externally, he gave the birth of the goddess. In the metopes we have a long series of combats with barbarism, in which we may trace the state of things which she was born to rectify. In the west pediment she herself encounters her rival, Poseidon, and defeats him. All this is shown on the external sculptures. Within the colonnade the whole frieze is occupied with solemnities in honour of the gods, while inside the Parthenon itself the gratitude of the Athenians was seen culminating in the new colossal statue of gold and ivory.

To borrow the language of the drama, the east pediment may be called Act I., representing the surprise of the birth of Athenè. The metopes may be described as a long choral ode, showing how greatly her presence was needed by mankind in its conflicts with barbarism. The west pediment was Act II., illustrating the encounter between Athene and Poseidon. Then followed the frieze, equivalent to another long choral ode, describing the solemnity