Note (return) — THE TEMPLE ON THE ACROPOLIS BURNT BY THE PERSIANS.

The groups in question are too well known to need a detailed description here. The first, 40 in a fairly good state of preservation, represents Herakles in his conflict with the Hydra, and at the left Iolaos, his charioteer, as a spectator. Corresponding to this, is the second group, 41 with Herakles overpowering the Triton; but the whole of this is so damaged that it is scarcely recognizable. Then there are two larger pediments in much higher relief, the one 42 repeating the scene of Herakles and the Triton, the other 43 representing the three-headed Typhon in conflict, as supposed, with Zeus. All four of these groups have been reconstructed from a great number of fragments. Many more pieces which are to be seen in these two rooms of the Museum surely belonged to the original works, though their relations and position cannot be determined. The circumstances of their discovery between the south supporting-wall of the Parthenon and Kimon's inner Acropolis wall make it certain that we are dealing with pre-Persian art. It is quite as certain, in spite of the fragmentary condition of the remains, that they were pedimental compositions and the earliest of the kind yet known.