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Pagina 1
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)as Tu
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Stylobate and Roof in the Olympieion at Akragas
In: American Journal of Archaeology, 84 - 1980
DIS
De 359 - 372
DELL,
"N
Dass Les [GatcodoLig ber=
to
Pythagorica. — BELL M., Stytonale and roof in the Olympieian at Akragas
jinfluence pwihagoricienne]: cf. N° 6669.
ASA By 1990le
Amer can Tournel
B
FAP.
|
.
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> V/37T
Ben. M. Stylobate and roof in the Olympieion at Akragas : AJA LXXXIV
1980 359- 372. | The numbers and proportions used in tie design of the temple
indicate Pythagorean influence and suggest that the temple should be associated with Theron, ruler of Akragas in 488- 472 B.C. Construction was pro[6569
bably begun prior to the battle of Himera in 180 B.C.
1642. BELL M., Stylobate and roof in the Olympieion at Akragas:
AJA 84 1980 359-372.
Les nombres et les proportions utilisés dans l'architecture de
l'Olympieion d’Agrigente témoignent d'une influence pythagoricienne.
Ces éléments impliquent en outre que le nom de Théron doit être associé
à l'édification de ce temple. On peut donc en fixer la construction entre
488 et 472, et probablement avant la bataille d’Himère en 480.
Pagina 2
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Jul., 1980), pp. 359-372
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/504712
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Pagina 3
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)Stylobate
Roof
in
the
Olympieion at Akragas
MALCOLM BELL
(Pl. 47)
Tutto in quel tempio e degno di studio; perche
tutto ha il suo perche,e saldissimoperche.
N. Palmeri, I832.
Abstract
The Temple of Zeus at Akragas is poorly preserved and imperfectly known. This article offers an
analysis of its dimensions and of the principles
which might have determined the anomalous arrangement of the columns. Suggestions are made
for the interior plan and for the roofing of the structure, which probably included an hypaethral section
in the center. Pythagorean beliefs and number theories may have influenced the shaping of this unusual
temple.
Among Doric temples the Olympieion of Akragas stands apart.1 Anomalous in scale and architectural form, the building seems intended to set forth
a radical solution to the problem of Doric design.
In size it was the largest temple in Sicily and the
largest ever attempted anywhere in the Doric order. The strange design (ill. i) transforms the anticipated peristyle into a perimeter wall, creating
interior spaces of unprecedented vastness. The order is treated with great freedom, with regard both
to its structure and to the inclusion of non-Doric
elements, some Ionic in origin and others unique.
The temple bore the only major pedimental sculptures in Sicily, now almost entirely lost, and it incorporated into its design a series of colossal male
1 I am indebted to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a fellowship which enabled me to study the Olympieion
in I976, and to Prof. Ernesto De Miro, Soprintendente alle
Antichita di Agrigento, for his kind assistanceduring my visits
to Agrigento. I also wish to thank Frank E. Brown, John F.
Kenfield, Daniel T. Devereux, and Pamille Berg, who read and
criticized a draft of this paper; and Erik Thorkildsen, who
drew the plans and diagrams which appearin ills. I, 2, 4 and 7.
2
J.. Winckelmann, Anmerkungen iiber die Baukunst der
alten Tempel zu Girgenti in Sicilien (1759), in Saimtliche
Werke, vol. II (repr. I825 ed., Osnabriick I965) 312-26.
3 This pamphlet tradition combines varying portions of erudition, observation,and eloquence. It has also made several significant contributions to our understanding of the temple. The
most prolific of the early writers was Raffaele Politi; others
include L. Klenze, G. Lo Presti, N. Palmeri (a quotation from
figures, or Atlantes, which for more than a century
have provoked debate as to their function and
meaning.
Modern interest in the Olympieion begins in the
eighteenth century, when Diodoros' description of
the temple challenged the imagination of Winckelmann.2 His observationsremain perceptive, despite
the fact that he had no first-handknowledge of the
building. Haphazard excavation was commenced
shortly after i800, bringing to light the first of the
Atlantes and stimulating the appearanceof numerous pamphlets by local antiquarians and enthusiasts of the antique.3 Although the temple also attracted English, German, and Italian scholars and
architects, it was not until the arrival of Koldewey
and Puchstein in I896 that study of the Olympieion
was based on close observation of the building and
extensive knowledge of the traditions of Greek architecture.4The plans and drawings of Koldewey
and Puchstein still offer after eighty years the most
accurate account of the temple. More recently new
evidence has been produced by the excavations of
Marconi, Cultrera and Ricci, although only those
of Marconi were ever published.5 Several specialized studies have also elucidated aspects of the
building, but as yet there has been no attempt to
whom begins this paper) and the Marchese Haus. The engineer D. Bentivegna first suggested that the Atlantes support
the architrave in every intercolumniation (in Memoria sulla
precisa collocazione dei giganti nel tempio di Giove Olimpico
[Girgenti I875]); he did so some twenty years before Koldewey and Puchstein arrived independently at the same conclusion. A recent addition to this literature is A. Prado, II tempio
di Zeus in Agrigento (Agrigento I973). Prado publishes plans
of the 1940 excavations of G. Ricci.
4 R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, Die
griechischen Tempel in
Unteritalien und Sicilien (Berlin I899) I53-66, and pl. 23.
5 P. Marconi, "I telamoni dell'Olimpieion agrigentino," BdA
(1926-27) 33-45; "Studi agrigentini, l'Olimpieion," RivlstArch
I (1929)
I85-231;
Agrigento, topografia ed arte (Florence
1929) 57-66; "Novitd nell'Olimpieion di Agrigento," Dedalo x2
(1932) I65-73. For the excavationsof G. Ricci, see infra n. 24.
Pagina 4
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Pagina 5
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)build on the evidence produced by the excavations
of this century.6
Although several recent works on Greek architecture have expressed interest in the design of the
Olympieion, there have been few attempts to account for the remarkable extent of its divergences
from Doric norms.7 One effort at this sort of exegesis was made forty years ago by H. Drerup, who
saw in the temple a reflection of the architectural
traditions of the ancient Near East, consciously
adopted by the Greeks of Akragas after their victory over the Carthaginians in 480.8The Punic architecture of Carthage was then to be regarded as
an intermediary. Although Drerup attempted to
account for some of the unusual features of the
temple, which was also placed in an historical context, his views have proved difficult to accept because of the absence of similar buildings in Punic
sites of North Africa or even of buildings with similar details.9
The disastrous condition of the Olympieion,
which is owed as much to human depredations as
to the workings of nature, has always been a major obstacle to study. Because of the temple's ruinous state there are still many gaps in our understanding of its original appearance. We are,
moreover, still very much in the dark about the
more general ideas and intentions of the architect
and builder, which find such remarkable expression in the building. Consideration of two aspects
of the temple's design-the dimensions of the
stylobate and the nature of the interior spacesmay help to explain at least some of its unusual features and also to suggest ways of approaching the
larger problems of its originality.
F. Krischen, "Das Olympieion von Akragas," AA 1942,
P. Griffo, "Sulla collocazione dei telamoni nel tempio
di Giove Olimpico in Agrigento," Quaderni di Archeologia,
= "Recenti ipotesi ricostruttive del
Arte, e Storia 2 (1952)
tempio di Giove Olimpico in Agrigento," Atti VII. Congresso
Nazionale per la Storia dell'Architettura(I956) 229-38; E. De
Miro, "Nuovo frammento di Telamone dal tempio di Zeus in
Agrigento e nuova ipotesi ricostruttiva,"CronCatania8 (I969)
6
I-I9;
47-52.
7 W.B. Dinsmoor, "The Basis of Greek Temple Design: Asia
Minor, Greece, Italy," Acts of the Seventh International Congress of Classical Archaeology I (Rome 1961) 355-68;
V. Scully, The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods (New Haven
1962) 142-44; F.E. Winter, "Tradition and Innovation in Doric
Design I: Western Greek Temples," AJA 80 (1976) 143-45;
J.J. Coulton, Ancient Greek Architects at Work (Ithaca 1977)
82-85.
8 H. Drerup, "Der Tempel des Zeus Olympios in Akragas,"
Bericht iiber den VI. InternationalenKongress fu'r Archiologie,
361
THE STYLOBATE
The first task is to determine the length of the
foot used by the architect.The Olympieion belongs
to the small group of Greek buildings whose dimensions were recorded by an ancient writer. In
his brief but valuable description Diodoros tells us
that the temple measured 340 feet in length, i60 in
width, and 120 in height.10If Diodoros' figures are
compared with the metric stylobate dimensions
recorded by Koldewey and Puchstein (W: 52.85
m., L: IIo.oo m.), we find that two slightly different feet result for the width and length (W: 0.3303
m., L: 0.3235m.), indicating that Diodoros' figures
are not exact and may have been rounded off."
Yet these two "feet" are close enough to one another to suggest that the actual foot length was
about 0.32-0.33m. Indeed the use of such a foot
would not be surprising, for the normal Doric foot
in the fifth century B.C. has a length of ca. 0.326
m.12 Using this foot, the width of 52.85 m. would
become I62.II6 F, and the length of iio.oo m.
would equal 337.423 F. These dimensions depend
of course on the accuracy of the modern measurements. They can be checked by working from the
length of the interaxial spaces (the distance between the axes of the engaged columns), which is
almost the same throughout the temple (ill. i).
The width and length of the stylobate equal the
sum of the interaxials on ends and flanks, with the
addition of two half-columns representing the extension of the stylobate beyond the axes of the corner columns (W - 6 I + i col.; L = 13 I + I
col.).13 The intended interaxial was evidently 25 F
(or 8.i5 m.), and the column diameter was half
Berlin 1939 (Berlin 1940) 379-87.
9 It seems unlikely that a Greek architect of the early
5th
century would have used barbarianmodels, even under the circumstances suggested by Drerup. This apparently did happen
in the 4th century, at Selinus-where there was a strong Punic
element in the population; see D. White, AJA 71 (I967) 341-52.
10 Diod. 13.82.1-5. Diodoros gives the width as sixty feet; the
emendation to I60 is owed to Winckelmann (supra n. 2).
11 I have used the measurements recorded by R. Koldewey
and 0. Puchstein (hereafterK-P). Dinsmoor's figures, except for
width and length, are derived from averages,in W.B. Dinsmoor,
The Architectureof Ancient Greece (London 1950) 338.
12 W.B. Dinsmoor,
(supra n. 7) 359-60. Henceforth the abbreviation F will be used for measurementsin Greek feet.
13 The abbreviationI will be using hereafterto refer to interaxial spaces. Although the columns of the Olympieion are in
fact engaged half-columns, they are centered on the stylobate
and are treated by the architectas if they were normal columns.
Pagina 6
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)this figure (I2.5 F or 4.075 m). The width of the
stylobate is therefore 25 X 6 + I2.5 = 162.5F; the
length is 25 X 13 + 12.5 337.5 F. These dimensions correspond closely to the figures in feet derived from division of Koldewey and Puchstein's
metric width and length by a foot of 0.326 m.
(162.116 F and 337.423F).
If the dimensions of 162.5 by 337.5 F are correct,
and the temple was accurately laid out in the manner suggested above, then its total metric dimensions ought to be 52.975 m. (I62.5 X 0.326 m.; as
against 52.85 Koldewey and Puchstein, 52.74 Dinsmoor) by 110.025 m. (337.5 X 0.326; as against
II0.00 m. Koldewey and Puchstein, 110.095 Dinsmoor). The slight differences can be explained as
the result of errors either in the modern metric
measurements or in the laying out of the temple. It
should be noted that accurate stylobate dimensions
are today very difficult to obtain because of the
ruinous state of the temple; for example, the width
of the stylobate must be calculated on the east end,
where neither corner is preserved.Projection of the
flanks is therefore necessary, and there is strong
probability that the metric dimensions are not entirely accurate.14
A similar procedure in planning the relationship
of interaxials to stylobate had been followed a generation earlier, in the laying out of the temple of
Athena at Poseidonia.15 There the desired total
flank measurement of Ioo F consists of 12 interaxials of 8 F, with the addition of 4 F corresponding to two column halves. But the similarity of the
temple of Athena to the Olympieion lies not only
in the way the interaxials of constant length were
placed on the stylobate, but also in the fact that
stylobate dimensions were themselves predetermined and fixed.
In the Olympieion the primacy of stylobate dimensions over other factors is demonstrated by the
disparity between the ideal interaxial of 25 F (8.I5
m.) and the slightly different interaxials on ends
and flanks, as recorded by Koldewey and Puchstein
(average on east: 8.071; on south: 8.I2I). The difference in end and flank interaxials is explained by
14 As is in fact
suggested by the differences in Dinsmoor's
and K-P's figures for length and width; the largest difference
(o.II m.) is in the width.
15 For the dimensions of the temple of Athena at Poseidonia,
F. Krauss, Die Tempel von Paestum I, Der Athenatempel (Berlin
1959)
13-19.
16I have used a base diameter of I3V1 F (4.40I m.); Dins-
[AJA 84
the necessity of accounting for the bases of the
corner columns, which could not overlap the stylobate and consequently required that the axes of
their columns be set back.16Moreover, the bases
were themselves set back slightly from the edge of
the stylobate (ill. 2). The total amount of this setting back was then divided between the interaxials of ends and flanks, producing in consequence slightly wider spaces on the flanks, where
there were more interaxials to absorb the adjustment, and smaller ones on the ends. 11. 2 depicts an ideal interaxial. Assuming first that the
column bases had a diameter of I3.5 F (or. 4.401
m.), which allows for an extension of 2 F around
the column, and then that the bases were set back
another /4F, a total of i 2 F had to be subtracted
from the interaxials of ends and flanks. This
amounts to 0.0815 m (or precisely /4 F) per interaxial on the ends, and 0.0376 (not quite ?8 F, or
on the flanks, or interaxials of 8.o685 m.
0.04075)
on the ends and 8.1124 m. on the flanks. These
adjusted interaxials are in general agreement with
the average interaxials recorded by Koldewey and
Puchstein
(8.071 m. and 8.I2I
m.).17 It is necessary again to emphasize the difficulty of obtaining accurate measurements.
It is possible that there were further adjustments
in the corner flank interaxials, as is suggested by
Koldewey and Puchstein's slightly smaller measurements on the south (first interaxial: 7.99 m.,
second: 7.98 m.). If these figures are accurate,there
may have been slight angle contraction, with the
corner interaxials reduced by about /2 F to 24/2 F
(from 8.I5 to 7.987m.). Yet there is reason to question the significance of the short interaxials recorded by Koldewey and Puchstein. The first two
interaxials are still covered by tons of debris and
their measurements could only have been made
from the centers of the interior pilasters. The
amount of contraction is also quite insufficient,and
there is, moreover, no contraction on the east end.
The presence of angle contraction on the south
flank therefore seems doubtful.
It is interesting to note that a similar situation
moor assumes a base of ca. 4.30 m. On this and related questions, see the appended note on ills. i and 2.
17 The
average interaxialsare here calculated by dividing the
total interaxial measurements(the distances between the axes of
the corner columns) by the number of interaxials on the ends
and flanks, or 6 and I3.
Pagina 7
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Pagina 8
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)was faced by the architect of the temple of Athena
at Poseidonia, who also had to make small adjustments in the interaxials because of a fixed stylobate dimension (there the length of oo00
F). The
baseless Doric columns were set back ca. 0.04 m.
from the edge of the stylobate, and consequently
ca. o.o8 m. had to be subtractedfrom the total axial
measurement of the flank. The flank interaxials
therefore have a length of 7 15/16 F, rather than
the planned 8 F. On the ends, where a fixed dimension was not a consideration, an amount equivalent to the margin (14 F) was then added to the
width of the stylobate, and so-on the east end, at
any rate-the interaxials approximate 8 F.18
Why could not an amount corresponding to the
thickness of the column bases and their setback
have been added to the length and width of the
stylobate, thereby avoiding the necessity of making
small adjustments to the interaxials? And, if we
accept the presence of angle contraction on the
flanks, why then could not the stylobate have been
reduced by the proper amount, again avoiding
adjustments? Such procedures were not followed
in the Olympieion simply because the architect desired above all to preserve the dimensions of the
stylobate, as expressed in a width of 162.5 F and a
length of 337.5 F. In his comments on the Olympieion, W.B. Dinsmoor noted that, according to
the dimensions recorded by Diodoros (i60 by 340),
the periphery of the stylobate measured in toto
oo000F.19 But the actual periphery was, according
to Dinsmoor, only 994/2 F, a figure which resulted
from his proposed foot length of 0.32712 m.20As a
consequence of using the slightly smaller-and better documented-foot
of 0.326 m., the periphery of
the stylobate returns in its total length to the resounding figure of iooo F. (337.5 + I62.5 + 337.5
+ 162.5 - I000). This agreement with the total
dimensions of Diodoros seems both to confirm the
foot of 0.326 m. and to suggest that Diodoros' figures, while rounded off, still produce accuratelythe
18 For the dimensions of the
Temple of Athena, see Krauss
(supra n. I5). For a different explanation of the stylobate of
this temple, J.J. Coulton, BSA 69 (I974) 8i (using Dinsmoor's
figures). Despite the obvious differences, the Temple of Athena
has many similarities with the Olympieion; interest in number
is combined with great freedom in the handling of the order.
See also infra n. 51.
19 Dinsmoor (supra n. 7) 36I.
20 Dinsmoor derived this foot from a
hypothetical normal
[AJA 84
larger number which was a major factor in the
planning of the temple.
It may be that in the early planning stages the
architect began with the dimensions recorded by
Diodoros. With a width of i60 F and a length of
340 F the temple would have the desired periphery
of iooo F, and its ends and flanks would be related
in the ratio of 8:I7. Yet it was still necessary to
place columns on the stylobate. The architect apparently had clear ideas about these as well, for the
number of columns on ends and flanks (7 by 14)
was to be related in the ratio of i :2. Small changes
had to be made if these were to be fitted on the
hypothetical stylobate proportioned I60 by 340.
Working with interaxials of 25 F and 7 by 14 columns, the total interaxial measurements came to
50o by 325 F; to these figures had to be added the
width of one column, the diameter of which in relation to the interaxial was determined by the same
ratio that had governed the number of columns on
ends and flanks. The columns therefore had a diameter of 21/2 F, which, added to the total interaxial figures, gave a width 2? F greater than i60,
and a length 212 F smaller than 340-and, still, a
total peripheral dimension of oo000F. The ratio of
width to length was now I3:27. The problem of
fitting the columns with their broad bases on the
stylobate required small adjustments, as apparently
did the angle contraction on the flanks, but these
were made in the interaxials and not in the overall
dimensions of the stylobate, which were not altered.
If this account of the stylobate dimensions of the
Olympieion is correct, then there is no reason to
assume, as has been done, that the building's length
was derived from temple GT at Selinus, and the
width calculated therefrom.21The fact that the two
buildings have almost the same length is coincidental, for in both the length was determined by
internal considerations. The dimensions of the
Olympieion begin with the decision to build a
great temple to Zeus with a peripheral measureflank interaxial of 8.I80 m. = 25 F. The dimensions of the
stylobate would then be simply the sum of a sequence of interaxials of slightly varying size. This hypothesis does not account
for the difference between the "normal"flank interaxial and the
smaller interaxials on the ends. In the present study it is assumed that stylobate proportions determined the length of the
interaxials, rather than vice versa.
21Coulton (supra n. i8) 71.
Pagina 9
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)ment of Iooo F. The architect'schoice of this number is probably significant, as are the stylobate
proportions of I3:27. Reasons for the use of such
numbers will be suggested in the conclusion.
THE CENTRAL SPACE
Our evidence for the interior of the Olympieion
(ill. i) is even more unsatisfactory than for the
exterior. The rows of piers which divided the
building into three long spaces were constructed of
relatively small blocks, as were the intervening
screen walls and the two cross walls, and consequently it was the interior that suffered most when
the temple was used as a quarry in the eighteenth
century and earlier. Only three piers are preserved
above the interior floor level (south pier I, north i
and 12), although others can be traced at varying
foundation levels. There are no known blocks
which can be assigned either to the pilasters which
formed the outer sides of the piers, or to the massive piers themselves; and so very little can be said
about the parts of these supports which would interest us most, namely their capitals and entablature.
Despite the paucity of evidence, it is still possible
to come to an understanding of the interior arrangement of the Olympieion which is accurate in
its general outlines. The most important evidence
was recovered in the excavations of P. Marconi and
G. Ricci. In 1926 Marconi found numerous fragments of terracottaroof tiles in the south hall, including several pieces which belong to kalypteres
(ill. 3).22 The presence of such tiles, which were
intended to run along the summit of a pitched
roof, within the south hall indicates that this part
of the building had such a roof with two slopes,
and these can only have run east-west-that is,
along the long axis of the temple. A similar roof
over the north hall can be assumed. These huge
roofed halls (ill. 4) must then be the spaces which
Diodoros calls cr-oatand which in their size and
height greatly impressed him.23The inner slopes of
22
. Marconi, "Studi agrigentini
II," RivlstArch
i
(1929)
220-24.
23Diod. 13.82.4. Marconi considered this solution but rejected it.
24G. Ricci, Le Arti 3 (1940-4I)
135-36; H. Fuhrmann, AA
1941, 687-88; P. Griffo, "Ultimi scavi e scoperte in Agrigento,"
Quaderni di Archeologia, Arte, Storia 3 (1946) I8-I9; A. Prado,
II tempio di Zeus in Agrigento (Agrigento I973) 20, fig. 5
ILL. 3. Olympieionat Akragas,terracottakalypter.
(Drawn by R. Carta)
the roofs then must have been inclined towards the
central space of the temple, and so it is hard to
avoid the conclusion that this space was from the
start intended to be open to the sky.
The proof, if it be needed, for an open court was
found by Ricci in the important war-time excavations of i940, which unfortunately have never been
published.24Concentrated in the eastern sector of
the temple (ill. I), the excavations laid bare the
foundations of piers I-3 in the north and south
rows and pier 4 in the north row, and also revealed
for the first time the foundations of the pronaos
wall between the second pair of piers.25A second
important discovery was made at the time, the significance of which has not been appreciated. Piers
S 2 and S 3 (pl. 47, figs. I-2) were revealed to
be hollow, with rectangular shafts extending deep
into their foundations.26 The shaft in S 2 is at
least as deep as the tenth foundation course,
while that in S 3 is present in the uppermost surviving foundation course immediately below the
ancient floor level, and extends down at least nine
courses. The bottoms of both shafts are today
covered by debris and so their full depths cannot
be ascertained. The foundation courses are 2 F
in height (ca. 0.63-0.65 m.), and thus the depth
of both shafts below the ancient floor level is more
than 20 F, or six meters. Both shafts are rectangular, measuring 1.95 by 2.60 m. (6 by 8 F, thus
(the only published plan of the I940 excavation).
25 The piers have been numbered beginning at the east: N 2
indicates the second pier in the northern row. Of the piers
excavated in I940, only S I and N I are preserved above floor
level; S 3 survives to the uppermost foundation course, while
S 2 and N 2 and 3 are reduced to the lowest foundation levels.
N 3 and 4 have been covered over again.
26 Griffo (supra n.
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10
20
30
40 M
ILL.4. Olympieionat Akragas,roofingdiagram
proportioned 3:4), and they are so placed within
the piers as to leave a thicker wall on the sides
which face the south hall (pl. 47, fig. 2). The
inner surfaces of both shafts are covered with a
layer of hydraulic cement, 0.025 m. in thickness.2
27 Griffo
28 Winter
(supra n. 24) I9.
(supra n. 7) I44.
29 One of the piers above the interior floor level may have
housed a wooden stair, giving access to the roofs; so Ricci,
This cement is an unmistakable sign of the function of the two shafts: they were cisterns, and the
water that filled them must have come both from
the runoff of the inner slope of the roof over the
south hall and from the hypaethralcourt.
The massive piers extend into the central space
much more than into the two halls, and it has recently been argued that they were therefore intended to carry a roof at pediment level.28Yet the
shafts in piers S 2 and S 3 must have been carried
through to the tops of their respective piers, and it
seems unlikely that hollow supports of this sort
could have been used to sustain such a high roof.29
(supra n. 24) 136; the other shaft must then have been open
to the roof, serving to channel rainwater into the cistern. In
this case the two cisterns may have been connected by a passage
at their lowest level.
Pagina 11
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)terfered fatally with the runoff of the hall roofs.
The presence of cisterns within two internal piers
thus precludes a roof over the central space of the
temple. The Olympieion evidently belongs among
those temples of Zeus identified by Vitruvius as
being hypaethral (De arch. 1.2.5, 3.2.8).
Cisterns are normally filled by the runoff of a
roof or of an exposed paved area at ground level,
and the presence of cisterns within a building indicates that there must have been an opening in its
roof, in the form of a central court or compluvium.
Cisterns are not therefore normally found in peristyle temples, and I know of no parallel among
Doric temples for the cisterns in the Olympieion.
As far as I know, cisterns do not occur in hypaethral temples, where they might be expected. In
both the archaic and later temples at Didyma,
drains were provided to carry off any water that
fell in the central court.30The arrangements in the
archaic Artemision at Ephesos, presumed to have
been hypaethral, are evidently not known.31
An interesting parallel for the Olympieion is
found in the Capitolium of the Roman Republican
colony of Cosa.32This podium temple in the Italic
tradition was built towards the middle of the second century B.C. Under the porch is a large cistern,
I
0
I
10
I
20
1
30
1
40 M
ILL.7. Archaictemple of Artemisat Ephesos,
roofing diagram.(After A. Bammer)
Moreover, the thicker walls on the outer sides of
the piers correspond to the pilasters of the south
hall, which, as is shown by Marconi's kalypteres,
did carry a roof. An even greater objection to a
roof over the central space is raised by these lateral
roofs. Marconi's tiles show that they had two
slopes, and the cisterns reveal what became of the
rain that fell on their inner surfaces. Another
pitched roof over the central space would have in-
30 T.
Wiegand, Didyma I, H. Knackfuss, Die Baubeschreibung (Berlin I94I) 54, pl. 105, I49 (later temple); I2Ib
(earlier temple). See also B. Kehr, "Zur Geschichte des Apollonheiligtums von Didyma," MarbWinckProg I97I-72, 56.
31 Not discussedin A. Bammer, Die Architekturdes jiingeren
Artemision von Ephesos (Wiesbaden I972). Temple GT at
Selinus was hypaethral and cisterns may well have been used
there in the generation preceding the planning of the Olympieion. Orsi believed that the Athenaion at Syracuse was
hypaethral; although he has not been followed in this, the circumstancewhich led him to such a conclusion remains problematical: a large drain runs away from the north side of the temple,
connecting with a N-S channel which emerges from the third
foundation course below the euthynteria. If the drain continues
into the temple at a right angle to the flank, as it appearsto do,
it must come from the area of the cella. Below the pronaos of
the Athenaion are two open rooms, formed by N-S foundation
walls; these spaces give no evidence of ever having served any
specific function, and they were certainly not cisterns. Yet the
existence of open spaces beneath the pronaos suggests at least
the possibility that there might be others beneath the cella, and
the drain raises the possibility that these might have been cisterns. The source of the water which left the temple via this
drain is indeed mysterious, and Orsi's proposed hypaethralcella
offers a solution to the problem; on the drain, P. Orsi, MonAnt
25 (1918) 380-go, figs. 15-16; on the rooms beneath the pronaos, P. Orsi, NSc 1910, 537-38, pls. A, B.
32 F.E. Brown, in Cosa II (MAAR 26, I960) 59-65, figs.
75. I am indebted to Prof. Brown for the elevation and section
which appear in ills. 5-6.
Pagina 12
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)which can only have been filled by rainwater falling from a compluvium in the roof above (ills.
5-6). Frank E. Brown's reconstruction of the
wooden roof of the Capitolium gives us a valuable
parallel for the roof at Akragas. Despite the differences in size and function of the openings, the
smaller pitched roofs which flank the compluvium
at Cosa are quite similar to the roofs here proposed
for the two halls of the Olympieion. At Cosa the
main roof is placed at the level of the exterior
gables, as would be expected, and this was probably
also the case at Akragas (ill. 4).
Central ridge-poles will then have extended from
the apex of the pediments as far as the two crosswalls (ill. i) which define the pronaos and adyton
(or opisthodomos, as it may be), and there will
have been internal "pediments," perhaps of wood,
above these walls. A lower roof over pronaos and
adyton, at the level of the roofs of the two long
halls, seems unlikely, for then the east and west
pediments would have had no more function than
a Baroque church facade, rising high above the
roof behind. A solution which places a high
pitched roof over pronaos and adyton, and lower
pitched roofs on the flanks, is similar to the roofing
system proposed by A. Bammer for the first Artemision (ills. 4, 7).33
The hypaethral court must have served as a great
light-well for the illumination of the two flanking
halls. The walls which connect the piers are not so
thick as their counterparts between the columns
and so must not have been as high; rather, these
were screen walls which terminated at a certain
height in order to let light into the two halls. They
are analogous to the exterior screen walls of temple
F at Selinus. As for windows in the exterior intercolumnar walls, enough of the fallen sections of
this wall remains together at the second column of
the south flank to prove that exterior windows
never existed.34
The presence of elements of the Ionic order in
the Olympieion has long been known.35 The engaged columns of the exterior are set on high
33 Bammer (supra n. 31) 13, fig. 8; see also G. Gruben, "Das
archaische Didymaion," Idl 78 (1963) 151, fig. 37 (hipped
roof on ends).
34 I intend to deal with the problems of the elevation of the
Olympieion in a later and more extended study.
35 F. Krischen, "Das Olympieion von Akragas," AA I942,
I-i9; Winter (supra n. 7) I45. The freedom with which Ionic
[AJA 84
bases, decorated with narrow mouldings; Ionic
mouldings were used in the elevation; and the use
of Atlantes as a supporting device is evidently derived from the caryatids of Ionic origin. The great
size of the Olympieion and its high, stepped platform are also eastern features, and it seems possible
that even the pilaster order of the south and north
halls is derived from some source in Asia Minor,
perhaps the archaic Didymaion.36Not least among
the Ionic elements of the Sicilian temple is the
hypaethral court, which must have been suggested
to the architect by the colossi at Ephesos and
Didyma.
AN INTERPRETATION
Although the Ionic features of the Olympieion
can be interpreted as an appropriate response to
the decision to build a very large temple, they explain neither that decision nor the essential strangeness of the building which resulted from it. One
approach to these questions is suggested by the
numbers and proportions which were used in the
temple's design. Although an interest in number
would hardly be surprising in an architect of the
early fifth century, here it is a question of the particular numbers and proportions which were used.
Three areas seem especially significant: the total
peripheral dimension of the stylobate, the number
of columns chosen for the ends and flanks, and the
ratio of width to length in the stylobate. In each
case the numbers or ratios appear to have significance in Pythagorean numerology.
The size of the Olympieion on the stylobate was
evidently determined by the total dimension of
Iooo F, and we have seen that the architect preferred to make small adjustments in the interaxials
rather than adopt the easier solution of altering the
width and length of the stylobate. The number
Iooo is the cube of io, which as is well known was
the most meaningful of numbers for Pythagoras
and his disciples. Ten is the sum of the first four
digits, which form the components of the most important intervals of the musical scale: the octave
features are combined with the Doric in the Olympieion suggests a deliberate improvement on-even criticism of-Temple
GT at Selinus, where the purely Doric solution seems, even
today, clumsy and inappropriatein a temple of such large scale
-however daring the conception may be.
36G. Gruben (supra n. 33) 172.
Pagina 13
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)the fifth 3:2, and the fourth 3:4. The number
369
columns on ends and flanks in the unique proportion of seven to fourteen, but the proportion of
column diameter to interaxial is in the same ratio
io was symbolized by the tetraktys, the equilateral
triangle formed of ten dots arranged in four rows.
The Pythagoreioi called this "the source and stem of i :2. The number of columns seems particularly
of ever-flowing nature," and on it they swore curious; the choice of seven columns for the ends
oaths.37The tetraktys embodied all numbers, but required that there be a central column, rather than
its basic elements were three and ten. The number a void, something carefully avoided in normal
Iooo, ten to the third power, may be understood as Doric design. Although a number of contemporary
deriving from the tetraktys, and the temple may or slightly earlier temples have peristyles with six
then be seen as a physical embodiment of the by twelve columns, none has seven by fourteen.
sacred symbol, generated from the number ten.
Other measurements based on the major intervals
The number Iooo also appears to have had sym- of the scale are found elsewhere in the building.42
bolic value. In Pythagorean doctrine about metemA third possible appearance of Pythagorean
psychosis each cycle of incarnation was believed to number theory is found in the ratio of width to
last a fixed number of years or seasons, which were length in the stylobate, I6212:337/2 or 13:27. Both
often calculated as exponential multiples of ten. 13 and 27 have symbolic meaning in the musical
Thus Empedokles, who was Akragas' greatest son, theory of the fifth century Pythagorean Philolaos.43
declared that the soul returns to a new body after In his calculations of the smaller intervals of the
Io,ooo years.38Plato later described cycles of Iooo diatonic scale, 27 representedthe whole tone and 13
years.39It is generally assumed that Plato drew on represented the diesis, or smaller semitone.44 It
Pythagorean sources but it has not been deter- would therefore seem that the ratio of width to
mined whether his thousand year cycle was an ar- length in the Olympieion consists of those numticle of belief in the fifth century.40Although the bers which signified for Philolaos the tone and
stylobate dimension of iooo F in the Olympieion semitone, the basic units of the scale-just as the
probably was not derived from doctrine about total dimensions appear to have been generated
metempsychosis, the number itself evidently was from the number io, which symbolized, among
other things, the major musical intervals.45
significant in Pythagorean thought.
A second possible manifestation of Pythagorean
The occurrence of significant numbers and prooccurs
in
the
in
the
of
the
use,
numerology
design
portions in the Olympieion raises the question of
of
based
on
the
octave.
This
whether the religious consciousness which shaped
temple,
proportions
was "the most beautiful of the (musical) intervals the temple's remarkable interior may not also have
and the best of ratios."41Not only are the engaged had a Pythagorean orientation. The followers of
37 On the tetraktys,A. Delatte, Etudes sur la litteraturepythagoricienne (Paris 1915) 249-68; W. Burkert, Lore and Science
in Ancient Pythagoreanism,trans. Edwin L. Minar, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass. 1972) 72, n. 120.
38 H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die
Fragmente der Vorsokratiker
I (Berlin 1951) Empedokles II5.
39 Plat., Rep. 615a, Phaedrus 249a. In (Iamblichos) Theologoumena Arithmeticae (ed. de Falco) 52.1off., the cycle of
incarnation consists instead of 216 years; 216 is the cube of 6,
as oo000is the cube of o0.
40 See A.E. Taylor, Plato, the Man and his Work (Cleveland
and New York 1956) 308, n. i; R. Hackforth, Plato's Phaedrus
43 Burkert (supra n. 37) 389, 399-400.
44 Twenty-seven is the difference between the interval of the
whole tone 243:216 (9.8 = 243:216). Thirteen is the difference
between the interval 256:243; this is the remainder when two
whole tones are subtractedfrom a fourth: (4:3):(9:8):(9:8) =
256:243. This is the Xei7rov of Plato, Tim. 36a-b, called the
diesis by the Pythagoreans.The theory of Philolaos is discussed
by Burkert (supra n. 37). According to Plutarch, De an. procr.
I4.ioi9a, it is with the numbers 13 and 27 that "the mathematicians measure clearly the melodic intervals, calling one the
diesis, the other the tone."
45 It is interesting to note that the
significance of the ratio
(Cambridge 1952) 83, n. I; W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of
13:27 lies not in the ratio itself but in the symbolic value of its
Greek Philosophy II (Cambridge i965) 253.
components. In this respect "Pythagoreandesign theory" differs
41 Ptol., Harm. (ed.
from usual Greek practice, in which simple ratios of small
During) II.21-22 . . . TrV re avcuowe'or KacXXITTr)KaLripv Xoywv o 87rXdaotos whole numbers play a more important role. The
viv Xj 8&a7raTTCv
proportions
apto'ros.
of the Olympieion are derived from a symbolic harmony,
42 Even the blocks of the exterior wall measure 2 by
whereas those of the Parthenon (W:L= 4:9) are based more
4 feet;
other intervals are found in the elevation, as that of the sima on a harmony of perception-even if
22:32 = 4:9. The Olymand geison (3:2). No other temple has a peristyle of 7 by 14
pieion also belongs to the tradition of designing with sacred
columns. The proportionsof the Temple of Poseidon in Plato's measurements, as exemplified in the o00 foot
temples of the
Atlantis are 1:2 (Kritias II6c).
archaic period. See also infra n. 51.
Pagina 14
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)Pythagoras did not ignore the traditional gods; the
philosopher himself was identified with Apollo,
and to the question, "What is most just?," his
disciple replied, "to sacrifice."46In Pythagorean
cosmological thought Zeus was associated with
the fire which burned at the center of the universe. This central place was referred to allusively
oras died after a battle between Syracusans and
Akragantines, when he refused to retreat across a
field of beans.53Pythagoras' death in Metapontion
in southern Italy is better attested and Hermippos'
account is rightly identified as a piece of antiPythagorean ridicule.54 There is no evidence to
suggest that the philosopher ever visited Akragas,
as the vkaK '/ Ato',47 Zavos 7rvpyo0S, povos Atos48 or even Sicily. In Iamblichos' list of famous Pyand oLKoAto0s:49Guardhouse, Tower, Throne, and thagoreans the only Akragantine is Empedokles,
House of Zeus. Could it be that one or more of who was born in the 470s and came to maturity
these images, which are concrete and strikingly ar- after the building of the Olympieion.55 Yet Emchitectural, lies behind the strange form of the pedokles was strongly influenced by Pythagoras,
Olympieion, that the temple should be seen as a whose ideas are likely to have been current in
symbolic representation of Zeus' seat at the center Akragas at least as early as the youth of the
of the universe? The light-filled court at the center younger philosopher.
of the temple, an appropriate focus for the cult of
The best evidence for knowledge of PythagoZeus as a celestial god, could also have been reanism in Akragas in the first quarter of the cenplanned as a place for a central fire or hearth.50 tury is found in a literary work written by a poet
Unfortunately we have no literary or archaeologi- from the Greek homeland. The second Olympian
cal evidence to explain the function of the interior Ode of Pindar was composed for Theron, ruler of
spaces, so such hypotheses cannot be tested. Yet the Akragas, to commemorate his chariot victory in the
interior of the temple is unique in the sacred archi- games of 476. To celebrate the
victory Pindar came
tecture of the classical period. Given the possibility to Akragas. In the
unusually personal second
of a Pythagorean contribution to the planning of Olympian, Pindar describes the
dynast's expectathe building, speculation about the function and tion of an exalted existence after death,
promised
meaning of the interior spaces, and about the form by his achievements, high position and virtue. Pinof the building as a whole, seems justified.51
dar alludes to metempsychosis, a judgment in the
To what extent are Pythagorean ideas likely to underworld, and the attainment of an heroic exhave circulated in Akragas in the early fifth cen- istence after death. Pindar
hardly needs to invoke
tury? The sources which associate Pythagoras him- the name of Pythagoras to remind us that such
self with the city are all late and of little value. beliefs form the core of
Pythagorean doctrine about
Although Iamblichos includes Akragas among the the survival of the soul.
cities which the philosopher is supposed to have set
free, such an event is otherwise unattested and diffi- Truly wealth patterned with prowess
cult to reconcile with historical tradition.52 The Brings the moment for this or for that,
Hellenistic writer Hermippos claimed that Pythag- If it rouses deep ambition to range afar,
46 On the identification of
Pythagoras with Apollo, see Burkert (supra n. 37) 141-46; Iamblichos, De Vita Pyth. I44 (the
commandment "first honor the gods .. .").
47 Aristotle, De caelo 293b.I-II; also
Aristotle, frag. 204
(Simplicius, in De caelo 5II.25).
48 Aristotle, frag. 204.
49 Diels and Kranz (supra n. 38) 44 A I6, where other terms
including "altar," "hearth" and "meeting point" are used. In
Plato, Kritias I2Ic, Zeus assembles the gods in the center of
the universe.
50 See Burkert (supra n. 37) 350, n. 64. I take Empedokles,
frag. I42, to refer to the oikos Dios literally. With its plan derived from significant numbers, the Olympieion might also be
called a IAETrpov
fvaews (Diels and Kranz, A 44 I6). The Atlantes of the Olympieion may also have a symbolic meaning; in
Theologoumena Arith., 80.5, 82.5, the number ten was identified "by the Pythagorikoi" with both Atlas and Ananke. In
Hesiod, Theog. 517-19, Zeus punishes Atlas with his Ananke,
requiring the rebellious Titan to uphold the sky forever. The
Atlantes of the temple should be viewed in such terms, not as
symbols of the defeated Carthaginiansafter Himera.
51 Pythagorean number theory has been proposed for the
Temple of Athena at Poseidonia by R.R. Holloway, "Architettura sacra e matematica pitagorica a Paestum," ParPass 21
(1966) 60-64.
52 Iamblichos, De vita Pyth. 20.I.
5 Diog. Laert., Pythagoras 40, 45; also schol. Plato, Rep.
6oob. The battle fought in 476 between Syracusansand Akragantines (Diod. II.53.4-5), won by the former, might be considered a possible candidate for this event, but the participation
of the aged philosopher seems most improbable.
54 Aristotle, frag. I9I; Aristoxenos,
frag. x8.
55 Iamblichos, De vita Pyth.
Pagina 15
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)A transcendentstar,the truestlight for a man.
-If any man has it, and knows what shallcome,That of thosewho die here
The lawlesssoulsat once pay penalty,
And sins done in this kingdomof Zeus
Are judgedby one below earth
With harshinexorabledoom.
nor does he refer specificallyto the Olympieion.58
W.B. Dinsmoorarguedthat the dateof the temple
should be pushed back to ca. 5Io B.C., on the
groundsof the absenceof appreciableangle contractionand his own assumptionthat the Olympieion was an immediateresponseto the building
of Temple GT at Selinus, which is dated about
of the Olym525.59 In light of the interpretation
But in nightslike oursfor ever,
which
has
been
offered
neither of
pieion
here,
With a like sun in theirdays,
these
seems
Morevalid.60
arguments
particularly
The good win a life withoutlabor,
in
B.C.
had
been
in
existence
over,
for
51o
Akragas
Nor bracetheirhandsto troubleearth
and
could
have
sustained
only
seventy
years
hardly
Or the sea'swaterfor an emptylivelihood.
the constructionof such a large and costlyedifice.
Besidethe most honoredof Gods
Yet Dinsmoor'sassertionthat the Olympieion
Those who delightedto keep theirword
was
begunbeforethe battleof Himeraseemsto me
Passunweepingdays;the others
to
be
correct.Becauseof the late archaicsculptural
Supporta burdennot to be lookedupon.
styleof the Atlantesand the profilesof the capitals,
All who have enduredthreetimes
which point togetherto the late 470s,thereis every
In a sojournin eitherworld,
reasonto believe that the Olympieionwas begun
To keep their soulsutterlycleanof wrong,
well beforeTheron'sdeathin 472.61His rule over
Go by God'sroadto the Tower of Kronos,
Akragas is usually assumed to have been estabWherethe Airs, daughtersof Ocean,
lished in 488, but he is alreadymentionedwith a
Blow roundthe Islandof the Blest,
certainawe in the sixth Pythianof Pindar,written
And the flowersare of gold....
for his brotherXenokratesin 490.62Although a
OL. II, 52-74, trans. Bowra
date for the beginningof work after 480 remains
These beliefsare not so much the poet'sown as possible,an earlierstartduring the decade490-480
his patron's.Pindar "turnsinto high poetryThe- seems to me to be more probable.Sufficienttime
ron'sown views, and he is able to do this because would then be allowedfor the planningphasesand
he must to some extent have absorbedthem into for constructionup to the level of the capitalsat
his imaginativeconsciousness.Theron must have aboutthe time of Theron'sdeath.In this view the
instructed Pindar on his own esoteric beliefs."56 Carthaginianwork force will have contributedto
Theron was given heroic honors after his death; the completionof a building project already in
his tomb was of extraordinary size, as would befit progress.
The apparentPythagoreanelementsof the Olyma man who was believed to have become a god.57
Theron ruled Akragas from 488 until his death pieion suggestthat the templeshouldbe associated
in 472. The building of the Olympieion is generally with Theron himself,ratherthan with the victory
thought to have commenced only after the great over the Carthaginians.The dynast must have
victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480, known of the great buildingsbegun by such auin which Theron played a decisive role, but there tocraticrulersas Polykratesof Samosand the Peiis no conclusive evidence to support this view. A sistratidsin Athens, and so on his accessionto
passage in Diodoros indicates that the city's largest power a project of comparablescale may have
buildings were constructed by Carthaginian pris- seemedfitting to him. The storyof Theron'sseizoners captured at Himera, but Diodoros says noth- ing of poweris in fact associatedwith the
building
ing about the inception of work on such buildings, contractwhich he held for a templeto Athena,and
56 M.
Bowra, Pindar (Oxford 1964) I2I. See also U. Wilamowitz von Moellendorff, Pindaros (Berlin 1922) 243.
57 Diod. 11.53.2, 13.86.2.
58 Diod.
11.25; see also Winter (supra n. 7) 143.
59 Dinsmoor (supra n. i ) Io .
Angle contraction is (largely) ignored because of the primacy of stylobate dimensions; the similarity of the two build60
ings is limited to their length and, as has been suggested above,
this is coincidental.
61 Dinsmoor
(supra n. i ) IoI, n. I.
62 Pindar,
Pyth. 6.46. The beginning of Theron's reign is
assigned to 488, as Diodoros states that he ruled sixteen years
and
died
Pagina 16
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)there is much other evidence for his interest in
embellishing Akragas.63The Olympieion was the
most ambitious of these undertakings. It would
demonstrate not only the magnificence of his reign,
but the harmony of nature perceived in number.
It stood as a microcosm, an offering to Zeus who
was perceived as the embodiment of the order of
the cosmos. For the Olympieion, Theron chose an
architect of great imaginative power, who was, like
Pindar, in sympathy with his religious ideas. These
then evidently became the determining influence
on the building's form.
[AJA 84
ros and blocks of which still survive with their relief
sculptures)then it may have been carriedby a central
pier, substitutingfor the thickerwall at the east. I can
offer two observationsin support of this hypothesis:
the positioningof the wall in relationto the two piers
which it joins to north and south producesthe same
setback as that of the E-W screen walls (ca. 2.0 m.), so
that the projectionof the supposedcentral pier from
the crosswall would agreewith that of the other piers;
and an analogouscentralpilasterappearsat the short
ends of the north and south halls. The west crosswall
has never been fully uncovered;excavationwould no
doubt produce more evidence than is available at
present.
Illustration2 illustratesan ideal interaxial,without
DEPARTMENT OF ART
adjustments.No interaxialor column is sufficiently
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
well preservedto make a completemeasureddrawing
VIRGINIA
possible,and so this one is a composite,basedon measCHARLOTTESVILLE,
22903
urementstaken in many places.
Several details require comment: I) The columns
A NOTE ON ILLS. I AND 2
(diam: 4.075 m. or I212 F) are centeredon the styloAny plan of the Olympieionmust be in good part bate, which has a width of 4.564 m. or 14 F. A 4
hypothetical.The plan which appears here as ill. i foot margin results,with the column base accounting
assumes original stylobate dimensions of 337/2 by for V1 F and the setbackof the base for the remaining
can be made only at E 2,
4 F. These measurements
I62?1 feet, as described above; and a foot unit of
0.326 m. The interaxialis slightly less than 25 feet. which has the only surviving column block in situ,
Doors are placed in the outermost intercolumnar and where the column base is in fair condition.The
spaces of the east facade; the presenceof the inter- base setback is preserved at N 7. 2) A vertical framing
columnar wall in the four central spaces (preserved channel between column and intercolumnarwall alonly in interaxialsE 2-3 and 3-4) eliminatesthe possi- lows the centralflutes in the column axis to be fully
bility of doors there, as has long been known.64Simi- carved,or almost so. The outer surface of the interlar doors may once have existed in the same positions columnar wall does not, therefore,extend up to the
at the west end, which is now totally destroyed.Steps edge of the columns; instead, the shadow-producing
must once have been cut into the raisedstylobateplat- channels interrupt it, giving the columns a greater
form at the doors, both on the exteriorand interior; sense of plasticity, perhaps even giving the impresthe upper surfaceof the stylobateis so much higher sion that they were in the round. This channelis prethan the top step on the exterior (I.IO m.) and the served only at E 3-4, and has not, to my knowledge,
paving blocks on the interior (ca. 0.80 m.) that such been previously discussed. 3) The thickness of the
steps were necessary.They do not survive at E I-2 intercolumnarwall is 1.630 m. or 5 F, as measuredat
E 2-3 and 3-4. Only in the latteris the outer surfaceof
and are not indicatedon the plan.
The two N-S cross walls which delimit the hy- the wall preserved,and there only in one small place.
paethralcentralspaceat eastand west are shown in the The wall extends /4 F beyondthe axis of the columns;
plan in somewhathypotheticalform. The locationand the normal base setbackof ? F was here reducedto
thicknessof the walls is establishedby the surviving /4 F. The thickeningof the wall beyond the axes of
foundations (thickness: east, ca. 1.95 m.; west, ca. the columns is undoubtedlyowed to the difficultyof
1.35 m.). The east wall is much thickerthan the E-W supportingthe architrave;it would have been masked,
screenwalls running betweenthe piers,and so, unlike to some extent,by the framingchannels.4) The pilasthem, must have been a bearing wall, supportingthe ters are set back 2 F from the inner edge of the
internal"pediment"behind the east facade (cf. ill. 4). stylobateand thereforedo not coincide with the proAny proposalfor doors in this wall must remaincon- jectedcircumferenceof the columns,which would fall
jectural,for the foundationsare preservedno higher 3 F in from the stylobateedge. Flanking the pilasters
than six coursesbelow interior floor level. The west- at the points where they join the wall were framing
ern cross wall has the same thickness as the screen channels,analogousto those on the exteriorbut shalwall between the piers. If there was also an internal lower. Pilastersand basesare relativelywell preserved
"pediment"here (there can be no doubt about the at S 13 and E 2-4, and dimensionshere are much more
externalwest pediment,which is mentionedby Diodo- easily obtainedthan on the badly weatheredexterior.
63 Polyainos 6.5I; Diod. 11.25.2-5.
64 To facilitate reference to
specific surviving details, I have
numbered the columns of the temple: on the east, from south
to north; and on the flanks, from east to west. E 2-3 thus refers
to the second interaxial from the south on the east end.
Pagina 17
Bekijk in PDF(opent in een nieuw venster)BELL
.
FIG. i. Olympieion
.
PLATE
47
'
";
. *; ! :
at Akragas, piers S 3 and 2, from W
FIG.I. Olympieionat Akragas,piers S 3 and 2, frtlm W
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FIG. 2. Olympieion at Akragas, pier S 2, from W