A R C H I T 
emperor Adrian, and his emprefs Sabina. At the left- 
hand of Jupiter are five or fix other figures; my compa¬ 
nion taketh tfiem to be an aflembly of the gods, where 
Jupiter introduceth Minerva, and owneth lier forhisdaugh- 
ter. The poftic, or hind-front, was adorned witli figures, 
exprefiing Minerva’s contefi with Neptune, about naming 
tiie city of Athens, but now all of them are fallen down, 
only part of a fea-horfe excepted. The architrave is alfo 
charged with a bafTo-relievo at feveral diftances, divided 
into fquares of about two or three feet broad, and three 
or four feet high. Within the portico on high, and on the 
outfide of the cella of the temple itfelf, is another border 
of batl'o-relievo round about it, or at leaf! on the north 
and fouth fides, which, without doubt, is as ancient as the 
temple, and of admirable work ; but not fo high a re¬ 
lievo as the other. Thereon are reprefented facrifices, 
procellions, and other ceremonies, of the heathen worfliip. 
The cella of the temple without is 15S feet long, and broad 
iixty-feven feet. Before you enter into the body of the 
temple from the front, is the pronaos, whofe roof is fuftained 
by fix channelled pillars, of the fame order and Bignefs with 
thole of the portico, and contains near the third part of 
the cella; to wit, forty-four feet of the length. We ob- 
ferved, in place of one of the pillars, a great pile of ftone 
and lime, of moft rude work ; which they told us the 
kiflar-aga had ordered to be fo done, to help to fupport 
thereof; becaufe he could never find a fione big enough 
to fupply the place of the old pillar broken down, altho’ 
he had 1 'pent 2000 crowns to do it.' From the pronaos we 
entered into the temple by a long door in the middle of 
the front. But my companion and I were not fo much 
furprifed with the obfeurity of it, as M. Guilder; be¬ 
caufe the obfervations we had made on other heathen tem¬ 
ples did make it no new thing to us. When the Chriftians 
confecrated it to ferve God in, they let in the light at the 
eaft-end, which is all it yet hath; and not only that, but' 
made a femi-circle for the holy place, according to their 
rites; which the Turks have not yet much altered. This 
was feparated from the reft by jafper pillars ; two of which 
on each fide yet remain. Within this chancel is a canopy, 
fuftained by four porphyry pillars, with beautiful wjiite 
marble chapters of the Corinthian order; but the holy 
table under it is removed. Beyond the canopy are two 
or three degrees or fteps one above another in a femi-cir¬ 
cle, where the bilhop and prefbyters tiled to fit in time of 
communion upon certain foiemn days. The bifhop fat in 
a marble chair above the reft ; which yet remaineth above 
the degrees, againft the window. On both fides, and tow¬ 
ards the door, is a kind of gallery, made with two ranks 
of pillars, twenty-two below, and twenty-three above ; 
the odd pillar is over the arch of the entrance which was 
left for the pafiage. They fhewed us the place where two 
orange-trees of marble formerly flood, which being taken 
thence to be carried to Confiantinople, the velfel mifearried 
witli them. The roof over the altar and choir, added to 
the temple by the Greeks, hath, the picture of the holy 
virgin on it, of mofaic work, left yet by the Turks.” 
Thus far Sir George Wheler ; and Dr. Spon tells us the 
meafures were taken in French feet; therefore, reckoning 
the diameters of the columns fuch feet, the extent 
of the front between the outer lurfaces of the angular co¬ 
lumns, reduced to Englifh meafure, will be found nearly 
102 feet two inches, that of the fide 225 feet ten inches 
and a half. But meafures obtained by girting the circum¬ 
ferences of columns being little to be depended upon, and 
the name of chis, temple, Hfcatcmpedon, implying that it 
extended a hundred feet, induced Mr. Stuart to examine 
into the meafure of the Attic foot. For this purpofe he 
compared the length of the lower ftep in front with its 
length on the fide, and found them incommenfurable ; 
neither were the front and fide lengths of the ftep above it 
eommenfurable with each other. But the third ftep, on 
which the columns of the portico ftand, meafured 101 feet 
i/o inch Englilh in front, and 227 feet 7Jg- inch on each 
fide, which are fo nearly in the proportion ot ico to 225, 
E C T U R E. 
that, had the greater meafure been one-fourth of an inch 
lefts, it would have been deficient of it. 
The frieze which ornamented and furrounded the exter¬ 
nal part of the cell, as mentioned by Sir George Wheler, 
reprefented the panathenai'c pomp or procefiion ; part of 
which was copied by a young Fie mi fit painter, employed 
by the marquis de Nointel, in 1674, by which means the 
refemblance of thefe beautiful figures, and their magnifi¬ 
cent eff'edt, are in fome meafure preferved to the moderns. 
With refpefit to the heads of Adrian and Sabina, in the 
weftern pediment, Mr. Stuart was of opinion that their 
faces were put upon two of the ancient figures, in com¬ 
pliment to that emperor when he'repaired Athens ; and 
which was no uncommon practice with the Romans in ma¬ 
ny of their conquered cities. Mr. Stuart was alfo of opi¬ 
nion that the ftyle of this temple was an hypeethros, with 
eight columns in front. 
In the interior of this temple flood the ftatue of Miner¬ 
va, made of ivory, twenty-fix cubits or thirty-nine feet 
high. It was decked with pure gold to the amount of 
forty talents, fo difpofed by Phidias, as to be taken oft'and 
weighed if required. According to tiie value of gold at 
that time, forty talents mu ft have been worth upwards of 
120,000!. fterling! The goddefs was reprefented (landing, 
with her veftment reaching to her feet. Her helmet had 
a fphinx for the creft, and on the fides were griffins. The 
head of Medufa was on her breaft-plate. In one hand (he 
held her fpear, and in the other fupported an image of 
Viftory about four cubits high. The battle of the Cen¬ 
taurs and I.apithte was carved on her landals ; and, on her 
(Field, which lay at her feet, the war of the gods and giants, 
and the battle of the Athenians and Amazons. B;y her 
fpear was a ferpent, in allufion to the theory of Erichtha- 
nius ; and, 'on the pedeital, the birth of Pandora. The 
fphinx, the Victory, and lefpent, were accounted eminently 
wonderfiil. This image was placed in the temple in the 
firft year of the 87th Olympiad, in which the Peloponne- 
fian war began. The gold was dripped off by the tyrant 
Lychares, when Demetrius Poliorcetes compelled him to 
fly. The fame plunderer plucked down the golden fhields 
in the acropolis, and carried away the golden Victories, 
with the precious veflels and ornaments provided for the 
Panathenasan feftival. 
This temple remained entire for many ages after it was- 
deprived of the goddefs. The Chriftians converted it in¬ 
to a church, and the Mahometans into a mofque. The 
Venetians under Koningfmark, when they befieged the 
acropolis in 1687, threw a bomb, which demoliftied the 
roof, and, letting fire to fome powder, did great damage 
to the fabric. The floor, which is indented, (till vvitnetles 
the place of its fall. This was the fad forerunner of far¬ 
ther deftruftion; the Turks breaking the ftones applied 
them to the building of a new mofque, which Hands within 
the ruin ; with thefe they repair their houfes, and the walls 
of the fortrefs. The vaft pile of ponderous materials-, 
which lay ready, is dimini filed ; and the whole ftrufiture 
will gradually be confumed and difappear. 
The temple, of Minerva in 1676 was, as Wheler and 
Spon affert, the fineft mofque in the world, without coin- 
parifon. The Greeks had adapted the fabric to their ce¬ 
remonial, by conftrufling a window at the eaft end ; for 
before it was enlightened only by the door; obfeurity be¬ 
ing preferred under the heathen ritual, except on feftivals, 
when it yielded to fplendid illuminations : which is the 
reafon why temples are commonly found iimple and una¬ 
dorned on the infides. In the wall beneath the window 
were inferted two pieces of the ftone called phengiles, a 
lpecies of marble difeovered in Cappadocia in the time of 
Nero ; and fo tranfparent that he.erefted w,jth it a temple 
to Fortune, which >vas luminous within when the door was 
fhut. Thefe pieces were perforated, and the light which 
entered was tinged with a reddifh or yellowifh hue. The 
picture of the Panagia, or Virgin Mary, in Mofaic, re¬ 
mained; and the Turks had white-wafhed the walls, to 
obliterate the portraits of faints, and the other paintings 
Witk 
