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PROBLEMS IN PERICLEAN BUILDINGS

PRINCETON MONOGRAPHS IN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY II

PROBLEMS IN
PERICLEAN BUILDINGS

BY

G. W. ELDERKIN, PH.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, PRECEPTOR IN ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY,
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON
LONDON: HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1912

Copyright, 1912, by Princeton University Press
for the United States of America.

Printed by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, N. J., U. S. A.




CONTENTS


I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE IRREGULARITY OF THE PROPYLAEA      1

II. AN INTERPRETATION OF THE CARYATID PORCH                  13

III. THE ERECHTHEUM AS BUILT                                 19

IV. THE ERECHTHEUM AS PLANNED                                49




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


1. EAST WINDOW OF THE PINAKOTHEKE.

2. THE PINAKOTHEKE AS SEEN FROM THE BASE OF THE BASTION OF THE TEMPLE OF
WINGLESS VICTORY.

3. THE PINAKOTHEKE AS SEEN FROM A POINT NEAR THE AXIS OF THE CENTRAL
PORTAL.

4. PLAN OF PROPYLAEA WITH ZIGZAG ROAD OF ASCENT.

5. SCENE ON AN ARCHAIC AMPHORA.

6. NORTH END OF WESTERN INTERIOR FOUNDATION OF THE ERECHTHEUM. VIEW FROM
THE EAST.

7. THE GROUND PLAN OF THE ERECHTHEUM AS BUILT.

8. THE NORTH SIDE OF THE DOOR IN THE WEST WALL.

9. NORTH WALL AT PLACE OF CONTACT WITH THE EASTERN CROSS-WALL.

10. THE CUTTING IN THE MARBLE BLOCK AT THE N. E. CORNER OF THE EASTERN
CELLA BELOW THE SUPPOSED FLOOR-LEVEL.

11. THE INTERIOR N. W. CORNER OF THE TEMPLE.

12. THE ORIGINAL PLAN OF THE ERECHTHEU
M.




I

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE IRREGULARITY OF THE PROPYLAEA


The irregular position of the door and the windows of the north-west
wing of the Propylaea has long been remarked, though no explanations of
the phenomenon have been offered. Bohn, _Die Propylaeen der Akropolis zu
Athen_, p. 23, says of the south wall of this wing: "Die Wand welche die
Halle von dem eigentlichen Gemach trennt, ist von einer Tuer und zwei
Fenstern durchbrochen. Erstere liegt jedoch nicht in der Mitte, die
letzteren wiederum unsymmetrisch zu ihr. Irgend einen Grund, irgend eine
axiale Beziehung zu den Saeulen vermochte ich in dieser abweichenden
Anordnung nicht zu finden." The east wall of the Erechtheum, on the
other hand (_A. J. A._, 1906, Pl. 8), was pierced by a central door and
two windows equidistant from it. That such symmetrical arrangement
should obtain in the Erechtheum and not in the closely contemporary
Propylaea very justly occasions surprise. It is the purpose of this
study to attempt to explain the irregularity in the latter.

The first fact to be observed with regard to the facade of the
Pinakotheke is concisely stated by Bohn (_op. cit._, p. 23): "Die
Stellung der Saeulen bestimmt sich dadurch dass die Tangente an die
Westseite der oestlichsten genau in die entsprechende Flucht der
Hexastylstuetzen faellt." The position of the anta at the eastern end of
the lesser colonnade is also fixed by the requirement that it stand
directly beneath a triglyph. This anta in turn determined the position
of the eastern window, for the west face of the anta and the window are
equidistant from the east wall of the Pinakotheke (Fig. 1). The
coincidence can hardly be accidental. If the position of the eastern
window was thus determined by considerations of appearance from a
well-defined exterior point of view, it is probable that the position
of the other two openings in the wall was similarly determined by a
point or points somewhere in the line of approach to the building rather
than by any consideration for objects within the Pinakotheke. Such a
point is readily found at the base of the Nike bastion, from which both
windows and door are simultaneously visible between the columns (Fig.
2). The western window appears at the extreme left of the
intercolumniation; the eastern, at the extreme right. If the observer
advance from this point toward the Pinakotheke, the windows remain
constantly in sight but appear to move more and more toward the middle
of the intercolumniations (Fig. 3).

Along no other line outside the portico can the three openings be viewed
thus simultaneously. Along the line noted, they may be viewed not only
simultaneously but in such mutual relation as to give a necessarily
varying yet satisfying appearance of symmetry. The facts point to two
almost unavoidable inferences: first, that the line of these points
determines for us the position of the last stretch of the zigzag road
which led up to the Acropolis; second, that the asymmetrical placing of
door and windows was due to the architect's desire that the facade
should produce a complete and unified impression upon the approaching
observer. This wish of the architect, further, explains the unusual
depth of the portico of the Pinakotheke. As has already been stated, the
position of the east window was fixed by the anta before it. Such being
the case, the depth of the portico was necessarily conditioned by the
visibility of the window from the bastion of the Nike temple. Had the
wall been moved forward, the window would in greater or less degree have
been concealed by a column, and the architect's purpose in so far
defeated. In view of the unusual depth of the portico the effect of
moving the wall still further back scarcely requires consideration.

[Illustration: FIGURE 1

VIEW OF THE EAST WINDOW OF THE PINAKOTHEKE SHOWING ITS RELATION TO THE
EAST ANTA OF THE PORT