ARUNDELIAN or OXFORD MARBLES. These interesting relics of antiquity, which include the famous PARIAN CHRONICLE, derive their name from Thomas Earl of Arundel, or from his grandson the Hon. Henry Howard, (afterwards Duke of Norfolk) who presented the collection to the University of Oxford in the year 1667. They were purchased for the first proprietor in 1624 by Mr William Petty, an able antiquary employed by the Earl of Arundel to collect marbles, books, statues, and other curiosities in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. On their arrival in London in the year 1627 they were placed in the gardens of Arundel House, the site of which is now occupied by Arundel, Norfolk, Surrey, and Howard Streets in the Strand.
The PARIAN CHRONICLE, or Marmor Chronicon, was, when found, a large oblong slab of Parian marble, on which was engraved in capital letters a chronological compendium of the principal events of Greece during a series of 1318 years, beginning with the reign of Cecrops, B.C. 1582, and ending with the archonship of Diognetus, B.C. 264. This
marble originally measured three feet seven inches and two feet eleven inches on the two sides respectively, its breadth being two feet seven inches; but the chronicle of the last 90 years is lost, so that the part now remaining ends at the archonship of Diotimus, 354 years before the birth of Christ; and in this fragment the inscription is at present so much corroded and effaced that the sense must in some measure be supplied by conjecture.
Immediately on their arrival they excited the greatest curiosity, and were examined by some of the most eminent literary men of the period; among others by Sir Robert Cotton, Selden, Patrick Young, and Richard James. Selden, along with Patrick Young, or, as he styled himself in Latin, Patricius Junius, and Richard James, immediately commenced their operations by cleaning and examining the marble containing the Smyrnean and Magnesian league, and afterwards proceeded to the Marmor Chronicon. The following year Selden published a small volume in quarto, including about 39 inscriptions copied from the marbles.
In the turbulent reign of Charles I., and the subsequent usurpation, Arundel House was often deserted by the illustrious owners; and, in their absence, some of the marbles were defaced and broken, and others either stolen or used for the ordinary purposes of architecture. The chronological marble, in particular, was unfortunately broken and defaced. The upper part, containing 31 epochs, is said to have been worked up in repairing a chimney-piece or hearth in Arundel House.
Selden's work becoming very scarce, a new edition of the inscriptions, by Prideaux, was printed at Oxford in 1676. In 1732 Maittaire obliged the public with a more comprehensive view of the marbles than either of his predecessors. Lastly, Dr Chandler published, in 1763, a new and improved copy of the marbles; in which he corrected the mistakes of the former editors, and in some of the inscriptions, particularly that of the Parian chronicle, supplied the lacunæ by many ingenious conjectures.
The Arundelian marbles, though generally regarded as genuine relics of antiquity, were, however, discovered in some instances to differ somewhat from the most authentic historical accounts. Sir Isaac Newton and several other eminent philosophers paid little or no regard to them; and their absolute authenticity has been severely questioned in an express dissertation upon the subject by the Rev. J. Robertson, published in 1788, entitled The Parian Chronicle. In this dissertation much ingenuity as well as learning is displayed, and the arguments are doubtless possessed of considerable force and plausibility; but Mr Robertson's dissertation has been ably answered, and the authenticity of the Parian chronicle vindicated, by several writers; particularly the late Professor Porson, in an examination of Mr Robertson's Dissertation, in the Monthly Review for January 1789. See also Hewlett's Vindication, and the Archæologia, vol. ix.