62 
DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES. 
[ground 
be given in tiie description of the succeeding, or Second Elgin 
Room, to which its remains more properly belong : the pedi- 
mental figures having only been transferred to this room 
owing to the want of space in the other for so arranging 
them as not to interfere with the frieze which surrounds it. 
These statues, executed under the superintendence of Phidias, 
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, seen by the spectator from 
the East, belonged to the Eastern pediment of the temple, and repre- 
sented, when perfect, the miraculous birtii 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 in the chariot of Hyperion ; Theseus, or perhaps 
Hercules, reclining on a rock, covered with a lion's skin ; two god- 
desses, 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. 
Against the wall, behind the opening, are two feet from a standing 
figure, supposed to be that of Minerva from the lost central group. 
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 Nep- 
tune for the titular supremacy of Athens. 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 : — 
Ptccumbent statue, supposed to be the river-god Ilissus ; cast of a 
group, commonly known as Hercules 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 
