was commenced about B. c. 600, under the superintendence of the architects Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, of Cnossos in Crete, but it occupied many years in building. The material employed was white marble, and the order of architecture adopted was the Ionic. Its length was four hundred and twenty-five feet, its breadth two hundred and twenty feet; the columns were sixty feet in height, and one hundred and twenty-seven in number; and the blocks of marble composing the architrave were thirty feet in length. This wonder of the world was burnt down by Herostratus, in order to immortalize himself, on the same night that Alexander the Great was born (B. c. 356); but it was afterwards rebuilt with still greater magnificence by the contributions of all the states of Asia Minor.

The temple of Hera (Juno) at Samos was begun about the same time as the one at Ephesus; but it appears to have been finished much earlier, since it was the largest temple with which Herodotus was acquainted. It was three hundred and forty-six feet in length, and one hundred and eighty-nine in breadth, and was originally built in the Doric style, but the existing remains belong to the Ionic order. The architects were Rhocus and his son Theodorus, both natives of Samos.

In the latter half of the same century the temple of Delphi was rebuilt after its destruction by fire in B. c. 548. The sum required for the erection of this temple was three hundred talents, or about £75,000,* which had to be collected from the various cities in the Hellenic world. The contract for the building was taken by the Alcmæonidæ, and the magnificent manner in which they executed the work has been already mentioned. It was in the Doric style, and the front was cased with Parian marble.

About the same time Peisistratus and his sons commenced the temple of the Olympian Zeus at Athens. It was a colossal fabric in the Corinthian style, three hundred and fifty-nine feet in length by one hundred and seventy-three in breadth, and was only completed by the Emperor Hadrian, six hundred and fifty years after its foundation.

The temples mentioned above have entirely disappeared, with the exception of a few columns; but others erected in the sixth and fifth centuries B. C. have withstood more successfully the ravages of time. Of these the most perfect and the most striking are the two temples at Posidonia, or Pæstum, the colony of Sybaris in Southern Italy, the remains of which still fill the beholder with admiration and astonishment. The larger of the two, which is the more ancient, is characterized by the massive simplicity of the ancient Doric style. It is one hundred and ninety-five feet long by seventy-five feet wide. There are likewise considerable remains of three ancient temples at Selinus in Sicily, built in the Doric style. The

*Equal to about $350,000, in round numbers. - ED.

temple of Zeus Panhellenius, in the island of Ægina, of which many columns are still standing, was probably erected in the sixth century B. C., and not after the Persian wars, as is stated by many modern writers. It stands in a sequestred and lonely spot in the northeast corner of the island, overlooking the sea and commanding a view of the opposite coast of Attica. It is in the Doric style; and the front elevation, as restored, is exhibited in the engraving at the head of this chapter.

§ 7. Sculpture, or, to use a more correct expression, Statuary, owed its origin, like architecture, to religion. The only statues in Greece were for a long time those of the gods; and it was not till about B. c. 550 that statues began to be erected in honor of men. The most ancient representations of the gods did not even pretend to be images, but were only symbolical signs of their presence, and were often nothing more than unhewn blocks of stone or simple pieces of wood. Sometimes there was a real statue of the god, carved in wood, of which material the most ancient statues were exclusively made.* The art of carving in wood was confined to certain families, and was handed down from father to son. Such families are represented in Attica by the mythical name of Dædalus, and in Ægina by the equally mythical name of Smilis, from both of whom many artists of a later age traced their descent. The hereditary cultivation of the art tended to repress its improvement and development; and the carvers long continued to copy from generation to generation the exact type of each particular god. These wooden figures were frequently painted and clothed, and were decorated with diadems, ear-rings, and necklaces, and in course of time were partly covered with gold or ivory. Statues in marble or metal did not begin to be made till the sixth century B. C.

Though statuary proper, or the construction of a round figure standing by itself, continued in a rude state for a long time in Greece, yet sculptured figures on architectural monuments were executed at an early period in a superior style of art. One of the earliest specimens of sculpture still extant is the work in relief above the ancient gate at Mycenæ, representing two lions standing on their hind legs, with a kind of pillar between them. They are figured on p. 24.

§ 8. About the beginning of the sixth century B. C. a fresh impulse was given to statuary, as well as to the other arts, by the discovery of certain mechanical processes in the use and application of the metals. Glaucus of Chios is mentioned as the inventor of the art of soldering metal; † and Rhocus and Theodorus of Samos, who have been already spoken of as architects, invented the art of casting figures of bronze in a mould. The magnificent temples, which began to be built about the same period, called

* A wooden statue was called έóavov, from έéw, "polish" or "carve." † σιδήρου κόλλησις, Herod. I. 25.

into exercise the art of the sculptor, since the friezes and pediments were usually adorned with figures in relief. Diponus and Scyllis of Crete, who practised their art at Sicyon about B. c. 580, were the first sculptors who obtained renown for their statues in marble. They founded a school of art in Sicyon, which long enjoyed great celebrity, The other most distinguished schools of art were at Samos, Chios, Ægina, and Argos. The practice of erecting statues of the victors in the great public games, which commenced about B. c. 550, was likewise of great service in the development of the art. In forming these statues the sculptor was not tied down by a fixed type, as in the case of the images of the gods, and consequently gave greater play to his inventive powers. The improvement thus produced in the statues of men was gradually extended to the images of the gods; and the artist was emboldened to depart from the ancient models, and to represent the gods under new forms of beauty and grandeur. Nevertheless, even the sculptures which belong to the close of the present period still bear traces of the religious restraints of an earlier age, and form a transition from the hardness and stiffness of the archaic style to that ideal beauty which was shortly afterwards developed in the sublime works of Pheidias.

§ 9. Among the remains of the sculpture of this period still extant, those most worthy of notice are the reliefs in the metopes of the temple of Selinus, the statues on the pediments of the temple of Ægina, and the reliefs on the great monument recently discovered at Xanthus in Lycia. The two reliefs given on p. 108 are taken from the metopes of two temples at Selinus. The first, belonging to the more ancient of the temples, which was probably built about B. c. 600, represents Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa, with the assistance of Pallas. The work is very rude and very inferior, both in style and execution, to the lions over the gate at Mycena. The second, belonging to the more recent of the temples, probably erected in the latter half of the fifth century, exhibits a marked improvement. It represents Actæon metamorphosed into a stag by Artemis (Diana), and torn to pieces by his own dogs.

Two of the statues on one of the pediments of the temple at Ægina are represented on pp. 15, 16. These statues were discovered in 1812, and are at present in the collection at Munich. They have been restored by Thorwaldsen. The subject is Athena (Minerva), leading the acids or Æginetan heroes in the war against the Trojans. There are traces of color on the clothes, arms, eyeballs, and lips, but not the flesh; and it appears, from the many small holes found in the marble, that bronze armor was fixed to the statues by means of nails. There is great animation in the figures, but their gestures are too violent and abrupt; and one may still perceive evident traces of the archaic style. The close imitation of nature is very striking.

The reliefs on the monument at Xanthus in Lycia were evidently exe

cuted by Greek artists, and probably about the same time as the Æginetan statues. The monument consists of a quadrangular tower of limestone on a base, and was surrounded on four sides by marble friezes at the height of twenty feet from the ground. On these friezes, which are now in the British Museum, there are sculptures representing various mythological subjects; and from the ends of the narrower sides contain ing four beautiful Harpies carrying off maidens, the building is frequently called the Harpy Monument. The general character of these sculptures is an antique simplicity of style, united with grace and elegance of execution.

§ 10. Painting is not mentioned as an imitative art in the earliest records of Grecian literature. Homer does not speak of any kind of painting, although he frequently describes garments inwoven with figures. The fine arts in all countries appear to have been indebted to religion for their development; and since painting was not connected in early times with the worship of the gods, it long remained behind the sister arts of architecture and sculpture. For a considerable period all painting consisted in coloring statues and architectural monuments, of which we find traces in the ruins of the temples already described. The first improvements in painting were made in the schools of Corinth and Sicyon; and the most ancient specimens of the art which have come down to us are found on the oldest Corinthian vases, which may be assigned to the beginning of the sixth century B. C. About the same time painting began to be cultivated in Asia Minor, along with architecture and sculpture. The paintings of the town of Phocæa are mentioned on the capture of that city by Harpagus in B. C. 544; and a few years afterwards (B. c. 508) Mandrocles, who constructed for Darius the bridge of boats across the Bosporus, had a picture painted representing the passage of the army and the king himself seated on the throne reviewing the troops as they passed. The only great painter, however, of this period, whose name has been preserved, is Cimon of Cleone, whose date is uncertain, but who probably must not be placed later than the time of Peisistratus and his sons (B. c. 560-510). He introduced great improvements into the art, and thus prepared the way for the perfection in which it appears at the beginning of the following period. His works probably held the same place in the history of painting which the Æginetan marbles occupy in the history of sculpture, forming a transition from the archaic stiffness of the old school to the ideal beauty of the paintings of Polygnotus of Thasos.

§ 1. Introduction. § 2. The Assyrian Empire. § 3. The Median Empire. §4. The Baby lonian Empire. § 5. The Lydian Monarchy, and its Influence upon the Asiatic Greeks. 6. Conquest of the Asiatic Greeks by Croesus, King of Lydia. 7. Foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus, and Overthrow of the Median Empire by the latter. § 8. Conquest of the Lydian Monarchy by Cyrus. 9. Conquest of the Asiatic Greeks by Harpagus, the General of Cyrus. Death of Cyrus. § 10. Reigns of Cambyses and of the false Smerdis. § 11. History of Polycrates, Despot of Samos. § 12. Accession of Darius, Son of Hystaspes. His Organization of the Persian Empire. 18. Invasion of Scythia by Darius. §14. Subjection of Thrace and Macedonia to the Persian Empire.

§ 1. THE period upon which we are now entering is the most brilliant in the history of Greece. The subject has hitherto been confined to the history of separate and isolated cities, which were but little affected by