Ilissos or Kephissos.--This figure, reclining in the angle of the pediment, is universally admitted to be a River-god, (cf. the description by Pausanias (v., 10, 7) of the pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia). The figure is popularly known as the Ilissos, but it may represent the Athenian Kephissos. According to Brunn's topographical scheme, it is a less familiar Kephissos, near Eleusis. This figure appears not to have suffered much since Carrey drew it. It was still in the pediment in Stuart's time, but had been thrown down at the date of Lord Elgin's mission. The body, half reclined, rests on the left arm, over which is the end of an himation, which falls behind the back in undulating lines, and is drawn up to the right knee. As the head and most of the right arm are wanting, their action must be a matter of conjecture; the general motion of the figure seems to indicate the moment of sudden transition from repose to action, and would be consistent with the supposition that the head was turned towards the central group, watching the momentous issue of the contest, and that the River-god was in the act of rising. In that case his right hand may have been drawing forward the end of his himation over his right knee. This figure has been long and deservedly celebrated for the perfection of its anatomy. In the front of the body, the flexibility of the abdominal muscles is finely contrasted with the strong framework of the ribs. The supple elastic character of the skin is here rendered with the same mastery as in the horse's head of the eastern pediment. At the back some of the surface has retained its original polish. In the undulating lines of the drapery, the sculptor has succeeded in suggesting the idea of flowing water without having recourse to direct or conventional imitation. The ground on which the figure reclines is a rock. The left hand rested on the bed of the pediment. A drawing by Pars taken during his visit to Athens in 1765-66 (engraved Stuart, ii., chap. I., pl. 9), shows part of the right forearm not shown in Carrey's drawing, and the outline of the four fingers of the left hand overlapping the edge of the pediment. A small attribute, probably of marble, was attached to the floor of the pediment in front of the figure. _Mus. Marbles_, VI., pls. 13, 14; Mansell, 700; Baumeister, _Denkmaeler_, p. 1181, fig. 1371; Michaelis, pl. 8, fig. 1; Overbeck, _Gr. Plast._, 3rd ed., I., p. 310, fig. 64; Murray, II., pl. 8; Mitchell, _Selections_, pl. 4; Waldstein, _Essays_, pl. 3; _Stereoscopic_, No. 110; Sauer, _Athenische Mittheilungen_, XVI., p. 79. [Sidenote: =304 A*.=]