DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4263#0033
of
TH£
nr, 1
10>-*C
32
OF THE IONIC TEMPLE ON THE ILISSUS.
PLATE VIII.
The Elevation of the Portico. The cymatiuma is destroyed in the original building, and the
two columns marked G, G, in the plan are wanting ; the frieze likewise which is here represented
plain, has most probably been ornamented with basso-relievos. See Plate X.
U
■^
0f the temp
ftliete^ele
temp
>
of
of that range ^
0f stoned *
a Our author here meant sima, which from the section of the
lateral cornice in Plate XII., most probably never existed on the
sides of this temple, but the cymatium or small moulding under
it is clearly indicated. As the construction and termination of
the fastigia and cornices of antique edifices have lately been a
subject of much consideration, we take this opportunity of in-
troducing some observations on the subject. Vitruvius applies
the term cymatium (from y.v^i.rwv, undula) to various classes of
undulating mouldings, as, for example, to that terminating the
abacus of the Ionic capital, to that at the top of the architrave,
and to the small moulding over the corona as already mentioned,
&c. The sima; (perhaps derived from to. eipa., loca ardua et ex-
celsa) and which, as Vitruvius mentions, were called by the
Greeks Ib-itiS!^, from their superposition, seem to have origin-
ated from the termination of the fictile tiles over the pediments
of the early structures, which were probably turned up in a
graceful form to a continued line, in order to conceal the broken
and jagged appearance of the outline formed by the end laps of
the tegulae next the most ornamental fronts. Even some of the
most ancient edifices of Greece were almost entirely constructed
with Terra Cotta as the remark of Pausanias on the ruins of the
Hieron of Epidauria will make evident, confirmed by the existence
of some of the painted fragments belonging to it discovered by
that highly gifted traveller the late Dr. E. D. Clarke. In the
Athenian inscription now in the British Museum, of a survey of
the Erectheum, engraved on marble, and with much learning and
ingenuity interpreted by Mr. Wilkins in his Athcniensia, the term
ETHJtpai'Oi' or liriy-pacvio
fasti.
gn
and
' Epieranitides' (derived from
vertex) is applied to the " tiles forming the sima or top-bed of the
cornice belonging to the pediment." The editor of the Ionian An-
tiquities, 2d Edit. Vol. I. Chap. XI. p. 23. remarks, in speaking
of the Ionic temple at Priene, " It may be observed that the
bottom of the sima does not spring from the edge of the fillet be-
neath, but leaves a small recess, which seems to indicate that the
materials of this member might be originally of lead, for if a
sheet of this metal be laid upon the cornice and turned up in
the form of a sima (the use of which is to collect the water from
the roof, and throw it off from the building through the mouths
of the lions' heads generally carved for that purpose), it will na-
turally leave such a recess. This particularity is found in plain
as well as ornamental cornices, in the Greek buildings. Thus,
among others, the Parthenon in the Acropolis at Athens, has the
cornice of the pediment crowned with an ovolo which springs
from the fillet beneath in the same manner, and has no orna-
ments." This theory however is not tenable when it is observed
that the earliest examples of the sima appear only on the raking
cornices of the pediment, where the principle of the trough or
gutter ' to collect the water from the roof' could never have been
its office, as a simple weathering of the tile or stone would have
answered that purpose. We revert, therefore, to our remark on
the early fictile construction of the roof, where the raking tiles
next the fronts are supposed to have been formed, as already said,
to an ornamental termination. This prototype seems afterwards
to have been imitated and improved upon in marble, by Byzes of
Naxos, an architect who for his invention in the construction of
marble roofs, was, according to Pausanias, honored with an in-
scribed statue about 580 B.C., rather more than a century before
the erection of the Parthenon; a reference to the thin and fragile
construction of the pedimental simee of which edifice, and of those
of the great temple of Eleusis and its propylasum, &c. will render
more apparent. In the earliest Grecian temples, the sima having
answered the original end of its intention, as well as contributing
to give greater importance to the principal fronts, and affording a
larger margin to impannel the sculpture introduced in the tympa-
num, was corresponded with in the flanks by a range of ornamental
tiles, terminating the a.^;, harmi or joint-tiles, excepting
when the slope of the roof was kept back and low with regard
to the corona, when these antefixa: or eaves joint tiles, being
suppressed or rendered less conspicuous, made way for the lateral
continuation of the sima of the pediment with projecting lions'
heads, introduced both for use and ornament, and supplying the
richness of aerial termination, to which the eye was accustomed
from the antefixa;, and practised in the outline of almost every
species of architecture, except the Egyptian, the ponderous and
sepulchral character of which did not admit of any variation of
aerial outline but by mass. Thus, by the continuation of the
sima, a more uniform and manageable arrangement took place,
we therefore infer this moulding, as an horizontal one, not to be-
long to the primary principles of Greek construction, but to form
a step in the progress of architectural refinement.
Previous to the work of Sir William Gell and his coadjutors,
' The inedited Antiquities of Attica', architects were undecided
respecting the mode anciently adopted of covering the cornices
and roofs of Grecian edifices, particularly as the simte of few of
the monuments of early antiquity were to be found ; but if we
add to the greater exposure to destruction and decay of the
fragile summits of edifices, the ascertained fact, that the lateral
sima was not always introduced, it follows that seldom could be
found what rarely existed. The monuments of Thrasillus and
Lysicrates, the orders of which buildings without doubt were in
correspondence with other prototypes, possessed no sima. The
Parthenon, the Eleusinium and its propylaium, were always
deficient of the horizontal sima. Neither in the various mould-
ings of the propylseum of the Acropolis, nor in the Erectheum as
shewn by our authors, or observed subsequently, does any indi-
cation of the horizontal sima exist; if we may include the por-
tico, supported by statues where an enlarged ornamented echi-
nus, called distinguishingly in the Athenian inscription KaA^'/j,
the name of a shell fish, holds its place. Nor in the Temple of
Theseus, nor in the whole range of antiquities given by Mr.
Wilkins of Sicily and Paestum, is there any indication of a sima
to be found, with the equivocal exception in the temple of Segesta.
In some researches recently made among the ruins of Selinus
which we trust will soon be made public, (where Mr. W. Harris,
a most worthy and promising young architect, to whom a re-
cording tribute is due, sacrificed his life owing to fatigue under
a meridianal sun, on one of the generally pestilential sites of de-
serted ancient cities of the Mediterranean; and to the regret of
losing whom his companions have to add the mortification of ex-
periencing the rapacious seizure by the Neapolitan government,
according to the manner of the Turks, of the sculpture discovered
and rescued from oblivion by their intelligence and enterprize),
the termination of the cornice of the pediments of some of these
most ancient edifices appears to have had a painted sima of a
hitherto unknown and singular character. In Ionia, however,
in the Temple at Teos, and in that of Priene, built by Alexander,
at Athens in the Temple of the Winds, and in all monuments
and fragments of a Roman character, or erected under Roman in-
fluence in Greece, such as the Arch and Pantheon of Adrian, the
monument of Fhilopappus, possibly the Incantada at Salonica,
&c. we invariably find this universal termination of the Roman
orders. From the foregoing comparison, the sima appears not to
have been an integral part of early Grecian architecture, but to
have originated from the pediment; thence to have been carried
round the level cornices, till at length, between the ages of
Alexander and Augustus, it became an established part of an
order. In modern practice, from the nature of the termination
of the summits of our edifices, it is clearly better to follow the
systematized principle of Vitruvius of introducing the sima as
the constituent part of an order, than simply to apply it to the
pediment, without the corresponding character of early Greek
construction, but in buildings of a severe chasteness, the archi-
tect will not err who follows the practice of the best age of
Grecian art, the age of Pericles. CED0
^erepresentedonitarec
ice, since its h
^ornament.
,>on of one quarter-
of forming t
•^profiles and section of ;
.:. Theplan of the capital:
atois) is, contrary to tl
■i Theprofile of the capit
%* and vignettes, PI
before.
Msxfa through the:
:i,i-«ion through the
; ^formanddimensk
Wofoneof
S,IHitalandba
^theba
*lk
Sliest e
TH£
nr, 1
10>-*C
32
OF THE IONIC TEMPLE ON THE ILISSUS.
PLATE VIII.
The Elevation of the Portico. The cymatiuma is destroyed in the original building, and the
two columns marked G, G, in the plan are wanting ; the frieze likewise which is here represented
plain, has most probably been ornamented with basso-relievos. See Plate X.
U
■^
0f the temp
ftliete^ele
temp
>
of
of that range ^
0f stoned *
a Our author here meant sima, which from the section of the
lateral cornice in Plate XII., most probably never existed on the
sides of this temple, but the cymatium or small moulding under
it is clearly indicated. As the construction and termination of
the fastigia and cornices of antique edifices have lately been a
subject of much consideration, we take this opportunity of in-
troducing some observations on the subject. Vitruvius applies
the term cymatium (from y.v^i.rwv, undula) to various classes of
undulating mouldings, as, for example, to that terminating the
abacus of the Ionic capital, to that at the top of the architrave,
and to the small moulding over the corona as already mentioned,
&c. The sima; (perhaps derived from to. eipa., loca ardua et ex-
celsa) and which, as Vitruvius mentions, were called by the
Greeks Ib-itiS!^, from their superposition, seem to have origin-
ated from the termination of the fictile tiles over the pediments
of the early structures, which were probably turned up in a
graceful form to a continued line, in order to conceal the broken
and jagged appearance of the outline formed by the end laps of
the tegulae next the most ornamental fronts. Even some of the
most ancient edifices of Greece were almost entirely constructed
with Terra Cotta as the remark of Pausanias on the ruins of the
Hieron of Epidauria will make evident, confirmed by the existence
of some of the painted fragments belonging to it discovered by
that highly gifted traveller the late Dr. E. D. Clarke. In the
Athenian inscription now in the British Museum, of a survey of
the Erectheum, engraved on marble, and with much learning and
ingenuity interpreted by Mr. Wilkins in his Athcniensia, the term
ETHJtpai'Oi' or liriy-pacvio
fasti.
gn
and
' Epieranitides' (derived from
vertex) is applied to the " tiles forming the sima or top-bed of the
cornice belonging to the pediment." The editor of the Ionian An-
tiquities, 2d Edit. Vol. I. Chap. XI. p. 23. remarks, in speaking
of the Ionic temple at Priene, " It may be observed that the
bottom of the sima does not spring from the edge of the fillet be-
neath, but leaves a small recess, which seems to indicate that the
materials of this member might be originally of lead, for if a
sheet of this metal be laid upon the cornice and turned up in
the form of a sima (the use of which is to collect the water from
the roof, and throw it off from the building through the mouths
of the lions' heads generally carved for that purpose), it will na-
turally leave such a recess. This particularity is found in plain
as well as ornamental cornices, in the Greek buildings. Thus,
among others, the Parthenon in the Acropolis at Athens, has the
cornice of the pediment crowned with an ovolo which springs
from the fillet beneath in the same manner, and has no orna-
ments." This theory however is not tenable when it is observed
that the earliest examples of the sima appear only on the raking
cornices of the pediment, where the principle of the trough or
gutter ' to collect the water from the roof' could never have been
its office, as a simple weathering of the tile or stone would have
answered that purpose. We revert, therefore, to our remark on
the early fictile construction of the roof, where the raking tiles
next the fronts are supposed to have been formed, as already said,
to an ornamental termination. This prototype seems afterwards
to have been imitated and improved upon in marble, by Byzes of
Naxos, an architect who for his invention in the construction of
marble roofs, was, according to Pausanias, honored with an in-
scribed statue about 580 B.C., rather more than a century before
the erection of the Parthenon; a reference to the thin and fragile
construction of the pedimental simee of which edifice, and of those
of the great temple of Eleusis and its propylasum, &c. will render
more apparent. In the earliest Grecian temples, the sima having
answered the original end of its intention, as well as contributing
to give greater importance to the principal fronts, and affording a
larger margin to impannel the sculpture introduced in the tympa-
num, was corresponded with in the flanks by a range of ornamental
tiles, terminating the a.^;, harmi or joint-tiles, excepting
when the slope of the roof was kept back and low with regard
to the corona, when these antefixa: or eaves joint tiles, being
suppressed or rendered less conspicuous, made way for the lateral
continuation of the sima of the pediment with projecting lions'
heads, introduced both for use and ornament, and supplying the
richness of aerial termination, to which the eye was accustomed
from the antefixa;, and practised in the outline of almost every
species of architecture, except the Egyptian, the ponderous and
sepulchral character of which did not admit of any variation of
aerial outline but by mass. Thus, by the continuation of the
sima, a more uniform and manageable arrangement took place,
we therefore infer this moulding, as an horizontal one, not to be-
long to the primary principles of Greek construction, but to form
a step in the progress of architectural refinement.
Previous to the work of Sir William Gell and his coadjutors,
' The inedited Antiquities of Attica', architects were undecided
respecting the mode anciently adopted of covering the cornices
and roofs of Grecian edifices, particularly as the simte of few of
the monuments of early antiquity were to be found ; but if we
add to the greater exposure to destruction and decay of the
fragile summits of edifices, the ascertained fact, that the lateral
sima was not always introduced, it follows that seldom could be
found what rarely existed. The monuments of Thrasillus and
Lysicrates, the orders of which buildings without doubt were in
correspondence with other prototypes, possessed no sima. The
Parthenon, the Eleusinium and its propylaium, were always
deficient of the horizontal sima. Neither in the various mould-
ings of the propylseum of the Acropolis, nor in the Erectheum as
shewn by our authors, or observed subsequently, does any indi-
cation of the horizontal sima exist; if we may include the por-
tico, supported by statues where an enlarged ornamented echi-
nus, called distinguishingly in the Athenian inscription KaA^'/j,
the name of a shell fish, holds its place. Nor in the Temple of
Theseus, nor in the whole range of antiquities given by Mr.
Wilkins of Sicily and Paestum, is there any indication of a sima
to be found, with the equivocal exception in the temple of Segesta.
In some researches recently made among the ruins of Selinus
which we trust will soon be made public, (where Mr. W. Harris,
a most worthy and promising young architect, to whom a re-
cording tribute is due, sacrificed his life owing to fatigue under
a meridianal sun, on one of the generally pestilential sites of de-
serted ancient cities of the Mediterranean; and to the regret of
losing whom his companions have to add the mortification of ex-
periencing the rapacious seizure by the Neapolitan government,
according to the manner of the Turks, of the sculpture discovered
and rescued from oblivion by their intelligence and enterprize),
the termination of the cornice of the pediments of some of these
most ancient edifices appears to have had a painted sima of a
hitherto unknown and singular character. In Ionia, however,
in the Temple at Teos, and in that of Priene, built by Alexander,
at Athens in the Temple of the Winds, and in all monuments
and fragments of a Roman character, or erected under Roman in-
fluence in Greece, such as the Arch and Pantheon of Adrian, the
monument of Fhilopappus, possibly the Incantada at Salonica,
&c. we invariably find this universal termination of the Roman
orders. From the foregoing comparison, the sima appears not to
have been an integral part of early Grecian architecture, but to
have originated from the pediment; thence to have been carried
round the level cornices, till at length, between the ages of
Alexander and Augustus, it became an established part of an
order. In modern practice, from the nature of the termination
of the summits of our edifices, it is clearly better to follow the
systematized principle of Vitruvius of introducing the sima as
the constituent part of an order, than simply to apply it to the
pediment, without the corresponding character of early Greek
construction, but in buildings of a severe chasteness, the archi-
tect will not err who follows the practice of the best age of
Grecian art, the age of Pericles. CED0
^erepresentedonitarec
ice, since its h
^ornament.
,>on of one quarter-
of forming t
•^profiles and section of ;
.:. Theplan of the capital:
atois) is, contrary to tl
■i Theprofile of the capit
%* and vignettes, PI
before.
Msxfa through the:
:i,i-«ion through the
; ^formanddimensk
Wofoneof
S,IHitalandba
^theba
*lk
Sliest e