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A DIACHRONIC EXAMINATION OF THE ERECHTHEION AND ITS RECEPTION Alexandra L. Lesk, B.A., M.St. (Oxon.), M.A. Presented to McMicken College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Classics of the University of Cincinnati in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2004 Committee: C. Brian Rose (Chair) Jack L. Davis Kathleen M. Lynch J. James Coulton Abstract iii ABSTRACT “A Diachronic Examination of the Erechtheion and Its Reception” examines the social life of the Ionic temple on the Athenian Akropolis, which was built in the late 5th century B.C. to house Athens’ most sacred cults and relics. Using a contextualized diachronic approach, this study examines both the changes to the Erechtheion between its construction and the middle of the 19th century A.D., as well as the impact the temple had on the architecture and art of these successive periods. This approach allows the evidence to shed light on new areas of interest such as the Post-Antique phases of the building, in addition to affording a better understanding of problems that have plagued the study of the Erechtheion during the past two centuries. This study begins with a re-examination of all the pertinent archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence, and proposes a wholly new reconstruction of how the Erechtheion worked physically and ritually in ancient times. After accounting for the immediate influence of the Erechtheion on subsequent buildings of the Ionic order, an argument for a Hellenistic rather than Augustan date for the major repairs to the temple is presented. These repairs are then placed among the significant building projects carried out in Athens by the Hellenistic kings. While Rome ruled its empire, the Erechtheion continued to exert its own influence. Copies of both the Erechtheion’s special Ionic order and the maidens of the South Porch were incorporated into several Roman monuments in Greece, Italy, and Spain. This study examines the significance of these quotations, and probes the Roman reception of the Erechtheion in the light of Vitruvius’ opening statements in De Architectura, where the Roman architect calls female architectural supports “caryatids.” Abstract iv The surviving architectural evidence, in conjunction with the accounts and depictions of the Erechtheion by the early travelers to Athens, provide the bases for reconstructing the different phases of the Erechtheion. After it served as a pagan temple, the Erechtheion was transformed into a pillared hall in Late Antiquity, a basilica church in the Byzantine period, an elaborate residence in the Frankish period, and finally into a house for an Ottoman official. During the Venetian bombardment of the Akropolis in 1687, the Erechtheion was severely damaged. After this event, the building served as a gunpowder magazine, and as a ruin to be admired for its antiquity. From the 18th century onward, the Erechtheion also served as a model for Neoclassical buildings all over Europe. By gauging the aesthetic reception of the Erechtheion by early travelers to Athens, this study attempts to appreciate the temple’s timeless appeal and its role in the creation of the nascent Greek state’s national identity. v Copyright 2004 by Alexandra L. Lesk Acknowledgements vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My interest in the Erechtheion was sparked in 1998 by Harriet Boyd Hawes’ daughter, (the late) Mary Allsebrock, who asked me if I would be interested in seeing if any of her mother’s ideas contained in an unpublished manuscript titled “The Riddle of the Erechtheion” were still of any interest today. Vasso Fotou helped me acquire a copy of this manuscript, and the rest, as they say, is history. I am deeply indebted to the University of Cincinnati Classics Department and the Semple Fund for their unwavering and flexible support of my graduate studies. I would like to express my humblest gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee, Brian Rose (supervisor), Jack Davis, Jim Coulton and Kathleen Lynch, for their patience and perseverance with the drafts of this document. Other University of Cincinnati faculty members, namely Diane Harris-Cline, Getzel Cohen, and John Hancock (DAAP), also provided welcome advice and support. I am very grateful to the Samuel Kress Foundation for funding my travel around Europe to visit museums and research institutions in 2001-2002, and to the University of Cincinnati University Research Council for supporting me while I conducted research in Athens in 2001. While living and researching in Athens in 2000-2002, several people generously inspired, guided, and challenged me. I would like to thank Judith Binder, Richard Anderson, Michael Djordjevitch, Peter Schultz, Bob Bridges, Tasos Tanoulas, Gloria Pinney, and Bill Murray. Other members of the American School of Classical Studies and the British School at Athens also provided assistance and support, including Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan, Amalia Kassisis, Samantha Martin, and Heinrich Hall. I would also like to thank Bronwen Wickkiser for encouraging me to start writing. Acknowledgements vii I am grateful to the Museum of the City of Athens, the Benaki Museum, the National Historical Museum, the Center for Modern Greek Studies, and the 1st Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities for their assistance with and permission to conduct research on the Erechtheion. I would also like to acknowledge Marianne Hillenmeyer, the historian at the Nashville Parthenon, who kindly searched out and provided me with images of a symmetrical version of the Erechtheion built for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897 for an AIA talk. Ian Jenkins assisted me in locating and consulting several images of the Erechtheion in the British Museum, while Susan Palmer and Stephen Astley went out of their way to help me find wonderful documents pertaining to the Erechtheion in Sir John Soane’s Museum. I would like to thank the library staff of Burnham Library for their kind and generous help, and in particular, fellow student Jennifer Sacher, for her assistance in finding obscure references for me while I was abroad. I owe a great deal to Dorothy King whom I met in Athens in 2001. She shared her corpus of female architectural supports with me and lent me her sofa in London when I needed to use the city’s libraries and museums. I would also like to thank Jeff and Laura Kursman for allowing me to stay in their guestroom in Cincinnati for long periods of time; my only regret is that we were like ships passing in the night and barely had time to visit. Most importantly, I would like to acknowledge the constant support of my husband, Paul Blomerus, and my parents, Earl Lesk and Donna Love. Without them, I would never have made it through this experience. Acknowledgements viii While I appreciate the patience and expertise of the members of my dissertation committee for their input and diligent corrections, all the remaining mistakes are my own. Table of Contents ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract........................................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents......................................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables.............................................................................................................................................. xiii List of Figures............................................................................................................................................ xiv Chapter I – Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 1 Philosophical Background to Methodology............................................................................................. 4 Terminology ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Spelling, Capitalization and Measurements............................................................................................. 17 Grids ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 Anatomy of the Erechtheion.................................................................................................................... 19 Outline of the Study................................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter II – The Erechtheion in the 5th Century B.C............................................................................. 26 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 26 Before the Ionic Temple .......................................................................................................................... 29 Bronze Age Predecessors.................................................................................................................... 29 Archaic and Early Classical Period..................................................................................................... 33 General Trends in the Scholarship: Looking at the Erechtheion as a Whole.......................................... 39 The Canonical Interpretation of the Classical Erechtheion: Paton et al.............................................. 39 Alternative Locations for the Cults of Athena Polias and Erechtheus: Travlos, Jeppesen, Mansfield, Robertson and Ferrari ......................................................................................................................... 42 Original Plan: Dörpfeld, Dinsmoor, Elderkin and Hawes................................................................... 50 Recent and New Thoughts on the Architecture and Sculpture of the Classical Erechtheion................... 64 Date..................................................................................................................................................... 64 Architect.............................................................................................................................................. 71 Reconstruction of the Interior of the Main Building........................................................................... 71 Function of the Maiden Porch and the Identity of the Maidens........................................................ 102 Design note on the West Anta of the Maiden Porch......................................................................... 108 North Porch as the Entrance to the Temple of Athena Polias........................................................... 110 Stevens’ Reconstruction of the Terrace North of the Erechtheion.................................................... 112 New Architectural Fragments ........................................................................................................... 115 The “Stoa” Mentioned in the Inscriptions......................................................................................... 116 Sculptured Frieze from the Erechtheion ........................................................................................... 117 Base for the Cult Statue of Athena Polias? ....................................................................................... 129 Placing the Cults on the Blank Canvas: Recent and New Thoughts on the Cults and Objects in the Erechtheion............................................................................................................................................ 129 Lamp of Kallimachos and the Niche................................................................................................. 130 Peplos of Athena............................................................................................................................... 138 Statue of Athena Polias and the Table in Front................................................................................. 141 A Series of Special Ritual Vessels.................................................................................................... 143 Votive Stelai around the Erechtheion ............................................................................................... 144 Votives in the Erechtheion................................................................................................................ 145 Indoor Altars..................................................................................................................................... 152 Conclusion: A New Restoration of the Erechtheion in the Classical Period ......................................... 154 Chapter III – Late Classical and Hellenistic Periods (399-31 B.C.)..................................................... 165 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 165 History of Athens during the Hellenistic Period.................................................................................... 167 History of Fires in the Erechtheion........................................................................................................ 195 Table of Contents xStylistic Dating of the Repaired Moldings............................................................................................. 201 Changes to the Erechtheion during the Hellenistic Period..................................................................... 207 The Reception of the Erechtheion in the Late Classical and Hellenistic Period.................................... 231 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 242 Chapter IV- The Roman Period (31 B.C. –A.D. 330)........................................................................... 243 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 243 Historical Context and Changes to the Erechtheion during the Roman Period ..................................... 245 Graffiti ................................................................................................................................................... 261 Roman Reception of the Erechtheion .................................................................................................... 262 The Reception of Vitruvius and the Conflation of “Caryatid” and the Erechtheion Maidens .......... 262 Pausanias and the Reception of the Akropolis in the 2nd Century A.D............................................. 280 The Reception of the Erechtheion Ionic Order in the Roman Period................................................ 286 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 301 Chapter V – The Late Antique and Byzantine Periods (330-1204)...................................................... 303 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 303 Historical Overview............................................................................................................................... 304 Changes to the Erechtheion in the Late Antique and Byzantine Periods............................................... 314 Archaeological Overview ................................................................................................................. 316 State of the Scholarship and the Problem of Dating Early Christian Architecture ........................... 318 The Erechtheion as a Pillared Hall.................................................................................................... 320 The Erechtheion as a Basilica Church .............................................................................................. 322 Phase I of the Basilica................................................................................................................................... 322 Phase II of the Basilica.................................................................................................................................. 342 Christianization of Pagan Monuments................................................................................................... 350 Graffiti .............................................................................................................................................. 352 Dedication..................................................................................................................................................... 352 Crosses.......................................................................................................................................................... 353 Ships ............................................................................................................................................................. 355 Reception in the Byzantine Period......................................................................................................... 362 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 363 Chapter VI – The Frankish Period (1204 – 1458).................................................................................. 365 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 365 Historical Background........................................................................................................................... 365 Archaeological Overview ...................................................................................................................... 372 Changes to the Erechtheion during the First Frankish Period................................................................ 374 Changes to the Erechtheion during the Second Frankish Period ........................................................... 394 Reception of the Erechtheion in the Frankish Period............................................................................. 400 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 402 Chapter VII – The Ottoman Period (1458-1833)................................................................................... 404 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 404 Archaeological Overview ...................................................................................................................... 408 Historical Background........................................................................................................................... 409 Travelers’ Accounts and Depictions...................................................................................................... 425 The Earliest Travelers to Athens....................................................................................................... 426 The Earliest Travelers to Describe the Erechtheion.......................................................................... 434 The Venetians ................................................................................................................................... 445 Venetian Reception........................................................................................................................... 451 The 18th Century and the First Artists to Draw the Erechtheion....................................................... 452 The Dawn of a New Age: the 19th Century....................................................................................... 507 Prelude to the War of Independence................................................................................................. 564 Travelers during the War of Independence....................................................................................... 586 Synthesis of Travelers’ Reception of the Erechtheion........................................................................... 594 Table of Contents xi Modus Operandi ............................................................................................................................... 595 The Development of Scholarship...................................................................................................... 597 ‘Caryatid’ and the Renaissance......................................................................................................... 598 Trends in Aesthetic Reactions........................................................................................................... 600 Motivations for Travel...................................................................................................................... 601 Philhellenism .................................................................................................................................... 602 Attitudes toward Lord Elgin’s Activities.......................................................................................... 603 Robert Adam and Sir John Soane ..................................................................................................... 604 Changes to the Erechtheion during the Ottoman Period (1458-1821)................................................... 610 Changes to the Erechtheion during the First Ottoman Period........................................................... 611 The Venetians (1687-1688) .............................................................................................................. 617 Changes to the Erechtheion during the Second Ottoman Period (1688-1821).................................. 624 Graffiti on the Erechtheion during the Ottoman Period......................................................................... 642 Changes to the Erechtheion during the War of Independence (1821-1833).......................................... 645 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 649

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