Greek Ante-Room. To the right: 1300. Demeter of Cnidos (4th century B.C.); the dignity of grief in the Goddess of Earth mourning for her daughter Persephone is beautifully indicated by the deeply shadowed eyes and smooth brow. The small figures of animals are votive offerings found in the shrine. To the left (in glass-cases) are small Marbles of various places and periods; the successive stages of Hellenic art can be seen here at a glance.
The Ephesus Room contains the remains of the famous temple of Artemis at Ephesus (the temple of 'Diana of the Ephesians' of the Acts of the Apostles), one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The fragments from the 6th century temple burned in 356 B.C. are grouped on the east side; those of the later temple that replaced it in the time of Alexander the Great on the west side. East side: 2726, 2727. Ionic capitals. 29. Base of a sculptured column (recalling Egyptian reliefs in the stiff treatment of figures in profile). Next, to the north, Moulding on which the sculptured base stood, with inscribed dedication (restored) by Croesus, who is known from Herodotus to have given most of the columns.
West side, beginning on the south: 1200-1213. Piers of the later temple, arranged to show the probable original scheme; the drum of 1204-1206 is thought to represent Alcestis, Thanatos (Death), and Heracles. On the wall are architectural fragments; also, 1248-55. Satyr-frieze from the Great Theatre.
To the right of the entrance: 1301. Inscribed portrait-statue of Nikokleia. Near south end of east wall, types of the schools of Praxiteles and Scopas (4th century B.C.); 1600. Hermes or Heracles (?), possibly by Praxiteles; 'Leconfield Aphrodite,' attributed to Praxiteles; 1574. 'Towneley Venus,' from Ostia; 1770. Head of barbarian. Near north end, Statuette of Socrates, from Alexandria (circa 300 B.C.); Portrait Busts of the 5th-3rd century B.C.: 1843. Epicurus; 1833. Euripides; 1825. Homer; 1852. Poet (?), with ivy-wreath; 1857. Idealized portrait of Alexander; 1839. ﾦschines; 1840. Demosthenes; 549. Inscribed copy of the contemporary ideal bust of Pericles by Kresilas. In north-east corner: 1672. Torso of the stripling Eros, with straps for a quiver, from the Acropolis at Athens (compare the degraded conceptions in the Third Grﾵco-Roman Room).
