202 THE EXCAVATIONS IN OLYMPIA. 



liippodamia, Kilias, the four horses abreast, the grooms (hippokrome), and 

 last the river god Alpheios, under the figure of a man reclining to the right 

 of Zeus, Oinamaos, Aerophe, Myrillos, again the four horses with two hip- 

 pokromes, and the river god Kladeos. In this way Pausantas recapitulates 

 twenty-one figures, viz : thirteen men and eight horses ; and all these have 

 been found, not perfect, it is true, but of each one some piece or other. Un- 

 fortunately, as yet only six heads have been excavated — three men's and 

 three horses'. The reconstruction of the sculptures has been begun with 

 great care, and it is prett}^ correctly ascertained to whom each separate lit- 

 tle piece belongs. The lecturer was of opinion that the tympanum would 

 have ajDpeared to bare with only twenty-one figures, and doubts not that 

 some accessory figures will turn up. Zeus, Pelops and Hippodamia have 

 been found in tolerably large fragments. The discovery of the steeds tells- 

 us plainly how advanced the Greeks were in the technical parts of their 

 subjects, and in perspective. The four horses abreast could not be allowed 

 to occupy more space than a meter. The artist had depicted three in the 

 back-ground in alto-relievo, close together, but the fourth, in advance, 

 stands alone ; and yet the group, as seen from below, has the effect of four 

 horses close together, but free. The second tympanum, by Alkamenes, the 

 pupil of Phidias, is in a much better state of preservation than the first. 

 Only eleven heads, however, are forthcoming, which Mr. Newton declares 

 to be the most beautiful and genuine of all we have of the Phidias school. 

 The picture on the pediment is the moment when the Centaurs, heated with 

 wine, begin to attack the Grecian women and virgins sitting near them. 

 Of this west tympanum twenty-six different figures have been found in all. 

 Thus the two tympana alone contain from forty to forty four figures, un- 

 doubtedly of Greek origin, a colossal endowment to science, when we re- 

 flect that, of the 7,000 or 8,000 statues in Eome, not more than from 3,000 to 

 4,000 are genuine Greek work. Paris, London and Athens have few, in- 

 deed, to show. As regards the execution of these figures, we are too much 

 accustomed to test all the Greek statues by what Phidias has done. The 

 figures we have here are undoubtedly the work of great masters ; but, as 

 they were intended for particular niches, the side invisible to the spectator 

 was left incomplete, while Phidias always worked up even those portions not 

 exposed to view in the most painfully exact manner. All these statues 

 gain immeasurably by being seen from the right height and light. Grecian 

 art is only thus comprehensible in all its grandeur. 



Then we have among our discoveries from five to twelve most excellent 

 Metopes. Pausanlas mentions particularly the Atlas-Metope, which will 

 come out in all its wonderful beauty as soon as the second cast of it has 

 been completed. One of the first objects dug out was a JSTike of Paionios, 

 unquestionably the most complete piece of statuary yet found. It is the 

 more interesting from having an inscrij)tion on it informing us of the name 

 of the sculptor, and of the fact that his work carried off the prize from all 

 other competitors. This JMike must have been placed here some fifteen 



