The figures of animals, too, are full of life and action in this period. I shall only give one illustration, and shall choose the head of a lion, probably the best specimen of animal drawing which is yet known in Assyrian art. It represents the head of a wounded lion, who, in his agony, rushes upon a chariot and seizes the wheel with his teeth. The drawing of this head, as a portrayal of agony and fierceness, compares favorably with anything of the same kind belonging to any age of art, either classic or modern (Fig. 12).

There is a question which has not yet been decided as to the amount of color used on the Assyrian bas-reliefs. From the traces of color remaining on those that are found in the excavations, and from what we know of the use of colors on the buildings to which the bas-reliefs belonged, we may be sure that colors were used on them; but to what extent cannot be told. It may have been applied with the freedom of the Egyptians, or it may have been sparingly used, as was the manner of the ancient Greeks. The colors that have been found in the ruins of Assyria are white, black, red and blue.

Next to the sculpture, the metal work of the Assyrians was the most important of their arts. This work was done in three ways: I. Whole figures or parts of figures cast in a solid shape. II. Castings of low bas-reliefs. III. Embossed designs made chiefly with the hammer, but finished with the graver. In the solid castings there are only animal forms, and lions are far more numerous than any other creature. Many of them have a ring fastened to the back, which indicates that they were used for weights. These castings are all small and their form good; but we have no reason to think that the Assyrians could make large metal castings.

The castings in relief were used to ornament thrones, furniture, and perhaps chariots. They were fastened in their places by means of small nails. They had no great merit. The embossed or hammered work, on the contrary, is artistic and very curious. Large numbers of embossed bowls and dishes have been found, and this work was used for the end of sword-sheaths, the sides of chairs and stools, and various other ornamental purposes. It is probable that the main part of the tables, chairs, and so on were of wood, with the ornaments in embossed metals. All this shows the Assyrians to have been an artistic people, and to have reached an interesting stage in their arts, though their works are coarse and imperfect when judged by Greek standards or by our own idea of what is beautiful. If we had the space to consider all the various designs of the bas-reliefs in detail, you would learn from them a great many interesting facts concerning the domestic life of this ancient and interesting people. From them we can learn all about the costumes worn by the king and those of lesser rank; can see how their wars were carried on, and what their chariots, weapons, and equipments were. Their games, amusements, musical instruments, agricultural pursuits, food, and, in short, everything connected with their daily life is plainly shown in these sculptures, and, as I have said before, the whole history of Assyria is better studied from them than from any other one source. For this reason their great value cannot be over-estimated (Fig. 13).

Other very ancient nations had sculptors, and a few remains of their arts still exist. This is true of the Medes, Babylonians, and Persians; but the general features of their arts resembled those of the Assyrians, though they were less advanced than that nation, and have left nothing as interesting as the Egyptian and Assyrian remains which we have considered. I shall therefore leave them and pass to the sculpture of Greece.

CHAPTER II.

Sculpture deals almost exclusively with the form of man, and the other features in it have some relation to the human element of the design; and it would have been impossible for a true Greek to represent the human form otherwise than beautiful. A writer on this point says: "The chief aim of the enlightened Greek, his highest ambition and his greatest joy, was to be a man in the fullest sense of the word—man in the most complete development of his bodily strength and beauty, in the active exercise of the keenest senses, in the greatest because tempered enjoyment of sensual pleasure, in the free and joyous play of an intellect strong by nature, graced and guided by the most exquisite taste, and enlightened by the sublimest philosophy." Thus, beauty was so important to the Greek that every parent prayed that his children might have this gift, and the names of beautiful persons were engraved upon pillars set where all could read them; and at times there were competitions for the prize of beauty.

The religion of the Greek, too, taught that the body was the beautiful and godlike temple of his soul; and the truth that human beings have something in common with a higher power than their own gave him a great respect for humanity, and, in truth, he felt that if he could escape death he should be content and almost, if not quite, a god. For we must remember that the gods of the Greek were not all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good, as we believe our God to be. If you read their mythology you will find that with the power of the god much imperfection and weakness were mingled. They did not believe that Zeus had been the greatest god from the beginning, but that there was a time when he had no power. He was not omniscient nor omnipresent, and was himself subject to the decrees of Fate, as when he could not save his loved Sarpedon from death. Not knowing all things, even the gods are sometimes represented as depending upon mortals for information, and all these religious views tended to make the human form far more noble to the Greek than it can be to the Christian, with his different views of the relations of God and man.

Greek sculpture existed in very early days, and we have vague accounts of a person called Dædalus, who seems to have been a wood-carver. Many cities claimed to have been his birthplace, and no one can give any clear account of this ancient artist. He is called the inventor of the axe, saw, gimlet, plummet-line, and a kind of fish-glue or isinglass. He is also said to have been the first sculptor who separated the arms from the bodies of his statues, or made the feet to step out; he also opened their eyes, and there is a legend that the statues of Dædalus were so full of life that they were chained lest they should run away.

We call the time to which Dædalus belonged the prehistoric period, and his works and those of other artists of his day have all perished. Two very ancient specimens of sculpture remain—the Lion Gate of Mycenæ and the Niobe of Mount Sipylus; but as their origin is not known, and they may not be the work of Greek artists, it is best for us to pass on to about 700 B.C., when the records of individual artists begin.

Among the earliest of these was Dibutades, of whom Pliny said that he was the first who made likenesses in clay. This author also adds that Dibutades first mixed red earth with clay, and made the masks which were fastened to the end of the lowest hollow tiles on the roofs of temples. Pliny relates the following story of the making of the first portrait in bas-relief.

Dibutades lived in Sicyon, and had a daughter called sometimes Kora, and again Callirhoe. She could not aid her father very much in his work as a sculptor, but she went each day to the flower-market and brought home flowers, which gave a very gay and cheerful air to her father's little shop. Kora was very beautiful, and many young Greeks visited her father for the sake of seeing the daughter. At length one of these youths asked Dibutades to take him as an apprentice; and when this request was granted the young man made one of the family of the sculptor. Their life was one of simple content. The young man could play upon the reed, and his education fitted him to be the instructor of Kora. After a time, for some reason that Pliny does not mention, it was best for the youth to go away from the artist's home, and he then asked Kora if she would be his wife. She consented, and vows of betrothal were exchanged, while they were sad at the thought of parting.

The last evening of his stay, as they sat together, Kora seized a coal from the brazier, and traced upon the wall the outline of the face that was so dear to her; and she did this so correctly that when her father saw it he knew instantly from what face it had been drawn. Then he wished to do his part, for he also loved the young man. So he brought his clay and filled in the outline which Kora had drawn, and so went on to model the first portrait in bas-relief that was ever made. Thus did this great art grow out of the love of this beautiful maiden of Sicyon, about twenty-five hundred years ago.

After this beginning Dibutades went on to perfect his art. He made medallions and busts, and decorated the beautiful Grecian structures with his work, and work in bas-relief became the most beautiful ornamentation of the splendid temples and theatres of Greece. He also founded a school for modelling at Sicyon, and became so famous an artist that several Greek cities claim the honor of having been his birthplace.

The bas-relief made from Kora's outline was preserved in the Nymphæum at Corinth for almost two hundred years, but was then destroyed by fire. She married her lover, and he became a famous artist at Corinth.

We have said that accounts of individual artists exist from about 700 B.C.; but these accounts are of so general a character and so wanting in detail that I shall pass on about two hundred years, after saying a few words of the advance made in the arts of sculpture, and mentioning a few of the examples which remain from that early time, which is called the Archaic period. This expression not only means an ancient period of art, but carries also the idea of an obsolete art—of something that is not only ancient, but something that is no longer practised in the same manner or by the same people as existed in this ancient or archaic time. During this archaic period a beginning was made in many branches of plastic art. There were statues in metal and marble, bas-reliefs in various kinds of stone and marble, as well as some chryselephantine statues. This kind of work is often said to have been invented by Phidias, but the truth seems to be that he was not its inventor, but carried it to great perfection. These chryselephantine statues were made of wood and then covered with ivory and gold; the ivory was used for the flesh parts of the statue, and gold for the drapery and ornaments of the figure, and the finished work was very brilliant in its effect.

The principal subjects represented in the sculpture of the archaic period were connected with the religion of the Greeks, which is known to us as mythology. Most statues were of the gods, but portrait statues were not unknown, and the custom of setting up statues of the victors in the Greek games dates back to this very early time. This was a custom which afforded a large field for sculptors to work in, and must have had a great influence to give life and progress to their art.

Of the remains of this art very interesting things have been written, but I shall speak only of a few such objects of which pictures can be given to aid you in understanding about them. Among the earliest reliefs that have been preserved are those now in the Museum of the Louvre, at Paris, which were found in the ruins of a Doric temple at Assos (Fig. 15).

The various designs upon these marbles seem to have no connection with each other, and are executed in a rude manner. The most interesting one represents Heracles, or Hercules, struggling with a Triton (Fig. 16).

The female figures represent Nereids, who are terrified by seeing Heracles in contest with the sea-monster. There are many proofs that these reliefs belong to a very ancient day.

An interesting relief from the temple of Selinus represents Heracles striding off with a pole across his shoulders, to which are hung two Cecrops who had robbed and tormented him (Fig. 17).

A very fine work is also from Selinus, and represents Actæon torn by his dogs. The mythological story was that Zeus, or Jupiter, was angry with Actæon because he wished to marry Semele, and the great god commanded Artemis, or Diana, to throw a stag's skin over Actæon, so that his own dogs would tear him. In the relief Artemis stands at the left (Fig. 18).

There is in the British Museum a monument which was discovered at Xanthos in 1838. It is thought to have been made about 500 B.C., and is called "The Harpy Monument," It is a tower, round the four sides of which runs a frieze at a height of about twenty-one feet from the ground. The frieze is of white marble, and is let into the frieze which is of sandstone. The Lycians, in whose country it was found, were accustomed to bury their dead at the top of such towers.

There is very great difference of opinion among scholars and critics concerning the meaning of the various scenes in these sculptures; and as all their writing is speculation, and no one knows the truth about it, I shall only say that it is a very interesting object in the history of art, and shall speak of the four corner figures on the shortest parts of the frieze, from which the whole work takes its name. The Harpies are very curious; they had wings, and arms like human arms, with claws for hands, and feathered tails. Their bodies are egg-shaped, which is a very strange feature in their formation. We cannot explain all these different things, but there is little doubt that, with the little forms which they have in their arms, they represent the messengers of death bearing away the souls of the deceased. In the Odyssey, Homer represents the Harpies as carrying off the daughters of King Pandareus and giving them to the cruel Erinnyes for servants. For this reason the Harpies were considered as robbers, and whenever a person suddenly disappeared it was said that they had been carried off by Harpies (Fig. 19).

Before leaving this subject of existing sculptures from the fifth century B.C., I will speak of the two groups which belonged to the temple of Minerva in Ægina, and are now in the Glyptothek at Munich. The city of Ægina was the principal city of the island of Ægina, which was in the gulf of the same name, near the south-west coast of Greece. This city was at the height of its prosperity about 475 B.C., at which time a beautiful temple was built, of which many columns are still standing, though much of it has fallen down. In 1811 some English and German architects visited this place, and the marbles they obtained are the most remarkable works which still exist from so early a period. Thorwaldsen, the Danish sculptor, restored these reliefs, and the King of Bavaria bought them.

Upon the western pediment there were eleven figures which represented an episode in the Trojan war; it was the struggle of Ajax, Ulysses, and other Greek warriors to obtain the dead body of Achilles, which was held by the Trojans. The story is that the goddess Thetis had dipped her son Achilles in the river Styx for the purpose of making him invulnerable, or safe from wounds by weapons. But as she held him by the ankles they were not wetted, and so he could be wounded in them. During the siege of Troy Apollo guided the arrow of Paris to this spot, and the great leader of the Greeks was killed. It is believed that the warrior in this picture who is about to send his arrow is Paris. In the central or highest part of the pediment the goddess Minerva stands and tries to cover the fallen body of Achilles with her shield. These figures are on the side where the space grows narrower. You can judge of what the action and spirit of the whole must be when these smaller figures have so much. We are sure that the arrow will shoot out with such force as must carry death to its victim, and the second warrior, who braces himself on his feet and knee, will thrust his lance with equal power (Fig. 20).

There are traces of color and of metal ornaments upon these Æginetan statues; the weapons, helmets, shields, and quivers were red or blue; the eyes, hair, and lips were painted, and there are marks upon the garments of the goddess that show that she must have had bronze ornaments. There was a famous sculptor of Ægina named Callon, who lived about the time that this temple was built; and though it is not known to be so, yet many critics and scholars believe that he may have been the sculptor of these works, because they resemble the written descriptions of his statues and reliefs.

There was a period which we call archaistic, and by this we indicate a time when it was the fashion for the sculptors to imitate as nearly as possible the works of the true archaic period. It has constantly happened in the history of society that fashion has ordained this same thing, though the objects of imitation have varied with the different ages and nations. This archaistic "craze" to imitate old sculptures was at its height in the times of the Roman emperors Augustus and Hadrian; but here in America we have seen the same passion manifested in the desire to have such furniture as Queen Anne and her people admired, or such as "came over in the Mayflower;" and when the true original articles were no longer to be found in garrets and out-of-the-way places, then manufacturers began to imitate the old in the new, and one can now buy all sorts of ancient-looking furniture that is only just from the workmen's hands.

But among the Greeks there was a second motive for reproducing the works of the earlier artists, which was the fact that the images of the gods and such articles as belonged to religious services were sacred in their earliest forms, and were venerated by the people. Thus it followed that the advance and change in the taste of the people and the skill of the artists was more suited to other subjects, while the religious images were made as nearly as possible like the older ones. If it happened that a rude ancient image of a god was placed side by side with a modern and more beautiful statue of the same deity, the pious Greek would prefer the ugly one, while he could well admire the most lovely. You should remember that these temple images were really objects of actual worship.

Many of these archaistic works are in various museums of art.

This is a very beautiful temple image, and was discovered at Pompeii in 1760. It was found in a small temple or chapel, of which it must have been the principal deity. It is in excellent preservation; the only parts which are wanting are the fingers of the right hand and the object which it held. Like many of these statues, it is less than life-size—four feet and two inches in height. When it was first discovered there were many traces of color about it. The hair was gilded to represent the blonde hair which the poets ascribed to Artemis (Diana). There was considerable red about the garments, and some flowers were upon the border of the drapery. There is an archaic stiffness about this statue, but the flowing hair, the form of the eyes, and the free style of the nude parts all show that it belongs to the archaistic period (Fig. 21).

It would be pleasant and satisfying if we could trace step by step the progress of Greek sculpture from the rude archaic manner to that of the Periclean age, or from such art as is seen in the sculpture of Ægina to the perfections of the reliefs of the Parthenon. This we cannot do; but we know some of the causes that led to this progress, and can give accounts of a few sculptors who, while they did not equal the great Phidias, were at least the forerunners of such a type of art as his.

The chief cause of the progress of art was the greater freedom of the artist in the choice and treatment of his subjects. So long as the subjects were almost entirely religious there could be little variety in the manner of treating them. Each god or goddess had its own attributes, which must be rendered with exact care; and any new mode of portraying them was almost a sacrilege. But as time passed on and the Panhellenic games and the national Pantheon at Olympia grew into their great importance, new subjects were furnished for the artists, which allowed them to show their originality and to indulge their artistic imaginations to their fullest extent. The victors in the games were heroes, and regarded even as demi-gods, and statues were allowed to be erected to them, although this had hitherto been considered a divine honor and was accorded to the gods alone. When these heroes were represented, the artists, not being bound by any laws, could study their subjects and represent them to the life as nearly as they were able to do. This exaltation of the Olympian victors gave an opportunity for the development of sculpture such as cannot be over-estimated in its influence and results.

Another characteristic of the art of the time we are now considering was the almost universal use of bronze. This metal is excellent for displaying the minute features of the nude parts of statues, but it is not equal to marble in the representation of draperies or for giving expression to the face. Pythagoras of Rhegium was a famous artist who worked entirely in bronze. The only copies from his works of which we know are on two gems, one of which is in the Berlin Museum. He made exact studies of the body in action, and gave new importance to the reproduction of the veins and muscles. It is also claimed that Pythagoras was the first to lay down clearly the laws of symmetry or proportion which is governed by strict mathematical rules.

Myron of Eleutheræ flourished about 500 to 440 B.C., and was reckoned among Athenian artists because, though not born at Athens, he did most of his works there, and his most famous work, the statue of a cow, stood on the Acropolis of that city. This cow was represented as in the act of lowing, and was elevated upon a marble base. It was carried from Athens to Rome, where it stood in the Forum of Peace. Many writers mentioned this work of Myron's, and thirty-seven epigrams were written concerning it.

Though the cow was so much talked of, the artistic fame of Myron rests more upon the "Discobolus," or quoit-thrower. The original statue does not exist, but there are several copies of it. That in the Massimi Villa is a very accurate one, and was found on the Esquiline Hill at Rome in A.D. 1782; our illustration is made from this statue. Myron's great skill in representing the human figure in excited action is well shown in the quoit-thrower. To make such a figure as this requires great power in a sculptor. No model could constantly repeat this action, and if he could there is but a flash of time in which the artist sees just the position he reproduces. This figure, however, is so true to life that one feels like keeping out of the range of the quoit when it flies (Fig. 22). There are several other existing works attributed to Myron: they are a marble copy of his statue of Marsyas, in the Lateran at Rome; two torsi in the gallery at Florence; a figure called Diomed, and a bronze in the gallery at Munich.

Myron made statues of gods and heroes, but he excelled in representing athletes. His works were very numerous, and a list of those which are only known through the mention of them by various writers would be of little value here. While Myron reproduced the form and action of the body with marvellous effect, he made no advance in representing the expression of the face, nor in the treatment of the hair. He was daring in his art, for he not only imitated what he saw in life, but he also represented grotesque imaginary creatures, and in many ways proved that he had a rich creative fancy.

A third sculptor of this time was Calamis, who was in his prime about B.C. 450. He was not born in Athens, but he worked there. Calamis added to the exact representations of Pythagoras and Myron the element of grace beyond their powers in that direction. He made a greater variety of figures than they, for to gods and heroes he added heroines, boys and horses. His works were in bronze, gold and ivory, as well as marble. But what we know of Calamis is gathered from the writings of Greek authors rather than from works, or copies of works, by him still existing; indeed, no statue remains known to be his own, though there are some which critics fancy may be so. But we may be certain of his great excellence from the many praises sung and said of him, and Lucian, who knew all the best works of all the greatest masters of Greece, puts Calamis before them all for elegance and grace, and for the finer expression of faces; when imagining a beautiful statue of a young girl he declares that he would go to Calamis to impart to it a chaste modesty and give it a sweet and unaffected smile.

Phidias is the most famous of all Greek sculptors, and as Greek sculpture is the finest sculpture of which we have any knowledge, it follows that Phidias was the first sculptor of the world. And yet, in spite of his fame, we do not know the time of his birth. We know that he was the son of Charmidas, but we know nothing of the father except that he had a brother who was a painter, and this makes it probable that the family of Phidias were artists.

As nearly as can be told, Phidias was born about B.C. 500. This would have made him ten years old at the time of the battle of Marathon and twenty years old when Salamis was fought, while he came of age at the time of Platæa. He seems to have begun his artistic life as a painter, and we know nothing of him as an independent sculptor until the administration of Cimon, about B.C. 471. But his finest works belong to the time of Pericles, who was his friend as well as patron, and made him the master over all the great public works at Athens during what we speak of as the Periclean age.

It seems that the favor of Pericles was a dear privilege to Phidias, for it exposed him to bitter envy and hatred; and those who feared to attack Pericles himself avenged themselves upon Phidias, and accused him of dishonesty in obtaining the gold for the robe of the statue of Minerva which he made for the Parthenon. He proved himself innocent of this, but he was accused of other crimes, and one account says that he was thrown into prison and died there of disease or poison. Another account relates that the great sculptor went into exile at Elis, where he made his most famous statue, the Olympian Zeus, and that he was there convicted of theft and put to death. With such contradictory stories we cannot know the exact truth; but we do know that he went to Elis accompanied by distinguished artists. He was received with honor, and for a long time the studio that he occupied there was shown to strangers. The Olympians also allowed him an honor which the Athenians never extended to him—that is, to inscribe his name upon the base of the statue of Zeus, which he was not permitted to do in the case of the Minerva (or Athena) of the Parthenon.

It often happens in the case of a very great man that the events which have preceded his manhood have prepared the way for him and his work in so striking a manner that it seems as if he could not have been great at any other time, and that he could not avoid being so, when everything had been shaped to his advantage. This was true of Phidias. When he came to be a man the dreadful wars which had ravaged Greece were over, and the destruction of the older structures prepared the way for the rebuilding of Athens. Large quantities of "marble, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony and cypress wood" were there, and a great number of skilful workmen were at hand to work under his command. The Athenians were ablaze with zeal to rebuild the temples and shrines of their gods, who, as they believed, had led them to their victories, and not only the public, but the private means were used to make Athens the grandest and most beautiful city of the world.

The first great work with which the name of Phidias was connected was the building of the temple of Theseus, called also the Theseion. This was a very important temple, and was constructed in obedience to the command of an oracle in this wise: In B.C. 470 the island of Scyros had been taken by the Athenians, and upon this island Theseus had been buried. After the battle of Marathon, in which he had aided the Athenians, Theseus was much regarded by them, and in B.C. 476 they were directed to remove his bones to Athens and build over them a shrine worthy of so great a champion. Just then a gigantic skeleton was discovered at Scyros by Cimon, and was brought to Athens with great ceremony, and laid to rest with pompous respect, and the splendid temple dedicated to Theseus was begun, and Phidias was commissioned to make its plastic ornaments. The precincts of this temple later became a sanctuary where the poor man and the slave could be safe from the oppressor.

Phidias executed many works under the patronage of Cimon, the greatest of which was the colossal statue of Minerva, which stood on the Acropolis. It was called the "Minerva Promachos," and was so gigantic that "the crest of her helmet and the point of her spear could be seen by the mariner off the promontory of Sunium glittering in the sunlight as a welcome to her own chosen people, and an awful warning to her foes." The meaning of Promachos may be given as champion or guardian, and we know from existing descriptions that, with its pedestal, it must have been at least seventy feet in height. It was made from the spoils taken at Marathon; its pedestal was found, in 1840, standing between the Parthenon and the Erechtheium. It has been called the "Pallas with the golden spear," for this goddess was known as Athena, Minerva, and Pallas, and it is said that Alaric was so impressed by its awful aspect that he shrank from it in horror. The only representations of this statue now in existence are upon Athenian coins, and the position of the goddess differs in these, as you will see by the illustration (Fig. 23); there are reasons for believing that the one in which the shield rests upon the ground is correct, one of which is that some years after the death of Phidias the inside of the shield was ornamented by a relief of the battle of the Centaurs.

Though Phidias proved himself to be a great artist during the reign of Cimon, it was not until the time of Pericles that he reached the glorious height of his genius. Pericles and Phidias seem to have been two grand forces working in harmony for the political and artistic grandeur of Athens, and, indeed, of all Attica, for within a period of twenty years nearly all the great works of that country were begun and completed. Plutarch writes of these wonders in these words: "Hence we have the more reason to wonder that the structures raised by Pericles should be built in so short a time, and yet built for ages. For as each of them, as soon as it was finished, had the venerable air of antiquity, so now that they are old they have the freshness of a modern building. A bloom is diffused over them which preserves their aspect untarnished by time, as if they were animated with a spirit of perpetual youth and unfading elegance."

It is quite impossible that I should speak here of the works of Phidias in detail, and I have decided to speak only of the frieze of the Parthenon, because the Elgin marbles enable us to give illustrations from it and to know more about this than of the other works of the great masters about whom whole volumes might be written with justice. But, first, I will give a picture of a coin which shows the great Olympian Zeus, or Jupiter, which Phidias made at Elis, after he was an exile from Athens (Fig. 24). When Phidias was asked how he had found a model for this Jupiter, he quoted the lines from Homer:

"He said, and nodded with his shadowy brows,
Waved on the immortal head the ambrosial locks,
And all Olympus trembled at the nod."

I shall speak in another volume (upon Architecture) of the former glory and the present ruin of the Parthenon at Athens, and tell how upon its decoration Phidias lavished his thought and care until it surpassed in beauty any other structure of which we have knowledge. Early in the present century Lord Elgin, the English Ambassador to the Porte, interested himself in having the sculptures found in the ruins taken to England. In 1812 eighty chests containing these priceless works of the greatest sculptor who ever lived were placed in Burlington House, and a few years later Parliament purchased them for £35,000, and they were placed in the British Museum, where they now are. There is a great number of them, and all are of great interest; but I shall pass over the metopes and the pediments, and shall pass to the frieze after speaking of this one figure of Theseus, which is from the sculptures of the eastern pediment. The sculptures upon this pediment represented the story of the birth of Athena, and it was proper that Theseus should be present, as he was king over Athens, of which city Athena, or Minerva, was the protecting goddess. Torso is a term used in sculpture to denote a mutilated figure, and many such remains of ancient sculpture exist which are so beautiful, even in their ruin, that they are the pride of the museums where they are, and serve as studies for the artists of all time. This figure of Theseus is wonderful for the majesty and grace of its attitude, for perfection of its anatomical accuracy, and for the appearance of elasticity of muscle with which it impresses one, even though made of marble. It really seems as if the skin could be moved upon it, so soft does its surface look to be. It is ranked as the greatest miracle of sculpture. Though it is called a Theseus, I ought to state that some critics take exceptions to this name, and believe it to be Hercules or Bacchus; but by almost general consent it is called a Theseus (Fig. 26).

We may imagine that the representation upon this eastern pediment must have been magnificent. Of course the chosen goddess of Athens would be made to appear with great glory. The myth relates that Athena was born in an instant, by springing forth from the head of Zeus, or Jupiter, fully armed. It is believed that in this sculpture she was represented a moment after birth when she appeared in full, colossal majesty, shouting her war-cry and waving her lance—something as these lines represent the scene:

"Wonder strange possessed
The everlasting gods, that shape to see
Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously
Rush from the crest of ægis-bearing Jove.
Fearfully Heaven was shaken, and did move
Beneath the might of the Cærulean-eyed
Earth dreadfully surrounded far and wide,
And lifted from its depths; the sea swelled high
In purple billows."

It is very important, when considering the sculpture at Athens, to know something about the character of this goddess whose power and influence was so great there. I shall give an extract from an English writer on Greek sculpture, Mr. Walter Copeland Perry:

"It is a very remarkable fact, and one which gives us a deep insight into the character of the Athenians, that the central figure in their religion, the most perfect representative of their feelings, thoughts, and aspirations, was not Zeus or Hera (Juno), nor the most popular gods of all times and nations, Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus), but Athena, the virgin, the goddess of wise counsel and brave deed! She was enthroned in the very heart of their citadel; and she stood in colossal grandeur on the battlements to terrify their foes, and to give the first welcome to the mariner or the exile when he approached his divine and beautiful home, which reposed in safety under the protection of her lance and shield."

The attributes of this goddess, as given in Greek literature and shown forth in Greek art, are very varied and hard to be understood as belonging to one person. She is the patroness of war, and in Homer's Iliad she is represented as rushing into battle in this wise:

"The cuirass donn'd of cloud-compelling force
And stood accoutred for the bloody fray.
Her tasselled ægis round her shoulders next
She threw, with terror circled all around,
And on its face were figured deeds of arms
And Strife and Courage high, and panic Rout.
There too a Gorgon's head of monstrous size
Frown'd terrible, portent of angry Jove.
. . . . . . . In her hand
A spear she bore, long, weighty, tough, wherewith
The mighty daughter of a mighty sire
Sweeps down the ranks of those her hate pursues."

But this warlike goddess is also represented as the wise counsellor who restrains Achilles from rash action; and though she does not shrink from war and danger, yet the most precious gift to her people was not the war-horse, but the olive, the emblem of peace, and to her honor was this sacred tree planted. "She stands in full armor, with brandished lance, on the highest point of the Acropolis, and yet she is the patroness of all household and female work, in which she herself excels."

It is very interesting to notice that in the early representations of Athena, while she is very warlike in her bearing and raises her lance in her right hand, she also carries in her left the distaff and the spindle and the lamp of knowledge. In the later art of Phidias she is still stern and severe, but her face also expresses dignity and grandeur of thought and character. Later still, her warlike attributes are made less prominent: the shield rests on the ground, and the lance is more like a sceptre, until, in the decline of art, she is represented as lovely and gentle, and all her grand power is lost, and she is not above a great number of other goddesses who are attractive for their soft, lovely grace, but have no selfhood, no individuality to command our admiration or respect.

We come now to speak of the Elgin marbles from the frieze of the Parthenon. It was about thirty-five feet above the floor, three feet three inches broad, and about five hundred and twenty-two feet long. It represented a continuous procession, and the subject is called the great Panathenaic Procession. About four hundred feet of this frieze remains, so that a good judgment can be formed of it. First I must tell you what this procession means. The festival of the Panathenæa was the most important of all the splendid pomps which were celebrated at Athens. It is probable that this festival was held every year about the middle of August, but the great Panathenaic occurred only in the third year of each olympiad; an olympiad was a period of four years, extending from one celebration of the Olympic games to another, which was an event of great importance in reckoning time with the Greeks; thus we see that the great procession represented on the frieze occurred once in every four years. This festival continued several days, and all were filled with horse-racing, cock-fighting, gymnastic and musical contests, and a great variety of games; poets also recited their verses, and philosophers held arguments in public places.[A] But the most important day was that on which a procession went up to the Parthenon and carried the peplos, or garment for the great goddess, which had been woven by the maidens of Athens. This peplos was made of crocus-colored stuff, on which the figures of the gods engaged in their contests with the giants appeared in beautiful, rich embroidery. In later years, after the Athenians had fallen from their first high-minded simplicity, they sometimes embroidered on the peplos the likeness of a man whom they wished to flatter, as thus placing him in the company of the gods was a very great compliment.