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.
"Such was the simple construction of this magnificent building, which,
by the united excellencies of materials, design, and decorations, was
the most perfect ever executed. Its dimensions of two hundred and
twenty-eight feet by a hundred and two, with a height of sixty-six
feet to the top of the pediment, were sufficiently great to give an
impression of grandeur and sublimity, which was not disturbed by any
obtrusive subdivision of parts, such as is found to diminish the
effects of some larger modern buildings, where the same singleness of
design is not observed. In the Parthenon, whether viewed at a small or
at a great distance, there was nothing to divert the spectator's
contemplation from the simplicity and majesty of mass and outline,
which forms the first and most remarkable object of admiration in a
Greek temple; and it was not until the eye was satiated with the
contemplation of the entire edifice, that the spectator was tempted to
examine the decorations with which this building was so profusely
adorned; for the statues of the pediments, the only decoration which
was very conspicuous by its magnitude and position, being enclosed
within frames, which formed an essential part of the design of either
front, had no more obtrusive effect than an ornamented capital to a
single column."
Bearing this outline of the building in mind, the visitor may at once
proceed to examine the ruins of this fine monument of ancient genius,
which are deposited in the Elgin Saloon of our National Museum. First,
he may notice those alto-relievos, known as the