DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5179#0263
THE CELEBRATED TEMPLE. 225
an indestructible solidity."1 The employment of
wool has been objected to by some, from its impro-
bability ; and the circumstance of Old London
Bridge having been said to be built on wool-sacks,
affords an analogous case : for it was not till after
the bridge was removed, and no wool-sacks dis-
covered, that the belief was verifie d that it referred
to a tax on wool, and not to actual wool-sacks.
But when we consider the minute description Pliny
lias given of other particulars, wc must acquit him
of speaking figuratively in the present instance.
As the temple was situated in a marshy district, the
fleeces might be supposed to perform a service that
the Greeks at this early period were probably unable
to effect by other means, viz., to prevent the damp
from rising; for while the Romans possessed much
more efficacious means in the excellency of their
cements, the Greeks constructed their buildings
without either cement or mortar.3
3. The-Quarries.
The quarries from whence the marble for building
the temple was derived, are on the north side of
Mount Pion, and a column of granite is still lying at
their entrance.3
Vitruvius thus describes the occasion of finding
them :—" A shepherd of the name of Pixodorus
1 Diog. Laert. ii. 8.
2 The consideration of this subject will naturally call to mind
the story of Gideon and the fleece of wool.— {Judges, vi. 37—40.)
3 Prokesch, Denkwurdigketien, ii. 103.
2 G
an indestructible solidity."1 The employment of
wool has been objected to by some, from its impro-
bability ; and the circumstance of Old London
Bridge having been said to be built on wool-sacks,
affords an analogous case : for it was not till after
the bridge was removed, and no wool-sacks dis-
covered, that the belief was verifie d that it referred
to a tax on wool, and not to actual wool-sacks.
But when we consider the minute description Pliny
lias given of other particulars, wc must acquit him
of speaking figuratively in the present instance.
As the temple was situated in a marshy district, the
fleeces might be supposed to perform a service that
the Greeks at this early period were probably unable
to effect by other means, viz., to prevent the damp
from rising; for while the Romans possessed much
more efficacious means in the excellency of their
cements, the Greeks constructed their buildings
without either cement or mortar.3
3. The-Quarries.
The quarries from whence the marble for building
the temple was derived, are on the north side of
Mount Pion, and a column of granite is still lying at
their entrance.3
Vitruvius thus describes the occasion of finding
them :—" A shepherd of the name of Pixodorus
1 Diog. Laert. ii. 8.
2 The consideration of this subject will naturally call to mind
the story of Gideon and the fleece of wool.— {Judges, vi. 37—40.)
3 Prokesch, Denkwurdigketien, ii. 103.
2 G