The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-09-05
TO RENEW IT'S GLORY
GREECE's PRoUDEsT TEMPLE TO De
RESTORED.
Dishgurcd by Wars and vHndnis-Erooted
to tho Worship of n woman-Cost More
Than Any Templo EAcnnt Solomon,s.

Dishgured by Wars and Snndn1s-Erected
to tho Worship of n woman-Cost Moro
. Than Any Temple Except Soiomon's.
The news that the Parthenon at
Athens is to be restored awakens deep
Interest, for there are no other ruins on
the face of the earth that inspire such
mingled feelings of admiration and re-
greet for the course of history.
Tho PMthenon was the best fruit of
mans highest intellectual achievement.
Its 1uins today are q tribute to- his i'm
bccility and stupidity. 1t WAS tho finest
ediiico on the finest site in the world
and hallowed by tho nobleSt recollcc-
tons that can stimulate the human
heart. The Greeks gave us no other
heritage of themselves that we could
moro wish had been handed down to us
without rust of time or the blomish and
Disagreement of the barbarian.
Tho complete restoration of the
Parthenon is an absolute impossibility.
1t Is impossible from tho fact that there
Is no detailed historical account of this
temple Pausanias, who saw tho temple
III its original beauty and glory, never
thought it worth while to describe it in
detail. He wrote as if he expected that
the temple would be preserved eternal
and unchanged. From that time on the
Roman, tho Goth, tho Venetian, the
Turk, the Greek himself, the English
man and i'll fact everybody else has put
his vandal hands upon this most gloli-
GUS creation Of man.
While its complete restoration is not
dreamed of, tho preservation Of tho
ruins, which means the practical res
toration of the structure, is what the
Greek Archaeological society has mn
dertalien with great enthusiasm. The
society has raised 5000, 600, and hopes
to raise rs much more, which is believed
will he ample to preserve tho ruins from
disintegration. Tho work on the ruins
Is soon to he commenced
AT tEo timo the Parthenon was built
all Athens worshiped "a woman. 1t WAS
strange idea for the Greeks to wor-
ship virgin, for neither vir2inity nor
womauhcod was highly priced among
tho Greeks. There is much better reason
for Parthenon or temple to Athena
or Minerva i'll New York than in
Athens ut that time. for our new wom-
am is very much moro of au Athena
than tho maid or matron of Athens ever
was.
But this glorious temple was dedicat-
cd to woman WHO Was born from the
brain of man. In tho days OF Themis-
toclcs, the temple Oh the summit of the
Acropolis, dedicated to tho virgin god
dcsS Athena, was destroyed by Xerxcs.
After the Greeks defeated tho Pcrsians
on the plain of Marathon, Pericles, the
ablcst statesman about 45O b. c., or
dercd Phidias, tho greatest sculptor,
and Ictinus, the greatest architect to
build II new temple on the site Of tho
old one. This is the Parthenon, built
from the marble quarrics of Mount Pen
tclicus, which ovcrlooks Athens and
whose marble is rs white as snow.
The building of tho Parthenon must
have occupied more than 20 years 1t
was not the largest Of Greek temples,
but 1t must have cost moro than any
ancient edifce outside of Solomon's
temple. New York World