FLOOR.] 
ELGIN ROOM. 
83 
Athene by Alexander the Great, inscribed on a stone from one 
of the antae ; (2, 3.) a colossal arm and hand, probably from the 
statue of Athene in the Temple; (4.) a colossal foot; (5.) a 
colossal female bead, closely resembling that from the Mauso- 
leum, No. 7 supra; (6.) a male Iconic head, perhaps of a 
king of the Macedonian period ; (7.) a draped female torso ; 
(8.) an Ionic capital; (9.) a capital from one of the antae; 
(10.) fragments of the cornice. 
These marbles, together -with an interesting collection of 
inscriptions, fragments of frieze, and architectural fragments 
from the same site, were presented to the Museum by the 
Society of Dilettanti in 1870. 
ELGIN EOOM. 
This room contains the sculptures from the Parthenon, a 
portion of the frieze of the temple of the Wingless Victory at 
Athens, some architectural remains from the Erechtheum, a 
statue of Dionysos from the Choragic monument of Thrasyllos, 
together with a number of fragments and casts, all from 
Athens. The sculptures from the Parthenon, and nearly all 
the marbles in this room, were obtained by the Earl of Elgin, 
when Ambassador at Constantinople, in the years 1801—3, 
by virtue of a firman from the Sublime Porte. The Elgin 
Collection, which includes some additional marbles acquired 
after 1803, was purchased from Lord Elgin by the Govern- 
ment in 1816, for c£^35,000. 
The sculptures from the Parthenon consist of the remains 
of the pedimental compositions, the metopes and the frieze. 
The Parthenon, or temple of the virgin goddess, Athene, 
I was constructed by Iktinos about B.C. 440, under the 
administration of Perikles. It stood on the Acropolis of 
Athens, on the site formerly occupied by the more ancient 
temple of Athene, called Hecatompedon, which was burnt on 
the sacking of Athens by the Persians, B.C. 480. The Par- 
thenon, like the earlier temple, was of the Doric order of 
architecture, and was of the form termed peripteral octastyle. 
G 2 
