Edward Lear (1812-1888)

Lear spent two weeks in Athens in the summer of 1848 remarking on first sight of the city that 'surely never was anything so magnificent as Athens!...far more than I could have had any idea of' (V. Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, Stroud, 2006, p. 73.).
The Temple of Hephaestus, also known as the Hephaesteion, was dedicated to Hephaestus, the Greek god of blacksmiths and metallurgy. It was, for many years, thought to be the Theseum, a temple reputedly built over the tomb of the Greek hero Theseus, but it was later discovered that he was buried closer to the Acropolis.