Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/97

THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. 8 1 the truly horizontal and vertical lines would have presented to the eye, and that by these adjustments they were made to appear perfectly level and perpendicular. This is too much of a " front elevation " idea, for from other points of view the curva- ture of the stylobate is perfectly visible. The real reason would seem rather to be a desire to sweeten the transitions, and to Fig. 67. — Plan of Angle of Roof: A, B, C, D, Stone fixed on Tiles ; L, Lion's Head ; x, Antefix ; R, Cymatiuni of Pediment. create a unity out of the many similar parts. Also, as Penrose has seen, delicate effects of light and shade must have resulted from slight changes in the direction of the surfaces. Architects. The rebuilding of the Parthenon was only part of Pericles' great scheme for the architectural adornment of the Acropolis after the close of the Persian wars in 449 B.C. The Nike temple by the Propylaea may have been the first actually begun. An