waves which break upon the shore of the Mediterranean, the sea of the
Greeks.

Their regular succession, and equality of force and volume, are
generalised in this moulding, while the minuter varieties which
distinguish one wave from another are merged in the general type. The
character of ocean waves is to be "for ever changing, yet the same for
ever;" it is this eternity of recurrence which the early artist has
expressed in this hieroglyphic.

With this profile representation of water may be compared the sculptured
waves out of which the head and arms of Hyperion are rising in the
pediment of the Parthenon (Elgin Room, No. (65) 91, Museum Marbles, vi.
pl. 1). Phidias has represented these waves like a mass of overlapping
tiles, thus generalising their rippling movement. In the Maeander pattern
the graceful curves of nature are represented by angles, as in the
Egyptian hieroglyphic of water: so again the earliest representation of
the labyrinth on the coins of the Cnossus is rectangular; on later coins
we find the curvilinear form introduced.

In the language of Greek mythography, the wave pattern and the Maeander
are sometimes used singly for the idea of water, but more frequently
combined with figurative representation. The number of aquatic deities
in the Greek Pantheon led to the invention of a great variety of
beautiful types. Some of these are very well known. Everybody is
familiar with the general form of Poseidon (Neptune), the Nereids, the
Nymphs and River Gods; but the modes in which these types were combined
with conventional imitation and with accessory symbols deserve careful
study, if we would appreciate the surpassing richness and beauty of the
language of art formed out of these elements.

This class of representations may be divided into two principal groups,
those relating to the sea, and those relating to fresh water.

The power of the ocean and the great features of marine scenery are
embodied in such types as Poseidon, Nereus and the Nereids, that is to
say, in human forms moving through the liquid element in chariots, or on
the back of dolphins, or who combine the human form with that of the
fish-like Tritons. The sea-monsters who draw these chariots are called
Hippocamps, being composed of the tail of a fish and the fore-part of a
horse, the legs terminating in web-feet: this union seems to express
speed and power under perfect control, such as would characterise the
movements of sea deitie