Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/108

 92 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. memory of the Athenian victories, and that they formed part of the original bronze adornment of the temple. The architectural use of memorial shields represented in marble is found on the monument at Cnidus and other works, some of which must be earlier than the time of Alexander. Bronze shields must have been used before they were copied in this way. As there is a difference in size and distribution between the shields of the east and the west fronts, there may be a difference of age. The in- scription on the east architrave is of the time of Nero. On the apex and two lower angles of the pediment acroteria were set, following ancient tradition much older than the Parthenon. The blocks for the pairs at the lowest angles still exist, having sunk spaces, 2.7 square on the upper surface, in which they were inserted. (Fig. 6"]^ As Cockerell says, " the existing remains show that very considerable ornaments were originally placed at the angles of the pediments ; and it cannot be doubted that, conform- ably to the general practice, the apex of the temple was also similarly adorned."* At the lower angles of the temples of yEgina and Rhamnus (one earlier and the other later than the Parthenon) were sphynxes. At Olympia were, ac- cording to Pausanias, vessels of gilt bronze. It is said that such bowls on the pediments of the Parthenon are casually mentioned in an epigram, to which I cannot find a reference. Bohn adopted them in his restoration ; Magne, without giving reasons, says that the acroteria were certainly of metal. Fig. 78. Hands of Athena. Sculptures — The Frieze. In describing the sculptures of the Parthenon it may be best to begin with the frieze, the best known and most complete of the three great divisions — frieze, metopes, and pediments. " Museum Marbles."