The Acropolis of Athens [Transl. fr. germ. Reprint 2020 ed.] 9783112358122, 9783112358115

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THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS By M. SCHEDE T R A N S L A T E D FROM T H E By H. T. P R f C E

GERMAN

With 2 8 t e x t i l l u s t r a t i o n s , among these 1 9 r e p r o d u c t i o n s o f original drawings by F . K r i s c h e n , and 104 plates from p h o t o g r a p h s as well as o n e c o l o u r e d p l a t e

BERLIN 1924 SCHOETZ C O . A. G.

BERLIN

THE ACROPOLIS O F ATHENS

All right* reserved. Copyright 1923 by Schoetz

Parrhysius, Berlin

Thus men's relations with the Acropolis were at first absolutely one-sided. The fortress gave—it brought protection to its inhabitants for many centuries. Later on, when man was able to shift for himself without its assistance, he proved grateful in his turn and endowed it with all that was beautiful. When this also came to an end, the fortress remained dreaming in its royal state—again for many centuries—admired and praised by a dying culture. After this it became a slave to epigones, who were strangers to art, and to foreign barbarians. These were blind to its beauty and saw only the advantage which had first brought man to it: the protection its rocks afforded against attack. It passed through the hands of many a master, but they all dealt roughly with their property. When it was at last set free, it had aged; it was still a proud sight—but its ragged garment everywhere bears traces of the stormy past. By patient work we now endeavour to preserve the remains of its former beauty and to decipher from them the long history of the Acropolis. The oldest picture of human life in the fortress which we can recall, corresponds to that which Schliemann and his followers have drawn for us of the royal residences at Tiryns and Mycenae. The edge of the fortress was encircled by a round wall of enormous unhewn rocks (111. 2). On the side where the precipice is least steep the descent was guarded by a large outwork with nine gates, one behind another. Two smaller entrances, reached by steps, led up the steep northern declivity, and on the northern side of the plateau we find even now a confusion of house walls joining each other at right angles and built of hard lime-stone from the Acropolisrock itself. These walls cannot be traced back to anything else but a prince's palace. To this day we can determine the time and character of this building from the bases of three columns and various potsherds found there: Creto-Mycenaean ware, dating from the middle of the second millenium B. C. Just enough is left to prove the existence of such a palace. Of course we must not compare the lords of the Acropolis with the mighty sea-kings of Crete. Their power embraced but a small part of Attica, or rather only the direct surroundings of Athens; and their "city" was probably nothing but the fortress itself, just 10

as the Greek expression "Polis" for "city" still clung to it after a thousand years, long after men had ceased to live there. The king probably led the existence, in close companionship with his subjects, that we hear of later in the Odyssey. In describing the happy serenity and broad ease of his heroes, Homer transmits to us information of an age better than his own and long gone by. Traditions handed down by word of mouth may be tinged by features characteristic of the poet's own times; yet we still feel that what

111. 2. R e m a i n s of the oldest wall on thn Acropolis.

he describes was a complete and homogeneous culture, that they were men who knew how to live. Later on, the Athenians believed that the Pelasgian race had built up their gigantic indestructible fortress in the dawn of early times. But this legend in reality only arose from a similarity in sound with the ancient name of the fortress-wall, the Pelargikon. We do not know what gods were originally worshipped in this sacred ground: possibly the altar of Zeus Herkeios (p. 106), the Protector of the House, situated within the precincts of the palace-remains, is the prehistoric sanctuary where the princes worshipped their house-god. 11

The narrow area within the wall did not prove spacious enough to hold thè increasing population. The great historian Thucydides tells us that, together with the Acropolis itself, the southern slope belonged to the oldest parts of the town. Here communal life was more strongly developed than above, because there was both space on all sides and a fine spring called Kallirrhoe, "the beautifully flowing", which was far more plentiful than the spring Klepshydra below *he north-western ridge of the fortress. In this lower region likewise important sanctuaries gradually came into existence. At the beginning of the first millenium B. C. Athens achieved political importance for the first time, most probably after long struggles, and she attained the suzerainty over the Attic peninsula. Tradition designates this process as"Synoikismos", i. e., the incorporation of all Attic communities. The decisive nature of this first ¿tep upwards was so clearly recognised in later times that it was commemorated at an annual festival, in which the hero Theseus, although he did not belong to Athens originally, was celebrated as the founder and king of the new state. Many a legend of the fortress is connected with his name: he victoriously repulsed the siege of the Amazons—perhaps the vague memory of a barbaric raid is confused with the incident—he also sailed to Crete to the cruel feudal lord Minos—a late echo of the dependency of Athens on the centre of culture in the second millenium—and he returned as deliverer of his native country from slavery. When his father King Aegeus was awaiting his son's return, he looked longingly from the castle-wall across the glistening sea, hoping to catch sight of a certain white sail which was to proclaim the happy issue of his son's adventure. Owing to the carelessness of the crew, however, the black sail had not been taken down, and as this had been the signal agreed upon in case of a fatal ending, his father cast himself in despair from the tower upon which the Nike temple stands to-day (PI. 75, 76). In the depth below, the grave of the hero's father was still venerated as a sanctuary even in comparatively late times. The unification of Attica fundamentally changed the social conditions of Athens. Anyone wanting to participate in public life 12

had tp move to the capital; a number: of: the subdued princely families soon formed a proud class of city patricians. Before them the glamour of royalty gradually lost its glow. It was robbed o£ all real power in the course of centuries and limited to priestly duties. The king (Basileus) was finally only one of the nine archons who formed the government. All these developments are not likely to have taken place without friction. We must imagine that streets often resounded with the noise of partystrife. The aim of all those struggling for power was to obtain possession of the commanding Acropolis. Such are the events related to us about the Acropolis in the first historical information free from legendary exaggerations. About 630 B. C. Kylon, an ambitious young nobleman, son-in-law of the tyrant Theagenes of the neighbouring city Megara, thought the time had come when Athens should submit to the will of a single man. With a few equals in rank he managed to occupy the Acropolis, but as he had made use of the Megarian enemies, his opponents had an easy task in turning the whole people against him in revolt. The castle was besieged and starved out, and after Kylon had fled in despair, his last retainers sought refuge at the altar of Athena from the death that threatened them. A safe-conduct was promised to them and they were marched off. But scarcely had they passed through the castle gate when they were attacked and all murdered, including even those who succeeded in reaching the sanctuary of the Erinyes on the Ares hill. For many long years this infamous sacrilege, the fruit of party hatred, busied the minds of the people and weighed above all on the race of the Alcmaeonides, who were accused of being the organisers of the plan. Ancient tradition of this event already knows of a chief goddess of the Acropolis, i. e., Athena. She originally personifies an elementary phenomenon of nature, viz., the threatening thunderstorm gathering on the summits of the mountain giants and darting round them fitful flashes of lightning. She was therefore considered motherless, in glittering armour she was born out of the head of Zeus, who had originally been a mighty mountain and only later became lord of the heavens. As an image of her stormy nature she wears round breast and shoulder the Aegis, a 13

snake-covered skin with the terror-inspiring face of the Medusk. She protects heroes and fortified cities with her weapons. So she was made patron goddess of the Acropolis and as such was called "Polias", the city goddess. At last her fame grew so powerful that the community adopted her name, calling her simply "the goddess", or "Athenaia", the Athenian. In whatever they turned their hands to, the Athenians were certain of her aid and support, above all the artisans, who were far more enterprising at Athens than anywhere in the Greek mother country. Besides Athena, Erechtheus, a demon in the shape of a serpent, the symbol of the fertility of Attic soil, had for a long time enjoyed veneration at the Acropolis. But compared with the war goddess his importance waned and he was degraded to a Heros. As such he was called Erichthonios and was one of the original kings of Athens. To him the legends ascribe the glory of founding all that was sacred to the later Athenians, such as Athena's temple, her image, and the celebrations in honour of her birth. On the other hand the goddess was nurse and protectress of his youth. Thus the ideas of the two deities are strangely confused with one another in Greek cult and tradition. Towards the end of the development the light heavenly shape pushed aside the dark spirit of earth, she became the unquestioned mistress of the Acropolis, and the snake Erechtheus crouches at her feet like a tame domestic animal.

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n. We cannot ascertain at what time the Athenians first built temples, i. e., dwellings for their gods, because the earliest religious buildings were of wood and not a trace has been left of them. But at the beginning of the sixth century buildings were erected of which the abundant ruins still remain after thousands of years. This was an epoch in which the speed of development was doubled. Using elbow strength, Athens created for itself those conditions of life of which it stood in need. A clever far-sighted man, Solon the "Wise", wrenched from the Megarian enemy the island of Salamis which lies just in front of the port, the possession of which guaranteed freedom of commercial traffic. His famous constitution put the economic life of the country on a new and sounder basis. The extension of its commerce and the abolition of slavery for debt freed these gifted people intellectually, opening at the same time the eyes of their artists. So the "Poros Art" of the Acropolis comes into existence about the time of Solon's appearance. We call it thus after the coarse yellowish limestone which the Athenians used for their buildings and sculptures. If this stone is saturated with water it becomes so soft that it may be cut with a knife, so that this form of art has much in common with the older wood carvings. During a span of nearly 70 years, say from 610—540 B. C., we have architectural and sculptural remains of about eleven poros buildings. The foundations belonging to these have been found, it is true, only in three places on the Acropolis. Fortunately we possess a very distinct idea of the largest building, the temple of Athena, built about 560 B. C. (111. 3). It stood on the 15

northern edge of the Acropolis, above the remains of the royal palace, in the shape of a temple with two antae, i. e., a long house the side-walls of which projected beyond the end-walls. Between these projections or antas there were always two columns so that a porch is produced on both narow sides. Its length was about 100 feet, and this size appeared to the Athenians, who had never before known such a large building, so overwhelming that they proudly called this sanctuary "Hekatompedon", the "hundredfooted". From the way it is divided internally, it might be called a double house. The chief entrance on the east side led into a hall, divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles, and designed to contain the statue

III. 3. Plan of the Hekatompedon. The outer row of columns is a later addition (p. 36).

of the goddess. Coming from the western door one entered a hall, supported by two columns, with two small adjoining chambers at the back of it. In style the temple followed the Doric manner, characteristic of the Greek mother-country: shafts of columns without a base and with convex capitals. Above the architrave was a row of chamfered and bevelled projections— the so-called triglyph frieze. Above this came the saddleroof forming a flat triangular gable over the narrow fronts (111. 4). The upper edge of the building was bordered all round 16

XXUGOOOOOS

111. 4. Hekatompedon. East side.

Schede, The Acropolis of Athens.

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by capacious gutters, so that the rain water was diverted towards the sides where it was carried off through rain pipes. The artistic effect of the temple was chiefly based on its many-coloured decorations, without which ancient times could not conceive architecture. W e however must banish these from our modern stone buildings for climatic reasons. The natural yellowish colour of the limestone was covered in its unadorned places with white stucco. But the delicate neck-mouldings of the capitals were red, the triglyphs black and the flower-ornaments of the eaves were blue and red (PI. 14). The strongest glow of colour was to be found in the figured decorations of the roof. Here a people in its age of childhood, full of superstitious fancy

Ili. 5. B i r d in f l i g h t ( r e s t o r e d

and naive joy in every event of daily life, showed its utmost power. On either side the angles of the roof displayed large figures of couching lions or panthers, but at the apex of the pediments there arose the monstrous figure of the running Gorgo, a shortgowned woman, her face distorted in a wild grin (PI. 11), her waist girdled with snakes. According to ancient Greek ideas a terrorinspiring figure of this kind served to guard the sanctuary from evil spirits. The eaves above the pediments were engraved with gaily coloured and strictly conventionalized representations of 18

flowers and of birds which, when seen from below, appeared in full flight (111.5), a daring conception to which Greek art never reverted again, although it reproduces something which has been observed a hundred times. The liveliest representations are, however, to be found in the pediments themselves. On the left of the east pediment Herakles, the Greek national hero, appears battling with the sea-demon Triton (PI. 3, 4). Triton, half man, half eellike fish, a personification of the rolling waves, is rich in secret wisdom and he knows therefore where the apples of Hesperides are to be found, which Herakles has sought in vain. But he only discloses his secret after a long struggle. The old merman is shaped like a sinewy and powerful man down to his chest, his skin, like that of Herakles, being of a ruddy brown hue. Beneath this part the scintillating miracle of the coloured fish body commences, winding itself right into the corner of the pediment. Herakles is naked, as befits a wrestler. He creeps up to his opponent, and encircling his neck with his left arm, tries to press him to the ground by means of his own weight. The old man defends himself, obviously intending to free himself with his left arm (of which only little has been preserved). As a symbol of his watery origin his right hand probably held a small dolphin or fish. Scarcely anything has been preserved for us from the centre of the pediment, but perhaps Athena, the mistress of the temple, true helpmate of Herakles, stood there, holding in her hand the owl, her sacred bird. To the right a figure, hardly traceable but probably a mermaiden, seems to escape from the turmoil of the fight. She hastens toward a strange being which occupies almost the whole of the right half of the gable. A confusion of blue and red striped snake bodies has been joined on to three male upper bodies in a not very organic whole. The three shapes have tangled hair and long beards, both of a bright blue. The colour of their skin is again ruddy brown, the eyes are grassy green. Mighty wings grow from the shoulders of the two outer creatures, while little snakes with wide open jaws creep out of the bodies of all three. The two men to the left carry in their hands strangely striped colourless objects, engraved 19

with wavy lines, which may perhaps be taken for a naive indication of water. The one to the right is holding a bird which he strokes soothingly. This phantastic demon is evidently no participator in the exciting fray represented in the left half of the pediment. He is only an astonished onlooker, but certainly of a strength that inspires confidence, so that frightened girls and birds can find a protector in him. We do not know what the Athenians called him, but we may safely class him with those semihuman beings, who, like Triton, personified the many-shaped friendly and inimical powers of the sea. In the western pediment there is no mythological representation. It was filled on the right and left by two gigantic serpents of a magnificent coloured design, while in the middle of it a huge lion was probably to be seen in the act of attacking its prey. These figures have no deeper meaning, so far as we know, they are simply decorative motives taken from animal life, just as was common in those days in the lesser arts and crafts. In another poros pediment we find the scene in which Herakles enters Olympus (PL 1). After having achieved such great heroic deeds and undergone much suffering, he comes to Olympus, the dwelling of the gods, where he is to spend a happy and serene life in the circle of the immortals. In the middle, where the pediment is highest, Zeus, the father of the gods, is seated on his throne, dressed and groomed with the same extreme care which will strike us when we come to the figures of archaic Athenian art (Pl. 7). Probably his right hand held his scepter, while his left held lightning represented as a flower. Beside him sits his wife Hera, facing us, her hands laid stiffly on her breast. In the gap to the right there was probably a walking figure, perhaps Athena leading her human friend to the goal of his heroic career. Herakles himself, elastic of shape, broad-breasted and slender hipped, approaches with energetic strides and with lively swinging arms in which we must picture to ourselves his weapons. Over head and shoulders he wears, as the spoils of his first great deed, the skin of the Nemean lion which he had throttled with his bare fists (PL 8). His face looks out from the widely opened jaws, so that the scalp of the beast of prey serves 20

as a helmet, the front paws hang down knotted together over his breast. In this way archaic art used to express, in the representation of its favourite hero, the triumph of man over wild nature. Behind Herakles the trunk of Hermes, the messenger of the gods, has been preserved. A number of gods stood expectantly behind the enthroned pair in the left half of the pediment, but we do not know anything definite about the order and classification of these figures, which are mostly preserved only in fragments. It is impossible to over-estimate the value of this poros art for the study of the growth of the Greek spirit, because here for the first time we find the grand style in sculpture manifested in a large number of examples, all of the same period. It is true that even when we except Creto-Mycenaean art, these are by no means the first Greek works of art which we know, not even the first Attic works from the Acropolis. But we can really gain an idea of the style of the oldest times only from a second-hand source, i. e., from the paintings on clay vases, which imitate the motives of that great art which has been almost wholly lost to us. In the poros pediments, on the other hand, the highest artistic achievement of two generations of a most artistic people has been passed down to us, badly shattered indeed, but in all its original magnificence of colour. All that these sculptors have to tell us is fresh and naive, a little blunt, obvious and matter of fact. But the means of representation are subject to the strict conventional style and rendering of the archaic epoch. The faces are always moulded on general forms and lack variety of expression. The features of Zeus are of the same stony immobility as those of Herakles, in spite of the difference in their characters. The various contours of the body are in their most obvious lines copied from nature, the collar-bone and edge of the ribs, the chestmuscles and bend of the arm have been reproduced correctly enough, yet the understanding for the organic connection of the limbs and the normal proportions of the human body is lacking. How unreal the boorish fleshy abundancy of Herakles' thigh impresses us as seen in the Triton pediment, if contrasted with his sinewy arms and thin joints! The artists have also failed 21

in solving the difficult problem of reproducing the ever changing aspect of the human hand; the fingers lie one beside the other, stiff and benumbed. These artists cannot reproduce soft material. The human hair turns into an ornament under their treatment, a robe appears with a broad, planklike surface. Yet they feel the unpleasantness of an empty space undiversified by folds. So they hem the clothes with pretty patterns, in imitation of coloured woven stuffs, and paint the surface thickly in the same glowing colours as they employed to ornament the architecture of the building, often grotesquely, leaving all reality out of consideration. In these efforts one feels something akin to a child's pleasure in colouring pictures. The faces of the three-bodied figure are a mockery of the nuances of the human face, but they show us how this art eagerly endeavours to revel in contrasts of unmixed colours. In other cases, as for instance in the painting of the snake-bodies, this has led to most happy results.

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III. As the uneven quality of the soft poros does not allow the production of a smooth surface, it did not satisfy the painstaking exactness of the Attic artists for long. They had made use of it because they wished to transfer what they had learned to do on wood to a material which was more solid and better adapted for monumental purposes. Soon, however, the Athenians turned to a nobler kind of stone, to marble, which by means of its finer grain, its pure white colour and its transparency, enabled them to produce an effect nearest to that of the human skin. The art of working in marble was not discovered in Attica; at a time when Athens was still plodding away at poros, it had long been practised in other parts of Greece, above all in Ionia, by which we understand the centre of the west coast of Asia Minor and the islands lying in front of it. The eastern neighbours even knew how to cut marble slabs with a saw, manufacturing stone roof-tiles in this way. This invention had been made at the beginning of the VI. century by a stone-mason called Byzes, of the marble island Naxos, and it appears that the Athenians sent for him, or at any rate bought marble tiles from him, at the period when they began to show greater activity in building. One piece with his trade mark—his initials carved in the stone—has been found on the Acropolis. Already in the Hekatompedon, the first stone temple on the Acropolis of any size, the roof, together with its upper decorations, was built of marble. The poros of which the walls, pillars and entablature were made, would hardly have been suitable for the roof, as it easily absorbs the damp. From the roof-figures we can form an idea of how quickly the 23

different artists accustomed themselves to a new and far harder material, which demanded quite different tools. Just at first they did not dare to free themselves from the traditional manner of representation. They continued to work in poros style where the chisel should have been tempted into other channels. The upper edges of the Gorgon's eye are shaped as if they were carved in poros with the knife (PI. 11). These artists had indeed to relinquish all the great state commissions, especially the pediment-groups, to those who had clung to poros work, but in compensation they found profitable employment with private people. When the latter wished to consecrate a monument to Athena as an offering, they decided to have the better stone. It is a custom inseparable from ancient worship to present the deity with a human image. This may possibly be traced back to the barbaric practice of sacrificing human beings. At the time of which we are speaking such offerings may have had various meanings. Either one presents oneself, and the image is understood as a kind of portrait, or one offers a human being as such, or finally one presents to the god his own image. Every Greek sanctuary was full of such statues, and the rank and file of the sculptors lived on such orders. The earliest marble monuments of the Acropolis date from the time of the mature poros sculptures, for instance, the pediment of the Hekatompedon. The celebrated calf-bearer belongs to this period (PI. 9). Its donor was Rhombos, a pious farmer, whose herds had experienced the blessing of the deity. Whether he wishes to have himself represented in order to remind the goddess how often he had given her the first born of the flock, 6r whether he simply wishes to make a votive offering worthy of his wealth — whatever his intention may have been, few works of plastic art are imbued with such deep reverence and piety. The man stands in a position imitated by the Greeks from Egyptian statues, both soles firmly planted on the ground, his left foot a little advanced. His arms are pressed close to his body, and so his bearing seems stiff, and his whole appearance gives the impression of weight and mass. In this he shows his connection with the spirit of poros art. The same close relationship 24

may be traced in the shape of his mouth and eyes, of the ornamentally fashioned hair, of his navel, and also of the nostrils of the bull calf. But how much more refined is the plastic feeling, with what joy and with what success has the smooth surface of the marble followed the roundings of his muscles and the tight tension of the skin. His cloak or chlamys, open in front, must certainly have been distinguished in colour from the naked flesh, just as the beard and hair were. Plastically it is only indicated by two lines which mark its border, otherwise it clings to the body so closely that nothing of the delicately carved trunk is hidden. So great and naive was the artist's interest in the organic connections of the human form. The figure of the calf has been less fortunately dealt with: in representing its foreleg the artist's experience of nature left him in the lurch. Women approach the deity in a different and yet a kindred spirit. We possess far more female than male statues. This is easily explained by the sex of the mistress of the Acropolis, whom distinguished women served as priestesses. These were glad to dedicate to her a statue of themselves. But men also often believed a beautiful marble girl to be the most acceptable offering. In one of the earliest of these representations the body stands lifeless, stiff as a pillar, a marble block just barely characterised as a human being (P1.10). In contrast to the calf-bearer, which dates from the same period, the shape of this marble figure is almost completely hidden by the gown. The arrangement of the statue reminds one of the fundamental concepts of geometry. The stiff right arm lies vertically at the side, and the plaits of hair, the folds of the gown and the ends of the belt also hang down vertically, while the left arm and belt cut horizontally across it. The strict unity is but little softened by the motive represented, the offering of a pomegranate and wreath, because the hands press the offerings close to the body, as if childlike the girl is unwilling to part with them. A charming statue of a girl, which can of course only be fully appreciated in its coloured state, although of a later date and more mature ability, reminds us of the calf-bearer and poros sculptures (PI. 20 and 21). This girl also stands up stiff as a plank, 25

her feet close to each other, but an interest in the human body begins to assert itself in the rounding of the bosom and the narrowing at the waist, one even begins to trace the shape of the legs through the thick material. The right arm, which held a wreath, still hangs down heavily, but it is rounded and lifelike and with a view to plastic effect lightly separated from the body. The upper left arm is at a considerable distance from the body, whereas the lower arm (separately joined on) is stretched forward. The dress is the chiton, originally a Semitic garment, a shirt-like gown introduced into Greece by way of Ionia, and it is visible only in the wavy lines above the ankle, above this we have the Dorian "peplos", the real national feminine dress of Greece. This is a large piece of cloth fastened on to the shoulder and longer than the body, so that it can be thrown across to cover the breast. Here the peplos has folds only at the sides, in front it is of a smooth strangely lifeless surface, the monotony of which is only partially interrupted by the long belt-ends, hanging deep down, indicated merely by paint, and by an ornamental border along the upper edge of the robe. But this body, in which elements of the primitive and advanced styles are strangely combined, bears a head of the highest vivacity. A clear serenity pervades the smooth features, speaks to us from the intelligent and amicably smiling lips and the merrily sparkling slit eyes. This face expresses a very different sentiment from the silent reverence of the calf-bearer and an artistic ability which far surpasses the poros faces. In the painting of the marble statues, whose chief surfaces were however left unadorned, the artist's sense of colour was allowed free scope, often quite regardless of the actual model, and while green hues predominate in the ornaments of dress, the hair, lips and iris of the eyes glow a most intense red The artistic life of Attica developed serenely and wisely during the centuries following Solon's constitution. We can only have a shadowy idea of what the most sacred and perhaps oldest monument of the Acropolis, the temple statue of Athena, looked like. It had been carved out of olive-wood, the sacred tree of the goddess, which according to legend was said to have dropped from the sky, i.e., was not made by human 26

hand. By the help of inscriptions and votive terra cotta reliefs we have been able to ascertain that it was a seated figure and that the goddess was without weapons, which means that she appeared as protectress of peaceful work. She was covered with a real and costly peplos; the ornaments around the throat and in the ears, the aegis with the gorgon mask, and the bowl held in the outstretched right hand were all of gold. All the worship in the Acropolis centered round this idol. Merry processions wandered to her. On Athena's birthday, the Panathenaea, she was presented with a new dress with ceremonies which will be described later on (pp. 29 and 78—80). But there were also days on which the goddess turned her face angrily away from her people, so that whatever they tried to do ended in failure. She was then thinking of a crime perpetrated on the Acropolis in primeval times: old King Kekrops' daughters had been ordered by Athena to guard, during her absence, the box in which her secret charge Erichthonios lay hidden. They were not to open this box, but they disobeyed her command, saw the boy surrounded by snakes, and frightened of Athena's wrath, they threw themselves down from the wall. And as the curse that weighed on the city in consequence was annually renewed, on that fateful day Athens celebrated the repentance and purifying feast of the Plynteria. The temple was shut off by means of ropes, the figure hidden, the ornaments taken down, and then Athena was carried in a solemn mourning procession down to Phaleron by the sea. There she and her peplos were washed according to a certain ritual, and only when the sun had set, was the reconciled deity taken back to her temple. Torch-bearing youths accompanied the procession through the night.

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IV. Although Solon's constitution had created much that was good, yet it had not succeeded in producing lasting unity among the citizens, so that from time to time they endeavoured to alter existing conditions. Such periods favoured individuals who wished to found a tyranny. So it came about that Athens had gradually to submit to the insistent will of an autocrat, the gifted Peisistratos. He rose to power while Solon was still living; the victory over Megara, finally ensuring Athens the possession of Salamis, which had lately been threatened, made him a celebrated national hero. He was a nobleman from Brauron, a little town on the east coast of Attica. There was nothing haughty in his character, so that the number of his followers quickly increased, above all among the poorer country folk. A body-guard granted him by the people for his personal safety, soon enabled him to seize the fortress (560 B. C.) and take the government into his own hands. His rule lasted till the year 527 B. C. with many interruptions, because, owing to the pressure of his opponents, he had to leave his native country for many years. After his death his sons Hippias and Hipparchos ruled thè state, until Hipparchos was murdered in 514 and Hippias was expelled. Athens thus endured a monarchy for fifty years, which, however, did not interfere with the outward form of Solon's constitution. The Acropolis became the home of princes again. It is true that we find no traces whatever of the palace of Peisistratos, but there are many of the royal splendour which then covered the Acropolis. This glory was nearly always to the advantage of the native gods and the fame of the people. The clever tyrants only 28

practised it as a means towards an end, because they knew that they were able to .subdue democratic inclinations by this kind of incense. The increasing economic progress of Athens provided the means for such a policy. The cultivation of the olive was improved and it brought wealth to the peasants. A wise government upheld peace and friendship between them and their powerful neighbours. Attic trade spread steadily all over the known world, and one of its chief branches reached through the Straits into the Black Sea up to the granary of south Russia. From that time the Athenians occupied the entrances to the Dardanelles, and a foreign policy began which was dictated by the demands of commerce. One of the chief articles put on the market by Athens consisted of clay vases of the finest workmanship. Their ornaments and figures (pictures founded on legends and every day life) could bear comparison with the best artistic productions of that time. In central Italy the rich Etruscans were glad to buy them, and in their graves a large number of Attic vases, which throw so much light on Attic culture under the tyrants, have been preserved for us. Even before Peisistratos undertook his coup d'etat in 560, he was powerful enough to exercise a decisive influence on the reformation of the Panathenaean festival. From the first this feast had been dedicated to the Acropolis. It was originally the "harvest thanksgiving" of the Athenian peasants and was intended to honour the tribal god Erechtheus. Later on, when Athena had gradually taken his place, it was changed into her birthday feast, which according to the legend had been founded either by Theseus or Erichthonios at the union of Attica. Even in early times the so called apobatic tournaments took place annually towards the end of August. In these sports the chief competition was to spring in helmet and shield from the chariot while driving at full speed. This was a sport which had its origin in the early method of fighting as described in the Iliad, when knights still drove up to the battle field in order afterwards to challenge their opponent on foot. Then, a procession with the chariots went up to the Acropolis, sacrificing oxen and sheep to the goddess. Following Olympia's example, the glory of the feast had been increased since 566 by the introduction of quadrennial 29

gymnastic tournaments. The Athenians desired to enhance the reputation of the Attic goddess and the Panathenaea with the neighbouring races and at the same time to attract more strangers to the city. On the chief holiday prizes of a special kind were distributed at the Acropolis, i. e. oil, made from olives consecrated to the goddess and contained in beautiful jars manufactured only for this special purpose (PL 16, 17). They were inscribed "From the tournaments at Athens". The kind of sport in which the victory had been gained was depicted on the one side, while the other showed Athena as fighting goddess, attacking the enemy with her spear. This was perhaps a reminiscence of a new temple statue, which had been erected next to the one of Athena peaceful and seated. On either side of Athena were to be seen two pillars with cocks upon them as symbols of competing fighters. These vases were manufactured in the so called black-figure technique— then still in vogue. The representations are painted upon the reddish brown clay with glossy black paint, which owing to its indestructibility and beauty made the yases unrivalled. The inside drawing was engraved with a style. In some places red and white has been employed besides, the latter colour especially for the skin of women (in this case of the goddess), who counted fair skin a mark of beauty just as all southern women even nowadays regard it. These Panathenean prize amphorae had not indeed attained such a state of perfection as contemporary Attic ceramic art. But the honourable way in which these amphorae were gained added greatly to their estimation, so that in many cases the vessel was taken into the grave by its owner, it was even destined as a receptacle of his ashes or passed on as an heirloom from generation to generation. But with the pious idea that he owed his success to Athena, the victor very often placed his prize as a votive offering in the very sanctuary in which it had been given him, so that we are enabled still to pick up many fragments of this kind among the debris of the Acropolis. In their devotion to the goddess of the city the Peisistratides did not forget their other gods. Apollon and Zeus were presented with considerable sanctuaries in the lower city, so that the Athenians no longer needed to carry their offerings to Delphi 30

and Olympia, but were able to dedicate them to their native cults. On the Acropolis, however, a new deity was introduced, Artemis of Brauron, known to Peisistratos since his youth. He honoured her, and in doing so he honoured his compatriots, upon whose faithfulness his rule was based, by creating a holy precinct for her in the south west corner of the Acropolis, near the chief entrance (111. 1, plan). It is true she received no temple, probably the middle of the precinct held only an altar, and the old seated statue and its possessions were only later protected against the weather by two halls adjoining at right angles. Athena might look upon this simple place without envy and yet Artemis was not condemned to be a nonentity, as she took under her care many things in which the warlike or practical mistress of the Acropolis was not interested. It was the women of Athens who appealed to her, in girlhood and motherhood, in their great and in their small sorrows, and they were glad to give her things their hearts held dear, such as beautiful clothes and glittering jewels. Artemis, originally a great nature deity, was often thought of as moon-goddess, and as the monthly change of this celestial lunar light seems to influence the vital functions of women, they hoped to obtain from her sympathy for all that only women feel and suffer. Thus Brauronia in her silent nook enjoyed a popularity granted to few gods only. The little Athenian girls had to serve her before their marriage until they received divine consecration. This took place annually at a feast, when a goat was slaughtered, and children appeared, it was said, as shebears in saffron coloured dresses. This cult is partly influenced by an old legend from the original sanctuary at Brauron. A she-bear was said to have been slain in the district sacred to Artemis, the protectress of game, whereupon she angrily condemned the land to pestilence, demanding the sacrifice of a virgin in redemption, but she finally declared herself contented with a goat as a sacrifice, if the maidens would agree to serve her in the shape of shebears. The kernel of this legend is the ancient idea of a demon in the shape of an animal hungering for human sacrifices which are gradually ennobled and transformed into a custom worthy of mankind.

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V. In their artistic and spiritual interests the Peisistratides reached a far higher level than was usual in their native country. Much as they wished to help their country to independence in the economical and religious spheres, they willingly recognised the higher spiritual culture of the Greek East. They therefore cultivated stimulating intercourse with the local rulers, above all with Polycrates of Samos. When the Persians extended their power over the Greeks in Asia Minor, strangling their artistic life, the court of Athens offered an hospitable refuge to many an Ionian. Poetry was chiefly encouraged by Hipparchos, who himself produced polished epigrams full of shrewd wisdom. The poet Simonides of Ceos was not permitted to leave his side, a somewhat expensive friend, this, who demanded liberal rewards for his art of writing poetry to celebrate festive occasions. Polycrates was dethroned in 522; it was probably then that Hipparchos sent a ship, with a crew of 50 oarsmen, to Samos, to fetch in princely state the great Anacreon, the classical bard of wine and love. His personality is inseparably connected with the Acropolis of that period. He well understood the art of enlivening the court festivals and his grey hairs did not prevent him from vying with the youngest of them. Down in the city they told a story of how, lute in hand, he had led on a wild dance of merry drinkers till the small hours of the morning. Dexterous vase painters have sketched this merry scene on their vessels, thus sending forth into the world the praise of the jovial old man. Anacreon and his countrymen introduced a soft luxurious spirit from Ionia. A happy sensuousness, not free from decadent 32

superculture, a feminine pleasure in fashionable elegancy in life and art, these are the characteristics of this movement, strongly influenced as it was by the ancient culture of the Orient. Willingly encouraged by the court of the tyrant, it soon overwhelmed the boorish coarseness of old Athens. We cannot find a clearer example of this than in contemplating the change of the female ideal in plastic art. It was the strong point of the Ionian sculptors to mould women as they wished to show themselves, that is, not wrapped up in a stiff gown hiding their shape, but in a cunningly arranged costume, either disclosing their charms or at least hinting at them. Very soon great numbers of these sculptors came from the islands of Chios and Paros, and their style took possession of Athens and became all the rage. It is true that in skill they were far superior to the Attic school. They represented very cleverly how the folds of a gown fall "ray like", when it is held up by a hand, all of the folds hastening to the same goal and yet each one choosing its own way and how in drooping, one pushes up behind the other, the edges forming a jagged line. Nay, even more, they showed how the woven patterns break and disappear, always according to the character of the material. By undercutting they were enabled to sever the masses of material from one another and from the body, and to chisel out freely long drooping lappets. Remarkable too was their art in showing the living body beneath the dress, this was done by clearly modelling out the plastic rounding of the limbs, then covering them with faint folds and somewhat blurring the outline. In order to reproduce the manifold ways of dressing the hair and to overcome the customary stiffness in the treatment of hair observed till then, they continually invented new designs, still ornamental it is true, and the curls were brought down to the shoulder, loosed from the neck, by thin and ingenious marble bridges. They disdained to employ Attic marble in Athens and sent to Paros for their native stone, the transparent marble mingled with large crystals. This suited their technical needs better and found immediate favour with the Athenians. From the series of girls* statues one is especially conspicuous for its size and almost exaggerated delicacy of treatment and Scfccdc, T i e Acropolis of Athens.

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work (PL 18). The body is over tall and slender; a long head is set on square shoulders. The left foot is slightly advanced, the lower right arm stretched forward. But the left arm like the right leg is held back so that the limbs balance one another in movement. The hand holds up the robe, drawing the material tightly round the legs. This is the thin clinging Ionian "Chiton", which easily falls in small folds, dragging along the ground, if not taken up. A wide woven middle border adorns it from the belt down to the feet. A strange little cloak falling in vertical regular folds covers the upper body with the exception of the left breast and shoulder. The sharply chiselled face contains slanting eyeslits and the corners of the mouth are drawn upward. It expresses a pronounced smile, but this smile strikes one as being cold, unreal, conventional, and the longer one regards it the more soulless it grows. This is the impression we get from almost all works of Ionian masters. Very often the eyes are downcast (PL 32), as if the woman were afraid of meeting the man's eye and moved according to Oriental ideas of what is proper. Sometimes the slanting little cloak is missing and the Chiton as sole garment droops over the belt, covering it; yet even here the left hand grasps the material coquettishly—tightening it around the legs (PL 22). How different is the Attic girl from all this — in her plain skirt showing her feet, how straight her look — how free the expression of her lipsl (Pl. 20, 21). Even Athene's warlike figure adapted itself to the eastern type (PL 26). Her limbs are long and almost lank: especially the arm bearing a bowl is thin and delicate, unaccustomed to hard work; but her bosom is luxuriously rounded and an expression of sensual sweetness hovers over the oval delicate face, chiefly produced by the narrow almond shape of the eye and the slightly pouting lips. This little bronze figure is a strange thing, a double sided relief of quite infinitesimal thickness, almost producing the effect of a flattened statuette. However, according to ancient custom the two points of view are not uniformly developed, thus for instance the breasts are shown in three quarter view, while the face is strictly kept in profile. 34

The men of this date appear no less changed in their outer appearance. The statuette of a rider sitting naked, with assured elegance on a small unsaddled stallion (PL 28) also betrays the Ionian training of its master. The clipped and daintily arranged mane, the youth's magnificent profusion of curls and his smooth face with its work of cool politeness are just as characteristic of this change as the lassitude of body in horse and rider. In feeling and style this work is a world's distance from the man carrying a calf (PI. 9). It is probable that at first the native school of sculpture was hard put to it by the influx of foreign and technically superior artists, for the new fashion evidently found ample favour at court and in society. But many Attic artists adapted themselves to the new conditions and allowed the advantages of the Ionian style to influence them thoroughly only in order to employ it in their own way. It was now proved how quickly Athens could learn, and how its fundamental soundness of character was able to infuse the super-culture with new life and freshness. A specially beautiful female statue is probably the work of an Attic hand (PI. 19). It is true that it follows Ionian models very exactly as far as technique and the style of robe are concerned, it is even pervaded by this spirit, because in bearing and in the deeply downcast eyes the girl subjects herself to the prevailing laws of propriety, and the tired expression of the slanting lines of hair drooping from the forehead and of the shoulders proclaims the weakness of a super-refined manner of life. And yet something new has crept into this face: a smile hovers over these lips, almost invisible and dreamy, as if involuntary, belonging to the world of its inmost thoughts. It is truthful and honest, and therefore far removed from the smile of the. Ionians, it is the fundamental element of the inimitable Attic charm.

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VI. But at Athens there were other artists who, perhaps on account of being older in years, clung to the formal traditions of their school with a conscious tenacity. It is not likely that they underrated .the evident superiority of the stranger, on the contrary they learned a great deal from him, but they did not forget the patience and the understanding of sculpture with which their fathers had created the style of the calf-bearer. This school was still held in honour, and Hipparchos did well in entrusting just them with the greatest task of those years and the most important one for their native cult, i.e., the decoration of the new temple of Athena (about 520 B. C.). The old building had for long been a displeasing sight to the fastidious Athenians. The plain shape of the temple in antis, the simple demons and beasts of prey on roof and gable seemed to them to correspond no longer to the leading role which the town played in economic and intellectual matters, and it is certain they had to bear many a sneer on this account from the Ionians. Therefore—destroy it!—Money enough was available and there was no shortage of artists. N o religious objections from their priests threatened them, for the sacred places remained untouched, even the house walls could be preserved and needed only to be raised a little. But the roof, columns and architraves had to go. In their stead they raised a full wreath of pillars all around the temple, six at the front and back and twelve at each side in the manner that was to be observed everywhere in the Greek temples of that time (111. 6). The triglyph frieze now likewise ran all 'round the building. The capitals received a stiff profile with lines 36

striving upwards, instead of the round kettle shape. Thus the total impression of the temple was fundamentally altered in a modern sense. The change of style was still more noticeable in the details of ornamentation. This more enlightened age rejected the idea of terror-inspiring monsters as protectors against wicked spirits. Instead of the horrible Gorgon, the joyful goddess of victory, Nike, was probably to be seen on the gable hurrying through the air in a correctly conceived running motion with knees less deeply bent (111. 8). And yet, whether as a remnant of indestructible superstition or the tenacity of artistic tradition, again we find the grim lion heads appearing at the corners of the temple, it is true with weakened significance, employed as decorative water spouts (PL 5 and 12). These are royal representations of ferocity, much grander in conception than the naive-ugly Gorgon; they are also far superior in style, remarkable for its smooth planes with their almost invisible movement. Instead of the heavy and plump pedantically outlined ornaments of the old building (Pi. 14) a clever draughtsman as if in play has spread out buds and blossoms which dance on boldly coiled stalks (PI. 5). The progress was most remarkable in the marble pediment figures. The group above the entrance side represented the fight of the gods against the giants. The latter were an earth-born and uncouth race, who in their folly tried to dispute the rule of the celestial powers over the world. Zeus, Athena and Herakles stood in the centre of the mighty battle in which the monsters were vanquished, and the pediment-composition was probably limited to their deeds, describing the event only in its chief features. In the centre we* see Athena, the mistress of the temple, advancing with long strides and swinging her spear against a fallen giant (PI. 23). She wears the elegant Ionian women's city dress, and the helmet with bronze ornaments as well as the snake-covered aegis which covers the whole outstretched left arm, are in strange contrast to it. Her face is preserved best (PI. 25), and much of the skill and endeavour of the contemporary Attic school are expressed in it. It is fuller and more rounded than the eastern ideal of beauty. The eyes protrude strongly, the lids and edges of the hollows of the eyes seem to be carved with a broad kaife according to old 38

traditions from the poros period. In contrast to this however the expression of the mouth has been enriched by a charming contemplative expression, betraying an inner life. W e find no trace as yet of the mental excitement of the fight. Her opponent, a long naked fellow, is at the last gasp. The right arm which had held the sword droops languidly, the left arm vainly tries to support itself with the shield. The left leg collapses nervelessly. In order to prevent a complete breakdown he draws up his right leg, turning his trunk at almost a right angle. This turning appears rather exaggerated and anatomically untrue because the front view of his breast stands at too sharp a contrast to the side view of his legs. In this case artistic skill has not been able to keep pace with the intention. But the limbs of this man have turned out all the more perfect, above all the right arm, a product of the most intense feeling for bodily beauty. What the Attic school had learnt about style since the "calf bearer" we recognise in looking back at the poros sculptures of the old temple: there we find muscles shaped in exaggerated rounding without any feeling for their functions (Pl. 3 and 4). Apart from this group we have only the two corner-figures in a state of comparative preservation, also naked giants struck to the ground. Thus we depend upon uncertain surmise as far as the composition is concerned. But one thing "we do know from fragments, viz., that the two gods on the right and left must have been considerably smaller than Athena. Art had retained its naive and archaic principle of composition which is already known to us from the pediment with the entry of Herakles (Pl. 1). Figures, among themselves of equal value, are made smaller there, because there is less room for them. But already in the groups of the old Hekatompedon the choice of the theme had helped them over this difficulty, because the tapering snake and fish bodies fitted excellently into the corner of the triangle. Herakles also, struggling on the ground, as well as the sea demon adapted themselves» quite naturally to the slant of the pediment; upright figures stood in the middle only (P1.3and4). Thus an old-fashioned conservatism, such as is to be found in all good native art, has set its stamp upon the pediment group of the new temple. In 39

the pediment field at the back of the temple likewise the old manner was allowed to come out triumphant. Because here, perhaps for the last time on the Acropolis, a mighty animal group in the style of a generation or two back was represented in poros, a couple of lions which had overthrown a wild bull (PL 6 and 111. 7). This work of poros however does not seem to have remained long in its place. It was probably supplanted by a copy in marble so as not to be in too sharp a contrast to the front side. So finally the influence of the older style is only to be seen in the choice of subject.

111. 7. A t t e m p t at restoration of poros g r o u p in Peisistratic H e k a t o m p e d o n .

(PI. 6.)

It is true in their execution these animal representations show all the progress of that time; the feeling for the organic, enlivening the traditional manner, is expressed in every stroke. A specially fine observer of animals is also to be found among the masters of the giant-pediment. Perhaps as "an offering from a lover of the chase to Artemis" he created two large hounds of which one has been almost wholly preserved (PI. 13). As with the lion's head all details are lost in broad smooth planes, which however meet here at angles that make the composition clear. The noble animal lies couched, ready to spring, one seems to see the body trembling with excitement. This statue of a ¿og far surpasses all human representations of its time in its naturalness, just as all youthful art is more at its ease with animals than with human beings. 40

In like manner we see the marble horses approaching perfection (PI. 29). If only the trunk of this carefully thought out representation had been preserved for us and we could forget the symmetrical wave-shaped mane, the unreal wrinkles of the skin under the jaw and at the mouth, the almond shaped cut of the eyes, we should hardly regard this as still archaic art. Daintily the race-horse places its feet for a short pace; the thin clean joints were a special delight to the master. He seems to have doubted whether, if executed in marble, they could have borne the whole weight of the human body and that of the horse. As is the custom with ancient horse-statues of marble, he left a strong support under its stomach, which was painted red in order to distinguish it from the actual sculpture. The long-toed aristocratic foot of the rider, a product of the Ionian feeling for style in marble, is of remarkable beauty.

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VII. The standard of life at Athens had been raised so high by her prosperity and by the progress of civilization that her citizens are not likely to have been discontented nor was public opinion in the main hostile to the tyrants. It is true that the menace of Persian extension was even then looming large. The stream of artists, poets and thinkers from Eastern Greece had hitherto contributed only to the stimulation and advancement of Athens, and it meant a severe loss in political prestige when the Dardanelles passed into Persian hands. At the Panathenaic festival of 514 B.C. Hipparchos, the jovial patron of the arts, fell a victim to the malignant hatred of Harmodios and Aristogeiton, and with him set the star of this beneficent line. Bitterness at the murder and anxiety for his own throne drove Hippias to severe measures, and for the first time the citizens felt the hard oppression of a real tyranny. The few but powerful adversaries of his house, above all the noble family of the Alcmaeonides, now found their task easy. The fickle Athenians quickly forgot who had led them to wealth and success: and, suddenly discovering in themselves an overwhelming passion for liberty, they looked upon the Acropolis as the stronghold of a bloodthirsty despot. From this time onwards the word tyrannos, which originally denoted nothing more than absolute ruler, came to have the additional meaning of ruthless despot, which still attaches to it. For the time being Hippias had nothing to be afraid of. The thousand-year-old Pelasgic walls (111.2) still stood undamaged. A splendid gate of marble (111. 8), which he caused to be erected on the west side for solemn processions, in no way prejudiced 42

the safety of the Acropolis. When at last the people rose in open rebellion and were supported by the Spartan King Kleomenes with his army, Hippias could have successfully held out the siege in his well-supplied fortress. But when his children fell into the hands of the enemy, he became tired of the struggle for power. He evacuated the Acropolis and retired to Sigeion, his fortress at the Dardanelles. There he lived as the vassal of the Persian king for another twenty years, spinning political intrigues against his ungrateful country. Athens was free and at first no happier than before. It was necessary to get rid of the Spartan king, who had taken up his quarters on the Acropolis, and to put an end to party strife. At last Kleisthenes, the head of the Alcmaeonides, created a new constitution: in the circumstances it could not have been other than decidedly democratic. For after the glory of the past decades it was impossible to offer the people anything less than complete sovereignty. Every art of propaganda was used to destroy the memory of the good deeds done by the Peisistratids. On the Acropolis a brazen tablet was set up, on which their banishment was recorded: it bore the names of the accursed race for all to read. A brazen lioness, which stood in the gateway and was without a tongue, soon became the subject of fantastic legends that spoke of a woman who had helped the murderers of the tyrant. When put to the torture she had bitten off her tongue rather than betray to Hippias who her associates were, and the people, after they had been freed, had erected to her this monument. Their ecstatic delight in liberty, however, found its strongest expression in the bronze group of Harmodios and Aristogeiton in the market-place, which was the work of the Attic artist Antenor. This sculptor was a favourite of the Alcmaeonides: at Delphi, where the Temple of Apollo was built at their expense, he executed the groups for the pediments, and so he may be regarded as the most important artistic representative of the young Athenian republic. On the Acropolis also there stood a work by his hand, a beautiful female statue, more than life-size, which is in an almost complete state of preservation (PI. 30). An old master-potter, Nearchos, who had already in the 44

time of Peisistratos attained to wealth and importance by his trade in beautifully painted vases, had dedicated to Athena, the patroness of his craft, this dignified statue as her share in his profits. At the first glance we seem to have before us a work by one of the Ionic masters, so strongly are attitude and costume influenced by them. But soon we see that this Attic woman is of another stamp: she stands proudly erect, almost soldierly in her bearing, her took open and clear. Her body is broad-shouldered and robust, her bosom full and firm: a woman of the healthy and undegenerated people, she lacks the courtly graces of Tyrant art. The expression of this work is as grave as the times, which had seen mighty upheavals and were to experience still mightier. The artistic conception of Athena had likewise changed to something vigorous. A seated statue by the artist Endoios, which may have held weapons in the hands (since lost), shows the goddess in a simple chiton with wavy folds and on the aegis a mighty (now weather-beaten) mask of the Gorgon (PI. 31). Her body is of almost manly proportions, broad-shouldered, and slender at the waist. She moves on her throne uneasily, as if ready to spring up and protect her people. For the young state was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Among them were the Boeotians and Chalcidians who were decisively beaten in 506 B. C. The rejoicings were all the greater as it was long since the men of Athens had met the enemy in open battle. A monument of victory, paid for by the ransom received from the prisoners, was erected on the Acropolis, and its size and the popularity it enjoyed, reflected the importance of the event. It was a bronze chariot with four horses. The ascendency of Ionic work in marble was so great that little had been done in bronze at Athens as yet. But now, since there had been a violent rupture with all the customs of the Tyrants, the great monuments of the State came to be made of bronze. The art of Athens, which had always greedily absorbed foreign influences without in the least prejudicing its originality, became for the time being dependent on the Doric schools of Aegina, Argos and Sicyon, which had raised bronze-founding to a high art. Antenor 45

especially, originally an artist in marble of the Ionic school but related to the Peloponnesians through his austerity and earnestness, had shown the way with his bronze group of the Tyrannicides. The resolute and warlike spirit of the age is reflected in a neat painting on a: tile. (PL 27). A warrior is charging the enemy's lines. With long strides and with irresistible élan, he springs forward, his lance levelled, his shield, adorned with a picture of a running Silenus, thrust before him: his only other dress is the helmet with the streaming crest, and a narrow cloth round the hips. This work, full of character as it is, was certainly put to some architectonic use, and it has an especial value for us. It is richer in resource than the black-figured vases and it thus gives us a better idea of the monumental paintings which at one time adorned the Acropolis, though they are now lost to us. The yellow-brown colour of the body, an imitation of a soldier's sunburned skin, stands out against the deep black of his garment, the folds of which are indicated by light incised lines while the muscles are drawn in black. The weapons are not shown in their own natural colour, but are drawn with red and black strokes on the yellowish-white background. In this we see the tendency to a new distribution of colour such as had just established itself in pottery, leading to the red-figured technique. In this style dark surfaces are used only for the background, while the natural orange-colour of the clay serves for the figures, and other details are touched in with fine black strokes. The slanting of the shield, on the other hand, is an early attempt at perspective, while the eye, as usual in archaic art, although in profile, is drawn as if it were in full face. Our tile thus represents an important turning-point in the art of painting. The inscription, "Megakles is beautiful", springs from the wide-spread custom of immortalizing on walls and vases persons who were famous for beauty. Megakles, like all the others who were thus glorified, belonged to the highest classes of Athenian society. Later on, however, when his family had lost its political influence, his name was replaced by that of Glaukytes.

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VIII. So we find everywhere in the Athens of Kleisthenes germs of new developments, which not seldom arose from the desire to break away from the spirit of the tyrants, who had made the city so happy and were now so detested. Had not this spirit inspired the finest buildings and works of art on the Acropolis? Did not the temple triumph over the banishment of the Peisistratides? There was only one way of obscuring this glory, it was by building a still finer temple. The highest point of the Acropolis was chosen, south of the Hekatompedon and near the southern wall. Probably some insignificant poros buildings stood there: they had to go; and their ruins, with all the other debris left, especially the remains of the older Hekatompedon, were used for the mighty embankments which were necessary to prepare the site in the south. In this manner the Athenians buried their Solonic art and against their will bequeathed it to posterity. The new building was planned on a gigantic scale, two and half times the area of the Hekatompedon. A ring of forty closely set columns (16 on the lofag sides, 6 on the narrow sides) was to enclose the walls. The temple was to surpass its predecessor in the excellence of its stone, it was therefore resolved to use throughout only marble for the visible parts. From the Pentelic mountains was brought that white, fine-grained stone, the surface of which has covered itself in the course of the centuries with a brilliant rust varying from reddish-yellow to dark brown, and' which to-day gives the buildings of the Acropolis their incomparable beauty of colour. 47

But this temple was not destined to be completed. We must thank the Fates for sweeping it away in time, since only on its ruins could a later generation create something nobler, for which the age was not yet ripe. Destiny indeed inflicted on the Greek people and especially on Athens utter distress, such as they had never known. They had to wage a fight for existence, which in all human probability offered no chance of success, but which could not be declined, since it is impossible for a people voluntarily to submit to one inferior to itself in civilization. The time of the Persian wars had come. Still fettered by the obsolete ideas of ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms and by the political systems of the Asiatic continent, the rulers of Iran had spread their empire over the Near East. Fertile plains, barren steppes, bleak snow-mountains submitted to them without offering real resistance. And so they pushed their frontiers westwards as far as the Grecian sea with its innumerable islands and harbours. A people whose home is the sea, is free in spirit, free from the dust of well-worn paths, free from barriers which straiten the horizon. Its course is like that of a ship before the wind, not that of a plough in the furrow. In the Greeks the Persians made the acquaintance of a people unlike any they had ever met. They had already succeeded in becoming masters of the prosperous Greek sea-towns on the coast of Asia Minor. The destruction of recalcitrant Miletus, the most important Greek town of the time (494 B. C.) was undoubtedly a menace to the freedom of Greece. The leaders of Athens, the Alcmaeonides, had supported Miletus with what forces they could, and had thus thrown down the gauntlet to their mighty enemy. Revenge for this imprudent but warm-hearted and patriotic deed followed in a few years. A Persian army landed in Attica, led by the aged Hippias who was determined to re-establish his tyranny. The battle of Marathon was fought, a startling victory of the dauntless Greek army, their bodies hardened by sport, over the dull, unwarlike mass of the Orientals (490 B. C.). The chief attack of the Persians did not follow until ten years later. The interval, which was poor in artistic effort, was employed by the Greeks, under the 48

leadership of the great Themistocles, in building a war-fleet. They recognised that in the long run they could only resist their powerful opponent in their own element. With irresistible impetuosity the Persians broke through the passes of Northern Greece and were advancing upon Athens herself. Themistocles gave orders that the town should be evacuated and that such inhabitants as could not do duty in the fleet should be removed to Salamis. But the Athenians' hearts were heavy at the thought of leaving the Acropolis to the tender mercies of the barbarians, and Themistocles, in order to banish these pious fears, had to bring the powers of superstition into play. As guardian of the sacred ground and originally as an embodiment of the god Erechtheus, there dwelled on the Acropolis a large snake, which was fed every month with honey-cake. In these days, however, it did not show itself and the food remained untouched, whereupon Themistocles spread the rumour that this was a sign that the goddess had left the town and was gone before them to the sea. After that there were but few who did not turn their backs on home: there remained behind only the poor and the sick, further the treasurers of the goddess in unswerving loyalty, and one or two obstinate persons who hoped for the promised miracle. For the Delphic oracle, which favoured the Persians, had advised Athens in bittery mockery to fortify themselves behind wooden walls. With ready wit Themistocles had applied this evil saying to the wooden walls of his ships and had thus won over many of the irresolute. Those who still remained behind, however, barricaded the gate of the Acropolis with beams of wood and, resigned to the will of the gods, waited for the enemy. The Persians marched into the deserted town with astonishment, but when they noticed signs of life on the Acropolis, they occupied the Areopagus to the west of it and easily set fire to the wooden fortifications with their darts. But for all that the wretched garrison continued the defence with sullen tenacity: boulders of rock were rolled upon the attackers, as soon as they approached the gates. At last the enemy succeeded in taking the Greeks unawares. At the northern foot of the Acropolis lay Schcdc, The Acropolit of Athena.

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the sanctuary of Aglauros, one of those daughters of King Kekrops who for disobedience to Athena had sought death. At this spot, one of the steepest on the Acropolis, the girl had cast herself down. Another form of the saga says that her voluntary death was intended to free her country from the enemy. Since that time the young warriors, when they went forth to battle, used at this spot to swear to be faithful to Athens. An old and ruinous flight of steps, apparently impassable and therefore not watched, here led down from the Acropolis, and here one or two Persians climbed up and surprised the Greeks. Their appearance caused a panic amongst the worn-out garrison; many threw themselves to death over the walls, others, still trusting to the goddess, took refuge in her temple. The gates were opened, the overwhelming masses of the barbarians poured in and slew all they found alive. Fire-brands were flung at the roof-beams of the temples and at the scaffolding of the half-finished building, in the glowing heat the marble burst like glass, and a world of piety, art and wealth was swallowed up in the flames. What still remained standing, was torn down, the blocks of the venerable Pelargikon, for centuries the pride and the hope of the Athenians, rolled away into the depths, and the dainty marble maidens in Ionic garments fell headlong from their slender columns and broke neck, arms and legs. Xerxes, the King, made the most of his triumph. A message was sent to the Persian capital that the disgrace of Marathon had been blotted out and that Athens was a heap of ruins. And then this despiser of mankind determined to humiliate also those former citizens of Athens who now courted his favour, banished aristocrats of the house of the Peisistratids and others who hoped to regain their lost influence through the fall of their country. He ordered them to perform the holy sacrifices on the Acropolis according to the ancient rite, under the eyes of the victor, amid the shattered remains of Peisistratic splendour. They were to go to the sanctuary of Pandrosos, one of the daughters of Kekrops, where the sacred olive-tree stood, the symbol of Athenian fertility. Athena had planted it at the time* when Kekrops still reigned and the gods divided among them50

selves the sanctuaries where men worshipped. Poseidon, the god of the sea, had indeed struck with his trident an imperishable mark in the rock as a symbol of his claim, but, in the opinion of the other immortals, Athena's beneficent deed made her supremacy unquestionable. From this tree the olive-groves of Attica were descended, those patches of shimmering grey-green, which covered the land as far as the eye reached. From this parent stock had sprung the commerce and wealth of Athens. Now it was only a charred stump, in the presence of which the traitors were to bury what remained of their pride in their country. But lo, a wonderl a long green shoot had broken forth over night, the germinating power of the old tree had defied destruction. Athens was not dead, the roots of her life were unhurt. Xerxes was soon to become aware of this. The battle of Salamis destroyed the greatest part of his fleet and after the internal disturbances of his kingdom had caused him to hurry home, his general Mardonius was in the following year decisively defeated at Plataeae (479 B. C.). Athens was indeed once again overrun by the enemy and she suffered serious loss. But then the foreign barbarians disappeared for many centuries, and for the Acropolis a dawn broke more beautiful than she had ever known.

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IX. For the present the iron time urgently demanded that measures should be taken for safety. Although the Acropolis had developed to be the chief sanctuary of the town, the resistance offered by an insufficient garrison against an enemy far superior in numbers had clearly shown the value of the rock for purposes of defence. The first thing taken in hand was therefore the restoration of the walls. In spite of the fury of destruction so much of them was still left standing, that only some of the northern part of the wall needed to be rebuilt entirely. The rest was thoroughly repaired. But the matter brooked no delay, as the Persians might in a year or two return with a still mightier army. The motto was now work with might and main, beauty was a secondary consideration. Whatever blocks of stone lay around were taken for the wall. This work was but a part of the walling round of the whole town, which in spite of Spartan jealousy was accomplished in one winter (479—78 B. C.) by the entire population under the leadership of Themistocles. Meanwhile the war against Persia continued and brought the Greeks victory upon victory. The skilful naval policy of Athens bore abundant fruit. She soon stood at the head of a far-spreading combination of the Greek maritime cities, to which, however, Sparta, as leader of the Peloponnesian peninsula, from the first assumed a position of the bitterest hostility. But the nation in arms had not forgotten their goddess and their art. Doric sculpture had pushed its way forward to a leading position in Athens. The masters of the north Peloponnesian school even found opportunities of setting up their works 52

on the Acropolis. Their style stands out in all its purity in a bronze warrior's head, which certainly comes from an artist of Aegina (PI. 24). Unfortunately the effect on us is at present spoiled by the absence of the helmet made in a separate piece, and the eyes, inserted and of various coloured materials, have been almost completely destroyed. The sharp, clear forms have been combined with skilful calculation: a strictly disciplined and énergetic character speaks from the steady and yet animated features. How strong were these influences on Attic art at the time of the battle of Salamis way be inferred from a charming female figure, the last in this incomparable series, presented as an offering by the Athenian Euthydikos (PI. 33). She is still clothed in the Ionian fashion, the contrast between robe and body is still in full play, it is even livelier than before, since the material over the left breast and shoulder is represented as without folds so that no gentle contour of the naked body remains unnoticed. In this we recognise an intentional simplification of style, and accordingly in the sloping edge and the falling surfaces of the cloak the drapery is restricted to what is barely necessary. A magnificent "feeling for form here grows out of the antiquated Ionic manner, which had trifled away its technical ability iñ prettiness and over-refinement (PL 32). The expression of the face is familiar to us and yet strange. As with the Athena of the giants' pediment (PL 25) the features seem to be occupied in meditation: different, on the other hand, are the dreamy eyes, half open and rimmed with heavy lids, their gaze uncertain as if they did not know what they saw. The corners of the mouth are noticeably drawn downwards, as if there were a touch of melancholy in the emotions of this ripe and yet youthful woman. In such renunciation of smiling archaic amiability there is á reflection of Doric austerity. In a similar earnest and thoughtful mood the youth (PL 34,35) inclines his head to one side, whom the artist has characterized as blond and therefore beautiful according to southern ideas. For the hair, which is wound round the head in a thick double plait and arranged over the forehead in locks carefully combed, is coloured ochre-yellow, as are also the eye-brows; in this way an 53

attempt at natural colouring has been made. Here too the breadth of the eye-lids and the corners of the mouth, slightly drawn downwards, cause an almost melancholy expression. But the cheeks have that irresistible grace which is still peculiar to the youth of Greece and by the reproduction of which this head, in spite of all imitation of Doric seriousness, has become an undeniably Attic work. The influence of the foreign style in Athens may again be clearly seen in the marble statue of a young lad (PI. 36, 37). The wonderfully compact proportions, the face, certain of itself, defiant, almost ungracious, are Peloponnesian traditions. Notwithstanding its quiet position the attitude is free from constraint, for the weight of the body is not, as hitherto, equally distributed on both legs parted as in the stride, but only one leg is firmly planted on the ground, while the other rests at its ease. As a consequence the relative position of the hips is slightly changed. Observation of such natural attitudes is one of the decisive steps in the liberation of sculpture. This boy, long-legged and slender, with his muscles still soft and yet already developed by gymnastic training, is a glorification of dawning manhood. He must have been a victor at the games for the young, who in gratitude dedicated a statue of himself to Athena. We believe that we know the circle to which the great master belonged who created it. For in the same style worked Kritios and Nesiotes, the sculptors of the new group of the Tyrannicides, known to us by marble copies, which was set up in the market, soon after Xerxes had removed Antenor's work, the emblem of the free state, to Susa, the Persian capital. The head of Harmodios is closely related to that of the youth on the Acropolis, and the bodies of the group show, with the exception of a few remains of the archaic style, the same anatomical correctness and freedom of movement. Perfection is not far off.

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X. After the fall of Themistocles Kimon, son of Miltiades, the victor of Marathon, held the reins of power. His splendid victory over the Persians at the battle of the Eurymedon (B. C. 465) brought Athens an excess of booty. The proceeds sufficed to give the area of the Acropolis a thoroughly new aspect which it has retained to the present day (111. 1, Plan). In place of the Pelargikon there arose a fine smooth ashlar-wall of uniform rectangular blocks. Now and again, however, parts of old buildings were built in, probably as a remembrance of the Persian troubles, in such a manner that they were visible from a long way off (PI. 44). These consisted chiefly of the column-drums from the newly begun temple and the remains of the Peisistratic colonnade of the Hekatompedon, which had to be pulled down after the fire, so that the ancient temple, restored for worship, had almost regained its old form once more. Only in the west of the Acropolis, at the entrance, did a portion of the old wall remain, but here the rough masonry was concealed by thin slabs of white marble. In the north also a piece of Themistocles' wall was preserved. The new wall did not follow all the contours of the ground and it thus considerably increased the inclosed area of the Acropolis. To accomplish this a great deal of embanking and levelling were necessary, just as the temple of the Alcmaeonides in Delphi had demanded. Once more a mass of broken works of art was made use of, but then there were more than enough of them in the destroyed sanctuary. To the south of the large new teipple and in the north wall near the old palace we have found in our times the greater part of what has been preserved of ancient Attic marble works, above all the charming series of 55

twenty girls' statues. Only one or two statues of Athena, blackened by smoke, among them the seated figure by Endoios (Pl. 31), remained in their places. We are astonished at how radically they swept away the remains of the past. We miss the piety aroused in us when we handle things from our fathers' or grandfathers' days, and we deplore the want of feeling for the fact that works of art may have significance and life even when fate has dealt hardly with them. An unswerving egoism drove these people to respect only themselves and their own achievement and to shut their eyes to the performances of those upon whose shoulders they stood. They were not altogether without justification, for art was now approaching its climax with gigantic strides, the goal stood clear before their eyes, and every glance backwards would have brought confusion and loss. The artist, who first reached the summit, whose figures move free from the heaviness of the archaic manner as if they were flesh and blood in bronze, was Myron, one of the greatest plastic artists that has ever lived. Born at Eleutherae, a city in northern Attica, he had probably learned sculpture from Hageladas of Argos, that is to say, in the Peloponnesian school. In bronze he had found the material which was most flexible to his artistic intentions. What raised him above the others was the swift certainty of his artistic perceptions. His world-famous Discusthrower, the complicated action of which traverses with the speed of lighting a series of radically different attitudes, is held fast in the one position which makes perfectly clear what it is all about; the lifting of the arms, the preliminary swing, the throw. Nobody before him had ever imagined such a daring motive as might have served him as a model: he created his best out of himself alone. The Acropolis contained a number of masterpieces by him, which have all been lost to us. His bronze statue of a young cow seemed so alive that a drastic anecdote relates how a calf once ran lowing up to it in order to suck the swelling udders. Even in later times, when plastic art was so fully developed as to be able to express every phase of life without difficulty, this bronze animal enraptured the connoisseurs, and many a poet 56

has attempted to describe in a neat epigram its truth to life. But nevertheless we can form no definite idea of what this work was like. We are better off with the group of Athena and Marsyas, which used to stand between Brauronion and Parthenon. It told a story from the youth of the goddess. In a leisure hour she had cut a reed and discovered that a tune could be played upon it: but a glance at the smooth water mirroring her face told her that puffed out cheeks spoiled her beauty. She throws the pipes away in contempt. Thereupon Marsyas, the horse-tailed demon of the woods, with a snub nose and a scrubby beard, comes along and with the childish joy of the savage sees the jolly toy. He picks it up and becomes a master of the flute. Till a short time ago we had no satisfactory knowledge of this group either. On badly worn copper coins from the latest period of Athens we found the two figures carelessly executed as an unassuming memento of a group with which everyone was familiar. Then a marble statue at the Lateran in Rome was recognised as a copy of the Marsyas, and finally a few years ago a new discovery showed that Athena's head and body have also been preserved in various marble copies. An attempt has now been made to combine the figures in a plaster group and by imitations in metal to approach the effect of the original. We are, it is true, not quite clear about the position of the arms, which are wanting in both the figures. Only one thing is certain, that Athena did not lean on the spear, but that her lowered right arm held it free beside her body. Nevertheless we may say that we once more possess the work of Myron in its chief features (PI. 38, 39, 40). In his representation the flutes are lying on the ground, despised by Athena, desired by Marsyas. They have scarcely fallen from her hands, when he starts forward to seize them. This is going too far,-she has not thrown the nasty things away for that. She moves her lance, her thumb spread out and pressing the shaft, as if to rap his hands, so that he starts back confused. The goddess wears, like most Athenian women of this time, only the Dorian robe, the peplos. A sharp reaction of fashion 57

had replaced the rich confusion of Ionic costume by a significant simplicity. The higher and prouder philosophy of a race accustomed to victory, the single-minded struggle for clearness of form, which Athens and especially Myron manifested in their preference for the Peloponnesian style, brought about the momentous change. The material is of thick wool and it flows down the young body in severe folds. For the girl, who is here clad as a warlike goddess, is still quite young: the budding breasts raise the cloth almost imperceptibly, and the features of the fine countenance, whose grave seriousness is lightened up by childish grace, are perhaps too slight. Marsyas represents another world, however. His body is lean and sinewy, like the animals of the woods, and his face is dull and untended: he is a child of nature, remote from mankind, half an animal. How could his meeting with the well-bred goddess fall out otherwise than as Myron describes it: shy and yet covetous he steps up to the magic circle of her inaccessibility: with a fine self-command, a smile of mockery lightly playing round her lips, she repels him and turns to go. Out of a quick succession of movements Myron has here seized the moment that makes what is happening unmistakable. In addition, the accentuation of contrasts is one of his most important resources, which enables him to characterise his figures better than anyone before him and thus to overcome the monotony typical of the age.

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XI. In 461 B. C. Kimon, a man of conservative leanings, who advocated common action between Sparta and Athens against Persia, was overthrown and banished by the radical-democratic party. .The leader of the movement was Perikles, destined to hold the world for a generation in the spell of his personality. Although sprung from the ancient nobility, he was impelled by the traditions of his mother's family, the Alcmaeonides, to the side of that political party which was endeavouring to enlarge the rights of the masses to an absurd extent and which is largely responsible for the subsequent downfall of the state. So long, indeed, as he remained alive, his reforms of the constitution were the immediate cause of the most splendid period of achievement of any state in Greek history. For just because the will of the people was supreme, Perikles' parliamentary genius and his masterly treatment of public opinion were able to have full scope. He thus guided the fortunes of the state for thirty years like an autocrat. The method of his rule was not dissimilar to that of Peisistratus: it was also the only possible one to use with a people so difficult to subjugate. He managed to make the people forget their actual loss of the power to decide in their own affairs, but only so long as peace prevailed, prosperity grew and the eyes were dazzled by brilliant works of art. In foreign affairs, considerations of his position at home often led Perikles to pursue a fatal course. He departed from Kimon's policy and brought to an end the war of the federated Greek states against the Persians. He then opposed Sparta, the enemy of all democracy, for this power was the greatest obstacle to his vast plans that so deluded the people. He aspired to develope the Maritime Federation into an Attic Empire and further 59

to unite the whole Greek nation under the leadership of Athens. In the first plan he succeeded, the second brought his country to ruin. At the time when Perikles began his political career, a young Athenian sculptor called Phidias had fought his way through to the formation of a style of his own. His striving was always for the great and the sublime in the material and intellectual sense. He often raised the figures of his gods far above human proportions and he set between celestial omnipotence and earthly weakness such a wide gulf that the pious would have felt alarm, had not an expression of mildness and grace beamed upon them from the countenances of the heavenly ones. The temple-statues were to reveal to the world the gods of Homer, different from the race of men and yet spiritually related and their friends. Phidias was considered by many later Greeks as the greatest of sculptors, and it is certain that he owes his fame neither to the rapid progress of plastic skill in his time nor to the development of any particular motive in statuary, but before all to his power of expression and to the wealth of idea for which he created a tangible form. For his great works could only be fully understood by one who had studied the deeper meaning of all their details and had felt the harmony underlying the whole work. The traveller who approached Athens by ship was greeted far out at sea by the glittering helmet and lance of the "great bronze Athena", who, overpeering all other votive offerings, had been erected on the Acropolis between the temple of Athena and the entrance-gate. The monument was about fifty feet high. The warlike maiden was represented standing calmly, clad in peplos and aegis, in her left hand her shield, in her right her spear held upright. Appearing as at once mistresss and guardian of Acropolis and nation, she become the symbol of the city. Later on she was called "Promachos", the champion, by the people simply the "votive offering", as she was the expression of gratitude for delivery from the Persians. A tenth of the booty from Plataeae was offered in this form to the goddess. Its date is uncertain; Kimon may have commissioned Phidias as early as 465 B.C. to carry out this gigantic work. 60

But of the attitude of the Promachos we know nothing but the vaguest details, imperfectly handed down to us by figures on coins. We cannot form any idea of it as a work of art, since it has perished like nearly all the creations of the great Greek masters. Is it at all possible for us ever to understand how the genius of Phidias revealed itself? We possess a bronze work of that period (PI. 41) in marble copies, again an Athena, but scarcely larger than a human being and therefore less difficult to appraise than the colossus. Many believe, probably rightly, that this is the Lemnia of Phidias, which stood on the Acropolis not far from the Promachos. Athenians who were setting out to colonize the island of Lemnos had dedicated this figure to the goddess as a parting gift. Athena has wrapped around her like a scarf the aegis, which was otherwise her armour, and, now the battle is over, she has taken off her helmet; for so we may complete the motif of the lost right arm. In peaceful mood, a warrior only in her emblems, she steps before her people and bows her head to the faithful. In strange contrast to the broad, almost manly proportions of the body stands the delicate head (PI. 43). The finest thing about it is the hair: a surging sea of wavy lines, sharply divided, but running up the scale from mild to passionate, making an unreal impression as the reproduction of a blended mass, but all the more convincing through the ravishing stream of movement, wliich the fillet only with difficulty interrupts. The features of the face combine in an inconceivable harmony of calm purity and serenity. The so-called Classic-Greek ideal is here seen in almost perfect development, although it is far from being a cold impersonal type. For the unearthly beauty of the goddess does not lack characteristics taken from human life: the individual charm of austere maidenhood, the close reserve of the mature woman, which is so different from the childish innocence of Myron's girls. Later Greek writers, it is true, extol the face, which appears to us so severe, for its mild grace. This may have been especially striking to those who, crushed by the sheer power of his colossus, sought to come nearer the spirit of Phidias in the works of human size.

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XII. The art of Athens, freed by Myron and Phidias from the last trammels of the archaic style, at once developed to the highest perfection. Owing to a rare stroke of good fortune it w,as now entrusted with the most tremendous and the most grateful task in its long history. During the last years of the Persian War, which were ended by a peace in 449, the impetuous extension of Athenian power received a palpable shock in Egypt. The wartreasure of the Maritime Federation at Delos appeared to be no longer safe from the enemy, and it was therefore brought to the Acropolis. In return Perikles demanded and obtained for the treasury of the goddess a sixtieth of all contributions, in order that the sanctuaries burned down by the Persians might at last be worthily rebuilt. When the costs of building subsequently soared beyond counting, raids were made on the war-treasure itself, with the less hesitation as peace once more prevailed and the allies had sunk to subjects. The most urgent task was the rebuilding of the large temple begun by the Alcmaeonides (p. 47), the foundations of which were not solid enough to bear the enormous weight of marble a second time. The magnificent new building received almost the same ground-plan, only somewhat shorter and broader (111. 9—13, PI. 45—47). Iktinos drew up the plans, Kallikrates superintended the actual building. On the outside there stood eight columns in front, seventeen at the sides. The inner porticoes of the temple consisted of six columns in front of the shortened antae. The forms have developed logically in the Doric style and in comparison with older erections have gained in slenderness and grace, the 62

shaft of the columns and the echinus of the capitals have a scarcely perceptible curve, as if they bore the weight of the

111. 9. Ground-plan of Parthenon.

entablature joyfully and without difficulty; the entablature itself has become lighter and less weighty. In this manner the interplay of the tectonic forces in the largest as in the smallest things ends in an apparently self-evident but nevertheless surprising 63

111. 10. North-west Corner of Parthenon.

Hl, 11. North-west c o r n e r of roof of P a r t h e n o n .

Schedt, The Acropolis of Athens.

balance, but the sacred earnestness demanded both by the Doric style and the religious purpose of the temple is not lost in the harmony of lines and masses. From a technical point of view the height of perfection was reached. The regularity and exactness with which surfaces were polished and joined together and tjie profiles chiselled, is incomparable. It is a special aesthetic pleasure to pass the hand over this wonderful marble. All the ornaments were set off by colouring, usually red and blue as in the older temples. But in comparison with the great proportions of the building the decoration was light and dainty. Thus the eaves no longer bore a heavy cornice running all round the building, but, covered with delicate wreaths of flowers, they were confined to the pediments: in their place on the long sides palmettes of severe design were employed as ends of the coping bricks. Lions' heads were used as water-spouts, as in the temple of the Peisistratides, at the four corners, but their wildness had been tamed, as if they had matured with the years (111. 11). At the summits and corners of the pediments the temple no longer ended in figures but in bold designs of plants, among which the appearance of acanthus leaves proves how eagerly ornament was seeking a return to nature. Thus the Parthenon became an edifice of indestructible beauty. For even to this day, when so many pieces have been torn out of its body, the harmony of its proportions exists and exercises its solemn influence upon all who enter the Acropolis or who only see it from afar. This temple, thé noblest growth of human piety, flourished in a soil rendered fruitful by numberless proofs of veneration for the gods; and now, set in the landscape so skilfully that it seems to have become a part of it, the building stands as naturally in its place as if it had always been there. It is impossible to imagine the Acropolis, the town of Athens, nay even the whole of Greece without it. The chief chamber in the east, 100 Attic feet (approximately 100 English feet) long and therefore called the Hekatompedos, had on the sides and at the back two rows of columns, one above the other: it was thus divided into a broad hall bounded 66

by a colonnade, and an outer corridor. At the back of the hall towered the sacred statue, about 38 feet high, which reached the flat roof (111. 12). Phidias made it of gold and ivory. Fundamentally this was only a continuation of the primitive woodcarving, to which the temples of Greece owed their most venerable cult-statues: for even now the core consisted of wood. In the meantime, however, the art of enclosing it with precious material had been learned, with ivory where the skin showed, and with gold for the drapery, so that with the increase of wealth a modest technique had become a rich one, fit to represent the most holy. The stranger who stepped from the bright sunshine through the door-way, the only source of light, into the semidarkness must have been enchanted with the subdued shimmer of the ivory and the sparkle of the gold. Within doors the gigantic proportions must have made a still more overwhelming impression than the Promachos outside. Further the surrounding columns, striving to the roof, widened out the space upwards and so the colossus grew in size too. On a low and broad pedestal Athena stood in solemn tranquillity, ready, in all the glory of her possessions and her power, to receive the veneration due to her. The battle was over, the goddess of victory hovered round her hand. Her weapons rested, her lance reclined against her shoulders, her left hand lay inactive upon her shield, from behind the protection of which Erichthonios, the daemon of the Acropolis, ventured forth in the form of a serpent. The statue was built up on old and simple principles. Like a column with parallel grooves the peplos indicated the perpendicular direction, which was cut across by three approximately horizontal lines, the border of the chiton's upper fold, the girdle, the border of the aegis. The position of the two arms was almost symmetrical; the mass of the shield on the left balanced the support under the right hand with the Victory. Above the head, accentuating its importance but at the same time forming a worthy architectural crown to the whole figure, rose the plumes of the helmet in the form of a fan-shaped palmette. But on closer inspection the broad surfaces were found to be richly ornamented. A masterpiece of decorative imagination

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was the helmet: in the centre of the apex a sphinx reposed, to the right and left a pegasus; from the wings of these fabulous creatures sprang the three plumes of the helmet. On the frontlet there was a row of the foreparts of animals, and the raised cheek-pieces bore the image of a gryphon. Down both sides rolled in archaic style two long plaits of hair, ending on the aegis between the coiled snakes, one of which had wreathed its body round the spear which leaned against Athena's shoulder. The outer surface of the round shield was covered with reliefs depicting the battle of the Amazons: it was generally believed that the features of Perikles and Phidias could be recognised in two of the heroes. On the inner side of the shield the Gigantomachy had been painted, on the edge of the sandals the defeat of the centaurs. The chryselephantine basis showed on its front a series of quiet and dignified figures, mostly in long draperies with a straight fall, these very happily conformed to the character of the sanctuary and of the statue. They were Athena and the other gods, engaged in considering and adorning Pandora, the newly created woman. The profound succession of ideas, which took shape in these decorations and in the statue itself was the following: Athena is friend and helper of mortals from the first day, she is the enemy of the powers of darkness, whom she has subdued with her terrible weapons, and Victory therefore hovers over her hand. Posterity has always taken the liveliest interest in this wonderful work of art, naturally lost to us, which the people called "Parthenos", the virgin. Many ancient writers mentioned its beauties, and many artists made copies of the colossus. But it is remarkable that no writer ever attempted to describe it as a whole, so that we are obliged to piece together our knowledge with great difficulty. Neither did any of the copyists take over from the abundance of the original more than a modest selection; each of them has reproduced in his own manner the style of Phidias, and often with very slight ability. A splendid statue, found at Pergamon, tries to attain the effect of the great proportions, but in all the details it follows the independent manner of a different and later age. An 70

extremely graceful work from the time of the first Roman emperors, a gem by the stone-engraver Aspasios, hands down to us with remarkable fidelity the head and bust of the goddess with their confusing abundance of ornament, but the life and fire of the original have been frozen in the coldness of the classical style, and in any case it is only a small portion of the immense original (PI. 42). Statuettes from Athens itself reproduce the whole work most clearly, but their smallness and the inferiority of their workmanship separate them poles apart from the original. Thus the numerous copies of the great Athena differ from one another considerably, and together they give a very indistinct picture, in which the form and expression of the countenance are especially obscured. But apart from the inimitability of the master's work it was impossible to reproduce the Parthenos in her full significance. For she was more than a statue: she was part and parcel of the Doric architecture, together with which she had grown up and she had been completed long before the finishing touches had been put to the decoration of the temple. Again, considered from another point of view, she belonged to the treasure of the goddess, for her robe was but the artistic coinage of an important part of the gold of the goddess. It consisted of separate plates, which could be removed and were subject to the control of the treasurers. Athena's enormous wealth in smaller works of art of precious metal was stored in the Pronaos, shut off by a lattice-work, and in the corridors of the Hekatompedos. But most of it lay in the western cella to the back, which, separated as it was from the Hekatompedos by a wall, could only be entered from the west (111. 9, p. 63 and 111. 13 p. 69). It was called "Parthenon", i. e., the "Chamber of the Virgins", a designation that we do not fully understand, but which comes from the maidens in the service of Athena, and it has since gradually been extended to the whole temple. The room, which was almost square, was divided by four Ionic columns into three naves of equal size. Here were brought together objects precious both for ideal and other reasons, especially the curiosities from the glorious past, for instance, sppils from the Persian camp at Plataeae, and above all 71

Xerxes' chair of state with silver feet, upon which he sat when he watched the battle of Salamis. Other precious chairs and couches were to be seen there, further the golden wreaths, of which one was offered to the goddess at the Panathenaic festival every year as prize for her bravery in the fight against the giants. Ten massive gold statues of the Nike had an especial significance: at the instance of Pericles they had been presented by the ten tribes into which the people of Athens were divided, with the express condition, that in times of need they were to be used as a reserve fund. All these treasures were under the care of ten annually appointed treasurers who had to deliver them to their successors in good order. The transactions relating to these things were engraved on marble tablets erected on the Acropolis, so that every citizen could inform himself of the contents of the treasure and its administration. To the remains of these inscriptions we owe our knowledge of the wealth of the goddess.

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XIII. But enough of these lost treasures! What is their value compared with the innumerable sculptures which were inserted between the stone joists of the Parthenon and which though badly broken and for the most part carried off to the museums of distant cities still preserve something of their pristine beauty. On their outer side every one of those 92 metopes (these are square fields between the triglyphs) show a group in high relief (111. 10, 13). These usually represent mythical combats, fought out unrelentingly, man against man, fights which symbolised to the Athenians victorious defense against barbaric attacks, it is the spirit of the Persian wars clothed in the garments of legend. On the wings of the southern side walls the Centaurs struggle with the Lapiths, while the centre depicts events taken from the earliest history of Athens. Lapiths, who are depicted as a Greek race, once entertained the Centaurs at a feast, and the latter under the influence of drink laid hands on the wives of their hosts. Theseus, the hero of Athens, had helped the Lapiths to victory. On the western side we see the defeat of the Amazons, whom Theseus had also destroyed when they besieged the Acropolis. In one part of the northern metopes the Greeks are seen conquering Troy, the city of Asiatic barbarians, and finally just above the chief entrance, on the east side the victory of the gods over the giants is represented. Of all these we can truly appreciate only the fight with the Centaurs, as these metopes alone are in a fair state of preservation (PL 48—51). The battle is undecided, the women, still in the hands of the robbers, are being dragged away in spite of their resistance. So far no Centaur has been overthrown, on the contrary, the Lapiths are evidently at a disadvantage and in view of their great danger we anxiously scan the relief for 73

the few conquering Greeks. We observe with admiration how the very same subject of the combat between man and Centaur has been treated no less than eighteen times, and always in a new manner. The different representations, indeed, by no means harmonise in conception and execution. On one tablet the opponents attack each other with wild brutality, with twisted limbs and distorted faces (PI. 48). This master has hewn his rough conception of living bodies into marble, he has enumerated every rib and every muscle, and in doing so has neglected to bring out the harmonising effect of the skin. At times, however, he ignored nature, as in the case of the furrows in the Centaur's forehead, which he marked by regular, stiff lines. He was perhaps an old man who had not altogether forgotten the archaic practices of his youth. But while this sculptor appears to work in reminiscences of wars he himself had witnessed, the creator of another metope sees the warlike world less vividly and as it were glorified (PI. 49). In this instance also we find a merciless will to destroy: the Centaur, having trampled upon the Lapith, now wishes to hurl a water jug (snatched from the wedding utensils) at his head. But his face is of a mild beauty, his lips are but slightly parted in gentle excitement, and the man sunk to the ground uplifts his eyes and raises his shield with measured pathos. This sculptor is a past master of his art; he builds up his group in a compact triangle and treats nakedness lightly and gracefully. In smoothing down outlines, softening contrasts, ennobling the soul, he proclaims the artistic principles according to which the temple had been built and we may be certain he never held any others. It is clear that a single workshop could not have accomplished the gigantic achievement of the Parthenon sculptures. All the sculptors of Athens took part in it, among them many an older master who had stood aside or remained behind, but also young artists who were able to express their own feeling for form for the first time. It probably needed the whole energy of the people at the head of affairs to force the diverging tendencies into one great line; even so the personal note of the individual left its impression. While Athena plays a certain rôle in the metopes without being the central figure, the representations in the pediments serve 74

to glorify her alone. In the east her birth is related to us. It is dawn, Helios the sungod rises out of the waves; his head, shoulders and outstretched arms appear in the left corner. Before him the four steeds of his chariot uplift their heads, with fiery snorts they start forth on their new road. A naked youth just awakened, rests in front of them: it is Dionysos, master of the wild phantastic revels, who is looking towards the sun (PL 52). To the right of him two women sit, clinging close to one another, dressed in the long peplos and cloak; they are Demeter and Persephone, goddesses of the dark soil and its fertility (PL 56). The woman on the right hand turns full of excited astonishment towards the pediment centre. For from there a young girl hastens towards them, glancing back over her shoulder; she is Hebe, goddess of imperishable youth in the company of the immortals. She flees before the inconceivable thing which she has just witnessed—the event in the pediment centre which has been lost to us, but which can only have been the following: Athena, in full panoply, was born out of the head of the enthroned Zeus; the blue-eyed girl hastened away swinging her lance, while gods stood or paced about in astonishment. And as in the left corner, we also see sleepers starting up on the right; this again has been preserved to us (PL 57). Here Aphrodite and her companions are awakened. Of the three women the one to the left sits upright, likewise already turning to the pediment centre. The one in the middle, half cowering down, is about to rise, to the right the goddess of love herself reclines in the lap of her companion, watching as in a dream Selene, the moon-goddess, disappear in the sea. The upper body of the latter is still visible, as well as the heads of the horses which are returning from their long journey in the heavens, weary and worn out, but still full of mettle and with trembling nostrils (PL 54). Athena's strife with Poseidon for the possession of the Attic land was the subject of the western pediment. We know, its composition almost completely from a drawing made of it before its destruction (1687), (PL 104, 105), but of the figures themselves we have mostly only small fragments left. In front of the sacred olive tree planted by Athena, which occupied thè middle of the 75

pediment, the impassioned opponents met, both about to thrust their weapons into the soil as a symbol of taking possession of it; Athena's weapon being a spear, Poseidon's the trident (PI. 55). Behind the fighting immortals their chariots stand ready. Amphitrite, her body thrown back, checks Poseidon's steeds by firmly and sharply pulling back the reins. The trunk with its supple lines still retains her elastic bearing (PI. 59). On the pediment floor at her feet the salt spring, created by a blow from Poseidon's trident, was indicated by dolphins. Iris, the messenger of the gods, in a short chiton, her wings now lost, hurries with mighty strides after the chariot towards the centre (PI. 58). She belonged to Poseidon's retinue just as Hermes, her masculine counterpart, accompanied Athena's chariot in the left half of the pediment. The driver of this chariot was Nike. Then followed the heroes of the Acropolis, mostly seated, on both sides of the pediment: on Poseidon's side we have Erechtheus and his daughters Oreithyia and Kreusa with their sons; on Athena's side Kekrops, the first king, with his children; of these Pandrosos and her father were joined into a loving group which still exists, the only remnant of any size, in its original place in the pediment (PI. 47). We cannot name the corner figures; they also were surely figures taken from the legends of the land which was the object of strife. The one farthest to the left is the best preserved of the whole pediment, a powerful man turning his body while slowly rising from a reclining position (PI. 53). The remains of the pediment groups are works that move us most profoundly whenever we regard them. They appeal to us with such an elementary power of conviction that it would be vain to attempt to describe their form in mere language. One forgets their age, their meaning for their contemporaries, their style, their destruction, one feels only their value for all time. The secret of their immortal fascination is probably to be sought in their combination of naturalness and of idealism. We can enter into the spirit of every one of these figures, nay, we are even compelled to do so, with such force does the artist convince us of the humanity of his creations. And yet we are not their equals, for they are something that we should only be if we were not human beings, 76

yet each one of us would desire to be like them. Every figure is of almost unreal beauty, the superhuman has never been better represented. And within the scheme of this general perfection every one of them has been unsurpassably characterised, less by outer attributes than by their inner spirit: Dionysos, god of wineloving youth as well as of the highest dramatic art, lies there resting his limbs; reclining leisurely, and yet a fine man with full control over his splendid frame: the drowsy love-goddess Aphrodite, whose garment is slipping lightly and willingly off her shoulders, rests in luxurious idleness and yet exercises an irresistible charm in the healthy power of her body and in the flowing folds of her garment; Poseidon with his gigantic chest, the symbol of the raging sea that shakes the coasts. And the same spirit is to be found in Selene's horse, a thorough-bred with a faultlessly shaped head, wrung from nature, as it were, in the reproduction of bone and skin, sinews and veins, but full of the purified majesty of the queen of night. The composition of the groups is brilliant. The symmetry has its origin in tradition and is indispensable on account of the peculiar framing of the pediment-field, yet this very symmetry has only been retained in the chief features; in all details it is smothered in a variety of original ideas. But then the inner harmony is stronger and more deeply thought out than in the older pediments. Helios and Selene, Kekrops and Erechtheus, Dionysos and Aphrodite are closely related in spirit and yet they stand in contrast to one another. The same idea is never repeated left and right, but we often find the corresponding figures of both halves combined in a common idea. The slant of the pediment, which was formerly considered an annoying restraint, is now successfully overcome by the untrammelled invention of new motives. This is especially the case in the east pediment. The rendering of the fresh atmosphere of dawn depends chiefly upon these new motives; only in a triangular field can the way the sun rises and the moon disappears, or sleepers wake and arise from their couches, be represented with this fine working up to a grand climax.

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XIV. The most extensive plastic ornament of the Parthenon, almost entirely preserved, is a frieze crowning the outer cella-wall and the entablature of the porticoes (PI. 47, 111. 13). In the Ionic East it had for ages been the custom to encircle the sacred buildings with a band of figures in relief. We cannot be surprised to find that Athens, which owed so much to influences from that quarter, should add this foreign element to the Doric style. Especially as we even find Ionic columns in the western temple chamber, the Parthenon proper. Events dating from the hoary days of legend had been related in the metopes and pediments. The frieze on the other hand offered a picture of the present, peaceful, festive and glorious, corresponding to the happy state of Athens. It treated the great religious and national festival which took place at the foot of the temple every four years, the Panathenaea. With the glory of Athens the fame of the festival had continually increased. But at that time and also for years to come the festivity was dedicated to the old wooden seated figure of Athena Polias, and not to the new gigantic statue of Phidias, and the presentation of the new peplos was the ceremonial purpose of the procession. The preparation of this festal robe was entrusted to the care of the priestess. Two little girls of noble parentage were given her as helpmates, these were called arrhephores; in white dresses, adorned with golden ornaments, they had to do honourable service on the Actopblis for a year. The actual weaving was done voluntarily by. girls and women of all classes of Athens. The peplos had to be of ft yellow colour, and according to an old custom Athena's fight 78

with the giant Enkelados was woven into it in dark blue. Hie completed peplos was then publicly exhibited and submitted to the expert criticism of the Athenian women. The programme of the feast occupied in the fifth century several days, commencing with tournaments of every kind. Since Peisistratos gymnastic performances had been combined with the traditional chariot races. Later on, a regatta was added as well, and after Hipparchos had introduced recitations from Homer's poems, contests in singing and in the playing of flutes and string instruments came in with Perikles, so that intellectual interests were not neglected. A beauty-competition for men, a weapon-dance accompanied by the flute, and a race with burning torches bore a more religious character. The holy night before the chief festival day was celebrated with all sorts of merriment; the girls danced on the Acropolis and vied with each other in shrill shouts of joy. But when the sun rose, the people gathered together in the town below, and set off in procession through the main streets towards the Acropolis. In the van marched the Canephorae, the basket-like bowls of gold and silver which were borne by these girls, containing all that was indispensable for the sacrifice, woollen fillets to wind round the animals, barley which was strewn in the altar-flames, and the knives for slaughter. Only daughters of the best families, of spotless reputation, were permitted to lead the Athenians in this procession. A rejection was considered as a great offence against their aristocratic honour, and Hipparchos had to suffer death for refusing Harmodios' sister the distinction due to her (p. 42). Behind the Canephorae sunshades were carried by the wives of the metoikoi (immigrants who did not enjoy full civic rights), other girls bore costly armchairs and manifold implements, proper to a procession, taken from the treasures of the goddess. Then followed the animals to be sacrificed, divided into three groups. First of all the chief sacrifice, according to the old custom sheep and oxen, then the hecatomb, the great masssacrifice, consisting only of oxen, and finally more sheep and oxen as a festival cohtribution from the colonies founded 79

by Athens. Again metoikoi walked beside them as assistants at the sacrifice; a band of musicians joined these. This doubtless loud and restless group was followed by a single boy holding the harvest branch, a shoot of the sacred olive-tree, in his hand; behind him came aged yet still handsome men with fruit-laden branches. There probably followed the civil authorities of Athens together with the ambassadors of foreign states and the victors at the tournaments. Then the military force, foot-soldiers and horsemen, chariots for racing and for display, above all those of the Apobates, and then at last the peplos, the chief object of the procession. It was hung upon a mast and yard, like a sail, visible to all from afar, and the cart which bore it was fitted out like a ship. With this the official procession was at an end, and the population of Athens joined it in a merry confused crowd. Whoever possessed weapons displayed them proudly. The wealthy young men rode upon beautifully groomed thorough-breds, while all the others traipsed through sun and dust. For the Panathenaea were celebrated when summer was hottest, when the sky was cloudless, and north-east storms swept over the land, driving huge whirling clouds of dust across the plain and studding the deep blue sea with white horses. Thus it was possible for the following legend to arise: Boreas, the northern stormgod, once carried off Oreithyia, the beautiful daughter of Erechtheus, just as she was approaching the Acropolis in the procession, being one of the chosen Canephorae: and in historical times the peplos sail was once torn into shreds by the wind. Upon arriving at the foot of the rock, the gigantic garment was taken off the poles, and the girls who had worked it, carried it up to the Acropolis in order to hand it over to the priest. The chariots probably remained down below, but the rest of the procession flooded through the gate into Athena's sanctuary.

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XV. This festival pageant was described in the Parthenon frieze, and its designer did not need to seek for subjects; on the contrary, it was rather his task to select and arrange the events with artistic wisdom. The composition of the whole was a difficult problem, as the main direction of the festival procession from west to east, from the foot of the Acropolis to the temple entrance, had somehow to be expressed on the four sides of the building. The solution is all the more clever. The procession appears to be divided into two parts, the larger one moves towards the left, occupying the western frieze, then turning along the northern long side and thence to the east; the smaller part moves along the south side in the same direction towards the right; both parts wheel round the eastern corners, thus meeting each other at the entrance side. The southwestern corner has been chosen as the starting point. The equestrian figures attracted the artist most of all. The Attic cavalry was just then at its prime and it was the favourite troop of the Athenians. Thus, with a competency born of patriotic pride, he saw and formed those small thick-set stallions with their short broad necks, fiery eyes, and faces excited with the torture of the sharp bit, and the brave Athenian youth with their perfect seat without either saddle or stirrups. In the western frieze the men are still standing beside their horses, then they mount and ride away (PL 60). One of them finds it difficult to mount his restless horse, which will not stand still, because it sees its departing comrades (Pl. 65). The horse rears while its rider stretches his left arm far out arranging the long reins, Schede, The Acropolis of Athens.

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which were worked in bronze. Through his hasty movements his cloak is thrust back, forming magnificent folds. Two others approach at full gallop, and, seeing the stoppage, they wish to pass by, evading the obstacle (PL 66). The one succeeds in dropping into the hasty canter so familiar to the South, while the other just manages to enforce a shortened gallop; in doing so he bends his head to the wind to prevent his broad-brimmed hat from flying off. Thus the equestrian figures succeed each other in inexhaustible variety. The representations of the two long sides correspond in all their chief features; first of all, more horsemen (PL 61), about sixty on each side, who soon fall into orderly squadrons, galloping along in a whirling cavalcade in order to catch up the racing-chariots (Pl. 62). Each frieze shows ten of these chariots, and each is occupied by two men, one being the driver, the other a warrior with shield and helmet, who in the north frieze often shows his skill by jumping off and on again during the drive; they are the apobates who have won at the tournaments. The horses reluctantly fall into the quiet step of the procession, and the pedestrian who accompanies each vehicle for safety's sake, finds it hard to check the excited rearing of the animals (PI. 63). The foremost chariot on the north frieze threatens to run into a slowly marching group, the old men with the fruit-laden branches, so that the last two look round frightened (Pl. 67). Before them in the north frieze we see musicians marching along, four flute players and four players on the lute, then youths carrying water-vessels and other Sacrificial utensils on their shoulders (Pl. 68), and the chief sacrifice, three sheep and four cows led by young people. In the south frieze instead of the three last named groups ten cows are led, by which the hecatomb was meant; here also the representation of animals has attained the highest naturalness, above all where unruly movements break through the even sequence: the guide of one cow which is pressing forward, pulls its head upward with the rope wound round its horns, thus forcing it to obedience (PL 64). But on the east side ceremonious calm reigns supreme. Here the priestly officials stand waiting, their staff pressed under the 82

hollow of their arm as was the Greek custom, while they have a quiet talk (PL 70), in which they are now disturbed by one of the masters of the ceremonies. For the girls at the head of the two ends of the procession are approaching them with measured bearing, almost a little timidly since all eyes are critically watching every one of their steps and every fold of their heavy festal robes (PI. 71). Some of thqm stand with already empty hands, because in the centre group of the east side and of the whole frieze the large peplos which they had carried has just been folded up and handed over to the priest, while the priestess takes the chairs from the heads of two smaller girls—perhaps the arrhephores (PL 72). This final act of the procession is executed with the deepest devotion, and everyone seems to feel the immediate presence of the twelve gods, who are invisibly enthroned on both sides of the middle group and rejoicing in the piety of their Athenians—invisible, as no one is looking towards them. In the group to the right (PL 69), Athena, her aegis folded up in her lap, and the lance, once joined on in bronze, at her right arm, sits in a simple flowing gown, a figure of inexpressible girlish charm. Beside her and turned towards her is Hephaistos, god of the smithy. Then come Poseidon, bearded, in serious manliness, Apollo, youthfully handsome. Furthermore Dione, Aphrodite's lhother, a soft full figure, and Aphrodite herself (Pl. 70), unfortunately almost completely destroyed, with her outstretched arm pointing out the approaching procession to the boy Eros who rests upon her knee, protecting himself against the sun with a sunshade. Zeus and Hera are seated on the left, Nike stands beside the latter, then follow Ares, Artemis, Dionysos and Hermes, truly divine figures, the inner spirit of each revealed in his bearing. The Parthenon frieze owes its origin to the same artistic tendency as the pediment figures: here also gods, men and animals seem to have come from a better world which the sculptor felt behind the appearances of everyday life. But free as are their movements on the heights, we are more strongly convinced when we scan the pediments that their feet still touch the ground. For the daily life of the Athenians seems to speak to us from a thousand traits: how much more will it hiave appealed to the Athenians 83

themselves who were so much better able to understand every action and to connect it with happy festival reminiscences? That is why the frieze lacks the heroic power which belongs to the mythical figures of the pediments; with all its wealth and variety the description glides along lightly and daintily, with gentle changes the pictures of happiest movement merge into those of calmest ceremony. And this pliancy is even to be felt in the details of the style. Two female figures, the Aphrodite of the east pediment and the goddess to the right of Apollo in the east frieze, resemble each other exactly in the motive of the gown which slips off the shoulder and discloses the shape of the breasts, but how differently do the folds fall around the body! In short restless lines in the pediment, on the frieze in long even waves. The more gracious and discreet character of the frieze resulted from its almost inconspicuous place in the building. It was not possible to see anything of it except by walking along outside the temple, at a short distance from the columns. It only received softened light reflected from the floor, and its figures are sculptured in fairly low relief, in contrast to those of the metopes, which are full and round. Thus the manner of the frieze approaches that of painting, not only in that many details were merely indicated by colour, but also because the figures move freely one behind the other. This almost pictorial manner of plastic working offered the artist far greater scope for describing the manifold characteristics of the festival procession than would have been possible with a higher relief. Thus we admire above all the unending wealth of motives in the frieze and the easy grace with which the events of everyday life have been mastered without once exceeding the limit of noblest simplicity. In its size—it is 160 metres long—its good preservation, but above all on account of its imperishable freshness of expression, this frieze is the most valuable heritage that we possess of ancient sculpture. Ancient writers do not tell us to whose spirit we owe the idea of this magnificent creation. However many artists may have participated in it — not only in the metopes, but right through the whole work a variety of hands is recognisable — only one man can have thought out this marble poem, it is so 84

uniform and harmonious. Could it have been any other than Phidias, whose decorative imagination had all the resources of art at its command? Does not Plutarch, who used to consult good sources for his biographies of great men, tell us in his enthusiastic description of the zenith of art in Periklean times, that Phidias was in charge of all works of art and discussed all their details with the ruler of the State? Of course we should like to know the figures created by his master hand or the names of those other artists, who in obedience to his ideas produced immortal works. Who, for instance, carved the grand garments of the pediment groups, which, distinct in style from the severely folded peplos of Athena Parthenos, are yet individual creations of the highest genius? So far tradition has turned an obstinately deaf ear to all these questions. We know only that the temple and its statue were solemnly inaugurated at the Panathenaic festival in 438 B. C., but that for years afterwards work was continued on the sculptures of the pediments which represent the art of the Parthenon at its ripest.

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XVI. Even before the last blow of the chisel had resounded, the plans of Perikles had advanced further: the whole of the Acropolis was to receive the form and pressure of its age. A monumental entrance was to prepare the stranger worthily for the beauty of the Parthenon. Till then the Acropolis had been entered by the fine but still rather plain gate-way which stood on the western side, wedged in between the remains of the Pelargikon (111. 8). It dated from the last years of the Peisistratids and had probably been rebuilt after the ravages of the Persians. Now it was replaced by a far larger building, which later on was simply called, "the Propylaea", i. e., the entrance gate (PI. 75—80, 111. 14—20). Mnesikles, the architect, took over the ancient plan of the palace gate: a square building, flanked on the outside and inside by columns and divided into two parts inside by a cross wall which contains a closeable door. At the Propylaea we have six Dorian columns outside as well as inside, the outer of the two parts lying considerably deeper. Here the cross wall had five doorways, growing smaller from the middle to the sides. As the rocky floor rises considerably within the building, one has to ascend a number of steps on the right and left side, four each in front of the outer pillars and in front of the dividing wall; in the middle, however, there is a roadway with a fairly easy rise, thus enabling the sacrificial animals to pass without difficulty; this roadway is bordered on each side by three Ionian columns, which support the magnificent cassetted ceiling of white marble (111. 18, PI. 77, 79). 86

Now it had been Mnesikles' intention to flank the ascent in the west on both sides by rectangular hall-shaped buildings opening out on the road, while two longer pillared halls, open towards the Acropolis, were to be joined on to the gate-building itself on the right and left (111. 14). To realise this plan the last remains of the Pelargikon would have had to disappear, and the Propylaea would thus have become a complete, strictly symmetrical complex which would have occupied the whole western side of the Acropolis. But this grand gate was under no such lucky star as the Parthenon. On the south-western

corner of the wall a building protrudes itself which probably belonged to the fortification of the Pelargikon (PI. 75 and 76, 111. 1, Plan). This is the spot from which Aegeus, Theseus' father, threw himself down. This platform contained at that time the holy precinct of Athena who helped to victory and who had become the goddess of victory, Nike, herself; and this consecrated ground would have been much curtailed by the proposed south-west wing of the Propylaea. Besides, the large upper south-eastern hall would have cut off almost one third of the precinct of Artemis Brauronia which extended to the remainder of the Pelargikon on the western side (111. 1, P. M.). It seems 87

111. 15. Propylaea, view f r o m outside ( f r o m t h e west).

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that the priests of both deities now opposed this plan of Mnesikles so violently that Perikles was not able to overcome their opposition; the popularity of the old sanctuaries was greater than his own. Moreover the enormous cost of building on that difficult ground (£ 35 000 had already been spent) had together with the crisis in foreign politics caused considerable misgivings. The consequence was that the two eastern halls were quite given up, although the junction of their walls had already been prepared. But the south-western wing was maimed and crippled by having to make the best of the wedge-shaped piece of land behind the old Acropolis wall (111. 1). Apart from the central building only the north-west wing was erected acording to the original plan (111. 16 and 17). As the rock under it slopes steeply away, it rests upon a mighty foundation of limestone. Its western long side, turned towards anyone approaching the Acropolis, is plain and smooth. On entering its columned hall, which is open to the south, one stands before a cross wall which is pierced by a door in the middle and by two windows right and left. Behind this wall is an almost square chamber, we call it the Pinakothek (111. 19), because later on pictures by well known artists were shown in it. In its unsightly distortion the Acropolis gate WAS bound to make the impression of something incomplete even from afar. Upon closer inspection one was struck with the fact that the smoothing of the walls and certain details of ornament had not been finished. In this the Propylaea only partakes of the fate of many grandly-planned buildings; man's tenacity has not been able to overcome strong obstacle». And yet this entrance gate to the most beautiful of sanctuaries represents a grand achievement, it is a technical masterpiece in the face of the uncommon difficulties of the site, and as a work of art it is quite equal to the Parthenon. Apart from the overwhelming mass of Pentelic marble its effect was chiefly due to the earnest simplicity of its decoration. Plastic ornaments were employed most sparingly, the pediments remained empty, and the surface of the walls was only enlivened by the most accurate finish at the joints of the square blocks. Mnesikles did not wish to diminish the full impression the Parthenon; the gate was to be a preparation only. Yet 91

111. 19. Propylaea, '-Pinakothek", interior with view of central building.

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by subtle devices monotony has been avoided. As it was without representations of human life, the language of architectural form appealed all the more strongly, and this and above all the nobly rounded Ionic capitals display the precision and clearness of Attic chisel work in a degree hitherto unattained. Colour also had its enlivening effect: in the construction of the steps, and as a dado to the walls and a sill course to the windows, bands of blackish blue Eleusinian stone were inserted in the white marble; in addition to the few ornamental members the cassetted ceiling was of course also painted. According to the original plan the two gable roofs of the centre building overtopping each other, together with those of the east wings, and the hipped roofs of the western additions would have formed charming and clever contrasts.

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XVII. Quite inseparable from the present picture of the Propylaea is the dainty little temple of Athena Nike, which stands in front of their south-western side and is partly the cause of their limitations (PI. 75, 76, 81, 111. 1 and 20). The story of the little structure is long and its origin is not quite clear in all its details. Already in the year 450 B. C. the state architect Callicrates, who also had charge of work on the Parthenon, was commissioned to erect the building. Thus the early work on the site and the lower parts of the temple itself may date from the time of the Parthenon, so that Mnesikles with full intention crossed some older plan. It is true that other parts were probably only finished after the Propylaea had been completed. For the first time we find a building on the Acropolis erected in the Ionic order. It is true that archaic statues had stood upon columns of this style (111. 6, p. 37). Ionic supports had been introduced in the interior of larger buildings, perhaps even in the Peisistratic temple of Athena, but certainly in the Parthenon and Propylaea, as they attained a greater height in spite of their smaller diameter (111. 18). For the proportions of the Ionic style are long and tapering, and its whole character is of a light and dainty grace. Towering on high like slender firs, these pillars rest upon richly profiled bases, and their numerous deep and narrow flutings, which do not meet at a sharp angle but have fillets between them, allow the play of light and shade more immediate and pronounced scope than the Doric column. The Ionic capital (PI. 77) with its prominent volutes demands far more notice than the Doric (PI. 78), for it has become 95

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decidedly ornamental, whereas the Doric, in accordance with the severity of its style, remains purely tectonic. The entablature consists of an architrave, divided into three bands, and of a frieze, decorated for the most part with figures, in the place where the metopes and triglyphs are situated in the Doric order. Hitherto the art of continental Greece had of set purpose avoided these forms in the exterior of their buildings. Accustomed to the solemn gravity of the Doric style, the Athenians probably recognised in it the embodiment of religious earnestness. Very few in Greece knew that thé Ionic order also could create a deep impression, especially through the mighty accumulation of its members, as seen, for instance, in the gigantic temples of Asia Minor. Thus their acquaintance with the eastern style had not succeeded in shaking the deep-rooted esteem of the Greeks for their native architecture. The Ionic style seemed to have been created on purpose for the small Nike temple. The problem was to place upon the windswept height a building which should be lightness itself, for nothing was more suited to the happy and wayward goddess than architecture with an air of gaiety. As was always the case in Athens of the fifth century, the chief architectural members slightly differ from those of classical Asia Minor, without however the complete character of the style being changed. The substructure is formed by three steps upon which rests the little hall, measuring but sixteen square metres. The entrance wall to the east is broken up by a door and two windows of equal height, so that daylight is allowed to stream freely and evenly into the cella, though it was formerly darkened by the wing of the Propylaea standing closely in front of it. Four columns are placed before the entrance and the back wall respectively. Compared with those of the Propylaea they seem rather short and thick set, their bases having also heavier, steeper lines. As on the Parthenon the frieze above the entrance shows a congregation of the gods (PI. 84): the immortals stand or sit together in quiet groups of dignified bearing. But on the three other sides (PI. 82, 83) restless mankind is seen in passionate activity. In a wild tumult of battle men ate seen attacking each other, garments flutter in the turmoil of violent Schede, The Acropolis of Athens.

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motion. The battle of Plataeae is represented, the Hellenes fight against the barbarians and the Boeotians, their allies. This subject explains the meaning of the whole temple to us. As with the statue of Athena Promachos it is meant for a monument of victory in memory of the all-deciding battle, it embodies their gratitude to the city-goddess who helped to victory. Above the frieze there was once a gable-roof which had no sculptural decoration except a series of water-spouting lion-heads on the gutters (111. 20). The cult statue within the cella consisted of a figure carved of wood, representing Athena holding her helmet in one hand, with a pomegranate in the other; it was called the Wingless Victory, because it was otherwise the custom to imagine the goddess of victory flying through the air with long wings, not as Athena herself, it is true, but as she appears beside the statue of the Parthenos, as her attendant or messenger or that of Zeus the god of battles. The completion of the temple of Nike comes down even to the time of the great Grecian civil war which, following ancient writers, we call the Peloponesian war. Its commencement marks the close of the age of Perikles, during the three decades of which Athens experienced an unparallelled concentration of her spiritual and artistic powers. In this period all those characteristic forms of art were cultivated which we are accustomed to call Greek. Hellenic feeling for form has never condensed into purer crystals than in the Acropolis buildings and their sculpture. We cannot approach the Greek spirit more closely than by striving for an understanding of these creations. If we attempted to describe their influence, we should lose ourselves in a general glorification of the Grecian genius. It was Perikles who was the chief impelling power in all these high endeavours; and whether he was a passionate friend of art in his inmost soul or whether political reasons urged him to proclaim to the world the spiritual superiority of Athens, he certainly deserved to have that great cultural epoch named after him. Every visitor to the Acropolis will have regarded with similar thoughts the bronze statue of Perikles (Pl. 73) by the Cretan artist Cresilas, which he dedicated to the goddess. It was meant 98

as a portrait, but how did Cresilas conceive the features and the character of this uncommon man? In reality Perikles was not distinguished by perfect manly beauty; he was disfigured by a long and unsymmetrical head. And yet he partly owed his unlimited power over the people to his exterior person. Southern races are far more influenced by an imposing bearing and fiery address than by dry facts. Thus the fascinating influence of Perikles was largely based upon the fact that "charm sat enthroned on his lips", and that "he bore thunder upon his tongue", that the calmness of bearing never forsook him, that the cast of the folds in his gown was never disturbed, that his features never lost their serious and well calculated expression. His contemporaries may thus have considered him the ideal of noble manliness and in no other manner has Cresilas represented him. If the name had not been found inscribed on some copies which have been preserved for us, one might have taken the bust for the ideal head of a warrior at the time of the Parthenon, so much does its normalized beauty lack all that is personally characteristic. The feeling for form which had been exclusively directed toward the sublime and harmonious in the generation guided by Perikles, was not yet able to feel interested in the shaping given to the human face by the accidents of character.

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XVIII. The Peloponesian war commenced (431 B. C.) unfortunately for Athens. The enemy invaded and devastated the country, the fugitive peasant population crowded together in the wall-encircled city district. The plague raged in the streets, taking also Perikles in the third year, perhaps just in time for him, because his life's work, the position of Athens as a great power, had, through the outbreak of a war intended or at least not prevented by him, sustained a great shock. For twenty-seven years Athens fought with changing luck, being often near the goal even; then it lay at Sparta's feet—humbled, robbed of its arms, and impoverished (404 B. C.). First building was stopped, for all the resources of the state had to serve the cause of war. But the plan of Perikles to rebuild all the sanctuaries destroyed by the Persians lived on and when the peace of Nikias (421 B. C.) granted a short breathing-space, it took form in the Erechtheum (PI. 85—92, illustr. 21—25). The archaic temple of Athena was as little replaced by the Parthenon as the carved wooden image of Athena Polias was by the gold and ivory statue of the Parthenos. The main sanctuary was simply inseparable from those places where the legendary events had taken place, leaving their traces behind. Near the northern edge of the Acropolis among the ruins of the Mycenean palace was the sacred area of the ancient lord of the Acropolis, of Erechtheus, the offspring of Attic soil; perhaps it was a hollow in which lived his symbol, the snake, as guardian of the Acropolis. Later on, the worship of Poseidon had also been established here. People professed to know the very spot into which the excited sea-god had

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thrust his three-pronged fork, and an old cistern with brackish water was looked upon as his creation. At a time when the storms from the south in winter drove the waves against the cliffs of the

111. 21. E r e c h t h e u m . E a s t - w e s t Section.

NORDL

111. 22.

Erechtheum.

BVRGMAVtR

Ground-plan.

Attic coast,they thought the echo of the roar could be heard at this spot. This well was called the sea of Erechtheus, just as the two deities, originally opposed, gradually grew into one at this sanctum. 101

m. 23. Erechtheum from the North-east. Cf. Pl. 84.

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It is possible that a smaller and older temple had contained the sacred objects. Quite close to it was the sanctuary of KingKekrops. It was the architect's task to combine into one building all these places of ancient faith which were of the highest religious significance for the Athenian people. In addition to this he was to create a new chamber worthy to shelter the cultus image of Athene. The unevenness of the ground helped to increase the difficulties, as the sacred objects lay several metres below the ancient temple of Athena, the level of which was also to be retained (illustr. 21). The temple proper, covered by a gable-roof, had a portico at the east, consisting of six columns, behind it was the entrance wall with a door and two windows (PI. 87, illustr. 23). On the western side, however, the portico and wall have become one, because instead of the wall we find four half columns between the ends of the long sides (PL 88, illustr. 25). The space between the columns originally had a grating: not till later was a wall with windows inserted. As the ground is so much lower here than on the eastern side, the columns rested upon a high sustaining wall. Of the three inner chambers the high eastern one was intended for the image and cult of Athena and it could only be entered by the east portico. The two lower rooms on the western side belonged to PoseidonErechtheus. They are reached by passing through a magnificent annex erected in front of the northern side (PL 89, illustr. 24). Six columns, four in front and one on each side, with their own entablature and gable-roof above, form a portico, open on three sides. In its independence it claims to be more than a mere passage, and in fact it contains one of the most important sacred symbols, the trident marks of Poseidon. To this day three irregular holes may be seen here in the piece of rocky ground which remains visible owing to an unfilled opening in the marble floor. Formerly a small well of light, reaching through ceiling and roof, allowed the spot which the god had so visibly struck, to remain open to the sky as ancient custom demanded. Passing through a richly ornamented door one first reached an ante-chamber containing the saltwater cistern. From there one passed on into the actual cella of Erechtheus, in the centre of which 104

111. 25. Erechtheum from the West. In the right background north-east corner of Parthenon. Cf. PI. 87.

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could be seen the well-like mouth of the natural rocky hole which held the snake (111. 22). The ante-room and ceHa were probably divided by a row of columns set up on a wall, similar to those on the west side of the whole building, so that the cella received side light from the west, through its ante-room. This ante-chamber also had an exit to the south. A number of steps led up to the higher level of the old sanctuary of Athena, which may be reached by a flat-roofed staircase hall placed in front of the southern flank (PI. 85, 88 and 91, 111. 25). In the place where the western wall of this hall merges into that of the temple, a huge block has been horizontally inserted in such a way as to bear the corners of both parts of the building and to bridge a vault-like hollow (PI. 88); this was the sanctum of Kekrops, which was to remain in undisturbed existence below the new walls. On the western side the sacred precinct of Kekrops' daughter Pandrosos joined on to the Erechtheum. It was reached by a side door in the western corner of the large northern portico which projects beyond the western temple wall. Here in the Pandroseum, fairly close to the Erechtheum, grew the holy olive tree (111. 25). Under it was the altar of Zeus "Herkeios", the Protector of the House, probably the starting-point of the worship of the gods at the Acropolis, if it be true that already in the second millenium this place of sacrifice was really consecrated to the familygod of the palace-lords (p. 11). Thus the numerous sanctuaries, so different from each other in importance and origin, had been forced into one building. But in spite of this, the Erechtheum does not impress one as being of uniform character, but it falls into three parts only outwardly united, viz., the temple-house and the porticoes to the north and south. Both porticoes join on to the long sides, the mouldings pf their entablature come to a dead stop against the temple-walls instead of continuing or at least gradually merging into them in some way or other. The impression of organic connection is lost, especially as the annexed buildings are apparently of quite capricious height, with a roofing of their own, but above all on account of the northern hall so strangely jutting out beyond the temple. It is therefore evident that the architect had 106

not found for the execution of his uncommon task a solution that would satisfy our modern demands for architectural uniformity; he was surely too strictly hampered by the demands of the ancient cults. This is surprising when we come from a contemplation of the Parthenon. But then it was easy for the latter to achieve completion on a site where no attention need be paid to sacred objects or relics. For it is not very likely that holy places were so carefully preserved in the Periklean age as to have artistic considerations subordinated to them. The inorganic structure of the Erechtheum may therefore be explained as a reaction against the broader views of the previous times of peace, a resurrection of superstition which found new encouragement in the disasters of the war and governed even Nikias, the leading statesman. This strong reactionary undercurrent which at that period made itself felt in the .spiritual life of Athens, is not foreign to the Hellenic people, open-minded as they are in other respects. In Greece to this day every attempt to lay hands on an ancient holy place that stands in the way of modern development is met b y the clergy with an almost insurmountable resistance and is based on the feelings of the broad masses of the people. And yet in the details of its ornament the Erechtheum ranks amongst the most beautiful works of art left to us by the Greeks. The Athenian genius, developed to its prime by its work on the Periklean buildings, has created real miracles of beauty in marble here, as if wanting to throw a veil over the inequality of its architectural construction. The Ionic order which had been chosen offered in itself rich possibilities of indulging in carved ornament; besides it was permitted to handle freely and creatively its stylistic elements that were not traditional in Athens. This is the reason why few Greek buildings could boast of ornamentation applied with such unrestrained fancy as the Erechtheum. Thus the mouldings on the column base and capital were conceived as plaited straps (PL 90) and accordingly plastically elaborated. The volutes of the capital which were usually formed like a rolled-up pillow, as for instance at the Nike temple, are interlaced by several grooves which follow the curves, and- the 107

closer the spiral curve becomes, the closer do they run beside each other, so that, one receives the confusing impression of whirling movement, somewhat like that of a swiftly revolving disc. An ornamental "band is placed around the neck of every column, which is repeated at a similar height as a continuous frieze on the outer cella wall (PL 15). Upon S-shaped spirals, palmettes and so-called lotos flowers alternate, the former are remarkable for their deep incisions, the latter for the high ridges in their leaves. They are not an immediate imitation of any natural shape, but they repeat old traditional patterns in a conventional form. And yet the organic life proper to growing plants breathes through the lines of the leaves. The impression of living plants is emphasized, as already on the acroteria of the Parthenon, by the small acanthus leaves, copied from nature, which always sprout up where one element grows out of another, and also by the spiral being rendered as a fluted plant stalk. Although executed with astonishing accuracy, these ornaments, unsurpassed in their beauty, were not mechanically repeated according to one and the same pattern. On the contrary, they vary clearly and yet in a way beyond our measurement, just as flowers on the same sprig closely resemble one another without being absolutely alike. In this instance a real artist's vision has preserved regularity from stiffness. The temple proper and northern porch possessed, like the temple of Nike, a sculptured frieze above the architrave, which ran all around the building. It represented the heroic life of Erichthonios. The figures, which are now lost or broken, consisted of white marble fixed upon slabs of dark limestone. But the porch to the south (Pl. 91) has a continuous series of rectangular denticles in place of the frieze. This purely tectonic member originally stood for the raft-heads of a wood-covered building. From the frieze, the representation of figures has been transferred to the supports, according to an idea which was already known to archaic art; instead of the entablature being borne by columns, it is supported by six girls. This is the most celebrated plastic ornament of the Erechtheum (PL 92). Dressed in their peplos and holding the seam of their gown in one hand and 108

in the other hand some sacrificial vessel, they stand there quietly and naturally, as if the stone beams were no heavier than the baskets or jugs which southern women are accustomed to carry both daintily and majestically upon their heads. Such a picture of everyday life may have been in the artist's mind when creating his maidens. More probably the ceremonious appearance of the girls, who, laden with costly burdens in honor of the goddess, walked with slow dignity in the Panathenaic procession, incited him to make use of such figures, especially as the regular vertical folds of the peplos would remind him of the fluting of the pillar-shaft. Even as stone supports, they remained beautiful lifelike women. The moving leg breaks through the pillar-like outline, so that the material is tightly stretched, showing clearly all the soft feminine lines, and when we notice how the dress clings to the upper body, our senses are filled with the idea of warm actual life. The material clings as closely to the body as if it were being blown against it by the wind, or as if damp with rain; it has been pressed into the service of the body. In this, the creator of these girls even surpasses the treatment of garments in the Parthenon sculptures, because there, most noticeably in the Aphrodite group of the east pediment (PI. 57), the folds of the garments lead a proud individual life of their own, rivalling that of the body. In previous decades, even in the statues of Athena by Phidias, the Doric peplos had been arranged with puritanical severity to conceal the body completely, thereby determining the whole appearance. Plastic art is reconquered step by step by the old Ionic manner of proclaiming the charm of the female shape through its robes.

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XIX. The remarkable artistic personality who speaks to us in the ornamental figures of the Erechtheum is perhaps Alkamenes, a former pupil of Phidias, afterwards as his successor commissioned by the state to carry out important works. Of his statues of deities several stood in favoured positions on the Acropolis, and among them was many a production in which, as with the girls of the Erechtheum, formal problems of peculiar difficulty had to be solved. Hecate, goddess of magic and mistress of ghosts, who was able most effectively to protect all gates and roads, also received a place consecrated to her at the entrance to the Acropolis near the temple of Nike. Here a marble statue was set up with which Alkamenes introduced into art the representation of her threefold body joined into one. Another idol, which popular superstition found it hard to do without, was made by him for the Propylaea {PI. 74). For ages, wherever busy life stirred, the people had erected a square pillar with the symbol of fertility and the bearded head of Hermes, and these shapes, called Hermae by us, which were found in numerous repetitions in streets and squares, had in archaic times assumed a fixed and sacred form, which not even the freedom of Periklean art had dared to tamper with. Thus Alkamenes also employed old-fashioned tricks of style in the triple rows of curls on the forehead, in the stiffly arranged and twisted hair of the beard, .in the locks of hair drooping down upon his shoulders. But the artist's free genius betrays itself in other details: the mouth, for instance, with the full lips slightly parted, is of vivid reality, and of that loftiness of expression which Phidias had first bestowed upon his gods. This happy combination of 110

archaic and freely treated forms served as model later on for the customary Hermean type, so that we find a host of copies faithful in style, slightly or much altered, in our museums. One of the best copies was excavated at Pergamon; in the second century A. D. this Herma had been placed in a private house as an ornament by a rich man. As a proof that he knew its importance in the history of art, he had had an epigram inscribed upon its shaft, describing the work as "Hermes before the gate" (of the Acropolis), and Alkamenes as its creator. Beneath this he had put the motto: "Know thyself", and in so doing he had probably had the tyrant Hipparchos in mind, who had once published wise sayings upon the shafts of the Hermae in Athens. Thus towards the end of the fifth century Athenian art continues in the course prescribed by the Periklean masters, which now almost imperceptibly leads downwards from the sphere of divine sublimity to the joys of everyday life. The artists, it is true, continued to shape the human body as beautifully as they could imagine it; but already the round soft faces, the luxurious bodies of the girls of the Erechtheum lack that aloofness found in the Lemma (PI. 41, 43) and in the superhumanity of the female figures in the Parthenon (PL 56—59). The ideal woman no longer appears as an object of reverence but rather of desire. That is the inner reason for the renewed popularity of the Ionic style of garment, for which no more mature example can be found than the reliefs of the so-called Nike balustrade (PL 93—96). They decorated the outer sides of a stone parapet which was provided with a bronze grating on top and which surrounded the bastion of the Athena Nike. A happy event was the cause of this charming offering. Athens had been shaken to the soul by the terrible defeat on the Sicilian front and the ground was already beginning to give way under her feet, when Alcibiades, supported by the blind confidence of his troops, gained brilliant victories in the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora (408 B. G.). The people began once more to believe in a happy issue to the war. The subject of the balustrade-reliefs is therefore a joyful celebration of victory. There Athena is seen sitting as charmingly as only Athenian women can (PL 95), and orders the goddesses of victory, who serve 111

her and accompany the ships of Athens on all seas, to prepare the sacrifice and erect trophies of the weapons taken as booty from the hostile Greeks and also from the Persians who had fought side by side with the Spartans against Athens. The slender lissom winged girls flutter about zealously. One pair" leads the animal to be sacrificed, the left one holds the rope, while the right one takes hold of the horn (PL 93). Then the bull leaps wildly forwards, a motive taken from the Parthenon frieze (Pl. 64), so that the Nike on the right starts in fright, but the goddess on the left presses her foot against a stone, leaning back elastically in order to resist the leap by the weight of her body. A third, hardly slackening her pace, hastily reaches down to her drawn up foot, in order to loosen the sandal-strings at the entrance of the sanctuary (Pl. 96); yet another reaches up toward the pole of the trophy in order to place a helmet on it (PL 94). As there were three sides to the platform, these festive events have been represented three times, but each time with new and beautiful motives. An artistic temperament of fiery energy has here won from the Ionic robe its highest effects. Like a breath of transparent silk, chiton and cloak cling as closely to the limbs as if the artist had intended to melt into one his study of figure and gown. For the lines of the folds following the curves of the body, force us to look for the naked shape under the material, until it appears organically combined in our imagination, so that by this gradual recognition of female beauty, we are the more keenly alive to its charms. On the other hand the folds also enhance the impression of movement. With the Nike to the right of the bull that piece of robe hanging down over her left arm repeats the fine sweep of line caused on the left side of her body by her stride forward, while the mass of folds between her legs follows exactly the movement of the right leg. In the same way with the Victory loosening her sandals, the bending of the body and uplifting of the leg are emphasized by the direction of the main folds. The garment cannot be subjugated more absolutely to the body than on the Nike balustrade. During these years, the building of the Erechtheum, which had been discontinued owing to the troubled times, was now rapidly completed. Shortly after this the old Athena temple caught (112

fire (406 B. C.). Scholars are not agreed upon its subsequent fate. We have good reason for believing that it was not pulled down, as would have been only natural after the completion of the Erechtheum, but rather that, protected by the popular religion on account of its venerable age, it continued to exist till a much later period and that it even sheltered the carved image of Athena Polias once more. Of course it is hardly credible that the Athenians should have completed with incomparable art one of their finest buildings, only to deprive it again of a part of its main purpose and in addition to this, prevent completely the contemplation of its most beautiful side, the one to the south with its porticoes. The porch of the maidens is built upon the foundation of the colonnade which had been pulled down after the Persian destruction and it must almost have touched the cella-wall of the temple of Athena (PI. 88, 111. 3). At any rate it had been the intention to destroy the old temple when building Jthe new Erechtheum. We thus commit no act »of injustice against the Athenians and their artistic history, if 'we no longer consider it in our attempts to reconstruct a picture of the Acropolis in later times.

Sckcde. The Acropolis of Athens,

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XX In the period which now follows, the tragic fate of Athens was rapidly fulfilled. In the face of Sparta's mighty warlike preparations, which were supported by Persian gold, Athens resolved to make one last great effort. All available objects of value were made use of. Thus nearly the whole of Athena's treasure, already much reduced it is true, disappeared into the smelting ovens, even the ten golden Nike statuettes; only the garment of the large statue of the Parthenos was spared. The fleet raised by these means soon gained a victory near Lesbos, the last in this war. Later on, Athens was defeated by the superior strategy of the Spartan admiral Lysandros. The Attic Empire was now completely broken up; after a siege of many months the city itself surrendered to the conqueror (404 B. C.). Of all her allies only the island of Samos remained faithful to the last, because its democratic government found its sole support in Athens. Shortly before the final catastrophe the two states had strengthened their relations with each other, the Samians receiving Attic citizen rights and autonomy, in return for which they assured Athens of all warlike assistance (405 B. C.). The national resolution treating of this was cut into a marble slab which received a place of honour on the Acropolis. For it had for ages been the custom in Grecian lands that all documents which were considered of historical importance, or which were connected with the honour of the state, its citizens or foreign friends, should be inscribed upon bronze or stone and consecrated in the sanctum of the deity, where they were set up for eternal exhibition. 114

Many such tablets were even then in the Acropolis, numberless others were added in the course of later centuries. Even the stone script of Athens has a glorious history, worthy of great art. Greek lettering, to which all our European systems of writing may be traced, is in itself a masterwork of feeling for form. For it consists of geometrical figures of the simplest kind which impress themselves easily on the mind and can never be confused or misunderstood. But Greek writing is not only practical, each letter is of itself wonderfully compact, and in order to preserve the characteristic individuality of the separate letters, monumental script does not join them into word groups as is done, for reasons of greater convenience, in'written script, but it places them disjointedly side by side. Athens always felt keen aesthetic pleasure in carefully executed script, due naturally to an innate workmanlike sense of order, the basis of its artistic ability. The stone document referring to Samos (PL 101) shows the writing at the height of its development. At first these letters give the impression of the greatest regularity, not merely because every one of them might almost be fitted into a square, but also because they are arranged in such a way that they stand one below the other, whether taken horizontally or vertically, thus occupying the surface as if they stood upon a chess board. But then one notices that these letters have something of the flow of written script. Very often they incline slightly to the side, they were evidently first traced by free hand and were then lightly, almost carelessly, hewn out with the chisel. By this measured freedom of line, the writing gains its individual appearance and the stone document becomes a living work of art. Their legibility was formerly still more pronounced by the letters being coloured with red paint. Above the text a representation has been carved in relief, which symbolically explains the political event. Hera, queen of the gods, with the scepter, mistress of the island of Samos, comes to Athena, who stops near her olive-tree and is greeted by her with a clasp of the hand in a grave and friendly manner. In a like spirit their people had also approached each other, the ambassadors of that Samos which had once been mercilessly enslaved by 115

Perikles, were received with distinction and honours, so we read in the inscription below, and then the treaty was concluded on a basis of perfect equality of rights. The relief is the unpretentious work of a simple stone mason, but it showed the ease with which even the meanest of the profession had mastered form, and how deep the influence of the great art went. Hera's robes remind us of the maidens of the Erechtheum (PL 91, 92), and also Athena's bearing resembles that of many an Attic statue of this time.

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XXI. The fifth century is at an end and with it also the supreme position of Athens in the world. The Acropolis, a reflection of Attic power and culture, underwent no further decisive change in ancient times. It is true, Athena's precincts were occasionally enriched by smaller or supplementary buildings as well as by some votive offerings, among which statues of gods and men were most conspicuous; but these could also enter almost unnoticed into the general picture, to which a great number of stone and bronze monuments must already have belonged. Of many we know but the pedestal, more often only the smoothed rock upon which they were erected. Many a statue of marble has been found again in a more or less broken state, but these are mostly nameless to us and without an ascertained place. A number of plastic works of art, surely the most valuable, have been mentioned by antique authors, yet very few have left recognizable traces behind them on the Acropolis. We may assume that copies of them exist among the stock of antiquities in our museums, but we rarely succeed in tracing the original image so perfectly as in the case of the bronze group by Myron (PI. 38). Thus the Acropolis was of a far fuller and more varied appearance at the end of the great war than one would suppose from a description of the chief works. At a later period this confusing wealth must have increased till it even became senseless and overloaded. Shortly after the middle of the fourth century the most valuable addition was the new statue of the Artemis Brauronia, a work in marble by the great Praxiteles. Through him Attic plastic -art was further developed on the lines already laid down and it 117

attained to highest perfection in the representation of charm. His gods possess nothing of that superhuman sublimity, nothing of that overwhelming power in which they had appeared to the imaginations of Phidias and the artists of the Parthenon; they smile, dream and play like naively happy human beings, squandering their time in the lap of pleasure. Their muscles are soft, their skin is of a delicate transparency. Praxiteles was most successful in reproducing luxurious female shapes and the natural folds of drapery, in this his mastery has never been surpassed. Sculptured thus, the new Artemis now stood beside the archaic seated monument. Both, it is true, were usually so richly decked out with real garments, that probably very little remained to be seen of.them. For after a confinement, all Athenian women consecrated a garment to her, which must have appeared all the more pleasing to Artemis if it was worthy of being worn by her. For this reason the old monument had the appearance of a woman swathed in many wraps, whereas the statue by Praxiteles was probably a figure in the graceful position of a girl dressing herself. But great as was the popularity of Praxiteles till quite a late period, his work could not vie with the Periklean creations. To these latter works the Acropolis owes its increasing reputation as the home of classic beauty. The more Athens lost in political importance in contrast to the new powers of Greece, the more did her great past gain the sympathy and admiration of the whole Greek nation. From the time Athens with the other small states had to submit to Philip of Macedon in consequence of the battle of Chaeronea (338 B. C.), she never again decisively interfered in the world's history. But the great Alexander, who never lost sight of his important mission, namely, the spreading of Hellenic culture, did not forget, even in the joy of his first victory over thé Persian arch enemy, what Athens had suffered and risked for the nation 150 years before and what wealth of genius and beauty it had then bestc>wed on Greece. So he sent from the booty three hundred Persian suits of armour to Athena as a votive offering. The Athenians chose twenty six shields out of these and fixed them to the entablature of the Parthenon together with the inscription which the King 118

had desired: "Alexander, Philip's son, and the Hellenes with the exception of the Spartans, (won this booty) from the Barbarians of Asia". These brief words are expressive of the diplomatic cleverness of Macedonian politics. Their calculating politeness described the Greeks as fellow warriors and Alexander as a simple citizen without his royal title. But Sparta, which had so far evaded Macedonian rule, is represented as being indifferent to the national cause. After Alexander's wedding with the Bactrian princess, Roxane, even this exotic beauty, sprung from the mountains of Bochara, pays homage to Athena by offering her gifts, At that period Athens experienced a late prime, not in outward power, it is true, but in inner order and building activity. Lykurgos was the name of the leading man. The goddess is indebted to him for a considerable increase of her treasure, but little was changed in the outer appearance of her sanctuary. Later on it is no longer the exchequer of the state but the favour of princes and the generosity of rich citizens that provide for the adornment of Athens, which limits itself to thanking the donors by portrait-statues and by diplomas of honor inscribed in stone. Sometimes, it is true, the mighty potentates did not hesitate to trample upon Athena's honour. This was especially done by the young king Demetrios (304 B. C.) two years after he and his father Antigonos, had claimed Alexander's crown. Probably the divine honours which the characterless Greeks had heaped upon him, taught him to despise the religious feelings of others, and when the Athenians thought they had no more suitable quarters to offer him than the western chamber of the Parthenon, the fullblooded man, intoxicated by his successes in war, began to lead there a merry camp life in a style far from decent. To the great amusement of his girls he mocked at the virginity of the goddess, whom he used to call his elder sister; but the Athenians, to whonj Athena Parthenos meant more than a mere gold and ivory statue, had to keep silent with embittered hearts. Nine years later the Acropolis was doomed to suffer even more. At that time Demetrios, whose luck had changed, WAS besieging the city. The man who was then defending Athens 119

was Lachares, a ruler with tyrannic power. He used up the temple treasure (which had been newly replenished by Lykurgos) for the defence, and finally he even had Athena's golden garment torn off. It was not melted down because the position of Lachares had already become untenable, so that he had to save himself by secret flight. The dynasts of Pergamon were of quite a different mind from these wild personalities. They strove to develop their own capital as a centre of intellectual life, but upon every occasion they proudly emphasized their dependence upon Athens as the mother city of Greek art. In the main hall of the great library, one of their most important creations, stood the copy of Athena Parthenos, mentioned above (p. 70), which displays however only the chief features of its model, being otherwise freely altered in accordance with the time. For though people had learnt to regard the achievements of former periods with the historical spirit and to esteem them as at least equal to those of the present, yet the artistic power of Greece had by no means spent itself. Thus Pergamon was able to offer Athens something great in its turn. When King Attalos I had saved his realm by successful battles against the hordes of plundering Gauls (from 230 B. C. on), he expressed his gratitude to the Pergamene Athena in the shape of a large monument of victory, but at the same time he also presented the Athenian goddess with four bronze groups, which represented in figures half life-size the battles of the gods against the giants, that of the Athenians against the Amazons, the battle of Marathon, and his own victory over the Gauls. These were placed on the south-eastern side of the precinct, close to the wall (111. 1, plan). In this way they joined on to the subject of the Parthenon metopes, so that the triumph of divine power over the uncouth sons of earth would thus be continued in the victory of the Greeks over barbaric nations. They added the idea that Pergamon also in its turn had defended culture in a manner not unworthy of the great Hellenic tradition. Marble copies of single figures teach us so understand the passionate character of this work. We see a young Gaul, fallen, bleeding from three wounds, his head resting upon his shield, 120

his broken sword in his right hand (PL 97). His hair is long and tangled, his sinewy body naked except for the tightly drawn bronze belt in the shape of a rope. Thus unprotected did these wild fellows meet the enemy in battle, trusting solely to the violence of their attack. Beside him an older comrade has collapsed in consequence of his wounds (Pl. 98). He too is quite naked except for the helmet, the broad strap of which enclosed cheeks and chin. Peering out form beneath the protecting headgear, we see a stubborn, somewhat common face, yet now expressive of the bitter sorrow of defeat and death (Pl. 98). A new conception of the world, foreign to classic Greece, speaks to us in these barbarian representations. Even Aristotle, Alexander's tutor, had said that barbarians were nothing better than animals and plants; but the great King himself had tried to equalise the national differences in his variegated empire. The ethical value of his endeavours is evident in the works before us. It is true that the Pergamene artist has sharply brought out the rough exterior of the barbarian soul and he has succeeded in showing that the conqueror and conquered are not of one spirit, but in revealing to us the sympathetic traits of the enemy while in the throes of death, he reminds us of a humanity common to all.

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XXII. Now came those troubled times when Rome extended its rule over the Greek lands. At first Athens had but little to suffer, she enjoyed a kind of independence and was permitted to continue her existence in peace. But then she was dragged into the last Greek struggle for liberty, which was quite in vain. Its soul was Mithradates Eupator, King of Pontos, on the northern coast of Asia Minor. The time was well chosen, because just then the Roman Empire was passing through a severe inner crisis. In Athens the true spirit of Marathon and Salamis, for centuries reduced to a threadbare phrase of rhetoric, seemed to be about to rise from the grave. But the relationship towards the barbarians was now reversed; on the one side the Greeks, unaccustomed to political freedom, softened by long centuries of culture, on the other, iron and disciplined legions under Sulla, one of the greatest generals of Rome. Athens was the centre of all these battles. For many months the mighty Sulla besieged the port and also the Acropolis, in which Aristion, a partisan of Mithradates, ruled who finally had to surrender (1 March, 86 B. C.). For the first time for many centuries the Acropolis had been the object of warlike strife. The conqueror did not spare the sanctuary, taking large amounts of gold and silver for his own war fund. From that period the political role of Athens was definitely finished. In the confusion of the civil wars, timid and unstable, she tried to be on goods terms with everyone who might possibly threaten her. Marcus Antonius, master of the eastern half of the Roman empire, liked to surround himself with the phantastic magnificence of Oriental kings. He approached the city, dressed up

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as a new Dionysos with a bacchic procession in his wake. Servilely the citizens tried to acknowledge his god-like state; as they could think of nothing more suitable, they greeted him with the proposal that he should marry their Athena. But Antonius disturbed this undignified comedy with the coarse materialism of the conqueror. He accepted the offer and exacted a huge sum of money as dowry. During the months of his stay (39/38 B. C.) the city was kept busy in other ways. Noisy feasts were celebrated in his honour and the Panathenaic festival was even renamed the Feast of Antony. At night he very often had torches lighted on all the roofs and enjoyed the magnificent spectacle from the Acropolis. But at last the venerable places did not fail to impress him also; on departing for the Parthian war he took with him as memento a wreath of the sacred olive tree and a jug of water filled at the Acropolis well, Klepshydra. But the predominance of the West soon made itself felt. Octavian prepared war against Antonius, whose approaching fall seemed to be predicted by all sorts of omens. Thus a storm tore the statue of Dionysos out of the gigantomachy of Attalos upon the Acropolis wall, so that it went crashing down into the theatre. The catastrophe soon followed in the battle of Actium (31 B. C.). Octavian now beecame sole monarch of the empire, as Emperor Augustus he restored to the shattered world the long desired peace. Athens did all it could to make a good impression upon the new ruler. For him and for the city of Rome divine service was instituted upon the Acropolis and a special priest appointed. For the first time for four hundred years a new temple was erected in the precinct of Athena. This was done, it is true, in a way which clearly showed it to be an act of politeness which could not rob the old sanctuaries of any of their importance (111. 1, plan and 111.26). Situated in front of the Parthenon the new building consisted of nine columns set in a narrow circle, with a dainty entablature and a round pointed roof above it; that was all. The architect was a classicist to whom the Erechtheum meant more than anything else and he therefore copied its ornamental details exactly. He probably also did this, guided by the proper feeling that 123

111. 26. Temple of Augustus and Rome.

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Corinthian pillars, the ruling style of his time, would, offend the time-honoured monuments of the past. In other respects also Athens saw to it that the historical and artistic records on the Acropolis were neither destroyed nor built in. If the obedient subjects were expected to set up in a prominent position a monument in honour of some member of the imperial family, they frequently surmounted this difficulty by conferring the Roman's name upon old celebrated statues. Thus the driver of the bronze quadriga celebrating the victory of 506 B. C., which, destroyed at the time of the Persians and then renewed by Perikles and later on placed by a Pergamene ruler upon a high pedestal to the left of the entrance to the Propylaea (111. 16, PL 75), was renamed Marcus Agrippa, the general and son-inlaw of Augustus (27 B. C.). In a similar manner two equestrian statues of the Periklean period, by Lykios, Myron's son, representing Castor and Pollux and placed before the wings of the Propylaea (111. 16, 17) received new names, the southern one that of Germanicus (18 A. D.). At the time of the Emperor Gajus (37—41 A. D.) means and ways were found to alter the western ascent to the Acropolis in a magnificent manner. Up to that time one had to ascend by a repeatedly winding serpentine road to enter the Propylaea. Now the steep slope was covered by a broad flight of steps, framed by two turrets at the lower end. At the present time one still climbs up to the Acropolis upon the remains of these very stairs. It was one of the Emperor Nero's wild passions to covet greedily works of art, and we hear that he had a number of statues removed from the Acropolis just as he had done at other famous sanctuaries. It is possible that the cow by Myron was among these too (p. 56). None the less the town had to dedicate an inscription to his honour (61 A. D.) and no place seemed more suited to this purpose than the architrave of the Parthenon. Even then the Acropolis retained its most valuable possessions, thereby exercising a strong influence on all intellectual circles of the ancient world. For Athens was considered the most important school of learning; to have lived and studied there 125

was the foundation of all education. Even if the mental life of this quiet university, living on the fame of the past, had lost touch with modern developments, yet a breath of spring was still wafted down from the Acropolis upon the ageing city. For as Plutarch tells us of his impressions, "the Periklean works still existed, untouched by time, and filled with an imperishable spirit and an eternally youthful soul". The second century after Christ saw a ruler on the throne, who evinced a passionate veneration for everything Greek and for Athens, which embodied his ideals and was overloaded with his presents: Hadrian. Three times he made a long stay in the city, each time causing splendid buildings to be erected. Of all mortals he was the only one who ever had a statue in his honour placed beside the Athena of Phidias in the Parthenon (125 A. D.). Of course this was a sacrilege but surely there was no one who deserved this honour more truly. During the following period, perhaps the happiest ever experienced by the ancient world, Athens enjoyed under Antoninus Pius the benefits of a citizen of almost unlimited wealth, Herodes Atticus. It was partly due to his assistance that the Panathenaic festival was still able to retain its old glory (138 A.D.). And just in these years, when the Acropolis was in the Indian summer of its glory, it happened that ah author of eastern birth, Pausanias by name, travelled through Hellas. He was interested* after his manner, in the antiquities and curiosities which were to ber seen everywhere. Subsequently he wrote a comprehensive book on his impressions, not in the manner of a dry-ash dust guidebook, but as a collection of all sorts of curiosities with which one might connect pleasant little anecdotes. He was thinking of, readers who wished to be entertained, whether they knew Greece or not. Of course Pausanias was also on the Acropolis and he has left us a detailed account of its monuments, its myths and its history. To this man, who really did not understand much about art, we owe an inestimable debt, because if his work had not been preserved, it would be impossible to write a coherent history of the Acropolis.

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XXIII. From this time forward things go from bad to worse, the history of the destruction of Athens commences. A gate is built in between the towers at the lower entrance (PI. 75). Quite incapable of creating anything original and of value, this generation made use of Doric architectural members taken from a small monument which had once stood near the theatre in memory of the victorious chorus equipped by Nikias in 319 B. C. A hundred years later (A. D. 267), as harbingers of the doom awaiting antique culture, came the Heruli, the first Germanic tribe of conquerors. P. Herennius Dexippus, a scholar, who had done much for the worship of Athena, saved by his energy city and Acropolis from the worst. Also when Alaric, King of the Visigoths, drew near (A.D.396), a gracious fate prevented destruction. According to the legend the unaccustomed sight of the huge Promachos with her glittering weapons frightened the barbarian away. But Athena and her property were menaced in Christianity by an enemy no less formidable. It is true that it was at the Academe of Athens that heathenism found a last support in Neoplatonism. Ancient sanctuaries therefore remained longer untouched here than in other places, and every year the Panathenaic procession was permitted to sally forth to Athena's temple. It was only in the fifth century, that a beautiful woman appeared in a dream to the sage Proklos, the head of the school, telling him to prepare his house, "for the mistress of Athens will visit you". This happened in the days when the Athena Parthenos of Phidias was removed from the home that 127

111. 27. T h e Propylaea at the t i m e of the P r a n k i s h Dukes.

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had been created for her. The Parthenon and Erechtheum were now turned into Christian churches. Self-complacent piety dealt senselessly with the incomparable marble walls and columns, until the halls had been adapted to the conditions of the new cult. The centre of the eastern pediment of the Parthenon was sacrificed in these alterations. Thus things remained till 1204, when the Greek empire succumbed to the onslaught of the fourth crusade. For two centuries and a half the Acropolis remained in the hands of dukes of French and Italian origin. These made a palace of the Propylaea, and in the south wing they built a large watch tower, the Frankish Tower, as it is called (111.27). The churches were turned over to the Latin communion. Then came the conquest by the Turks (1458). Their rule spread over the Acropolis like dark night. The Parthenon was turned into a mosque (PL 102, 103), and from its minaret the Mullah's monotonous call to prayer was heard. The harem of the commander pursued its caged existence in the Erechtheum. In the seventeenth century the blows of fate followed hard and violently upon each other. In 1645 the Propylaea were destroyed by lightning and, a powder magazine being struck, the magnificent building was partly blown into the air. The year 1687 brought the greatest catastrophe that ever befell Art. The Venetians attacked the Acropolis, the Turks strengthened their fortifications by pulling down the temple of Nike and making of its stones a new bastion. But on September 26 one of the shots during the bombardment hit the powder stores which were kept in the Parthenon, and the most beautiful temple that ever was, burst asunder in a dreadful explosion. In the middle of the long sides the columns were overturned and the entablature broken up (111. 28). The centre of the western pediment was wholly destroyed together with its sculptures. We should know nothing about its composition, had not a Flemish painter sketched the then existing parts by order of the French ambassador Nointel (PI. 104, 105). In the eighteenth century the Acropolis was covered with low houses and intersected with narrow streets (PL 103). Two English scholars, Stuart and Revett (1751—54) made the first scientific researches and by a magnificent publication they aroused enthuSchede. The Acropolis of Athens.

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111. 28. The Catastrophe of 1687.

siasm for the ruins of the Acropolis. In 1802—3 Lord Elgin despoiled the Parthenon and the Erechtheum of their most beautiful sculptures, which later on came to the British Museum in London and their preservation here has laid the foundation of our present conception of ancient art. The nineteenth century brought freedom to the Greek nation; the Acropolis has been in Greek hands again since 1833. From that time onward its liberation from the crude overgrowth of the Middle Ages has been progressing step by step and every foot of land has been examined by thorough excavation, so that we now have at our disposal all that remains of those thousand years during which Athena ruled here. It is only a small remnant, but to us it means immeasurable wealth.

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A LITERARY SUMMARY. The scientific literature on the Acropolis of Athens is very extensive. It has been summarised up to 1910 by A. Mau and E. v. Mercklin, Katalog der Bibliothek des K. Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts in Rom, vol. 1, pp. 120—140; for the following years use the annual bibliography in archaeological journals. Only the most important works are mentioned here: E. A. G a r d n e r , Ancient Athens, London, 1902. L u c k e n b a c h , Die Akropolis von Athen, 2nd edition, Munich, 1905. P e t e r s e n , Athen (Berühmte Kunststätten, vol. 41). Leipzig, 1908. All three written for a wide public. J a h n & M i c h a e l i s , Arx Athenarum a Pausania descripta, 3rd edition, Bonn, 1901, contains all the sources which come to us from antique tradition as well as excellent drawings of the most important buildings. L. M a r t i n D ' O o g e , The Acropolis of Athens, New York, 1908. J u d e i c h , Topographie von Athen (Iwan v. Müllers Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft vol. III, II, 2). Munich, 1905. Chief work on all topographical questions. C a v v a d i a s & K a w e r a u , Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis, Athen, 1907. Fundamental plans on completion of the excavations. C a t a l o g u e of the Acropolis Museum, vol. I (archaic sculptures) by Guy Dickins, Cambridge, 1912; vol. II (all the rest) by Casson and Brooke, Cambridge, 1921; describes all monuments found on the Acropolis and exhibited in the Acropolis Museum, adding the literature in connection with these. A. H. S m i t h , A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. I, London, 1892. W i e g a n d , and others: Die Porosarchitektur der Akropolis, Cassel und Leipzig, 1904, L e c h a t , Au musée de l'Acropole d'Athènes, Paris, 1902, L e c h a t , La sculpture attique avant Phidias, Paris, 1904, S c h r ä d e r , Archaische Marmorskulpturen im Akropolis-Museum zu Athen (Festschrift zur 50. Philologenversammlung in Graz), Vienna, 1909, and Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturen im AkropolisMuseum, Vienna, 1913, 133

H e b e r d e y , Altattische Porosskulptur, Vienna, 1919, the main works for archaic art. M i c h a e l i s , Der Parthenon, Leipzig, 1871, the classic work on the Parthenon; it brings together all the historical and archaeological evidence about this temple accessible at the time of publication. A. S m i t h , The Sculptures of the Parthenon, London, 1910, and B o i s s o n a s & M a n s e l l , Le Parthenon, Texte de C o 11 i g n o n , Paris, 1912; these are magnificent works with excellent photographic reproductions; the texts give a brief summary of the latest results of research. B o h n , Die Propyläen der Akropolis zu Athen, 1882. E l d e r k i n , Problems in Periclean buildings, London, 1912. R o ß , S c h a u b e r t , H a n s e n , Der Tempel der Nike Apteros, 1839. B1 ü m e 1, Der Fries des Tempels der Athene Nike, Berlin, 1923. M i t t e i l u n g e n des D e u t s c h e n A r c h ä o l o g i s c h e n Ins t i t u t s in A t h e n , J a h r e s h e f t e des ö s t e r r e i c h i s c h e n A r c h ä o l o g i s c h e n I n s t i t u t s , (Vienna), E p h i m e r i s a r c h a e o l o g i k i (Modern Greek), Athens, T h e A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r c h a e o l o g y , New-York, and other archaeological journals contain numerous publications on the different monuments and on special questions. B u s o 11, Griechische Geschichte, 2nd edition, 1895, B e 1 o c h , Griechische Geschichte, 2nd edition, 1912, F e r g u s o n , Hellenistic Athens, London, 1911, M o m m s e n , Römische Geschichte, vol. V, G r e g o r o v i u s , Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter, 2nd ed., 1889, give information on historical questions. S p r i n g e r & M i c h a e l i s , Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, vol. I, Altertum, llth ed. revised by P. Wolters, Leipzig, 1920, F u r t w ä n g l e r , Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, London, 1895, F o w l e r and W h e e l e r , A Handbook of Greek Archaeology, New York, 1909, E. A. G a r d n e r , A Handbook of Greek Sculpture, London, 1911, B u l l e , Der schöne Mensch im Altertum (Hirths Stil, vol. I), 2nd ed., Munich, 1912, K e k u l e v o n S t r a d o n i t z , Die griechische Skulptur, 3rd ed., by B. Schroeder, Berlin, 1922, N o a c k , Die Baukunst des Altertums, 1910, treat the most important works of art on the Acropolis in connection with the history of ancient art.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS I. Reproductions in the text. 1. Plan of the Acropolis of Athens, taken from Luckenbach, Die Akropolis von Athen, 2nd ed., p. 11, fig. 20. 2. Remains of the oldest Acropolis wall, from E. Curtius, Stadtgeschichte von Athen, p. 46, fig. 10 (drawing made from photo of the German Institute, Athens, Akr. 80). 3. Plan of the Hekatompedon. Cliché of Messrs. A. Kröner, Leipzig ( = Kunstgeschichte in Bildern, 1 st ed., I, 1) from Antike Denkmäler I, pi. 1 (Dörpfeld). 4. Hekatompedon, east side. Drawing by F. Krischen. The roof figures after Schräder, Archaische Marmorskulpturen, ill. 7 and 13, the pediment figures in the centre according to Heberdey, Altattische Porosskulptur, pp. 68 et seq. 5. Flying bird (restored) engraved upon the eaves of the pediment of the Hekatompedon, compare 111. 4; from Heberdey, Altattische Porosskulptur, p. 129, 141. 6. Peisistratic Hekatompedon, part of the southern long side, in front of it (chosen and distributed at random) votive offerings, to the right Antenor's statue of a woman (PI. 30), to the left the statue dedicated by Euthydikos (PI. 88) on the original pedestals. Drawing by F. Krischen. 7. Two lions devouring a bull, an endeavour to reconstruct a pediment group of the Peisistratic Hekatompedon, compare PI. 6. From Heberdey, Altattische Porosskuptur, p. 99, 83 c. 8. Gate-way and temple of the Peisistratides. Drawing by F. Krischen. The gate-way based upon the American Journal of Archaeology VIII, 1904, PI. I—VI (Weiler). 9. Plan of the Parthenon. Cliché of Messrs. A. Kröner ( = Kunstgeschichte in Bildern I, 13, 8) after Dörpfeld, Athenische Mitteilungen VI, 1881, PL 12. 10. North-west corner of the Parthenon. Drawing by F. Krischen. 135

11. North-west corner of the roof of the Parthenon, compare 111. 10. Drawing by F. Krischen. The tendril ornament in imitation of that formerly on the pediment apex, see 111. 13. For the lion's head and the palmette compare Boissonas, Le Parthenon, PI. 41. 12. Parthenon. View of the Athena Parthenos from outside through the eastern entrance door. Drawing by F. Krischen. 13. Parthenon, western. side (compare PI. 47). Drawing by F. Krischen. The tendril ornament on the pediment apex copied from Praschniker, Osterr. Jahreshefte, XIII, 1910, pp. 5 et seq. The pediment figures after Carrey's drawing (PI. 99, 100), also with the help of the reconstruction by Schwerzek (see Luckenbach, Die Akropolis von Athen, p. 43, 68). 14. Plan of the Propylaea. From Luckenbach, Die Akropolis von Athen, p. 22, fig. 34. 15. The Propylaea, from outside (west). Drawing by F. Krischen. This view does not show the mutilation of the building which was caused by the change of plan. 16. The Propylaea, north-west wing, to the left the Agrippa pedestal. Drawing by F. Krischen. 17. The Propylaea, north-west wing. Drawing by F. Krischen. 18. The Propylaea, outer room of the central building. Drawing by F. Krischen. 19. The Propylaea. "Pinakotheke", interior with a view of central building. Drawing by F. Krischen. 20. Nike temple from the east. View from the south-west wing of the Propylaea. Drawing by F. Krischen. In front of the temple there stood an altar, but we do not know what it was like. 21. Erechtheum, east - western section. From Jahn - Michaelis, Arx Athenarum a Pausania descripta, 3rd ed. PI. XXVI. Details are uncertain. 22. Erechtheum, plan, from Luckenbach, Die Akropolis von Athen, p. 27, fig. 42. 23 and 24. Erechtheum seen from the north-east. Compare PI. 84. To the left the north-west corner of the Parthenon. Drawing by F. Krischen. Doors and windows of the east front based on American Journal of Archaeology X, 1906, pp. 47 et seq. (Stevens). 25. Erechtheum, seen from the west. To the right at the back the north-east corner of the Parthenon. Compare PL 87. Drawing by F. Krischen. The olive-tree hung with small dedicatory reliefs and the scene of the sacrifice after a red figured vase-fragment in London, British Museum, E 393 (Catalogue of Vases, vol. Ill, PI. XVI). 136

26. Temple of Augustus and Roma. Drawing by F. Krischen. Compare Antike Denkmäler I, PL 25, 26 (Kawerau); Jahrbuch des archäologischen Instituts XI, 1896, p. 143, fig. 37 (Meurer). 26. The Propylaea at the time of the Frankish Dukes. Drawing by F. Krischen. 28. The catastrophe of the year 1687. Drawing by F. Krischen. IL PLATES. Plate 1. Herakles is introduced into Olympüs. Pediment group of poros, Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 62). Height of Zeus 90 centim. From Heberdey, Altattische Porosskulptur, pi. 1. Plate 2. The Acropolis, seen from the west. From a photograph by Alinari 24576. Plate 3. Herakles fights with the Triton, and Plate 4. Triple-bodied sea-demon. Pediment figures of the older Hekatompedon, of poros. Height of the triple-bodied being 77.5 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue 1, pp. 78etseq. Nos. 35, 36). From Heberdey, Altattische Porosskulptur, PI. III. Plate 5. Eaves from the long side of the Peisistratic Hekatompedon, of island marble, Athens, Acropolis Museum, (Catalogue II, 287, No. 69). Height 32 cent. Cliché by Messrs. Kröner ( = Kunstgeschichte in Bildern. 1st edition, I, 13, 3). From Wiegand, Porosarchitektur, PI. X, 1 b. Plate 6. Two lions devouring a bull. Pediment group of the Peisistratic Hekatompedon, of poros. Comp, the restoration, fig. 7. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 67, No. 3). From Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griech. und röm. Skulptur, PI. 456. Comp. Heberdey, Altattische Porosskulptur, p. 88, fig. 67, where the hind legs of the lion have been completed. Plate 7. Head of Zeus, from the "introduction pediment" (PL I), Athens, Acropolis Museum, Cliché of the Austrian Archaeological Institute (Heberdey, p. 34, fig. 18). Plate 8. Head of Herakles from the "introduction pediment", Athens, Acropolis Museum. Cliché of the Austrian Archaelogical Institute (Heberdey, p. 37, fig. 20). Plate 9. Man carrying a calf, of Hymettian marble. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 156, No. 624). Height of figure about 1 irii 65. Lower part of legs is missing, but feet and pedestal have been found. From a photo by Alinari 24622. Plate 10. Statue of girl, of Pentelic marblé, height 1 m. 01. Athens, Acropolis Museum {Catalogue 1, p. 126, No. 593). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Schräder, Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturéh; p. 7, figV 1).J 137

Plate 11. Head of the Gorgon, from the gable top of the old Hekatompedon, of marble; cf. Plate 5. Height 25 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue 1, p. 269, No. 701). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Schrader, Archa'ische Marmorskulpturen, p. 6, fig. 2). Plate 12. Lion's head as water spout, from the roof-corner of the Peisistratic Hekatompedon, comp. pi. 5. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, 287, No. 69). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Schrader, Archa'ische Marmorskulpturen, p. 75, fig. 66). Plate 13. Hound of island marble. Height 51 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 98, No. 143). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute (— Schrader, Archa'ische Marmorskulpturen, p. 77, fig. 68). Plate 14. Eaves of the long side of the older Hekatompedon, of Attic marble. Height 17 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, 288, No. 71). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Schrader, Archa'ische Marmorskulpturen, p. 9, fig. 6). Plate 15. Ornamental band on the outer wall of the Erechtheum, of Pentelic marble. Now used again for the restoration of the Erechtheum. From a photo by Alinari 24 612. Plates 16 and 17. Panathenaic amphora. Berlin, Antiquarium Np. 1831, height 51 cent. This specimen is especially distinguished for its finish and good state of preservation, but it lacks the inscription, which is generally found in the so-calléd "real" prize amphorae, on the front beside the left column. The vessels without inscriptions may not have been produced as prizes for the victors, but only as mementos for those participating in the festival. On the back (Plate 17) two naked boxers are represented with bandaged hands. To the right we see the referee, on the left, with fist-straps in his hand, a third boxer who is to meet the victor in the contest later on. Only minor details are restored. Plate 18. Statue of girl of island marble. Height 1 m. 825. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 232, No. 582). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute (— Schrader, Archa'ische Marmorskulpturen, p. 20, fig. 17). In this figure which has been put together from many fragments, certain parts, above all the knees, have been restored in plaster. The neck appears too heavy in consequence of its having been damaged. Plate 19. Statue of girl, of Parian marble. Height 92 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 213, No. 674). From a photo for Schrader, Auswahl archa'ischer Marmorskulpturen, p. 27, fig. 22. Part of the neck has been added in plaster.

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Plates 20 and 21. Statue of girl, of Parian marble, height 1 m. 20. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 223, No. 679). From photos for Schrader, Auswahl archaïscher Marmorskulpturen, pl. 1. Plate 22. Statue of girl, of Parian marble; the lower part of right arm, which had been inserted, consisted of Pentelic marble. Height 1 m. 15. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 205, No. 670). From a photo at the Berlin Museum, Sculpture Department. Plate 23. Athena fighting a giant. Middle group of the east pediment of the Peisistratic Athena temple, of island marble. Height of Athena 2 m. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 169, No. 631). From a photo by Alinari 24604. Much has been added in plaster to both figures, above all Athena's legs and part of the giant's abdomen and thighs. Plate 24. Head of the bronze statue of a warrior. Height 27 cent., Athens, National Museum (Staïs, Marbres et bronzes du Musée National I, p. 284, No. 6446). From a photo by Alinari 24455. A better view, full face, in Bulle's "Der schône Mensch", ed. 2, pl. 226. Plate 25. Head of Athena from the east pediment of the Peisistratic Hekatompedon (pi. 23). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute. (= Schrader, Auswahl archaïscher Marmorskulpturen, p. 20, fig. 26). Plate 26. Double-sided bronze relief of Athena. Height 0.358 m. Athens, National Museum (Staïs, Marbres et bronzes du Musée National I, p. 282, No. 6448). From a photo by Alinari 24 435. Plate 27. Painted clay tablet, height 65,5 cent., Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 300, No. 67). From a photo by Alinari 24615. Plate 28. Statuette of a horseman, of Parian marble, Height of head and chest of rider 20 cent., the horse 13 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 155, No. 623 and p. 283, No. 4119. Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute (= Schrader, Archai'sche Marmorskulpturen, p. 79, fig. 70). Plate 29. Statue of a horseman of Pentelic marble, height 1 m. 12. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 267, No. 700) from a photo for Schrader, Auswahl archaïscher Marmorskulpturen, pi. XIV. Plate 30. Statue of girl, by Antenor. Island marble, Height 2 m. 55. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 228, No. 681) from the photo for Schrader, Auswahl archaïscher Marmorskulpturen, pl. III). To this statue: parts of the trunk, of the left arm, the legs, the neck, the shoulders, etc. have been added in plaster. The pedestal which probably belongs to this statue, bears the following inscription: "The 139

potter Nearchos dedicated this statue to Athena as a donation from: the revenues of his trade. Antenor, son of Eumares, made it". The drawing, fig. 6, an attempt to reproduce the appearance of the whole monument, is based on Studniczka, Jahrbuch des Instituts, II, 1887, p. 141). Plate 31. Athena, by Endoios. Island marble. Height 1 m. 47. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 160, No. 625. Cliché of the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Schräder, Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturen, p. 24, fig. 18). Plate 32. Statue of girl, of Parian marble, height 55.5 cent., Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 215, No. 675) from a photo for Schräder, Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturen, p. 19, fig. 11. Plate 33. Statue of girl, dedicated by Euthydikos. Parian marble. Height 33.5 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (Catalogue I, p. 241, No. 609). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Institute ( = Schräder, Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturen, p. 33, fig. 30). The centre of the figure is missing, on the other hand we probably possess the legs and feet, together with the capital bearing the inscription of Euthydikos, on which the figure had stood, compare Schräder, p. 33, fig. 31. Studniczka in "Festgabe zum Winckelmannsfest des archäologischen Seminars der Universität Leipzig, 14. Dez. 1915", published an attempt to reproduce the whole figure in plaster. Plates 34 and 35. Head of youth, of Parian marble, height 24.5 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 248, No. 689). Cliché of the Austrian Institute ( = Schräder, Auswahl archaischer Marmorskulpturen, p. 55, fig. 60). Plates 36 and 37. Statue of boy, of Parian marble, height 86 cent. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue I, p. 264, No. 698). Cliché of the Austrian Arch. Institute ( = Schräder, Archaische Marmorskulpturen, p. 58, fig. 48). Plate 38. Athena and Marsyas, after Myron (the lance held the wrong way). Cliché of Messrs. Kröner, Leipzig (— Springer-MichaelisWolters, Handbuch der Kunstgeschichte, vol. 1,11th ed., 1920, fig. 469), restoration after Archäologischer Anzeiger, 1908, plate facing p. 341. Sieveking's restoration, copied in copper by the Galvanoplastic Institute at Geislingen for the Städtisches Museum at Stettin. Athena after a marble copy of the body in Paris, and of the head at Dresden, Marsyas after the marble copy in the Lateran in Rome. The most complete reproduction of Athena is found in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut at Frankfort-on-Main. With the help of this reproduction Bulle was able to show the proper position of the lance in the Jahrbuch des archäologischen Instituts XXVII, 1912, 175 et seq. The Athena at Frankfort is I m. 73 high (without the crest), the Lateran Marsyas 1 m. 59.

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Plate 39. Head òf Athena by Myron. After the marble copy in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut at Frankfort-on-Main. From a photograph in the Jahreshefte des österr. Archäologischen Instituts XII, 1909, p. 168, fig. 71. The Frankfort head is not as true in style as the one at Dresden, which is a little more severe, but unfortunately, much mutilated. (Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griech. und röm. Skulptur, pi. 591). Plate 40. Head of Marsyas by Myron. From the marble copy in the Lateran in Rome. Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griech. und röm. Skulptur, pi. 611. Plate 41. Athena Lemniai after Phidias. A restoration by Furtwängler, based upon the marble copy of the figure at Dresden (Albertinum) and of the head at Bologna (Museo civico), with addition of arms, helmet and spear. Height about 2 m. A copper reproduction in the Städtisches Museum at Stettin; photograph by F. Kasper, Stettin. Furtwängler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, p. 1 et seq. It has frequently been disputed that this statue is the "Lemnia" of Phidias, see the summary of the literature by M. Bieber, Die antiken Skulpturfen und Bronzen in Cassel, 1915, p. 5, et seq. Plate 42. Gem by Aspasios, with the head of Athena Parthenos after Phidias. Red jasper of 3 cent, diameter, here enlarged to double its size. Near the left margin the artist has engraved his signature. This masterpiece hitherto in the museum at Vienna, has been removed to Florence by the Italians, cf. Kunstchronik, N.F.XXX, Sept. 1919, p. 981. Cliché of Messrs. F. Bruckmann (Denkmäler griech. und röm. Skulptur. Text for pi. 601—604, p. 25, fig. 24) after Furtwängler, Antike Gemmen, pi. 51, 16. Plate 43. Head of Athena Lemnia after Phidias. From the marble copy at Bologna, Museo civico, cast in bronze for Prof. Puchstein, Berlin. Eyes and ornament of the band round forehead added, see Sfudniczka, Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum, etc. XXI, 1908, plate II. From a photograph of the Archaeological Institute of the Leipzig University. Plate 44. Northern wall of Acropolis seen from outside, with inserted column drums of the older Parthenon. After a photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt) Berlin. Cawadias and Kawerau, Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis, p. 80. Plate 45. Parthenon, seen from the north-west. After a photo by Alinari 24587. Plate 46. Parthenon, seen from the south. After photo by Alinari 24593. Plate 47. Parthenon - seen from the west. After a photo of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1275,4. 141

Plates 48—51. Combats of centaurs and Greeks. Metopes from the south side of the Parthenon. Pentelic marble, height of the relief 1 m. 20, breadth 1 m. 27. 48: south metope X X X I (according to the numbering of Michaelis, Der Parthenon, which begins at the south-western corner of the temple). London, British Museum, No. 320, from A. H. Smith, The Sculptures of the Parthenon, pi. 24,1. 49: South metope IV. London, British Museum, No. 307 (the heads and the right arm of the centaur at Copenhagen, added in plaster) from Smith, pi. 17,2. 50: South metope X. Paris, Louvre, front Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Skulptur, 193. 51: South metope XXVIII, London, British Museum, No. 313 from Brunn-Bruckmann, pl. 185. Plate 52. Dionysos from the east pediment of the Parthenon, Pentelic marble, height 1 m. 21, length 1 m. 73. London, British Museum, No. 303 D, from Smith, pl. 2. Plate 53. A hero, from the west pediment of the Parthenon, height 72 cent., length 1 m. 91. London, British Museum, No. 304 A, from Smith, pl. 7. Plate 54. Selene's horse, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, London, British Museum, 303 O. From a photo by Braun, Dornach. Plate 55. Upper body of Poseidon, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, height 90 cent. The front part of fragment is at Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 39), the back part is in London, British Museum, 304 M. From Smith, Parthenon, plate 10. Plate 56. Persephone, Demeter, Hebe from the east pediment of the Parthenon. Pentelic marble, height of middle figure 1 m. 30. London, British Museum, 303 E F G. From Smith, Parthenon, pl. 3. Plate 57. Aphrodite and her companions, from the east pediment of the Parthenon. Pentelic marble. Height of middle figure 1 m. 20. London, British Museum, 303 K, L, M. From photo by Braun, Dornach. Plate 58. Iris, from the west pediment of the Parthenon, Parian marble. Height 1 m. 26. London, British Museum, 3031. From Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Skulptur, pl. 189. Plate 59. Amphitrite, from the west pediment of the Parthenon. Height 1 m. 14. London, British Museum 304 O. From Smith, Parthenon, pl. 11,1. Plates 60—72. Slabs from the Parthenon frieze. Pentelic marble. Height 1 m. 6. The numbering of the figures begins (according to Michaelis, Der Parthenon) at the north-western corner of the west frieze, at the north-eastern corner of the north frieze, at the south-west corner of the south frieze, at the south-east corner of the east frieze. A clear

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plan of the distribution of the slabs in Boissonas, Mansell, Collignon, Le Parthenon, pi. 75. 60: West 9—11. Still on the Parthenon itself (see PI. 47), here after a plaster cast, from Smith, Parthenon, pi. 64. 61: North 86—91. The left piece in London, British Museum 325, the right piece in Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 112, No. 863), here from a plaster cast, Smith, Parthenon, pi. 53. 62: North 113—118. London, British Museum 325 (all but the left upper corner which is in the Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 126, No. 1110). From a photo by Braun, Dornach. 63: North 56—61. Left part at Athens Acropolis Museum, (Catalogue II, p. 108, No. 859) right part in London, British Museum, 325. From Smith, Parthenon, pi. 47. 64: South 112—115, 120—124, London, British Museum, 327, with the exception of the left lower corner of the middle slab, which is in the Acropolis Museum at Athens (Catalogue II, 130, No. 1151). From Smith, pi. 89. 65 and 66: West 15—17, Still on the Parthenon (see pi. 47), here from a plaster cast. From Smith, Parthenon, Plates 66 and 67. 67: North 37—43. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 113, No. 865). From Smith, Parthenon, pi. 44. 68: North 16—20. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 102, No. 864). From Smith, Parthenon, pi. 42. 69: East 36—40, left slab in London, British Museum, 325, right slab in Athens, Acropolis Museum. (Catalogue II, p. 105, No. 856), here from a plaster cast. From Smith, Parthenon, pi. 36. 70: East 40—46, joined together of fragments in Athens (Acropolis Museum, Catalogue II, p. 103, London, British Museum, and a plaster cast in Paris (Louvre) after the lost original. From Smith, Parthenon, pi. 37. 72: East 31—35. London, British Museum, 324. From Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Skulptur, pl. 109. Plate 73. Perikles, after Kresilas, Marble copy, height 63 cent., Berlin, Sculpture Department of the State Museum, Nr. 1530. From a photograph of the Sculpture Department. Kekule von Stradonitz, Uber ein Bildnis des Perikles in den Königl. Museen, 61. Berliner Winckelmannsprogramm, 1901. Plate 74. Hermes, after Alkamenes. Marble copy from Pergamon. Height 1.195 m. Constantinople, Ottoman Museum, No. 527. From a photograph of the German Archaeological Institute at Athens, Pergamon, 539. Winter, Altertümer von Pergamon VII, 1. p. 48. Plate 75. Propylaea, Agrippa pedestal, Nike temple and late antique buildings seen from the south-west. From photograph by Alinari, 24 577.

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Plate 76. Temple of Nike, seen from the Propylaea. From a photograph by H. Holdt (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pL 5). Plate 77. Ionic capital of the Propylaea. From a photograph by R. Hamann (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pi. 1). Plate 78. Doric capital of the Propylaea. From a photograph by R. Hamann (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pi. 3). Plate 79. View through the Propylaea from the S.-W. From a photograph by H. Holdt (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pi. 4). Plate 80. Propylaea seen from the N.-E. From a photograph by R. Hamann (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pi. 2). Plate 81. Nike temple, from the east. Photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1273,1. Plates 82—84. Frieze reliefs from the temple of Athena Nike. Pentelic marble. Height 44 cent. 82: (from the west frieze). London, British Museum, 422. 83: (from the south frieze). London, British Museum, 424. 84: (from the east frieze) on the temple itself. Clichdes of Messrs. A. Kröner, Leipzig ( = Kunstgeschichte in Bildern, 2nd ed., I., p. 277, fig. 6, 7, 8). Plate 85. Erechtheum, seen from the south, in front the foundation walls of the old Hekatompedon. Photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1276,1. Plate 86. Erechtheum, seen from the south-east. Photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1276,5. Plate 87. Erechtheum, seen from the north-east, to the left the northwestern corner of the Parthenon. Photo of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1276,6. Compare the ill. 23 and 24. Plate 88. Erechtheum, seen from the west, on the right, foundation walls of the Hekatompedon colonnade; above this we see the northeastern corner of the Parthenon. Photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1276,9. Cf. ill 25, p. 105. Plate 89. North porch of the Erechtheum. Photograph by R. Hamann (Holdt and Hofmannsthal, Griechenland, pi. 9). Plate 90. Capital from the north porch of the Erechtheum. Photograph of the Berlin Sculpture Department after a plaster cast. Plate 91. Caryatid porch of Erechtheum. Photograph of the Staatliche Bildstelle (Meßbildanstalt), Berlin, No. 1276,4. Plate 92. Caryatid from the Erechtheum (cf. pi. 88, where an imitation in terra-cotta has been inserted in the second place from the left in the front row). Pentelic marble. Height 2 m. 30. London, British Museum, No. 407. From Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Skulptur, pl. 176. Plates 93—96. Reliefs from the balustrade of the Nike temple. Pentelic marble. Height 1 m. 5. Athens, Acropolis Museum. From photos ¿144

by Alinari. 91: Catalogue II, p. 155, No. 11. 92: p. 142, No. 2. 93: p. 140, No. 1. 94: p. 156, No. 12. Kekulé, Die Reliefs an der Balustrade der Athena Nike, 1881; Heberdey in the Osterreich. Jahreshefte XXI to XXII, 1922, 1 ff. Plate 97. Dead Gaul. Marble copy from a bronze figure of the votive offering of King Attalos I. Restored: chin, mouth, lower half of the nose. Venice, Ducal Palace. From a photo by Alinari, 12 906. Cf. von Bienkowski, Die Darstellungen der Gallier in der hellenistischen Kunst, p. 38, No. 23. Plate 98. Dying Gaul. Marble copy from a bronze figure of the votive offering of King Attalos I. Naples, Museo Nazionale. Restored: left lower arm, right foot, upper part of the helmet, nose, lower lip, chin and other details. From a photograph. Cf. von Bienkowski, p. 47, No. 26. Plate 99. Head of the dead Gaul (pi. 97). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Bienkowski p. 39). Plate 100. Head of the dying Gaul (pi. 98). Cliché belonging to the Austrian Archaeological Institute ( = Bienkowski p. 49). Plate 101. Inscribed tablet of marble. Height 1 m. 13. Athens, Acropolis Museum (Catalogue II, p. 234, No. 1333). From a photograph by Alinari, 24600. Plate 102. The Acropolis in the seventeenth century, seen from the south, before the explosion in the Parthenon. Drawing of the year 1670. Bonn, Akademisches Kunstmuseum. From Omont, Athènes au XVIIe siècle, pl. 29. Plate 103. The Parthenon in the eighteenth century, from the east, after a water colour painting by William Pars, 1765. London, British Museum. From Stuart and Revett, The Antiquities of Athens, II. ch. i., pl. IV. Plates 104, 105. The west pediment of the Parthenon. Drawing by a Flemish painter "Carrey", A. D. 1674. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, from Omont, Athènes au XVIIe siècle, pl. 2 and 3.

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P L A T E S

7. Head of Zeus. From the pediment on PI. 1. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (P. 20).

8. Head of Herakles. From the pediment on PI. 1. Athens, Acropolis Museum. {P. 20).

9 . M a n c a r r y i n g a calf. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (P. 24).

10. Female figure. Athens, Acropolis M u s e u m . (P. 25).

18. Female figure. Athens. A c r o p o l i s M u s e u m .

(P. 3 4 ; .

19. Female figure. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (P. 35).

20. and 21. Female figure. Athens, Acropolis Museum.

(Pp. 2 5 — 6 ) .

22. Female figure. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (P. 341.

23. Athena fighting a giant, from the east pediment of the later Hekatompedon. Athens, Acropolis Museum. (P. 38).

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