ent authors many particulars concerning this Peplus. It was
the work of young virgins selected from the best families in Athens,
over whom two of the principal, called Arrephorae, were
superintendents. On it was embroidered the battle of the gods and
giants; amongst the gods was Jupiter hurling his thunderbolts against
the rebellious crew, and Minerva, seated in her chariot, appeared as
the vanquisher of Typhon or Enceladus. In the Hecuba of Euripides, the
chorus of captive Trojan females are lamenting, in anticipation, the
evils which they will suffer in the land of the Greeks. 'In the city
of Pallas, of Athena, on the beautiful seat in the woven peplus I
shall yoke colts to a chariot, painting them in various different
coloured threads, or else the races of the Titans, whom Zeus, the son
of Kronos, puts to sleep in fiery all-surrounding flame.' The names of
those Athenians who had been eminent for military virtue, were also
embroidered on it. This will explain the following allusion in the
Knights of Aristophanes, where the chorus says--'We wish to praise our
fathers, because they were an honour to this country and worthy of the
_peplus_: in battles by land and in the ship-girt armament conquering
on all occasions they exalted this city.' When the festival was
celebrated, this peplus was brought from the Acropolis, where it had
been worked, down into the city; it was then displayed and suspended
as a sail to the ship, which on that day, attended by a numerous and
splendid procession, was conducted through the Ceramicus and other
principal parts, till it had made the circuit of the Acropolis; it was
then carried up to the Parthenon, and there consecrated to Minerva."
This splendid series of sculptures forms the gem of the Elgin
collection. The museum possesses no less than two hundred feet of the
original frieze, in addition to upwards of seventy feet in casts. The
wonderful variety, the perfect drawing, the classic grace, and the
unity of conception displayed in this work, entitle it to rank as the
most precious relic of antiquity saved to moderns from the wrecks of
time. Starting from the left side of the entrance door to the south,
the visitor begins his inspections of

THE EASTERN FRIEZE,

or those portions which decorated the eastern end of the Parthenon.
These are marked from 17 to 24. The introductory slab (17) represents
a procession of Greek virgins, with their long flowing draperies
beautifully modelled, as