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ARCHITECTURE

The Siphnian treasury is supposed to date from the end of the 6th cent. B.c.; in the magnificent carving of the architectural ornament it may be said to rival that of the Erechtheum. Although built in Parian marble, it was richly decorated in colour, of which vivid traces still exist. Among other finds were the remains of four caryatid figures of colossal size, each with a calathos or polos on the head; these, according to Mr Homolle, seem to have supported a tribune like the caryatid portico of the Erechtheum, and probably served as the prototype of the arrephoroi of that building. Further remains have been found of the Sphinx of archaic character, and of the Ionic capital of early date which carried it, sufficient now to complete their restoration. The remains also of a triangular votive column were found, triangular in the sense that as it supported originally a tripod there were three caryatid figures at the top carrying the same; and the decorations of the column, with widely-projecting and finely-carved acanthus leaves, are grouped in triplets, which constitute the capital and base of the column. These acanthus leaves are the earliest known, and are certainly the most vigorous examples ever carved. At Epidaurus, where excavations were systematically begun in 1881 by the Greek Archaeological Society under Mr Kavvadias, the sacred temenos has been laid bare, exposing the plans of the stoa or. colonnade where the patients were housed, of the temple of Asclepius (singular in having no epinaos), and of the famous Tholos by Polycleitus the Younger, a circular building with a peristyle of twenty-six Doric columns round the exterior, and a circle of fourteen Corinthian columns inside, the capitals of these columns in Parian marble being Fig. 5.—Conjectural Restoration of the East Front of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, by Dr. Murray. of great beauty and Athens, it was found necessary to expropriate the inhabit- among the earliest Corinthian examples known. The ants of Kastri, a small village built on the sacred en- famous Theatre has also been cleared out, displaying a closure, providing accommodation for them elsewhere. circular orchestra and the foundations of a stage of late This, combined with the labour involved in clearing away date, which, from the remains found, seem to have been the superincumbent earth and the debris of the village, 12 feet high, with the front decorated with Ionic semiand conveying it some distance, necessarily delayed the detached columns, all the capitals having angle volutes work. Here, as at Olympia, tire writings of Pausanias (Fig. 4). have been of the greatest value in the nomenclature of the The researches made since 1885 on the Acropolis various buildings and monuments the foundations of which of Athens have resulted in discoveries of more value were found on either side of the sacred way. This, to the archseologist than to the architect. The foundaowing to the steepness of the hill, winds round at a gentle tions of the old Temple of Athene, destroyed by Xerxes slope from the entrance of the sacred enclosure at the in 479 b.c., have been found close to the Erechtheum, south-east, rising across the same to the west and returning and below the level of the same were discovered two to the foot of the steep ascent leading to the raised terrace stone bases considered to have supported the wooden on which the Temple of Apollo was built. The excava- pillars of the House of Erechtheus. In 1884-86 Mr F. C. tions have exposed the whole of the peribolos or wall Penrose undertook for the Dilettanti Society a series of surrounding the temenos or sacred enclosure, the founda- investigations relative to the Olympieion or temple of Zeus tions of all the treasuries and votive monuments, and the Olympics, which proved that the temple had eight terrace wall; the latter, carrying the platform of the temple, columns in front and rear, and not ten, as had been is one of the finest examples known of polygonal masonry. thought, owing to a misreading of Vitruvius; that the Comparatively little was found of the architectural features fifteen columns which remain belong to the edifice of the Temple of Apollo, but those of the several Treasuries designed by Cossutius, the Homan architect, 174 B.c., and are of importance in one case, that of the Siphnians allow- that Hadrian’s share in the work was confined to the ing of a more or less complete conjectural restoration. completion of the structure, including the new columns in

superincumbent earth has, however, revealed many other features in the plan which bear out Pausanias’ description. First, within the entrance to the cella were staircases leading to the galleries, “ through which there is an approach to the image.” On the pavement were seen the traces of the barrier across the cella between the second column on each side and of other barriers restricting the passage to the side aisles. In front of the pedestal which carried the famous chryselephantine statue of Zeus, by Phidias, were found the traces of the black stone paving with the raised margin of Parian marble to hold the oil which, according to Pausanias, was kept there to preserve the ivory, a precaution rendered necessary by the dampness of the Altis. The position of this sunk space filled with oil quite disposes of the hyptethron, and there is no doubt that in this temple the statue was lighted only through the open door. In the Byzantine church, outside the Altis, have been recognized the lower parts of the walls of the workshop of Phidias, mentioned by Pausanias. It was of the same size as the cella of the temple. In order to carry out systematically the explorations at Delphi, begun in 1891 by the French School at