In the 4th century no new temples of importance rose at Athens; the
Acropolis had taken its final form; but at Messene, Tegea, Epidaurus and
elsewhere, very admirable buildings arose. The remains of the temple at
Tegea are of wonderful beauty and finish; as are those of the theatre
and the so-called _Tholus_ of Epidaurus. In Asia Minor vast temples of
the Ionic order arose, especially at Miletus and Ephesus. The colossal
pillars of Miletus astonish the visitors to the Louvre; while the
sculptured columns of Ephesus in the British Museum (Plate II. fig. 59)
show a high level of artistic skill. The Mausoleum erected about 350
B.C. at Halicarnassus in memory of Mausolus, king of Caria, and adorned
with sculpture by the most noted artists of the day, was reckoned one
of the wonders of the world. It has been in part restored in the British
Museum. Mr Oldfield's conjectural restoration, published in
_Archaeologia_ for 1895, though it has many rivals, surpasses them all
in the lightness of the effect, and in close correspondence to the
description by Pliny. We show a small part of the sculptural decoration,
representing a battle between Greeks and Amazons (Plate IV. fig. 70),
wherein the energy of the action and the careful balance of figure
against figure are remarkable. We possess also the fine portraits of
Mausolus himself and his wife Artemisia, which stood in or on the
building, as well as part of a gigantic chariot with four horses which
surmounted it.
Another architectural work of the 4th century, in its way a gem, is the
structure set up at Athens by Lysicrates, in memory of a choragic
victory. This still survives, though the reliefs with which it is
adorned have suffered severely from the weather.
[Illustration: Nat. Mus., Naples.