Arundel Marbles

Arundel Marbles, part of a collection of ancient sculptures, purchased in 1624 at Smyrna and elsewhere by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1586-1646), and presented in 1667 to the university of Oxford by his grandson, Henry Howard, afterwards Duke of Norfolk. Its gem is the 'Parian Chronicle,' consisting of fragments of a marble inscription, supposed to have been executed in the island of Paros about 263 B.C. In its perfect state this inscription contained a chronological table of the principal events in Grecian history from 1582 to 264 B.C. The chronicle of the last ninety years is lost, and the extant portion of the inscription is much corroded and defaced. The 'Arundel Society,' established in 1848, for promoting the knowledge of art, commemorates the name of the Earl of Arundel, one of the earliest lovers of art in England.