CHAPTER III

THE ELGIN GALLERY (PLATE III.)

THROUGH the doorway at the end of the Ephesus Room (Plate II., p. 9) we come to the Elgin Gallery (Plate III.), which is filled with the sculptured remains of the Parthenon at Athens. We are here reminded of an earlier chapter in the life of the Apostle Paul when he visited that city; and we can to-day look on the very objects which he saw on the memorable occasion described in Acts 17. "His spirit was stirred in him," we read, "when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." The model in one of the Cases at the end of the gallery (Plate III.) shows how the temples were grouped together upon the Acropolis. The Parthenon could be seen from Mars' Hill, which is shown in the model, and possibly the altar "to the unknown God" was also near at hand. As the apostle told his hearers of the One whom they ignorantly worshipped, we can imagine him pointing to these wonderful specimens of Greek art as he cried, "God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." And later, he said, "We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."2 Probably there was no stone on earth 2 Acts 17. 24, 29.

1 Acts 17. 16.

It

at that time more beautifully graven than these specimens of Greek art, and nothing has equalled them since. is noteworthy that this is the only place in the New Testament where the word "art" is used in this sense; though the Englishman's Greek Concordance shows that the Greek word for which it stands is rendered "occupation" in Acts 18. 3, and "craft" in Rev. 18. 22.

The model of the Parthenon (Plate III., p. 13) shows where the various portions were placed. The outside was decorated above the columns by the "metopes," the square slabs ornamented with high relief which are the walls of the gallery (Plate III., p. 13). Below them we have the remains of the frieze (Plate III., p. 13), which can be seen on the model running round the building within the outer pillars. The most beautiful groups of sculpture were on the Eastern and Western "pediments," the triangular spaces at the two ends of the building. These broken fragments are all that are left of the wonderful groups of Grecian gods and goddesses, but they still retain much of their grace, and are considered amongst the best known specimens of the Greek art of Pheidias and his times.

The Eastern pediment, representing the birth of Athenè (Plate III., p. 13), must have been specially beautiful. Emerging out of the sea at one angle was the chariot of the rising sun. The horse, as it comes up from the waves, is full of life and spirit, and the power of the conception has made this horse's head deservedly famous. At the other end of the pediment the chariot of Selenè, the Moon-god, or Night, is sinking beneath the horizon.

Paul's visit to Athens took place some time before the scene at Ephesus to which we have already referred (p. 10), but the fame of his address at Mars' Hill seems to have reached Demetrius. It was at Athens that Paul

PAUL ON MARS' HILL

15

had so notably proclaimed that "they be no gods which are made with hands."1 If he could thus speak against the temples on the Acropolis, it was no wonder that Demetrius feared for the temple of Diana.

The tall pillar on the left of the illustration (Plate III., p. 13) and the figure opposite came from the Erictheon, which stood on the Acropolis a little below the Parthenon. Probably these objects were also seen by the apostle on that memorable occasion.

1 Acts 19. 26; 17. 24, 29.

CHAPTER IV

THE HITTITE SECTION (PLATE IV.)

PASSING through the doorway in the centre of the Elgin Room, we cross the Nimroud Central Saloon, and stand for a few minutes with our backs to the great statue of Rameses II. in the Egyptian Gallery, the gallery shown in Plate VII. In the distance (Plate IV.) we see a small portion of the eastern pediment of the Parthenon in the room we have just left. We also see the Nereid Room, full of Greek sculptures; and nearer still are the Assyrian and Babylonian remains. Thus we are surrounded by the records of several great world-powers, Egypt and Greece, Assyria and Babylon, whilst in the little strip of corridor in which we stand another nation is represented, viz. the Hittites.

Some years ago the so-called "higher critics" of the day used to refer to the Bible mentions of this people as one of the evidences of the imagined inaccuracies of the Bible. They themselves knew nothing about the Hittites, therefore the Hittites could not have existed! They have had to give up this point of attack. The Bible has been proved absolutely correct on this subject as on others. The Hittite remains, with the quaint picture writing, "unknown hieroglyphics" as the description upon the monuments calls them, prove the existence of a great nation or group of nations. Other discoveries corroborate