FLOOR ] 
ELGIN ROOM. 
85 
the sacking of Atlieos by the Persians, B.C. 480. The Par- 
thenon, like the earher temple, was of the Doric order of 
architecture, and was of the form termed peripteral octostyle. 
The sculptural decorations were all executed under the super- 
intendence of Phidias. 
The cella within the colonnade contained the colossal 
statue of Athene, executed in gold and ivory, one of the 
most celebrated works of Phidias. Externally, the cella was 
ornamented by a frieze in very low relief. The two pedi- 
ments were filled with figures sculptured in the round, and 
above the architrave the spaces between the triglyphs were 
decorated with groups sculptured in high relief All these 
sculptured decorations were executed, like the architecture, in 
Pentelic marble. The relative position of these sculptures is 
shown in the model of the Parthenon representing the temple 
as it appeared A.D. 1687, immediately after the bombardment 
of Athens by the Venetian General, Morosini, when the 
explosion of a powder magazine shattered the middle part of 
the edifice. This model, executed by Mr. K. C. Lucas, 
sculptor, stands in the South- West angle of the room. 
The group on the West side of this room belonged to the Eastern 
pediment of the temple, and represented, -svlien perfect, the birth of 
Athene from the head of Zeus. The central figures, by which the 
action of the scene was expressed, have perished. 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 
Helios, or the Sun, rising from the sea, as at the approach of day; 
heads of two horses from the chariot of Helios ; a male figure, re- 
clining on a rock, covered with a lion's skin, popularly called The- 
seus, though there is no good ground for such an attribution ; two 
goddesses, probably Demeter and Persephone, sitting on low seats ; a 
female figure in rapid motion, supposed to be Iris, sent to announce 
on earth the intelligence of the birth of the goddess. 
At the North end of the pediment, torso of Victory ; group of one 
recumbent and two seated females, called the three Fates ; head of a 
horse from the chariot either of Night, or of the Lloon, descending 
beneath the horizon. 
On the opposite side of the room are the remains of the Western 
pediment, in which was represented the contest of Athene with 
Poseidon for the soil of Attica. Though this group is now in a 
