ANTIQ UE MARBLES. 139 



the archipelago, also produced white marbles, generally of a more snowy 

 white than the Parian. They are called usually by the Italians marmo 

 'Greco. 



In the palmy days of Greek art the Athenians gave the preference to 

 the Pentelic marble, rather than to that of Paros, probably because it was 

 •more accessible to Athens, the quarries being on Mount Pentelicus, only 

 a-bout eight miles from the city. It is finer in grain than the Parian, and is 

 whiter, but it is less translucid, and it has a tendency to exfoliate under at- 

 mospheric influence, so that it loses in time its polished surface. It is 

 marked, too, by occasional zones of greenish talc, whence it is called by the 

 Italian sculptors cipolino statuario, from, its resemblance to an onion (cipold). 

 It is sometimes called also marmo salino, from its salt-like grains. The Par- 

 thenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheum, and most of the other principal 

 buildings of Athens, were constructed of Pentelic marble, and it was also 

 the material of some of the most celebrated of the ancient statues, such as 

 the "Yenus" of the Capitol, the '-Pallas" of the Albani villa, the "Indian 

 Bacchus," and many portrait busts. 



The Pentelic quarries, says Dodwell, are cut in perpendicular precipices 

 in the side of the mountain. The marks of the tools are everywhere visible, 

 ^nd the tracks of the sledges on which the immense masses were drawn 

 ■down the declivity to the plain are still to be seen. Several frustra of col- 

 umns and other blocks lie at the base of the excavation, just as they were 

 left by the ancient quarrymen. One of the larger excavations is worked now. 



The Hymettan marble, from Mount Hymettus on the southeast side of 

 Athens, was employed in Xenophon's time in the construction of temples, 

 altars, shrines, and statues, throughout Greece, but especially in Athens. 

 The Eomans used it to a much greater extent than the Pentelic, partly be- 

 cause the quarries-were nearer the sea, and partly because its peculiar tint 

 became the fashion. It was of a much less brilliant white than the Pen- 

 telic, in some places becoming almost gray. It was used chiefly for build- 

 ings. According to Pliny, Lucius Scaurus was the first in Eome to decorate 

 his house with Hymettan columns, 104 b. c. The statue of Meleager, in 

 Paris, is made of this marble. 



In the time of Julius Csesar quarries of white marble were opened at 

 Luna, on the coast of Eutruria, and thenceforth Eome drew her supply of 

 building marbles from this place, almost to the exclusion of the Greek mar- 

 tbles. The Pantheon, and many other public buildings, were constructed of 

 it. It was soon found to be adapted also for statuary, and finally came to be 

 preferred to the Parian. The "Antinous" of the Gapitol, now in tiie Paris 

 Museum, is of this marble, and, according to some, the "Apollo Belvedere" 

 ^Iso; but the Eoman sculptors think the latter is a Greek marble. The 

 marble of Luna, called by the ancients marmor JLunense, and which is the 

 tsame as the modern Carrara, is whiter than either the Parian or Pentelic, 

 and some ot its veins are not inferior in beauty of grain and in softness to 

 itha formar^ 



