The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-07-03
ACROPOLiS OF ATHENS.
Important Archaeological Discoveries
That Have BE N Made During the
Last Few Years.

SIM, in important discoveries. rich in
: information for archeologists and stud
cnts of the history of art and at the
same time of great general interest.
The first comprehensive account that
we have seen of the explorations of the
last six or seven years is furnished by
NJ Maxine Collington in the Recue des
DeatG .nOndeS.
About ten years ago French archi-
tect named Lambert began to dig on
the Acropolis in the neighborhood of
the Erechtheum. Two years later
another Frenchman, NJ. Blondel,
scratched the surface of a mine of
archaic art treasures in mass of debris
covering part of the rock between the
Erectheum and the western rampant.
The quest of the Frenchman was ham
pcred by the jealousy Of the local au-
lhorities. and some trifing accidents,
such as the breaking of window-panes
in the town below by rubbish thrown
over the wall and the hitting of a child
with a stone. were made pretexts for
the suspension of the work. 1t was
subsequently resumed by the Greeks
themselves, under the direction of Mr.
Stamatakis, and since 1865 by Mr.. Cav
vadias, the present ephor of antiquities.
His systematic and vigorous efforts
have changed the whole face of the
sacred rock. as it has been known to
travellers or to scholars, revealing
structures whose existence was previ-
ol3sly unsupported. throwing much light
on the topography of the Acropolis
previous to the destruction of its tenn
=, H. hn ~
museum at Athens with most interesting
examples of Greek sculpture before the
classic period. Surprise has followed
surprise, until now it is believed that
the Acropolis has delivered all of its
| secrets.
The plan with which Mr.. Cavvadias
/ began was to clear the hill entirely of
! the Turkish Byzantine, and Roman
| ruins which here and there cover OF
| obscure the purely Hellenic construc-
tons. This project has provoked a
/ lively controversy in Athens, where one
arch;eologic faction supports the ephor,
! while another protests against the mu-
/ t!lation and placement of the more
| modern monuments for the sake of re-
meter classic antiquity. An Athenian
newspaper has gone so far as to publish
/ an article headed Save the Acropolsr'
treating Cayvadias as If he were q
second XerXcs.
Broadly stated. the recent eXcava-
tons disclose the Acropolis of the sixth
century before Christ-that is to say,
the Acropolis of Pisistratus and the
! Pisistratid@. rs distinguished from the
later Acropolis of Pericles, Ictinus, and
| Phidias. One of the most sensational
| results was the discovery in the space
| between the Parthenon and the Erech-
! theum of the ruins of Il temple OF
| Athena, previously unknown, which
| was the predecessor of Pericles' Par
thenon. 1t was built by Pisistratus of
limestone from the Piraus, covered
with fine stucco, and surrounded by
DOric colonnade with six columns on
each facade. A coarse marble was en-
| ployed for decorative purposes, and
| the edliice represents the architectural
| transition from limestone to marble
| This structure was pillaged and burned
| by the PerSians in $50 b. c., when they
| captured the CITADEL and the diggers
| found fragments still bearing distinct
| traces of the flames of the memorable
| contlagration started by the soldiers of
| AerXeS.
The accumulated debris of the edifices
| destroyed by the Persians filled up
what was originally great depression
in the rock of the Acropolis near its
northwestern corner. This has been
carefully overhauled by Mr.. Cavvadias.
| There and elsewhere he has turned
| over every cubic foot of material He
| found the rubbish rs full of treasures
| rs pudding is of plums. The great
find was in February, 1886, when the
| workmen of CavvadiaS. in the presence
| of King George. exhumed near the
J Erccntheum seven wonderful statues in
succession, all female figures of mar
| bic. dating from before the Persian in
| vasion. In 1888 the eXcayators brought
to light Il series of sculptures still more
| archaic in the whitish limestone or tufa
quarried at the Pirnus. Fragments
have been patiently matched until the
restoration is complete of several
groups of figures in very deep relief
originally forming parts of the decorat-
ed friezes and frontons of the older
temples. As compared with the art of
the later and classic period, these inter-
estlug figures are grotesque and almost
barbaric.
But the great interest of these relics
of early Attic art is in their vivid color
ing, marvelously preserved during
1900 years. They throw a flood of
light upon the vexed question of the
extent to which pigments were used by
the Greek sculptors. In the limestone
figures the entire surface of the soft,
porous stone was covered with a poly
| chromatic coat of paint in tones of
violent and unnatural brilliancy. A
startling red. a blue with the intensity
of ultramarine, as well as yellow and
green, were the colors which the sculp-
tor applied to supplement the work of
his chisel. On 4 mans head, for en-
| ample, the flesh parts are painted red
the eyeballs yellow, the irises green, the
pupil black, and the hair and beard
lively blue. The bull attacked by
lion vas painted blue all over. streaked
here and there with red to indicate the
streams of blood that poured from his
wounds. The serpent tails Of Typhon
were painted in alternate rings of red
and blue. The effect is surprising.
The artistic taste of the limestone
period was less refined in the matter of
color than in that of form.
The seven female figures of marble
already spoken of represent the next
step in the development of Attic art
toward its perfection in the age of
Myron, Polycletus, and Phidias. These
statues date from the time when the
artists began to be less lavish with
their gaudy pigments. 1t was as if
they instinctively respected the finer
fixture of the new material There is
still paint and plenty of it, but it is not
everywhere as on the tufa. The nude
flesh is not colored at all. or is merely
touched here and there with red to en-
liyen the pure white. The contour of
the lips is marked with the brush, the
iris is painted, and the pupil of the eye
is jet black. But the costume is elab-
orately decorated with colors, faithful
~ reproducing those of the stuffs re-
presented. On one statue the robe is