[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER VOL. VIII.—NO. 363. DECEMBER 11, 1886. PRICE ONE PENNY.] GREEK AND ROMAN ART AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. BY E. F. BRIDELL-FOX. [Illustration: THE BIRTH OF ATHÉNÉ. (_From a Vase in the British Museum._)] _All rights reserved._] PART II. THE ELGIN MARBLES. “Abode of gods whose shrines no longer burn.” I have now to complete my account of the sculptures of the Parthenon, that wonderfully beautiful temple to Athéné (or Minerva), at Athens, which has never ceased to be the centre of attraction for all visitors to Greece from the time it was first built—namely, about 435 years B.C.—even till the present moment, when it stands a shattered wreck on its rocky height. My first article dealt chiefly with the long, sculptured frieze that ran continuously the whole length of the walls of the building (protected by the outer colonnade), and the ceremonials which that frieze represented. The present article will be devoted chiefly to the fragments of the external frieze, and to the figures of the eastern and western pediments, which represented the chief legends connected with the goddess. I will, before proceeding, here pause a moment to account for the shattered condition in which those fragments now are. In 630 A.D. the Parthenon was consecrated for use as a Christian church. Like the famous church at Constantinople, it was dedicated to Santa Sophia, the Divine Wisdom. The older temple, that stood near the Parthenon, called the Erecthium, which had been far more venerated by the early Athenians than the Parthenon itself, was about the same time also consecrated. This latter was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Long before this date, Christianity had happily become the religion of the Roman Empire by law established—that is to say, of the whole civilised world. It is evident that in adapting the Pagan temple for Christian worship it was impossible to allow the fables of Paganism to remain depicted over the chief entrance, however splendid as works of art. Accordingly, we find that the entire centre group in the pediment facing the east was completely done away with, a plain surface of blank wall filling the space whereon, in all probability, the inscription of the Christian dedication was placed. The subordinate figures at the two extremities were left, as, without the central group to explain their object, they could have had no intelligible meaning. Our business for the moment is to show what means exist for restoring the lost central group, which was the key of the subject. The evidence is two-fold. There is, first, the Homeric hymn which gives the legend of the birth of Athéné; and, secondly, there is the description given of the Parthenon by the ancient author, Pausanias.