CNIDUS.

39

PLATE XX.

PLAN OF THE LACUNARIA*

The ceiling of the vestibule is made in three unequal divisions by two transverse beams, show-
ing nine deep sinkings, improperly termed coffers, in the centre division, and six in each of the
sides; the flat of the sinkings has sculptured wreaths. The word coffer seems to have arisen from
a misunderstanding of the term area used by Vitruvius.

The plan of the soffit of the external cornice requires no particular description.

PLATE XXL
ORNAMENTS OF THE THYROMA, OR DOOR-WAY.

The sima of the hyperthyrum appears to be wanting. This member which is almost always
found in large door-ways, is of very unusual depth in that of the Erechtheum. Here the slightness
and great projection of the plain corona seem to require additional substance.

A. Section through the hyperthyrum, and the supercilium or antepagmentum superius, shewing
the side of the ancon or the 0T2 of the Erechthean inscription next the door-opening.

B. The mouldings of the hyperthyrum, with the front of the ancon. The leaf generally below
it is wanting or destroyed.

G. The side of the ancon abutting against the transverse wall of the vestibule.
D. The sculptured mouldings of the hyperthyrum enlarged.

* Lacunaria is the term applied by Vitruvius to signify the
ornamental ceiling of a building. The Greek word is farvwpa,
which comprized the longitudinal and transverse beams cross-
ing each other at equal intervals, the upper surface of which
was covered with planks, so as to form the ceiling underneath,
The transverse beam was called Opavlov and the planking

aavicwfia.

<j>aTviofia . . (parvow, to construct in ornamental compartments.
Donnegan's Lexicon.

Opavtov. Kal to vtto (eV() toiq fyarviopaai aaviSoj/xa nal to vtto tov

Sokov ti 1 Hesych.

Hence the term " QpavoypafyovQ, rove tinrpHrug roi-^oyparpovg. lb.

Painted ornaments on the Qawarpa or transtra.

The Sokoi were the principal timbers of the roof, but there
was a considerable interval between them and the Opavlov
which was the uq tvirptiruav (jTsyriQ of Pausanias. A reference
to the section through the cella of the temple of Bacchus at
Aphrodisias, in the following chapter, will illustrate this. The
aav'&wpa served as the floor of this intervening space.