y case regard them merely as symbolic aids to induce the
concentration and intensity of religious ideas and aspirations; but
there is no doubt that among the common people they tend to become
actually objects of worship in themselves. It is instructive to turn to
a system in which idolatry, the worship of images, was an essential part
of orthodox religious observance. It is easy and customary with a
certain class of minds to dismiss all such examples of idolatry with a
superficial generalisation such as "the heathen in his blindness bows
down to stock and stone." But it seems worth while to devote a short
study to an attempt to understand how such a system worked in the case
of a people like the ancient Greeks, who possessed to a degree that has
never been surpassed both clearness of intellectual perception and a
power to embody their ideals in artistic form. Whether it tended to
exalt or to debase religion may be a doubtful question; but there can be
no doubt that it gave an inspiration to art which contributed to the
unrivalled attainments of the Greeks in many branches of artistic
creation. We shall be mainly concerned here with the religion of Greece
as it affected the art of sculpture; but before attempting a historical
summary it is necessary for us to understand exactly what we mean by the
worship of representations of the gods, and to consider the nature of
the influence which such representation must have upon artistic
activity.

Idolatry--the worship of images--is almost always used by us in a bad
sense, owing, no doubt, chiefly to the usage of the word in the Jewish
scriptures. Mr. Ruskin, in his chapter on the subject in his _Aratra
Pentelici_, points out that it may also be used in a good sense, though
he prefers to use the word imagination in this meaning. There is
doubtless a frequent tendency to failure to

"Look through the sign to the thing signified,"

but there is no essential reason why the contemplation of a beautiful
statue, embodying a worthy conception of the deity, should not be as
conducive to a state of worship and communion as is an impressive ritual
or ceremony, or any other aid to devotion. This view of the matter is
expressed by some later Greek writers; in earlier times it was probably
unconsciously present, though it is hardly to be found in contemporary
literature. But it was only by slow stages that art came to do so direct
a service to religious ideas; in more primitive times its