DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4326#0027
22 C NIDUS.
thence descending by a direct street led through the lower part of the town to the isthmus; the
other, cut with great labour in the side of the rock, entered at the middle of the northern side be-
hind the great theatre. Upon this road there is more than one natural and copious fountain, over-
hung by the wild grape, the myrtle and the bay. Near its entrance into the city, and imme-
diately under the citadel, the rock rising perpendicularly is worked fair some forty or fifty feet
high: in the lower part of this artificial face are three niches, one small and two larger, with
architectural fronts consisting of antag upon an inscribed but now illegible sill. The capitals,
which were of a different material, no longer exist. Before this rock spreads a terrace
one hundred and fifty feet wide, formed of polygonal masonry of which the partially strait
beds of the return sides incline very much to the slope of the hill. Before and below this terrace
we found the headless statue of a seated female, of fine style and execution, which had once
probably occupied one of the niches above : it is of Parian marble, and the head is not of
the same block as the body.
" In this quarter possibly some more fortunate or more persevering travellers than ourselves
may hereafter discover some remains sufficient to identify the site as that of the temple of Venus,
for none of the ruins in the city seem applicable to this building ; nor is it easy to find, within
the walls, sufficient space for the groves and delightful retreats, which are said to have adorned the
precincts of that temple.
" On the isthmus there has been a building of considerable magnitude, and on the northern
side of the small port a square or agora surrounded by a covered walk or portico : indeed the
whole city abounds with such remains, as well as with sculptured fragments of every description,
and with altars, honorary pillars, and pedestals of statues."
The preceding suggestion as to the position of the celebrated Aphrodisium of Cnidus, is highly
deserving of attention ; and will direct, we may hope, the researches of some future travellers to
the spot described. It is proper nevertheless to remark, that as no ancient author who alludes to
this sanctuary, gives any support to the opinion of its having been without the walls of Cnidus,
there is still a fair presumption that the building which contained the renowned work of Praxiteles
was no other than the temple of the Corinthian order marked L in our Plan, and which is detailed
in Plates IV. et seq. A reference to the Plan and general view (PL I, II.) shew that the platform on
which it stood occupied the most central and conspicuous situation in the city. The Corinthian
order of this temple moreover, as well as all the ornamental details of its architecture were exactly
suited to a temple of Venus, and the employment of this order at Cnidus is the more remarkable,
as the Doric was the national order. * As to the objection alluded to in the preceding extract,
* It is only in the Doric colonies of Asia that, we find re- sign of it, supposed to have been the temple of Mars men-
mains of the Doric order. At Lindus in the island of Rhodes tioned by Vitruvius. In like manner in Ionia, the temples of
are the ruins of a dodecastyle Doric portico in front of a Ephesus, Samos, Branchidas, Sardes, Magnesia, Teos, Priene,
cavern. At Halicarnassus are the remains of a large Doric were all of the Ionic order,
temple, which Count Choiseul Gouffier, who published a de-
thence descending by a direct street led through the lower part of the town to the isthmus; the
other, cut with great labour in the side of the rock, entered at the middle of the northern side be-
hind the great theatre. Upon this road there is more than one natural and copious fountain, over-
hung by the wild grape, the myrtle and the bay. Near its entrance into the city, and imme-
diately under the citadel, the rock rising perpendicularly is worked fair some forty or fifty feet
high: in the lower part of this artificial face are three niches, one small and two larger, with
architectural fronts consisting of antag upon an inscribed but now illegible sill. The capitals,
which were of a different material, no longer exist. Before this rock spreads a terrace
one hundred and fifty feet wide, formed of polygonal masonry of which the partially strait
beds of the return sides incline very much to the slope of the hill. Before and below this terrace
we found the headless statue of a seated female, of fine style and execution, which had once
probably occupied one of the niches above : it is of Parian marble, and the head is not of
the same block as the body.
" In this quarter possibly some more fortunate or more persevering travellers than ourselves
may hereafter discover some remains sufficient to identify the site as that of the temple of Venus,
for none of the ruins in the city seem applicable to this building ; nor is it easy to find, within
the walls, sufficient space for the groves and delightful retreats, which are said to have adorned the
precincts of that temple.
" On the isthmus there has been a building of considerable magnitude, and on the northern
side of the small port a square or agora surrounded by a covered walk or portico : indeed the
whole city abounds with such remains, as well as with sculptured fragments of every description,
and with altars, honorary pillars, and pedestals of statues."
The preceding suggestion as to the position of the celebrated Aphrodisium of Cnidus, is highly
deserving of attention ; and will direct, we may hope, the researches of some future travellers to
the spot described. It is proper nevertheless to remark, that as no ancient author who alludes to
this sanctuary, gives any support to the opinion of its having been without the walls of Cnidus,
there is still a fair presumption that the building which contained the renowned work of Praxiteles
was no other than the temple of the Corinthian order marked L in our Plan, and which is detailed
in Plates IV. et seq. A reference to the Plan and general view (PL I, II.) shew that the platform on
which it stood occupied the most central and conspicuous situation in the city. The Corinthian
order of this temple moreover, as well as all the ornamental details of its architecture were exactly
suited to a temple of Venus, and the employment of this order at Cnidus is the more remarkable,
as the Doric was the national order. * As to the objection alluded to in the preceding extract,
* It is only in the Doric colonies of Asia that, we find re- sign of it, supposed to have been the temple of Mars men-
mains of the Doric order. At Lindus in the island of Rhodes tioned by Vitruvius. In like manner in Ionia, the temples of
are the ruins of a dodecastyle Doric portico in front of a Ephesus, Samos, Branchidas, Sardes, Magnesia, Teos, Priene,
cavern. At Halicarnassus are the remains of a large Doric were all of the Ionic order,
temple, which Count Choiseul Gouffier, who published a de-