March 21, 1901] 



NATURE 



493 



and there are only two dips between the mountains where 

 the sunrise could have properly represented the early 

 dawn. One of these has for amplitude - 7° 42' E., the 

 other -23° 16' E. The latter, taken with the earlier 

 orientation, and the bright star f Canis Majoris setting 

 near the western axis, where the local horizon is favour- 

 able, suggests 950 B.C. as the date of the foundation. 

 The sunrise at the 7° 42' point, and the sufficiently 

 bright star /3 Lupi, setting also near the western axis of 

 the more recent temple, offers the date of 580 B.C., but this 

 would have been the predecessor of the structure which 

 now occupies the site. It is known that the temple must 

 have been several times rebuilt, and many stones of a 

 previous temple, or temples, are found in the existing 

 foundations. 



At Syracuse it was found necessary to reconsider the 

 orientation date (given in a former paper published 

 in 1897) of the temple which has been attributed to 

 Diana, but which is now known from an inscription to 

 have been dedicated to Apollo. Of this temple, both the 

 style of the architecture and the shape of the letters of 

 the inscription above mentioned show that the date 450 

 B.C. given in the paper referred to, the orientation having 

 been derived from the axis, is too late ; and that the alter- 

 native date, derived from the northern limit of the eastern 

 opening, which in this case can be obtained with accuracy, 

 should be taken instead. The date, so altered, becomes 

 700 B.C., which is thirty-four years subsequent to the 

 Hellenic foundation of the city. 



N.B. — In Greek temples the question whether the sun- 

 rise entered upon the line of the axis or on the northern 

 limit of the eastern opening has generally to be taken 

 into consideration and decided upon archaeological 

 grounds. This results, in the majority of cases, in favour 

 of the axis ; but in an important minority — notably at 

 Athens — the other has to be chosen. 



(3) In the paper an argument is drawn from the 

 orientation of the foundations of a small temple lately 

 discovered, adjoining the famous theatre at Taormina, 

 that the theatre itself was that of the early and populous 

 city of Naxos, which occupied the sea-coast at about 800 

 feet immediately below it ; and not the work of the much 

 later town of Taurominium, from which Taormina derives 

 its name. Naxos was utterly destroyed by the Syracusans 

 about 400 B.C. 



(4) The most interesting example, however, is from 

 another Sicilian temple lately unearthed at Selinus. Of 

 this temple I found the orientation of the eastern axis to 

 be 30° 22' north amplitude, which at once suggests a solar 

 temple arranged for the summer solstice, which for a 

 level site and for the date in question should be 30° 35'. 

 But the temple's site is near the bottom of a valley ; and 

 the sun would have to gain an altitude of rather more 

 than two and a half degrees before it could shine into the 

 temple, and then the amplitude required would be 28° 17'. 

 Thus, apart from what may be derived from the plan of 

 the temple itself, the orientation theory would seem to 

 show to a disadvantage. 



The plan of the temple, however, appears to give the 

 solution of the difficulty. It will be seen on examination 

 of the accompanying figure that about 130 feet distant 

 from the sanctuary there was a portico, i.e. the propylaea 

 of entrance to the temple enclosure. One of two dotted 

 straight lines drawn from this portico, namely, that which 

 proceeds from its S.W. corner, indicates the direction of 

 the first beam of sunrise as it rose at the summer solstice 

 over the local horizon, about the middle of the sixth 

 century B.C. ; but it will be seen that whilst it passes 

 centrally through the doorway it falls obliquely and 

 excentrically upon the western internal wall of the temple, 

 the amplitude of this line being -I- 28° 17' E. ; but it will 

 be also observed that it does fall centrally upon the 

 western internal wall of a naos constructed within the 



flank walls of the temple. The square object which the 

 line intersects before it reaches the temple is an altar, 

 itself of no great height, and on lower ground, and which 

 therefore interposed no obstruction to the solar rays reach- 

 ing the sanctuary. The difference of level between the 

 floor of the temple and that of the propylsea is about 

 18 feet. The warning star ^ Geminorum, which would 

 have been heliacal — that is, just visible before extinc- 

 tion — about an hour before sunrise, and the direction 

 of which is represented by the other straight dotted line, 

 would have been well seen over the roof of the propylaea, 

 the height of which, as known from architectural frag- 

 ments, would not have exceeded 23 feet, and the star 

 would have overtopped this by about 2^. 



The explanation, by help of the plan, of the apparent 

 misfit of the orientation is as follows : — 



Presumably the angle upon which the lines of the 



NO. 1638, VOL. 63] 



!^ 



— V — > 



SELINUS 



Newly discovered Temp 



temple were set out was taken from data obtained on 

 some platform which had a level horizon, and the 

 building was considerably advanced before the actual 

 solstice came round and showed the error that had been 

 made. 



To meet the difficulty, a naos was constructed within 

 the flank walls, but hugging the northern one ; so that 

 the first beam of sunrise coming through the centre of 

 the eastern aperture, at the local amplitude of 4-28° 17' E., 

 might shine in centrally upon the statue of the deity ; 

 and for this a pedestal was provided a little northwards 

 of the centre of the niche which had been previously 

 formed for it. We may notice also that the south-west 

 angle of the propylaea is so placed as to keep exactly 

 clear of the point of sunrise. F. C. Penrose. 



