The character of the workmanship of these monuments indicates the imitative style of the period of Hadrian. ' Nos. 176, 376, 380, and 383 are all bas-reliefs, with figures within distyle (two-columned) temples. The first (No. 176)1 contains the remains of only one figure, probably that of Dionysus, carrying in his hand what has, perhaps, been the thyrsus. The second (No. 376) represents Zeus seated, with Hera standing before him, in nearly the same attitudes as on the northern frieze of the Parthenon. The third (No. 380) represents two persons approaching an altar-one unclothed and young; the other old, and wearing the same drapery as the magistrates in the Panathenaic procession. The third figure on the other side of the altar holds a patera in his hand, but so little remains of him that we can only conjecture that he is about to make a libation. The fourth (No. 383) 3 represents three divinities-the central and seated one, doubtless, Zeus. The female behind him may be Hera, and the one in front Athene; but the marble has been much injured, so that it is not safe to indulge in speculations. 3 No. 197 is a remarkable bas-relief, containing a quadriga with No. 197. 1 Engr. 'Museum Marbles,' Part 1x. pl. xxxviii, fig. 1. 2 Ibid., pl. xxxvii. fig. 2. Ibid., pl. xxxviii. fig. 2. 3 Ibid., fig. 3. a female charioteer, over whom hovers a Victory holding a wreath with which to crown her. This group appears to have been designed with grace, elegance, and taste, and to have been executed with much knowledge and skill. In subject and composition it bears considerable resemblance to many of the coins of Syracuse and Magna Græcia, and may therefore, perhaps, be a votive monument, designed with the same motive with which those coins were probably struck-to commemorate some victory. The female figure is probably the representative or personification of the tribe or city to which the conqueror belonged. No. 2781ought, perhaps, rather to be classed among the votive memorials. It represents the Goddess Hygieia seated on a fourlegged stool, on which is a cushion, with her feet resting on a footstool. In her right hand is a patera, out of which a serpent, which appears to rest upon her shoulder, is preparing to feed. In her left is an object which has been supposed with some reason to be an ivy leaf. The monument has probably been intended as a votive offering on the recovery of health. No. 279,2 on the other hand, ought perhaps to be placed among the sepulchral memorials. As, however, it does not appear to have been part of a stele, we have preferred describing it here. It is not easy to determine the meaning of the design of which this fragment formed a part; but on comparison with others of a similar character, there is little doubt that it represents a sepulchral sacrifice and banquet. On the portion now lost we should expect to find one or more personages reclining on a couch, and before them a low table whereon was placed the funereal repast. On the monument before us, the family of the deceased are apparently about to offer a ram for sacrifice. The introduction of the horse's head, which is seen through the window to the left, has never been satisfactorily explained. No. 293,3 representing, rudely sculptured in marble, the Goddess Cybele seated within a small temple, is either a votive offering, or a figure set up within a house for the purpose of domestic worship. The slab No. 300 has considerable resemblance to it; and there are three others of the same kind among the Oxford Marbles. No. 361 is a fragment much injured, and probably representing Dionysus, the attitude in which the figure is standing being characteristic of that divinity. There has been another figure, but who he was we are unable from the state of the marbles to determine. 1 Engr. 'Museum Marbles,' Part 1x. pl. xxxviii. fig. 3. 2 Ibid., pl. xxxv. fig. 1. 3 Ibid., fig. 2. 4 Ibid., fig. 3. Nos. 3751 and 371a probably have reference to the same subject, the former being rather more perfect than the latter. On both Athene appears in the act of crowning some person, the helmet and shield clearly indicating that Goddess. No attribute remains whereby we can identify the other divinity in No. 375; nor have we any means of ascertaining to what event either of these reliefs refers. The general character of Athene is well given in No. 371, which is in this respect better preserved than the other relief. Having now described individually the more important bas-reliefs, we will indicate the position of the remainder by the following numbers : Nos. 204, 224, 241 (a female head about the age of Antoninus Pius), 280, 335, 336 (a fragment bearing the names of Aristodice, Aristarchus, and Athenais, natives of Sestos), 419, 420, 423, 430-1 (from Laconia), 432, 436 (bearing the name of Epicrates, the son of Cephisus), 440 (bearing that of Timon); and 433, 434, 435, and 439, which are casts lately received from Athens. III. VOTIVE MEMORIALS. These memorials almost entirely consist of tablets, which it was customary in ancient times to suspend or affix to the walls of the temples or other suitable edifices. They consist either of representations of the part of the body which having been diseased was recovered by prayer to the Gods, or of inscriptions which record the name of the offerer and that of the divinity to whom the offering is made. The majority of those in the Museum were offered to Zeus, having been found in a spot which was most probably consecrated to him, in cavities and recesses cut in the face of the rock, on either side of the Bema or Pnyx at Athens. They were discovered when the earth which covered and concealed the steps leading up to the Bema was removed at the expense of the Earl of Aberdeen. The three first of these votive memorials, Nos. 209, 210, 211,8 are representations of the female breast, of which No. 210 is the best preserved. They were offered by three females, whose names are Eisias, Eutychis, and Onesime respectively. The first and third are in white, the second in dark coloured marble. They are offered to Zeus Hypsistos (the Highest), but are of the late or Roman period. Nos. 214, 215, 217, 218, respectively, have representations of 1 Engr.' Museum Marbles,' Part 1x. pl. xxxv. fig. 4. 2 Ibid., pl. xxxvi. fig. 1. 3 Ibid., pl. xli. figs. 1, 2, 3. 4 Ibid., figs. 4, 5, 6, 7. 白自血 a pair of eyes, arms from the shoulders to the elbows, a portion of a naked foot, and the lower part of a face, with the names of the offerers, Claudia Prepusa and Tertia, attached to Nos. 215 and 218 respectively. Nos. 212 and 213' contain remains of their inscribed portions only, and we have therefore no means of ascertaining for what diseases they were offered. The names on the tablets are— on No. 212, Syntrophus; and on No. 213, Euphrosynus. There are some varieties in the forms of the Greek inscriptions which we need not advert to here. Claudia and Tertia were, no doubt, Roman ladies; and the character of the letters of all the inscriptions points to that age for the period of their execution. 1 Engr. 'Museum Marbles,' Part 1x. pl. xli. figs. 8, 9. Besides these, there are some other inscriptions which are clearly of a votive character. Thus, No. 174 is the offering of some sailor to the Apollo of Tarsus. No. 202 is one dedicated by Gorgias the Gymnasiarch. No. 298 is a votive inscription, in two Greek verses, stating that Horarius had dedicated some lamps which he had won in the Games to Hermes and Heracles; a bas-relief has surmounted this inscription, which is now almost entirely broken away. No. 374 is a votive inscription of Antisthene, the priest of Pandion; and No. 4291 is a votive offering by two females and a child to Eilithyia, the patroness of childbirth. No. 199***, which is a circular altar adorned with the heads of bulls from which festoons are suspended, most likely belongs to the class of votive memorials. It bears an inscription in Greek, containing a prayer for the prosperity and health of a person named Calliarax. IV.-ALTARS, The Altars in the Elgin Room are arranged under the Nos. 179, 187**, 199***, and 330:* the third we have already described under the head of votive memorials, and only mention it here because this monument has been generally considered an altar. Nos. 179 and 187** are both from the island of Delos, and are ornamented, like 199***, with festoons of fruit and flowers suspended from the head of bulls. No. 330 is a fragment of a quadrangular object which has probably been once an altar. What may have been its original dimensions, or how many figures have been sculptured upon it, cannot now be ascertained. All that at present remains are portions of two female attendants on Dionysus, engaged in the vehement dance which characterized his festivals. The righthand figure brandishes the thyrsus. V.-SEPULCHRAL MEMORIALS. The Sepulchral memorials preserved in the Elgin Room, of which there is a large collection, admit of a threefold division a Stelæ or Columns. B Urns. y Inscribed Slabs. a Sepulchral Stela. These memorials, which in ancient times answered the purpose of our gravestones, are generally of two kinds, square or round: when square, they are generally ornamented with mouldings; when round, they terminated in a peaked or rounded cap. Engr. 'Museum Marbles,' Part 1x. pl. xl. fig. 2. |