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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 PORTICO]

If the last stretch of the zigzag road has been correctly determined,
the next stretch below must have reached from the Nike bastion to a
point below the pedestal of the monument to Agrippa. This pedestal, in
turn, affords important evidence confirming the theory that such was the
course of the road. The monument to Agrippa was erected in 27 B.C., that
is, before the Greek way was replaced by the Roman steps in the first
century A.D. (Judeich, _Topographie von Athen_, p. 199, note). Its
peculiar orientation has never been explained, but now, in view of the
preceding analysis, is easily explicable. From the bend in the road at
the base of the bastion, the equestrian statue, which surmounted the
high pedestal, was seen in exact profile. This is proved by a glance at
the plan (Fig. 4) in which the axis of the road and the N-S axis of the
pedestal converge at the base of the bastion. From the turn in the road
just below the pedestal, the inscription on its west face could be
easily read. But from the conjectured road which is drawn in Judeich,
_op. cit._, Plan II, it was impossible for a person to read easily the
inscription or see the equestrian group in exact profile. Thus it seems
beyond question that the pedestal of the monument was oriented with
reference to the ancient Greek roadway, the first clue to which is given
by the peculiar arrangement of the door and windows of the Pinakotheke.
The road thus determined possesses the signal advantage over the other
that it permitted an impressive view through the great portal and an
impressive approach to it from directly in front.

The simultaneous visibility of door and windows from the normal line of
approach is a hitherto unobserved feature of Periclean building which is
again happily illustrated in the closely contemporary Erechtheum. The
certain restoration by Stevens (_A. J. A._, 1906, Pl. 9) of the east
wall of this temple, shows that the door and windows were so placed as
to be simultaneously visible from points in the axis of the door (Fig.
7). At a distance of about 10 m. from the stylobate, the windows
appeared in the middle of the intercolumniations.[1] The level ground in
front of the facade made possible an approach from straight in front. In
order that the windows might be simultaneously visible, they were
crowded close to the door--a fact which probably compelled the architect
to use a bronze-plated door frame instead of a stone one such as he used
in the north door. The former permitted longer wall blocks between the
door and window than the latter would have allowed.

In the case of the Propylaea, the approach was by a zigzag road up a
steep grade. The last stretch of this road was oblique to the N-S axis
of the Pinakotheke. If the facade was to be viewed from that last
stretch of the zigzag road, an asymmetric arrangement of door and
windows was absolutely necessary. The windows and door had to be moved
to the right of their normal position. The east facade of the Erechtheum
and the Pinakotheke both illustrate the same law that door and windows
behind a colonnade shall be simultaneously visible from before the
colonnade. In the east facade of the Erechtheum, however, this law is
observed in a perfectly normal arrangement; in the Pinakotheke,
observance of the general law necessitated an abnormal arrangement of
the openings.

Yet an insurmountable difficulty in the way of complete observance of
the law lay in the necessity for considering the demands of two widely
separated points of view, one in the line of approach to the Propylaea,
the other within the portico. A glance at the plan of the Propylaea
(Fig. 4) shows that lines drawn from the axis of the straight roadway at
its lower end to the door jambs of the Pinakotheke cut two columns
unequally. The line to the left side of the door is tangent to one
column, the line to the right side cuts deeply into the other. If the
door had been placed with reference solely to the view from the last
stretch of the zigzag road, it ought to stand farther to the west. That
it does not so stand must be due to the fact that the architect sought
likewise to provide for the view of the observer who approached the
Pinakotheke from behind the hexastyle. It is necessary to emphasize the
fact that the passage back of the hexastyle was the normal means of
access to the Pinakotheke. The position of the east window in the middle
of its wall space would be quickly, if unconsciously felt by the
observer, with the result that the asymmetry of the wall as a whole
would not be noticed. Had the normal access to the wing been from
directly in front, between the first and second columns (counting from
the east), the fact that the windows were not equidistant from the door
would have been readily recognized, but, as it is, the observer who
entered the portico in the regular way at the east end saw directly in
front of him a wall space pierced by a centrally placed window. If the
door had been placed farther west, this advantage would have been lost.

If the zigzag approach we have indicated be correct, it follows that the
Pinakotheke was designed also for an observer who stood at the beginning
of the straight road through the portal, where it would have produced a
unified effect with the general structure.

[Illustration: FIGURE 2

THE PINAKOTHEKE AS SEEN FROM THE BASE OF THE NIKE BASTION. AT LEFT, THE