DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0072
4 OF THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO EPICURIUS.
barrier chain of subordinate mountains from between the Laconian and Messenian plains, onward to
the Taenarian promontory. At the right, Pylos\ the Homeric city of Nestor, advances to the sea ; in
the distance and farther to the right, the Strophadesb are faintly visible. To the north the view of the
interior of Arcadia, a country still worthy of the pleasing association attached to its ancient name, is
intercepted by the intervening summits of Cotylius; this region is elevated above the level of the pro-
vinces contiguous; here the oak, the indigenous offspring of the soil, and which anciently gave the
name of Drymodes c to the province, as the mulberry tree is supposed to have done to the whole
Morea, still darkens with ' prodigality of shade' the vales and glenny sides of the mountains.
Phigalia, according to Pausanias, was built by Phygalus*1, son of Lycaon and grandson of Pe-
lasgus, who may be styled a founder of the Grecian nation, and was afterwards called Phialia, from
Phialus, son of Bucolion, sovereign of Arcadia, who attempted to deprive his ancestor of the honor
of building and naming the city, but that name was not generally adoptede. Phigalia is scarcelyf
otherwise known in history, after its capture by, and recovery from the Spartans, about the time of the
thirtieth Olympiad8, than by the troubles excited in the conflict between the oligarchic and democratic
factions, in the one hundred and second Olympiad, at the period of the Theban ascendancy1'.
It is however from Pausanias, that correct, though far from systematic topographer, that the prin-
cipal knowledge of this city, and of the ruin at Bassa?, is derived. In his description of the country
round Phigalia, he observes, " Phigalia is surrounded by mountains; on the left by that called Cotylius,
and by others on the right, among which is prominent Mount Elai'us. Cotylius is distant from the
city of Phigalia about forty stadia, on which mountain there is a village called Bassee, and the Temple
of Apollo Epicurius (the Deliverer), which, together with its roof, is of stone: it surpasses all the
temples which are in Peloponnesus, with the exception of that in Tegea', in the beauty of the stone
and harmony of the proportions. The name of Epicurius was applied to Apollo, he having brought
them assistance during a pestilential disease, on which account he received among the Athenians
the appellation of Alexicacos", having driven the plague also from them. This deliverance oc-
a Now called Eski (old) Navarin. Between the promontory
on which stood Pylos, and the modern town of Navarin, extends
one of the most capacious harbours of the Morea, or of Greece,
closed on the south by the Isle of Sphacteria: in the former
wars of the Morea it has been, as at present, the chief rendez-
vous of the Turkish marine forces.
'' ■------Strophades Graio stant nomine dicta;
Insula; Ionio in magno: quas dira Celceno
Harpyia; que colunt alia;. V'rg- /En. III. 210.
c Prom £k£Vfjui>$vK, quernus, silvosus. Pliny, speaking of the. Pe-
loponnesus, says, ' Mediterranea ejus Arcadia maximc tenet, un-
dique a mari remote; initio Drymodes mux Pelasgis appellate.'
Lib. IV. Cap. 6.
d Pausanias, Lib. VIII. Cap. 3.
e Ibid. Cap. 5.
1 Phigalia is mentioned by Rhianns, a poet of Crete, in Stc-
phanus Byzantinus, and by Athenams Deip. LX. c. lix.
8 Vide Pausanias, Lib. VIII. Cap. 3<J.
n Diod. Sic. L. XV. 357. Mitford's Greece, Vol. VI. S. ix.
' The Temple of Minerva at Tegea is described by Pausanias
as having had an Ionic peristylium, and within, an order of Doric
columns, with another of the Corinthian order above them. The
Earl of Aberdeen, in his elegant essay on Grecian architecture,
observes, " It is possible that we ought to reverse the order in
which Pausanias speaks of the exterior and interior columns; as
it is more reasonable to suppose that the peristyle was Doric, and
that the less massive orders were in the interior of the building.
Tli is is in some measure confirmed by the mode actually observed
in the Temple of Apollo near Phigalia, which is compared by Pau-
sanias with that of Minerva at Tegea." However, with the ex-
ample before us of a Corinthian column ranging under the same
11 •
entablature in the midst of a series of those of the Ionic order,
wc have little reason to view with surprise the statement of Pau-
sanias on the columnar arrangement of the Temple of Tegea,
before the principle of system had entirely pervaded the practice
of the art and science of architecture.
It is a remarkable circumstance, that among the ruined frag-
ments on the north side of the Parthenon, the helix of a Corinthian
capital was found by Mr. IT. W. Inwood, in whose possession it
now is, the style of execution of which, corresponds with the de-
lineation of the fragment of the capital found within the Tem-
ple at Bassae, to both of which structures Ictinus was architect.
Of the city and temple at Tegea, scarcely more than sufficient
remains to mark the site. Tripolitza has been raised from the
ruins of that and the neighbouring cities of Mantinea and Mer
galopolis, but a judicious excavation at Tegea might be productive
of interesting antiquities, and settle all doubt on the passage of
the ancient Hellenic topographer.
k A celebrated statue of Apollo 'AAt|i>taxo5 was by Calamis,
a cotemporary of Phidias, and its supposed representation is to
be found on bas-reliefs with a bow, and similar to the Apollo
Belvidere, the action and attributes of which figure correspond
with the above designation ' a driver away of evil.' Mr. Elax-
man has ascertained the last-named figure to be a copy from a
bronzo one, particularly as the execution of the hair and chla-
mys resembles art in that material. Visconti however believed
that the statue named Alexicacos, seen at Athens in the time
pf Pausanias, may have been a copy substituted for the original
removed by the Romans, and that the Apollo Belvidere found
at Antium may be an imitation of the statue of Calamis by a sub-
sequent artist, to which he added new beauties, departing from
the style of that master, whose works were chiefly in metal, and
which partook of the dry and hard manner of the early Attic
school. It is" probable, therefore, that the Apollo Belvidere of
the Vatican is a copy from the Apollo Alexicacos here alluded to.
Vide Pausanias, Lib. I. Cap. 3. Lib. V. Cap. 25. Pliny, Lib.
XXXVI. Musco Pio Clementiiio, Vol. I. Report of Select
Committee on the Elgin Marbles, p. 73.
barrier chain of subordinate mountains from between the Laconian and Messenian plains, onward to
the Taenarian promontory. At the right, Pylos\ the Homeric city of Nestor, advances to the sea ; in
the distance and farther to the right, the Strophadesb are faintly visible. To the north the view of the
interior of Arcadia, a country still worthy of the pleasing association attached to its ancient name, is
intercepted by the intervening summits of Cotylius; this region is elevated above the level of the pro-
vinces contiguous; here the oak, the indigenous offspring of the soil, and which anciently gave the
name of Drymodes c to the province, as the mulberry tree is supposed to have done to the whole
Morea, still darkens with ' prodigality of shade' the vales and glenny sides of the mountains.
Phigalia, according to Pausanias, was built by Phygalus*1, son of Lycaon and grandson of Pe-
lasgus, who may be styled a founder of the Grecian nation, and was afterwards called Phialia, from
Phialus, son of Bucolion, sovereign of Arcadia, who attempted to deprive his ancestor of the honor
of building and naming the city, but that name was not generally adoptede. Phigalia is scarcelyf
otherwise known in history, after its capture by, and recovery from the Spartans, about the time of the
thirtieth Olympiad8, than by the troubles excited in the conflict between the oligarchic and democratic
factions, in the one hundred and second Olympiad, at the period of the Theban ascendancy1'.
It is however from Pausanias, that correct, though far from systematic topographer, that the prin-
cipal knowledge of this city, and of the ruin at Bassa?, is derived. In his description of the country
round Phigalia, he observes, " Phigalia is surrounded by mountains; on the left by that called Cotylius,
and by others on the right, among which is prominent Mount Elai'us. Cotylius is distant from the
city of Phigalia about forty stadia, on which mountain there is a village called Bassee, and the Temple
of Apollo Epicurius (the Deliverer), which, together with its roof, is of stone: it surpasses all the
temples which are in Peloponnesus, with the exception of that in Tegea', in the beauty of the stone
and harmony of the proportions. The name of Epicurius was applied to Apollo, he having brought
them assistance during a pestilential disease, on which account he received among the Athenians
the appellation of Alexicacos", having driven the plague also from them. This deliverance oc-
a Now called Eski (old) Navarin. Between the promontory
on which stood Pylos, and the modern town of Navarin, extends
one of the most capacious harbours of the Morea, or of Greece,
closed on the south by the Isle of Sphacteria: in the former
wars of the Morea it has been, as at present, the chief rendez-
vous of the Turkish marine forces.
'' ■------Strophades Graio stant nomine dicta;
Insula; Ionio in magno: quas dira Celceno
Harpyia; que colunt alia;. V'rg- /En. III. 210.
c Prom £k£Vfjui>$vK, quernus, silvosus. Pliny, speaking of the. Pe-
loponnesus, says, ' Mediterranea ejus Arcadia maximc tenet, un-
dique a mari remote; initio Drymodes mux Pelasgis appellate.'
Lib. IV. Cap. 6.
d Pausanias, Lib. VIII. Cap. 3.
e Ibid. Cap. 5.
1 Phigalia is mentioned by Rhianns, a poet of Crete, in Stc-
phanus Byzantinus, and by Athenams Deip. LX. c. lix.
8 Vide Pausanias, Lib. VIII. Cap. 3<J.
n Diod. Sic. L. XV. 357. Mitford's Greece, Vol. VI. S. ix.
' The Temple of Minerva at Tegea is described by Pausanias
as having had an Ionic peristylium, and within, an order of Doric
columns, with another of the Corinthian order above them. The
Earl of Aberdeen, in his elegant essay on Grecian architecture,
observes, " It is possible that we ought to reverse the order in
which Pausanias speaks of the exterior and interior columns; as
it is more reasonable to suppose that the peristyle was Doric, and
that the less massive orders were in the interior of the building.
Tli is is in some measure confirmed by the mode actually observed
in the Temple of Apollo near Phigalia, which is compared by Pau-
sanias with that of Minerva at Tegea." However, with the ex-
ample before us of a Corinthian column ranging under the same
11 •
entablature in the midst of a series of those of the Ionic order,
wc have little reason to view with surprise the statement of Pau-
sanias on the columnar arrangement of the Temple of Tegea,
before the principle of system had entirely pervaded the practice
of the art and science of architecture.
It is a remarkable circumstance, that among the ruined frag-
ments on the north side of the Parthenon, the helix of a Corinthian
capital was found by Mr. IT. W. Inwood, in whose possession it
now is, the style of execution of which, corresponds with the de-
lineation of the fragment of the capital found within the Tem-
ple at Bassae, to both of which structures Ictinus was architect.
Of the city and temple at Tegea, scarcely more than sufficient
remains to mark the site. Tripolitza has been raised from the
ruins of that and the neighbouring cities of Mantinea and Mer
galopolis, but a judicious excavation at Tegea might be productive
of interesting antiquities, and settle all doubt on the passage of
the ancient Hellenic topographer.
k A celebrated statue of Apollo 'AAt|i>taxo5 was by Calamis,
a cotemporary of Phidias, and its supposed representation is to
be found on bas-reliefs with a bow, and similar to the Apollo
Belvidere, the action and attributes of which figure correspond
with the above designation ' a driver away of evil.' Mr. Elax-
man has ascertained the last-named figure to be a copy from a
bronzo one, particularly as the execution of the hair and chla-
mys resembles art in that material. Visconti however believed
that the statue named Alexicacos, seen at Athens in the time
pf Pausanias, may have been a copy substituted for the original
removed by the Romans, and that the Apollo Belvidere found
at Antium may be an imitation of the statue of Calamis by a sub-
sequent artist, to which he added new beauties, departing from
the style of that master, whose works were chiefly in metal, and
which partook of the dry and hard manner of the early Attic
school. It is" probable, therefore, that the Apollo Belvidere of
the Vatican is a copy from the Apollo Alexicacos here alluded to.
Vide Pausanias, Lib. I. Cap. 3. Lib. V. Cap. 25. Pliny, Lib.
XXXVI. Musco Pio Clementiiio, Vol. I. Report of Select
Committee on the Elgin Marbles, p. 73.