plates which form at once the ground and the substance of the four figures in high relief, with their arms and draperies, are composed of fine bronze, the colour and appearance of which suggest the probability that some other metal has been added to it. The upper surface has been gilt; traces of gilding being observable on the right shoulder of the Hero, and upon the reversed escutcheon of the Amazon. On closely examining these monuments, it is clear that the plates, after having been cast smooth and of a perfect level, have been hammered into the requisite consistency, and the figures then beaten up from the inner side: the whole forming an excellent specimen of what the Greeks called ἔργα ἐξήλατα καὶ σφυρήλατα (works beaten out and hammered up). Though the relief is extremely prominent, so that some of the more salient parts, as the heads, thighs, knees of the figures, the shields, and some part of the drapery, appear almost to be detached from the ground, yet this has been all really gained from the plate itself. In some parts of the relief the metal is hardly thicker than a thin piece of writing-paper. There can be little doubt that these bronzes originally formed part of the armour of some distinguished personage, the three plates being the shoulder-pieces of a cuirass. This portion of the armour of the ancients consisted of two pieces, one to cover the front, the other the back of the body; they were united by hinges, clasps, buttons, or straps. These plates were probably the ornamental parts of leathern straps, which united the cuirass on the top of the shoulders. The plates themselves were united by a hinge to the hinder piece of the cuirass, and, when the fastenings were secure, were brought down over them, and formed a handsome ornament upon the breast. Considering the exquisite beauty of the workmanship and the delicate texture of the plates, and also the fact that they were found within the enclosure of a Temple, it seems most probable that they formed part of a splendid suit of armour belonging to the edifice in which they were discovered. The subject is supposed to be the conflict with the Amazons before the walls of Troy, and the heroes to be Ajax Telamonius and Ajax Oileus. The head of the lion appears to have nothing to do with the subject, but is merely an ornament, to which was attached the ring or clasp whereby the shoulder-piece was fastened to the breast-plate.

Case 88 has a fine specimen in terracotta of an antefixal ornament, representing the head of Medusa; and two covers of pyxides, also in terracotta, representing respectively a figure of Scylla, and the group of Cupid and Psyche.

Cases 89, 90, and 91 contain a continuation of the collection of

200000

Bronzes of Siris.

Greek and Roman divinities. Among these are, in Case 89, fourteen statuettes of Harpocrates, represented for the most part in his usual attitude, with the finger raised to the mouth, wearing the Egyptian pshent, and holding a cornucopiæ: some of them are accompanied by a jackal and a hawk-a figure of Pan-two small statuettes and a head of Dionysos-and two busts of Ariadne or of a Bacchante.

In Case 90 are several figures of Dionysos and Silenus, one of the latter kneeling upon a wine-skin-two lamps formed by Silenus sitting on a wine-skin-three figures of Silenus, Marsyas, or Comos,

Bronzes of Siris.

playing on the double flute, one of exquisite workmanship, and another wearing a crown of ivy-berries set with garnets, and his eyes inlaid with silver-four figures of satyrs-a boy gathering fruitCupid on a ram's head; and Heracles strangling the Nemean lion.

In Case 91 are fourteen figures of Heracles: one in which he is represented strangling the Mænalian stag-another in which he is reposing, and his arms seized by Cupid-a third with the apples of the Hesperides and Pan with goats' legs and the pedum and syrinx. Cases 92, 93, 94 contain a large collection of miscellaneous objects,

for the most part connected with the manners and uses of antiquity. A considerable number of them were originally in the possession of Mr. Burgon, and came from him to the Museum. Among them are mirrors found at Athens by Mr. Burgon, plain and unornamented: a small bronze cylix and patera: a number of astragali, the knucklebones of a small goat or sheep, found at Ithaca: an ancient bronze plate, on which is an inscription in Greek, containing a treaty between two tribes of the region of Elis, and about the date of 40th Olympiad, B. c. 620. This curious plate was found near Elis, and was brought thence in 1813 by Mr. Gell. An excellent account of

Figures of Dionysos and Silenus.