DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0011
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 9
window3. It has afforded a scale by which the magnitude of this prodigious edifice, so often described
and descanted upon by all the travellers in that country, has been estimated. From this interesting
fragment the construction of the epistylium and capital is clearly pointed out, which otherwise must
have remained unknown to us.
We learn but little of the mechanical means employed by the ancients from the accounts
given us by Vitruvius and Pliny; the use of the two species of forfices mentioned by Vitruvius
(the Lewis and Forceps) is apparent in the ruins of Selinus and other parts of Greece, where the
stone was sufficiently hard to receive them; in the ruins of Agrigentum, where the stone was soft, the
horse-shoe-formed channel on the side was made to receive ropes or chains, which, when the stones
were raised to their places, and adjusted to their positions, were drawn out of the channels*. Various
methods are exhibited in Plate VIII.
Few of those composing the entablature weighed less than eight tons, while those of the caps
of the columns weighed twenty-one tons ; these were raised to the height of one hundred feet above
the level of the ground, giving evidence of the facility in the use of mechanical powers little practised
by the moderns b.
PLATE VI.
Order of the interior. The bases of these pilasters are very peculiar, and it is highly probable they
were calculated to receive a finishing decoration of some other material, and like that of the exterior
order, it continued from pilaster to pilaster ; the small holes in the lower course, and on a level with
the paving, which are four and a half inches wide and three inches deep, appeared to have been made
to receive the keys by which such decoration was affixed. Fragments of the caps, the lower course of
the epistylium % entablature, and cornice, are found among the ruins.
The Telamones, or Atlantes, were built in courses corresponding with the cella and partly
attached to it. The entablature above them is conjectural.
PLATE VII.
View, describing the present state of the ruins ; it was taken from the west end of the temple. To
the right, at the south-east angle of the Temple, are seen the fragments composing the capital and
epistylium already described, the remaining column of the Temple of Hercules, and beyond, the
Temples of Concord and Juno Lucina.
PLATE VIII.
Various stones employed in the construction of this Temple. Fig. 1. is supposed to be a stone of
the tympanum, the upper surface is an example of the vertical bond by dowel, and by one portion
of the stone elevated above the other. Fig. 4. is another example of the same bond, as also
Fig. 9 and 16, each of these have a channel on one side only. Fig. 3. appears to have been ele-
a See Houel, Denon, and others. _ fare has brought into disuse.
* Winkelmann supposes these to have received cramps or jog- c These are constructed of two stones, each having a dovetail
gles subsequently, in order to secure the work. groove in the soffits, as shewn in the section for the reception of a
b In this enlightened country, where the science of mechanics wooden beam, as in the soffits of the exterior epistylium; several
has been so successfully cultivated, no edifice that I am ac- examples of the epistylia are found amongst the ruins, but in-
quainted with can display a similar scale of operation or magni- variably fractured at the ends towards the centre joint; they
tude of material. The extent and size of stone walls surrounding should have been 13' 3" long—the longest discovered was' 9' 7"
ancient cities gave practice and knowledge in the science of ma- long, 4' 6" high, and 2' 9" wide,
sonry on a large scale, which the change of the system of war-
VOL. IV.
D
window3. It has afforded a scale by which the magnitude of this prodigious edifice, so often described
and descanted upon by all the travellers in that country, has been estimated. From this interesting
fragment the construction of the epistylium and capital is clearly pointed out, which otherwise must
have remained unknown to us.
We learn but little of the mechanical means employed by the ancients from the accounts
given us by Vitruvius and Pliny; the use of the two species of forfices mentioned by Vitruvius
(the Lewis and Forceps) is apparent in the ruins of Selinus and other parts of Greece, where the
stone was sufficiently hard to receive them; in the ruins of Agrigentum, where the stone was soft, the
horse-shoe-formed channel on the side was made to receive ropes or chains, which, when the stones
were raised to their places, and adjusted to their positions, were drawn out of the channels*. Various
methods are exhibited in Plate VIII.
Few of those composing the entablature weighed less than eight tons, while those of the caps
of the columns weighed twenty-one tons ; these were raised to the height of one hundred feet above
the level of the ground, giving evidence of the facility in the use of mechanical powers little practised
by the moderns b.
PLATE VI.
Order of the interior. The bases of these pilasters are very peculiar, and it is highly probable they
were calculated to receive a finishing decoration of some other material, and like that of the exterior
order, it continued from pilaster to pilaster ; the small holes in the lower course, and on a level with
the paving, which are four and a half inches wide and three inches deep, appeared to have been made
to receive the keys by which such decoration was affixed. Fragments of the caps, the lower course of
the epistylium % entablature, and cornice, are found among the ruins.
The Telamones, or Atlantes, were built in courses corresponding with the cella and partly
attached to it. The entablature above them is conjectural.
PLATE VII.
View, describing the present state of the ruins ; it was taken from the west end of the temple. To
the right, at the south-east angle of the Temple, are seen the fragments composing the capital and
epistylium already described, the remaining column of the Temple of Hercules, and beyond, the
Temples of Concord and Juno Lucina.
PLATE VIII.
Various stones employed in the construction of this Temple. Fig. 1. is supposed to be a stone of
the tympanum, the upper surface is an example of the vertical bond by dowel, and by one portion
of the stone elevated above the other. Fig. 4. is another example of the same bond, as also
Fig. 9 and 16, each of these have a channel on one side only. Fig. 3. appears to have been ele-
a See Houel, Denon, and others. _ fare has brought into disuse.
* Winkelmann supposes these to have received cramps or jog- c These are constructed of two stones, each having a dovetail
gles subsequently, in order to secure the work. groove in the soffits, as shewn in the section for the reception of a
b In this enlightened country, where the science of mechanics wooden beam, as in the soffits of the exterior epistylium; several
has been so successfully cultivated, no edifice that I am ac- examples of the epistylia are found amongst the ruins, but in-
quainted with can display a similar scale of operation or magni- variably fractured at the ends towards the centre joint; they
tude of material. The extent and size of stone walls surrounding should have been 13' 3" long—the longest discovered was' 9' 7"
ancient cities gave practice and knowledge in the science of ma- long, 4' 6" high, and 2' 9" wide,
sonry on a large scale, which the change of the system of war-
VOL. IV.
D