DOI Artikel:
Brownson, Carleton L.: [Excavations and discoveries at the Argive Heraeum, 1892-1895]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8681#0239
EXCAVATIONS AT THE ARG1VE HERJEUM IN 1892.
227
where according to later legend8 the chiefs chose Agamemnon
to be the leader of the Trojan Expedition and whose priestess was
Cydippe, when, according to the story that Solon tells Croesus," her
sons Cleobis and Biton drew her car from Argos to the temple and
were rewarded by the best gift the goddess could give to men, that
is, death. The later ITerseum, which rose not out of, but, accord-
ing to Greek custom, alongside of the ashes of the burned temple,
was built, as Pausanias says, by Eupolemus of Argos; the cult-
statue of gold and ivory was the work of Polyclitus. Here, there,
fore, we are dealing Avith the best period in Greek art and archi-
tecture.
With the help of these references from Thucydides and Pausa-
nias and from further topographical allusions in the latter's story,
it had been possible long ago to determine the probable sites of
both temples mentioned. It will be proper, therefore, at this
point to describe the whole precinct more in detail before begin-
ning an account of the work done. The upper terrace (A on the
plan) on which evidently the older temple once stood, is a nearly
level plateau more than fifty metres in length (east to west), and
almost equally wide. On the south side, toward the plain, and in
part at the ends, it is bounded by a retaining-wall10 (V on the
plan) of huge, irregularly shaped stones, such a wall as we found
nowhere else, and surely one of very great antiquity. Below
this wall, at the ends of the plateau, the ground slopes gradually
to the ravines or river-beds, which, as I have already said, enclose
the whole site. Below the large side-wall there is a slight slope
down to the new temple-terrace, 12 m. lower, a plateau (B on the
plan) of about the same extent as the upper one. This terrace
has no retaining-wall on the south side, toward the plain, but
.slopes away rather steeply in that direction. Toward the east the
8 Dictys Cret., i. 16. 9 Herod., loc. cit.
10 I can best refer here to the complicated system of retaining-walls made neces-
sary by the hilly character of the site. All these are shown on the plan (W. X. Y.
Z.) though we do not fully understand or attempt to explain the meaning and pur-
pose of every wall. Excavation is necessary to determine the original slope of the
hill at many points, and we were not able to undertake; work of this kind. I should
say that the line T T T on the plan indicates only approximately the position of a
wall east of the old temple-terrace. An intervening knoll prevented us from
taking exact observations with the instruments at hand.
227
where according to later legend8 the chiefs chose Agamemnon
to be the leader of the Trojan Expedition and whose priestess was
Cydippe, when, according to the story that Solon tells Croesus," her
sons Cleobis and Biton drew her car from Argos to the temple and
were rewarded by the best gift the goddess could give to men, that
is, death. The later ITerseum, which rose not out of, but, accord-
ing to Greek custom, alongside of the ashes of the burned temple,
was built, as Pausanias says, by Eupolemus of Argos; the cult-
statue of gold and ivory was the work of Polyclitus. Here, there,
fore, we are dealing Avith the best period in Greek art and archi-
tecture.
With the help of these references from Thucydides and Pausa-
nias and from further topographical allusions in the latter's story,
it had been possible long ago to determine the probable sites of
both temples mentioned. It will be proper, therefore, at this
point to describe the whole precinct more in detail before begin-
ning an account of the work done. The upper terrace (A on the
plan) on which evidently the older temple once stood, is a nearly
level plateau more than fifty metres in length (east to west), and
almost equally wide. On the south side, toward the plain, and in
part at the ends, it is bounded by a retaining-wall10 (V on the
plan) of huge, irregularly shaped stones, such a wall as we found
nowhere else, and surely one of very great antiquity. Below
this wall, at the ends of the plateau, the ground slopes gradually
to the ravines or river-beds, which, as I have already said, enclose
the whole site. Below the large side-wall there is a slight slope
down to the new temple-terrace, 12 m. lower, a plateau (B on the
plan) of about the same extent as the upper one. This terrace
has no retaining-wall on the south side, toward the plain, but
.slopes away rather steeply in that direction. Toward the east the
8 Dictys Cret., i. 16. 9 Herod., loc. cit.
10 I can best refer here to the complicated system of retaining-walls made neces-
sary by the hilly character of the site. All these are shown on the plan (W. X. Y.
Z.) though we do not fully understand or attempt to explain the meaning and pur-
pose of every wall. Excavation is necessary to determine the original slope of the
hill at many points, and we were not able to undertake; work of this kind. I should
say that the line T T T on the plan indicates only approximately the position of a
wall east of the old temple-terrace. An intervening knoll prevented us from
taking exact observations with the instruments at hand.