lenius were placed. The architecture | stone worthy of inspection." Between has not much beauty to recommend it, the walls we have just described and and the traveller will probably soon the Theseum still remain one or more allow himself to be driven away from gigantic Herma with snakes coiled its examination by the dirt and other about them, not indeed of a very annoyances of its situation. A museum, refined art, yet they may possibly be containing a few altars and other ob- the remains of those mentioned by jects of considerable interest, has been Pausanias. formed in the small inclosure in front of the western colonnade; and in a building near it were placed, in 1846, a collection of casts of the Elgin marbles sent to Athens in that year by the trustees of the British Museum, which the traveller will probably be glad to see after he has visited the Parthenon. 4. Gymnasium of Ptolemy, or Stoa of Attalus. About 100 yards W. of the S.W. corner of the Stoa of Hadrian are remains of a marble building of excellent masonry of the style of work called by Vitruvius pseudisodomum, that is, having alternately equal courses. This was a later style than that in which the walls of the Pericleian buildings were constructed, and gives a corresponding date, 300 B.C., or later, to the building in question. It consists of a wall built in the form of a square "fret," continually returning at right angles to itself, but having a general direction N. and S. This construction makes it probable that these walls formed exedræ or seats of the kind called Lesche, so built as to be sheltered and opposed to the sun at all times of the day, so that those who frequented them could at all hours in the winter find a sunny and in the summer a shady side. The poor often passed the night in the Lescha. These Lescha may very probably have formed part of the Gymnasium of Ptolemy, both on account of the date, as determined to a certain extent, of the masonry, and from their position near the temple of Theseus, for the proximity of the gymnasium to that temple is mentioned by Pausanias, who also tells us, that "in the Gymnasium which is not far from the Agora, and called Ptolemæum from him who built it, are Hermæ of The gymnasium in a Greek city was an institution of the greatest importance. In the first instance, it was a building provided for the performance of gymnastic exercises, which formed one of the three parts, and indeed the principal part, of education: grammar and music being the two others: for the Greeks were thoroughly convinced that the mind could not be in a healthy state unless the body was likewise in perfect health. From these exercises, performed either naked or with the body covered with a slight XiTv, or tunic, the artists of Greece had not only frequent opportunities of studying the human body in its varied forms of action, but also they had before them far more beautifully developed forms than they otherwise could have had; and this circumstance, combined with the natural fine taste of that people, enabled them to attain that pre-eminence in sculpture which has never been questioned, and which in the same line it is impossible for modern art to rival. In the time of Solon the Greeks began to build regular gymnasia as places of exercise for the young, with baths and other conveniences for philosophers who sought intellectual amusements. The larger gymnasia contained courts for gymnastic exercises, exedræ, baths, stoæ, long covered walks for exercise in bad weather, gardens, and a stadium. The larger gymnasia at Athens were the Academy, the Lyceum, and Cynosarges. Doubtless the gymnasium of Ptolemy was far more simple than that of Hadrian, into which all the luxuries of the Roman Therma would be introduced, an ample supply of water being obtained from the Aqueduct built by that Emperor. The following extract is taken from the work of Mr. Joseph Woods- The Let 1828 ters of an Architect,' &c., London, | arts. The identification of this temple has never been questioned, except by Ross, who names it the temple of Mars. Ross, however, has against him the almost universal verdict of scholars and archeologists, so that it does not seem necessary to go into his arguments. Pausanias says very little about this temple: he only mentions the paintings by Micon on the walls, which represented the acts of Theseus. Cimon, son of Miltiades, was sent by the Athenians to Skyros to obtain the bones of Theseus, who had died there in exile; and having obtained what answered the description, he returned B.c. 468, when the bones were interred on a height in the middle of the Asty, with a large peribolus, which was occasionally used for military assemblies. The temple stands quite detached, on a little point of land running out from the hill of the Areopagus, a site admirably selected to display its architecture. Quoting again from Mr. Woods (p. 235): "The point it stands on is so little elevated that a person might leave Athens without perceiving it to be placed on any hill at all, yet nobody can fail to observe that it is a conspicuous object, and looks well in every point of view. "In our first walk we passed by the Tower of the Winds, now a place for the performance of dancing dervishes, but incumbered with other buildings [this was in 1818], and the mouldings and sculptures of which are rather clumsy in design, as well as in the execution. Behind this building there are remains of the aqueduct which supplied the clepsydra. Stuart has published it without being aware of its purpose, and he has omitted to notice some remarkable peculiarities. Each pier is of one stone, and the pilasters are cut upon it so as to lean inwards, as if to oppose the lateral thrust of the arch, a precaution quite unnecessary, as each arch is likewise formed out of a single stone. Soon afterwards we came to the Portico of the market, which, though not to be compared to the best examples here, is yet a very handsome building. We then passed by the building called by Stuart the Stoa or Portico, but which now seems more generally considered as the Pantheon of Hadrian. The columns have more colour than those of the temple of Jupiter Olympius, but they appear to be of the same material: the capitals are poor in design, and the entablature badly composed, but it is an antique, and we are sensible that it must have been a splendid building. All these occur within the distance of a few paces; not much farther is a fragment, sup-mensions, much like a barn. Afterposed to be the gymnasium built by Ptolemy, but this is merely a portion of marble wall." 5. The Theseum. This temple is the most perfect architectural relic of all antiquity. It was preserved during the dark ages by having been converted into the church of St. George, which occupied the whole area of the cella. And it is very fortunate that this was the case in a building of which the architecture and sculpture is only inferior to the Parthenon, so that had Athens preserved to us nothing but the Theseum, it would still have claimed pre-eminence in those "The cell of a Greek temple is a simple oblong building. In the earlier periods it was probably nearly destitute of ornament, and except for the cornice, and for the smallness of the di Even wards a porch was added, supported "The simple cell had, I believe, no of metal was used, here the spaces between the internal columns seem to have been filled in with marble slabs. That the principal front was towards the E. is attested not only by the greater depth of the pronaos, but by the sculptured metopes, those namely at that end, and the four adjoining metopes of each flank. The following account of the sculptures is abbreviated from Leake, p. 500 sq. : peculiar appellation, and yet from the great multitude of temples existing in ancient Greece, many of which seem to have been very small, it is probable they were not uncommon. Temples of the second kind were said to be in antis, because in them the flank walls were prolonged beyond the front, so as to form the sides of the porch, and these prolongations were terminated in pilasters having three faces, which pilasters were called antæ. The third" All the metopes in the front of the arrangement was prostyle, the fourth amphiprostyle, the fifth peripteral; besides these were also the dipteral temples, having two rows of columns round the cell (such was the temple of Jupiter Olympius in this place), and pseudodipteral, which differed from the dipteral by the want of the inner range of columns, and from the peripteral by having a much larger space between the cell and the surrounding colonnade. In all these the same general form was preserved, a simple oblong; and you see that in all of them I can account for the admiration bestowed upon them by a recurrence to my favourite maxim of simplicity of form and richness of detail." temple that can be deciphered relate to the labours of Hercules, and those on the flanks to the labours of Theseus. Ten of the former were selected for the E. front. These were, beginning from the S.: 1, Hercules and the Nemean Lion; 2, Hercules and Iolaus destroying the Hydra; 3, Hercules taming the stag of Ceryneia; 4, Hercules and the Erymanthian boar; 5, Hercules with one of the horses of Diomedes king of Thrace; 6, Hercules and Cerberus; 7, much injured, but probably Hercules taking from Hippolyta the girdle of Mars; 8, Hercules having slain Cycnus; 9, Hercules and Antæus, whose mother Earth stands by and stretches out both arms; 10, Hercules receiving an apple from one of the nymphs Hesperides. "Of the four sculptured metopes on the southern side, the first from the angle represents Theseus and the Minotaur; the second, Theseus and the Marathonian bull; the third, Theseus and Pityocamptes; the fourth, perhaps Theseus and Procrustes. The first on the N. side is perhaps Theseus and Corynetes; the second, Theseus and Cercyon; the third, Theseus and Scyron; the fourth, Theseus and the sow of Crommyon. The temple of Theseus faces about 8 southward of E. It is peripteral and hexastyle, and each flank shows 13 columns. The length is 104 feet 3 inches, and the breadth 45 feet on the upper step. It is elevated 2 feet 4 inches on two steps, whereas temples usually had three, a circumstance which has been thought to confirm the hypothesis of its having been an heröum. The ambulatory on the sides is 6 feet wide, the cella is 40 feet in length, the pronaos, including the eastern portico, 33 feet, and the posticum or opisthodomus, including the "The pediments were filled with western portico, 27 feet. These porches sculpture, but all has been lost; only were formed with two columns in antis. some cramp marks and other traces reThe columns, both of the peristyle and main. At each end of the cella a sculpthe interior order, are about 3 feet 4tured frieze, 38 feet long, stretches inches in diameter, and 19 feet high. The height from the upper step to the apex of the pediment is 31 feet. The pronaos and posticum were separated from the ambulatory of the peristyle; but where in the Parthenon a grillage across the whole breadth of the cella and ambulatory. The sculptures are in much higher relief than the frieze of the Parthenon, and although now for the most part in a state of extreme decay, they were evidently works of the greatest merit. As Micon, who painted the walls of the temple, was a sculptor as well as a painter, there is reason to suppose that they were finished by his hands. The subject of the sculpture over the pronaos is the giganto-machia. The composition may be regarded as a great glyptic picture, and the more correctly so, as its effect in many of the minor details was produced by metallic adjuncts and painting. It consisted of 29 figures. Jupiter is represented seated, as on the summit of Olympus, with Juno and Minerva, near the southern extremity of the composition. The giants are towards the centre, and occupy the lower heights of the mountain, and the battle appears raging on each side of them. "At the northern end of the composition, behind the group of deities and beyond the fourth and fifth pair of combatants, the extremity of the frieze is occupied by five figures not engaged, which in their graceful attitudes and unemployed or preparatory state of action resemble those of the western frieze of the Parthenon. They may be some of the inferior gods who are not yet called into action. In the combat of Centaurs and Lapithæ, which forms the subject of the frieze of the Posticum, we distinguish Theseus as the only one who has slain his opponent. Pausanias tells us that Micon had so represented him in painting within the temple. We also recognise Caneus, who, being by Neptune's gift invulnerable, was overwhelmed by the Centaurs with rocks and trees. Caneus is represented as half sunk into the earth, while an enormous mass is suspended over his head by a Centaur on each side. In the British Museum are casts of the friezes and some of the metopes. All the sculptures of the Theseum, as well of the metopes as the friezes, were painted, and still preserve some remains of the colours. Vestiges of brazen and gold-coloured arms, of a blue sky, and of blue, green, and red drapery, are still very apparent. A painted foliage and mæander is seen on the interior of the cornice of the peristyle, and painted stars in the lacunaria similar to those of the Parthenon, Propylæa, and other temples. There are also remains of blue and red in the soffits of the mutules, and in the channels of the triglyphs of the external entablature. On the walls of the cella inside have been observed traces of a very thin stucco which received the paintings of Micon. These paintings extended from the roof to within 2 feet 9 inches of the floor." "Northward of the seated deities is Mercury wearing the helmet of Pluto, which rendered him invisible, and fighting with a giant, who appears to be hurling a stone; next comes Apollo, who has slain Polytion; then Bacchus, of whom only a fragment remains, fighting with a giant to the S. of him. After him comes Vulcan, hurling red-hot iron at Clytius; and farther on Neptune, with a rock representing the island Nisyrus in his left hand, with which he is about to overwhelm the giant Polybotes. He has already slain one giant and is fighting with another; then come two warriors marching northwards to take | part in the fight, and passing behind three seated figures, which represent the inferior deities of Olympus, whose position the giants had invaded, although unable to reach the height on which Jupiter is seated. The action at the S. extremity commences with two draped figures moving northwards. Next comes Hercules, with a chlamys and crested helmet, tying the hands of the giant Alcyoneus, over whom he prevailed by the advice of Minerva, who is seated near him, being sepa- The temple is founded on a subrated only by a naked warrior without struction chiefly formed of the limea helmet, but who bears on his arm stone of Piræus upon which the the thong, which indicates that he had stylobate rests, that and all above it a shield. He is represented as turn-being of marble. The columns have ing round, as if ready to assist Her- all been more or less shaken by earthcules. quakes, and many of the drums or component parts thrown out of line. | part of the Museum is, for the present, at the Ministry of Education, in Hermes Street, opposite and below Wilberg's library. Here is a copy of the statue of Athenê in the Parthenon. The substruction, too, seems to have When the temple was converted into the Church of St. George, the two columns between the antæ of the Pronaos were removed to form the apse, and a large western door was made, but it was afterwards walled up to protect the church from the insults of the Turks, who in former times were in the habit of riding into it. After this a small door was pierced in the S. wall. The cella was covered with a semicircular vault; but this has been replaced by a trabeated ceiling suitable to the original design; a restoration which was most desirable, because the effect of the thrust of the vault just mentioned had begun to act injuriously upon the walls and columns of the peristyles. "Both the Theseum and Parthenon look larger than they really are, an effect owing partly to the simplicity of the design and justness of the proportion."-Woods, p. 247. The peculiar position of the Parthenon, occupying the top of a rock of small extent, no doubt enhances the effect in the case of that temple, but not entirely so; and it is an erroneous idea that has sometimes been advocated, that justness of proportion makes a building look small. "The Church of St. Mark at Venice, and the Temple of Theseus at Athens, have several points of comparison. They owe their origin to the operation of the same feelings. They are both at the same time temples and tombs. In both cases the venerated ashes interred within them came from a distant region. The relics of Theseus, real or supposed, were brought by Cimon from the isle of Skyros to the Piræus; those of St. Mark to the quay of Venice, from Alexandria. The latter were hailed on their arrival with the pageantry of a Venetian carnival: the The chief part of the national Mu-obsequies of Theseus were solemnised seum of Athens is temporarily placed with a dramatic contest of Eschylus in the interior of this temple, and and Sophocles. contains a few works of interest, among which an ancient figure of a warrior ✔found at Marathon, in very low relief, but coloured, should be mentioned. It bears a striking resemblance to the Assyrian figures from Nineveh. There is here also a small figure of Pan, as well as several interesting sepulchral monuments and vases. The hero and the saint, placed in their splendid mausoleums, each in his respective city, were revered as the peculiar guardians of those two republics of the sea. Theseus did not enjoy alone the undivided honours of his own temple. He admitted Hercules, the friend and companion of his early toils, to a share in his posthumous glory. He even In the design of the Theseum the ceded to him, with the best spirit of same subtleties of construction in the Athenian delicacy, the most honouruse of delicately curved horizontal able place in that fabric. On the and inclined vertical lines are to be eastern façade of this temple, all found as in the Parthenon, but on a the 10 metopes are occupied with the smaller scale. Part of the national labours of Hercules, while only four, Museum is temporarily placed in the and those on the sides only, refer to Barbakeion, and should be early the deeds of Theseus. The same disvisited, on Monday or Wednesday, interestedness is shown in the selection from 3 to 5 P.M. There is no cata- of the subjects of the two friezes of logue of its contents. The remaining the pronaos and posticum of the cella. The whief found in Element 21 |
