f 14 The Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece. 



the ambulatory was roofed : 6o thai, not only the sculptor 

 may be gratified by studying every specimen of his art, trom 

 the colossal statue to the basso-relievo* executed in the 

 golden age of Pericles, by Phidias himselt., or under his 

 immediate direction ; but the practical architect may exa- 

 mine into every detail of the buildmg, even to the mode of 

 uniting the tambours of the columns, without the aid of 

 mortar, so as to give to the shafts the ajipearance of single 

 blocks. 



Equal attention has been paid to the Temjjle of Theseus ; 

 but as the walls, and columns, and sculpture of this monu- 

 ment are in their original position, no part of the sculpture 

 has been displaced, nor the minutest fragment of any kind 

 separated from the building. The meiopes in mezzo-re- 

 lievo, containing a mixture of the Labours of Hercules and 

 Theseus, have been modelled and drawn, as well as the 

 frize representing the battle between the Centaurs and La- 

 pithae, some incidents of the battle of Marathon, and some 

 mythological subjects. The temple itself is very inferior 

 in size and decorative sculpture to the Parthenon ; having 

 been built by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, before Pericles 

 had given to his countrymen a taste for such magnificence 

 and expense, as he displayed on the edifices of the Acro- 

 polis. 



The original approach to the Acropolis, from the plain 

 of Athens, was by a long flight of steps, commencing near 

 the foot of the Areopagus, and terminating at the Propylaea. 

 The Propylsea was a hexastyle colonnade, with two wings, 

 and surmounted by a pediment. Whether the metopes 

 and tympanum were adorned with sculpture, cannot nf)w 

 be ascertained; as the pediment and entablature have beep 

 destroyed, and the intercolunmiations built up with rubbish, 

 in order to raise a bAttery of cannon on the top. Although 

 the plan of this edifice contain some deviations from the 

 pure taste that reigns in the other structures of the Acro- 

 polis, yet each member is so perfect in the details of its 

 execution, that lord Elgin was at great pains to obtain a 

 Doric and an Ionic capital from its ruins. On the rigli^ 

 hand of the Propylsea, was a tcmjilc dedicated to Victory 

 without wini!;s ; an epithet t(» which many explanations 

 }iave beei) given. This temple was built from the sale of 

 the spoils won in the glorious struggles for freedom at 

 Marathon, Salamis, and Plaisea. On its frize were sculp- 

 tured many incidents of these memorable battles; in a style 

 ^hat has been thought bv no means inferior to the metope? 

 pf th^ Parth«jnon. The only fragments of it that had escaped 



tiic 



