DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0242
208 THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS
broken down and cleared out. In the rocky floor of the
crypt are to be seen irregular holes or fissures (k) which are
generally held to be the famous trident-mark of Poseidon (to
a-^rj/xa rrj$ Tpialvyf) made when he smote the rock in his contest
with Athena. As seen now these marks do not, to be sure,
resemble the actual shape of a trident, and allowances must
be made for the changes in the appearance of the surface
of the rock wrought by time and other agencies. This want
of resemblance to a trident-mark has led some (134) to reject
this identification, but, as it seems to us, without sufficient
reason. Attention is called by Borrmann (135) to the peculiar
arrangement of the blocks of the pavement of the north
portico immediately above the place where the trident-mark
was shown or supposed to be. It will be noticed that two
smaller slabs are inserted among the larger ones, and that
the edges of one of these slabs appear to have been worked
smooth so as to be visible, while the larger slab lying adjacent
to the north wall of the building and over the entrance into
the crypt shows on its northern edge no trace of any joint.
From this arrangement it is inferred that originally an
opening of about 1.31 metres square was provided exactly
over these marks so as to make them easily seen by any
one looking down. This aperture may have been protected
by a well-head and a grating. The recent reconstruction
of the north porch has revealed the fact that two coffer-
blocks were omitted in the ceiling (the southernmost in the
second row from the east), and that there was a sort of
well or casing built up through the space between the
stone ceiling and the roof, plainly implying that there was
a hole or opening in the roof also. On either side of
the opening in the ceiling there was a frame which narrowed
somewhat the space made vacant by the omitted coffers.
Dorpfeld interprets this device as a means for leaving open
to the sky the trident-mark in the rock below the porch.
It is worth while incidentally to observe that a similar
arrangement is known to have been provided by the Romans
for sacred objects that were to receive honor only under an
open sky. Thus Varro (L.L. v. 66) says that the temple
of Fidius had a perforatum tectum, and Ovid {Fasti, ii. 671)
states that the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus had an exiguutn
broken down and cleared out. In the rocky floor of the
crypt are to be seen irregular holes or fissures (k) which are
generally held to be the famous trident-mark of Poseidon (to
a-^rj/xa rrj$ Tpialvyf) made when he smote the rock in his contest
with Athena. As seen now these marks do not, to be sure,
resemble the actual shape of a trident, and allowances must
be made for the changes in the appearance of the surface
of the rock wrought by time and other agencies. This want
of resemblance to a trident-mark has led some (134) to reject
this identification, but, as it seems to us, without sufficient
reason. Attention is called by Borrmann (135) to the peculiar
arrangement of the blocks of the pavement of the north
portico immediately above the place where the trident-mark
was shown or supposed to be. It will be noticed that two
smaller slabs are inserted among the larger ones, and that
the edges of one of these slabs appear to have been worked
smooth so as to be visible, while the larger slab lying adjacent
to the north wall of the building and over the entrance into
the crypt shows on its northern edge no trace of any joint.
From this arrangement it is inferred that originally an
opening of about 1.31 metres square was provided exactly
over these marks so as to make them easily seen by any
one looking down. This aperture may have been protected
by a well-head and a grating. The recent reconstruction
of the north porch has revealed the fact that two coffer-
blocks were omitted in the ceiling (the southernmost in the
second row from the east), and that there was a sort of
well or casing built up through the space between the
stone ceiling and the roof, plainly implying that there was
a hole or opening in the roof also. On either side of
the opening in the ceiling there was a frame which narrowed
somewhat the space made vacant by the omitted coffers.
Dorpfeld interprets this device as a means for leaving open
to the sky the trident-mark in the rock below the porch.
It is worth while incidentally to observe that a similar
arrangement is known to have been provided by the Romans
for sacred objects that were to receive honor only under an
open sky. Thus Varro (L.L. v. 66) says that the temple
of Fidius had a perforatum tectum, and Ovid {Fasti, ii. 671)
states that the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus had an exiguutn