Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/130

 72 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. the western the contest of Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Athens. The celebrated Panathenaic frieze was carved along the top of the outside of the ceila wall, being taken across the east and west ends above the six columns to pronaos and opisthodomos. It is 3 feet 4 inches high, in very slight relief (i^ inches), and is carefully sculptured so as to be effective by reflected light (No. 23 f). It represents the Panathenaic procession every fourth year to the Acropolis in order to present the " peplos " or robe to the goddess Athena, and shows the prepara- tions of the Athenian knights, procession of Athenian cavalry, chariots, men with olive branches, musicians, youths, sacri- ficial animals, maidens with sacrificial vessels, magistrates and gods, terminating with a great central group at the eastern end over the principal entrance to the temple. Out of a total length of 525 feet only 335 feet are in existence. The western frieze, excepting tha three central figures, is in its original position ; the greater portion of that belonging to the northern, southern, and eastern sides is in the British Museum, the remainder, with the excef)tion of eight fragments of the eastern frieze in the Louvre, being in the Athens museum. The sculptured metopes, about 4 feet 4 inches square, numbering fourteen on each front and thirty-two on each side, are in high relief. Those on the eastern facade represent contests between the gods and giants, on the western, between Greeks and Amazons, on the southern, between centaurs (man-headed horses) and Lapitha?, and on the northern, scenes from the siege of Troy. In the 6th century the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church, dedicated to the " Divine Wisdom," when an apse was formed at its eastern end. From 1206 — 1458 it was, under the Prankish Dukes of Athens, a Latin church. From 1458 it was again an orthodox Greek church until 1460, when it was converted into a mosque. In 1687, during the capture of Athens by the Venetians, it was much damaged by a shell which fell into a portion of the building used as a powder magazine. In 1688, Athens was restored to the Turks and the building suffered considerable injury at their hands, until in 1801, through the instrumentality of Lord Elgin, many of the principal sculptures were removed to the British Museum. '■ Earth proudly wears the Parthenon As the best gem u|ion her zone."" Elite I SO)!. The Temple of Apollo Epicurius (The Ally or Helper), Bassae, near Phigaleia in Arceidia (b.c. 430) (Nos. 27, 28 f, g, h, 29 N, o, p), of which Ictinus was architect, was an exceptional design in which all the three Grecian orders of architecture — Doric, Ionic, and Corintliian — were employed. It is a peripteral