DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0007
DESCRIPTION OF VIGNETTE, ETC. 5
The fragments of a lion's head, belonging to the cymatium at the angle of the pediment, and
a portion of drapery, a foot, and a head, are well calculated to convey an adequate conception of
the merit of the sculpture, as also of the size of the figures, which probably did not exceed thirteen
feet. The mouth of the head especially, half open with an expression of grief, strong, without de-
ranging the exquisite beauty of the feature, was worthy to have belonged to one of the daughters of
Priam in all the desolation of the scene represented in the western pediment. It may here also be
observed, that at the west end many portions of the pediment are still existing, to reward the labours
of future excavators, as well as the ruins of the south flank, which still remain untouched.
The whole of this sculpture and the architecture was covered with a thin coat of hard plaster,
presenting a surface like the finest marble.
VIGNETTE AT THE HEAD OF THE INTRODUCTION
Exhibits the site of the temple with the peribolus * at the east end, the temple of Hercules, the
walls of the city, the entrance gate from the emporium, and the tomb of Theron in the plain.
The city of Agrigentum stood upon an elevated and varied platform, descending by a pre-
cipitous declivity from the south to the plain, which extended to the sea shore about two miles and a
quarter distant.
It was upon this eminence that the temples of the Agrigentines displayed themselves from
the coast. That of Juno Lucina, at the south-east angle of the city, of Concord, of Hercules, of
Jupiter Olympius, and Castor and Pollux, were seen in succession, and may well have given occasion
to the characteristic expression of Virgil:—
" Arduus inde Agragas ostentat maxima longe
Moenia, magnanimiim quondam generator equorum.1'
Cicero informs us, that the forum was near the Temple of Hercules b.
PLATE I.
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE.
The parts of this Plan, marked in a darker tint, represent the remains above the level of the original
paving; they are quite sufficient to point out the extent of the plan and dimensions of the Temple.
In the fronts there are seven columns, and double that number in the flanks, the angles in-
cluded, a disposition usually found in the earlier temples of Greece0.
The system of columns inserted in a wall, remarked by Diodorus Siculus, arose from the nature
of the material already described; nor does this practice seem to have been uncommon, as appears by
the remains of the Temple of ^sculapius at Agrigentum, and that of Minerva Polias, at Athens.
It is much to be regretted, that the situation of the doors or entrance to the temple is not
discoverable. Like the other temples at Agrigentum, they were in all probability in the east front; it is
obvious from the remains which exist upon the parts hatched, (which are from two to three feet above
a A similar arrangement is seen at the east end of the Temples c At Thoricum, in Attica, see Unedited Antiquities of Attica,
of Juno Lucina, Hercules, and of Concord, though less plainly is an example of a column in the centre, and at Pa;stum. See
in the latter. Wilkins's Magna Greecia. The Temple of Apollo Epicurius, at
b Cic. in Verr. IV. Phygaleia shows a column in the centre of the interior.
VOL. IV. C
The fragments of a lion's head, belonging to the cymatium at the angle of the pediment, and
a portion of drapery, a foot, and a head, are well calculated to convey an adequate conception of
the merit of the sculpture, as also of the size of the figures, which probably did not exceed thirteen
feet. The mouth of the head especially, half open with an expression of grief, strong, without de-
ranging the exquisite beauty of the feature, was worthy to have belonged to one of the daughters of
Priam in all the desolation of the scene represented in the western pediment. It may here also be
observed, that at the west end many portions of the pediment are still existing, to reward the labours
of future excavators, as well as the ruins of the south flank, which still remain untouched.
The whole of this sculpture and the architecture was covered with a thin coat of hard plaster,
presenting a surface like the finest marble.
VIGNETTE AT THE HEAD OF THE INTRODUCTION
Exhibits the site of the temple with the peribolus * at the east end, the temple of Hercules, the
walls of the city, the entrance gate from the emporium, and the tomb of Theron in the plain.
The city of Agrigentum stood upon an elevated and varied platform, descending by a pre-
cipitous declivity from the south to the plain, which extended to the sea shore about two miles and a
quarter distant.
It was upon this eminence that the temples of the Agrigentines displayed themselves from
the coast. That of Juno Lucina, at the south-east angle of the city, of Concord, of Hercules, of
Jupiter Olympius, and Castor and Pollux, were seen in succession, and may well have given occasion
to the characteristic expression of Virgil:—
" Arduus inde Agragas ostentat maxima longe
Moenia, magnanimiim quondam generator equorum.1'
Cicero informs us, that the forum was near the Temple of Hercules b.
PLATE I.
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE.
The parts of this Plan, marked in a darker tint, represent the remains above the level of the original
paving; they are quite sufficient to point out the extent of the plan and dimensions of the Temple.
In the fronts there are seven columns, and double that number in the flanks, the angles in-
cluded, a disposition usually found in the earlier temples of Greece0.
The system of columns inserted in a wall, remarked by Diodorus Siculus, arose from the nature
of the material already described; nor does this practice seem to have been uncommon, as appears by
the remains of the Temple of ^sculapius at Agrigentum, and that of Minerva Polias, at Athens.
It is much to be regretted, that the situation of the doors or entrance to the temple is not
discoverable. Like the other temples at Agrigentum, they were in all probability in the east front; it is
obvious from the remains which exist upon the parts hatched, (which are from two to three feet above
a A similar arrangement is seen at the east end of the Temples c At Thoricum, in Attica, see Unedited Antiquities of Attica,
of Juno Lucina, Hercules, and of Concord, though less plainly is an example of a column in the centre, and at Pa;stum. See
in the latter. Wilkins's Magna Greecia. The Temple of Apollo Epicurius, at
b Cic. in Verr. IV. Phygaleia shows a column in the centre of the interior.
VOL. IV. C