PARIIIENON. This far-famed structure, the temple of Minerva, is situated on the AcrOpolis of Athens. It was erected in the time of Pericles (about B. C. 448). This temple has always been considered the most refined example of the Grecian Doric style, and one of the noblest monuments of anti quity. Yet its grandeur is by no means owing to its extraordinary dimensions, since in point of size it falls far short of many other structures, modern as well as ancient, its extreme length being only 228 feet, and its breadth ]00, and the interior of the cella only 145 feet by 63 feet. This temple bad columns along its sides and at both ends, viz., eight beneath each pediment, making in all 46 columns, there being, including those at the angles, 17 on each side, or 16 inter columns. Besides these external columns, there was likewise a range of inner columns at each end. The cella or body of the tem ple was hyptethral, that is, the central space between the columns along each side was open to the sky. Even in its present shat
tered and mangled state, the temple is the admiration of all travellers and artists who have beheld it. The chief portion of the sculptures of the edifice were removed by Lord. Elgin. [ELont Maw-Es. J One object of art that originally decorated the interior or shrine was the chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Minerva, 39 feet high, which was the work of Phidias. Since the estab lishment of King Otho's government (1833), excavations have been made on the Acropolis and around the Parthenon, and a great num ber of fragments of sculpture and architecture have been brought to light. Some of the fallen columns have also been replaced, and measures taken to restore the structure as far as circumstances will permit. In the British Museum are two models of the Par thenon, on a large scale, one in its ruinous state, and the other a restoration with the sculptures in their respective situations.