Dr. Wheeler's Fifth Lecture.

The lecture room of the Jefferson Physical Laboratory was filled yesterday afternoon by an audience which listened with the greatest interest to Dr. Wheeler's lecture upon the later history of the Parthenon.

Dr. Wheeler said that the Parthenon was always regarded with the greatest veneration by the Athenians. The temple was a splendid offering to Athena, rather than a place for her worship; the Erechtheum was the temple devoted to her worship. Nothing shows the veneration of the Athenians for the Parthenon better than its history, for it was never desecrated in any way until the disappearance of the chryselephantine statue of Athen. This statue disappeared about the middle of the fifth century, A. D.; at about the same time the temple came into the hands of the Christians and became a church. This necessitated some changes in the architecture. The entrance was changed to the west end, and the Hekatompedos became the nave of the church, an aps being constructed at this end of the temple. The great chamber, or Parthenon, became the antechamber of the church, and was connected with the Hekatompedos by doors cut through the solid wall which had hitherto separated them. The interior arrangement of the temple was so changed as to make it conform to that of a Christian church, and vaulted ceilings were introduced.

The next great era of the temple dates from its transference from the Greek to the Latin communion. This occurred in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and in 1206 we find a Roman archbishop established on the Acropolis. No important change in the architecture followed, however. It next came under the protection of the Venetians, and many of the treasures of the temple suffered at their hands.

About 1460 it is probable that the Turks gained control of Athens, and the temple became a mosque. Again no important changes were made in the architecture. The capture of Athens by the Turks had an unfortunate effect on the investigation of Athenian antiquities, for the Moslems were hostile to such investigations.

In 1687 the Venetians invested Athens. During the bombardment of the Acropolis, the Parthenon was laid in ruins. By this siege, however, Athens was brought to the front in European politics, and the interest of scholars in the investigation of Athenian antiquities revived. It has never lessened since that time, indeed, has not reached its height yet.

Dr. Wheeler's remarks on the Greeks' conception of their gods, and how that conception was influenced by the work of the great sculptors were very interesting. This idea will be further developed in the next lecture, which will deal with the Marbles of the Parthenon.