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The Tomb of Porsenna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

James Fergusson
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Extract

There are few truths that are more forcibly impressed on the attention of any one engaged in restoring the lost monuments of antiquity than the painful one—that no form of written words is sufficient to convey a distinct idea of a building which has been destroyed. No adequate reproduction of its form can be made unless the words are accompanied by a diagram or drawing of some sort, or when these cannot be obtained, unless some sufficient remains of the building still exist to make its restoration possible, or if neither of these be attainable, unless it proves to be part of a known series—in other words, unless some edifices exist, either before or after it in date, so similar in form and purpose as to enable us from a study of their peculiarities to appreciate the meaning of the terms applied to the one we are attempting to restore.

The Temples of the Jews are a conspicuous illustration of this truth. Though so minutely described in the Bible or by Josephus, nothing can be more discrepant than the notions entertained by restorers of their forms and dimensions, and it is only very recently that we have begun to perceive that they form a part of a series (though it must be confessed not of familiar or well understood types), and that we begin to realize their forms with anything like distinctness. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, were important buildings of which we knew nothing till very recently, except from written descriptions; and nothing could be more various than the restorations that were proposed to reconcile their features with the verbal texts. Thanks to the excavations conducted by Messrs. Newton and Wood, we now know what the real appearances of these celebrated buildings were with sufficient exactness for all practical purposes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 6 , November 1885 , pp. 207 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1885

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References

page 208 note 1 The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, restored by Fergusson, Jas.; Murray, 1862Google Scholar. The Temple of Diana at Ephesos, by the same, extracted from the Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects; Trübner, London, 1833. The Temples of the Jews at Jerusalem, by Fergusson, Jas.; Murray, 1878.Google Scholar

page 208 note 2 De Aegyptio et Cretico Labyrinthis satis dictum est—Lemnius similis illis. Extantque adhuc reliquiæ ejus, cum Cretici Italicique nulla vestigia extent.—Plinii, Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. c. 13.Google Scholar

page 208 note 3 Instituto de Corrispondenza Archeologica, vol. i. pl. xiii.

page 208 note 4 Beber, , Geschichte der Baukunst im Alterthum, p. 366, fig. 211.Google Scholar

page 209 note 1 True Principles of Beauty in Art, p. 458, figs. 79, 80.

page 209 note 2 Namque et Italicum dici convenit, quem fecit sibi Porsena rex Hetruriæ sepulchri causa, simul ut, externorum regum vanitas quoque ab Italis superaretur. Sed cum excedat omnia fabulositas utemur ipsius M. Varronis in expositione ejus verbis. Sepultus est, inquit, sub urbe Clusio: in quo loco monumentum reliquit lapide quadrato: singula latera pedum lata tricenum, alta quinquagenum: inque basi quadrata intus Labyrinthum inextricabilem: quo si quis improperet sine glomere lini, exitum invenire nequeat. Supra id quadratum pyramides stant quinque, quatuor in angulis in medio una, in imo latæ pedum septuagenum quinum, altæ centum quinquagenum: ita fastigiatæ ut in summo orbis æneus et petasus unus omnibus sit impositus, ex quo pendeant excepta catenis tintinnabula, quæ vento agitata longe sonitus referant ut Dodonæ olim factum. Supra quem orbem quatuor pyramides insuper singulæ extant altæ pedum centenum. Supra quas uno solo quinque pyramides quarum altitudinem Varronem puduit adjicere. Fabulæ Hetruscæ tradunt eandem fuisse, quam totius operis: adeo vesana dementia quaesisse gloriam impendio nulli profutura. Præterea fatigasse regni vires, ut tamen laus major artificis esset.— Lib. xxxvi. c. 13.

page 211 note 1 Mon. Incd. vol. i. pl. xli. ann. 1832.

page 211 note 2 Mon. Incd. vol. i. pi. lx. ann. 1833.

page 211 note 3 SirC., Fellows, Travels in Asia Minor and Lycia. Two Vols. Murray, 1839–41Google Scholar. The plates in these works are not numbered, so it is impossible to refer to them.

page 213 note 1 Instituto de Corrispondenza Archaeologica, vol. ii. pl. xxxix.; Dennis, , Etruria, vol. i. page 455Google Scholar, note.

page 213 note 2 Annali dellľ Inst., ix. p. 50, 57.

page 213 note 3 Canina, , Arch. Ant. vol. iii. pl. ccxvii.Google Scholar

page 214 note 1 On second thoughts, if I were drawing the tomb again I would make the sepulchral chamber 75 feet instead of 100 in diameter. My impression is, that it was certainly larger than the so-called treasury of Atreus, but whether double its dimensions is another question. In the present state of our knowledge, however, any inferences on this point must be so vague, that it is hardly worth while altering the drawing to express them.

page 216 note 1 Omnes lapide polito fornicibus texti. —Ch. xxxvi. p. 13.

page 216 note 2 In spite of the plates (1 Abt. 46, 47 and 48) contained in the first part of Lepsius' great work, it is still very uncertain whether even the site, much less the form of the Egyptian labyrinth has been discovered.

page 216 note 3 Canina, Etruria Antica, pl. 1. li. lii.

page 217 note 1 πέτασος, a broad-brimmed felt hat, such as Mercury is usually represented as wearing, and frequently found depicted on Greek painted vases, and elsewhere. In this paper it is used throughout to mean a circular roof, formed with a hollow curve like those so generally adopted by the Chinese.

page 217 note 2 Discs of various forms are I believe used for this purpose in Burmah, but I have no certain information on the subject.

page 219 note 1 For a description of these Tees or chattahs surmounting Indian dagopas I need only refer to my works on Indian architecture, passim, especially to the Cave Temples of India, published conjointly with Dr. Burgess by the Government in 1880.

page 219 note 2 Etruria, vol. ii. page 352.

page 220 note 1 Book i. chap. xciii.

page 220 note 2 Olfers, , Lydische Königgräber bei Sardia, pl. iii. p. 545Google Scholar. Nearly all the details here quoted are taken from this work, which is the only detailed account yet published on the subject.

page 223 note 1 From Spiegelthalľs drawings, it is not clear whether the bases of these capitals were square or circular; Mr. Dennis—from memory—thinks they are square.

page 223 note 2 Olfers, page 546, pl. iii. fig. 2.

page 226 note 1 Journey through Arabia Petrea to Mount Sinai and Petra. By de Laborde, Léon. Translated, and published by Murray, 1836.Google Scholar

page 227 note 1 The so-called tomb of Absalom at Jerusalem is surmounted by a strongly marked Petasus, or hollow curved termination, which has hitherto been considered exceptional and strange, but may now, if the views above stated are correct, take its place among recognized architectural forms.

page 229 note 1 History of Architecture, by F., Jas., vol. iii., page 597Google Scholar, W.C. 337, 9.

page 229 note 2 L. cit. page 584, W.C.'s 333, 334.

page 231 note 1 As the photograph is taken exactly on the centre line of the group, and there is no atmospheric perspective in photography, the engraver has understood the central tower as forming part of the gateway. I have other photographs taken at an angle which show it as placed on an extensive platform in the centre of the four angular towers.