DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4945#0083
72 The Archaic Artemisia oe Ephesus.
the Croesus foundations at this point, as it does, this fragment must be ascribed
to the Primitive period and probably to C temple ; but it is almost certainly a
relic of an isolated structure, situated outside the Primitive Temenos. Where
so little is left, no conjecture as to its nature is of any use. It was the only
trace of a pre-Croesus structure found outside the area of the Croesus cella.
Before the contents of the lower strata are described, the structural
evidence for Primitive temples on the Artemision site may be briefly compared
with the literary, set forth in Chapter I.
(i) There is ample proof, from excavation as well as from literature, that
before the large Temple of the sixth century was built, the Artemision site
was occupied by smaller structures.
(2) The latest of these, at any rate (our C), had the proper proportionate
dimensions and the form of a Hellenic temple in ant is. It was entered probably
from the west end, like its successors, and had at least one order of columns.
This temple may very well be that smaller Ionic one which immediately
preceded a larger, as recorded by Strabo, following Artemidorus; and if he be
taken as our best authority, it must be supposed to have been built by
Chersiphron and Metagenes. It was, in fact, the temple remembered by later
tradition as the origiiial Artemision, because it was the first of a definite
Hellenic order of architecture and of the later Temple form.
(3) The structural evidence, however, witnesses clearly to still earlier
shrines on the site, which seem to have consisted of small buildings, sheltering
sacra, within a Temenos. The latter perhaps remained of the same area in
both cases; but the central building was enlarged considerably in the second
of these shrines (our B). It will be recalled (p. 3) that the literary evidence
witnesses also, though less certainly, to two successive shrines on the site
before Chersiphron's building. The second and latest was inferred to be
a stone building erected over and round an original tree-shrine of very small
dimensions. The tree-shrine may be held to be represented by our Basis A
with its altar or dependent platform on the west, enclosed within a paved
temenos ; and the building erected over it, by the restoration B, which amplified
these central structures and united them in one platform, in a manner hardly
to be accounted for except on the supposition that a considerable superstruc-
ture was to be erected on the new platform. This new edifice was perhaps
vaguely remembered by later tradition as preceding the " first Artemision "
and connected with the name of Theodorus of Samos. In any case the
the Croesus foundations at this point, as it does, this fragment must be ascribed
to the Primitive period and probably to C temple ; but it is almost certainly a
relic of an isolated structure, situated outside the Primitive Temenos. Where
so little is left, no conjecture as to its nature is of any use. It was the only
trace of a pre-Croesus structure found outside the area of the Croesus cella.
Before the contents of the lower strata are described, the structural
evidence for Primitive temples on the Artemision site may be briefly compared
with the literary, set forth in Chapter I.
(i) There is ample proof, from excavation as well as from literature, that
before the large Temple of the sixth century was built, the Artemision site
was occupied by smaller structures.
(2) The latest of these, at any rate (our C), had the proper proportionate
dimensions and the form of a Hellenic temple in ant is. It was entered probably
from the west end, like its successors, and had at least one order of columns.
This temple may very well be that smaller Ionic one which immediately
preceded a larger, as recorded by Strabo, following Artemidorus; and if he be
taken as our best authority, it must be supposed to have been built by
Chersiphron and Metagenes. It was, in fact, the temple remembered by later
tradition as the origiiial Artemision, because it was the first of a definite
Hellenic order of architecture and of the later Temple form.
(3) The structural evidence, however, witnesses clearly to still earlier
shrines on the site, which seem to have consisted of small buildings, sheltering
sacra, within a Temenos. The latter perhaps remained of the same area in
both cases; but the central building was enlarged considerably in the second
of these shrines (our B). It will be recalled (p. 3) that the literary evidence
witnesses also, though less certainly, to two successive shrines on the site
before Chersiphron's building. The second and latest was inferred to be
a stone building erected over and round an original tree-shrine of very small
dimensions. The tree-shrine may be held to be represented by our Basis A
with its altar or dependent platform on the west, enclosed within a paved
temenos ; and the building erected over it, by the restoration B, which amplified
these central structures and united them in one platform, in a manner hardly
to be accounted for except on the supposition that a considerable superstruc-
ture was to be erected on the new platform. This new edifice was perhaps
vaguely remembered by later tradition as preceding the " first Artemision "
and connected with the name of Theodorus of Samos. In any case the