Stuart, James; Revett, Nicholas: The antiquities of Athens (Band 2) (London, 1825)

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CALLED THE PARTHENON AND HECATOMPEDON. 23

" marble. The plane of it is above twice as long as it is broad ; being 217 feet 9 inches long, and 98
feet six inches broad. It hath an ascent every way of five" degrees, or steps; which seem to be so
contrived, to serve as a basis to the portico, which is supported by channelled pillars of the Doric
order, erected round upon them, without any other basis. These pillars are 46 in number, being
eight to the front, and as many behind, and 17 on each side, counting the four corner ones twice
over to be deducted. They are 42 feet high and 17} feet about. The distance from pillar to pillar
is 7 feet 4 inches. This portico beareth up a front, and frieze round about the temple, charged with
historical figures of admirable beauty and work. The figures of the front, which the ancients called
the Eagle, appear, though from that height, of the natural bigness; being in entire relievo, and won-
derfully well carved. Pausanias saith no more of them, than that they concern the birth of the
goddess Minerva. What I observed, and remembered of them, is this :

tures of Pericles is: tlxvra. $e SuTtte, kcc] TravToi* SKio-yoTras yv avTy <t>E(-
d*aj, xairoi jtAEycsAoy; es^iTEy.rovaj e^ovtwv y.cct Tl^vtVaj t:uv ipym' ton
/xev yap ExaT^~Edov Xlap&wwa. KaVuxpa-nK tlpya^no y.cti "ijcTiyo;*
Translated : " Phidias directed and superintended all the works
for him [[Pericles], although they had great architects and ar-
tificers, for Callicrates and Ictinus executed the Hecatompe-
don or Parthenon." By this author as well as others, the verb
i\yaZoy.ai is applied to the operations of the sculptor, and seems
to be the technical as well as historical expression, for he also
applies to Phidias the same expression in speaking of the statue

Oeo? to ypvoovv soof,

of the temple, 6 o\ Qticlix; El^ya^ro yuv tSjs
" but Phidias executed the golden statue of the goddess :" it is
also by Pausanias applied to Socrates, who, when pursuing his
original profession of sculptor, carved a groupe long afterwards
admired at the Propykeum, where, as a recent Grecian traveller
elegantly expresses it, he ". left impressed upon marble, graces
inferior only to those with which his philosophy abounded";
X&^Tm nQya.o-a.To ccyah^aTa. 'AQwcc'tois' (t he executed statues of
the Graces for the Athenians." And Diogenes Laertius in the
life of Socrates also alluding to his Graces says, Aci^i; S\ y.a.)
doiAEtVai {(pYic-ivj ccvtov xai ipyxcravcti A(9ot>;' Eivat te avrov xat
T«? \v rv] ccxpQ'iru'hEL ftaftTas \vio'i <pa.<7iv, EvdsouLtEpa; otVas' " Moreover
Duris says that he laboured, and that he carved statues: others
assert that the figures of the Graces in the Acropolis which are
clothed are by him." Therefore from the antecedent passage of
Plutarch, it would appear probable when the professions of ar-
chitect and sculptor were united, that Ictinus and Callicrates
may have also employed themselves on the sculptural decorations
of the temple.

We infer therefore that Pericles as chief of the government
and patron of the works, determined the nature and class of the
edifice, Phidias may have formed the design according to the ma-
jesty of his innate conceptions, and have traced out the subjects
and grouping of the pediments, and have dictated the character
and general arrangement of the other sculpture and friezes ; Ic-
tinus certainly directed the graceful detail of the architectural
composition; while Callicrates, who is mentioned by Plutarch as
having been engaged in the construction {jpyoxdfi-vui^ of the long
walls to the Pirams, may have conducted the executive depart-
ment of this edifice also. The whole temple was doubtless com-
pleted by a concurrence of pupils and assistant sculptors of the
presiding artist, in the same manner as several of the eminent
successors of Raphael did not scruple to paint from his designs,
or work under the shadow of his deservedly great name.

The illustrations of this edifice by our authors have always
called forth the applause of travellers, and an eminent writer
and architect, who examined the building " with Stuart's book in
his hand", declares " he was amazingly struck with the great pre-
cision and accuracy of that work", a sentiment that must be
concurred in by every professor of the art who has visited the
Athenian citv; but various details overlooked by our authors, and
enlarged illustrations not deemed by them necessary or at that
time desirable, will now be added to the work in our Fourth Vo-

struggles that are still convulsing Greece, which Mr. Wadding-
ton thus records in the description of his late visit to that coun-
try : " In the midst of so many circumstances of devastation, I
am deeply consoled to be enabled to add that very trifling injury
has been sustained by the remains of antiquity. The Parthenon
as the noblest, has also been the severest sufferer. It appears
that the Turks, having expended all their balls, broke down the
south- west end of the wall of the cella in search of lead, and boast
to have been amply rewarded for their barbarous labour. But this
is the extent of the damage: no column has been overthrown, nor
any of the sculpture defaced or disfigured."

The generally diffused admiration of the architecture of this
edifice, has given rise to several projects for a complete restoration
of it on the scale of the original, to be decorated appropriately to
the uses to which it may be devoted. Mr. Bankes, member for the
University of Cambridge, has proposed it as a model to that Cor-
poration for the Fitzwilliam Museum', which they are about to
erect. With a superiority of position and greater appropriateness
to the character of the scenery, it has been selected for the na-
tional monument of Scotland, raising by subscription, dedicated to
the achievements of the late war, at a Sister Capital. His Majesty
on his visit to Edinburgh laid by commission the first stone of it
on the Calton Hill, and the edifice will soon be in actual progress,
and present the most splendid ornament of that distinguished city.
We trust, however, that our great country, "the Mistress of Na-
tions", besides raising the similitudes of the most sumptuous edi-
fice of Ancient Greece, will decree that the flood of Oriental bar-
barism shall revert to its original frontier, and thereby give scope
to the regenerate people of Athens to re-construct an edifice to
the service of Christianity, and enable them again to exult in the
possession of a Parthenon of their own,—ere the tumuli of an
exterminated people mark the occasion as lost for ever. Meursii
Cecropia. Gell's Itin. of Greece. Paus. Att. C. XXIV. Hor.L.l.
Od. VII. Wilkins's Atheniensia. Report of Select Com. of House
of Commons. Dodwell's Travels. Hughes' Travels. Clarke's
Travels. Arist. Ethic. L. VI. C. VII. et de Mundo. C. VI. Le
Jupiter Olympien. fob Antiquities of Attica. C. VI. Leake's
Topography of Athens. Pliny L. XXXVI. Report of Sel. Com.
of House of Com. Waddington's Visit to Greece. L~ED H

a There are only three steps; what may have deceived
Whelcr in this respect may have been the sets off, seen in part
of the substructions. It is unfortunate that Stuart should
have allowed the unscientific description of Wheler to oc-
cupy so predominant a place in his text. In so leading a part
of the work, such errors as the above are calculated to mis-
lead the general reader; although as Wheler had only a sin-
gle transient view of the Acropolis, that he should have been
enabled to describe it so well, could scarcely have been expected.
Whatever may have been his deficiency in the power of describ-
ing technical architecture, yet the classical acquirements and
accomplishments, the good faith, and unpretending style of the
narrations, both by himself and his companion, still merit our
sincere approval; and, where a country or works of sculpture
are described, their powers of discrimination were certainly equal

[ED.]

lume, to which we refer the reader.

It is painful to have to allude to a further destruction of the to those of any dilettanti of their day.
Temple of Minerva, the natural consequence of the desolating

1 An engraving from this design, marking the locality, has been published from the drawing of Mr. Charles Barry.