DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1755#0202
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SACRED INCLOSTJKES. 157
allowed to call an architectural Sabbath, such as a heathen could enjoy, and
no Christian can despise.
We recognize, therefore, in this place one of the most interesting specimens
to he found on the soil of Greece of those Sacred Precincts, or Inclostjres,
which, from their elevation and retirement, gave additional beauty, dignity,
and sanctity to the Temples contained within them, and which may suggest
instruction to our own Architects and delight to modern times. We find, indeed,
the same idea, which suggested such an arrangement, developed in other places
on a grander scale, and with greater magnificence. In a certain sense the
Acropolis of Athens was itself a hallowed Temenos, as such an inclosure was
called in the language of ancient Greece. The spacious grove of the Olym-
pian Jove at Elis was another of the same kind. Another example is found
in the walled platform at Eleusis, on which the Propylsea and Temple stood.
We are presented with another at Epidaurus in Argolis, where not merely the
Temple of iEsculapius and other consecrated buildings, but also the unrivalled
Theatre of Polycletus, were all grouped together within the same precincts.
At Sunium, the fane of Minerva; at Patroe, that of Diana; at Corinth, that
of Paleemon; 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 Priene,
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
inclosed 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
other, 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.
It is a distance of about six miles from Ehamnus to Marathon. The road
descends from the heights of Mount Parnes in a south-westerly direction.
The plain of Marathon lies from north-east to south-west. It is nearly in the
form of a crescent, the homs of which consist of two promontories, which
project into the sea, and form its semicircular bay, which is of the same length
as the plain—namely, six miles : the breadth of the latter, in the widest or
central part of the crescent, is two miles. A line drawn from the middle of
e arc of the bay, so as to cut the centre of the arc of the plain, will, if
<3f
SACRED INCLOSTJKES. 157
allowed to call an architectural Sabbath, such as a heathen could enjoy, and
no Christian can despise.
We recognize, therefore, in this place one of the most interesting specimens
to he found on the soil of Greece of those Sacred Precincts, or Inclostjres,
which, from their elevation and retirement, gave additional beauty, dignity,
and sanctity to the Temples contained within them, and which may suggest
instruction to our own Architects and delight to modern times. We find, indeed,
the same idea, which suggested such an arrangement, developed in other places
on a grander scale, and with greater magnificence. In a certain sense the
Acropolis of Athens was itself a hallowed Temenos, as such an inclosure was
called in the language of ancient Greece. The spacious grove of the Olym-
pian Jove at Elis was another of the same kind. Another example is found
in the walled platform at Eleusis, on which the Propylsea and Temple stood.
We are presented with another at Epidaurus in Argolis, where not merely the
Temple of iEsculapius and other consecrated buildings, but also the unrivalled
Theatre of Polycletus, were all grouped together within the same precincts.
At Sunium, the fane of Minerva; at Patroe, that of Diana; at Corinth, that
of Paleemon; 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 Priene,
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
inclosed 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
other, 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.
It is a distance of about six miles from Ehamnus to Marathon. The road
descends from the heights of Mount Parnes in a south-westerly direction.
The plain of Marathon lies from north-east to south-west. It is nearly in the
form of a crescent, the homs of which consist of two promontories, which
project into the sea, and form its semicircular bay, which is of the same length
as the plain—namely, six miles : the breadth of the latter, in the widest or
central part of the crescent, is two miles. A line drawn from the middle of
e arc of the bay, so as to cut the centre of the arc of the plain, will, if
<3f