DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0534
ELEUSIS.
511
phorus, serving for some architectural decoration, like the caryatides
of the Erechtheium.....The north-west side of the pentagonal
enclosure of the hierum of Eleusis was formed by a perpendicular exca-
vation in the rock of the Acropolis, which left a platform thirty-six feet
wide between the perpendicular rock and the back of the temple.
" The jivcm/cbs <tt]ko<; or TeXear^piov, or temple itself, the largest
ever erected by the Greeks in honour of the idols of their superstition, is
described by Strabol as capable of containing as many persons as
a theatre. It was one of the edifices designed in the administration of
Pericles by the architect of the Parthenon; but it was probably
executed in part only before the Peloponnesian war, as three successive
artists were employed in building it, and its portico was not constructed
until the time of Demetrius Phalereus, when Philo was the fourth or
fifth architect of this temple.2 When complete, it ranked as one of the
four finest examples of Greek architecture in marble. It faced the
south-east, and consisted (if the mission of the Dilettanti is correct in
its conclusion) of a cella 166 feet square within.3 Unfortunately, the
centre of the modern village occupies the exact site of this building,
and some of the cottages are built upon a slope formed by its ruins, in
consequence of which the mission could not succeed in obtaining all the
details which a more complete excavation of the ruins would probably
give. Comparing, however, the fragments which they found with the
1 p. 395. According, however, to
Plutarch (Pericl. 13), the building was
begun by Coroebus, continued by Meta-
genes the Xypetian, and finished by
Xenocles the Cholargean. Leake (ii. p.
163, note) would reconcile these autho-
rities by supposing that Ictinus only de-
signed the temple. But Strabo's words,
oi» KaTfo-KficHTCv "Iktitos hardly admit
this. Vitruvius also attributes the build-
ing to Ictinus: " Eleusine Cereris et Proser-
pinaj cellam immani magnitudine Ictinus
Dorico more sine exterioribus columnis ad
laxamentum usus sacrificiorum pertexuit."
—lib. vii. pra-f. 10. It therefore had at
first no portico, and Vitruvius goes on to
say that Philo added one, and made it
prostylon. The ancient temple had been
burnt by the Persians. Herod, ix. 65.
2 It may l>e added that Appius Claudius,
a contemporary of Cicero's, either built or
thought of building a propylreum here.
Epp. ad Att. vi. 1, 26. Cf. vi. 6.
3 If these were its dimensions, it is
evident that we must not take Strabo's
words of its being able to contain as many
spectators as a theatre (oxXov Oearpov) of
such a theatre as the Dionysiac. Unless
Strabo meant the whole peribolus.
511
phorus, serving for some architectural decoration, like the caryatides
of the Erechtheium.....The north-west side of the pentagonal
enclosure of the hierum of Eleusis was formed by a perpendicular exca-
vation in the rock of the Acropolis, which left a platform thirty-six feet
wide between the perpendicular rock and the back of the temple.
" The jivcm/cbs <tt]ko<; or TeXear^piov, or temple itself, the largest
ever erected by the Greeks in honour of the idols of their superstition, is
described by Strabol as capable of containing as many persons as
a theatre. It was one of the edifices designed in the administration of
Pericles by the architect of the Parthenon; but it was probably
executed in part only before the Peloponnesian war, as three successive
artists were employed in building it, and its portico was not constructed
until the time of Demetrius Phalereus, when Philo was the fourth or
fifth architect of this temple.2 When complete, it ranked as one of the
four finest examples of Greek architecture in marble. It faced the
south-east, and consisted (if the mission of the Dilettanti is correct in
its conclusion) of a cella 166 feet square within.3 Unfortunately, the
centre of the modern village occupies the exact site of this building,
and some of the cottages are built upon a slope formed by its ruins, in
consequence of which the mission could not succeed in obtaining all the
details which a more complete excavation of the ruins would probably
give. Comparing, however, the fragments which they found with the
1 p. 395. According, however, to
Plutarch (Pericl. 13), the building was
begun by Coroebus, continued by Meta-
genes the Xypetian, and finished by
Xenocles the Cholargean. Leake (ii. p.
163, note) would reconcile these autho-
rities by supposing that Ictinus only de-
signed the temple. But Strabo's words,
oi» KaTfo-KficHTCv "Iktitos hardly admit
this. Vitruvius also attributes the build-
ing to Ictinus: " Eleusine Cereris et Proser-
pinaj cellam immani magnitudine Ictinus
Dorico more sine exterioribus columnis ad
laxamentum usus sacrificiorum pertexuit."
—lib. vii. pra-f. 10. It therefore had at
first no portico, and Vitruvius goes on to
say that Philo added one, and made it
prostylon. The ancient temple had been
burnt by the Persians. Herod, ix. 65.
2 It may l>e added that Appius Claudius,
a contemporary of Cicero's, either built or
thought of building a propylreum here.
Epp. ad Att. vi. 1, 26. Cf. vi. 6.
3 If these were its dimensions, it is
evident that we must not take Strabo's
words of its being able to contain as many
spectators as a theatre (oxXov Oearpov) of
such a theatre as the Dionysiac. Unless
Strabo meant the whole peribolus.