Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/200

 1 84 THESEUM, ERECHTHEUM, AND OTHER WORKS. and a comparison of the capitals with those of the Erechtheum, " such is the similitude that it goes near to proving the direct connection." German weight seems to be impressing itself on the guardians of the Museum, for in the last Guide (1908) we read, " The date and occasion of the building have been much dis- cussed, but it is usually assigned to the end of the fifth century, and to sculptors greatly in- fluenced by Athenian work." As to the latter point, the " Nereids " are evidently inspired by the " Ilithyia " of the Parthe- non pediment {ante, p. 129), and passages in the friezes are as evidently influenced by Athenian works. The group Fig. 183, for instance, is an echo of the Parthenon frieze. In regard to the date, I would reinforce Dr Six's argument regarding the Erechtheum by pointing to the fragment of the door console (937), which also has its prototype in the Athenian building. The capitals are practically copies of that described on page 170, except that they are shown to be later by the leaf pattern of the central bands on the rolls, which resemble the capitals of the Mausoleum and Priene. Notice the double volutes, the guilloche under the cushion, and the moulding interposed between the rolls and the abacus on each side. The statues of the " Nereids " are rather unhappily described as running ; they all rest on marine creatures, fish, swimming bird, crab, &c., and seem to glide on the wind. They are best described and most poetically explained by Dr Six as Aurae, personifi- cations of the Breezes surrounding the Isle of the Blessed, Fig. 183. — Nereid Monument, Group from Frieze. Fig. 184. — Bronze at B. M. Cf. with Acroterion.