DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6910#0062
38
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
their temple was the immense concave of the heavens, and the field of vision em-
braced the whole circled horizon. The Persians, Scythians, Numidians, Bithynians,
Celtse,* &c. according to the testimonies of most writers, adopted this grand system
of worship. In the southern regions, and in temperate climates, such custom was
easily persisted in ; but in the northern countries, where storms, and snows, and
frosts, often prevailed, it was found necessary to guard against the inclemency of
seasons, by resorting to caves, or erecting appropriate buildings.
The first regular sacred structures, according to the opinions of Herodotus and
Strabo, were erected by the Egyptians; but the most ancient temples and taber-
nacles that we find described, are those of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, made
by Moses, and the splendid Temple of Solomon, f Forbearing any further obser-
vations on temples in general, I will now briefly notice a few of those only, which
are built on a circular plan.J Though we may fairly suppose that Greece, in the
effulgence of her architectural splendour, exhibited many fine specimens of these
buildings, yet we know but of one round building in Athens, the capital city of that
country. This is called the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates ; and though a very
small structure (only six feet diameter within,) is beautiful in its proportions and
ornaments. It is of the Corinthian order, and is said to have been erected above
three hundred years before the Christian era; in the time of Demosthenes, Apelles,
and Alexander the Great. § The Tower of the Winds, in the same city, is an
octangular building.
The Romans, who were mere imitators of the Greeks, built numerous temples,
both in their capital and in the provinces ; but it was not till after the revolution
under Julius Ca;sar that they produced any thing admirable in the arts. Among
their circular temples we may notice the following.
On the banks of the Tiber is a round building, which, according to general
opinion, says Palladio, (B. IV. ch. 14.) was built by Numa Pompilius, and dedicated
to the Goddess Vesta. Without the walls of Rome, near the Porta Viminialis,
(now called the Gate of St. Agnes,) is a circular building, dedicated to St. Agnes,
* Pausanias writes, that the Thracians used to build their temples round, and open at the top.
t See ample accounts of these, and other sacred temples, with plates, in Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible,
2 vols. 4to. 1801, and in a volume of Illustrative Fragments, by C. Taylor.
J Round temples are characterized by Vitruvius by the terms of monopteral, i. e. those without walls or cells,
but with a cupola raised on pillars ; and peripteral, which have detached columns, with an enclosed wall within, &c.
§ Stuart's Antiquities of Athens, Vol. I.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
their temple was the immense concave of the heavens, and the field of vision em-
braced the whole circled horizon. The Persians, Scythians, Numidians, Bithynians,
Celtse,* &c. according to the testimonies of most writers, adopted this grand system
of worship. In the southern regions, and in temperate climates, such custom was
easily persisted in ; but in the northern countries, where storms, and snows, and
frosts, often prevailed, it was found necessary to guard against the inclemency of
seasons, by resorting to caves, or erecting appropriate buildings.
The first regular sacred structures, according to the opinions of Herodotus and
Strabo, were erected by the Egyptians; but the most ancient temples and taber-
nacles that we find described, are those of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, made
by Moses, and the splendid Temple of Solomon, f Forbearing any further obser-
vations on temples in general, I will now briefly notice a few of those only, which
are built on a circular plan.J Though we may fairly suppose that Greece, in the
effulgence of her architectural splendour, exhibited many fine specimens of these
buildings, yet we know but of one round building in Athens, the capital city of that
country. This is called the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates ; and though a very
small structure (only six feet diameter within,) is beautiful in its proportions and
ornaments. It is of the Corinthian order, and is said to have been erected above
three hundred years before the Christian era; in the time of Demosthenes, Apelles,
and Alexander the Great. § The Tower of the Winds, in the same city, is an
octangular building.
The Romans, who were mere imitators of the Greeks, built numerous temples,
both in their capital and in the provinces ; but it was not till after the revolution
under Julius Ca;sar that they produced any thing admirable in the arts. Among
their circular temples we may notice the following.
On the banks of the Tiber is a round building, which, according to general
opinion, says Palladio, (B. IV. ch. 14.) was built by Numa Pompilius, and dedicated
to the Goddess Vesta. Without the walls of Rome, near the Porta Viminialis,
(now called the Gate of St. Agnes,) is a circular building, dedicated to St. Agnes,
* Pausanias writes, that the Thracians used to build their temples round, and open at the top.
t See ample accounts of these, and other sacred temples, with plates, in Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible,
2 vols. 4to. 1801, and in a volume of Illustrative Fragments, by C. Taylor.
J Round temples are characterized by Vitruvius by the terms of monopteral, i. e. those without walls or cells,
but with a cupola raised on pillars ; and peripteral, which have detached columns, with an enclosed wall within, &c.
§ Stuart's Antiquities of Athens, Vol. I.