131 



TKMI'l.r. 



Stuart'* delineations, and the order iUt-H of i-lain and 1-.M lmt 

 elegant character has been adopted u the type of most of <mr 

 Grecian Ionic. Though amphiprostyle, the portico* were not exactly 

 similar in plan ; for while the one was a mere monoprostyle, that 

 forming the entrance end wan alao deeply recessed within the main 

 walk, after the manner of a portico in antis without columns. The 

 other temple, that of Nike Apteros, was a very small structure, a 

 mere votive chapel, close by the west front of the Propylm of the 

 Acropolis, with its hinder portico facing the south wing of that edifice, 

 but turned obliquely from it For although they carried regularity 

 almost to excess, the Greeks seem to have paid no regard to it what- 

 ever in disposing buildings relatively to each other, for there is a 

 similar and apparently intentional want of parallelism between the 

 Parthenon and Erechtheion on the Acropolis itself ; nor ore either of 

 them in a line with the Propytoa, or equidistant from such line or axis. 

 This inattention to uniformity of arrangement, where different lmil.1- 

 ings are brought together on one general plan, shows a striking 

 dinereno* of taste in that respect between the Egyptians and the 

 Creeks. The temples of the Egyptians consist of various architec- 

 tural parts subordinate to the principal structure, but combining with 

 that and with each other to form a whole ; which scheme was some- 

 times further extended by an architectural avenue of sphinxes in front 

 of the buildings. The Greeks, on the contrary, certainly did not 

 attempt to imitate or rival the Egyptians in the extent and complex 

 arrangement of their temples, though there can be little doubt that 

 they were originally indebted to them for much of their architectural 

 knowledge. Their temples were almost invariably single structure*, 

 not only detached from but altogether unconnected with adjacent 

 ones, instead of forming with them a symmetrically arranged assem- 

 blage or group. It seems however to have been in some degree the 

 practice with the Greeks as well as with the Romans to erect several 

 temples in the immediate neighbourhood of each other, and in a par- 

 ticular district of a city, as was the case in the Forum and Capitol at 

 Rome, where temple succeeded to temple almost uninterruptedly ; 

 and the ruins of Psostum, Agrigentum, Selinus, and other places show 

 a somewhat similar concentration of sacred edifices about the same 

 spot. Temples were frequently surrounded by a sacred grove or 

 plantation of trees, ttneiioi, or else placed within an enclosure, per- 

 ib'J'jt, formed either by mere walls or by colonnades, but there are 

 scarcely any examples of the kind now remaining; and they are 

 chiefly Roman works, namely, the temples at Baalbec and Palmyra. 

 Similarly enclosed and standing in the centre of a peribolos or piazza 

 (therefore very different in plan from an K^yptian temple preceded by 

 a fore-court), were the temples of Jupiter and Juno, Venus and Huma, 



TIM! 1JJ 



[ROMAN AncniTEcTt'RF. col. 145]; that of Jupiter Olympius 

 at Athens, a work completed in the time of Hadrian ; and also, among 

 examples, the temples Athena IVlias at Prime, and 

 A | mill i Iiiilyiuj'UH at Mi 



Similar as it is upon the whole to that of the Greeks, the temple- 

 architecture of the Romans differs from it in many other circumstance* 

 besides those of style ; which Utter was, with very few exceptions, 

 Corinthian the national style of the Romans, as the Doric was of 

 Greece and its Italian colonies. One leading distinction in regard to 

 general arrangement is, that Roman plans were hardly ever in anlit, 

 and not often . but generally prostyle, with the portico pro- 



jecting out from the cella, or body of the structure, three or more 

 interoolumns, so as to be tri/irottylr, &c. [Politico.] Such facade 

 was generally further distinguished by having a flight of steps enclosed 

 within .'pedestals at its emlx, which were continued as a podium or 

 moulded basement along the sides of the edifice ; whereas the Greeks 

 raised the temples only three steps or so above the ground, and carried 

 those gradini quite round the structure, wherefore each elevation or 

 side of their peripteral temples was uniform in design, having no 

 other variety than that produced by greater extent and nunr 

 columns in one direction, and by the pediments at the extremities. 

 The Romans certainly evinced greater taste for both contrast and 

 picturesque combination than the Greeks, although decidedly inferior 

 to them in beauty of detail and finish of execution. In order to give 

 greater dignity to the whole temple or to the principal structure in an 

 architectural group, they elevated it upon not a mere basement or 

 substructure with an ascent in front or at both ends, but up .n A 

 spreading-out platform, constituting a terrace on every side. They 

 appear to have occasionally formed a succession of terraces of flights 

 of steps, leading up to if not continued on every side of the building. 

 The celebrated Temple of Fortune at Proneste, usually supposed to 

 have been originally founded by Sulla, was a very remarkable example 

 of the kind. Very little now remains of it, except the terraces them- 

 selves ; neither have we any account of the architecture, but besides 

 the principal edifice or temple there were several subordinate ones, on 

 the different platforms. 



Circular and polygonal plans for temples are peculiar to the Romans, 

 and occasion a diversity of character not to be met with in those of 

 the Greeks. Besides the two simplest forms, the monopteral and peri- 

 pteral, which have been shown above, there were other varieties and 

 coniliin;itiona. For a notice of some of them we refer to ROMAIC 

 AKCHITKCTUKE. 



Instead of entering into formal descriptions of particular temples, 

 I we subjoin a synopsis with accompanying remarks. Some of the 



TABLE OF SOME or TUB PRINCIPAL GHKKK AND ROMAN TKMI-LKS. 



MAGXA-OR.SCIA AND SICILY. 



