DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0073
OF THE TEMPLE OF AFOLLO EFICURIUS. 5
curred also to the Phigalians about the period of the Pcloponnesian and Athenian war, and not at any
other time : the confirmation of which is the appellation of Apollo having the same signification among
each people, and that Ictinus, the architect of the temple at Phigalia, flourished in the age of Pericles",
and constructed for the Athenians the temple called the Parthenon. My narration has already de-
scribed that the statue of Apollo is in the agora or market-place of the Megalopolitans."b
In the mention of the statue just cited he says, " But there is before the sacred enclosure [or
peribolus of Lycasan Jove in the agora of Megalopolis] a brazen statue of Apollo worthy of being
seen ; the height of which is twelve feet; it was removed as a donation of the Phigalians for the
ornament of Megalopolis ; but the place, where the statue was originally raised by the Phigalians,
is called Bassse, and thence the appellation of the god by the Phigalians, has followed it. Wherefore
he had the name of Epicurius will be found in my description, when I discourse concerning the monu-
ments of Phigalia."c
The ruin at Bassas, which shews the former opulence of the people of that district, is we be-
lieve not named in ancient history, except in the above description of Pausanias. The Phigalians were
united with the Arcadian league at the period of the foundation of Megalopolis, the federal city of
Arcadia, subsequent to the time when their ancestors, visited by a pestilence, had enshrined Apollo the
deliverer, on this sacred spot. Bassaa was possibly cither the place of his reported appearance in their
aid, or the scene of their refuge from the infected haunts of population. The Phigalians may have
been induced with little reluctance, as the impression of the epidemic calamity had naturally dimi-
nished, to concede for the decoration of the capital of their new state, from a remote and unfre-
quented corner of Arcadia, the magnificent statue of the Divinity of Bassas.
The ruin at Bassa?, after perhaps experiencing the rage of the Iconoclasts, and posterior to
that period, being subject to the occasional removal, as from a quarry, of the quadrangular stones,
for materials in the construction of the neighbouring villages, remained otherwise unnoticed, during
ages of semi-barbarism, under the languid rule of the Byzantine empire, the transient Venetian sove-
reignty of the Morea, and the desolation of the Turkish conquest of Greece, until the reports of the
natives to enquiring visitors of the coast respecting the antiquities of the country, excited the atten-
tion of travellers.
The earliest modern notice we have found of this monument is in the work of Mons. Pouque-
villed, who describes the temple as having been sought for about the year 1110 by a Mons. Bocher, an
enterprising French architect proceeding from Caritena, during a second visit to the Morea, who fell
a sacrifice to his professional zeal, being murdered by the barbarous Moreots near the ruins of the
temple. Since that time few travellers but in large parties, or with a strong escort, have had the
temerity to explore the country of this beautiful antiquity, so little distant from the fastnesses of the
piratical mountaineers of Maina. Our countryman, Sir William Gell, we believe, was the first who
* Pericles died of the plague at Athens, which lasted five years,
429. B. C. Plat.
nf^U^Erai $e »J OiyaAia opeaiv9 fe apto-Tega pw viru tov y.aXovpevov
KoTtAioy, Ta SI e; Se^ia. tTeeoi 7reo@t@Xnfilvov eaTiv avrrif opo; to 'EXaioii'
aiteye\ he t>js iroKeuis ei; TEo-crapciy.ovTa to Korvhiov jaaAia-Ta crTaSiovg' Iv S\
tw avTW ^w^voit te' £<7Tt xakovfxevov Bo-cro-ai, xa-i o vecoq tov AiroXhuvog rov
'Emxov^ov, XiOou xoa avTot; opotyoq. vawv S\, '6aoiHe>.o7rovvYj(7ion; eao-i, y.eTa.
ye tov ev Teyea Trporif/.^To ovtoc a-v tov AlOou te £$ xa/X/\oc xxi TVS appo-
iaa; tiviY.a.' to he ovojj.ee eyeveTo Tit) ATroAA&m eitix-ovpfiaavTi e?r» voo-cj
/XoijjmjSh' xaooTi xai irag A§r,\a!\o\c. eiruvv^av e/\ct(3ev A/\et]{xax.o$, axo-
TpQac. xou rovTOic TW voo-oy exavae Si viro tov tvv Tle/\o7roitv/:C7Mv xou
AQyivccIm iroXepov xat Tov$ <&tya\iu<; xai ova ev Itepco xaipy' pa-oTvpia. St
at Te nnxtocElt; a^oTlPat tov AttoX/Xuvos £0**35 Tt vicoavi^aUovo'a.ij xat
Iv.tiVos 0 ocpyjTexruv Tof ev <i>iya/\ta va.ov3 yeyov^s TV yMx'ux. Kara. Tie-
^ix/\ia, xai A&Vaioi? to» TlapOtiuiaa. xaXov/xefoii xa.Tao-xeva.acK;. eSiSa^e
ae 0 \oyo$ r,Sy ^0t, to uyaXy.a eivai toS A-ttoXAwvo? WlEyaXoirohiTuv eii tv
uyo^u. Pausanias. Arcadica, Lib. VIII. C. XLI.
c EcrTt Se npo tov TefAtvovs tovtov ^aXxovv U-yahfJiCL '' A7io/\7\uvo$ Ge<*£
U^lov, /xEysOo^ [/,ev eq irooag SuSexa.' exO[j.ia0y Si ex TW5 Q>iya.Xea!/ o-vvTe-
/\eia$ e$ xoay.ov TV MeyaXv} ttuAei. to Si yup\ov ivOa to ayechpa 'ISpvto e£
a-p'Xyic, v%o <b\ya.'heuv ovoyA^ETal Bao-cai' T« Gew Si h eTrix^aic; rixo7\ov-
Qr/xe |W-ei/ ex TVc QiyaXeuv* etyoTai oe ovo[/.a ^o—^ev ~E7rixovploc, driXcdo-ei f/.ot
to. eg QtyuAeas rov Xoyov. Pausanias. Arcadica, Lib. VIII. C.
XXX.
d " Les habltans de Caritene racontcnt aux otrangers l'aven-
ture d'un voyagcur dont ils n'ont pu me dire le nom ; il fut as-
sasine, il y a plus de trente ans, comme il sc rendoit a quatre ou
cinq lieues de la pour visiter les mines d'un temple qui se trouve
au midi d'Andritsena. Ils disent que ce fut en vain que Ton
chercha a. connoitre les auteurs de sa mort, qu'ils s'accordent a
attribuer aux Laliottes—unc peuplade—de la petite ville de Lala
—reste impur des brigands echappes au glaive de la justice." In
a note he observes ' Seroit ce i\I. Bocher, architccte qui, retour-
nant une scconde fois dans la Moree, disparut sans qu'on en ait
jamais entendu parler depuis ?' Pouqueville, Voyage en Mo-
ree en 1790, &c.
VOL. IV,
curred also to the Phigalians about the period of the Pcloponnesian and Athenian war, and not at any
other time : the confirmation of which is the appellation of Apollo having the same signification among
each people, and that Ictinus, the architect of the temple at Phigalia, flourished in the age of Pericles",
and constructed for the Athenians the temple called the Parthenon. My narration has already de-
scribed that the statue of Apollo is in the agora or market-place of the Megalopolitans."b
In the mention of the statue just cited he says, " But there is before the sacred enclosure [or
peribolus of Lycasan Jove in the agora of Megalopolis] a brazen statue of Apollo worthy of being
seen ; the height of which is twelve feet; it was removed as a donation of the Phigalians for the
ornament of Megalopolis ; but the place, where the statue was originally raised by the Phigalians,
is called Bassse, and thence the appellation of the god by the Phigalians, has followed it. Wherefore
he had the name of Epicurius will be found in my description, when I discourse concerning the monu-
ments of Phigalia."c
The ruin at Bassas, which shews the former opulence of the people of that district, is we be-
lieve not named in ancient history, except in the above description of Pausanias. The Phigalians were
united with the Arcadian league at the period of the foundation of Megalopolis, the federal city of
Arcadia, subsequent to the time when their ancestors, visited by a pestilence, had enshrined Apollo the
deliverer, on this sacred spot. Bassaa was possibly cither the place of his reported appearance in their
aid, or the scene of their refuge from the infected haunts of population. The Phigalians may have
been induced with little reluctance, as the impression of the epidemic calamity had naturally dimi-
nished, to concede for the decoration of the capital of their new state, from a remote and unfre-
quented corner of Arcadia, the magnificent statue of the Divinity of Bassas.
The ruin at Bassa?, after perhaps experiencing the rage of the Iconoclasts, and posterior to
that period, being subject to the occasional removal, as from a quarry, of the quadrangular stones,
for materials in the construction of the neighbouring villages, remained otherwise unnoticed, during
ages of semi-barbarism, under the languid rule of the Byzantine empire, the transient Venetian sove-
reignty of the Morea, and the desolation of the Turkish conquest of Greece, until the reports of the
natives to enquiring visitors of the coast respecting the antiquities of the country, excited the atten-
tion of travellers.
The earliest modern notice we have found of this monument is in the work of Mons. Pouque-
villed, who describes the temple as having been sought for about the year 1110 by a Mons. Bocher, an
enterprising French architect proceeding from Caritena, during a second visit to the Morea, who fell
a sacrifice to his professional zeal, being murdered by the barbarous Moreots near the ruins of the
temple. Since that time few travellers but in large parties, or with a strong escort, have had the
temerity to explore the country of this beautiful antiquity, so little distant from the fastnesses of the
piratical mountaineers of Maina. Our countryman, Sir William Gell, we believe, was the first who
* Pericles died of the plague at Athens, which lasted five years,
429. B. C. Plat.
nf^U^Erai $e »J OiyaAia opeaiv9 fe apto-Tega pw viru tov y.aXovpevov
KoTtAioy, Ta SI e; Se^ia. tTeeoi 7reo@t@Xnfilvov eaTiv avrrif opo; to 'EXaioii'
aiteye\ he t>js iroKeuis ei; TEo-crapciy.ovTa to Korvhiov jaaAia-Ta crTaSiovg' Iv S\
tw avTW ^w^voit te' £<7Tt xakovfxevov Bo-cro-ai, xa-i o vecoq tov AiroXhuvog rov
'Emxov^ov, XiOou xoa avTot; opotyoq. vawv S\, '6aoiHe>.o7rovvYj(7ion; eao-i, y.eTa.
ye tov ev Teyea Trporif/.^To ovtoc a-v tov AlOou te £$ xa/X/\oc xxi TVS appo-
iaa; tiviY.a.' to he ovojj.ee eyeveTo Tit) ATroAA&m eitix-ovpfiaavTi e?r» voo-cj
/XoijjmjSh' xaooTi xai irag A§r,\a!\o\c. eiruvv^av e/\ct(3ev A/\et]{xax.o$, axo-
TpQac. xou rovTOic TW voo-oy exavae Si viro tov tvv Tle/\o7roitv/:C7Mv xou
AQyivccIm iroXepov xat Tov$ <&tya\iu<; xai ova ev Itepco xaipy' pa-oTvpia. St
at Te nnxtocElt; a^oTlPat tov AttoX/Xuvos £0**35 Tt vicoavi^aUovo'a.ij xat
Iv.tiVos 0 ocpyjTexruv Tof ev <i>iya/\ta va.ov3 yeyov^s TV yMx'ux. Kara. Tie-
^ix/\ia, xai A&Vaioi? to» TlapOtiuiaa. xaXov/xefoii xa.Tao-xeva.acK;. eSiSa^e
ae 0 \oyo$ r,Sy ^0t, to uyaXy.a eivai toS A-ttoXAwvo? WlEyaXoirohiTuv eii tv
uyo^u. Pausanias. Arcadica, Lib. VIII. C. XLI.
c EcrTt Se npo tov TefAtvovs tovtov ^aXxovv U-yahfJiCL '' A7io/\7\uvo$ Ge<*£
U^lov, /xEysOo^ [/,ev eq irooag SuSexa.' exO[j.ia0y Si ex TW5 Q>iya.Xea!/ o-vvTe-
/\eia$ e$ xoay.ov TV MeyaXv} ttuAei. to Si yup\ov ivOa to ayechpa 'ISpvto e£
a-p'Xyic, v%o <b\ya.'heuv ovoyA^ETal Bao-cai' T« Gew Si h eTrix^aic; rixo7\ov-
Qr/xe |W-ei/ ex TVc QiyaXeuv* etyoTai oe ovo[/.a ^o—^ev ~E7rixovploc, driXcdo-ei f/.ot
to. eg QtyuAeas rov Xoyov. Pausanias. Arcadica, Lib. VIII. C.
XXX.
d " Les habltans de Caritene racontcnt aux otrangers l'aven-
ture d'un voyagcur dont ils n'ont pu me dire le nom ; il fut as-
sasine, il y a plus de trente ans, comme il sc rendoit a quatre ou
cinq lieues de la pour visiter les mines d'un temple qui se trouve
au midi d'Andritsena. Ils disent que ce fut en vain que Ton
chercha a. connoitre les auteurs de sa mort, qu'ils s'accordent a
attribuer aux Laliottes—unc peuplade—de la petite ville de Lala
—reste impur des brigands echappes au glaive de la justice." In
a note he observes ' Seroit ce i\I. Bocher, architccte qui, retour-
nant une scconde fois dans la Moree, disparut sans qu'on en ait
jamais entendu parler depuis ?' Pouqueville, Voyage en Mo-
ree en 1790, &c.
VOL. IV,