No monument seems ever to have been erected in honour of Pheidias, but for more than 2000 years the Parthenon, which will always be associated with his memory, retained the beauty of its exterior unimpaired. On the official abolition of the Greek religion by the Emperor Justinian in the end of the sixth century A.D. it was converted into the church of the “Virgin Mother of God,” which necessitated considerable changes on its interior to fit it for Christian worship. At a later time it was turned into a Turkish mosque, a minaret being added to it. In 1687 it was used as a powder magazine by the Turks, in their endeavours to hold the Acropolis against the Venetians under Morosini, who had already taken the city. This use of it became known to the besiegers, and by a well-directed shot a bomb was thrown into the magazine, causing a terrific explosion which blew out the roof and the two sides of the building--the combatants little realising what an irreparable loss had thus been inflicted on the interests of civilisation and art. Morosini would fain have carried off to Venice the chief figures on the west pediment, but, owing to the awkwardness of the workers employed, the precious sculptures fell to the ground and were broken to pieces. There was on the Acropolis another colossal image of Athena--referred to by Demosthenes as “the great bronze Athena”--which had been set up as a memorial of Athenian valour in the Persian war from funds contributed by the rest of the Greeks. The base of its pedestal is still shown on the Acropolis between the Propylæa and the Erechtheum. Pausanias tells us that the gleaming crest of the helmet and tip of the spear could be seen by ships sailing from Cape Sunium to Athens. There is good reason for identifying this Athena _Promachos_ (“Champion”), as it came to be called [Illustration: THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE ERECHTHEUM, WITH THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARLIER TEMPLE OF ATHENA POLIAS The Caryatid portico and south wall of the Erechtheum show very delicate opalescent colours, due chiefly to reflected light from the large slabs and drums of marble lying on the ground north of the Parthenon. The dark Caryatid is a terra-cotta substitute for the original, one of the greatest treasures of the British Museum. The sub-structures in the foreground are the foundations of the archaic Temple; to the right, in the background, Pentelikon, and, in front of it, Lycabettos brilliantly illuminated by the setting sun.]