(SJO.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL; 



313 



In tlie year i-BS b.c, after the battle of Marathon, Cinion had 

 the remains of Theseus conveyed to Athens, whei-e they were 

 reinterred with {freat pomp and rejoicing, and this beautiful edifice 

 erected over the place of sepulture. It is hexastyle, but differs 

 from the rule of Vitruvius, who says that where tliere are six 

 columns in front and rear, there should be eleven in the flanks, 

 inchidina: tluise at the angles. Here, however, there are thirteen 

 columns in the flanks; nor amongst the Greeks does there seem to 

 have been any fixed rule, the number dift'eriuji' according to the 

 required length of the temple. The hexastyle Temple of Apollo 

 Epicurius at Bassie has fifteen columns along each flank, and that 

 of Bacchus at Teos eleven; but in the latter temple there is merely 

 a cella, with its pronaos, without any apartment in the rear. 



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POSTICUS 



Peripteral Temple of Apollo Epictirius, al Hassae. 



Tlie Heroum of Theseus has a cella, with a pronaos and pos- 

 ticus, formed by the prolongation of the side walls of the ceUa. 

 The cella is 40 feet in length, by 23 feet in breadth ; the pronaos, 

 with its portico, is 33 feet; and the posticus 27 feet in depth. The 

 columns are 3 ft. 3-65 in. lower diameter, and 18 ft. 8-6 in. in height; 

 the intercolumniations of the peristyle are 5 ft. 4 in., and the width 

 of tlie ambulatory 6 feet. The whole height of the temple to the 

 top of the pediment is 33^ feet. The Greeks, in a great measure, 

 orercame the effect of the small space between the portico and the 



pronaos, and the posticus and the opisthodomus, by making the 

 interior columns of smaller dimensions; thus calling in the delu- 

 sion of perspective to their aid. The interior of the temple also 

 was raised a step from the portico. The eastern portico < nly of 

 the Temple of Theseus « as adorned with sculpture. The metopa? 

 were carved in bas-relief, the subjects taken from the principal 

 events in the life of the hero, and the walls of the cella were 

 decorated with historical paintings by the hand of Mycon. This 

 temple was surrounded by a peribolus, of such extent that the 

 military assemblies were held within it. It was also an asylum, or 

 sanctuary, and is now a place of interment for those of our country- 

 men who die at Athens. 



During the last year of Turkish dominion in Greece, the Pasha 

 having been informed that a hive of bees had settled in the north- 

 eastern corner of the pediment of the Temple of Theseus, ordered 

 his people to bring him the honeycomb. I'lKm being told that it 

 could not he got at, as it was so far down among the stones, he 

 commanded the corner of the pediment to he thrown down ia 

 order that tlie honey might be obtained. Such anecdotes should 

 he considered by those who blame the English for having carried 

 away the relics of ancient Greek art — these " robberies," as some 

 have been pleased to call them, having been the only means of 

 preserving them from total destruction. 



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Dipteral Tenijile of Apollo Didymoeus, at Miletu«. 



Tlie fifth class, the dipteral temples, have two rows of columns 

 along the flanks, forming a double ambulatory. The Temple of 

 Diana at Fphesus, built by Ctesiphon, and that of Apollo Uidy- 

 nijeus at Miletus, were dipteral. P'inding the number of columns 

 both inconvenient and exjiensive, Hermogenes of Alabanda omitted 

 the interior range of columns in the peristyle, making the walls of 

 the cella range with the columns third in order from the angles 

 of the front, and giving an ambulatory of double width, — thus 

 inventing that class known as pseudo-dipteral. The great temple 

 at Piestuni, that of Diiuia at ^lagnesia, one at Selinunte, and 

 many others, were constructed on this plan. 



Vitruvius describes the hypsthral temples as belonging to a 

 different class; but this distinction does not appear to ha\e existed 

 in Greek temples; all those, whether peripteral, dipteral, or 

 pseudo-dipteral, dedicated to the jirincipal divinities, being hypse- 

 thral, or having the cella open to the sky. This custom originated 

 in the east, and was continued amongst the Greeks, it being deemed 

 impious to confine the deity within a temple covered in by 

 mortal hands, instead of by the blue canopy of heaven. To ex- 

 clude the sun's rays, or to protect the statue placed in the cella 

 from the inclemency of the weather, a peplus, or veil, was either 

 extended over the opening in the roof, or suspended before the 

 statue. The peplus is mentioned in a passage of Euripides: — 



*' Then from the treas'ry of the god he takes 

 The conseiraltfil taoMry, sp eiidid wooll 

 To clothe wall gralefut shade the wondrous scenef 

 Fjnt o'er tlic roul be spreatls the skirtei peplus." 



