If we study the figures separately, we find that a great advance has been made in the portrayal of the human form; the muscles of the body have been studied with care and given with almost faultless accuracy. In this respect the sculptor had made greater progress than he had with the human head, where the hair is treated in stiff archaic fashion, as we sec in the figure of the Fallen Warrior (p1. 5, I), and the countenance gives but little indication of emotion. The figure of Athena (p1. 4,fig. 6) exhibits the placid smile and the symmetrical drapery of earlier days—an indication that the hallowed types of the gods were slow in receiving the perfected expression of the sculptor's art. Our impression of the effect of this group is not complete until we conceive of it carved out in Parian marble, with the javelins and arrows of bronze appearing against a dark-blue background, the figures faintly tinted, and the drapery, shields, and hel mets brought out in strong color.
Pediments of the fifty years later, on the Acropolis at Athens, under the direction of Pheidias, were produced the sculptures of the Parthenon. The loss of the earlier temples in the Persian war, the increase of riches, the proximity of quarries of the finest marble, the presence of inspired artists and the abundance of skilled workmen, the enthusiasm of Perikles and the force of grand ideals,—all stimulated the production of those marvels of art, which are still the admiration of the civilized world.
Upon one pediment, as we learn from Pausanias, was represented the struggle of Athena with Poseidon for the possession of Attica, and upon the other the birth of Athena. Upon the metopes were battles in defence of ino:alitv and order, combats of the gods with the giants or of Lapiths with the Centaurs; around the wall, behind the columns, ran a frieze illustrating the Panatheimic procession, a tribute of the people to Athena in time of peace.
re'S j Thilassa beautiful figures represented on Plate .1 7l are taken from the eastern pediment. This pediment repre sented the birth of Athena as having taken place in the presence of Earth and Heaven. The figures before us have been variously interpreted. The explanation which appears to us most satisfactory is given by Dr. Charles Wald.tein in his essays on the art of Pheidias: he interprets the group as Thalassa, the Sea, reclining upon the lap of Gaia, the Earth. The extra ordinar• skill with which Pheidias has made even the drapery of his fig ures express his meaning may well be appreciated if with the illustration before our eves we read the following passage from Dr. Waldstein: " But when we further examine the drapery with regard to the lines of the folds, we notice a distinct principle which is not to be found in the other figures —one which no drawing can convey with the same clearness as is to be found in the original. Instead of the large and comparatively straight
lines of the greater masses of folds as they are to be found in the upper seated figure, or the long simple curve of the folds in the drapery of Iris, or those that run over the thigh and the knee of the upper seated figure in the left half of the pediment, we have in this reclining figure complex masses that intertwine restlessly and even in the larger folds present a series of curves in various directions. Thus, a line is taken up in the drapery covering the heart, twines its way down to the waist, is inter rupted there by the girdle; slightly checked, it resumes its course till it is stopped by and merged into the broader lines of the mantle that crosswise lead over the rounded thigh to the other leg, where all the lines seem lost in a raised mass, like the spray of a wave dashed against a rock. But this peculiarly restless, surging, and fluent quality of the drapery is chiefly manifest in the abundance of the smaller lines and folds and their treat ment. It is true that in the undergarments of the other figures we have small lines, but they are comparatively straight and simple; on this figure, however, they appear to glide over the breast and ripple over the limbs in small undulations that suggest the fluid. Nay, even in the thick material of the cloth upon which she is reclining, with its larger masses, there is a suggestion of the fluid rhythm as of the lapping of waves." Whether so much as tlfis was in the mind of the artist or not, we can not but wonder at the marvellous skill with which he has manipulated the drapery of this reclining figure. In the composition of the pediment as a whole, as compared with that at zEgina, there is an immense stride in advance toward a greater organic unity. The pedimental group is no longer a conglomeration of statues, but, without loss of symmetry or rhythm, it is a single picture in which the smallest parts evince their relationship to the whole.
Friece of the theme of the frieze is the Panathenaic procession, in which are portrayed riders and charioteers, musicians, and the various attendants upon the sacrifice advancing around each side toward the eastern end of the Parthenon, where is a group of divinities and the high priest in preparation for the approaching ceremony. Figure 8 (pl. 4) shows us a group of advancing maidens, and Figure 9 youths who ride upon spirited horses. Although executed upon remarkably low relief—not more than one and a half to two inches above the surface—the artist has massed upon the narrow band of marble an immense number of varied and complicated forms.