DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0038
VIEW OF THE TROFYL/EA AT ATHENS 5
It has been supposed, with regard to the general formation of the Propyloea, that it was de-
signed according to the precepts of ancient military3 architecture. This will appear however, on
enquiry, to be no further the case, than because it was constructed on the foundations of a part of
the original fortifications, when apparently the centre was formed to recede, in order to lessen the
angle of the ascent, and to avoid the alternative of expensive additional substructions.
Whether the design of the Propylsea, if viewed in concurrence with our modern opinions, founded
on the experience of a greater variety of architectural composition, were conducted upon the principles
of a correct taste, may be questionable; particularly as regards the juxtaposition of columns of different
orders and altitude. It is, however, very evident, that at the entrance to the sacred peribolus of the
Acropolis, the ancient pictorial Effect of this fabric, from its perspective combination as a foreground with
the first distinct view of the surpassing Parthenon, must have excited equal admiration with the daring
Magnificence of its Construction. Of the force of this impression on the imagination, the full in-
fluence is made known to us by the recorded envy, which threatened the removal of the edifice to the
Cadmean citadel", during the Theban ascendancy; as well as by the existing proof of the Imitation of
its principal Mass, both in Form and Dimensions, at the consecrated precinct of the mystic temple
of Eleusinian Ceresc.
The figures in this view were introduced while observing a late Disdard, or Turkish governor,
ascending the Acropolis, accompanied by a dervisch and a servant, when a Greek, seen incarcerated
in the dungeon beneath the high tower built over part of the south wing in the middle ages, was visited
by some of his friends.
W. K.
a Col. Leake's Topography of Athens, p. 179.
b ./Eschines in Orat. n^i lla^air^a-^tlaif, C. 32.
• A Propylamm at Eleusis was spoken of by Cicero as In pro-
gress of building by Appius Pulcher, his predecessor in the
Proconsulship of Cilicia, where his rapacious exactions may have
qualified him, as well as disposed his mind, for the indulgence in
so princely a votive or expiatory offering. " Audio Appium n^wl-
>,a.io» Eleusine facere." Cic. ad Atticum, Epist. I. L. VI; but in
a subsequent epistle (VI.), it would appear that Appius had
afterwards relinquished the undertaking. However, if he or any
Other opulent Roman completed either of the known entrances to
the Eleusinium, it might be doubted which were the edifice. In
which case we should determine it, from the comparison of the
style of the orders, to have been that of the interior; for the purity
of the details, and the correctness of the Doric execution of the
imitation of the Athenian structure, would lead to the conclusion,
that it was much earlier than the Roman Conquest; and the
only circumstance to bo remarked in the construction of the Eleu-
sinian edifice, partaking of the Roman practice, is the use of
cramps of bronze, while, in the Athenian Propylcea, and other
structures of the Periclcan era, they were of iron. See the Plan of
the Temple of Ceres at Eleusis and its Propylcea, in the Uni
edited Antiquities of Attica, C. I. PI. 5.
A That venerable octagenary was one of the first victims, who,
with a great part of the Turkish garrison of the Acropolis,
were ferociously massacred by the Greeks and Christian Alba-
nees, on the 10th of July 1822. They had surrendered, sti-
pulating a safe passage to Smyrna according to a solemn treaty
of capitulation! See Waddington's Visit to Greece, 1825,
VOL. IV.
B
It has been supposed, with regard to the general formation of the Propyloea, that it was de-
signed according to the precepts of ancient military3 architecture. This will appear however, on
enquiry, to be no further the case, than because it was constructed on the foundations of a part of
the original fortifications, when apparently the centre was formed to recede, in order to lessen the
angle of the ascent, and to avoid the alternative of expensive additional substructions.
Whether the design of the Propylsea, if viewed in concurrence with our modern opinions, founded
on the experience of a greater variety of architectural composition, were conducted upon the principles
of a correct taste, may be questionable; particularly as regards the juxtaposition of columns of different
orders and altitude. It is, however, very evident, that at the entrance to the sacred peribolus of the
Acropolis, the ancient pictorial Effect of this fabric, from its perspective combination as a foreground with
the first distinct view of the surpassing Parthenon, must have excited equal admiration with the daring
Magnificence of its Construction. Of the force of this impression on the imagination, the full in-
fluence is made known to us by the recorded envy, which threatened the removal of the edifice to the
Cadmean citadel", during the Theban ascendancy; as well as by the existing proof of the Imitation of
its principal Mass, both in Form and Dimensions, at the consecrated precinct of the mystic temple
of Eleusinian Ceresc.
The figures in this view were introduced while observing a late Disdard, or Turkish governor,
ascending the Acropolis, accompanied by a dervisch and a servant, when a Greek, seen incarcerated
in the dungeon beneath the high tower built over part of the south wing in the middle ages, was visited
by some of his friends.
W. K.
a Col. Leake's Topography of Athens, p. 179.
b ./Eschines in Orat. n^i lla^air^a-^tlaif, C. 32.
• A Propylamm at Eleusis was spoken of by Cicero as In pro-
gress of building by Appius Pulcher, his predecessor in the
Proconsulship of Cilicia, where his rapacious exactions may have
qualified him, as well as disposed his mind, for the indulgence in
so princely a votive or expiatory offering. " Audio Appium n^wl-
>,a.io» Eleusine facere." Cic. ad Atticum, Epist. I. L. VI; but in
a subsequent epistle (VI.), it would appear that Appius had
afterwards relinquished the undertaking. However, if he or any
Other opulent Roman completed either of the known entrances to
the Eleusinium, it might be doubted which were the edifice. In
which case we should determine it, from the comparison of the
style of the orders, to have been that of the interior; for the purity
of the details, and the correctness of the Doric execution of the
imitation of the Athenian structure, would lead to the conclusion,
that it was much earlier than the Roman Conquest; and the
only circumstance to bo remarked in the construction of the Eleu-
sinian edifice, partaking of the Roman practice, is the use of
cramps of bronze, while, in the Athenian Propylcea, and other
structures of the Periclcan era, they were of iron. See the Plan of
the Temple of Ceres at Eleusis and its Propylcea, in the Uni
edited Antiquities of Attica, C. I. PI. 5.
A That venerable octagenary was one of the first victims, who,
with a great part of the Turkish garrison of the Acropolis,
were ferociously massacred by the Greeks and Christian Alba-
nees, on the 10th of July 1822. They had surrendered, sti-
pulating a safe passage to Smyrna according to a solemn treaty
of capitulation! See Waddington's Visit to Greece, 1825,
VOL. IV.
B