Waldstein, Charles: The Argive Heraeum (Band 1): General introduction, geology, architecture marble statuary and inscriptions (Boston [u.a.], 1902)

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

I then surmised that they might have been dwelling-houses for the priestesses of the
early temple. This may he so; hut they at all events appear to me now to antedate the
supporting wall of the Proetean temple. The rude lower walls of this class run with
fair continuity from east to west on the lower southern slope of the Second Temple plat-
form behind the South Stoa; but what remains of them now on the west side of the
slope abutting on the supporting wall which separates the West Building from the Second
Temple platform presents an unintelligible line, and certainly one which has no relation to
the later structures of the West Building or of the Second Temple platform.1 Outside
of these walls were found the small " Salaminian " shaft-tombs (Fig. 13), and these tombs
were evidently put there after the Avails had been erected. It appears to me that these
walls mark the peribolos of the earliest sanctuary when the Second Temple was not
thought of, when the site upon which it was erected was uneven ground containing
merely an altar, and that the Cyclopean foundations were not yet built in the time of
Proetus. Mr. Tilton, moreover, succeeded in discovering some plan in the present indi-
cations.

At all events, it is highly probable that before the erection of the temple to which
the Cyclopean supporting wall and polygonal platform belong (which would hardly have
been built on this site unless for a long time before it had been associated with the
cult of the goddess), there was some form of sanctuary on this spot.2

All these considerations lead us back to times long anterior to the date hitherto assigned
to the beginnings of Greek civilization ; that is, earlier than the Mycenaean period, gen-
erally grouped round the fifteenth century B. c. We must, moreover, always bear in
mind that the Argive Heraeum is distinguished from Hissarlik-Troy, in that it is not
only a site in the heart of Greece proper, but is in a district associated with the earliest
records and traditions of the Hellenic people, nay, it was the spiritual centre of the
earliest Hellenes of whom we have knowledge. The remains of the temple belonging
to the Cyclopean wall, which we are justified in associating with Proetus of Tiryns, thus
form a central point for the dating of the earliest period, with evidence of preceding
and succeeding occupation. Now the method of dating Greek temples by means of their
orientation, as applied by Dr. F. C. Penrose,3 has provided us with definite dates for
these buildings; and I have heard from the most competent astronomical authorities
that, as regards the astronomical side, his computations rest on a sound scientific basis.
In the case of our Heraeum such inference is much strengthened in that Ave have tAvo
temples, one aboA-e the other, the date of the later one absolutely fixed in historical times,
and that these two temples show some divergence in the line of their orientation. Dr.
Penrose has concluded that the earlier Heraeum is one of the two oldest temples in the
ancient Greek world, the other being the earliest temple of Athena on the Acropolis of
Athens, and he assigns to these two temples the date of B. c. 1830. 1 here give Dr.
Penrose's letter on this subject: —

1 Since I wrote this I have conferred with Mr. Tilton,
our architect, who, working independently on the archi-
tectural remains, has come to the same conclusion as to
the early date to be assigned to these walls. He has
succeeded further in discovering indications in the vestiges
of these walls at the west end which point to what was
probably a tower marking the entrance to the second
terrace here. This will be made clearer in the introduc-
tion to the section on Architecture (pp. 108 ft.).

2 See my articles cited in note 1 on p. 25.

3 ' On the Orientation of Greek Temples and the
Dates of their Foundation derived from Astronomical
Considerations, being a Supplement to a Paper published
in the Transactions of the Royal Society in 1893,' by
F. C. Penrose, F. R. S., in Philosophical Transaction.* of
the Royal Society for 1897, London, 1898, vol. 190 (A),
p. 43. '