The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-22

glare of the sun on white marble, 1t
would have been difficult to trace the
meaning of The frieZes and pediments,
even if complete; but the powder eX-
Ilosion OF 1857 and the thefts of Lord
Eigin have left very little of the origi-
nal groups. The books say that the
pediment on the west end Of the Par
the non was covered with sculptures
depicting the contest between Athenc
and Poseidon: the east eId, the birth
Of the goddess. Two horses from this
latter group are in the British museum,
together with many other SpOils Of
we can't even mitigate by saying
war. To the average American trav-
eler. the man who has learned his art
in the counting room, that part of this
extraordinary hill which most appeals
TO him, because he can most easily I'M
lerstand, is the view from the east
side. Hundreds of feet below, over
battlements with an almost perpen-
dicular drop, there meets his eye the
modern city of Athens, its roofs in va
riegated hue, its walls flashing in the
bright sunlight, white and dazzling. IL
the distance are the snow-capped sum-
mits of Parnassus and other peaks, the
mountains of the PeiopOnnese, the seas
Of Salanis and Aegina, and the Attic
plains. The first effect on "A clear day
is one in which admiration approaches
awe. The ancient glories have depart
ed, but nature is still doing business
al the old stand
Near King GEORGES Palace stands
the Arch of Harlan. Its only excuse
for being is the inscription: 'on enc
| side. the southeast, lies Hadrisn's
town; on the other. the ancient town,
| hat of Theseus." Just back of it are
some ruins of a temple to Jupiter, con-
| structed by HadTian. This was once
| q very large building. said to have a
| circumference of almost 4 half mile.
! A few columns are now standing.
| The Temple of Theseus. of the fifth
century is on the opposite side of
| Athens. and stands upon an elevated
site. 1t is small, but complete, in Sc
we're Doric style, with plain capitals,
and is the best preserved Greek temple
! in the world. While many centuries
older than HadFians temple, it owes
| its conservation to its occupancy by
! the Greek church. There are evidences
of painting in the decoration of this
| temple Some allege, because the
! Greeks felt the inadequacy of its size
| to support the solemnity of its archi-
lecture. In this admixture of sculp-
! ture and painting. critics find much
room for disputatiOn.
| The Stadium, as reconstructed on the
1 ancient site in a hollow between two
| hills. is interesting both because of its
! great size, seating people, and it's his
/ toricaI associations. The old plan hay
/ ing been followed. no very heavy draft
on the ina gination is required to pic
| ture its former scenes. The Olympian
| games were held here in 1906. but were
not so well attended as would be the
case in a city more central and accessi-
BILE. Among minor objects of interest we
visited the Temple dEole and the
| Porte dAeora, where comparatively
recent excavations have shown the old
market place. surrounded by colon
uades. The Monument of Philopappos
the Syrian. occupies prominent ruin
near the Acropoiis. Its remaining frag-
! ment nas a concave surface and is
sometimes known as his tomb. The
/ Tower of the Winds is an octagonal
building put up about the first century
The guides all represent this to have
been used as an observatory in which
was determined time, wind and tempe
nature. The big vane now on the rOet
easily accounts for data of the wind
| but precisely what was accomplished
in other details of meteorological
science is not explained. There are the
remains of a water clock. and the
guide claimed that when the sun was
under eclipse this clock maintained the
! records until the suns rays. coming
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