purpose.[10]

[Illustration: FIG. 54.--RUINS OF THE PARTHENON AT ATHENS.]

The Parthenon at Athens stood on the summit of a lofty rock, and
within an irregularly shaped enclosure, something like a cathedral
close; entered through a noble gateway.[11] The temple itself was of
perfectly regular plan, and stood quite free from dependencies of any
sort. It consisted of a cella, or sacred cell, in which stood the
statue of the goddess, with one chamber (the treasury) behind. In the
cella, and also in the chamber behind, there were columns. A series of
columns surrounded this building, and at either end was a portico,
eight columns wide, and two deep. There were two pediments, or gables,
of flat pitch, one at each end. The whole stood on a basement of
steps; the building, exclusive of the steps, being 228 ft. long by
101 ft. wide, and 64 ft. high. The columns were each 34 ft. 3 in. high,
and more than 6 ft. in diameter at the base; a portion of the shaft
and of the capital of one is in the British Museum, and a magnificent
reproduction, full size, of the column and its entablature may be seen
at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. The ornaments consisted almost
exclusively of sculpture of the very finest quality, executed by or
under the superintendence of Pheidias. Of this sculpture many
specimens are now in the British Museum.

[Illustration: FIG. 55.--PLAN OF THE PARTHENON AT ATHENS.]

[Illustration: FIG. 56.--THE ROOF OF A GREEK DORIC TEMPLE, SHOWING
THE MARBLE TILES.]

The construction of this temple was of the most solid and durable
kind, marble being the material used; and the workmanship was most
careful in every part of which remains have come down to us. The roof
was, no doubt, made of timber and covered with marble tiles (Fig. 56),
carried on a timber framework, all traces of which have entirely
perished; and the mode in which it was constructed is a subject upon
which authorities differ, especially as to what provision was made
for the admission of light. The internal columns, found in other
temples as well as in the Parthenon, were no doubt employed to support
this roof, as is shown in Boetticher's restoration of the Temple at
Paestum which we reproduce (Fig. 56a), though without pledging
ourselves to its accuracy; for, indeed, it seems probable that
something more or less like the clerestory of a Gothic church must
have been employed to admit light to these buildings, as we know was
the case in t