Cockerell, Charles Robert: The temples of Jupiter Panhellenius at Aegina and of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae near Phigaleia in Arcadia: to which is add a memoir of the systems of proportion employed in the original design of these structures (London, 1860)

viii INTRODUCTION.

fail to promote the object of their travels by stimulating them mutually in their investigation of the venerable
remains which surrounded them ; and it ultimately led to important discoveries in architecture and sculpture,
some of the most interesting of which are described more or less perfectly in the present work.

The great outlines of some of the chief monuments in and about the city of Athens had already been faithfully
delineated by Stuart,* and published under the auspices of the Dilettanti Society ; as also by the architects in the
employ of the late Earl of Elgin ; but many details of the greatest moment to the elucidation of the architecture
of Grecian Temples,—their correspondence with the principles handed down to us by Vitruvius as derived from the
old Hellenic race,—the arrangement and order of their interiors,—the mode of executing the masonry, the roof,
and the tiles which covered them,—and the ornamental accessories of sculpture and painting, their acroteria and
their pediments, which formed so large a proportion of the merit and interest of Grecian works of art—all
these remained for the most part to be discovered and explained ; though some may be found placed on record in
the publications of the Dilettanti Society. It may be added, that the success in these respects which attended the
first inquiries of these travellers during a residence of some months' duration at Athens, gave them assurance of
gathering hereafter a rich harvest in other parts of Greece, by more patient and persevering investigations of
many sites left hitherto unexplored and scarcely recognised, owing to the many privations and dangers which
attended such labours, including sickness, death from exposure to malaria, and the attacks of a lawless
population.f

Full of these bright anticipations, a party of four, consisting of Baron Haller, Messrs. Foster and Lynckh, and
the author, determined, in April, 1811, to pay a lengthened visit to the island of iEgina, for the purpose of
exploring the Temple of Zeus Panhellenius—a monument which, as they knew, from its reputed antiquity and
its extraordinary preservation, presented to the antiquarian and the artist an object not inferior in interest to any
edifice existing in Greece. Accordingly, having spent the evening with Lord Byron in pouring out libations in
propitiation of his homeward voyage to England, to reap the rich harvest of fame which awaited his return, they
left the Piraeus just after midnight, and arrived at break of day under the Panhellenian Mount. Fortunately,
even at that early season, they were enabled to bivouac without fear, owing to the settled fineness of the
weather, and they found their accommodation completed by making use of the cave at the north-east angle of
the platform on which the temple stands,—originally, perhaps, an oracular adytum or recess. The party, together
with their servants (including a Turkish janissary by way of guard), were sufficiently strong to defy the pirates
who infested those seas in the nineteenth century of the Christian era with as much audacity and impunity as
they showed in the days of Homer ; £ and accordingly they passed twenty days and nights upon the spot without
molestation, under the agreeable excitement of the enterprise which they had undertaken. The neighbouring
village, the modern capital of iEgina, furnished the provisions and the labourers necessary for the excavation.
The mountain thyme afforded fuel, partridges were in abundance, and the shepherds provided the party with
kids, which were roasted on wooden spits over a blazing fire, when the labours of the day were brought to a close.
The unusual bustle of the little encampment soon increased ; and the good-humoured descendants of the iEacidse
proved at once their hospitality and their interest in our labours by the readiness with which they assisted us,
lightening our toil with the rustic lyre, the song, and the dance—now, as in former days, the constant accom-
paniment of all combined operations in those countries.

Though a crop of barley was growing on the surface of the platform, still little vegetable earth had
accumulated upon the ruins and fallen fragments of the Temple itself, owing to the fact that its foundation was
almost entirely composed of the solid rock : and, consequently, no very arduous labour was entailed upon the

* The first volume of Stuart's " Athens " appeared in 17G2, the second in 1787, the third in 1794, the fourth and last, in 181%.

f Of the seven travellers included above, three died in those countries, two suffered from pirates, and none escaped the usual consequences
of malaria—such are the dangers attendant on those expeditions. An unfortunate adventure of the Baron Stackelbcrg may be narrated here,
as illustrative of these dangers, and also of the character of the lamented Baron Haller. After a serious illness at Athens, on his road back
to Vienna through Salonica, the former had been taken prisoner by some Albanian pirates, who demanded G0,000 piastres (about 2400/.) as
his ransom, under the usual penalty of the loss of a limb, nose, car, &c, at each successive repetition of the demand, and, finally, of life
itself. Although no more than 12,000 piastres could be raised for this purpose, Baron Haller proceeded to the appointed rendezvous for
the negotiation. He found his friend in an alarming state, owing to a feverish relapse, and to the privations which he had been suffering at
the hands of those brutal outlaws. Under these circumstances, and with a full knowledge that the sum provided was quite unequal to
the demands of these freebooters, and that no means of increasing it were within reach, and that his friend Stackelbcrg possibly might not
survive the want of common care and of medical aid in event of his detention being prolonged, Haller (like a second Pylades) proposed
to the pirates to remain in their hands as a hostage until their prisoner might recover. It may be interesting to know, that a sufficient
ransom was eventually paid, and that Baron Stackelberg recovered.

1 See Thucydides, book i. ch. 5.