Erechtheion
This article possibly contains original research. (December 2023) |
Erechtheum | |
---|---|
Ἐρέχθειον (in Greek) | |
General information | |
Type |
|
Architectural style | Ionic |
Location | Athens, Greece |
Current tenants | Museum |
Construction started | 421 BC[1] |
Completed | 406 BC;[1] (2430 years ago) |
Owner | Greek government |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | May have been Mnesikles |
The Erechtheion.
The Ionic building, made to house the statue of Athena Polias, has in modern scholarship been called the Erechtheion (the sanctuary of Erechtheus or Poseidon) in the belief that it encompassed two buildings mentioned by the Greek-Roman geographer Pausanias: the Temple of Athena Polias and the Erechtheion.[4] However, whether the Erechtheion referred to by Pausanias and other sources is indeed the Ionic temple or an entirely different building has become a point of contention in recent decades, with various scholars ruling out that Athena and Erechtheus were worshipped in a single building.[5] Alternative suggested locations of the true Erechtheion include the structures on the Acropolis conventionally identified as the Arrephorion, the Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, the Sanctuary of Pandion, and the Dörpfeld foundations.[6] However, while there is no consensus among scholars on this issue, the building continues to be referred to as the Erechtheion by convention.
In the official decrees the Ionic building is referred to as "... το͂ νεὸ το͂ ἐμ πόλει ἐν ο͂ι τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἄγαλμα" (the temple on the Acropolis within which is the ancient statue).[7] In other instances it is referred to as the Temple of the Polias.[8] The joint cult of Athena and Poseidon-Erechtheus appears to have been established on the Acropolis at a very early period, and they were even worshipped in the same temple as may, according to the traditional view, be inferred from two passages in Homer and also from later Greek texts.[9] The extant building is the successor of several temples and buildings on the site. Its precise date of construction is unknown; it has traditionally been thought to have been built from c. 421–406 BC, but more recent scholarship favours a date in the 430s, when it could have been part of the programme of works instigated by Pericles.[10]
The Erechtheion is unique in the corpus of
History
The classical Erechtheion is the last in a series of buildings approximately on the mid-north site of the
The building accounts for the classical Erechtheion from 409–404 BC have survived, allowing an unusually secure dating of the construction of the temple.
The names of the architect-overseers (episkopos), Philokles and Archilochos, have come down to us.
The subsequent history of the building has been one of damage, restoration and change of use, which complicates the task of reconstructing the original structure. The first recorded fire that the classical building suffered was perhaps 377–376,
In the post-classical period, the Erechtheion was subject to a number of structural changes that must be assumed to have been prompted by the building's adaptation to Christian worship. The first was its conversion to a pillared hall with a
Architecture
Externally, the temple is an
of Athena would have been.On the south wall of the western naos was an L-shaped staircase which leads to the higher Porch of the Maidens (or Caryatid Porch, or Korai Porch), a prostyle tetrastyle porch, or pteron, having six sculpted female figures as supports, all facing south and standing on a low wall. The only entrance to the Porch of the Maidens was the stairway from the interior of the naos. The western end is a double-height space, and at the second-storey level, the outside west facing wall has an engaged base moulding with four engaged columns topped by Ionic capitals. The spaces between these columns were of open grillwork. From the outside, the western facade would have had the appearance of having a floor at the same level as the eastern naos. The coffered roof of the north porch is continued at the Porch of the Maidens.
There is no wholly satisfactory account of the interior layout of the Erechtheion in antiquity since it has over time been entirely erased. The points of contention are whether and where there was an internal dividing wall, and whether the building had two storeys as suggested by Pausanias' description of it as a διπλοῦν... οἴκημα.[47] The conventional view of the reconstruction of the interior of the Erechtheion naos is that it was divided in two in imitation of the opisthodomos of the archaic temple of Athena Polias and that the altar of Athena was in the west half of the chamber and the altars of Erechtheus, Poseidon and Boutes in the other. Alternatively, that the Erechtheion was a replacement for the east cella of the archaic Temple of Athena and would have had an east cross wall.[48]
Sculpture
There are two figural sculptural programmes on the Erechtheion; the frieze and the korai of the Maiden porch. The entablature of the naos and north porch has a frieze of blue Eleusinian limestone that was decorated with white Pentelic marble figures attached by means of iron dowels. This "cameo-like" effect[49] of the contrasting stones was unique amongst Ionic temples and rare in any other applications.[50] Of the sculpted elements, 112 fragments of the frieze have survived, perhaps 80% of the figures. Attempts to match dowel hole to figure have not been successful,[51] and therefore the order of the figures and overall theme of frieze remains unclear. However, several attempts to identify individual scenes within the sequence of figures have been made. According to Pallat, the north porch had a chariot race with a quadriga on the west face and Athena catching the daughters of Kekrops opening the basket containing Erichthonios on the north and the birth of Ericthonios on the east.[52]
Other suggestions for aspects of the narrative of the frieze include the story of Ion,[53] the sacrifice of Erectheus' daughters to save Athens[54] and the departure of Erechtheus for the battle with Eumolpos.[55] Peter Schultz's recent reinterpretation of the standing god and goddesses on the east porch of the Nike Athena temple as the birth of Athena[56] invites comparison with the birth scene on the Parthenon pediment and has prompted the question of whether there is a tradition of birth scenes in Attic sculpture that was continued on the Erechtheion frieze.[57] As is typical of the Ionic style, there is no pediment sculpture on the Erechtheion.
There are several theories about the function and significance of the Maiden Porch.
Then there is the problem of the identity of the korai. In the building accounts they are referred to as korai or maidens. The lower arms of all the caryatids have been lost. In 1952 the discovery of copies from Tivoli revealed that the korai carried
The Erechtheion is a "remarkably luxurious" building in the detailing of its mouldings. of the ceilings. The capitals were gilded and the braidings at the column bases were studded with coloured glass.
Cult objects
The Erechtheion potentially served as a reliquary for an assortment of religious items rather than being dedicated to a single deity, as was usually the case.[citation needed] Ludwig Pallat posits that the Erechtheion is the expression of the autochthonic nature of Athenian identity. [69] J.H. Clements argues that the Erechtheion was built to house a diverse collection of religious objects, akin to a "'museum of curiosities' for the collections of religious objects",[70] and that it is problematic to draw an overall theme for the religious purpose of the temple.
The cults of the Erechtheion encompass the birth of Erichthonius from the soil of Attica; the tomb of Kekrops, mythical king and cult hero to the Athenians; and their relationship to the tutelary deities of the city. For many years, the accepted scholarly opinion has been that the Erechtheion fulfilled a triplicate purpose in its interior design: to "replace the Old Temple [of Athena], to house the old image, and to unite in an organized building several shrines and places of religious significance."[71]
The following may be the product of an attempted syncretism or merely a bricolage of relics accrued over time.[citation needed] On the east porch, immediately before the temple door, was an altar to Zeus Hypatos. Continuing inside in the eastern chamber of the naos would have been the altars to Poseidon and Erechtheus, Hephaistos and Boutes, and thrones of the temple priests.[72] It is here that Athena's peplos might have been displayed. In the western section, there may have been the tomb of Erechtheus, the xoanon of Athena Polias[73] and perhaps immediately before that a table. Additionally, this room housed the Lamp of Kallimachos,[74] a Hermes, the saltwater well and a collection of spoils from the Persian War.[75] To the north of this chamber was the north porch whose coffered ceiling was pierced supposedly as the entry point of one of Poseidon's thunderbolts; indentations below were thought to be the resulting trident marks.[76] The altar of Thyechoos stood over the trident marks.[77] Continuing outside was the sanctuary precinct, which may have contained the sacred olive tree, the snake pit, the Tomb of Kekrops and the Pandrosieon.[citation needed]
Scholarship and conservation
Travellers' accounts of the Erechtheion are relatively scarce before the 18th century, when relations between the Ottoman Empire and Europe began to improve and access to Greece was opened.[78] Moreover, the building north of the Parthenon was not identified with Pausanias' description of the Temple of Athena Polias until Spon and Wheler's account of the topography of the acropolis published in 1682.[79] Their use of ancient sources in the identification of ancient buildings rather than local folklore, as had been the case before, was innovative and presaged the beginning of scholarship with regard to the Erechtheion.
In this same spirit came the work of Richard Pococke, who published the first reconstruction of the temple in 1745[80] and who was the first to conjecture the existence of a larger, symmetrical building. Later, Stuart and Revett published the first accurate measured drawings of the Erechtheion in the second volume of their Antiquities of Athens in 1787. This book, perhaps more than any other, was influential in disseminating the Ionic style and the form of the Erechtheion amongst architects and an appreciative public in the 18th and 19th centuries.
For a record of the temple's condition prior to its destruction during the Greek War of Independence, there are the detailed drawings of William Gell.[81] Gell's period of study in 1800–1801 coincided with the activity of Lord Elgin, whose despoliation of the Maiden Porch was, at the time, more controversial than his removal of the Parthenon sculptures.[82]
In the post-revolutionary period, ambitious plans were drawn up to clear the Acropolis and build a royal palace for the newly installed Bavarian king. Although no such palace was built, the plateau was cleared of much of the post-classical accretions, which were thought to obscure the site, and left as a monument and archaeological site.
For the Erechtheion this meant the remnants of the Frankish North Addition, the Venetian vault in the North Porch, the Ottoman masonry structure in the angle of the westward projection of the North Porch and the West Façade, and the Frankish and Ottoman alterations of the interior were removed.[83] The first attempted reconstruction of the damaged building was Pittakis's in 1839–40. The second anastylosis was Nikolaos Balanos's in 1902–1909. Dissatisfaction with Balanos's haphazard placement of the ashlar blocks and his use of steel joints that caused additional damage led to the creation of the interdisciplinary Acropolis Restoration Service in 1975, whose conservation work is ongoing.[84]
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-1-57607-112-0. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- ^ Travlos, 1971, p. 213
- ^ Ancient Greek: Ναὸς τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τῆς Πολιάδος, Greek: Ναός της Αθηνάς Πολιάδος. An epithet it shares with the Old Temple of Athena.
- ^ Pausanias 1.26.5, Pseudo-Plutarch, Decem Oratorum Vitae 2.843e. LSJ s.v. Ἐρεχθεύς A.
- ^ See Kristian Jeppesen, Where Was the So-Called Erechtheion?, AJA, Vol. 83, No. 4 (Oct., 1979), pp. 381–394; Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, "Un oikèma appelé Érechtheion (Pausanias, I, 26, 5)", in P. Carlier and C. Lerouge-Cohen (ed.), Paysage et religion en Grèce antique. Mélanges offerts à Madeleine Jost, Paris, 2010, pp. 147–163.
- ^ van Rookhuijzen, J.Z. (2021). "The Erechtheion on the Acropolis of Athens". Kernos. 34: 69–121.
- ^ IG I3 474.1 https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/IGI3/474
- ^ Pausanias 1.27.1, Strabo IX 396
- ^ Iliad VII 80–81, Ody II 546–551
- ^ Not mentioned in Plutarch's list and the conventional date of the start of construction is after Perikles' death, however J.M Hurwitt, The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles 2004, p. 174 conjectures that the inception of the building dates to the 430s.
- ^ W. B. Dinsmoor, The Architecture of Ancient Greece, London. 1950
- ^ M. Korres "Recent Discoveries on the Acropolis," Acropolis Restoration: the CCAM Interventions, R. Economakis, ed., London and New York, pp. 175–179. 1994.
- ^ W. Dörpfeld, H. Schleif, Erechtheion, Berlin, 1942. See also Dinsmoor 1932, pp. 314–326, Elderkin 1912, pp. 53–58; Hawes, The Riddle of the Erechtheum.
- ^ Notably; Apollo Patroos
- ^ Temple of Roma and Augustus, Hadrian's villa Tivoli
- ^ Wilkins's Downing College, Inwood's St Pancras. Frank Salmon, The Erechtheion: An Overlooked Paradigm of the Greek Revival?, Cambridge, 2021, Accessed 17/10/2021
- ^ Leicester B. Holland, Erechtheum Papers IV. "The Building Called the Erechtheum", AJA, Vol. 28, No. 4, 1924, pp. 425-434
- ^ However, S. Iakovides, Ὴ Μυκηναικη Ἁκροπολις των Αθηνων, Athens, 1962, and J.A. Bundgaard, Parthenon and the Mycenaean City on the Heights, Copenhagen, 1976 questions this.
- ^ Hurwit 1999 p.74
- ^ Odys. 7.79-81
- ^ From Georg Kawerau, P. Kavvadis, Die Ausgrabung der Akropolis vom Jahre 1885 bis zum Jahre 1890, Athen, 1906.
- ^ Lesk p.33
- ^ A.K. Orlandos, Ή αρκιτεκτονικη των Παρθενωνος, 2 vols., Athens. 1977. See Lesk, p33.
- ^ Hurwit, 1999, p.145.
- ^ M. Korres, The History of the Acropolis Monuments, in Acropolis Restoration: the CCAM Interventions, R. Economakis, ed., London and New York, pp. 35-51, 1994.
- ^ Herodotus 8.55
- ^ Paton et al, 1927, Chapter IV collates the building accounts. See also Shimon Epstein, Attic Public Construction: Who Were The Builders?, Ancient Society Vol. 40 (2010), pp. 1-14.
- ^ Chandler stele IG I3 474
- ^ Dorpfeld, Der ursprünglichen Plan des Erechtheion." AM 29, pp.101-107, 1904.
- ^ A. Michaelis, "Die Zeit des Neubaus des Poliastempels in Athens." AM pp. 349- 366. 1889
- ^ Lesk p.65.
- ^ Hurwit, 1999, pp. 316, 322.
- ^ M. Vickers, "Persepolis, Vitruvius, and the Erechtheum Caryatids: The Iconography of Medism and Servitude." RA 1 1985, p.25. See Lesk p.66
- ^ Lesk p.70
- ^ IG I 474 I.3 and IG I3 476 II.2-4 respectively.
- ^ Dörpfeld, Zu den Bauwerken Athens: Erechtheion und alter Tempel." AM 36, pp. 39-49. 1911
- ^ Shear, 1999, p.82 n.58
- ^ Hawes, See Lesk p.71
- ^ Xenophon HG 1.6.1, Dinsmoor dates the fire to 377-376, The Burning of the Opisthodomus at Athens. AJA 36, pp. 143-172, 1932. However, Paton et al. 1927, pp. 459-463, dates it to 406.
- ^ Lesk p.198
- ^ Lesk, p.372
- ^ According, at least, to Spon's account of 1678. See Lesk p.439
- S2CID 239846299.
- ^ Ephem. Arch. 1839.
- ^ Lesk p.221.
- ^ A form of anta also found at the Propylaia, C.H. Weller, The Original Plan of the Erechtheum, American Journal of Archaeology, 1921, p.134.
- ^ 1.26.5. diploun...oikema, "the building is double" W.H.S. Jones, Pausanias, Harvard, 1918.
- ^ Lesk p.77
- ^ Rhodes p.134
- ^ Found on the metopes by Skopias 4th c temple of Athena Alea, Tegea, and bases of cult statues at Olympia and elsewhere. Harrison 1977, Lesk pp.119-120
- ^ Lesk, p.121
- ^ Pallat, 1935
- ^ M. Brouskari, The Acropolis Museum, Athens. 1974, pp.152-3.
- ^ Hurwit 1999, similar to the peoplos scene on the Parthenon?
- ^ C. Robert, Hermes 25, pp. 437-439. 1890.
- ^ P. Schultz, The Sculptural Program of the Temple of Athena Nike, Athens, 2003.
- ^ Lesk, p.127
- Pheidias. J.M. Paton et al, 1927, p.238.
- ^ Kontoleon 1949.
- ^ Scholl, A. 1995. "Choephoroi: Zur Deutung der Korenhalle des Erechtheion." JdI 110, pp. 179-212.
- ^ I. Shear, "Maidens in Greek Architecture. The Origin of the Caryatids." BCH 123, pp. 65-85. 1999. See Lesk, p.105
- ^ Hurwit 1999 p.115
- ^ Lesk, p.107.
- ^ Lesk p.107
- ^ Vitruvius De Architectura 1.1.5. See M. Vickers, "Persepolis, Vitruvius, and the Erechtheum Caryatids: The Iconography of Medism and Servitude." RA 1 1985 The conflation of the Erectheion korai with caryatids has been as persistent as it is problematic. See Lesk pp.262-280.
- ^ Hurwit, Acropolis in the age of Pericles, p.178
- ^ Berlin, Altes Museum (Antikensammlung) F 2537. Beazley ARP2 1268, 2. See also A. Avramidou, The Codrus Painter: Iconography and Reception of Athenian Vases in the Age of Pericles, 2011, pp.33-34.
- ^ Leonore L.M.E. Poldervaart, Identifying Myth: The korai of the Erechtheion revisited, Utrecht 2018, PhD Thesis,p.54, [1]
- ^ J.H. Clements, Visualizing Autochthony: The Iconography Of Athenian Identity In The Late Fifth Century Bc, Johns Hopkins University, 2015, PhD Thesis, page ii [2]
- ^ J.H. Clements, Visualizing Autochthony: The Iconography Of Athenian Identity In The Late Fifth Century Bc, Johns Hopkins University, 2015, PhD Thesis, page 140 [3]
- ^ A.W. Lawrence, Greek Architecture, 1996. p.138.
- ^ According to the reconstruction of Travlos. See Travlos p.218
- ^ "The ancient olive-wood statue is variously referred to as hagion, bretas, hedos, eidolon, xoanon and agalma. Diipetes means it fell from heaven to imply that it was very old" Lesk p.759
- ^ Possibly aligned with the niche at the southwest corner, see Olga Palagia, A Niche for Kallimachos' Lamp?, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 88, No. 4, 1984, pp. 515-521
- ^ Of the spoils, see D. Harris, The Treasures of the Parthenon and Erechetheion, Oxford, 1995, pp.201-222.
- ^ An alternative tradition claims that this was the point at which Zeus killed Erechtheus. J. Harrison, Themis, Cambridge, 1912, p.171.
- ^ Lesk, p.161.
- ^ The Erechtheion is not mentioned by Cyriac of Ancona or Niccolò da Martoni. The earliest reference is perhaps the so-called 'Vienna Anonymous' manuscript of the late 15th century, Imperial Library of Vienna (Codex theolog. Gr., 252, fol. 29-32). See Lesk p.427
- ^ G. Wheler, A Journey into Greece, London, 1682.
- ^ Pococke, The Temple of Erectheus at Athens, restored, 1745
- ^ His notebooks are preserved in the British Museum and British School at Athens.
- ^ Lesk p.603
- ^ Lesk p.660
- ^ Platon et al. 1977 [4]; Casanaki and Mallouchou, The Acropolis at Athens: Conservation, Restoration, and Research, 1975-1983, Athens. 1985; Papanikolaou, "The Restoration of the Erechtheion," in Acropolis Restoration: The CCAM Interventions, R. Economakis, ed., London, pp. 137-149. 1994.
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