We have found, then, a maiden goddess who was there before ‘The Goddess,’ nay, who may have herself been ‘The Goddess’ before Athena claimed the title. Pandrosos belongs to the early order of the Kekropidae, before the dwellers on the hill became Athenians. It is possible that her presence throws some light on the beautiful, but as yet enigmatic figures of the ‘Maidens’ who have been restored to us by the recent excavations. Who and what are they? The ‘Maiden’ whose figure is chosen for the frontispiece of this book was found alone, somewhat later than the rest, in October, 1888, not like the others (p. 16) North of the Erechtheion, but near the wall of Kimon to the South, between the precinct of Artemis-Brauronia and the West front of the Parthenon. There is a certain fitness in this, because though in dress, adornments, colouring, general type, she is like the rest, her great beauty will always make her a thing apart. The torso and head were found separate, and about the torso there is nothing specially noteworthy. The unique loveliness is all of the face, and it escapes analysis. There are, however, peculiarities worth noting. The right eye is set much more obliquely than the left. This gives an irregular charm and individuality; the unusually high forehead emphasizes the austere virginal air, and the same may be said of the straight chest and long thin throat. But the secret of her beauty is still kept; standing as she does now among the other ‘Maidens,’ she is a creature from another world, and for all their beauty the rest look but a kindly mob of robust mothers and genial housewives. The statues in question, which now number upwards of fifty, have been called by the name ‘Maidens,’ a name current among archaeologists. It is open to objection, because ‘maidens’ (κόραι) meant in the official language of the inscription already quoted[107] the ‘Caryatid’ figures of the Erechtheion. The word has, however, one great advantage, it is vague and commits the user of it to no theory as to the significance of the statues. The word _korè_ meant to the Greek not only maiden, but doll or puppet or statue of a maiden. We need only recall the familiar epigram with the dedication to Artemis[108]: Maid of the Mere, Timaretè here brings Before she weds, her cymbals, her dear ball To thee a Maid, her maiden offerings, Her snood, her maiden dolls their clothes and all. Here the _korai_ are actual _dolls_, but in Attic inscriptions we find the word _korè_ used of a statue[109], thus, ‘a korè of gold on a pillar’; or again in a dedication to Poseidon, ‘he dedicated as firstfruits this _korè_.’ A _korè_ is one form of an _agalma_, a thing of delight. The statues, then, may be called ‘Maidens,’ but the word is too vague to help us much as to their significance, and it is their significance, who and what they are, not their value in the history of art that here concerns us.