man coin, in circulation when that city was tributary to Rome. It is magnified about one third, and weighs fortyeight grains. It shows us the hull of a ship, such as were then in use, but whether it is a merchant vessel or a war galley we are unable to determine.

The Babylonians as we have already mentioned, understood the art of sculpture, as evidenced by the erection of the great image set up for worship by Nebuchadnezzar. The annexed cut is a representation of a Babylonian coin, made of silver, and showing both sides. This coin is supposed to have been made sometime anterior

to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and proves, in connexion with the impressed bricks which formed the wall of that great city, that, almost as early as the foundation of that empire, a kind of sculpture was understood. We shall further notice this subject under the head of Engraving. The Persians made but little progress in the

art of sculpture, for they had not the powerful influence of religious feeling as an incentive. They worshipped fire as an emblem of Deity, and considered it impious to represent him in any material form, especially the human. This being the case, almost the only motive for a cultivation of the art, was taken away, and the chisel was employed only in basso relievo works, in the adornment of temples and military monuments. At Persepolis are found many specimens of sculpture of this character, and among ruins in the vicinity of this ancient city are bas-reliefs representing military movements. The engraving upon the opposite page is a representation of a bas-relief found at Persepolis, and exhibits a combat with spears between two horse

men.

The Etrurians or ancient Tuscans, cultivated the art, and carried it to a considerable degree of perfection, earlier than the Greeks; and it is probable that through these former, the latter received a knowledge of it from the Egyptians and Phoenicians. The art is said to have been introduced into Etruria, by Dædalus, who lived three generations before the Trojan war, which according to the most authentic chronology, was about fourteen hundred years before the Christian era. This artist, it is said, offended Minos, king of Crete, and was obliged to take refuge in Sicily. From thence he passed into Etruria, where he spread a knowledge, and left monuments of his art and genius. Pausanias avers that he had seen many statues ascribed to this artist. His principal works were large statues formed of cypress-wood; and so durable were they, that they survived till the general des

truction of everything connected with the fine arts in Etruria, was effected by the Roman emperors.

The Etruscans were a powerful state more than two hundred years prior to the founding of Rome, and were probably the authors of the principal works of art known among the Romans

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in the first ages of their existence. They carried the art of sculpture to a considerable degree of perfection; and if it be true, as Pliny asserts, that statues of Romulus, Numa, Tarquinus Priscus, and Servius Tullius, were all executed in their respective times, the Etruscans were undoubtedly the sculptors employed in the work. The annexed cut represents one of the earliest specimens of their sculptures extant. It was found in the tombs mentioned in another part of this work, and its

date is assigned to about the year 1100 B. C. After the Romans became a powerful people, the Etruscans were still their artists. During the first years of the Republic they introduced among them statuary formed of terracotta, (a kind of plaster work,) of which a large statue of Hercules was made. The Etruscan style is similar to that of the Egyptians or earlier Greeks, from whom they received it.

When the art of sculpture was first introduced into Greece, the taste for the colossal there prevailed. Pausanias mentions the fact that statues thirty feet high and upward, were not at all uncommon. At Elis, the people set up a statue of

stone.

Jupiter, sixty feet high, in the Altes or sacred grove near Olympia, the reputed residence and throne of the Thunderer. On the banks of the Apheus, a statue of the same deity was erected, sixty feet high, and formed of cryselephantine This material was most commonly used by the Greeks for their colossal statues, although marble was sometimes brought into requisition, and more frequently, metals and wood. But of all the gigantic works of art, the statue dedicated to the sun at Rhodes, was the most remarkable, and formed one of the seven wonders of the world.

This immense statue was raised by the Rhodians in honor of Apollo, (the sun,) who, according to ancient fable, delighted in Rhodes more than in any other part of the earth, because there a day never passed, but the sun shone out in splendour upon the city and the surrounding sea. The immediate cause of the erection of this statue, is said to be the gratitude which the Rhodians felt toward Apollo and Ptolemy Soter of Egypt jointly, in enabling them to withstand a siege by Demetrius, king of Macedonia. As soon as the enemy retired from the investment of the city, they resolved to erect a brazen statue of the sun, and at once employed Chares, the disciple of Lysippus, to execute the project. He made a contract to build it for a certain sum, but when it was only half completed, his money was all spent, and he hanged himself in despair. Laches, his fellow countryman, was employed to complete it, which he did in three olympieg (twelve years,) and placed it upon the pedestals. The height of the statue is vously estimated ; the lowest being one hundred feet bigh, and the