DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4328#0023
CHAPTER II
THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT MAGNESIA AND THE IONIC ORDER
Magnesia ad Maeandrum lay about fifteen miles to the south-east of Ephesus, and some twenty to the
north-east of Priene. The three cities famous for the beauty of their Ionic temples thus occupied the
points of a not very large triangle.
Our frontispiece gives a general view of the site of Magnesia. On the left is the great plain of
the Maeander in the direction of Miletus and the sea. In the middle is Mount Thorax with the
river Lethaios, and the ruins of the city beneath it. Farther to the right is Inek Bazar and the
site of the temple of Artemis.
Plate I. shows the ruins of the temple with Inek Bazar to the left and Mount Thorax in the
background to the right. Magnesia was identified on the site of the modern Inek Bazar, and the
ruins of the temple were discovered, in 1803, by W. R. Hamilton, who later became a member of
the Society of Dilettanti, and in 1830, its Secretary. The temple is especially important in the history
of classical art, as from the time of its erection it became quite a canon of style. Hermogenes of
Alabanda, its architect, wrote a treatise on Ionic proportions, and it is generally agreed that this
work was the source from which Vitruvius drew his account of the Ionic Order.1 As Michaelis has
said, Hermogenes was "the most distinguished architect of that late age in Asia Minor."
It is now determined that Hermogenes was engaged on the temple of Artemis and its precinct in
the last years of the third century. A few years later he built the smaller temple of Dionysos at
Teos in a similar style, and it was completed about 193 B.C. These two temples thus represent the
Hellenistic style of Asia Minor in the year 200 b.c. As Hermogenes had been assigned an earlier
date there was some doubt for a time from their advanced style whether the temples of Magnesia
and Teos had not been rebuilt in the Roman age. Further consideration, however, has removed all
these doubts. As will be seen below, the two temples correspond in the strictest way, and this alone
indicates that they were both the work of one master as reported by Vitruvius. The temple of
Artemis was partially excavated by the Ionian Mission of the Society of Dilettanti in 1812. In 1820
Huyot, the French architect, visited the site with Donaldson and made some excellent drawings, now
in the Louvre, some of which have been published by Pontremoli and Haussoullier in their volume
on Didyme. In 1822 Vulliamy passed through Magnesia and made a detailed drawing of the inner
frieze of the portico which he published in his collection of classical details. In 1842 Texier made
further excavations and brought away several slabs of the frieze which, together with some of the
architectural details, are now in the Louvre. From 1891 to 1893 a German expedition, working
under Carl Humann, made a final exploration of the site, the results of which were published in
1904.2 Part of the architectural order and some slabs of the frieze have been brought to Berlin,
and set up in the Pergamon Museum. Still more recently a full account of the sculptured frieze has
been given in the catalogue of the sculptures in the Constantinople Museum. The German expedition
excavated not only the temple but the temenos in which it stood, and the adjoining market-place,
together with the smaller temple of Zeus. The market-place was surrounded by long open halls
having double rows of columns. A fine propylaeum gave access to the temple court. It was found
that the whole assemblage of buildings was of one age and the work of Hermogenes. Some traces
and members of an earlier temple of the fourth century were found beneath the ruins of the later
structure. For all these facts the German volume must be referred to.
From the annotated original plan made by Bedford on the return of our Mission, now at the
1 In one of his MS. letters Wilkins remarks, " Vitruvius was the prince of plagiarists, and often succeeded in making himself believed to be an
original."
2 Magnesia am Maeander, by I. Kohte and C. Watzinger.
10
m
THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT MAGNESIA AND THE IONIC ORDER
Magnesia ad Maeandrum lay about fifteen miles to the south-east of Ephesus, and some twenty to the
north-east of Priene. The three cities famous for the beauty of their Ionic temples thus occupied the
points of a not very large triangle.
Our frontispiece gives a general view of the site of Magnesia. On the left is the great plain of
the Maeander in the direction of Miletus and the sea. In the middle is Mount Thorax with the
river Lethaios, and the ruins of the city beneath it. Farther to the right is Inek Bazar and the
site of the temple of Artemis.
Plate I. shows the ruins of the temple with Inek Bazar to the left and Mount Thorax in the
background to the right. Magnesia was identified on the site of the modern Inek Bazar, and the
ruins of the temple were discovered, in 1803, by W. R. Hamilton, who later became a member of
the Society of Dilettanti, and in 1830, its Secretary. The temple is especially important in the history
of classical art, as from the time of its erection it became quite a canon of style. Hermogenes of
Alabanda, its architect, wrote a treatise on Ionic proportions, and it is generally agreed that this
work was the source from which Vitruvius drew his account of the Ionic Order.1 As Michaelis has
said, Hermogenes was "the most distinguished architect of that late age in Asia Minor."
It is now determined that Hermogenes was engaged on the temple of Artemis and its precinct in
the last years of the third century. A few years later he built the smaller temple of Dionysos at
Teos in a similar style, and it was completed about 193 B.C. These two temples thus represent the
Hellenistic style of Asia Minor in the year 200 b.c. As Hermogenes had been assigned an earlier
date there was some doubt for a time from their advanced style whether the temples of Magnesia
and Teos had not been rebuilt in the Roman age. Further consideration, however, has removed all
these doubts. As will be seen below, the two temples correspond in the strictest way, and this alone
indicates that they were both the work of one master as reported by Vitruvius. The temple of
Artemis was partially excavated by the Ionian Mission of the Society of Dilettanti in 1812. In 1820
Huyot, the French architect, visited the site with Donaldson and made some excellent drawings, now
in the Louvre, some of which have been published by Pontremoli and Haussoullier in their volume
on Didyme. In 1822 Vulliamy passed through Magnesia and made a detailed drawing of the inner
frieze of the portico which he published in his collection of classical details. In 1842 Texier made
further excavations and brought away several slabs of the frieze which, together with some of the
architectural details, are now in the Louvre. From 1891 to 1893 a German expedition, working
under Carl Humann, made a final exploration of the site, the results of which were published in
1904.2 Part of the architectural order and some slabs of the frieze have been brought to Berlin,
and set up in the Pergamon Museum. Still more recently a full account of the sculptured frieze has
been given in the catalogue of the sculptures in the Constantinople Museum. The German expedition
excavated not only the temple but the temenos in which it stood, and the adjoining market-place,
together with the smaller temple of Zeus. The market-place was surrounded by long open halls
having double rows of columns. A fine propylaeum gave access to the temple court. It was found
that the whole assemblage of buildings was of one age and the work of Hermogenes. Some traces
and members of an earlier temple of the fourth century were found beneath the ruins of the later
structure. For all these facts the German volume must be referred to.
From the annotated original plan made by Bedford on the return of our Mission, now at the
1 In one of his MS. letters Wilkins remarks, " Vitruvius was the prince of plagiarists, and often succeeded in making himself believed to be an
original."
2 Magnesia am Maeander, by I. Kohte and C. Watzinger.
10
m