ma 
3 P Aed of ivory and gold, and deli- 
ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 
Spon for the Pronaus, whereas it is 
the Opifthodomus, where the pub- 
lic treafure was kept. In the 
Jarger divifion ftood the famous fta- 
tue of Minerva, twenty-fix cubits 
high, according to Pliny, made of 
gold and ivory, the work of the il- 
luftrious Phidias. Mr. Stuart is 
inclined to think, with other anti- 
quarians, that the ivory of this fta- 
tue was painted, as that of Jupiter 
at Elis appears, from Strabo’s ac- 
count, to have certainly been.— 
‘The reafon, he conceives, why ivory 
was ufed in ftatues of this kind ra- 
ther than wood, to have been not 
©n account of its colour, but be- 
caufe wood is apt to crack and be 
deftroyed by worms: ivory not be- 
ang of an uniform colour, but yel- 
low near the outfide of the tooth, 
and white in the middle; and there- 
fore it would require painting on 
that account, and likewife to hide 
the joinings of the pieces. It is re- 
corded by Thucydides, that the 
gold about it weighed forty talents, 
which, according to the value of 
gold at that time, was worth about 
120,000]. fterliag. 
Mr. Stuart quotes a paflage from 
-Vitravius, which, if applicable to 
_ this temple, as Mr. Stuart fuppofes, 
feems to prove it to have been an 
Hypecthros, that is, without a roof. 
As to the roof feen by Wheler and 
Spon, it was probably added to the 
building when it was converted in- 
to achurch, at which time the eaft- 
@rn entrance, or the true Pronaus, 
was clofed up, to adapt it to Chrif- 
tian ufes. 
Upon the fubje& of unroofed 
temples, Mr. Stuart obferves, that a 
difficulty has been ‘ftarted, viz. that 
it can hardly be fuppofed, that fuch 
ificent and <oftly works, com- 
163 
cately painted, would be expofed 
in the open air to all the varieties 
of weather. In anfwer to this, he 
remarks, that the periftyle, or in- 
ternal colonnade, fupported a roof, 
which fheltered great part of the 
area of the cell, and feems to have 
projected over the ftatue. Another 
conjecture is, that the Peplus of 
Minerva in the Parthenon, and the 
Parapetafma of Jupiter Olympius 
in Elis, mentioned by Paufanias in 
his defcription of that temple, were 
each of them fufpended in their re- 
fpeétive fituations, fo as to afford 
the requifite fhade or fhelier to 
thofe moft celebrated ftatues, 
s« The name of this temple (He- 
catompedon) implying that it ex- 
tended a hundred feet, led me, fays 
Mr. Stuart, to inquire into the 
length of the Attic foot. For 
which purpofe, I compared the 
length of the lower ftep in front, 
with its length on the fide, and 
found them incommenfurable: nei- 
ther were the front and fide-lengths 
of the ftep above it comimenfurable 
with each other. But the third ftep, 
on which the columns of the portico 
ftand, meafured 101 feet 12, inch 
Englith, in front, and 227 feet wt, 
inch on each fide, which are {0 near- 
ly in the proportion of 100 to 225, 
that, had the meafure been + of an 
inch lefs, it would have been defi- 
cient of it. 
«“ Thefe meafures were taken 
from a brafs fcale of three feet, di- 
vided by that eminent artift Mr. 
John Bird, whofe works ate known 
all over Europe. ; / 
“ The front meafure gives an 
Attic foot of 12,137 London inches, 
and decimals; the fide mexfure, one 
of 12,133. : 
«« Hence the Roman foot, which, 
according to Plity, was to the Atti¢ 
Mz in 
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