Stuart, James; Revett, Nicholas: The antiquities of Athens (Band 3) (London, 1827)

OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS. 67

On the metopes in this eastern front, are represented ten of the labours of Hercules; and on
the four metopes next that front, both on the northern and southern sides, are eight of the achieve-
ments of Theseus. It will appear the less extraordinary, that the labours of Hercules should make
so considerable a part of the ornaments of this temple, when we recollect the respect and gratitude
which Theseus professed to that hero, who was his kinsman, had delivered him from a tedious cap-
tivity, and had restored him to his country ; on his return to which, he consecrated to Hercules all
the places that the gratitude of his citizens had formerly dedicated to himself, four only excepted;
and changed their names from Thesea to Heracleia \ Nor could it be esteemed a slight compliment
to Theseus, when on building this temple to his honour, their labours were thus placed together.

and the eastern end of it also in the lower ages has been ter-
minated by a tribune or exhedra, without displacing the in-
terior architrave, by which the sculpture of the pronaos has been
preserved; it has however suffered much from the iconoclastes.
-I he western door is related to have been closed, because the
Turks, at the period of their conquest of the country, were accus-
tomed during service-time to ride into the church, on which ac-
count the present^smaller entrance was made on the south side,
the door of which is sheeted with iron, but shews indentations
from balls fired against it. The paving of the peristyle is nearly
perfect; that of the interior was not long since carried away by
one of the Waivodes when building a house a mile and a half

from Athens, on the road to Eleusis. The frusta of some of ^ °f Atllens' PP" 39 and 392' Waddington's Visit to Greece,
the columns at the south-western angle are disjointed, probably P" 9L *&&»'* Travels, V. II. S. II. C. V. Tweddell's lie-
by earthquakes, and the lower parts of two of them have been cut
away, apparently to allow some object larger than the interco-
lumniation to pass between them. This building remained in-
violate during the early part of the present war. Mr. Wad-
dington observes, " almost at the moment of the commencement
of the revolution, the Temple of Theseus was touched by a flash
of propitious lightning, so little injurious to the building, that
we might be tempted to consider it an omen of honor and vic-
tory."

The last public accounts from Athens state the Turks to have
again been driven from Attica; but it is much to be feared that
during their recent occupation of Athens, the same forbearance
was not shewn, as in their previous incursion, towards the mo-
numents of antiquity.

The Temple of Theseus has of late become the mausoleum of
those of our countrymen, whose melancholy fate it has been to die
thus far from their country, at Athens. The Catholics being buried
at the Capuchin convent, on the death of Tweddell, no conse-
crated site was known as appropriate to the grave of a Protestant,
but from the esteem in which our nation was held by the Greeks,
the clergy of Athens devoted the church of St. George to that
purpose, and performed there his obsequies, where, on a similar
melancholy occasion, we attended the last sad ceremonials, at the
interment of a countrywoman ', conducted by the Archbishop of
Athens in person. Besides the above, the Temple of Theseus
also entombs several other British travellers who have been
victims to the climate of Greece; of whom we possess the names
of Mr. Watson, Mr. Gott, and Mr. Melville Phillips.

Fauvel, the French Consul, ever ardent in the cause of anti-
quarian research, on the death of Tweddell, caused his grave to
be dug exactly in the centre of the temple, in hopes of finding
there the remains of Theseus, but without success. Tweddell
died on the 25th of July, 1799; in 1811 a slab was placed over
the grave of that accomplished scholar, with the following epi-
taph from 'the classical pen of the Rev. R, Walpole.

TYEAAEAA.

EilJil! h pSljIAEVOKTV \l.a.Tni ToQ'vtS TOT \SgQa(

"AvOe«, xctl ere »sov Mover e^.Ajjcte fj.tx.Trit.
'AAAa jMtov toi o-S/xa TO ytlitot a.fj.(pixctXvTTu

Tti,u/3o;- tw -^vy/iv oiJgato; ctlTVc. e%ei-
'Hjj.~v I' ol <7E <pl\u, <piXov »f, xetTO. Setup yian^,

Mvrjjjea. tpihotpgoo-iuns, X^u^"> odv^ofj.iHct,
'Ho^ v Quae xcti tiottvuv eye" tovt l<rrm A0HNAI2

" TWEDDELL.

" Sleep'st thou among the dead ? then hast thou cull'd

In vain fair Learning's flowers, the Muse in vain
Smil'd on thy youth—yet but thy mortal mould

Hides this dark tomb ; thy soul the heavens contain.
To us who now our friendship to record

O'er thee, pale friend ! the tears of mem'ry shed,
Sweet solace 'tis, that here thy bones are stored,

That dust Athenian strews a Briton's head."

Paus. Att. C. XVII. Thucyd. L. VI. C. LXI. Meursii Theseus,
C. XXXI. Dodwell's Travels, V. I. p. 365. Leake's Topogra-

mains, p. 14. D313-]

a 'Zvy^u^c'eiVToe dE toe> Aiouviuc, XlOsi; o Qyictevc. sVo^aGe jj,iv ek Ta;
'Adnva;, ovS'.ttu TavTceTucrt tuv ipiAav airov Ktxfevnitiwf xcu oact

VWIPy* TEjU.Et»] TeOTlCOV CiVTW TVC TOXtUC, ic]t7\0VcrviC., UTCCVTU. XCiViSpUO~?V

H^axXlT, xut TPoer^yopivertv $ co/Ti Qriasluv HcaxAEia, ttAijv Tsercraeuv.

Pint, in Vit. Tlies.

" Aidoneus granting the request of Hercules, Theseus was
released from prison. He returned to Athens, where his friends
still retained some authority ; and there, whatever sacred places
the citizens had before assigned him, he consecrated to Hercules
all, except four, changing their names from Theseia to Heracleia."
Plutarch in the Life of Theseus. Euripides also, in the tragedy
of Hercules, relates this instance of the gratitude of Theseus;
he there introduces that hero addressing Hercules in the following
manner :—>

V. 1325. ©r&a.% jAll ovv exAeitte tov to^ov x^"

"Etov d1 ay. ri[jt,7v tpoc, ToXio-jj.ee UccXXxoo;.
Eke? XHxf £ra5 ctyvlo-cce jxiao-^aTo;
Aofj-ovc. te $ulo~u, ^pr^xTuv T Sfjtwv [xepoi;'

A d EX TTOAlTWV dWg E;£W, CUCTCt^ XOP0V$

Ate ETTTot, tocv^ov Kvua-aiov xccToty.Ta.vuv.
Xoi Tccvia. ouau* Tetveeiyov dE uo\ yQovo;
TtlAiVYI dr:da.O-TCCl* TCCVT \ivuvoy.ctzr\j.ivot.
Xe9ev to Xoitov ex {3potwv y.£y.\YiatTai,
Tmvtoc.' SavoWo; d ei;t' av iif AWou fioAijf,
Gvatcticn, Aauoio-'i t Efoyxwptcto-i
Tt/AlOl* etvetc\u TX7 AoMaibiv woXic.

Obedient to the law, retire from Thebes,
And to the city patroniz'd by Pallas
Proceed with me ; thy blood-polluted hands
There duly purified, thou shalt receive
From me a mansion, and shalt share my wealth ;
The gifts my country erst bestow'd on me,
For that in Crete, twice seven Athenian youths,
Death-doom'd, I sav'd, and slew the Minotaur,
Re thine; to me whatever sacred and apart
The land contains, henceforth to thee be sacred,
And bear thy name thou living; but when dead,
And to the shades below thou shalt descend,
With sacrifice, and marbles high embost
With costly sculpture, all th' Athenian state
Shall celebrate thy virtues, &c

y Ojj,a)t; y.ai tbptvov e^ei
"ft; erv, Bce'toivi/o; \tn, xsicrai Iv OTTooW

1 This was at the funeral in 1818, of Elizabeth Cumming, the female attendant
and companion of Lady Ruthven. The visit of Lord Ruthven, and that of his

accomplished lady to Athens, will ever be remembered with grateful satisfaction by
the surviving inhabitants of that since unfortunate place. [>d.]

V. 1339. KiyZ