Ill] 



AND HISTORIC TIMES 



297 



monuments. We naturally turn to the horses sculptured by 

 Pheidias to adorn the Parthenon, — to the immortal steeds of 

 Selene and Helios on the east pediment, and to the mortal- 

 ridden horses of the frieze (Fig. 83). Pheidias naturally modelled 

 his immortal steeds after the best living horses which he had 

 seen, and these, as we have just shown, must have been good 

 cross-bred horses. A glance at the head of Selene's horse 

 (Fig. 84) shows that it is not the embodiment of the ISea lttttov 



Fig. 8.S. Greek Horsemen from the Parthenon. 



(the Urpferd) as Goethe held, but is rather modelled after a 

 good half-bred horse, probably such an animal as that for which 

 Pheidippides paid twelve minae. The head is long, the cheek 

 and jaw refined, the eye large and prominent, and the nostril 

 well shaped ^ We shall presently find that great length of 



^ There are earlier remains of horse-sculptures from the Acropolis, and 

 Olympia has also yielded similar remains. Strongylon (who made in bronze 

 a representation of the Wooden Horse of Troy, the base of which has been 

 found on the Acropolis of Athens, apparently dating from the last quarter of the 

 fifth century b.c.) was famous for his sculptures of horses and bulls. 



