Perry, Walter Copland: Greek and Roman sculpture: a popular introduction to the history of Greek and Roman sculpture (London, 1882)

182

PHE1DIAS UNDER PERICLES.

were begun and completed : the Parthenon (consecrated 01. 85. 3-437
B.C.); the Odeum (concert hall), built partly of the timber of captured
Persian ships; the Erechtheittm (01. 92. 4-40S B.C.) ; and the temples
of Nike apteros,ol Ares, of Heph'.eslus,oi Aphrodite Urania, of Dcvieter
in Eleusis, of Nemesis in Rhamnus, the temple at Sunium, and the
Propylcea (437-431 B.C.), on the Acropolis of Athens (fig. 71, c). And
here we are reminded of the words in which Plutarch 1 speaks of
these mighty achievements. ' Hence,' he says, ' 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.'

ATHENE PARTHENOS>

The most appropriate subject for the dignified style of Pheidias,
and that in which he most delighted, was the great tutelary Goddess
of Athens, Pallas Athene, in whom the material and spiritual life of
the Athenians centred. To her the city belonged, by right of her
victory over Poseidon, and by the award of the great council of the
Gods ; and to her its people, in every relation and circumstance of
life, looked up for protection, sympathy, and guidance/' In her
divine person were combined and expressed the victorious majesty,
the wisdom and virtue, the personal dignity, strength and grace, the
nobleness and splendour of the Athenian people, whose representative
and guardian she was.

The Scholiast to Demosthenes 4 speaks of three statues of Athene

1 Plat. Pt'ric. xiii.: juaAiora dav/xao-rbv jjy
rb Taxos.

* For a masterly and exhaustive descrip-
tion of the Parthenon and all that belongs to
it, the reader should consult the magnificent
work of Michaelis, Der Parthenon.

3 Pausan. i. 26. ": 'Upa piv Ti)S 'Adj\vas
(<tt\v 77 t€ a\Ar) irdAis /to! 7j viio-a Spoiais 77),
na) yap liaots Btovs naOt(TT77«v i\Kovs iv to'is

frflfJLOLS (rtfietv ovott>Ti7i<rrrov T7jv 'AOtjvuv
ayovcriv iv rtfxrj' rb 5e ayturarov ip Kotvw
■noWols irp6repnv vouhtBcv (Tefftv v) avvi]\Oov
airb rwv Srf^ioiv 4<tt\v AOdfas dya\p.a 4v tt/ vvv
'AKpondKel t<Jt6 5e ovofia^oficvr) iriiAer </>7|/U7| Si
4s aiirb «xf* irefreiV 4k tov ovpavov.

1 Schol. Dciii. con. Am/rot. 13, p. 597
(ed. Reiske).