DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4377#0237
TEMPLE OP HEKATE AT EAGINA. 567
may represent the birth of Hekate herself, whose
parents, according to one tradition, were Zeus and
Here ; or, according to another, Zeus and Demeter.
The seated figure might then represent the mother
of Hekate, Demeter or Hero; the figure with the
cornucopia, Tyche; the male figure, Hermes ; and
the figure holding the child, Eilcithyia, or one of
the nymphs to whom Zeus intrusted Hekate to he
brought up under the name of "Ayys'kog.K
It is probable that many of the intermediate slabs
lie buried under the ruins, and that they are in a
much better state of preservation than those here
described, which, with one or two exceptions, have
suffered much from the weather. The style of the
sculptures is bold and forcible, though rather coarse
and conventional. The composition of the drapery
is deficient in flow. The folds are rather too an-
gular. This style of drapery is characteristic of the
Macedonian period.
In the south-east heap I foimd a statue,lying half-
buried in the ground. It is engaged at the back in
a pilaster, and was, therefore, probably an architec-
tural statue. It represents a female figure, draped
to the feet, rather larger than life-size. The style
is somewhat meagre.
Peribolus of the Temple.—The temple, as may
be seen from the Plan, is surrounded by a peri-
bolus of an oblong form, its sides being paral-
lel to those of the temple. On the south-west,
the wall of the peribolus may be very distinctly
c For both these legends relative to the birth of Hekate, see
Sohol. ad Theokr. Idyll, ii. 1. 12.
may represent the birth of Hekate herself, whose
parents, according to one tradition, were Zeus and
Here ; or, according to another, Zeus and Demeter.
The seated figure might then represent the mother
of Hekate, Demeter or Hero; the figure with the
cornucopia, Tyche; the male figure, Hermes ; and
the figure holding the child, Eilcithyia, or one of
the nymphs to whom Zeus intrusted Hekate to he
brought up under the name of "Ayys'kog.K
It is probable that many of the intermediate slabs
lie buried under the ruins, and that they are in a
much better state of preservation than those here
described, which, with one or two exceptions, have
suffered much from the weather. The style of the
sculptures is bold and forcible, though rather coarse
and conventional. The composition of the drapery
is deficient in flow. The folds are rather too an-
gular. This style of drapery is characteristic of the
Macedonian period.
In the south-east heap I foimd a statue,lying half-
buried in the ground. It is engaged at the back in
a pilaster, and was, therefore, probably an architec-
tural statue. It represents a female figure, draped
to the feet, rather larger than life-size. The style
is somewhat meagre.
Peribolus of the Temple.—The temple, as may
be seen from the Plan, is surrounded by a peri-
bolus of an oblong form, its sides being paral-
lel to those of the temple. On the south-west,
the wall of the peribolus may be very distinctly
c For both these legends relative to the birth of Hekate, see
Sohol. ad Theokr. Idyll, ii. 1. 12.