The Weekly Kansas chief., 1873-02-20

M. ID. Conway, in . recent letter to the Cin-
cinnati Commercial, recounts, in an interesting
manner, the labor Of Mr.. Wo0d-an English
man in search Of the once very famous Temple of
Diana.
Mr.. Wood spent thirteen years in the country
Of the Sultan, studying ancient landmarks, that
he might, if possible, fix upsR some locality of
remarkable interest. be at last concentrated his
attention upon the ruins of Ephesus, knowing
among them WAS this wonderful structure of the
anoiesits BY means Of Classical books he was
enabled to collect measurements sufficient to in
dictate the precise spot. No sooner had he CON-
menesd sxesvating than he was rewarded by the
discovery of wall built by the Emperor Angus
tus to enclose this lannon's tsmple-fer this work
revealed the temple itself-and now as a reward
of labor and as indemnity for . remarkable col
lection of art sent to the British Museum, he has
received from the British government . present
Of six thousand pounds. : = sEAJ-g
The collection of art is described as follows:
The FIRST thing that strikes one is their great
size. They are the pedimcnts and capitals of pill
lars, adorned with igures'Of life-siZe, of which
there must hays been originally dozen of each
At least there is NOM for that number, although
many of them have crumbed, away, or rather
been broken Off-for the stone is too hard to
crumble. The most beautiful and the best pre-
served group Of figures shows the full form of a
Mercury, almost nude, with head and hip, curious
hat, almost falling back, leaving bare the grace
fnl head, which is upturned toward the sky, as
if he were receiving thence some messenger or
announcement He bears iu his hand a cadu-
eens. Each side Of him stand unrecosnizable
gOddesses (heads broken Off whose drapery is
exquisite. Then comes q curious figure. 1t has
most beautiful face, full Of depth and tender
ness, with wings which rise above the shoulders,
while their tips touch the ground. 1t is of full
human size, though very youthful farm, and
notwithstanding it il entirely Naked il is almost
impossible to say whether it be male or female.
The hest opinion here regards it n representa-
tion of Eros, who frequently made an,lrogynons
Our well-known Cupid-the little naked hoy
child with wings-is by no means the Cupid Of
the ancient Greeks, who generally represented
him (as the Preraphaests now do), as beautiful
winged youth, whose form seems mnch femi-
nine masculine. But whatever idea. this sculp-
ture was meant to represent, there can be no
two oIino,,s ~ to its extreme beanty; and moth
ing could give more favorable idea of the sell
timcnt which was associated with the bencticent
deities in the third or fourth century preceding
the Christian era, to which this work must be
referred.
The uext fragment of Importance is one whic,
has on it a struggle between Hercules and an
Amazon. The heads of both are gone. bnt Her.
cnles is known by the lion skin. The Amazon is
graphing him vigorously, and one would say
that the sculptor was inclining to her side in the
contest. This fragment has a great deal of my
thic Importance, as showing the connection in the
ancient fables between Diana and the AmaZons,
sO-called. The chaste huntress with her arrows,
to whom the temple was consecrated, has been
for some time suspected of being the original of
all those belligerent gantesses and female war
riors told of the Amazon myth, and who have in
these last days found their epic in Tennyson's
Princess. The struggle between Athenian war
riOrs and Amazons has been thought by some to
be in origin the conflict between two separate
forms of religion, one of which had its centre in
the mighty goddess of Ephesus, represented as
defended by her powerful nymphs.
The other fragments notable for their size
and for the excellent scrolls carved on them, but