THE FRIEZE OE THE PARTHENON 



This frieze is the masterpiece of Attic bas-relief. Measuring 524 feet in length and 

 3 feet 3^ inches in width, Phidias made masterly use of his opportunity thereon to portray 

 the festal procession that ascended the Acropolis to present to the goddess the robe woven 

 in her honor bv the Athenian virgins. 



which serve to link the life of the present 

 with the days that are gone are most 

 carefully preserved. For example, in a 

 house which I know well in Athens, set 

 into its interior basement walls are some 

 battered fragments of a slab which were 

 brought to life in making the excavations 



for the building and which show that on 

 that spot had dwelt a forgotten Athenian 

 of an older day who had been hard 

 pressed and who had mortgaged his 

 house, in token of which the instrument, 

 as was the custom, had been engraved 

 upon the marble walls of the building. 



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