subject is contained within a colonnade supported by Corinthian pillars. The lower part of this marble is not antique, but has been restored from a more perfect specimen in the Villa Albani. A nearly similar representation occurs on a terra-cotta preserved in the Museum, the subject of which has been supposed to relate to the celebration of the Thargelia, a festival instituted in honour of Apollo and Artemis. Zoega, in his description of five marbles in the Villa Albani which refer to this subject, has conjectured that the structure behind the figures is intended for a representation of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. This sculpture came to the Museum with Sir William Hamilton's collection.

T. 131 is a bas-relief representing a Bacchante dressed in thin floating drapery, through which the beautiful forms of her body are

No. 12.

apparent. Her right hand is raised above her head, and clasps a knife in her left hand she carries the hind-quarters of a kid. Her feet are bare. The dress of this figure corresponds with the description in the Bacchæ of Euripides, where Pentheus is instructed to conceal his hair beneath a mitra or species of turban, and to clothe himself in a tunic descending to his ankles and fastened by a girdle round his waist, that he may escape the revengeful fury of the Bacchantes by being disguised like one of themselves. Upon a vase in the Museum, Dionysus himself appears in a frantic mood, waving in his hands the limbs of a kid which he had torn asunder. It has been supposed that this piece of sculpture originally ornamented one of the sides of the triangular base of a candelabrum. This design is probably copied from the celebrated work by Scopas, called Bacche Chimairophonos (kid-slaying Bacchante).

In this class we may also include two friezes presented by Colonel Leake in 1839: the first, a fragment representing combats of Greeks and Amazons-probably the death of Penthesilea—found at Bryseæ, in Laconia: the second, part of a frieze from a temple at Palæocastro, ten miles from Joannina, in Epirus, supposed by some to represent the site of the celebrated Temple of Zeus at Dodona.

No. 13.

T. 131.

II.-BUSTS OF MYTHOLOGICAL PERSONAGES.

Of these, many of which are probably copies or studies from fine Greek originals, and one or two perhaps themselves of Greek workmanship, the British Museum possesses a fair collection.

No. 1 is a colossal bust of Athene (Minerva) helmeted, her hair, which is drawn back from her temples to the hinder part of her head, disposed in a spiral twist. At the top of the helmet is a serpent, which was sacred to this Goddess, and one of her most usual attributes. The expression of countenance is that usually given to Athene: the full forehead, the long and finely-shaped nose, the somewhat stern cast of the mouth and cheeks, the large and often almost angular chin, the eyes not fully opened and rather downcast, the hair artlessly shaped back along the brow, and flowing down upon the neck, are the general marks of the ideal Athene, or Minerva.

The workmanship of this head is good, but it has been much restored. The chin, the nose, the upper part of the helmet, and great part of the serpent are modern.

Another bust of Athene, No. 7*, which has perhaps formed part of a statue: a bronze helmet and breast have been placed upon it in modern times, and do not at all improve its ap

pearance. The sockets of the eyes are now filled with plaster, but formerly were probably filled with onyx, or some similar material, in imitation of the natural eye. The expression of the countenance is pleasing, and not so stern as in the last head. The work, however, is of a late time, though perhaps a copy of a fine original. This head was found, in 1784, in the villa Casali, among ruins said to have been those of the villa of Olympiodorus, and was procured from Mr. Gavin Hamilton.

A head of the same goddess, the size of small life, with a plain unornamented helmet. The neck was anciently inserted into the body of the statue to which it belonged.

No. 16 is a colossal bust of Athene, with a close-fitting helmet, ornamented on each side by a small owl. The sockets of the eyes are, like those of the last but one we have described, hollow, and have once been filled by some other material, to represent the natural appearance of the eye. The face, with the exception of the tip of the nose which has been restored, is in the highest preservation, and retains some of its original polish. The helmet may be distinguished from that on the preceding bust as representing the close Attic helmet, while the others are of the high Corinthian type: its crest is modern. In the general type and treatment there is a largeness of manner which makes it probable that this bust is copied from some work in the school of Pheidias.

No. 16.

We now mention several heads to which no numbers are as yet attached: of these, we take first, three heads of Artemis or Diana, one of them originally in the collection of Sir William Hamilton, the second procured at Rome by Mr. Gavin Hamilton, and the third bequeathed by Mr. Payne Knight. In the two former the hair is represented drawn up from the sides and fastened in a knot upon the crown of the head. These heads have little about them characteristic, and no symbols by which they can be determinately assigned to Artemis;