The subjects represented by these sculptures are, the battle of the Centaurs and the Lapithae, and the war between the Amazons and Athenians—mythical struggles upon which Greek sculptors were fond of exercising their imagination. THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS is the first to which the visitor should direct his attention. The origin of this myth is thus described by Sir Henry Ellis: "The story of the Centaurs, it is remarked, is of Thessalian origin. The people of Thessaly were remarkably expert in horsemanship, and were supposed to be the first in Greece who practised the art of riding on horseback. Pelion, and other mountains in this part of Greece, abounding in wild bulls, these ferocious animals were frequently hunted by the people of the country on horseback, and when overtaken were seized by their pursuers, who caught hold of them by the horns, in a manner not less dexterous than daring. Hence, these hunters acquired the name of Centauri and Hippocentauri. The novel sight of a man seated on a horse, and galloping over the plains with more than human velocity, might easily suggest to the minds of an ignorant peasantry, the idea of an animal composed partly of a man and partly of a horse; and it was from this simple origin, according to some explanations, that the fable of the Centaurs sprung. We must remark, that we place no confidence in the proposed etymology of the word Centauros, and almost as little in the explanation of the story. The centaur Chiron in Homer was a model of justice, and the poet appears to have had no idea of the monstrous combination of two animals. Pindar, in his second Pythian Ode, first makes us acquainted with the Hippocentaur, or half horse and half man. Though it cannot be imagined that the Greeks ever regarded this tradition otherwise than as a fable, so far as the double nature of the animal was concerned, yet it is curious, to observe, with what care and devotion they recorded the particulars of this fiction in their poems, sculpture, paintings, and other monuments of art. The Centaurs were invited to the nuptials of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae. During the marriage feast, one of the Centaurs, named Eurytion, or Eurytus, with the characteristic brutality of his nature, and elated by the effects of wine, offered violence to the person of Hippodamia, the bride. This outrageous act was immediately resented by Theseus, the friend of Pirhitous, who hurled a large vessel of wine at the head of the offender, which brought him lifeless to the ground. A general engagement then ensued between the two parties; and the Centaurs not only sought to revenge the death of their companion, Eurytus, but likewise attempted to carry off the females who were guests at the nuptials. In this conflict, sustained on both sides with great fury, the Centaurs were finally vanquished, and driven out of Thessaly; after which they took up their abode in Arcadia, where they provoked the anger of Hercules, who completely destroyed the whole of their race. Such is the general outline of the mythic history of the Centaurs."
Bearing this outline of the classical story in his mind, the visitor may at once proceed to examine the first eleven slabs upon which the incidents in the story of the Centaurs and the Lapithae are elaborated. The visitor will, of course, begin with tablet No. 1, and proceed to the others in the regular order in which they are marked.
On approaching the first slab (1) the visitor will perceive a Centaur overcome by two Lapithae, and about to be dispatched. Another Centaur from behind, however, arrests the uplifted arm of one Lapitha. The battle proceeds fiercely on the second slab (2). A Centaur is tearing the shoulder of a Lapitha with his teeth, while the Lapitha drives a stout sword direct into his assailant's body. A dead Centaur lies in the foreground, and the heels of the stabbed Centaur strike against the shield of a second Lapitha. The origin of the battle begins to appear on the third slab (3), where a woman is represented with a child in her arms resisting the violence of a Centaur, while another Centaur at the further end of the slab is getting the better of a kneeling Lapitha. The fourth tablet would be probably unintelligible to the general visitor without special explanation. Here the Centaurs are endeavouring to crush an enemy with huge blocks of stone. This particular enemy is the Caeneus of Greek fable, whom Neptune had rendered invulnerable to the effect of swords and clubs, and whom Centaurs are endeavouring to overcome by crushing his body with masses of rock. The fifth slab (5) presents a more cheerful view of the battle for the Lapithae; here two Centaurs are being overcome by two of their enemies in revenge for their brutal conduct at the bridal banquet. The sixth tablet (6) again illustrates the hazards of war. Here a female is between two of the brutal Centaurs, one of whom has felled a Lapitha to the ground; but the left hand part of the slab is so mutilated that the merits of the sculpture are here hardly appreciable. The seventh (7) slab also represents the Lapithae losing ground. Here, it has been shrewdly conjectured the chief personages of the battle are represented. The female in the arms of the Centaur is supposed to be Hippodamia; and the figure struggling from the grasp of another Centaur, that of King Pirithous fighting for his outraged bride. The next tablet (8) is in a very dilapidated condition. The central figure is that of a muscular Centaur, with his mantle flowing from his neck, in the act of hurling something at a Lapitha who stands stoutly on the defensive, while in the further corner a female with her child is flying from pursuers. The ninth tablet (9) discovers two vanquished Centaurs, and Lapithae in the act of dispatching their mongrel enemies. The battle is represented at its climax on the next slab (10). Here, as the wicked Centaur, Eurytion, is disrobing the King's bride, and her bridesmaid is indulging in exaggerated attitudes of despair, a figure supposed to be that of the renowned founder of Athens, Theseus, springs upon the Centaur's shoulders, and drags back his head, that the brute may not gaze upon the charms he would pollute. The figure behind the bride is supposed to represent Diana, the goddess of Chastity. It is a pity that the leg and arm of the Theseus, and one arm of the bridesmaid are fractured. The last slab of those sculptured with the battle of the Centaurs, represents Apollo and Diana in a car—Apollo the deliverer; Diana the guardian of female chastity. Having fully examined these beautiful specimens of Greek art of the time of Pericles, the visitor should turn at once to the remaining slabs, which are devoted to the illustration of
A BATTLE WITH THE AMAZONS.
Plutarch gives a graphic account of those dissensions between Theseus and the Amazons, which terminated in the famous war here celebrated. "Philochorus," he says, "and some others relate, that he (Theseus) sailed in company with Hercules into the Euxine Sea, to wage war with the Amazons, and that he received Antiope as the reward of his valour, but the greater number, (among whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and Herodotus,) tell us, that Theseus made the voyage with his own fleet alone, some time after Hercules, and took that Amazon captive, which is indeed the more probable account; for we do not read that any other of his fellow-warriors made any Amazon prisoner. But Bion says, he took and carried her off by a stratagem. The Amazons (he informs us) being naturally lovers of men, were so far from avoiding Theseus when he touched upon their coasts, that they sent him presents. Theseus invited Antiope, who brought them, into his ship, and, as soon as she was aboard, set sail. But the account of one Menecrates, who published a history of Nice in Bithynia, is that Theseus, having Antiope aboard his vessel, remained in those parts some time; and that he was attended in this expedition by three young men of Athens, who were brothers, Enneos, Thoas, and Solon. The last of these, unknown to the rest, fell in love with Antiope, and communicated his passion to one of his companions, who applied to Antiope about the affair. She firmly rejected his pretensions, but treated him with civility, and prudently concealed the matter from Theseus. But Solon, in despair, having leaped into a river and drowned himself, Theseus, then sensible of the cause, and the young man's passion, lamented his fate, and in his sorrow recollected an order of the priestess, which he had formerly received at Delphi; that when, in some foreign country, he should labour under the greatest affliction, he should build a city there, and leave some of his followers to govern it. Hence, he called the city which he built Pythopolis, after the Pythian god, and the neighbouring river, in honour of the young man, Solon. He left the two surviving brothers to govern it, and give it laws; and along with them Hermus, who was of one of the best families in Athens. From him the inhabitants of Pythopolis call a certain place in their city Hermus's House, and, by exchanging an accent, transfer the honour from the hero to the god (Mercury). Hence the war with the Amazons took its rise: and it appears to have been no slight or womanish enterprise, for they could not have encamped in the town, or joined battle on the ground about the Pnyx and the Museum, or fallen in so intrepid a manner upon the city of Athens, unless they had first reduced the country about it. It is difficult, indeed, to believe (though the story is told by Hellanicus) that they crossed the Cimmerian Bosphorus upon the ice, but that they encamped almost in the heart of the city, is confirmed by the names of places, and by the tombs of those that perished there." The Amazons, according to fabulous history, were a warlike race of women, who reared only their female children, and lived as a nation apart from the male sex. They are said to have founded many cities in Asia Minor, to have been expert horsewomen, and to have amputated their left breast the more easily to use their bows. Greek sculptors delighted to avail themselves of this mythic war between men and women, in which the heroes do not appear to have used their weapons lightly, in consideration of the sex of their opponents. The splendid group by Kiss, casts of which are now in many English homes, shows that the capacity to deal with the classic subject has not altogether faded from the world. The Amazons themselves bid fair to accomplish a resurrection across the Atlantic. Rumours reach us here in England of female societies associated to make war upon the tyranny of the opposite sex, and to adopt certain eccentricities of costume. It is not improbable that these agitators will soon constitute themselves into a distinct nation, and defy the valour of the masculine Yankee.
The visitor, on turning, thus far informed, to the slabs upon which the war with the Amazons is represented, will notice that these mythic females present no appearance of the rumoured amputation. The weapons that should be in the hands of most of the figures are lost, but it is believed that they were of bronze, and the holes by which they were fastened to the hands of the figures may yet be traced. On presenting himself before the first slab (12), the visitor will see the figure of an Athenian dragging an Amazon to the ground by her hair, while another Amazon is protecting a fallen sister in the corner. This scene will shock the gallantry of the unprepared visitor, who should, nevertheless, compose himself to explain to his partner the kind of women with whom the Athenians had to deal. The second slab (13), represents a wounded Amazon sinking to the earth, and an Athenian and an Amazon in full combat, but upon the third (14), the visitor will remark the havoc which the Amazons could make. Here, on the right, an Athenian protecting himself from attack with his shield, is leading a wounded man from the field, and to the right a male figure is bearing off a body, from which a central Amazon is snatching a shield. On the next slab (15), two Amazons are engaged with two Athenians. To the left, where the head of the vanquished Amazon remains, the slab is much injured; but to the right the Athenian felled by the Amazon is clearly distinguishable. A wounded Athenian lies in the left corner of the next slab (16), supported by a companion; while another Athenian is endeavouring to beat off a lusty Amazon, who appears determined to fight for every inch of the ground. For the first time an Amazon occurs on horseback on the next slab (17). Here a sturdy Athenian is dragging her from her seat, while another Amazon is warding off a blow, and preparing to strike one at the same time, in the right corner. The central figure of the next slab (18), (the longest in the collection,) is the hero Theseus, recognisable by the lion's skin about him, the huge paw of which lies against his left leg. Theseus, who is about to deal a deadly blow at a mounted Amazon (whose body is effaced), is prevented by an interposing Amazon, while an Athenian, who is trampled upon by the horse, is preparing to do severe work with his sword. To the right, an Athenian is unceremoniously removing a wounded Amazon from her fallen horse. The next group (19) represents two couples fighting: an Athenian, protected by a helmet and cuirass, has thrown an Amazon, and on the right of the slab an Amazon has thrown an Athenian. The next slab (20) is severely mutilated; but an Amazon attending to a wounded companion, and others fighting in the left corner are distinguishable. The next tablet represents two Athenians and two Amazons; the central figure (an Athenian) has his foot upon the knee of a fallen Amazon, who appears to be asking mercy. The last slab but one (22) represents an Athenian dragging an Amazon from an altar, while to the right an Amazon is vigorously assailing another Athenian. Upon the last slab (23) are four Amazons and one wounded Athenian, who is endeavouring to ward off an impending blow from the central figure. Having noticed these slabs, the wondrous workmanship of which must surprise the most indifferent and ill-informed observer, the visitor should at once turn to the other fragments arranged and numbered in the saloon. The fragments marked successively from 24 to 40, are parts of the temple to Apollo, from which the Phigaleian slabs were taken. Having cursorily examined these, the visitor should at once turn to the fragment of a bas-relief, marked 41, which properly belongs to the Elgin collection. Here Hercules is represented holding Diomed, King of Thrace, by the head, and is about to strike him. Further on are some interesting relics, collected by Colonel Leake. First, there is a headless female statue, draped, from Sparta (43); then the torso of a naked Apollo from the Peloponnese; then a small, shattered Hercules, without head, arms, or feet, found on the coast of Laconia. Proceeding with his examination of the miscellaneous objects in the saloon, he may notice successively, the head of Jupiter, from Phrygia (47); a curious sepulchral inscription from Halicarnassus (48), forbidding any one, except relations, from occupying the tomb to which it belonged; a bas-relief from Thessaly (51) representing a dedication of hair to Poseidon: an alto-relievo torso of Triton (56); and the pedestal of the statue of Jupiter Urius (55), which stood in the temple of that god, at the mouth of the Euxine.
Directing his attention to the fragments which occupy the wall space below the Phigaleian frieze, he will find eleven fine bas-reliefs from the celebrated tomb erected at Halicarnassus, in the year 353 B.C., in honour of Mausolus, King of Caria, by Artemisia, his wife. Here the power of the later Greek sculptors is employed upon the battles of the Athenians with the Amazons. Above the Phigaleian frieze, against the walls are placed two pediments, copied from those which ornamented the western and eastern ends of the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, in AEgina.
Among the miscellaneous fragments in the saloon, the visitor has yet to notice a fine torso of a nude Venus; a statue of Discobolus, who is throwing a quoit, found in Hadrian's Villa Tiburtina; part of a statue of Hymen; and at the ends of the saloon the visitor should notice some specimens from the old temple of Selinus, which are valued as probably representing some of the earliest extant specimens of Greek art. Among the subjects represented are Perseus killing the Gorgon Medusa, and Hercules and the Cecrops. Having examined these objects, the visitor has brought his examination of the Phigaleian Saloon to a close, and he should forthwith enter upon the great labour of his fourth visit, by proceeding to the west into the noble room devoted to the
ELGIN MARBLES.
These marbles have become celebrated throughout the civilised world, and the name of Elgin is inseparably connected henceforth with the finest extant specimens of the power of Phidias. The artistic excellencies of these relics of a remote civilisation have been so frequently explained to the public, and their beauties are so generally felt, that it suffices to introduce the general visitor to the room, and to guide him about it, without bidding him halt to learn the estimation set upon these works by great art authorities. After he has received the natural impression which these works cannot fail to produce on his mind, he may wish to know something of the times and men which these represent; he may be glad to learn so much as is known of Phidias. No man even with the poorest sense of the beautiful can, we apprehend, wander about this saloon without being touched. Therefore we proceed at once to guide the visitor on his journey. But it is necessary that he should know something of the building, of which these fragments formed parts:—"The Parthenon," says Colonel Leake, "was constructed entirely of white marble, from Mount Pentelicus. It consisted of a cell, surrounded with a peristyle, which had eight Doric columns in the fronts, and seventeen in the sides. These forty-six columns were six feet two inches in diameter at the base, and thirty-four feet in height, standing upon a pavement, to which there was an ascent of three steps. The total height of the temple above its platform was about sixty-five feet. Within the peristyle at either end, there was an interior range of six columns, of five feet and a half in diameter, standing before the end of the cell, and forming a vestibule to its door. There was an ascent of two steps into these vestibules from the peristyle. The cell, which was sixty-two feet and a half broad within, was divided into two unequal chambers, of which the western was forty-three feet ten inches long, and the eastern ninety-eight feet seven inches. The ceiling of the former was supported by four columns, of about four feet in diameter, and that of the latter by sixteen columns of about three feet. It is not known of what order were the interior columns of either chamber. Those of the western having been thirty-six feet in height, their proportion must have been nearly the same as that of the Ionic columns of the vestibule of the Propylaea, whence it seems highly probable that the same order was used in the interior of both those contemporary buildings. In the eastern chamber of the Parthenon, the smallness of the diameter of the columns leaves little doubt that there was an upper range, as in the temples of Paestum and AEgina. It is to be lamented that no remains of any of them have been found, as they might have presented some new proofs of the taste and invention of the architects of the time of Pericles.