Pertaining to Arundel, as arundelian marbles. The arundelian marbles are ancient stones, containing a chronological detail of the principal events of Greece, from Cecrops, who lived about 1582 years before Christ, to the archonship of Diognetus, before Christ 264. The engraving was done in Paros, and the chronology is called the Parian Chronicle. These stones are called arundelian from the Earl of Arundel, who employed William Petty to procure relics of antiquity in the East in 1624. These, with other curiosities, were purchased, and by the Earl's grandson presented to the University of Oxford. Their antiquity and even their authenticity has been questioned.
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Arundelian
Encyclopedia Britannica
ARUNDELIAN or OXFORD MARBLES, part of a collection of ancient sculptures and antiquities, including the famous Parian Chronicle, formed by Thomas earl of Arundel, and presented by his grandson, thè Hon. Henry Howard (afterwards duke of Norfolk), to the University of Oxford in the year 1667. They were purchased for the first proprietor in 1624 by Mr (afterwards Sir William) Petty, who, along with John Evelyn, had been 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. Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel and Surrey, the founder of the collection, was born in 1586 (or, according to others, 1592). He had at first only the honorary title Lord Maltravers, but in 1603 he was restored to most of the honours previously in the possession of his family. For several years he resided or travelled in Italy, and there acquired a strong taste for works of art, specimens of which he began to collect. In 1621 he was made earl marshal of England, and afterwards discharged the offices of ambassador, general, and lord high steward. He went abroad in 1641, and died at Padua in 1646. His large collection contained not only sculptured marbles, but also coins, busts, statues, and gems. In the turbulent reign of Charles I., and during the Protectorate, Arundel House was often deserted by its 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. After the death of the earl his collection was divided among his family. The inscribed marbles, which ...fell to the elder son, ultimately found their way to Oxford; the busts and some statues were sold and dispersed; and the gems descended to the Marlborough family, in whose possession they now are. Some of the statues, which had been purchased at the sale of Arundel House by Sir William Fermor, were presented to the University of Oxford in 1755. Of the large collection now known as the Arundel or Oxford marble3 the most remarkable is the Parian Chronicle, or Marmor Chronicon. This when found consisted of 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, 1582 b.c., and ending with the archonship of Diognetus, 264 b,c. The marble originally measured 3 feet 7 inches and 2 feet 11 inches on the two sides respectively, its breadth being 2 feet 7 inches; but the chronicle of the last 90 years is lost, so that the part now remaining ends with 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 the arrival of these marbles in England the greatest curiosity was excited among literary men. Selden, with the assistance of some other scholars, cleaned and examined first the marble containing the Smyrnean and Magnesian league, and then the Marmor Chronicon. The fo∏o∙wing year Selden published a small volume in quarto, including about 39 inscriptions copied from the marbles. His researches were continued and completed by Prideaux (1676), Maittaire (1732), and Chandler (1763). The Arundelian marbles, though generally regarded as genuine relics of antiquity, have been discovered in some instances to differ somewhat from the most authentic historical accounts. Their authenticity was called in question in a dissertation by the Rev. J. Robertson, published in 1788, entitled The Parian Chronicle. This essay has been answered by several writers, particularly by the eminent scholar, Professor Porson, and the authenticity of the marbles may be regarded as fairly established. See Boeckh, Corpus Inscriptionum Groecarum, 1843.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2, p. 671
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