DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3332#0037
CHAPTER IV.
TEMPLE AND TEMENOS OF APHRODITE.
(34) In the first chapter an account has
already been given of the way in which the
site dedicated to Aphrodite at Naukratis was
discovered; how it was first identified by the
fortuitous discovery of inscriptions, how the
walls of the Ptolemaic temple were then recog-
nized, and how finally two earlier foundations
were found beneath them, and the boundaries
of the temenos itself could be traced. We
must now reverse the order of our description,
and endeavour to sketch briefly the architectural
history of this ancient sanctuary, beginning
from the lowest and earliest level. Fortunately
the materials for such a sketch are in this case
exceptionally complete ; upon Plates I., II., III.,
they will be found in a convenient form for
reference. Plate I., in its upper part, contains
a general plan of the temple and temenos. In
this plan the various levels of the foundations
of the various walls are distinguished by
different manners of hatching, and thus it is
easy to see at a glance what parts of the
building are of the same level, and, therefore,
probably contemporary; walls reconstructed at
various levels are indicated as belonging to
the lowest level at which they occur. Plate II.
is a plan on double the scale, showing in
detail the various levels of construction that
are found in the temple itself. Plate III., on
the same scale as Plate II., gives the sections
along the two lines drawn on Plates I. and II.,
from W. to B., and from S. to N. On this plate
are indicated, beside the walls, the places where
the stratum of pottery and other fragments
was found. In it is also added, at the sides,
a scale of levels: these are taken from the
arbitrary datum fixed, as a convenient one, by
Mr. Petrie last year—a point 500 inches
below a certain conspicuous platform of
Roman brick on the east of the cleared part
of the ancient town. Thus Plate III. may be
compared with Plate XLVI. in Naukratis, Part
I.; but in comparing the actual levels we must
take into account certain considerations that
will afterwards be noticed. After so much
explanation of our plates, we may now proceed
to the history of the temple itself.
(35) The earliest temple of Aphrodite and
the great altar that stood in front of its eastern
door were founded upon the hard mud that
everywhere underlies the town of Naukratis.
This mud is always reached by the excavator
as soon as he has cleared away all the artificial
accumulation that generations of occupants
have heaped above it. Its surface is repre-
sented on the section by a thick black line. If
its level, as here indicated, be compared with
that of the original surface of the ground in
the temenos of Apollo, Naukratis I., PI. XLVI.,
a difference of about twenty inches will be
observed; but this is hardly more than may be
due to an accident, though the ground was
probably almost perfectly level before the city
was built; for the two sites are neai'ly a quarter
of a mile apart. We have, then, every reason
for believing that the temple of Aphrodite was
one of the earliest religious foundations at
Naukratis, or at least that it was the first
building to occupy the site on which it stands ;
and that site is so central that it can hardly
have been left bare in the prosperous days of
TEMPLE AND TEMENOS OF APHRODITE.
(34) In the first chapter an account has
already been given of the way in which the
site dedicated to Aphrodite at Naukratis was
discovered; how it was first identified by the
fortuitous discovery of inscriptions, how the
walls of the Ptolemaic temple were then recog-
nized, and how finally two earlier foundations
were found beneath them, and the boundaries
of the temenos itself could be traced. We
must now reverse the order of our description,
and endeavour to sketch briefly the architectural
history of this ancient sanctuary, beginning
from the lowest and earliest level. Fortunately
the materials for such a sketch are in this case
exceptionally complete ; upon Plates I., II., III.,
they will be found in a convenient form for
reference. Plate I., in its upper part, contains
a general plan of the temple and temenos. In
this plan the various levels of the foundations
of the various walls are distinguished by
different manners of hatching, and thus it is
easy to see at a glance what parts of the
building are of the same level, and, therefore,
probably contemporary; walls reconstructed at
various levels are indicated as belonging to
the lowest level at which they occur. Plate II.
is a plan on double the scale, showing in
detail the various levels of construction that
are found in the temple itself. Plate III., on
the same scale as Plate II., gives the sections
along the two lines drawn on Plates I. and II.,
from W. to B., and from S. to N. On this plate
are indicated, beside the walls, the places where
the stratum of pottery and other fragments
was found. In it is also added, at the sides,
a scale of levels: these are taken from the
arbitrary datum fixed, as a convenient one, by
Mr. Petrie last year—a point 500 inches
below a certain conspicuous platform of
Roman brick on the east of the cleared part
of the ancient town. Thus Plate III. may be
compared with Plate XLVI. in Naukratis, Part
I.; but in comparing the actual levels we must
take into account certain considerations that
will afterwards be noticed. After so much
explanation of our plates, we may now proceed
to the history of the temple itself.
(35) The earliest temple of Aphrodite and
the great altar that stood in front of its eastern
door were founded upon the hard mud that
everywhere underlies the town of Naukratis.
This mud is always reached by the excavator
as soon as he has cleared away all the artificial
accumulation that generations of occupants
have heaped above it. Its surface is repre-
sented on the section by a thick black line. If
its level, as here indicated, be compared with
that of the original surface of the ground in
the temenos of Apollo, Naukratis I., PI. XLVI.,
a difference of about twenty inches will be
observed; but this is hardly more than may be
due to an accident, though the ground was
probably almost perfectly level before the city
was built; for the two sites are neai'ly a quarter
of a mile apart. We have, then, every reason
for believing that the temple of Aphrodite was
one of the earliest religious foundations at
Naukratis, or at least that it was the first
building to occupy the site on which it stands ;
and that site is so central that it can hardly
have been left bare in the prosperous days of