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and who would awaken them with the voice of reproach, uttered over the
dust of the slain? The most interesting memorials of the contest are
the green grassy mounds which mark the graves of the slain Highlanders,
and which are at once distinguished from the black heath around by the
freshness and richness of their verdure. One large pit received the
Frasers, and another was dug for the Macintoshes.
_Highland Note-Book_.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
ATHENS.
The most striking object in Athens is the Acropolis, or Citadel--a rock
which rises abruptly from the plain, and is crowned with the Parthenon.
This was a temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva, and was built of the
hard white marble of Pentelicus. It suffered from the ravages of war
between the Turks and Venetians, and also more recently in our own time.
The remnant of the sculptures which decorated the pediments, with a
large part of the frieze, and other interesting remains, are now in what
is called the Elgin collection of the British Museum. During the embassy
of Lord Elgin at Constantinople, he obtained permission from the Turkish
government to proceed to Athens for the purpose of procuring casts from
the most celebrated remains of sculpture and architecture which still
existed at Athens. Besides models and drawings which he made, his
Lordship collected numerous pieces of Athenian sculpture in statues,
capitals, cornices, &c., and these he very generously presented to the
English Government, thus forming a school of Grecian art in London, to
which there does not at present exist a parallel. In making this
collection he was stimulated by seeing the destruction into which these
remains were sinking, through the influence of Turkish barbarism. Some
fine statues in the Parthenon had been pounded down for mortar, on
account of their affording the whitest marble within reach, and this
mortar was employed in the construction of miserable huts. At one period
the Parthenon was converted into a powder magazine by the Turks, and in
consequence suffered severely from an explosion in 1656, which carried
away the roof of the right wing.
[Illustration: ATHENS.]
At the close of the late Greek war Athens was in a dreadful state, being
little more than a heap of ruins. It was declared by a Royal ordinance
of 1834 to be the capital of the new kingdom of Greece, and in the
March of that year the King laid the foundation-stone of his palace
there. In the hill of Areopagus, where sat that famous tribunal, we may
still discover the steps cut in the rock by which it was ascended, the
seats of the judges, and opposite to them those of the accuser and
accused. This hill was converted into a burial-place for the Turks, and
is covered with their tombs.
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