DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4264#0036
OF THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA,
36
The front measure gives an attic foot of 12,137 London inches and decimals ; the side measure
one of 12,138. _
Hence the Roman foot, which, according to Pliny, was to the attic m the proportion of 600 to
625% or of 24 to 25, will be found to be 11,651 London inches and decimals, or 971 such parts, as
the London foot contains 1000, which does not sensibly differ from what has been determined by other
methods".
I cannot conclude this chapter without mentioning, that while I measured the steps of this
portico, I observed the blocks of marble, of which they are composed, appeared to be united and
grown together, on their contiguous edges, the whole height of the step j and this apparent junction
continued to some distance within the portico. To satisfy myself in this particular, I traced the joint
till no doubt remained of the separation ; then returning to the edge of the step, I broke off a piece
across the joint with a hammer, which verified my conjecture; for in the piece thus broken off, one
half of which was part of one block, and the other, part of the block next to it, the two parts adhered
together as firmly as if they had never been separate.
Other instances of this coalition we met with, which were always as here, in the perpendicular
joint, never in the horizontal".
PLATE IV.
A VIEW OF THE EASTERN PORTICO OF THE PARTHENON.
This front was more injured by the explosion of the powder, which happened during the siege
already mentioned, than the front facing the west, for here much the greater part of the pediment is
wanting. In the space between the columns is seen the present Moschea, built within the area of the
Parthenon".
PLATE V.
THE PLAN OF THE PARTHENON.
.
A. A. The eastern front, in which was the principal entrance5.
B. The pronaosf. In this the disposition of the columns may help us to explain an obscure
• Plinii Nat. Hist. 1. ii. c. 23. Strabo, 1. vii. p. 322. say 585
Roman miles, according to the common reckoning of eight stadia
to a mile make 4280 stadia. But if with Polybius we reckon
8i stadia to a mile, we must add 178 stadia to that number.
The stadium was 600 Greek feet, and Polybius did not allow for
the difference between the Greek and the Roman foot. For if
the two feet were equal, as Polybius supposed, 8J stadia of GOO
feet each would be equal to 5000 Roman feet, or 1000 paces,
which was a Roman mile: but if the stadium measured 025
Roman feet, as Pliny says it did, eight stadia would be equal to
a Roman mile, which Strabo says was the common reckoning.
b See Philosophical Transactions for the year 1700, p. 820.
c This operation of nature, met with on a monument of art, is
of singular and striking interest; it results from the infiltration
at the joints of the steps, of the heavy periodical rains impregnated
with the calcareous particles they dissolvcdin passingover the mar-
ble roof and surface of the temple, which were afterwards precipi-
tated by evaporation in a stalactitic formation. The process may
have been facilitated by the influence of an attraction of cohesion
created by the close contact of the contiguous blocks of marble,
produced by the precision of the workmanship. The drip-water
not penetrating within the horizontal joints, may account for the
non-appearance of the crystallization in them, in the same manner
as in those which are vertical. In mountain caverns of lime-
stone formation, these stalactitic incrustations are observed in
shapes, which to many would seem the sport of nature; within
the grottos of the marble mountains of Carrara, Pentelicus, and
Antiparos, they astonish and delight the beholder. [bd.]
d The beautiful drawing from nature from w-hich this view was
engraved is by Pars ; it is now in the British Museum, having
been presented by the Dilettanti Society to that establishment,
with other works of that superior artist. PJed.]
e Nearly ninety feet from the eastern front, is to be observed
the upper part of a large circular pedestal lying inclined beneath
the level of the surface of the soil, on which modern travellers
can only trace these letters :
CEGEAIPUMH . . AIZI.....niKAIEAPIXTPA,
The entire inscription, however, is given at page 21, of our first
volume, from Grutcr, copied by Ciriaco d'Ancona in 1437, and re-
ported to have been discovered at the entrance of the Temple of
Minerva Polias. On the inscription in question, was grounded the
supposed existence of a temple on the Acropolis dedicated to Rome
and Augustus, but as the marble on which it is inscribed is clearly
an immense circular pedestal, it probably supported a statue of
Augustus, as he is known to have directed that in the provinces the
name of the Goddess Rome should be associated in dedications
with his own. In the plan of the Acropolis this pedestal is in-
dicated at the spot we saw it. Hughes's Travels, vol. I. p. 261.
Vol. I. of this work, p. 21., and plate 11 of this volume. Leake's
Topography of Athens. CED0
f This should be called the posticum ; as the eastern or oppo-
site end of the temple was the front of the entrance, as already
observed by Stuart, Page 26; in other respects, as the columnar
arrangement of the two fronts appears to have been perfectly
similar, the succeeding observations on the posticum equally ap-
ply to the pronaos. CED-D
^»
36
The front measure gives an attic foot of 12,137 London inches and decimals ; the side measure
one of 12,138. _
Hence the Roman foot, which, according to Pliny, was to the attic m the proportion of 600 to
625% or of 24 to 25, will be found to be 11,651 London inches and decimals, or 971 such parts, as
the London foot contains 1000, which does not sensibly differ from what has been determined by other
methods".
I cannot conclude this chapter without mentioning, that while I measured the steps of this
portico, I observed the blocks of marble, of which they are composed, appeared to be united and
grown together, on their contiguous edges, the whole height of the step j and this apparent junction
continued to some distance within the portico. To satisfy myself in this particular, I traced the joint
till no doubt remained of the separation ; then returning to the edge of the step, I broke off a piece
across the joint with a hammer, which verified my conjecture; for in the piece thus broken off, one
half of which was part of one block, and the other, part of the block next to it, the two parts adhered
together as firmly as if they had never been separate.
Other instances of this coalition we met with, which were always as here, in the perpendicular
joint, never in the horizontal".
PLATE IV.
A VIEW OF THE EASTERN PORTICO OF THE PARTHENON.
This front was more injured by the explosion of the powder, which happened during the siege
already mentioned, than the front facing the west, for here much the greater part of the pediment is
wanting. In the space between the columns is seen the present Moschea, built within the area of the
Parthenon".
PLATE V.
THE PLAN OF THE PARTHENON.
.
A. A. The eastern front, in which was the principal entrance5.
B. The pronaosf. In this the disposition of the columns may help us to explain an obscure
• Plinii Nat. Hist. 1. ii. c. 23. Strabo, 1. vii. p. 322. say 585
Roman miles, according to the common reckoning of eight stadia
to a mile make 4280 stadia. But if with Polybius we reckon
8i stadia to a mile, we must add 178 stadia to that number.
The stadium was 600 Greek feet, and Polybius did not allow for
the difference between the Greek and the Roman foot. For if
the two feet were equal, as Polybius supposed, 8J stadia of GOO
feet each would be equal to 5000 Roman feet, or 1000 paces,
which was a Roman mile: but if the stadium measured 025
Roman feet, as Pliny says it did, eight stadia would be equal to
a Roman mile, which Strabo says was the common reckoning.
b See Philosophical Transactions for the year 1700, p. 820.
c This operation of nature, met with on a monument of art, is
of singular and striking interest; it results from the infiltration
at the joints of the steps, of the heavy periodical rains impregnated
with the calcareous particles they dissolvcdin passingover the mar-
ble roof and surface of the temple, which were afterwards precipi-
tated by evaporation in a stalactitic formation. The process may
have been facilitated by the influence of an attraction of cohesion
created by the close contact of the contiguous blocks of marble,
produced by the precision of the workmanship. The drip-water
not penetrating within the horizontal joints, may account for the
non-appearance of the crystallization in them, in the same manner
as in those which are vertical. In mountain caverns of lime-
stone formation, these stalactitic incrustations are observed in
shapes, which to many would seem the sport of nature; within
the grottos of the marble mountains of Carrara, Pentelicus, and
Antiparos, they astonish and delight the beholder. [bd.]
d The beautiful drawing from nature from w-hich this view was
engraved is by Pars ; it is now in the British Museum, having
been presented by the Dilettanti Society to that establishment,
with other works of that superior artist. PJed.]
e Nearly ninety feet from the eastern front, is to be observed
the upper part of a large circular pedestal lying inclined beneath
the level of the surface of the soil, on which modern travellers
can only trace these letters :
CEGEAIPUMH . . AIZI.....niKAIEAPIXTPA,
The entire inscription, however, is given at page 21, of our first
volume, from Grutcr, copied by Ciriaco d'Ancona in 1437, and re-
ported to have been discovered at the entrance of the Temple of
Minerva Polias. On the inscription in question, was grounded the
supposed existence of a temple on the Acropolis dedicated to Rome
and Augustus, but as the marble on which it is inscribed is clearly
an immense circular pedestal, it probably supported a statue of
Augustus, as he is known to have directed that in the provinces the
name of the Goddess Rome should be associated in dedications
with his own. In the plan of the Acropolis this pedestal is in-
dicated at the spot we saw it. Hughes's Travels, vol. I. p. 261.
Vol. I. of this work, p. 21., and plate 11 of this volume. Leake's
Topography of Athens. CED0
f This should be called the posticum ; as the eastern or oppo-
site end of the temple was the front of the entrance, as already
observed by Stuart, Page 26; in other respects, as the columnar
arrangement of the two fronts appears to have been perfectly
similar, the succeeding observations on the posticum equally ap-
ply to the pronaos. CED-D
^»