DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5179#0337
298 TEMPLE OE DIANA.
hung upon four wooden pillars overlaid with gold.1
This was in 1491 B.C. The description of the
veil of the Temple of Solomon, executed in 1015
B.C., is precisely similar,3 and as we are informed
by Josephus, was of Babylonian manufacture.3 This
feature of the JeAvish temple is constantly referred
to by the word para/petasma : and its use and
purport is still kept up, though modified, in the
iconastasis of the Greek Church.4 " The veil of
the Temple of Jupiter Olympius was of wool,
adorned with Assyrian weaving and the purple of
the Phoenicians; it was dedicated by King Anti-
ochus ;"5 and we may suppose that the parapetasma
of the Temple of Diana, like its peplos, (see page
273,) was ornamented with figures and arabesques
woven into it, and thus was rendered a beautiful
accessory of the temple : and certainly nothing could
so much contribute to the imposing nature of the
scene, as the concealing the image from the eyes
of the worshippers, till they had all taken their
places, and observed a solemn silence ; and then,
at a given signal, at the blast of trumpets,0 for the
1 Exod. xxvi. 31, 2 ; xxxvi. 35, G.
2 2 Chron. iii. 14. 3 Jos. Bell. v. 5, 4.
4 Some of these are particularly gorgeous, especially in the rich
Russian churches, as at Moscow, and Kief, and Novogorod, where
they glitter with gold, silver, and precious stones.
6 Pans. v. 12.
6 The sacred trumpeters are particularly mentioned among the
officers of the temple, in an ancient inscription published by
Chandler. See page 332.
hung upon four wooden pillars overlaid with gold.1
This was in 1491 B.C. The description of the
veil of the Temple of Solomon, executed in 1015
B.C., is precisely similar,3 and as we are informed
by Josephus, was of Babylonian manufacture.3 This
feature of the JeAvish temple is constantly referred
to by the word para/petasma : and its use and
purport is still kept up, though modified, in the
iconastasis of the Greek Church.4 " The veil of
the Temple of Jupiter Olympius was of wool,
adorned with Assyrian weaving and the purple of
the Phoenicians; it was dedicated by King Anti-
ochus ;"5 and we may suppose that the parapetasma
of the Temple of Diana, like its peplos, (see page
273,) was ornamented with figures and arabesques
woven into it, and thus was rendered a beautiful
accessory of the temple : and certainly nothing could
so much contribute to the imposing nature of the
scene, as the concealing the image from the eyes
of the worshippers, till they had all taken their
places, and observed a solemn silence ; and then,
at a given signal, at the blast of trumpets,0 for the
1 Exod. xxvi. 31, 2 ; xxxvi. 35, G.
2 2 Chron. iii. 14. 3 Jos. Bell. v. 5, 4.
4 Some of these are particularly gorgeous, especially in the rich
Russian churches, as at Moscow, and Kief, and Novogorod, where
they glitter with gold, silver, and precious stones.
6 Pans. v. 12.
6 The sacred trumpeters are particularly mentioned among the
officers of the temple, in an ancient inscription published by
Chandler. See page 332.