Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/376

Rh 354 ARCHAEOLOGY [CLASSICAL SECOJTU A-rchite-j- In temple architecture the principles of both, the Doric ture. auc j Ionic orders were already fully established, the latter in Asia Minor and the former in Greece proper ; and it is characteristic of the national importance attached to this branch of art, that not only was the best available talent of the time procured, irrespective of local connec tion, but also that architects appear to have found a public for the writings iu which many of them narrated their proceedings, and described the appliances used by them in building, as did Chersiphron and his son Metagenes in regard to the temple of Diana at Ephesus ; or laid down the principles they had followed, as did Theodoras with regard to the temple of Hera at Samus. Among the remains of Doric architecture assignable to this period, the first to be mentioned are the two temples at Paestum (Major, Les Ruines de Fcestum ou de Posidonie, 1768; cf. Schnaase, Bildende Kiinste, ii. fig. 3G), of which the larger derives a special interest from the two rows of columns, one above the other, with which it is furnished in the interior, for the purpose of supporting, as it appears, a hypadthral roof. Differing in many details from the Pa:stum temple is that of Selinus, the sculptured metopes of which have already been described, and assigned to the commence ment of this period. The columns are here slimmer, being 4 times the lowest diameter in height ; but the archi trave has gained in height and heaviness. A transition from the heaviness of the old Doric temples of Pajstum and Selinus, for example to the graceful proportions of the Doric order in Attica is presented by the temple of Athene in ^Egiua, the columns of which, however, are still too short, being a little over 5 times the lowest diameter in height, and the architrave and frieze too high for the Attic-Doric style. Of the Ionic order during this period the principal example was the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the construction of which, begun by Theodoras of Samus, was carried on by Chersiphron of Crete and his son Metagenes, and completed by Demetrius and Pa3onius about the time of Croesus, 5G5-551 B.C., 120 years having, it is said, from first to last been consumed on the work (Strabo, xiv. 640; Vitruvius, viL praef. ; Pliny, N. II., xxxvi. 14, 95). This temple having been burned by Herostratus, was re stored under the direction of Alexander s architect Dino- crates. The oldest instance of the Ionic order in Greece proper, so far as we know, was found in the treasury erected at Olympia by Myron, the tyrant of Sicyon, after his chariot victory, 658 B.C. This building consisted of two chambers, the walls overlaid in the ancient manner with bronze plates, and the one executed in the Ionic, while the other was of the Doric order. The architects of this early time were not, however, restricted to the erection of temples, but had other problems to solve, as, for example, in the Scias of Sparta, a round building with tent-shaped roof, used originally for musical performances and after wards for public assemblies. Theodoras of Samus was the architect of the Scias. Probably the Odeum erected at Athens by Solon or Pisistratus had the same round form, and Avas intended for meetings of the same kind. Then followed the construction of theatres, that in Athens, which was of stone, having been commenced shortly after 500 B.C. Third Period. The splendid victories of Salamis, Platsea), and Mycale, gave an immediate and powerful impulse towards public undertakings, and especially, so far as we are at present concerned, towards the erection of temples and monuments worthy of the just pride of the nation. A sense of freedom and relief from long and troublous fears must have been the ruling feeling of the time; and of the efforts, both intellectual and artistic, which such new-born feelings engender, history has its examples. Of all the Greeks, the Athenians had in that crisis earned the best title to patriotic emotions, and in Athens, above all Greece besides, the aspirations were highest. Nor were means wanting to second the boldest designs. The Peloponnesians had loitered in the great conflict with the Persians, and in sharing the new impulse they loitered also. The Persian invasion had not, however, been hurled back by a stroke of fortune, but, on the contrary, by the united action which discipline and severe habits of life gave to the Greek forces ; and in the same way the men who thereafter achieved the first triumphs in art, who diffused freedom throughout its realm, were men who had been trained in severe schools, where close study, no less than respect for popular feeling, restrained the exercise of the imagination. Accordingly, before we can appreciate the artistic freedom established by Phidias, we must see how far his early training prepared him to fight the battle. This can only be done by examining the works of other sculptors, either pupils of the same master, as were Myron and Polycletus, or probably contemporary, though more hardened in the traditions of their school, as was Calamis the Athenian, Calami with whom we begin, remarking that the only known approximate date in his lifetime is from 468 to 464 B.C. The works of Calamis extended over a tolerably wide field of subject, and were executed partly in marble and partly in bronze ; but with the exception of two copies of his statue of Hermes Criophorus at Tanagra, on the coins of that town, and in a marble figure in Wilton House, none of our remains of ancient sculpture have as yet been identified with his style. Cicero (Brut., 18, 70) and Quintilian (xii. 10, 7) speak of him as less rigid and hard in his rendering of the human form than Gallon and Canachus ; but the real advance with which his name is associated was in the rendering of expression in the female face, and in the treatment of draperies. A figure of Alcmeue by him was highly praised (Pliny, N. H., xxxiv. 19, 71), while his statue of Sosandra, on the Acropolis of Athens, is spoken of in the highest terms by Lucian (Imay., 4, 6; Dial. Meretr., 3, 2) for its chaste and tender expression, for its taste in dress, and for the noble bearing of the whole figure. His horses were always incomparable. To have attained the power of expressing modesty and mobile character in a figure was to have laid the foundation for idealism in its true sense ; and Calamis was therefore on the same path with Phidias. We come now to Myron, a native of Eleutherse in Attica, Myroi and a pupil of Ageladas of Argus. With rare exceptions, he worked in bronze, and that of the ^Eginetan kind, while Polycletus employed the bronze of Delus. His works, which were numerous, and scattered from Asia Minor to Sicily, may be divided into the four classes of deities, heroes, athletes, and animals, with a considerable variety ranging within each of the classes. He avoided female figures almost throughout ; and though he was the author of statues of Dionysus and Apollo, it should be remembered that these deities had not become soft of form till Praxi teles made them so. He preferred the well-knit figures of athletes, or of Perseus or Hercules. His animals were marvels to the ancients; and the human figures in which he succeeded best were those in which purely physical quali ties were pronounced. &quot; Corporum tenus curiosus, animi sensus non expressit,&quot; says Pliny of him. But, according to the same authority, he was careless in rendering the hair, from which it is to be inferred that his study of the human form did not lead him, as it did Pythagoras, to an anxious reproduction of all its details. Then we have the further statement of Pliny &quot; Primus hie multiplicasse vcritatem videtur, numerosior in arte quam Polycletus, et in syrn- metria diligentior.&quot; As we understand &quot;multiplicasse veri- tatem,&quot; it would mean that he exaggerated the truth of nature to give effect to the momentary attitude of his