1?50.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



245 



tripod, and the victorious chornfius usually erected a monument 

 on which to place it ; this was the oi-igin of the street of tripods. 

 Two of these choragic monuments are yet standing, those of Thra- 

 syllus and Lysicrates; the former of the Doric, the latter of the 

 Corinthian order. The following was the form of dedication: 

 "Thrasyllus, son of Thrasyllus of Deceleia, dedicated the tripod, 

 having, when he provided the chorus, conquered with men for the 

 tribe Hippothoontis; Evius of Chalcis was musician, Neoechonus 

 was archon, Caraidamus, son of Sotis, was teacher." The Corin- 

 thian capital of the monument of Lysicrates has been already 

 described ; tlie conical roof is thatched with marble tiles in the 

 form of laurel leaves ; from the apex rises an elaborate floral orna- 

 ment, on which the tripod was placed. This elegant little monu- 

 ment was erected 3.35 b.c. 



Besides the temples and theatres, ruins of other extensive struc- 

 tures are found in most of the cities of Greece. There was the 

 PalsEstra and the Gymnasium for the practice of athletic exercises; 

 the Stadium for foot races, wrestling, throwing the disc, and other 

 public games; and the Hippodrome for horse and chariot races. 

 The Pala»str<e were buildings containing baths, and apartments for 

 instruction and other purposes, surrounded by porticoes. Some- 

 times, as at Ephesus, the porticoes were inclosed by a wall, form- 

 ing what was called a cryptoporticus; sometimes, as at Alexandria 

 Troas, they were open all round. Within the porticoes were 

 spacious exhedrae or recesses, containing seats, where philosophers, 

 rhetoricians, and other learned professors met to converse. In 

 winter, or in stormy weather, the athletae practised beneath the 

 portico; a space was left along the centre 12 feet in width for the 

 gymnastic sports, the margins being raised several steps above it 

 as footways, so that persons could pass, or stand to watch the 

 athletse without being incommoded by them ; in the Palaestrea were 

 frequently double porticoes, called by the Greeks systylos ; these 

 were divided by open walks, planted with trees and furnished 

 with seats. The Stadium was an open space in the form of a 

 parallelogram, with one end terminating in a semicircle ; the 

 Hippodrome was similar in form, but of greater extent ; a podium 

 or spina, as it was called, adorned with altars and statues, ex- 

 tended along the centre ; round this the chariots turned in the 

 race. The Hippodrome at Olympia was the largest in Greece ; 

 here as many as forty chariots ran at one time. The Hippaphesis 

 of this course, or place from which the horses started, was so cele- 

 brated, that the architect placed the following inscription on a 

 statue he afterwards executed at .\thens: "Kleoitas, son of Aris- 

 tocles, made me, the same who first invented your Hippaphesis, 

 O Olympia!" Pausanias has left us a description of this struc- 

 ture; he says, "The Aphesis presents the appearance of the prow 

 of a ship, of which the beak, or embolus, is turned towards the 

 course. At the side where the pi-ow abuts on to the portico called 

 Agnamptus, it becomes wider. A dolphin of brass is placed on a 

 bar at the extreme point of the beak. Each side of the Aphesis is 

 more than 400 feet in length ; in these stalls are constructed, which 

 those who enter for the horse race portion out by lot among them- 

 selves. Before the chariots and the horses a cord is stretched by 

 way of a bari-ier. About the middle of the prow is an altar of 

 unburnt brick, which, every Olympiad, is covered exte'rnally with 

 dust ; upon the altar stands a brazen eagle with its wings extended. 

 When the person to whom the duty is intrusted has put in motion 

 the machinery by which the eagle is directed, it springs up so as 

 to become visible to all the spectators ; then the brazen dolphin 

 sinks to the ground ; tlie cords which are on both sides of the poi-- 

 tico of Agnamptus are let loose, the horses that are in these stalls 

 advance first, and when they come in a line with those to which 

 are allotted the stalls of tlie second rank, the cords that restrain 

 these are also loosened, aiul the same order is observed by all the 

 others until they are all drawn up in an equal line at the beak of 

 the prow ; and here follow tlie display of the skill of the charioteers, 

 and of the swiftness of the horses." 



Public business and traffic of all kinds was carried on in the 

 Agora, a large space something between the great square or place 

 of modern continental towns, and an oriental bazaar. The old 

 Agora at Athens was situated in the inner Ceramicus, and extended 

 over the hill of the Areopagus ; here were warehouses and shops 

 in different divisions, according to the trade carried on, and 

 receiving their names from the commodities on sale. Here also 

 were extensive porticoes or stoae ; that called the Pcecile, adorned 

 with fresco paintings of the battle of Marathon, was the resort of 

 the stoic philosophers, whence they took their name. Numerous 

 statues of the heroes and benefactors of Athens adorned the place ; 

 to some of these a copy of every new law proposed was appended 

 previous to discussion. JIany important public buildings also 



stood within the limits of the Agora ; among the rest the Boulee- 

 tereion, or council-chamber, where the senate of five hundred met 

 to discuss measures before they were laid before the general 

 assembly of the people in the Pnyx ; and the refectory of the Pry- 

 tanes or presidents of the assembly, where the most distinguished 

 Athenian citizens were entertained at the public charge. In the 

 centre of the Agora stood an altar dedicated to the twelve prin- 

 cipal divinities ; this was the point from which the different roads 

 of Attica diverged, and from which distances were measured. 

 The new Agora was to the north of the Acropolis, in the quarter 

 called Eretria ; near this was the Tower of the Winds, or Horo- 

 logia of Andronicus Cyrrhestes, erected 159 b.c. It is a small 

 octagonal building of the Corinthian order, surrounded by a frieze, 

 on which figures emblematic of the winds are carved in bas-relief, 

 one occupying each side. Beneath these lines are traced, with 

 styles fixed above ; the shadows thrown from the styles upon the 

 lines told the hour of the day ; when the sun was obscured, a clyp- 

 sedra, or water-clock, in the interior of the building, answered the 

 same purpose. The roof is but slightly elevated, and is composed 

 of twenty-four blocks of marble, cut in the form of tiles, diminish- 

 ing as they incline to the centre; on the summit a circular block 

 of marble supported the figure of a triton holding a wand, so con- 

 structed as to move on a pivot and point in the direction of the wind. 

 Before speaking of the houses of the living I must make brief 

 mention of the abodes of the dead. None but the greatest heroes 

 were allowed a burial place within the city; but without the gates, 

 each side of the road was lined with monuments. The most usual 

 form was that of a pillar or stele, bearing the name of the deceased, 

 and often richly sculptured. The palmetto, or Greek honeysuckle, 

 is the device most frequently met with. As this ornament does 

 not resemble any known flower, its origin has given rise to many 

 speculations. The recent discoveries in Assyria have, however, 

 thrown new light upon the subject, as we find there the same 

 device in conjunction with the kneeling bull — indeed, with the bull 

 prostrate befoi-e it; it is evident that it was some ancient symbol 

 of fire-worship ; nor does it require any very great stretch of ima- 

 gination to suppose it to have been intended to represent the curl 

 of the ascending flame. It was contrary to the principles of Greek 

 art to use decoration without meaning; we may take it for granted, 

 therefore, that as we find it so constantly represented on the stele 

 of tombs, it was with them also a sacred emblem. It is worthy of 

 remark, that on the more ancient Greek sculptures the palmette 

 is more formal, and decidedly less floi'al in character. The ten- 

 drils and other scrolls were doubtless added merely to give addi- 

 tional beauty after the traditional meaning was lost or disregarded. 

 A more elaborate kind of sepulchre was that called Distega, or 

 double-roofed, consisting of two square chambers ; the lower 

 apartment contained the cinerary urns, while in the upper rela- 

 tions and friends were accustomed to meet on anniversaries and 

 stated occasions, to perform rites and pour libations to the manes 

 of the dead. The decoration of sepulchres was at one period 

 carried to so great an extent in Greece, that, soon after the time 

 of Solon, a lasv was passed at Athens that no more labour should 

 be bestowed upon any place of sepulture than ten men could per- 

 form in three days, and that the roof should he jilain ; the setting 

 up of Hermae, or statues of Mercury, was also forbidden. Long 

 afterwards it was again enacted by Demetrius, the Phalerian, 

 that no person should have more than one monument, and that the 

 height of the pillar should not exceed three cubits. 



Little is known of the private houses of the Greeks. For the 

 most part strict republicans, they had no buildings that could claim 

 the name of palaces. The dwellings of the greatest men were as 

 simple as those of the humblest citizen. Demosthenes thought it 

 a sufficient ground of accusation against Medias, that he had built 

 a house at Eleusis by which all others were cast into the shade. 

 To so great an extent was this simplicity carried under the severe 

 laws of Lycurgus, that the Spartans were forbidden to use any 

 other tool in the construction of their dwellings than the axe and 

 the saw. When King Leotychides visited Corinth, noticing 

 smoothly-wrought beams supporting the ceilings of the rooms, 

 he asked if trees grew square in that country. The houses 

 of the Greeks presented nothing but a plain wall and an en- 

 trance door towards the street, the windows opening to the in- 

 terior courts. The rooms were small, and were merely for the 

 purpose of eating and sleeping, the Greeks both transacting busi- 

 ness and pursuing pleasure in the open air. under the numerous 

 ])orticoes of the city, or amongst the groves of the Academy, 

 Lyceium, and other public gardens. It was, no doubt, on account 

 of the smallness of the rooms that the doors were made to open 

 outwards: the person about to leave the house knocked first, to 



