Stuart, James; Revett, Nicholas: The antiquities of Athens (Band 2) (London, 1825)

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HEUS,

dWlthMi^f0rthe
e'and within» th

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ltheys^toC;

aent'insci^iEPEaEi;

he goddess; itWas_
ho^ ancient statues, Wa

^enXerxesburntthete^,:
! of Mercur>'> dedicated^
tint, it should seem, of tie jj
itition alone could have pre,,
n as obscene a figure as a ft

i the life of the orator Lycurgus, •-;
d his family (whowereof theMceofl3:
bed picture (iitn ni»l»)kfcH
cnias of Chalcis. The paintiigiW
m were equally termed by Panamas*!!
lent was part of a sarcophagus, Sst
the end of this chapter.

z>x;' imp SJWt^fiTO n^isso,' AMfl I

hree statues of Minerva in the Arspij
here from the beginning, is of oh*

Polias.'

■ated statue of Minerva Polias taty
rked way by Pausanias, in ChapterHl"
tcrior of the temple, wasprohablyn^
|y with others in the vicurit]
his next chapter. Themcntk.it
to the expression *pK«i"»,7,;"
■ Minerva" [Polias]. ,

Attic ibid, where I read «*
For the hdcceocyof*;

,) but other parts ottnew

'idse- „ jj» the i*^

lS mentioned m he F<-^

conspicuus. B» „,],„,»

rented as descrAedh^^^

ianmonumcntshesse D[iti,
t, and often draped J »n f^
, Dioscorides. On^,^.

fa very rude ar^orrf*
of this deity,*e^K

the infamy ofar

MINERVA POLIAS, AND PANDROSUS. 61

Here also was the golden lamp made by Callimachus, who invented the Corinthian capitala: it was said
to burn all the year without fresh supplies of oil: this lamp was placed under a brazen palm-tree, the
branches of which extended up to the roof, and conveyed away the smoke".

The Pandrosium is the only ancient example we know of, in which the entablature and roof
is supported by Caryatides. Pausanias has not mentioned them, though they are certainly more an-
cient than the time in which he wrote. Vitruvius probably alludes to this building, when he tells us,
that after the defeat of the Persians and the destruction of the city of Carya, the architects of those
times placed female figures of this kind in public buildings % to perpetuate the ignominy of those who
deserted the cause of liberty and their country d.

.Fig."'

dors

sec note*. P'

a Pausan. ibid, and Vitr. L. IV. c. i. p. 130.
This lamp doubtless illuminated the ancient image of Mi-
nerva. Pausanias, however, does not in more than one or two
instances speak of lamps suspended before statues. The ever-
burning lamp was therefore a rarity very appropriate to the ty-
pical representation of the attributes of Wisdom, which, in a de-
gree,, is indestructible light. Strabo solely designates this struc-
ture as " the ancient temple of Minerva Polias, in which is the
inextinguished lamp." "o ts deyalaz »; J t?s n<Ai<»&>;, i, S a
cca-^io-Tot; Ati^ro,- L. IX. 396. Iii the Athenian inscription it is U

A similar kind of light was spoken of by Solinus, during his age,
in a temple of Minerva, in Britain, with the addition of circum-
stances somewhat more marvellous. " Circuitus Britannia! qua-
dragies octies septuaginta quinque millia (passuumj sunt: in
quo spacio magna ct multa flumina sunt, fontesque calidi opiparo
exculpti apparatu ad usus mortalium: quibus fontibus praesul
est Minerva! numen ; in cujus aide perpetui ignes numquam
cancscunt in favillas; sed ubi ignis tabuit, vertitur in globos
saxeos." Solini Polyhist. Cap. XXV. de Britannia, &c. Many
reveries have been circulated regarding the ever-burning lamps
of the ancients founded on the well-attested appearance of light at
the opening of several ancient tombs in Italy. This phenomenon
which must have resulted solely from the accidental develope-
ment of hydro-phosphoric gas, it is vain to ascribe to a superior
mechanical or intellectual agency, ascendant to the laws of Na-
ture ; for mundane combustion and existence imply attendant
destruction and decay. [ED-D

c " Carya civitas Peloponncnsis cum Persis hostibus contra
Greciam consensit: postea Graeci per victoriam gloriose bello li-
berati communi consilio Caryatibus bellum indixerimt. Itaque
oppido capto, viris interfectis, civitate deleta, matronas eorum in
servitutem abduxerunt, ncc sunt passi stolas neque ornatus ma-
tronales deponere ; uti non uno triumpho duccrentur, sed acterno
servitutis exemplo, gravi contumelia pressse, pcenas pendere vi-
derentur pro civitate. Ideo qui tunc architecti fuerunt, aedifi-
ciis publicis designaverunt earum imagines oneri ferendo collo-
eatas; ut ctiam posteris nota poena peccati Caryatium memoriae
traderetur." Vitruv. L. I. c. i. p. 6.

d In the Athenian Inscription hereafter mentioned, inscribed
with the report of the ' Epistatac', or inspectors, and the Architect,
on the state of the progress of the works of this temple, during
the archonship of Diocles, 409 B. c, these figures are termed
by them KOPAI, (virgins or damsels,) a term from which it is
evident that they have no reference to the reproachful origin of
the use of Caryatides, described by Vitruvius. For the Athe-
nian authorities who were directing the restitution of a temple
destroyed by the Persians about seventy years only previous,
would not have officially given such a name to statues raised to
perpetuate the infamy of the allies of a barbarian enemy, who
within recollection had covered their country with ruins and
desolation.

Lessing, the German antiquary, first questioned the authen-
ticity of the origin of the term Caryatides, given by the ancient
Roman architect to feminine columnar statues, a relation which

1 Gell and Gandy, in their Pompeiana, have introduced this relief at their fron-
tispiece, but have omitted to insert or mention the inscription, which is to be seen
in the work of Mazois. [ED-]

2 It is to be observed, that this marble was not found in Greece, and the ab-
sence of all mention by every Greek historian, of so remarkable an event as the
destruction of a Peloponnesian city at the close of the Persian war, may justify
us in supposing this decorative marble to have been inscribed according to a pa-
triotic fiction in circulation, at the period of Roman refinement; the epoch of the
stvle of the Grecian ornament sculptured on it. [id.]

he viewed as an historic fiction, or a visionary tale. In fact, it
appears incredible that the people of an unimportant inland town
in Arcadia, remote from the scene of war, should form an alliance
hostile to the public cause of entire Greece; and the only pas-
sage of Grecian history which supports the probability of the
assertion of Vitruvius, is the mention in Herodotus of a few
miserable Arcadians, begging food, having joined Xerxes, after
the event of Thermopylae. sHm U o-tpi avro^oXoi at!ft; air'
ApxaoiviS l\[ydi Tiii^, @tou T£ SioiJ.ivoi v.oa Eyspyoi @QvXo^£voi shea.

A bas-relief, however, found some time since near Naples, re-
presenting two Caryatides about three feet high, supporting an
inscribed fascia, and having a recumbent figure between them,
the whole of which has by some been supposed to be a copy from
an early Grecian trophy, bears the following inscription :

TH EAAAAI TO TPOTIAION EETA0H '
KATANIKK0ENTP.N TONKAPTATfiN.

" This trophy has been raised to Greece on being victorious
against the Caryates."

The above inscription, if its genuineness were not doubted,
would support the account of the destruction of Carya, related
by Vitruvius, (for antiquities and inscriptions are the best evi-
dences of history1,) or, at least, it would shew what was the
general sentiment, after the Augustan age, on the origin of the
introduction of such figures.

No examples of statues introduced as columns in Grecian
architecture, except those of Athens, have remained in their
position to modern times. The four figures found near Pome,
beyond the tomb of Cecilia Metella, which Winkelmann and
Piranesi considered as Caryatides, and which were by the latter
antiquary and artist, restored in an engraving by him in attachment
with a portico formed from the architectural fragments found near
them, are the only other Grecian examples of Caryatic statues to
which we can refer. One of these is now a conspicuous orna-
ment of the Townleian portion of the antiquities of the British
Museum; ou one of the others at the Villa Albani, the inscrip-
tion KPITfiN KAI NIKOAAOE A0HNAIOI EnOIOTN shews
that thev were executed by Athenian artists ; and they partake
of the virginal grace of the Canephoras of the Acropolis.

There is now at Rome, and very recently placed in the Va-
tican, a Caryatid said to be the figure removed from this temple,
previous to the time of Stuart, before which period we have had no
satisfactory description of these sculptures : for former travellers,
in concurrence with Spon, had confounded them with the de-
scription of the clothed Graces of Socrates3, possibly from the
circumstance that this temple having been in that traveller's
time a Turkish harem, was therefore not sufficiently accessible for
the inspection of the statues then immured in a wall ' (enclavees
dans un mur'.) The figure in question, at Rome, in character,
attitude, and height, corresponds with those of the Erechtheum,
but the left knee is bent similarly with the statue at the op-
posite side. This marble was lately in the possession of the
Mattei family at Rome, of whom it was purchased by the Roman
painter Camuccini; it has been restored by the Chevalier Thor-

3 In the plan of the Acropolis, by Vernada, the Venetian engineer, at the siege
of it in 1687, is to be found the following descriptive reference to this part of the
Erechtheum. " S. altro Tempio di Minerva Poliades cice la Protetrice della citta,
e della Nirnfa Pandrosa, le mura del quali sono sostenute da quattro statue di
marine, quale rappresentano le Grazie che Socrate fece far vestire per burlarsi di
quelli, che le hanno rappresentate nude." Fanelli, Atene Attica. [En*]

Note * p. 63.

VOL. II.