Gardner, Percy: The principles of Greek art (London, 1924)

36

PRINCIPLES OF GREEK ART

CHAP.

phasized by all the details of the construction and decoration.
The plan is of extreme simplicity. The building usually con-
sisted of three parts, of which by far the most important was
the cella, wherein stood the statue of the indwelling deity,
the jewel for which the whole temple was but an ornamented
shrine or box. In the fifth century, at all events, the size and
form of the cella were carefully planned for and adapted to the
display of this image. Smaller chambers in front and behind,

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Scale of Metres

Scale of Feet
3L° .

Fig. 1. — Plan of the Parthenon.1

the pronaos and opisthodomos, were mostly used for the stor-
age of the sacrificial vessels belonging to the service of the
deity and all sorts of objects of value which were dedicated to
him. Sometimes, in addition, the temple was a treasury for the
custody of money, frequently belonging, as at Delos, to the
landed estate of the god. Outside the cella with its depen-
dencies were porches of approach, and often a corridor sur-
rounded by pillars running all round the edifice.

These simple facts will at once emphasize the contrast be-
tween the ancient temple and the modern church, though the
cathedrals of the Roman and Byzantine Churches are in less
marked contrast to Greek ways of thought than those of the

1 By Dorpfeld, in Athen. Mittheil., 1881, PI. XII.