DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4265#0069
6»
OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS.
The remainder of the metopes, and the pediment of the Posticum, or western front, have never been
adorned with sculptures.
It is now a church dedicated to St. George, for whom the present Athenians have as high a
veneration as their ancestors had for Theseus ; and to this we probably owe that it is not in a more
ruinous condition. It seems scarcely worth mentioning, that Mr. Vernon, who visited Athens in the
year 1675\ and Dr. Spon, with Sir George Wheler, who came there early in the following year,
V. 1339. Kccyu X&.QIV coi tv; lpr,t; cwrv^cc;
Tv>t<d ocvriduiju)'
And I for my deliverance wrought by thee
Will thus my debt of gratitude repay.
I apprehend that I may be thought to have misinterpreted
Euripides, when I translated Kcc'ima\ r \^oyy.ai^a.ai by sculptured
marbles. I shall endeavour to apologize for my mistake, if it be
one, by relating what occasioned it. In the ION Euripides takes
notice of some sculptures that adorned the front of the Temple
at Delphi, among others the battle of the Gods and Giants is
said to be on stone walls, h rsl^ea-t Xaivoia-i. These must have
been figures in relievo, for of statues it cannot be said they are
sculptured on stone walls, X«»»o><n r t^oyxafMun : stones swelling
or prominent might, I imagined, by a metaphor, be employed to
signify alto-relievos, such as we see in the metopes of the Temple
of Theseus, representing the labours of Hercules, and to these
I imagined the expression alluded.
This temple was finished in the time of Euripides, when I
suppose him at least 16 years old ; for he was born the first year
of the 75th Olympiad; and we cannot allow less than five years
for the erecting this building, and finishing the paintings and
sculptures which adorned it. Euripides, we are told, began at
a very early age to write tragedy; these sculptures were then
new, and probably the best that had been seen at that time; they
were doubtless universally admired by the Athenians, whose
vanity would eagerly apply the slightest suggestion that should
do honour to themselves and their hero. The words in question,
understood as I have translated them, would, I thought, make
him a prophet, whose promise they had just then completely ful-
filled. The Hercules Furens of Euripides, like the sculpture
of the Temple of Theseus, celebrates unitedly the virtues of
the two heroes.
a The following letter from Mr. Francis Vernon1 was writ-
ten to the publisher of the Philosophical Transactions, giving a
short account of some of his observations in his travels from Ve-
nice through Istria, Dalmatia, Greece, and the Archipelago, to
Smyrna, from whence this letter was dated January 10, 167|:—
" SIR,
" I must beg your excuse for not having written to you in so
long a space : the little rest I have had, and the great unscttled-
ness of my condition, is the reason; neither have I now any
great curiosities to impart to you; only some small circumstances
of my journey I will run over.
" From Venice I set out with those gallics which carried their
ambassador that went for the Porte. We touched at most of the
considerable towns of Istria and Dalmatia, by the way. In Istria
we saw Pola, an antient republic. There remains yet an am-
phitheatre entire ; it is of two orders of Tuscan pillars, placed
one over another, and the lower pillars stand on pedestals, which
is not ordinary ; for commonly they have nothing but their bases
to support them. There is likewise a temple dedicated to Rome and
Augustus ; a triumphal arch built by a lady of the family of the
Sergii in honor of some of her kindred, which commanded in
these countries ; besides several inscriptions and ancient monu-
ments which are in divers parts of the town.
" In Dalmatia I saw Zara, which is now the metropolis of the
country. It was anciently called Jadera. It is now very well
fortified, being encompassed on three sides with the sea, and that
part which is towards the land extremely advantaged by all the
contrivances of art, having a castle and a rampart of very lofty
bastions to guard it. I found here several ancient inscriptions
by me copied, which will not find room in the compass of a
letter. We passed in sight of Sebenico, and saw three forts,
which belong to the town, St. Nichola, St. Gioanni, and La For-
tezza Vecchia, but we went not ashore. That which is worth
seeing in Dalmatia, is Spalatro; where is Dioclesian's Palace, a
vast and stupendous fabric, in which he made his residence when
he retreated from the empire. It is as big as the whole town;
for the whole town is indeed patched up out of its ruins, and is
said by some to take its name from it. The building is massive ;
there is within it an entire Temple of Jupiter, eight square,
with noble porphyric pillars and cornice, worth any body's ad-
miration. There is a court before it, adorned with Egyptian
pillars of that stone called Pyropoicilos *, and a temple under it,
now dedicated to Sta. Lucia ; and up and down the town several
fragments of antiquity, with inscriptions and other things, worth
taking notice of.
" Four miles from Spalatro is Salona, which shews the ruins
of a great town. About as much farther from Salona stands
Clissa, upon a rocky hill, an eminent fortress of the Venetians,
which is here the frontier against the Turk: from whence they
repulsed him in their late wars with great honour. I was at Les-
sina, where is nothing very remarkable; but Biondi, who has
written our English history, was of it. Trau is ancient, and
hath good marks of its being so. Here I spoke with Dr. Statileo,
who put out that fragment of Petronius Arbiter, and I saw his
manuscript.
" I was in the harbour of Ragusa, but not in the town, be-
cause we made no stay there. From hence we passed the gulf of
Budua, and saw the mountains of Antivari, the plain of Durazzo
and Apollonia, and came to Sassino, a small island, from whence
we could see the town of Valona, and the mountains Acroce-
raunii, which are very near, and are now called mountains of
Chimsera. I staid a fortnight in Corfu, and had time to view all
that was considerable in the island, particularly the Gardens of
Alcinous, that is the place where they are supposed to have been,
now called Chrysida, a most delicious situation: the ancient port
now called Nsxfo-OaAaa-c-a, and several foundations of antient
fabrics. In Zante I was likewise a fortnight, where I saw but
little of antiquity; what is modern is very flourishing, and the
island rich and plentiful.
" I went from Zante to Patrass, a town in Achaia of good note
among the ancients. Near it is a great mountain, mentioned by
Homer by the name of Petra Olenia. In the town are several
massive ruins, which few there know how to give any account of.
There are the remains of a large church, dedicated to St. Andrea,
who they say was martyred there. This is the first town I saw
on the continent of Greece. The plain about it is very fruitful,
full of springs and rivulets; finely wooded with olive trees, cy-
presses, orange, and lemon trees. The citrons here are counted
among the best of the Turkish empire, and are sent for presents
to Constantinople. So are all their fruit in very good esteem.
" In Athens I have spent two months. Next to Rome, I
judge it the most worthy to be seen for antiquities of any I have
1 The following account of the author of the above letter, is extracted from
Wood's Athena; Oxonienses, 2d Ed. V. II. p. 599 : —
" Francis Vernon [m. a.] was born near Charing-cross, Westminster, de-
scended from those of his name, in Worcestershire. He was elected student of
Christ Church, Oxford, from Westminster School, 1651. Being possessed with
an insatiable desire of seeing, he travelled into various parts of the world, was
taken by pirates, sold, and endured much misery. Afterwards being let loose,
he retired to his native country, with intentions to spend his time there, but having
got an itch of rambling, ventured again, though dissuaded to the contrary, and
was afterwards hacked to pieces in Persia " ; where " arose between him and some
of the Arabs a small quarrel concerning an English pen-knife, that Mr. Vernon had
with him who shewing himself cross and peevish in not communicating it to
them, they fell upon him, and hacked him to death, near Spahan or Aspahan, a
city in Persia, in 1677, or thereabouts. Whereupon his body was conveyed to
that city, and there interred." His printed literary productions are a small
poem, entitled, " Oxoneum Poema", 1667 ; and the above letter, Phil. Trans.
1776. He left behind him some poetry, and observations made during his
travels, but too incomplete to be published. [ed.]
8 Plin. L. XXXVI. C. VIII. and XXII. [ED/j
OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS.
The remainder of the metopes, and the pediment of the Posticum, or western front, have never been
adorned with sculptures.
It is now a church dedicated to St. George, for whom the present Athenians have as high a
veneration as their ancestors had for Theseus ; and to this we probably owe that it is not in a more
ruinous condition. It seems scarcely worth mentioning, that Mr. Vernon, who visited Athens in the
year 1675\ and Dr. Spon, with Sir George Wheler, who came there early in the following year,
V. 1339. Kccyu X&.QIV coi tv; lpr,t; cwrv^cc;
Tv>t<d ocvriduiju)'
And I for my deliverance wrought by thee
Will thus my debt of gratitude repay.
I apprehend that I may be thought to have misinterpreted
Euripides, when I translated Kcc'ima\ r \^oyy.ai^a.ai by sculptured
marbles. I shall endeavour to apologize for my mistake, if it be
one, by relating what occasioned it. In the ION Euripides takes
notice of some sculptures that adorned the front of the Temple
at Delphi, among others the battle of the Gods and Giants is
said to be on stone walls, h rsl^ea-t Xaivoia-i. These must have
been figures in relievo, for of statues it cannot be said they are
sculptured on stone walls, X«»»o><n r t^oyxafMun : stones swelling
or prominent might, I imagined, by a metaphor, be employed to
signify alto-relievos, such as we see in the metopes of the Temple
of Theseus, representing the labours of Hercules, and to these
I imagined the expression alluded.
This temple was finished in the time of Euripides, when I
suppose him at least 16 years old ; for he was born the first year
of the 75th Olympiad; and we cannot allow less than five years
for the erecting this building, and finishing the paintings and
sculptures which adorned it. Euripides, we are told, began at
a very early age to write tragedy; these sculptures were then
new, and probably the best that had been seen at that time; they
were doubtless universally admired by the Athenians, whose
vanity would eagerly apply the slightest suggestion that should
do honour to themselves and their hero. The words in question,
understood as I have translated them, would, I thought, make
him a prophet, whose promise they had just then completely ful-
filled. The Hercules Furens of Euripides, like the sculpture
of the Temple of Theseus, celebrates unitedly the virtues of
the two heroes.
a The following letter from Mr. Francis Vernon1 was writ-
ten to the publisher of the Philosophical Transactions, giving a
short account of some of his observations in his travels from Ve-
nice through Istria, Dalmatia, Greece, and the Archipelago, to
Smyrna, from whence this letter was dated January 10, 167|:—
" SIR,
" I must beg your excuse for not having written to you in so
long a space : the little rest I have had, and the great unscttled-
ness of my condition, is the reason; neither have I now any
great curiosities to impart to you; only some small circumstances
of my journey I will run over.
" From Venice I set out with those gallics which carried their
ambassador that went for the Porte. We touched at most of the
considerable towns of Istria and Dalmatia, by the way. In Istria
we saw Pola, an antient republic. There remains yet an am-
phitheatre entire ; it is of two orders of Tuscan pillars, placed
one over another, and the lower pillars stand on pedestals, which
is not ordinary ; for commonly they have nothing but their bases
to support them. There is likewise a temple dedicated to Rome and
Augustus ; a triumphal arch built by a lady of the family of the
Sergii in honor of some of her kindred, which commanded in
these countries ; besides several inscriptions and ancient monu-
ments which are in divers parts of the town.
" In Dalmatia I saw Zara, which is now the metropolis of the
country. It was anciently called Jadera. It is now very well
fortified, being encompassed on three sides with the sea, and that
part which is towards the land extremely advantaged by all the
contrivances of art, having a castle and a rampart of very lofty
bastions to guard it. I found here several ancient inscriptions
by me copied, which will not find room in the compass of a
letter. We passed in sight of Sebenico, and saw three forts,
which belong to the town, St. Nichola, St. Gioanni, and La For-
tezza Vecchia, but we went not ashore. That which is worth
seeing in Dalmatia, is Spalatro; where is Dioclesian's Palace, a
vast and stupendous fabric, in which he made his residence when
he retreated from the empire. It is as big as the whole town;
for the whole town is indeed patched up out of its ruins, and is
said by some to take its name from it. The building is massive ;
there is within it an entire Temple of Jupiter, eight square,
with noble porphyric pillars and cornice, worth any body's ad-
miration. There is a court before it, adorned with Egyptian
pillars of that stone called Pyropoicilos *, and a temple under it,
now dedicated to Sta. Lucia ; and up and down the town several
fragments of antiquity, with inscriptions and other things, worth
taking notice of.
" Four miles from Spalatro is Salona, which shews the ruins
of a great town. About as much farther from Salona stands
Clissa, upon a rocky hill, an eminent fortress of the Venetians,
which is here the frontier against the Turk: from whence they
repulsed him in their late wars with great honour. I was at Les-
sina, where is nothing very remarkable; but Biondi, who has
written our English history, was of it. Trau is ancient, and
hath good marks of its being so. Here I spoke with Dr. Statileo,
who put out that fragment of Petronius Arbiter, and I saw his
manuscript.
" I was in the harbour of Ragusa, but not in the town, be-
cause we made no stay there. From hence we passed the gulf of
Budua, and saw the mountains of Antivari, the plain of Durazzo
and Apollonia, and came to Sassino, a small island, from whence
we could see the town of Valona, and the mountains Acroce-
raunii, which are very near, and are now called mountains of
Chimsera. I staid a fortnight in Corfu, and had time to view all
that was considerable in the island, particularly the Gardens of
Alcinous, that is the place where they are supposed to have been,
now called Chrysida, a most delicious situation: the ancient port
now called Nsxfo-OaAaa-c-a, and several foundations of antient
fabrics. In Zante I was likewise a fortnight, where I saw but
little of antiquity; what is modern is very flourishing, and the
island rich and plentiful.
" I went from Zante to Patrass, a town in Achaia of good note
among the ancients. Near it is a great mountain, mentioned by
Homer by the name of Petra Olenia. In the town are several
massive ruins, which few there know how to give any account of.
There are the remains of a large church, dedicated to St. Andrea,
who they say was martyred there. This is the first town I saw
on the continent of Greece. The plain about it is very fruitful,
full of springs and rivulets; finely wooded with olive trees, cy-
presses, orange, and lemon trees. The citrons here are counted
among the best of the Turkish empire, and are sent for presents
to Constantinople. So are all their fruit in very good esteem.
" In Athens I have spent two months. Next to Rome, I
judge it the most worthy to be seen for antiquities of any I have
1 The following account of the author of the above letter, is extracted from
Wood's Athena; Oxonienses, 2d Ed. V. II. p. 599 : —
" Francis Vernon [m. a.] was born near Charing-cross, Westminster, de-
scended from those of his name, in Worcestershire. He was elected student of
Christ Church, Oxford, from Westminster School, 1651. Being possessed with
an insatiable desire of seeing, he travelled into various parts of the world, was
taken by pirates, sold, and endured much misery. Afterwards being let loose,
he retired to his native country, with intentions to spend his time there, but having
got an itch of rambling, ventured again, though dissuaded to the contrary, and
was afterwards hacked to pieces in Persia " ; where " arose between him and some
of the Arabs a small quarrel concerning an English pen-knife, that Mr. Vernon had
with him who shewing himself cross and peevish in not communicating it to
them, they fell upon him, and hacked him to death, near Spahan or Aspahan, a
city in Persia, in 1677, or thereabouts. Whereupon his body was conveyed to
that city, and there interred." His printed literary productions are a small
poem, entitled, " Oxoneum Poema", 1667 ; and the above letter, Phil. Trans.
1776. He left behind him some poetry, and observations made during his
travels, but too incomplete to be published. [ed.]
8 Plin. L. XXXVI. C. VIII. and XXII. [ED/j