ELGIN MARBLES. 



KI.;IN MAiciii.ix 



HI 



originally KCD upuu the Parthenon. Thxw on tin- principul front of 

 UM temple, namely, the east, re placed fint, thru follow those of the 

 north, and U.tly those of UM west and south. They are arranged, in 

 abort, in the CUM manner in which the spectator vi. a, .1 them an he 

 approached the temple by the east, and walked round it by the north, 

 west, and south. But the spectator in the Klin Room has to keep in 

 mind that what formerly surrounded an exterior wall now lines the 

 interior of a room. For some remarks on their artistic character, see 

 the article AXTO-RlUKVO, already referred to. 



The slabs 17 to 84, form the rutern friee, the portion which occu- 

 pied the east end of the temple. The figures on slab 17, the Virgins 

 of Auk*, head the procession from the southern frieze. The slab 19, 

 the longest in the collection, stood immediately above the eastern 

 entrance or door, and was the centre of the composition. In this slab, 

 upon the left, a Priestess is represented, supposed to be the wife of 

 the principal archun, or chief magistrate of Athens, in the act of 

 receiving from two canephori, or bearers of the mystic baskets, the 

 articles serring for the rites of sacrifice. To her left stands the 

 Archun, in a drapery which reaches from the head to the feet, receiving 

 from the hands of a youth a piece of cloth folded in a square form in 

 numerous thicknesses, conjectured .to be the peplus, or embroidered 

 veil, the sail of the Panathenaic ship, and the principal ornament of 

 the procession. On each side of the groups which represent the 

 priestess and archon are various seated figures,' among which Zeus, 

 Pallas Athene, Triptolemus, .jEsculapius, and Hygeia are the most 

 conspicuous. Another train of females head the procession as it comes 

 from the northern frieze ; and here the sculptures which adorned the 

 eastern front of the Parthenon terminate. This part of the frieze is 

 greatly mutilated ; but the explanation of it is aided by some drawings 

 of the Parthenon made in 1674, by Jacques Carrey for the Marquis de 

 Xointel, at a time when the sculptures were a little more perfect. 

 These drawings are in the Imperial Library at Paris, and copies of 

 them are in the British Museum. 



From the Nointel drawings it appears that the virgins who led the 

 procession from the northern frieze, like those on the southern side, 

 were followed by oxen led as victims ; the foreigners settled in Athena 

 were likewise represented, with the players on the flute and lyre ; 

 and a troop of citizens closed the train of persons on foot. But all 

 these have disappeared. Nineteen slabs and a large portion of the 

 northern frieze fell when the Acropolis was besieged by the Venetians 

 in 1687, and these subjects were amongst them. The slabs with which 

 the remains of this frieze now open, NOB. 25 to 31, consist of Chariots 

 and charioteers in action, followed by a train of horsemen, Athenian 

 citizens of the second class, who served in the cavalry. This, the 

 most beautiful portion of the whole frieze, extends from No. 32 to 46 ; 

 in the forms and actions ofr the horses, in the attitudes and costumes 

 of the riders, and in the distribution of the figures, the sculptors seem 

 to have reached the highest excellence of their art in the department 

 of low relief. (See cuts of No. 45, under ALTO-UILIKVO, col. 257, and 



No. 39 below.) The bridles of the horses, in many of the slabs here 



referred to, were originally of gilded bronze, as appears by the 



left in the marble. Small pieces of the bronze itself were found l-\ 



[Slab, No. 39.] 



Lord Elgin's formatori when taking moulds for him from this part of 

 the frieze in its original position. 



A single slab (but of exquisite beauty, No. 47, see cut of the pi in 

 cipal figure, ALTO-RiLiEvo, col. 255), is all which the Museum possesses 

 in marble, of the western frieze. Plaster casts of fourteen slabs, 

 which form the remainder of the western frieze, and which are still 

 attached to the Temple, follow it, nunii ,r,d l> t.i r,l. The v 

 frieze extended over the front, and over the ante of the O] 

 or back chamber. The direction of the figures is the same as that n 

 the north side, namely from right to left. There is a peculi.ni- 

 in the frieze of the west end, which distinguishes it from that on the 

 north and south sides of the temple. The subjects represented on <!,. 

 slabs of those two sides run one into another ; that is, what \. 

 imperfect in one slab is completed in the next; whereas in tli 

 end tlio subjects are nearly complete on each piece of marble. Tlu> 

 western frieze is likewise distinguished from those of tli' 

 sides of the temple by the comparatively few figures introduced 

 into it. 



\\V now come to that portion of the frieze which enriched (.In- 

 southern side of the Temple. The direction of the figures whi.-h 



[The Fat*.] 



form it is from left to right, and the numbers being in continuity from 

 the western frieze, begin with the end of the procession, and extend 

 from 62 to 90, round to the door of entrance into the Elgin Room : 

 these slabs have been greatly injured. In this, as in the western 

 frieze, the spectator is supposed to have his face turned respectively 

 to the north and south rndes of the temple. A considerable number 

 of the slabs, Nos. 62 to 77, represent horsemen ; 78 to 82 consist of 

 chariot* ; a collection of citizens and old men, corresponding with 

 those of the northern frieze, l.ut more numerous, preceded these ; all, 

 however, but a single fragment of four women (No. 88) have dis- 

 appeared. In the Rials and fragments numbered 84 to 90 we see the 

 sacrificial oxen, and upon the turn of the slab 90 is a figure, believed 



to be that of a magistrate looking round upon the procession which 

 follows him. Ho is interposed between the end of the procession on 

 the northern, and the beginning of that upon the eastern frieze. At 

 the end of the room are a few casts of isolated slabs which still remain 

 at Athens. 



Of the Statufi and fragments from the tympana, or pediments, of 

 the Parthenon, those toward the southern end of the. Klgin Room, 

 Nos. 91 to 98, are from the eastern pediment, the allegory of which 

 represented the Biith of Athene; these consist of the neck, the 

 shoulders, and the arms of the figure of Hyperion rising from 

 the sea, the Horses of Hyperion, the magnificent recumlicnt 

 statue called Theseus, the goddesses, supposed to be Dei,,, t. r 



