Faint not, nor murmur-lend, like Him, thy voice And dry the tear that o'er the cheek may stray. And humbly tread the path thy Saviour trod, ARCHITECTURE.-No. VIII. BY J. S. ANCONA, ESQ., ARCHITECT. "Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth! Immortal, though no more: though fallen, great." OTHER opinions have been advanced, however, relative to the origin of temples, of which the most ingenious, I should say, was the following deserving our attention for its apparent good and reasonable speculation, as based on the result of that natural progress we might (without other data) conceive probable. The first idea of the idolator, they say, was to set up an image (on a pedestal or otherwise), with an altar before it for sacrifice. This, in time, according to the latitude of the nation, required shelter from the weather, which it was requisite should be provided without concealing it from the eye of the worshippers; this was obtained by placing the image in a niche. As the ceremonies, however, increased, and greater splendour was introduced, it became still further necessary that a sufficient space should be allotted for the safe custody of those sacred robes of the officiating priests, and the numerous instruments and vessels required for the ceremonial of heathen worship; while, at the same time, it was deemed proper that the priests themselves should perform their services under cover; these together gave rise to the cella. But again, while the sacred rites were being performed within, it was customary for the people to assemble in the open air without; to protect whom, in turn, a roof was raised and supported on columns, under which they might congregate without hazard of exposure; this was called the pronaon. When, however, the sacrifices became too numerous for the confined space the cell afforded, and the altar was transported to the pronaon, the cell being only retained for the purposes of augury, the portico was added for the congregation; at first only prostylos, but subsequently peripteral. This, they argue, was the gradual formation of the temple and the consecutive addition of its parts—and thus, as at length the nation advanced, they mounted it on a base, or stylobate, which was ascended by flights of steps. The various parts of the temple became more ornamented, and were considered with a greater degree of reference to elegance, proportion of form, and beauty and richness of detail. These ideas are reasonbly founded on the circumstantial progress of what necessity would at certain stages devise; yet, in the particular examples of Greece, I have little doubt the altar was at once removed from the palace to the cella. These Grecian temples were supported out of the revenues of lands, and by public and private donations, and were at first of very rude construction, in the days of Homer, being little better than huts, covered with the branches and boughs of trees. In order, however, well to judge of the degree of excellence they attained, we must turn our attention at once to Athens, the very nursery of the arts. This city, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Attica or Cecropia, was founded by Cecrops, 1550 years before Christ, and received its present name during the reign of Ericthonius, from the name of Minerva, called by the Greeks Athena, and is built on a peninsula formed by the junction of the Cephissus and Ilissus, on the Saronic Gulph. Its most ancient temples were situated on the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens, and were the Propylæum, the little temple of victory, the Parthenon, the Erectheium, the temple to Minerva, Polias, and the cell of Pandrosus; besides which, it boasted of being the receptacle of all the treasures, and the depository of the whole archives of the country. The Parthenon was the largest of these temples, being two hundred and seventeen feet long, ninety-eight feet broad, and sixty-five feet high. It was destroyed during their wars with the Persians, and rebuilt by Pericles 444 years before Christ. In the centre of this temple grew the olive tree, sacred to that goddess. The entrance was by the Propylæum, built entirely of white marble, where stood the celebrated ivory statue of Minerva by Phidias, forty-six feet in height, and richly decorated with gold, the quantity of which metal weighed as much as forty-four talents. The Erectheium consisted of two temples, both built of the purest white marble-the one dedicated to Pallas and Minerva, and the other to Neptune. The little temple of Victory was the right wing of the Propylæum. In front of the Acropolis were two theatres-the one of Bacchus, the other the Odeum; but there is no vestige of them remaining whereby to detect their size or condition. In the valley, or lower town, were the Пouixy, or gallery of historical paintings, and the Temple of the Winds, built by Andronicus Cyrrhestes, and many monuments to celebrated men, of which the only one remaining is the choragic monument of Lysicrates, reported to have been the most elegant and beautiful specimen of the whole. Outside the walls were the temples of Theseus and Jupiter Olympius: the first was of the Doric order, and much resembled the Pantheon. The temple of Jupiter Olympius was of the Ionic order, and was the most celebrated of all the Athenian temples both for splendour and size, the exterior being adorned with one hundred and twenty fluted columns, sixty feet high, and six in diameter. In the centre was another statue from the chisel of the renowned Phidias, of gold and ivory. The Pantheon was the exact prototype of that at Rome. Besides the mere erection of these buildings, we must not forget to mention the progress made by this people in the kindred arts of carving and sculpture, which quite kept pace with their architectural science. Besides the works of Phidias, already mentioned, the interiors both of the temple of Jupiter Olympius and of the Pantheon were adorned with numerous statues; although, unfortunately, none remain in existence, with the exception of one to Hadrian in the Pantheon. We have, however, several magnificent specimens of the Caryatides introduced in the temple of Neptune Erectheius, besides the remains of the sculptured contest for Athens, between Neptune and Minerva, on the pediment of the Parthenon, and the better preserved battle of the Centaurs and Lapitha. The combat between Theseus and the Centaur, on the temple of Theseus, is likewise in excellent preservation. The situations of the Areopagus, the Pynx, Lyceum, the walks of the Peripatetics, the Piraeus, the Phalerum, and the Munychia, have yet a few columns, or some other distinguishing feature, left to direct attention correctly to their sites. Besides those of ancient Athens, magnificent ruins have been discovered throughout the whole of Greece, including those at Nemea, Mycenae, Phigalea, in Arcadia, and many of her colonies; and thus, every man, although he may not personally have witnessed those lovely scenes, may yet casily imagine the enchantment lent the various beauties with which nature had so profusely decorated her, assisted as she was by the hand of man, who reared, midst the choice recesses of her silent groves, or on the bright margin of her scarce ruffled lakes, those snow white fabrics, which then, through the clear atmosphere and under the soft and glowing charms of an Italian sky, might well have taught the Greek to defy the world to produce her equal; and where all the arts of peace or war were most fondly coveted and cherished, her philosophers, teaching in Nature's bowers, and under no other vault than that of Heaven, might well have regarded all other nations barbarous. How changed is this fair country now, I need not dwell upon : ""Twere long to tell, and sad to trace, Each step from splendour to disgrace."-Giaour, 1. 136. "A thousand years scarce serve to form a state An hour may lay it in the dust and when Can man its shatter'd splendour renovate, Recall its virtues back, and vanquish time and fate? "And yet how lovely, in thine age of woe, Commingling slowly with heroic earth, So perish all in turn, save well recorded worth." Before concluding this part of my subject, I may be allowed to make a slight digression respecting those various recollections associated with the names of Parnassus, Castaly, and Delphi, which are apt, from their illusive classical characters, to blind the judgment to the true nature of the hieratic establishments connected with them; which, for so many years exercised on the credulity of mankind the specious fallacies, cunningly devised in fable and upheld by lies, and inflicted on the persons of the Pythic priestesses the greatest cruelties, while the priests "could calmly contemplate the torments under which they were sinking."* The earliest existing record of the Delphic oracle and shrine we find in Homer, who, in his hymn to Apollo, gives an account of its origin; which, although fabulous, yet proves it to have existed in his time, and is reported to have possessed great wealth. The original shrine was probably one of the many works attributed to the ancient Cyclopean architects, and, "like the Caaba of Mecca, the nucleus of idolatry, would favour the supposition that the original temple belonged to the same class of rude, gigantic lithic monuments as the cromlechs and circular sanctuaries consecrated to the same deity. From the number of stones mentioned, it may be inferred, either that there were four uprights supporting a flat stone, or, if the temple was uncovered, three uprights supporting two transverse blocks." Chandler relates, that the temple of Apollo was at first a kind of cottage, covered with boughs of laurel; and as Homer gives a similar description of all the Grecian temples of his days, it is probable he may have taken Homer's authority to have particularized the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Subsequently, he says, an edifice of stone was erected by Trophonius and Agamedes, about 1200 years before Christ; which was burnt in the year 636, after the taking of Troy, and 548 "The priests know this; yet have we seen them multiply, and calmly contemplate the torments under which she was sinking. It is still more painful to reflect that they are rendered thus callous to the feelings of humanity by sordid interest. But for the furious ravings of the Pythia, she would be less consulted, and, consequently the liberalities of the people would be less abundant; for an answer is not to be obtained gratuitously from the god.......... Yet this tribute imposed on the credulity of mankind during the whole year, and severely exacted by the priest, whose principal revenue it forms, is infinitely less dangerous than the influence of their answers on the public affairs of Greece and of the world. Who but must weep over the miseries of humanity, when he reflects that, besides the pretended prodigies of which the inhabitants make a constant traffic, the answers of the Pythia are to be obtained by money! And that thus, a single word dictated by corrupt priests, and uttered by a senseless girl, suffices to excite bloody wars, and spread desolation through a whole kingdom."-Travels of Anacharsis, vol. ii. p. 349. years before Christ. But this does not appear very clear; for if the temple were of stone, it is difficult to perceive how it could have entirely fallen a prey to fire. I would suggest, therefore, that only the adytum was rebuilt of stone, and that either the rustic temple remained as at the time of Homer, or that it consisted merely of an inclosed shrubbery or grove. However, it was again rebuilt by order of the Amphictyonic deputies, about the year 513 before Christ, entirely of stone, but fronted with Parian marble, and was ornamented with all the skill that either statuary or sculpture could advise; and enclosed treasuries which contained the splendid offerings of the richest kingdoms, many cities which had consecrated to its shrine the tithe of their spoil taken in war, including the choicest works of art, and heaps of gold and silver. The temple of Apollo, at Delphi, being regarded as the common temple of all nations, the Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Italians, and even the Hyperboreans sent offerings to it. Strabo calls it To icpov kovov (the common temple); and Livy, commune humani generis oraculum (the common oracle of mankind). Having thus considered and described as accurately as so limited a notice would permit the various buildings of Greece, we will next turn our attention to the more general styles of their erection, which were comprehended under three classes, known as the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders; respecting the origin and progress of which we will at once refer, although, at the outset, it may be well to observe that few bear the stamp of much probability, and many are evidently utterly devoid of truth. The earliest authority (that of Vitruvius) may be classed among these last, although his tale respecting them is so ingeniously contrived and prettily related, that it affords matter for regret that we are obliged to refute it. Upon reference to the first chapter of the fourth book of this author, we find, that speaking of the colonies sent into Asia by the Greeks under Ion, he mentions, that as a punishment to the inhabitants of Melite (one of them), it was detached from the other states in the course of a war levied on it, and the city of Smyrna received into the number of Ionian states in its stead. These received the name of Ionians (after the Carians and Lelegæ had been driven out), from the name of Ion, their leader. "In this country (he says), after allotting different spots for sacred purposes, they began to erect temples, the first of which was dedicated to Apollo Panionios, and resembled that which they had seen in Achaia, and they gave it the name of Doric, because they had first seen that species in the cities of Doria." And "as they wished to erect this temple with columns, and had not a knowledge of the proper proportions of them, nor knew the way in which they ought to be constructed, so as at the same time to be both fit to carry the superincumbent weight and to produce a beautiful effect, they measured a man's foot, and finding its length the sixth part of his height, they gave the column a similar proportion-that is, they made its height, including the capital, six times the thickness of the shaft measured at the base. |