DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0230
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS MILICHIUS
i79
This building, however, is not old enough to have been men-
tioned in an Oscan inscription. It probably stands in the place
of a much earlier edifice. The masonry of the wall on the south
side of the court is different from that of the other walls, and
older; as it shows no trace of a cross wall, it must always have
stood at the side of an open space, such as that of the present
court. To the earlier building the capitals belong, the style of
which, as remarked above, is pre-Roman.
In view of this explanation, we should probably recognize in
the head carved on the smallest of the pilaster capitals (Fig. 80)
a representation of Zeus Milichius, a divinity honored in many
parts Of Greece, especially by the farmers; Zeus the Gracious,
the patron of tillers of the soil. The serious, kindly face, bearded
and with long locks, was more than a mere ornament; it was the
god himself looking down upon the worshipper who entered his>
sanctuary.
i79
This building, however, is not old enough to have been men-
tioned in an Oscan inscription. It probably stands in the place
of a much earlier edifice. The masonry of the wall on the south
side of the court is different from that of the other walls, and
older; as it shows no trace of a cross wall, it must always have
stood at the side of an open space, such as that of the present
court. To the earlier building the capitals belong, the style of
which, as remarked above, is pre-Roman.
In view of this explanation, we should probably recognize in
the head carved on the smallest of the pilaster capitals (Fig. 80)
a representation of Zeus Milichius, a divinity honored in many
parts Of Greece, especially by the farmers; Zeus the Gracious,
the patron of tillers of the soil. The serious, kindly face, bearded
and with long locks, was more than a mere ornament; it was the
god himself looking down upon the worshipper who entered his>
sanctuary.