290 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCJIITECTS JULllNAL. 



[September, 



t)ie other branches, to have developed the art of building in a 

 l)articiilar sense. And in this race, in my opinion, we may recog- 

 nise the Drt/ojiex, who, in the most remote times, expelled from 

 their ancient seats in Thessaly, came to occupy the southern |>art 

 of Euhtea, ju«t the spot where these constructions of so ancient a 

 style, and so distinct from all other examples offered to us by 

 history, liave been discovered. 



But the disi;overies made in Greece since her emancipation have 

 not less served to rectify and to extend the notions already pos- 

 sessed on i'.liixsiciil Architecture. The Propylea having been 

 disenruml)ered from the modern fortifications wliich concealed 

 them from view, and having now re-appeared in all tlieir ancient 

 harmony, it is easily recognised that their magnificence corre- 

 spondeil I'ully with that of the immortal monuments to which they 

 gave access, and that their superb flight of steps occupied the 

 whole width of the entrance to tlie Acropolis, descended probably 

 to the Agora, and was ornamented on either side by terraces sup- 

 porting statues and temples. One of the latter, the Temple of 

 Victory, without wings, the finest jewel of the Acropolis' crown 

 of monuments — which had disappeared between 1676, when Sphon 

 and Wheeler travelled in Greece, and 1751, when Stuart visited 

 it — now discovered again under a Turkish bastion, and restored, 

 offers to study one of the purest and most perfect examples of the 

 tetrastylos amphiprostylos of the Ionic order which exists in 

 the world. The mouldinfrs of its entablature, as well as those of 

 the Prop) lea and of the Partlienon, bear evident traces of painted 

 ornaments, and put it beyond all doubt that the ornamental parts 

 of tlie temples were painted in (ireece, like those of Sicily, in the 

 time of I'ericles, as well as at more ancient periods, when they 

 were often replaced by terra-cotta. In the Pinacothek, wliich 

 contained the famous pictuies of Protogencs, the walls which the 

 French or Catalanian dukes liad constructed to convert this part 

 of the Propylea into their Chancery having been destroyed, the 

 original partitions have been brought to light; and I think that 

 tlie examination of these and of the walls of the Temple of 

 Theseus, may give the solution of the question whicli had been the 

 subject of so much controversy — namely, whetlier the ancients 

 painted exclusively on the walls or on panels of wood, by 

 proving that the Pinacothek was covered with panels, or, rather, 

 moveable pictures; whereas the paintings in the Temple of Theseus 

 were executed on stucco fixed to the wall itself. And I may here 

 mentioti tliat one of tlie greatest connoisseurs of tlie paintings of 

 the ancients — M. Raoul-Rochette, of the Institute of France, is 

 now occupied in putting togetlier all the recent information ob- 

 tained on this subject, with the intention of working it into a 

 special treatise. 



Tlie Parthenon, in spite of the exact and conscientious work of 

 C'ockerell, when delivered of the barbaric ruins whicli insulted its 

 grandeur, had still secrets to disclose; and it is well known that 

 attentive observations have taught the astonished architects of 

 modern times, that of all those lines whose magnificent harmony is 

 the source of tlie inimitable beauty of this edifice, there is not one 

 which is a straight line; tliat with a depth of science wliich would 

 put to fault the calculations of the profoundest mathematician, tlie 

 architect, imitating nature, who avoids a straight line in her 

 organic productions, had composed a system of curves beyond the 

 skill of modern art to combine or reproduce. 



The Erectheum, that enigma of architecture, can also be better 

 understood since it has been raised from its ruins; and in my 

 opinion it is now evident that this temple was double, in spite of 

 its having four names, and that the singular distribution of the 

 house consecrated to Erectheus which it replaced liad been adopted 

 in its construction. The new notions obtained on this temple 

 have been most ably discussed in the Annals of the Academy of 

 .Alunicli, by the most learned philologian of Germany, M. Thiersch, 

 who is now preparing a second work on the same subject. 



To the study of Sculpture the results have not been less im- 

 portant. EacJi fragment fallen from the chisel of a great master, 

 and now withdrawn from the dust, is an inestimable treasure. The 

 excavations made around tlie Parthenon have augmented our 

 glyptic riches with twenty-one pieces of the frieze, one metope, 

 and six larL'e fragments of statues belonging to the front of the 

 temple, all master-pieces, which serve, in a slight degree, to 

 console the Greeks for the painful losses made at a time when it 

 w as not in their power to prevent them. I may say as much for 

 the blocks of tlie frieze of the Temple of Victory, wliich are the 

 cimipletion of those carried away by Lord Elgin. The discovery 

 of tbo frieze of the Erechtheum is not a less precious one: its 

 existence even was unknown, when twenty-one small statues of 

 equal dimensions were found in the rubbish. They are of white 



marble, and having the back part of each cpiite flat, were evidently 

 applied to and detached themselves from a back-ground of Eleusis 

 stone. The execution is of the purest style; and they allude, 

 I think, to the procession of the Pandrosus, to the birth of 

 Erichtbonius, and to the loves of Mars and Mercury nith Agraulia 

 and Ilerse. 



I shall not enter into a detailed enumeration of all the invaluable 

 pieces of sculjiture which have been gathered into the Museum of 

 Greece. But there are several which have enriched antiquarian 

 knowledge with entirely new facts. It is thus that a very remark- 

 able low relief, found in a cemetery on the east coast of Attica, and 

 representing a warrior larger than life, serves as a precious step- 

 ping-stone for the history of art among the ancients, by affording 

 a very important specimen of the archaic school of Athens, and 

 l>aiticularly of the manner of ArUtoc/es, whose name is inscribed 

 on it, and who, according to my idea, flourished about the 66th 

 Olympiad. Having come from Sikyon, where his grandfather had 

 established himself after leaving Crete, this artist may be con- 

 sidered as representing the connection between the different schools 

 of archaic art. This fine low-relief also teaches us, that at the 

 most remote period the same habit existed, which continued in 

 later times, of painting works of sculpture, or at least the orna- 

 mental parts and accessaries of them. 



Among the inscriptions recently discovered, and which serve to 

 extend our archaaological information, I shall only mention the 

 most important to the history of art, such as those which give us 

 new details on the epoch and the works of divers sculptors. It is 

 thus by one of them we learn that Eudaeos, thought to be the pupil 

 and relation of Dedalus, was, in fact, only a Dedalides, an artist of 

 the archaic school, and not more ancient than Aristocles. ^Ve 

 learn from another, the existence of a sculptor of the same epoch, 

 named Nesiotes; and from a tliird, that it was Strongylion who 

 executed the famous Durian horse on the Acropolis. 



Among those which throw a stronger light on the public life of 

 the ancients, I shall mention one which, consisting of more than 

 120 fragments, contains the list of the allied towns which paid 

 tribute to Athens. The knowledge of these enriches ancient 

 geography with a number of names unknown until now, and 

 completing the political history of Athens, gives a moi-e exact idea 

 of its greatness. The tribute-money seems to be calculated for a 

 month, and the list only to contain the tenth part, or the share 

 belonging to the temple. As far as the mutilated state of these 

 fragments permits one to judge, that share seemed to have amounted 

 to nearly five talents and a-half amonth. Several other inscriptions 

 complete the lists already known of the treasures contained in the 

 Parthenon, and the result to be obtained from them is, that in the 

 days of the splendour of Athens, the temple contained objects in 

 silver and gold, weighing together about 17 talents of silver. From 

 another of these inscriptions, we can calculate the rate of interest 

 paid to the Parthenon when the funds of the temple were lent to 

 the town. I estimate this rate at 10 drachmas per 50 talents every 

 day, or Ij per cent, for a year. Other inscriptions not less precious, 

 which have served as a basis to the learned work of M. Bceckh, 

 throw a great and new light on the most powerful element of 

 Athenian greatness, the organisation and importance of their 

 navy. The expense of the first expedition to Corkyra (Corfu), 

 which opened the Peloponnesian war, forms the subject of one of 

 them; and I pass over in silence a great number of monuments 

 illustrative of more than one important point of history, such as 

 the political calendar of the Athenians; their relations with foreign 

 princes and nations; the detailed organisation of the Amphiktyonic 

 league; the position of private slaves, and of the hierodidcs, or 

 servants of the temple; questions of topography and others relating 

 to the public games. 



I have only mentioned the discoveries the most rich in results, 

 and the principal contributions which Greece has brought to the 

 science of antiquity since her emancipation. And if it is true that 

 my account is still far beneath the reality, and that a very abundant 

 source of archaeological knowledge, obstructed by the ruins under 

 which centuries and barbarisms had buried it, has now been re- 

 ojiened in Greece by the power of liberty, and by the enliglitened 

 efforts of a regular government, I hope I shall be allowed by the 

 lovers of antiquity to advance, that the emancipation of Greece 

 has not been a regretable event, as some seem to ha\e wished to 

 make it ajipear, and that Greece has by tliis return alone repaid 

 the greater part of the sacrifices made in her favour. 



