Yale University, School of

Vitruvius and the Origins of the Orders: Sacrifice and Taboo in Greek Architectural Myth Author(s): George L. Hersey Source: Perspecta, Vol. 23 (1987), pp. 66-77 Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567108 . Accessed: 29/09/2013 10:04

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This content downloaded from 147.251.68.32 on Sun, 29 Sep 2013 10:04:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Vitruviusand the Origins of the Orders: Sacrificeand Taboo in Greek Architectural Myth

GeorgeL. Hersey

WhenVitruvius' myths are analyzed, the origins of the Doric and Ionic orders im-

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partgruesome lessons. They are tales of betrayal,

enslavement,

invasion,

colonialism,

thoughalso of marriageand

procreation.

But eventhe Corinthian order, the outcome of thatprocreation,

memorializesan unwonteddeath ....

The rows of columnsin Greek temples,these 'rhythms'of punishedor exalted ancestors,are figuresfrom a sacred dance or march,figures that hold aloftthe witnesses of sacrifice.

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THE ORIGINS OF THE ORDERS1 The Roman architecturalwriter was esteemedby Renaissance architects, who rightlyhonored his treatiseas the onlysuch book to survivefrom antiquity. But his reputationhas diminishedin thepast one hundredyears or so as thetrue nature of Greekand Roman buildinghas graduallybecome evident.It has been shownthat he had a distortedview of his subject.He ignoredimportant buildings of his own time (the firstcentury A.D.) and incorrectlydescribed Greek buildingshe had apparently not seen. His knowledgeof the now-lost Greek architectural treatises that he quotes or paraphrasesseems secondhand, and his own languageis oftenconfusing. These chargesare well-founded.Yet the factremains that Vitruvius possessed an advantagethat we lack: he was steepedin an architecturalsensibility that vanished two thousandyears ago. For all his narrownessand bias he had at least seen buildings and books, and had encounteredarchitectural ideas, about whichwe know onlywhat he has related.So, in spiteof his faultyGreek and pretensionsto highculture, it be- hooves us to pay attention.Specifically, let us closelyanalyze his mythologyof the orders,about whose originshe tells fivestories that deal with racial or nationalbe- trayal,colonization, and individualdeath.

THE OF Thefirst tale in Vitruvius' text is thatof the caryatids (i.z). Inthe strictest sense car- yatidsare not one of the three basic orders, but without question the tale of their ori- ginis part of Vitruvius' scheme. He saysthat caryatids were invented during a Persian invasionof the Peloponnesus-either thatof 490o or that of 480 B.C.' Duringthese in-

LouisDuc, Doric restoration, The Colosseum,Rome, I829. LouisDuc, Ionic capital restoration, The Colosseum,Rome, 1829.

LouisDuc, Corinthian capital restoration, CharlesPercier, P.F. L. Fontaine,Villa Albani, c.179o, aedicula. TheColosseum, Rome, I82.g. vasions manysmaller Greek statesallied themselveswith the Persians.The town of Caryae, in northernLaconia, was one such. Afterthe Persianswere defeatedand drivenaway, all Greeceturned against the traitor-town: "[It] was capturedand all themenfolk killed. The marriedwomen were led offin cap- tivity,nor werethey allowed to removethe clothingand ornamentthat showed them to be marriedwomen. They were led throughthe citynot in the mannerof a tri- umphalprocession held on a particularoccasion but ratherwere displayedas perma- nentexamples sustaining a weightof punishmentfor their heavy sins beforethe city. Thus thearchitects of that time designed for public buildings figures of matrons placed to carryheavy burdens; in orderthat the punishment of the sin ofthe Caryaean women mightbe knownto posterityand historicallyrecorded."

Erechtheion,, Caryatid, detail. In otherwords, the matronswere set intoa multiplepillory that made themlook like piersor .

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But before to this text let us notice the associationsof the word I. turningfully Someof the ideas in this article appeared, in "Caryatid,"which means simply "inhabitant (or child)of Caryae," as theyrefer to the preliminaryform, in my "The Classical Orders ofArchitecture as Totems in Vitruvian Myth," Spartantown of Kapial. Therethere was a famoustemple of whose priestesses Umanesimoa Roma nel quattrocento (Romeand New York, I984), p. 213ff. or femaleworshippers were called KapudlSeq. The focus of the ceremonieswas an 2.. outdoor statue of the goddess. An annual round-dancecalled the caryatawas per- Herodotus I.I83. formedby the young people.3Kapui--lq was also, naturallyenough, an epithetfor Artemis 3- herself.4 PratinasLyricus, Artemiswas a sternand sometimescruel goddess who in earlytimes demanded Fragmentalyrica, ed.T. Bergk,p. 4. humansacrifices.s Later on surrogatevictims were offered. For example,in Spartaand 4. elsewherevirgin girls offered her goats.6One of the most famousimages of Artemis, 8. thestatue in theVilla Albani,shows her as thereceiver of lamb-victims. The philologi- 3.xo.7, 5. cal sourcesand etymologicalorigins for Artemis' name have to do withbutchery, mur- AdolfClaus, der,and A or, evenmore, the of a criminal a scaf- De Dianaeantiquissima apud Graecos natura, hanging. publichanging display bon diss.(Breslau: 1881), p. 36.Friedrich Schwenn, fold,are punishmentsanalogous to thatof the Caryaeanmatrons. "DerKrieg in der griechischen Religion," Archivfir Religionswissenschaft, The caryatisdance is describedin detailby Lucian as a fightingdance, performed 19zz,p. z2; PaulStengel, Diegriechische Kultusaltertimer beforebattles, in whichat theclimax the dancers raise their hands as theyline up rowby (Munich,1898), pp. 3, 133;Walter Burkert, row in battle The neatlines of dancers therows in which GreekReligion formations.7 caryatis predict (Cambridge:1985), p. 151ff. caryatidsare so oftendisplayed. (Rows of columnsin Greek are rhythms.) u0p1a,1 6. That the women in Vitruvius'tale are punishedby beingmade to dance theirnative WalterBurkert, HomoNecans: Interpretationen altgriechischer Opfer- war dance would certainlybe an appropriateirony.' ritenand Mythen (Berlin,1972), p. 77. As to the dancers'raised arms,a fragmentfrom the playwrightLyncaeus shows 7. thatthese could be interpretedas supportingweight. A characterin theplay, Eucrates, Lucian, De saltatione, p. Io.

8. CorpusInscriptionum Graecarum, P. 1444.

9. Lycaeus, Frag.6.241d.

IO. Roscher, Lexikon, s.v.,citing Homer, Iliad, 7.308; Plato, D. Magnan,Villa Albani, 1775, aedicula with statue of Artemis. Kratyl., scoffsat some people who are partying ina roomwhose ceiling is collapsing.He says 406b. II. to them:"You eat with your right hands but with your left you have to holdup the Roscher, ceilinglike the caryatids."' The dance's raised arm gesture, in other words, was here Lexikon, s.v. "Artemis," sect. (573 adaptedto support a roof just as theCaryaean matrons do inVitruvius' story. xo ft.). Butthe connection between Caryatids and Artemis goes deeper than this. Ac- cordingto Roscher'sLexikon the common noun cpeprjlq means religious chastity.'o Certainlythe main stories about Artemis-her untouchability andthe taboo against so muchas lookingupon her, which was Actaeon's downfall-reinforce thisidea. When Greekwomen married they often sacrificed a lock of hair to Artemis ina riteknown as the to wardoff her at theirrenunciation of Thismatri- npo eiela, anger virginity." monialtheme is recalled in Vitruvius' account. It is only the married women of Caryae whowere punished, which seems to implysome special culpability. This may have beenlinked to theirProteleia vows. In sum,the associational aura of the word "car- yatid"is verydifferent inGreek (or Latin) from what it is inEnglish.

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THE PERSIAN PORTICO Thethemes ofGreek victories over Persians, and of sacrifice, appear again in Vitruvius' etiologyofthe orders. In the sentence immediately following histale of the Caryaean womenhe records that when, in this same invasion, Spartan troops under a general namedPausanias conquered aninfinitely larger Persian force, as a "trophyofvictory totheir descendants" they built a portico:

"Therethey placed statues of their captives in barbaric dress-punishing theirpride withdeserved insults-to support the roof, that their enemies might quake, fearing the workingsofsuch bravery, and that their fellow citizens, looking upon a patternof manhood,might by such glory be roused and prepared for the defense of freedom. Therefrom many have set up Persian statues to support andtheir orna- I 2. Vitruvius1.1.6. ments.This motive has supplied for their works some striking variations.""2 SeePausanias 3.xII.3. Thisis essentially a retelling ofthe Caryaean tale with the substitution ofPersian men forGreek women. So the'Persids' are mates, of sorts, for the Caryatids, but trophies too.And there isno hint of Artemis, though she was one of the chief inciters ofGreek 13. Aristophanes, patriotismduring the Persian invasions."3 Lysistrata Thetwo stories have more in common than their structure. First of all both the I2.48 ff. Artemis-worshippingwomenof Caryae and the captors of the Persians are Spartans. Bothtypes of portico were invented tocommemorate victories and both use costume, decoration,and weaponry toidentify thepunished groups. Above all, both stories tell howacts hostile to the Greeks were punished bythe invention ofnew types of .

THE DORIC AND IONIC ORDERS InBook 4.I wediscover that the columnar commemorations ofPersian defeat belong to a mucholder tradition ofcolumn invention. Vitruvius here describes the origin of theDoric order. This, he says, was invented by Dorus, son of Hellen and the nymph I4. Herodotus1.56; Phthia,who ruled Achaea and the Peloponnesus." Dorus represented a race of con- DiodorusSiculus 4.37.58 ff. querorsand ruled one of four basic subdivisions ofthe Greek population (the others beingthe Aeolians, the Ionians, and the Achaeans). Under his descendants more and moreof the Peloponnesus was taken over. dates the final Dorian conquest to abouteighty years after the Trojan War, that is, during the late twelfth or early eleventhcentury B.C. Thebeginnings ofthis hegemony are marked by the invention ofa newtype of column.The first temple with the new columns was built by Dorus in Argos and dedi- catedto Juno. Later on, says Vitruvius, other temples, imitating Dorus' original, were constructedthroughout thecities of Achaea. The column was named after its inventor: "Afterwardsthe Athenians, in accordance with the responses of Apollo, and by the generalconsent of all Greece,founded thirteen colonies in Asia at one time. They ap- pointedchiefs in the several colonies, and gave the supreme authority toIon, the son Templeof Zeus, Agrigentum, restoration of ofXuthus and Creusa (whom Apollo, in his responses at Delphi,had declared to be the withtelamones. order, hisson). He ledthe colonies into Asia and seized the territory ofCaria. There he es- tablishedthe large cities of Ephesus, Miletus, Myus [etc.]. These cities drove out the Cariansand Leleges and named that region of earth Ionia from their leader Ion, and establishingthere sanctuaries of the immortal gods, they began to buildtemples in

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This content downloaded from 147.251.68.32 on Sun, 29 Sep 2013 10:04:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Leopoldvon Klenze, New Hermitage, Leningrad, 1840-50, portico with atlantes.

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15. them. to establisheda based on those had AtMycale there was a Pan-Ioniumdedicated to First, Pan-IonianApollo"s they temple they Apollo. knownin Achaia. Then theycalled it Doric because theyhad firstseen it builtin that Corpusinscriptionum atticarum, III.I175. For Apollo and Artemis as navi(vloq, style.When theywished to place thecolumns in thattemple, not havingtheir propor- "all-Ionian,"Herodotus I.I48, Roscher, "Panionios,"col. 1535. tions,and seekingby what methodthey could make themfit to bear weight,and in theirappearance to have an approvedgrace, they measured a man'sfootstep and ap- plied it to his height.Finding that the footwas the sixthpart of the heightin a man, theyapplied this proportion to thecolumn So theDoric columnbegan to furnish 16. .... " Vitruvius4.1.5, 6. theproportion of a man'sbody, its strength and grace." In otherwords Vitruvius is sayingthat the Doric templesdesigned by Dorus him- self,in the Peloponnesus,were not proportionedafter men, but thatthose erected by Ion in Ionia were.It was thissecond typeof Doric thatbecame definitive. That Caria, a mountainousregion in what is now southwesternTurkey, should have almostthe same name as theSpartan town where, centuries later, caryatids were to be invented,is a coincidenceworth considering-especially since these Asian Car- I7. Lewisand Short, ians, like the Caryatidmatrons, were notorious for their treachery." The coincidence OxfordLatin Dictionary, is also ironicin thatApollo and Artemisare not onlybrother and sisterbut, in certain s.v."Caria," quote as a proverb:"Quid? de tota Carianonne hoc vestra voce vulgatum est, si ways,male and femaleaspects of thesame In Caria theywere the objects of quidcum periculo experiri velis, in Care id pot- divinity."8 issimumesse faciendum." special cults," and Artemishad a famous shrine at Mylasa. Callimachus' hymnto her 18. describesit: Roscher, "Artemis,"col. 582 ff.,ibid. "Apollon," "Once on thebanks of Ephesus the Amazon warriorserected your image at thefoot of col. 440 ff. a beech-tree.Hippo [theirqueen] celebratedthe rites and, O Queen Oupis [a name for ig. Artemis, unknown],the Amazons theirarmed the sword- Roscher, meaning performed dance, Lexikon, dance, around the statue,and then formedtheir choir in a circle.The s.v."Artemis." great sharp, astringentmusic of the syrinxsustained their feet as theystamped on the earthin unison; . . . the echo resoundedas far as Sardis,and to the countryof Berecynthe [Phrygia].Their feet stamped with stirring noise and theirquivers danced."

The poet thengoes on to describethe sanctuary. But what interests us is thedance, for it is clearlythe caryatis or somevariant. It is morewarlike than Lucian's version, for here the dancerswear weapons. These Ionian honorswere appropriate,for, like Apollo, ZO. Forthe Athenian colony at Miletussee Roscher, Artemiswas a divinityof colonization,20 and indeed Vitruviussays the firsttemple "Artemis,"col. 574. builtin Ionia, which was alsothe first of all Ionictemples, was dedicated to her (4.1.7). But above all Vitruvius'account twice makes new columns,invented to marknew Dorian conquests,into personifications.Indeed he adds that Greek Doric columns have no flutes(4.I.7; an error:he is thinkingof Roman Doric) but ratherhave plain undecoratedshafts like naked Dorian warriors.Moreover, he uses theword "entasis" to describethe slightoutward curvature in the silhouetteof the Doric shaft 2I. (3.3.I3), and which means "tension,straining, exertion" of the human body.21 Hippocrates, Evaolq, Both Epidemiae, 3.1. the Achaian and the Ionian Doric, however,personified conquerors rather than pris- oners,and theIonian Doric actuallypossessed in a sensethe form and proportionsof those conquerors. The Dorians fulfillthe nextstep in Vitruvius'design with the inventionof their second order,the Ionic. The proportionsof the column were modeled on thebodies of theirwomen. So Ionic columnshave 'caryatid'proportions in two senses: theyare metaphorsfor women'sbodies, and the women in question inhabitCaria-not the Spartanone but theAsian one.

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RichardMorris Hunt, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 19oz2, Corinthian capitals.

Gordon,Tracy and Swartwout,Connecticut Savings Bank, New Haven,1906, Ioniccapital. Thereis a third'caryatid' aspect to Ioniccolumns: Vitruvius adds that Ionic col- umnsresembled not only the physiques but the characteristic dress and ornamentof thecaptured women. The shaftsare fluted in imitation of the women's pleated chitons, and thecurled volutes of their capitals are liketheir rolled hair. Finally, the fact that theDoric and Ionic orders in theaccount originate in conjunctionwith each other, as it were,reflects here earlier pairing of the women of Caryae and the Persian invaders.

THE CORINTHIAN ORDER The lastmyth Vitruvius tells about the origins of the orders puts the final element in hispattern. It dealswith the Corinthian capital. The storygoes that Callimachus, an architect,one dayspotted the tomb of a Corinthiangirl who had diedjust before her marriage.The girl'snurse had decoratedthe tomb with a basketcontaining the young woman'sprized collection of goblets, and on topof the basket had laid a tileto keep thegoblets in place. Accordingto Vitruvius,with time, an acanthusplant grew up fromthe base of thebasket, its tendrilscurling toward the tile. Callimachus trans- formedthe little tableau into the Corinthian capital. He usedit with details that were eitheroriginal to it (4-1-9)or borrowedfrom the Doric and Ionicorders (4.1.1). So 22. thenew order had thegenes of both parents." Like the Doric, Caryatid, and Persian Forthe acanthus, or bearsfootas it is called,see columns,the Corinthian is a memorialto thedead. HelmutBaumann, Die GriechischePflanzenwelt inMythos, Kunst und Thereis a sortof plot to Vitruvius' five tales. The first three types of column mark Literatur, (Munich,1982), p. 169ff. Greekvictories, the expulsionof Easterninvaders, and thenthe establishmentof Greekcolonies in the East. The appearanceof the Ionic is a turningpoint. It marksthe endof the period of war and, with its linking of male and female, suggests a marriage, one thatin factresults in a Corinthiandaughter. This daughter,like all theother orders,possesses a specifichuman physique or costume: Vitruvius says it has the phys- ique ofa younggirl whichsuggests not only that it is thedaughter of Doric (4.I.9), and Ionicbut a personificationofthe original Corinthian maiden. Furthermore, her deathbefore marriage-of which Vitruvius makes a point-preventsnew offspring. Thatis, in termsof the five myths, the girl's death prevents the birth of new types of 2.3? column.The patternof the tales is complete." Vitruviusdoes not discuss the Composite order Anothercommon thread that unites the five tales is thetheme of sacrifice. The (Corinthiancapital with Ionic volutes) or other variants.The Tuscan temple has columns with matronsofCaryae and the Persians may be termed ritual victims. They sinned, and verysimple capitals, and for which no myth is provided wereoffered tothe gods. The Ionian colonists also sacrificed, butmore positively. The (4.7). firsttwo temples inthe new land were dedicated respectively tothe brother and sister colonizationdivinities, Apollo and Artemis. Meanwhile the Corinthian girl's tomb was alsosacrificial, for it will have resembled an altardecorated with a basketof offerings.

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SACRIFICE AND TABOO 24. Burkert, Itis often said that myths are the plots of sacrificial rituals.24 This gives us all the more HormoNecans, reasonto the 41,who points out that though accepted the interpretpunishment ofthe Caryaean matrons as a sacrificeofatone- propositioncannot truly be proven. mentto Artemis. The same goes for the Persians: a god, we assume, perhaps Artemis again,told the Spartans to build the portico. Certainly itwas her brother, Apollo, whodirected the Athenians toinvade Ionia, and to whom sacrifice was made in his newtype of temple as Artemiswas in hers. These are the myths. The rituals would be therepetitions ofthese myths, repetitions ofthe first carving ofthe column whenever artisansrepeated the forms of these orders. Ritualrepetition, inthis form of architecture, isthe translation into rules of orna- mentof the original acts of revenge-sacrifice, marriage-sacrifice, anddeath-sacrifice thatare described inthese myths. The very word ornamentum meansto equip, as Aeneas equippedhimself for sacrifice onthe occasion of his father's death (Hyginus, Fabulae 173-14).Another great characteristic ofsacrifice isbound up with the most dangerous ofall taboos: those invoked when a sacrificesucceeds and the god arrives inthe midst ofhis worshippers. Such sacrifices were dangerous but also beneficial-the most bene- ficialactions a community could undertake. "This," says Reinach, "was because the actof slaughter released an ambiguousforce-or rather a blind one, terrible by the 25. SalomonReinach, veryfact that it was a force."25 "La Mortd'Orphee," in his Taboois the protection against this danger. Yet taboo, like sacrifice itself, isperil- Cultes,mythes etreligions, zd ed.,2, (Paris,1909), p. Io3 f. ouslydouble-edged. Both Greek and Latin emphasize this in their words for it, respec- 2.6. tivelyciyoq and sacer.26 Thus within the same play, Antigone, Sophocles uses to Livy, fyoq 3, 55,7- meanboth pollution and escape from pollution." Taboos cluster around buildings in 2-7. thickclouds. They are sacred and damned atonce. And these taboos go hand in hand Sophocles, withthe sacrifices that Antigone, maximizeboth the dangers and the benefits ofthe taboos. We 2.56. seethis in Vitruvius' five accounts. The weight borne by the column personifications is eitherthat of evil or that of good, either sin or virtue, either defeat or victory. Cary- atidsand Persids are emblems ofa treacheryand a barbarismthat sought to under- mineor destroy Greece. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders are emblems ofthe Greek reply. Iftaboo is the armor that protects sacrifice from going tragically awry, the metal ofthat armor is scrupulosity.Therules for sacrifice were legion. Blood-sacrifice is usuallythe most complex, though other types were not far behind. The breeding andtraining ofthe victim, his dress and ingarlands and gold-plated horns, the ceremonialfor bringinghim to the altar,the ritesof slaughter,the or loud cryfrom the women at themoment when the beast dies and thegod 6.o.iryrl appears-an eventwhich incidentally was accompaniedby the caryatid-likeraising of arms (Iliad 6.30I)-the cooking,the distributionof the meat,the communionmeal, and the dis- positionof the remains, were all subject to minute specification. Often, even when all wentwell, the priests or priestessesthemselves had to be sacrificedafterward, so filled werethey with taboo. Even the act itselfwas denouncedby thevery participants as a crime.The knifethat did thedeed, in theAthenian Bouphonia, was cast intothe sea, and theslaughtered ox, afterthe was stuffedand 2.8. sacrifice, hitchedto his plow,as ifto Jean-PierreVernant, show thatnothing had happenedto him afterall."2 Meanwhile the leftovers-bones, "Th aorieg~n rale du sacrificeet mise mort dans la 29 grilcque,"Olivier Reverdin and head, garlands,and ribbons-weredisposed on a table of offeringsor hungin a tree." BernardGrange, eds., The rulesfor the orders, which were afterall inventedfor the buildings in which Le Sacrifcedans r'antiquitd,

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JamesGamble Rogers, Edward S. Harkness House, New York, 1904-o7, guttae.

RichardMorris Hunt, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,1902oz, anthemions with faces. or beforewhich sacrifices occurred, were further forms of sacrificialtaboo. Vitruvius' [EntretiensHardt] (Geneva, 1980), pp. io ff., I7. presentationof theserules makes such a conclusionalmost inevitable. Thus in 3.1 he 29. dividesup the human body-one wants to say sacrificially,the way a priestdivides a Vernant,"Theorie generale," pp. 1o ff.,17 ff. G. S. Kirk, victim3?-intoparts measured in fractionsof the whole, those fractionsin turnbeing "SomeMethodological Pitfalls in theStudy of AncientGreek Sacrifice," in Reverdinand fingers,palms, and feet.He also uses thehead, again likethe sacrificer, who saved this Grange, partof thevictim till last and caused its tongueto utter.The body-partsare thencor- LeSacrifice, p. 70. relatedwith specific proportions or fractions,for example, the 81iolpog, two-thirds, 30. thenev-dpolpoq, five-sixths, and so forth.The elementsof templesare divided,mea- MarcelDetienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, La Cuisinedu sacrifice enpays grec sured,and namedin termsof thesebody-parts. In theIonic Order,for example, after (Paris, 1979), p. 84 ff. the column bases are in place, the thicknessof the plinthsset on top of themmust equal one-halfthe column diameter,and project one-sixthof a diameterfrom the shaft.These are theonly options. As ifto provethe point this one-sixth projection has a nameof its own, K)o0pd.If thebase is Attic,furthermore, itsheight is dividedso thatthe upper part is one-third the column diameter. The lower part of this latter is in turndivided into four parts, with an uppertorus that is onefourth of that distance.The lower two parts must consist of another torus and a scotia(3-5.-). Or, to moveon to 3.5.Io: "Thecymatium ofthe should be made one seventh of its heightand the projection of it the same. The remainder apart from the is tobe dividedinto twelve parts of which the lowest is tohave three; the second four,the top five." Andso on,page after page. When the rules are broken, we are made to regard the resultnot as solecismbut blasphemy. Vitruvius' minuteness, hisadmonitory tone, his frequentinvocations of the gods, give his text the quality of the seemingly endless di- etarytaboos in Deuteronomy14 andLeviticus i i, or thelong lists of prohibitions insome Orphic or Pythagorean sect; or, appropriately tothe present discussion, they soundlike the prescriptions forblood-sacrifice.

THE AS A TABLE OF OFFERINGS Allthis makes the entablature ofa templenot only 6yog for good or evil, but a sacri- ficialrepresentation as well. Indeed the very word "entablature," though English not Latin(the Latin is epistylium, beam on top of columns), suggests that it could be thought ofas a table,like the one in the sanctuary on which the remains of sacrifice were laid. Archeologicalevidence strongly suggests that although animal parts were set on these tables,the most frequent materials ofsacrifice were vegetables, grain plants, and other 31. food,including eggs.3 The flowers, ribbons, and garlands that had ornamented the Kirk, offeringorvictim were also laid on thetable. In a burntoffering these things would "Pitfalls,"77. havesuffered scorching and consumption by fire. The remains of animals that had beenpartly consumed by the communicants were also storedhere. Normally these consistedof the horned head or skull,thigh bones or femurscovered with fat, and

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otherbones with skin stretched over them. The primary meaning of fripaivov,drum, comesinto play here. A drumis an animalskin stretched over a framework,and the earliestGreek drums, which were used in theworship of Dionysus and the Mother Herodotus32. Goddess,had frameworksofbone.3"It is probablyfrom this background that the cen- 4.76. tralpanel in a pedimentcame to be called the tympanum. SacrificestoArtemis, the goddess most involved inVitruvius' myths, could involve wildbirds and animals as wellas thedomestic animals sacrificed to other divinities. 33- Pausanias Themost notorious of the wild-animal sacrifices were celebrated at Patras."A plat- 7.I8.II ff. formof dry, easily burnt wood was surrounded bya palisadeof green wood that was relativelyuninflammable. Thesacrificers assembled wild animals and birds that had beencaught in a ritualhunt, filling the platform with live game that were secured so theycould not escape. The priestesses setfire to the platform and the celebrants danced 34. GiuliaPiccaluga, aroundit in a circle,as inthe caryata.34 This sacrifice would have produced bird's beaks, "L'Olocaustodi Patrai," Reverdin and Grange, skulls,teeth, bones, and thelike, but also thenets, darts, and other with Le Sacrifice,p. 243. ff. implements whichthe game was caught,and which were considered sacramental. Now letus returnto classicalmoldings. This time we shalllook not at theirpro- portionsbut at theirnames. A taeniais a hairribbon; a coronais a crown,garland, chaplet,or wreath;a cavettomolding gets its name from heavy rope; and a guilloche is a bias-cutnet. We are all familiarwith the darts that flank eggs in egg-and-dart moldings.A similarmolding is theegg-and-tongue. Ovolo, anothermolding, also meansegg, and a cymais a sproutof cabbage. The anthemion, or camomile, is another edibleplant. A dentilis a tooth,as byextension a rostrumis a bird'sbeak molding. Theseare among the most common Anglo-Latin names for classical moldings. If we go to theGreek names that Vitruvius set such store by, we getmore of the same. Ancones,dyKW~ veq, (door lintel corbels) are primarily elbows; Apophysis, dn6'#uoq, thehollow curve between a column'sbase andshaft, is partof a boneor bloodvessel; an astragal,doCpacydAoq, refers to vertebraeor otherbones; a base,as in a column base,Pdoiq, is a foot.Capital, KeCd6Auov, means head. Similarly the columen or main blockin a tympanumis in GreekKOpUviaOV, whose first meaning is theupper rim of a huntingnet and whose second is "thehead parts of sacrificed animals." A fastigium or pedimentwith its descending wings is an deu6q,eagle. The colicolus ofthe Corin- thiancapital, the upright growth at thecorners, is a K6UA10ov,stalk. The spacebe- tweenthe channels in a triglyphis called a femurin Latin and a prlp6qin Greek, the thighor thighbone thatwas particularlyimportant in sacrifice.The verticalfillets createdby carving flutes in a columnare called rods, hd 80m, staves,or wands, a word usedalso forspear shafts. The trachelionand hypotrachelion, parts of the necking or upperhorizontal molding in a columnshaft, come from tpdXeAog, neck or throat.A torusor oncipais a twistedrope. WhenVitruvius' myths are analyzed,the origins of theDoric and Ionicorders impartgruesome lessons. They are tales of betrayal, enslavement, invasion, colonialism, thoughalso ofmarriage and procreation. But even the Corinthian order, the outcome ofthat procreation, memorializes an unwonteddeath. Flanked by Apollo, the presid- inggoddess for much of the five-part story is Artemis.The rowsof columns in Greek temples,these 'rhythms' of punished or exaltedancestors, are figuresfrom a sacred danceor march,figures that hold aloft the witnesses of sacrifice. Finally,practically all classicalmoldings are calledafter things used in catching

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This content downloaded from 147.251.68.32 on Sun, 29 Sep 2013 10:04:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions GeorgeHersey

Templeof Vespasian, Rome, fragment of the decorated with implements of sacrifice and bulls'skulls. and eatingvictims-human, animal, or vegetable-orafter bits and pieces of the vic- tims themselves.The moldingsof a Greek templeare patternsof war and hunting weapons,of animalparts, and of sacrificialfood. As surelyas do thecaryatids and the Persianprisoners, whose porticoeswould in any case have been deckedwith some of theseforms, the classical ordersmemorialize sacrifice.

ThomasHastings with Everett V. Meeks, AlumniWar Memorial, Yale University, New Haven,1927, column base.

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