DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4266#0078
10 EXPLANATORY DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES
the Temple of Minerva at Priene, and among the ruins of Clarosa in Asia Minor. In front of the
Temple of Junob at Agrigentum, also, are observable seats, appropriated perhaps to the magistrates
and other distinguished members of the state.
The arrangement of the engaged columns of the cella is very peculiar. A similar disposition
has never hitherto been found, though perhaps in the Temple of Apollo Didymeus at Branchidae,
near Miletus, the projecting pilasters conveyed the same effect less distinctly expressed. The spaces
between the Ionic columns seem to afford admirable situations for statues, as they would be secured
by the columns on each side, and by the soffites above, from the occasional inclemency of even that
mild atmosphere.
The column which immediately faces the entrance from the pronaos, occupies the supposed
position of a Corinthian column, the base and capital of which were found among the ruins. The
distance between the two angular Ionic columns is too great not to suggest, that there must have
been some intermediate support for the transverse architrave; at the same time it is too small to allow
of a triple intercolumniation, an arrangement more consonant with the Grecian purity of style ; but no
fragment has been discovered of a second capital or base. The double intercolumniation, however,
has this defect, that the central column occupies the spot which generally is supposed to be more
appropriate to the statue of the Divinity, and for which the ample space behind seems to point
it out as the proper situation. It is not impossible that the cella of the temple might have
been wholly covered by the roof) in which case it would lose its hypaethral character, and then the
statue of Apollo might have been placed before the column in question : but the sculpture in the
Ionic frieze, and the sunk pavement of the cella indicate that there was a compluviumc. It would
therefore appear, that the spot described is the only one for the Corinthian fragments, the capital and base
of which were found in the ruins; but that there should have been a column of a different order to range
with the series of Ionic columns, is one of those caprices irreconcileable with the serious feelings which
generally influenced the Greeks in all matters connected with their sacred rites.
Another observation rises out of the above remarks. This variety of design may give latitude to
suggest the probability that the interior of the temple may have been of a later date than the ex-
terior. The peculiarity of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals and bases, no less than the disposi-
tion of the attached columns, some of them angular, and the style of art observable in the sculptures
of the frieze, may also indicate a less remote period than the age of Pericles, when the severer
a Near a Turkish village called Zille. which are four or five more steps, which descend on the pavement
b On the east facade three steps, as usual, lead down from the of a court. At the distance of thirty-one feet is a raised plat-
level of the amhulatio upon a plane about nine feet wide, from form, thirty-seven feet wide, with steps and seats.
c Espace ouvert qui sert a donner du jour a l'atrium et par rus, p. 59, where that elegant writer satisfactorily explains many
lequel les eaux pluvialcs tombent au centre de la cour. Vide of the terms of Vitruvius hitherto misunderstood.
Mazois. Ruines de Pompei, Tome II. and the Palais de Scau-
the Temple of Minerva at Priene, and among the ruins of Clarosa in Asia Minor. In front of the
Temple of Junob at Agrigentum, also, are observable seats, appropriated perhaps to the magistrates
and other distinguished members of the state.
The arrangement of the engaged columns of the cella is very peculiar. A similar disposition
has never hitherto been found, though perhaps in the Temple of Apollo Didymeus at Branchidae,
near Miletus, the projecting pilasters conveyed the same effect less distinctly expressed. The spaces
between the Ionic columns seem to afford admirable situations for statues, as they would be secured
by the columns on each side, and by the soffites above, from the occasional inclemency of even that
mild atmosphere.
The column which immediately faces the entrance from the pronaos, occupies the supposed
position of a Corinthian column, the base and capital of which were found among the ruins. The
distance between the two angular Ionic columns is too great not to suggest, that there must have
been some intermediate support for the transverse architrave; at the same time it is too small to allow
of a triple intercolumniation, an arrangement more consonant with the Grecian purity of style ; but no
fragment has been discovered of a second capital or base. The double intercolumniation, however,
has this defect, that the central column occupies the spot which generally is supposed to be more
appropriate to the statue of the Divinity, and for which the ample space behind seems to point
it out as the proper situation. It is not impossible that the cella of the temple might have
been wholly covered by the roof) in which case it would lose its hypaethral character, and then the
statue of Apollo might have been placed before the column in question : but the sculpture in the
Ionic frieze, and the sunk pavement of the cella indicate that there was a compluviumc. It would
therefore appear, that the spot described is the only one for the Corinthian fragments, the capital and base
of which were found in the ruins; but that there should have been a column of a different order to range
with the series of Ionic columns, is one of those caprices irreconcileable with the serious feelings which
generally influenced the Greeks in all matters connected with their sacred rites.
Another observation rises out of the above remarks. This variety of design may give latitude to
suggest the probability that the interior of the temple may have been of a later date than the ex-
terior. The peculiarity of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals and bases, no less than the disposi-
tion of the attached columns, some of them angular, and the style of art observable in the sculptures
of the frieze, may also indicate a less remote period than the age of Pericles, when the severer
a Near a Turkish village called Zille. which are four or five more steps, which descend on the pavement
b On the east facade three steps, as usual, lead down from the of a court. At the distance of thirty-one feet is a raised plat-
level of the amhulatio upon a plane about nine feet wide, from form, thirty-seven feet wide, with steps and seats.
c Espace ouvert qui sert a donner du jour a l'atrium et par rus, p. 59, where that elegant writer satisfactorily explains many
lequel les eaux pluvialcs tombent au centre de la cour. Vide of the terms of Vitruvius hitherto misunderstood.
Mazois. Ruines de Pompei, Tome II. and the Palais de Scau-