Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/287

  states that the Parthenon was 50 feet greater than the temple burnt by the Persians (Hesych. s. v. lonJiiaitoi), a measure which must have reference to the breadth of the temple, and not to its length. The only reason for questioning this statement is the silence of the ancient writers respecting an earlier Parthenon, and the statement of Herodotus (vii. 53) that the Persians set fire to the Acropolis, after plundering the temple (ri Ipiv), as if than had been only one; which, in that case, must have been the Erechtheium, or temple of Athena Polias. But, on the other hand, we find under the stylobate of the present Parthenon the foundations of another and much older building (Penrose, p. 73); and to this more ancient temple probably belonged the portions of the columns inserted in the northern wall of the Acropolis, of which we hare already spoken.

The Parthenon stood on the highest part of the Acropolis. Its architecture was of the Doric order, and of the purest kind. It was built entirely of Pentelic marble, and rested upon a rustic basement of ordinary limestone. The contrast between the limestone of the basement and the splendid marble of the superstructure enhanced the beauty of the latter. Upon the basement stood the stylobate or platform, built of Pentelic marble, five feet and a half in height, and composed of three steps. The temple was raised so high above the entrance to the Acropolis, both by its site and of these artificial means, that the pavement of the peristyle was nearly on a level with the summit of the Propylaea. The dimensions of the Parthenon, taken from the upper step of the stylobate, were about 228 feet in length, 101 feet in breadth, and 66 feet in height to the top of the pediment. It consisted of a FifKAi or cella, surrounded by a peristlye, which had eight columns at either front, and seventeen at either side (reckoning the corner columns twice), thus containing forty-six columns in all. These columns were 6 feet 2 inches in diameter at the base, and 34 feet in height. Within the peristyle at either end, there was an interior range of six columns, of 5½ feet in diameter, standing before the end of the cella, and forming, with the prolonged walls of the cella, an apartment before the door. These interior columns were on a level with the floor of the cella, and were ascended by two steps from the peristyle. The cella was divided into two chambers of un-

equal size, of which the Eastern chamber or naos was about 98 feet, and the Western chamber or opisthodomus about 43 feet. The ceiling of both these chambers was supported by inner rows of columns. In the eastern chamber then were twenty-three columns, of the Doric order, in two stories, one over the other, ten on each side, and three on the western return: the diameter of these columns was about three feet and a half at the base. In the western chamber there were four columns, the position of which is marked by four large slabs, symmetrically placed in the pavement. These columns were about four feet in diameter, and were probably of the Ionic order, as in the Propylaea. Technically the temple is called Peripteral Octastyle.

"Such was the simple structure of this magnificent building, which, by its united excellencies of materials, design, and decorations, was the most perfect ever executed. Its dimensions of 228 feet by 101, with a bright of 66 feet to the top of the pediment, were sufficiently great to give a appearance of grandeur and sublimity; and this impressions was not disturbed by any obtrusive subdivision of parts such as is found to diminish the effect of many larger modern buildings, where the same singleness of design is not apparent. In the Parthenon there was nothing to divert the spectator's contemplation from the simplicity and majesty of mass and outline, which forms the first and most remarkable object of admiration in a Greek temple; for the statues od the pediments, the only decoration 