n Minerva and Neptune for the guardianship of the soil of
Attica. Of the figures still preserved to us of the eastern pediment,
it has been generally supposed that the reclining figure may be
identified as Theseus, that another is Ceres, a third Iris, the
messenger, about to announce to mortals the great event of the birth
of Minerva, which has just taken place, while the group of three
female figures are considered to represent the three Fates. Of the
western pediment, the remaining figures are Cecrops, the first King
and founder of Athens, and Aglaura, his wife, and the river god,
Ilissus, or Cephisus. The metopes, which generally represent single
contests between the Athenians and the Centaurs, are in strong high
relief, full of bold action and passionate exertion--though this is
for the most part softened by great beauty of form and a masterly
style of composition which knows how to adapt itself with the utmost
freedom to the strict conditions of the space. These reliefs were
placed high, as they were calculated for the full light of the sun,
and to throw deeper shadows.

The frieze may be considered as the chief glory of the art of
Phidias. The artists here expressed with the utmost beauty the
signification of the temple by depicting a festive procession, which
was celebrated every fifth year at Athens, in honor of Minerva,
conveying in solemn pomp to the temple of the Parthenon the peplos, or
sacred veil, which was to be suspended before the statue of the
goddess. The end of the procession has just reached the temple, the
archons and heralds await, quietly conversing together, the end of the
ceremony. They are followed by a train of Athenian maidens, singly or
in groups, many of them with cans and other vessels in their hands.
Then follow men and women, then bearers of sacrificial gifts, then
flute-players and musicians, followed by combatants in chariots, with
four splendid horses. The whole is concluded by prancing horsemen, the
prime of the manly youth of Athens. This frieze was within the
colonnade of the Parthenon, on the upper part of the wall of the
cella, and was continued round the building. By its position it only
obtained a secondary light. Being placed immediately below the soffit,
it received all its light from between the columns, and by reflection
from the pavement below. Mr. Westmacott remarks that these works are
unquestionably the finest specimens of the art that exist, and they
illustrate fully