ARCHITECTURAL INSCRIPTION. 



593 



III Epistylia which are up b (in their places) require to be worked 

 on the surface, eight feet in length, two feet and a palm in width, 

 two feet in thickness. The Eleusinian stone ', against which are 

 the sculptures *, surmounts the rest of the work all around, and 

 is placed above the epistylia f of those columns • which are upon 

 the wall next the Pandroseum, 



Of IV engaged columns J, a foot and a half of each column is 

 left unsculptured, measured from the volute § within. 

 It is necessary to place the inner cymatium of I epistylium, 

 eight feet long, upon the wall towards the south. — These are 



in a subsequent passage, of equal length, is said to have been upon the south wall: 

 whence it is probable that these also were part of the same range in the flank of the 

 temple. 



* A remarkable singularity is to be observed in the construction of the Erectheum. 

 The facing of the frize, and of the tympanum of the remaining pediment, is formed of a 

 hard stone, similar to that found in the neighbourhood of Eleusis. It is studded with 

 iron cramps, which formerly served to fasten either bronze or marble sculptures. The 

 word £t»a signifies, as Facias observes, small statues. " Mihi quidem Jia et £co§ja minu- 

 tiora varii generis simulacra denotare videntur." — Ad Pausan. v. 11. 



f The word eirtvTUTov is one of rare occurrence; it is found in the Sigean inscription, 

 where it seems to allude to the base or stand of the consecrated vase. On this account, 

 Chandler supposed it to signify, in this place, the bases of the columns. These, however, 

 are mentioned in a subsequent passage, under the common denomination vxeipai. 



In another Athenian inscription (given in Chandler's work, pp. xviii. 43.), which is 

 nearly coeval with that under discussion, the base or stand of a consecrated vase is termed 

 imoa-rurov ; whence it seems evident that Imcrrcurov is an Attic word, and signifies here, 

 something placed over the columns. 



Mr. Elmsley supposes the sentence to end with the words litwraxmv tovtcov. The 

 epistatae are, however, speaking in the first person, and the works in the preamble are 

 said to be done under Diocles the archon, and not under the epistatas. Besides, the 

 actual existence of Eleusinian stone in the frize of the temple, makes it evident that the 

 eCT»crT«Ta, over which it is described as placed, must be synonymous with the epistylia. 



X The blocks of marble out of which the capitals of the four columns of this front are 

 formed, constitute part of the wall in which they appear inserted. The parts of them thus 

 immured were consequently unsculptured. 



§ Chandler, from Hesychius, supposes the word «v0e'|*»ov to signify some place in the 

 Acropolis ; but in the same lexicon we find another explanation ; ») yga/x/x,>f rig eXixonlr^ 

 sv toij xjWj, some spiral shaped line in columns ; that is to say, the volute. Vitruvius 

 terms the volutes of the Corinthian capital, helices. 



4 G 



