DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0061
Ill
THE GREEK TEMPLE
41
in the Erechtheum at Athens, were simple and perhaps monot-
onous. Alternate flowers and buds of the lotus, the palmette,
the egg and tongue moulding, simple maeander patterns, recur
repeatedly from temple to temple and from period to period.
But in the best age the mere workmanship has such distinction
that one can pick out in a moment a small splinter of the
Erechtheum from a heap of fragments on the Acropolis, and
one cannot but stand astonished at its exquisite finish.
Still clearer than the testimony which architectural details
bear to the delicacy of the senses of the Greeks is the testimony
which the whole scheme of the temple bears to the clearness and
rationality of their minds. On this point M. Boutmy dwells
with convincing force. He observes that if we drew an out-
line diagram, marking with arrows the direction of the strain,
and the reasonable order of considering a temple, we should
find that the form and decoration of existing temples at every
point correspond with those arrows. This applies especially to
the Doric style. We start from the solid basis or platform,
laid direct upon the native rock, and sloping away in a few steps
which run all round the edifice. Only at the front and back are
they used as approaches; but the massive parallel lines of
solid masonry give an unsurpassed impression of stability.
On this basis is set in the midst the cella or chamber where the
deity dwells, shut off by walls as by curtains from the gaze of
the people, and filled with the rich offerings of the pious. The
walls are plain, except that sometimes at the top, whether out-
side as in the Parthenon, or inside as at Phigaleia, we find a
narrow frieze which resembles the border of a curtain. Primarily
these walls are intended not to support but to divide; no
emphasis is laid on their solidity. In the larger temples this
cella is surrounded by a continuous line of solid columns. The
spaces between them admit light and air, and by partly conceal-
ing and partly revealing the building within they emphasize
its sacred character. But the pillars themselves have but one
THE GREEK TEMPLE
41
in the Erechtheum at Athens, were simple and perhaps monot-
onous. Alternate flowers and buds of the lotus, the palmette,
the egg and tongue moulding, simple maeander patterns, recur
repeatedly from temple to temple and from period to period.
But in the best age the mere workmanship has such distinction
that one can pick out in a moment a small splinter of the
Erechtheum from a heap of fragments on the Acropolis, and
one cannot but stand astonished at its exquisite finish.
Still clearer than the testimony which architectural details
bear to the delicacy of the senses of the Greeks is the testimony
which the whole scheme of the temple bears to the clearness and
rationality of their minds. On this point M. Boutmy dwells
with convincing force. He observes that if we drew an out-
line diagram, marking with arrows the direction of the strain,
and the reasonable order of considering a temple, we should
find that the form and decoration of existing temples at every
point correspond with those arrows. This applies especially to
the Doric style. We start from the solid basis or platform,
laid direct upon the native rock, and sloping away in a few steps
which run all round the edifice. Only at the front and back are
they used as approaches; but the massive parallel lines of
solid masonry give an unsurpassed impression of stability.
On this basis is set in the midst the cella or chamber where the
deity dwells, shut off by walls as by curtains from the gaze of
the people, and filled with the rich offerings of the pious. The
walls are plain, except that sometimes at the top, whether out-
side as in the Parthenon, or inside as at Phigaleia, we find a
narrow frieze which resembles the border of a curtain. Primarily
these walls are intended not to support but to divide; no
emphasis is laid on their solidity. In the larger temples this
cella is surrounded by a continuous line of solid columns. The
spaces between them admit light and air, and by partly conceal-
ing and partly revealing the building within they emphasize
its sacred character. But the pillars themselves have but one