Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (6.1890-1897 (1897))

46

DISCOVERY OF A TEMPLE OF ARCH A10 PLAN.

number of courses in situ at any point is four, at the n. e. angle, where
bed-rock was struck at a depth of 1.65 m.; while of the south wall, L,
only two courses are left, and of the north, H, only one. Of the east
wall, A, there remains only a length of 7.30 m. At the southeast
corner, an L-shaped block of gray marble,9 p, was found in situ, rest-
ing on the poros foundation. It measures 2.75 x 2.70 m. and is 0.36
m. thick. The two outer faces are cut with a slight step, while the
four inner ones are smoothed at the upper edge, and cut in rather
deeply and roughly below. On the top, which is quite smooth,

at three of the four inside edges are six |—shaped holes for i-1-

clamps, in pairs. They are 0.16 m. long (the crossbar 0.07 in.),
0.015 m. wide, and 0.05 m. deep. The outer faces of this block
are flush with the poros wall below it. At the northwest corner was
found, not in situ, a block of an upper course of the crepidoma, show-
ing the face of one of the steps; the block is of gray marble, 0.50
m. long, 0.40 m. wide, and 0.32 m. high, broken in all three directions,
so that these figures merely approximate the original size. The bot-
tom is quite smooth, and the outer face shows the three bands, so
common at the bottom of the vertical face of the steps of a crepidoma.
These bands measure respectively, .035 m., .038 m. and .052 m., be-
ginning from the bottom, and each is at back .004 m. from the one
above it. The platform M, at the west end, measuring 11.30 X 2.25
m., is constructed of poros blocks similar to those of the outer founda-
tion-wall, and is apparently of the same period. It is much shattered
at the edges, and it is difficult to determine its former extent.

The inner walls, B, C, D, E, F, K, I, are all 1.25 m. wide, except C,
which is 1.30 m. They are built of blocks 1.25 m. long, 0.55-0.65
m. wide, and 0.40 m. hig;h, these blocks being- in alternate courses
laid longitudinally and transversely (headers and stretchers), closely
fitted without clamps or mortar. On the inner end of one of the
transverse blocks of the wall K, is cut a mason's mark, b, at the upper
edge of the stone. The blocks shown at n, as found in chamber R,
are of poros stone and from inner walls, but not in situ. All the
space between the walls is filled with earth containing some stones.
The dimensions of the various divisions are given in the plan, and

9 This marble, the material of the blocks at jVand O, and very generally used at
Plataea, was quarried from the slopes of Mt. Cithaeron, or perhaps on the plateau
itself, though no signs of a quarry have been found. It is of a dark-gray color, sub-
crystalline, rather coarse-grained, and generally of a conglomerate structure.