DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.791#0075
37
CHAPTER V
TEMPLE OF DIANA-PROPYLJEA.
Pausanias, whose authority has already been cited, informs us that there was a temple at
Eleusis dedicated to Diana-Propylaea. As the cognomina of the divinities of paganism were
frequently given on account of the local situation of their shrines and temples *, we may be
permitted to conclude, that the temple placed immediately in advance of the Propylsea was the one
so denominated by the Grecian traveller. In confirmation, we may refer to its position in the
centre of an extensive platform constructed in the front of that edifice, which thus seems to include
it amongst the appendages of the great temple.
This connection, and why this building should form part of the general design, is explained by
the circumstance that the Greeks regarded Diana as the daughter of Ceres, and not of Latona j\
This temple is the more interesting, inasmuch as it is the only variety which has yet been
described of that species which the Greeks, according to Vitruvius, denominated vaog h Trugcurruiriv;
that is, presenting in its fronts two columns interposed between the antas terminating the flank
walls of the cella.
These were the most simple of the forms which the early temples of Greece were made to
assume. The Greek tragedian alludes to one of similar construction in the dialogue between
Pylades and Orestes, where the latter is instructed by what means he may obtain access to the
sanctuary and carry off the statue of the goddess : he is directed to let himself down into the
interior, where the openings between the triglyphs afforded admission.
"Qgct ^e y e'/tra), rgiyXvtycov oxoi zevov,
AefActg zc&falvou. Eurip. Iphig. in Taur. 116.
* Thus the Mercury near the Propylasa of the Athenian Acropolis was termed Propylceus. Pausan. i. 22. And that near
the gate of the Agora, Agorceus. lb. i. 15. ii. 9.
f Pausan. viii. 37- Herod, ii. 156.
CHAPTER V
TEMPLE OF DIANA-PROPYLJEA.
Pausanias, whose authority has already been cited, informs us that there was a temple at
Eleusis dedicated to Diana-Propylaea. As the cognomina of the divinities of paganism were
frequently given on account of the local situation of their shrines and temples *, we may be
permitted to conclude, that the temple placed immediately in advance of the Propylsea was the one
so denominated by the Grecian traveller. In confirmation, we may refer to its position in the
centre of an extensive platform constructed in the front of that edifice, which thus seems to include
it amongst the appendages of the great temple.
This connection, and why this building should form part of the general design, is explained by
the circumstance that the Greeks regarded Diana as the daughter of Ceres, and not of Latona j\
This temple is the more interesting, inasmuch as it is the only variety which has yet been
described of that species which the Greeks, according to Vitruvius, denominated vaog h Trugcurruiriv;
that is, presenting in its fronts two columns interposed between the antas terminating the flank
walls of the cella.
These were the most simple of the forms which the early temples of Greece were made to
assume. The Greek tragedian alludes to one of similar construction in the dialogue between
Pylades and Orestes, where the latter is instructed by what means he may obtain access to the
sanctuary and carry off the statue of the goddess : he is directed to let himself down into the
interior, where the openings between the triglyphs afforded admission.
"Qgct ^e y e'/tra), rgiyXvtycov oxoi zevov,
AefActg zc&falvou. Eurip. Iphig. in Taur. 116.
* Thus the Mercury near the Propylasa of the Athenian Acropolis was termed Propylceus. Pausan. i. 22. And that near
the gate of the Agora, Agorceus. lb. i. 15. ii. 9.
f Pausan. viii. 37- Herod, ii. 156.