DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.870#0036
26
study and improvement, is well known, and merits the manifestation of their gratitude by some
permanent memorial which would be no less honourable to those who gave, than to him who
received.
The Temple of Minerva or Parthenon, from which the sculpture which constitutes the subject of
the present essay was taken, was situated about the centre of the Acropolis. The whole edifice was
composed of the finest white marble, being about two hundred and seventeen feet in length, and
ninety-eight feet in breadth. It was supported by fluted pillars of the doric order, forty-six in
number, viz. eight at each front, and fifteen on each side. These were about forty-two feet in height
and seventeen in circumference, and the distance from pillar to pillar was seven feet four inches.
The two fronts of the Temple stood East and West, and the former has suffered much more
injury than the latter. The pediments of these fronts were adorned with a profusion of statues
larger than life, and all of the most admirable workmanship. The metopes, or spaces between
the ti-iglyphs of the columns, were embellished with groups in alto relievo, representing the combats
of the Lapithas with the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous; and the frieze of the cella was
decorated with a series of basso relievos, describing the Panathenaic procession to the Temple in
honour of the goddess Minerva.
The figures which occupied the pediments were arranged in the order exhibited in Plate 1,
which was taken from a drawing made upon the spot, under the direction of the Marquis de Nointel,
in the year 1683. By that drawing it appears that the figures were much less mutilated at that time
than they are at present.
It will be seen that the attitudes of the figures which occupied the pediment were adapted to the
study and improvement, is well known, and merits the manifestation of their gratitude by some
permanent memorial which would be no less honourable to those who gave, than to him who
received.
The Temple of Minerva or Parthenon, from which the sculpture which constitutes the subject of
the present essay was taken, was situated about the centre of the Acropolis. The whole edifice was
composed of the finest white marble, being about two hundred and seventeen feet in length, and
ninety-eight feet in breadth. It was supported by fluted pillars of the doric order, forty-six in
number, viz. eight at each front, and fifteen on each side. These were about forty-two feet in height
and seventeen in circumference, and the distance from pillar to pillar was seven feet four inches.
The two fronts of the Temple stood East and West, and the former has suffered much more
injury than the latter. The pediments of these fronts were adorned with a profusion of statues
larger than life, and all of the most admirable workmanship. The metopes, or spaces between
the ti-iglyphs of the columns, were embellished with groups in alto relievo, representing the combats
of the Lapithas with the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous; and the frieze of the cella was
decorated with a series of basso relievos, describing the Panathenaic procession to the Temple in
honour of the goddess Minerva.
The figures which occupied the pediments were arranged in the order exhibited in Plate 1,
which was taken from a drawing made upon the spot, under the direction of the Marquis de Nointel,
in the year 1683. By that drawing it appears that the figures were much less mutilated at that time
than they are at present.
It will be seen that the attitudes of the figures which occupied the pediment were adapted to the