DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1031#0173
148 THESEUM AND ST MABk's. [cHAP. XVIII.
of iEschylus and Sophocles. The Hero and the Saint
placed in their splendid mausoleums, each in his re-
spective city, were revered as the peculiar guardians
of those two Republics of the Sea.
Theseus did not enjoy alone the undivided honours
of his own temple. He admitted Hercules, the friend
and companion of his earthly toils, to a share in his
posthumous glory. He even ceded to him, with the
best spirit of Athenian delicacy, the most honourable
place in that fabric. On the eastern facade of this
temple all the ten metopes are occupied with the
'labours of Hercules, while only four, and those on
the sides only, refer to the deeds of Theseus. The
same disinterestedness is shewn in the selection of the
subjects of the two friezes of the pronaos and posti-
cum of the cella. Here, as before, Theseus has yielded
to Hercules the most conspicuous spot at the very
entrance of his own temple.
This association of Hercules with the Athenian
hero has been well illustrated by reference to a pa-
rallel instance in a different department of art. What
is done here by sculpture and architecture, Euripides
has performed in poetry. He has blended together
in the same spirit the deeds and glory of these two
1 It has been hence argued, that at the time of the erection of the
Theseum, the labours of Hercules were net twelve but ten. This might
have been a just inference had it been possible to have introduced
twelve metopes on the frieze of a hexastyle portico, such as that of
this temple.
of iEschylus and Sophocles. The Hero and the Saint
placed in their splendid mausoleums, each in his re-
spective city, were revered as the peculiar guardians
of those two Republics of the Sea.
Theseus did not enjoy alone the undivided honours
of his own temple. He admitted Hercules, the friend
and companion of his earthly toils, to a share in his
posthumous glory. He even ceded to him, with the
best spirit of Athenian delicacy, the most honourable
place in that fabric. On the eastern facade of this
temple all the ten metopes are occupied with the
'labours of Hercules, while only four, and those on
the sides only, refer to the deeds of Theseus. The
same disinterestedness is shewn in the selection of the
subjects of the two friezes of the pronaos and posti-
cum of the cella. Here, as before, Theseus has yielded
to Hercules the most conspicuous spot at the very
entrance of his own temple.
This association of Hercules with the Athenian
hero has been well illustrated by reference to a pa-
rallel instance in a different department of art. What
is done here by sculpture and architecture, Euripides
has performed in poetry. He has blended together
in the same spirit the deeds and glory of these two
1 It has been hence argued, that at the time of the erection of the
Theseum, the labours of Hercules were net twelve but ten. This might
have been a just inference had it been possible to have introduced
twelve metopes on the frieze of a hexastyle portico, such as that of
this temple.