DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15096#0044
27
PLATE XXIII.
It is not consistent with the limits of these descriptions to detail
the architecture of the Parthenon, (8> any farther than is necessary
to explain the relative situations of the sculpture, and to convey
an accurate idea of the whole design.
The Hecatompedon,(9) burnt by the Persians, appears to have
been nearly of equal dimensions with the present edifice in the
front, though shorter in the flanks by 50 feet,(1^ and, like all the
early temples of Greece, hexastyle. The columns, the fragments of
which are still existing in the walls of the Acropolis, appear to have
been of equal size with those of the present temple. In its renovated
form as an octastyle, the parts were more numerous, and a greater
magnificence in the general effect was attained. The pediments,
by this arrangement bearing a larger proportion to the whole,
admitted of more figures in the group which decorated them; the
metopes also, being multiplied, afforded more abundant subjects
and occupation for the artists of all degrees, with whom Athens
abounded. The cella became wider and of more elegant proportions
than is possible in an hexastyle arrangement; and better suited to
receive the chryselephantine statue, which was to be the Palladium
of the Acropolis, and the wonder of Greece.
The Parthenon was constructed of white marble from Mount
Pentelicus. It stood on a platform of about 4 feet 6 inches high,
and consisted of a cell, surrounded with a peristyle of 46 columns
6 feet 2 inches in diameter at the base and 34 feet in height, stand-
8 This appellation, 6 TiapBevwV) the virgin's habitation, was derived from the name
by which the Goddess was commonly called, ?j TlapOtvoc.
9 So called from the harmony of its proportions—dia KaXXoe koi tvpvO/xtav, ov Sia
fxtyiOog. Harpocrat. in 'EKitTopuriSov.
1 'Eicaro/i7rE§oc vewq Iv ry'AKpoTv6\u.....p.dZu>v tov tpirptttrOivTog iirb tCjv ilfpo-wv
Hesych. in 'EkcitoToteSoc.
PLATE XXIII.
It is not consistent with the limits of these descriptions to detail
the architecture of the Parthenon, (8> any farther than is necessary
to explain the relative situations of the sculpture, and to convey
an accurate idea of the whole design.
The Hecatompedon,(9) burnt by the Persians, appears to have
been nearly of equal dimensions with the present edifice in the
front, though shorter in the flanks by 50 feet,(1^ and, like all the
early temples of Greece, hexastyle. The columns, the fragments of
which are still existing in the walls of the Acropolis, appear to have
been of equal size with those of the present temple. In its renovated
form as an octastyle, the parts were more numerous, and a greater
magnificence in the general effect was attained. The pediments,
by this arrangement bearing a larger proportion to the whole,
admitted of more figures in the group which decorated them; the
metopes also, being multiplied, afforded more abundant subjects
and occupation for the artists of all degrees, with whom Athens
abounded. The cella became wider and of more elegant proportions
than is possible in an hexastyle arrangement; and better suited to
receive the chryselephantine statue, which was to be the Palladium
of the Acropolis, and the wonder of Greece.
The Parthenon was constructed of white marble from Mount
Pentelicus. It stood on a platform of about 4 feet 6 inches high,
and consisted of a cell, surrounded with a peristyle of 46 columns
6 feet 2 inches in diameter at the base and 34 feet in height, stand-
8 This appellation, 6 TiapBevwV) the virgin's habitation, was derived from the name
by which the Goddess was commonly called, ?j TlapOtvoc.
9 So called from the harmony of its proportions—dia KaXXoe koi tvpvO/xtav, ov Sia
fxtyiOog. Harpocrat. in 'EKitTopuriSov.
1 'Eicaro/i7rE§oc vewq Iv ry'AKpoTv6\u.....p.dZu>v tov tpirptttrOivTog iirb tCjv ilfpo-wv
Hesych. in 'EkcitoToteSoc.