Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/167

 THESEUM, ERECHTHEUM, AND OTHER WORKS.' IJI c. 430-420. Now a record has been found that a cult statue of Hephaistos was set up in 421 B.C., and this date agrees perfectly with the time when we may suppose the " Theseum " was dedicated. I have called it by its traditional name, but it has been shown by Dorpfeld, whose arguments have been summarised by Miss Harrison, that it was most probably the temple of Hephaistos. Wordsworth came very near to the same conclusion seventy years ago, and the points he mentions give additional proof. At that time, when it stood on the outskirts of the city with ploughed fields close by, and when " the ruins were the least ruinous buildings in Athens," it must have been wonderfully im- pressive. " Such is the integrity of its structure that it requires no description. Its beauty defies all. The loveliness of its colouring is such, from the rich hue which the marble has assumed, that it looks as if it had been quarried from the golden light of an Athenian sunset." The beauty of these marble pillared Greek buildings when the shafts reflect the setting sun is almost surpassed by the mid- day glory when the sky, brighter than the glass of Chartres and Bourges, seems to be set in between the columns of the peristyle. More even than others this was an architecture to be completed by broad flooding light, delicately modelled shades, trenchant sharp-edged shadows, and points of gold and colour. Whatever were the origins of triglyphs, mutules, and guttae, their develop- ment and persistence may be understood when they are seen in sunlight and shadow, the deep shadow of the cornice over- hanging like a pent roof, the alternate lights and darks of the triglyphs, and the long fingers of shadows from the guttae. The Propyl^.a. The Acropolis is entered through five gates, sheltered under a building having Doric porticoes and interior rows of Ionic columns. (Fig. 150.) This middle building is flanked by wings on either side, thrown forward and rising above strong basement walls, which continue to form bastions, on one of which stands the little temple of Nike Apteros. After the Parthenon the Propylzea formed the most famous structure in Athens. It was part of the