DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.748#0146
INVESTIGA TIONS A T ASSOS, 1881. 121
Assos explains the striking similarity noticeable between
them and the most ancient bronze works of Etruria, — espe-
cially the important reliefs from a chariot found at Perugia
now preserved in the Glyptothek of Munich, and the figures
from Cervetri, published by Grifi.
Not only the detailed forms of the decoration of the temple
of Assos, but its position upon the building, point to the pro-
totype of a work of hammered metal, and in this respect it
appears of direct importance to the history of the early archi-
tecture as well as the sculpture of the Greeks. The reliefs
upon the epistyle, the principal constructive member of the
entablature, warrant the conjecture that the timbering of an-
cient Asiatic fanes was overlaid with sheets of metal, as is
known to have been frequently the case with the columns and
walls.1
The wooden roof and ceiling of the original Hellenic cella
appear in the temple of Assos already translated to the un-
varying stone forms of the Doric frieze and cornice, with the
exception alone of the trunnels, which seem not to have been
regarded as of canonical importance. The great peculiarity of
the entablature, — namely the decoration of the epistyle, a func-
tional lintel never sculptured in the perfected Greek styles,—
appears to be a provincial imitation of the empaistic overlaying
customary in the architecture of neighboring lands.
The importance of so remarkable a monument to the early
history of Hellenic art is evident.
It is not the purpose of this first Report to treat in detail
of the city walls of Assos or the monuments of the lower
town. Much, indeed, has been ascertained to which no refer-
ence can be at present made ; for even were the full pub-
1 A reference to this empaistic character of the reliefs of Assos is made by
Semper in Der SHI, etc. Zweite Auflage. Miinchen, 1876. Bd. i. p. 406.
Assos explains the striking similarity noticeable between
them and the most ancient bronze works of Etruria, — espe-
cially the important reliefs from a chariot found at Perugia
now preserved in the Glyptothek of Munich, and the figures
from Cervetri, published by Grifi.
Not only the detailed forms of the decoration of the temple
of Assos, but its position upon the building, point to the pro-
totype of a work of hammered metal, and in this respect it
appears of direct importance to the history of the early archi-
tecture as well as the sculpture of the Greeks. The reliefs
upon the epistyle, the principal constructive member of the
entablature, warrant the conjecture that the timbering of an-
cient Asiatic fanes was overlaid with sheets of metal, as is
known to have been frequently the case with the columns and
walls.1
The wooden roof and ceiling of the original Hellenic cella
appear in the temple of Assos already translated to the un-
varying stone forms of the Doric frieze and cornice, with the
exception alone of the trunnels, which seem not to have been
regarded as of canonical importance. The great peculiarity of
the entablature, — namely the decoration of the epistyle, a func-
tional lintel never sculptured in the perfected Greek styles,—
appears to be a provincial imitation of the empaistic overlaying
customary in the architecture of neighboring lands.
The importance of so remarkable a monument to the early
history of Hellenic art is evident.
It is not the purpose of this first Report to treat in detail
of the city walls of Assos or the monuments of the lower
town. Much, indeed, has been ascertained to which no refer-
ence can be at present made ; for even were the full pub-
1 A reference to this empaistic character of the reliefs of Assos is made by
Semper in Der SHI, etc. Zweite Auflage. Miinchen, 1876. Bd. i. p. 406.