Although the temple of Theseus was one of the more modest Athenian temples in point of size, it has always ranked as one of the most perfect of the Attic-Doric order, and stands to-day as one of the least dilapidated among all that have existed of the beautiful edifices of ancient Greece. Indeed, as it was supposed to have been begun before the Parthenon, or in the time of Cimon, it is claimed by some writers that Ictinus took it for his model, although the Parthenon was about twice as large. The Theseum was surrounded by columns, six at the front and rear and thirteen on either flank. It was forty-five feet wide by one hundred and four feet long. The building material was Pentelican marble, which in the course of the centuries has taken on the soft yellowish tinge which Bishop Wordsworth refers to. Ornamental sculpturing was more sparingly employed than upon the Parthenon or some of the other structures of the time, but such as was used was so judiciously handled as to give the very noblest results. The sculpturing in the metopes of the frieze and on the pronaos was the work of Phidias. It was built after the battle of Marathon, and, it would seem, after an awakening on the part of the Athenians to that high sense of obligation toward their early hero, Theseus, which had slumbered for centuries. It was due to the Delphic Oracle that his remains were brought back to Athens from their long banishment in the island of Scyros, and given honorable burial, the son of Miltiades being selected to execute the Oracle’s decree. The occasion was made one of festivity and rejoicing, and the entombment in the beautiful new temple one of sacrifice and solemnity. In closing this brief reference to the Theseum, the graceful lines from Haygarth’s Greece, which so beautifully applaud it, may well be quoted: