DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.803#0039
TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 33
with statues, but the western front had none. The
ten metopes of the eastern front, and the four adjoining
ones on each flank, are the only metopes adorned with
sculptures; but there are sculptures on the frieze
over the entrance both of the posticum and pronaos.
Unfortunately the Turks have disfigured all of them,
though enough remains to show that the labours of
Hercules and Theseus were the subjects. The roof
of the cella (which is 40 feet long within the walls and
20 feet wide) is modern; but with this exception and
that of the two pillars of the pronaos, which have been
removed to make way for a Christian altar, the temple
is in perfect preservation. Its present complete con-
dition is no doubt mainly due to its having been
turned into a Christian church, while the edifices on
the Acropolis, which has at all times served as a
citadel, have suffered in the calamities attendant on
warfare. The traces of paint of various colours on the
figures of the metopes and the frieze are said to be
still clearly discernible: this practice of painting the
sculptures of Greek temples seems to have been very
common, and, as we learn from Pausanias, single
statues also were often ornamented in this way. The
old sculptured metopes of Selinus were painted, and
sculptured painted ornaments are also to be seen in
the temple of Jupiter at iEgina, and in the Parthenon,
Some assert that the Greeks borrowed this fashion of
painting the sculptured ornaments of their temples
from the Egyptians: this may be so, but we know
nothing about the fact. The interior of the Theseium
was decorated with paintings in the time of Pausanias,
and the stucco which held them is still to be seen.
The quarter of the city in which the Theseium stands
was one of the older parts, and was called the inner
Ceramicus; according to one account, from a hero of
the name of Cerameus, but more probably from the
pottery once made there. A gate called Dipylum
(Double-Gate) separated the inner from the outer
with statues, but the western front had none. The
ten metopes of the eastern front, and the four adjoining
ones on each flank, are the only metopes adorned with
sculptures; but there are sculptures on the frieze
over the entrance both of the posticum and pronaos.
Unfortunately the Turks have disfigured all of them,
though enough remains to show that the labours of
Hercules and Theseus were the subjects. The roof
of the cella (which is 40 feet long within the walls and
20 feet wide) is modern; but with this exception and
that of the two pillars of the pronaos, which have been
removed to make way for a Christian altar, the temple
is in perfect preservation. Its present complete con-
dition is no doubt mainly due to its having been
turned into a Christian church, while the edifices on
the Acropolis, which has at all times served as a
citadel, have suffered in the calamities attendant on
warfare. The traces of paint of various colours on the
figures of the metopes and the frieze are said to be
still clearly discernible: this practice of painting the
sculptures of Greek temples seems to have been very
common, and, as we learn from Pausanias, single
statues also were often ornamented in this way. The
old sculptured metopes of Selinus were painted, and
sculptured painted ornaments are also to be seen in
the temple of Jupiter at iEgina, and in the Parthenon,
Some assert that the Greeks borrowed this fashion of
painting the sculptured ornaments of their temples
from the Egyptians: this may be so, but we know
nothing about the fact. The interior of the Theseium
was decorated with paintings in the time of Pausanias,
and the stucco which held them is still to be seen.
The quarter of the city in which the Theseium stands
was one of the older parts, and was called the inner
Ceramicus; according to one account, from a hero of
the name of Cerameus, but more probably from the
pottery once made there. A gate called Dipylum
(Double-Gate) separated the inner from the outer