[Line 32: MAYER, Giganten und Titanen, pp. 370-71.]

[Line 33: Antiquities of Ionia, IV, pp. 38-9.]

[Line 34. NEWTON, Discoveries at Halicarnassus, etc., II, pp. 449-50, 633.]

PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL
STUDIES AT ATHENS.
THE RELATION OF THE ARCHAIC PEDIMENT
RELIEFS FROM THE ACROPOLIS TO
VASE-PAINTING.

[PLATE I.]

[Enlarge]

From one point of view it is a misfortune in the study of archæology that, with the progress of excavation, fresh discoveries are continually being made. If only the evidence of the facts were all in, the case might be summed up and a final judgment pronounced on points in dispute. As it is, the ablest scholar must feel cautious about expressing a decided opinion; for the whole fabric of his argument may be overturned any day by the unearthing of a fragment of pottery or a sculptured head. Years ago, it was easy to demonstrate the absurdity of any theory of polychrome decoration. The few who dared to believe that the Greek temple was not in every part as white as the original marble subjected themselves to the pitying scorn of their fellows. Only the discoveries of recent years have brought proof too positive to be gainsaid. The process of unlearning and throwing over old and cherished notions is always hard; perhaps it has been especially so in archæology.

The thorough investigation of the soil and rock of the Acropolis lately finished by the Greek Government has brought to light so much that is new and strange that definite explanations and conclusions are still far away. The pediment-reliefs in poros which now occupy the second and third rooms of the Acropolis Museum have already been somewhat fully treated, especially in their architectural bearings. Dr. Brückner of the German Institute has written a full monograph on the subject, [36] and it has also been fully treated by Lechat in the Revue Archeologique. [37] Shorter papers have appeared in the Mittheilungen by Studniczka [38] and P.J. Meier. [39] Dr. Waldstein in a recent peripatetic lecture suggested a new point of view in the connection between these reliefs and Greek vase-paintings. It is this suggestion that I have tried to follow out.