FLOOR.] 
FIRST ELGIN ROOM. 
73 
the greatest of ancient sculptors, form collectively, not- 
withstanding their dilapidated condition, the most valuable 
monument of Greek art which has descended to modern times. 
The group on the West side of this room belonged to the Eastern 
pediment of the temple, and represented, when perfect, the miraculous 
birth of Minerva from the head of Jupiter. The central figures, by 
which the action of the scene was expressed, have, with the exception 
of a single fragment, perished, without any delineation or copy of them 
surviving. Their place is here indicated by the opening in the middle 
of the group, which must be understood as representing a space of 
between thirty and forty feet. Of the figures which remain, the 
following are the designations most generally received, though subject 
to much difference of opinion : — 
At the South end of the pediment, the upper part of the figure of 
Hyperion, or the Sun, rising from the sea, as at the approach of day; 
heads of two horses from the chariot of Hyperion ; a male figure, re- 
clining on a rock, covered with a lion's skin, generally called Theseus; 
two goddesses, probably Ceres and Proserpine, sitting on low seats ; 
Iris, the celestial Messenger, in rapid motion, as if to announce on 
earth the intelligence of the birth of the goddess. 
At the North end of the pediment, torso of Victory ; group of two 
seated and one recumbent female, supposed to be the three Fates ; 
head of a horse from the chariot either of Night, or of the Moon, 
descending into the sea. 
On the opposite side of the room are the remains of the Western 
pediment, in which was represented the contest of Minerva with 
Neptune for the soil of Attica. Though this group is now in a 
more fragmentary state than the other, it was more perfect in 
a.d. 1674, when drawings, still extant, were made of all the sculptures 
of the temple by Carrey, a French artist, and we are thus enabled to 
supply many of the missing portions with greater certainty. Those 
statues which still remain at Athens are here represented by casts. 
Beginning at the North end the figures are as follow : — 
Recumbent statue, generally called the river-god Ilissus, but more 
probably the Cephissus; cast of a group, commonly known as Her- 
cules and Hebe ; male torso, supposed to represent Cecrops, the first 
king of Attica; upper part of the head, and fragment of the breast, 
of Minerva ; upper part of the torso of Neptune ; draped female torso, 
supposed to be Amphitrite ; lower part of a seated female figure, per- 
haps Latona; cast of the torso of a crouching male figure, by some 
considered as the river-god Cephissus, but more probably the Ilissus ; 
part of a recumbent female figure, perhaps the nymph Callirrhoe. 
Against the wall, behind the figures of this pediment, are placed 
casts from some fragments of horses, which probably belonged to the 
chariot of Minerva. 
At the North end, on a stone table, is a cast from the head of the 
figure of Victory, which formerly belonged to the Western pediment. 
