DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1004#0143
SACRED ENCLOSURES. 107
grander scale, and with greater magnificence. In a certain sense the
Acropolis of Athens was itself a hallowed Tembngs, as such an enclosure
was called in the language of ancient Greece. The spacious grove of the
Olympian Jove at Elis was another of the same kind. Another example
is found in the walled platform at Eleusis, on which the Propylasa and
Temple stood. We are presented with another at Epidaurus in Argolis,
where not merely the Temple of jEsculapius and other consecrated build-
ings, but also the unrivalled Theatre of Polycletus, were all grouped together
within the same precincts. At Sunium the fane of Minerva; at Patrze that of
Diana; at Corinth, that of PaUemon; at Megara, that of Jove; at Sicyon,
that of Hercules,—were combined with other fabrics in the same way. Nor
was this practice limited to Greece. We discover it on the shores of Asia
and of Sicily. At Pricne, it was seen in the sacred buildings dedicated to
Minerva Polias: it exhibits itself at Selinus, where four temples stand
side by side on a raised terrace enclosed by walls: and no one can view the
line of magnificent fanes still .standing at; Girgenti on their elevated
platform, looking over the sea on one side, and the site of the ancient
city, from which they are removed, on the otheri without feeling a share
of the pleasure and veneration with which they were contemplated by
spectators and worshippers of ancient days, and which they inspired by
their position.
grander scale, and with greater magnificence. In a certain sense the
Acropolis of Athens was itself a hallowed Tembngs, as such an enclosure
was called in the language of ancient Greece. The spacious grove of the
Olympian Jove at Elis was another of the same kind. Another example
is found in the walled platform at Eleusis, on which the Propylasa and
Temple stood. We are presented with another at Epidaurus in Argolis,
where not merely the Temple of jEsculapius and other consecrated build-
ings, but also the unrivalled Theatre of Polycletus, were all grouped together
within the same precincts. At Sunium the fane of Minerva; at Patrze that of
Diana; at Corinth, that of PaUemon; at Megara, that of Jove; at Sicyon,
that of Hercules,—were combined with other fabrics in the same way. Nor
was this practice limited to Greece. We discover it on the shores of Asia
and of Sicily. At Pricne, it was seen in the sacred buildings dedicated to
Minerva Polias: it exhibits itself at Selinus, where four temples stand
side by side on a raised terrace enclosed by walls: and no one can view the
line of magnificent fanes still .standing at; Girgenti on their elevated
platform, looking over the sea on one side, and the site of the ancient
city, from which they are removed, on the otheri without feeling a share
of the pleasure and veneration with which they were contemplated by
spectators and worshippers of ancient days, and which they inspired by
their position.