16 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 13, 



Travprs observed, first in the Parthenon, and afterwards found in all 

 Greek tem|)les, wliicli is, that the stylobate does not present a line 

 perfectly horizontal, but a curve slightly convex. The entablature 

 follows the snmp curvp, and its face forms a concave line on each side 

 of tlie edifice; so that the angles are not absolutely right angles, but 

 slightlv acute. These dispositions were evidently intendpd to add 

 to the solidity of the temple, by making its several parts tend to the 

 pyr.unidal furm, and by opposing a greater resistance about the centre 

 of tliP great lines to the pressure from within. 



Mr. Woods, ihiingh he acknowledges that the fronts are perfect, 

 thinks Ihjt tlie sides are inferior to those of the Temple of Theseus. 

 "Why," asks he, "should a continued colonnade, crowned by an up- 

 right entablature, require more slender proportions than one sup- 

 porting a pediment ? I cannot tell; but such seems to be the fact. 

 Yet, as in tlie Parthenon, the height of the columns is very nearly 

 5^^ diameters; and in the Thes^uin the height is only 5^ diame- 

 ters: the difference seems too small to produce any sensible ef- 

 fect; but the intprcolnmniations in the Parthenon are only equal to 

 about Ip diameters, whilst in tlie Theseum they are Ij diameters; 

 and to this greater space is doubtless owing the lighter appearance of 

 the latter." 



Tlie portico is double on each front of the Parthenon : and the 

 reader will perhaps be surprised to hear that the columns of the 

 second row, raised on two steps, are of less diameter than thc'se of 

 the portico, and do not all correspond exact'y with their axis. These 

 irregularities, which the theory of the art will not admit, are not per- 

 ceptible in the execution, and contribute, on the contrary, to the ge- 

 neral effect. These smaller columns, ap|iearing to converge to a cen- 

 tral point (jf vieiv, give the peristyle the appearance of being deeper 

 than it really is; whereas, bad these columns been of the same di- 

 ameter as Ihiise in the fn nt,fr(im their flot being like them enveloped 

 in a fl.H.d of light, they wiaild have appeared heavy and massive. 

 Their height, including the capital, is 3J ft. ; diameter, 2 ft. 8 in. The 

 entire height of the capital is 1 ft. 9? in., of which the plinth occu- 

 pies 1 \i ill., leaving 10^ in. lor the echinus and listels, which are only 

 three in number. The Hating of the shaft is here executed in seg- 

 ments of a circle. The internal arrangements of the temple were 

 nearly the same as those of the basilicas built by the Romans at 

 a later [leriod. Spun and Wheeler found three sides standing of 

 the gallery, and which was composed of two rows of orders, con- 

 taining twenty-two columns. These columns have been all thrown 

 down and destroyed; but their plan has been drawn, and sathcieut 

 elements of .he lower order have been found to ascertain their di- 

 mensions. The shaft was 15 ft. 6 in. in length, and 2 ft. in diameter. 

 The capital, composed of a plinth, an echinus, and three listels, was 

 12^ in. in height; the architrave 1ft. 6in.; and the tryglyph, 1ft. 

 7iin. : the width of the inlercihimniation was, from axis to axis, 

 8 ft. 2f in. It is worthy of remark that these columns, for about one- 

 lliird of their height from the bottom (5 ft. Sin.) have only a flat 

 fluting, as at Pompeii ; the rest of the shaft only is cleared out. These 

 columns formed a pnrlicu of 7 ft. Hi in. in width, round the hypffithron 

 or open part of the tem[ile ; the hypffithron was 16 ft. wide, which 

 gives 31 It. 2 in, for the inside width of the temple; its length was 

 49 ft. 2Mn. 



The temple was lighted by the door and the opening in the centre 

 of the roof. When the Christians consecrated it to their worship, 

 they made a window in the eastern end, and built a semicircular sanc- 

 tuary. The Turks made scarcely any alteration. This apsis is now 

 demo isheil to wilbin three or four feet of the ground. In the part 

 of the temple under the opening, and near the bottom, stood the pe- 

 destal of the famous Minerva, of which we shall soon have to speak. 

 Part of the base of this pedestal is still visible; it was 10 ft. 10 in. 

 square. 



in the back part of the temple was the opisthodome, so long sup- 

 posed to be a vestibule preceding the temple itself. Its width is the 

 same as that of the temple, and its length 21 ft. 6 in., or nearly one- 

 third of the cella. 



Ijy some inexplicable error, Stuart, Chandler, and others, have re- 

 presented, both in their text and plans, that the opisthodome was sup- 

 ported by six columns, placed in two rows: there never were but four. 

 M. Bronsted has so given them in his plan, and the fact has been re- 

 cently proved by Messrs. Leake and Travers. One of the columns 

 having been broken, the Turks erected in its place a square pillar of 

 masonry, which, as well as the three columns, is now demolished. 

 The latter, according to Stuart, were of the same dimensions as those 

 of the smaller order in the peristyle. 



In the opisthodome, besides the money proceeding from the public 

 revenues, and the contributions of the Grecian cities, lOOO talents 

 were always kept in reserve to meet unforeseen expenses of the state. 

 At the beginning of the first Peloponnesian war (432 a. c), when the | 



power of Athens was at its height, 6000 talents (£1,296,000), ac- 

 cording to the Abbe Barthelemy, and 9700 talents (above £2,120,000), 

 according to M. R. Rochette, were deposited in the opisthodome. 

 The names of all the debtors of the state were inscribed there; they 

 were called ''Eyyeypatinevoi ey ti) 'AitpoiroAci, and after the payment of 

 their delits, E| 'AitpoiroAeus eJa^TjXiju/iei'oi. Private individuals were ac- 

 customed to deposit sums of money there which they were afraid to 

 keep at home; it was also the repository for offerings made, to the 

 goddess, ' Allae■n^laTa, or votive offerings, and valuable spoils taken from 

 the Persians, part of which was the throne with silver feet, on which 

 Xerxes sat to witness the battle of .Salamis. Other trophies, shields 

 taken from the enemy during the Median war, were suspended on the 

 architrave outside the temple, and alternated with bronze inseriptions, 

 if we may judge by the marks of the nails which held them. The 

 two guardians of the treasure deposited in the opisthodome of the 

 Parthenon, were Jupiter SicTrjp, and Plutus, the god of riches, repre- 

 sented with wings, and, by an exception peculiar to this god, not de- 

 prived of sight. 



At the present day it is impossible to doubt that the Greeks made 

 use of pa'nting in the decoration of their architecture ; the labours of 

 Hittorf, Rauul-Rochelte, Letronne, and Bronsted, combined with re- 

 cent researches representing the Doric temples of Greece and Sicily, 

 have removed all uncertainty on the subject, and given positive con- 

 firmation to the assertion of Vitruvius (lib. iv. chap. ii. ■} 2) re- 

 specting the blue wax, cera ccerulea, which he states to be the usual 

 colour for trvglyphs; the metopes appear to have been generally red. 

 We know, from the testimony of ancient authors, that all celebrated 

 sculptors had a skilful painter at command, whom they employed to 

 paint their works ; the names of several of these artists have reached 

 our own times. " There was not in all Greece," says M. Brcisted, 

 " a single temple of architectural pretensions which was not more or 

 less coloured — that is to say, painted so as to contribute to the effect 

 and rich aspect of the monument by the harmonious colour of the 

 symmetrical parts, and especially the u|jper parts of the structure. 

 There were three different kinds of painting: 1. The colour was ap- 

 plied like common paint, without any illusive effect, merely to set off 

 the architecture — that is to sav, to give relief to the dull and mono- 

 tonous colour of the stone. 2. The colour was used to produce an 

 illusion in certain parts of the construction — that is, to give an effect 

 of light and shade, of projection and depression on a plane surface ; 

 in a word, to produce real paintings, and consequently to dispense 

 with sculpture. 3. Lastly, the colour was used as a finish for the 

 mouldings. In this case, the application of the colours being alto- 

 gether subordinate to the laws of polychromatic sculpture, did not be- 

 long to architecture, only in so far as these works were connected with 

 it from their being an indispensable decoration." 



We will now proceed to examine the admirable works with which 

 Phidias enriched the Parthenon. Five grand pieces of sculpture made 

 this edifice the wonder of wonders; they were, the two pediments, 

 the metopes, the frieze of the cella, and the statue of Minerva. 



According to Pausanias, the pediment aeros of the front, represented 

 the Birlhof j\!i»en'a,-ind the pediment of the back the Dispute between 

 Minerva and Ntpliine. Now those who had seen the western pediment 

 uninjured, if not in its details at least in its principal parts, before the ex- 

 plosion of 10S7, without pretending to examine the sculptures minutely, 

 all agreed that it was the Birth vj Minerva, or rather her Preientatwn 

 I'lj Jupiter to the Gods of Olympus. Oilier de Nointel, ambassador 

 from France in 1674, was of the same opinion, but the sketches which 

 he caused to be taken of the already mutilated figures of this pedi- 

 ment were quoted to support a misapprehension that they were in- 

 tended to remove. .Stuart first pointed out the mistake, and asserted 

 that the west front was the back front, and represented the dispute of 

 Neptune and Minerva, while the east front presented the birth of the 

 goddess. M. Quatremire de Quincy adopted this opinion, and made 

 it the text of a learned dissertation, in answer to the contrary opinion 

 maintained by M. Barbie du Bocage, in his Atlas of Anacharsis ; M. 

 Bronsted coincides with M. Quatremere. The east front is composed 

 of abuut 24 figures, detached and in full length, more or less colossal ; 

 four of them were horses. Of these groups, of which there still re- 

 mained a dozen figures entire when Carrey executed his drawings, 

 only 12 or 13 fragments are now left, and they are in the British 

 Museum. 



The western pediment, which represented the Dispute of Minerva 

 and Neptune, was composed, according to appearances, of the same 

 number of figures and horses. Carrey made drawings on the spot of 

 22 figures; nothing now remains of them but five fragments preserved 

 in the British Museum. Two figures placed in a corner, which were 

 easily recognised as intended for Adrian and his wife Sabina, appeared 

 to Spon, Wheeler, and Leroy, sufiicient to authorize the assertion that 

 these pediments had been restored under that emperor. But the rery 



