Plate 16. Different Grecian Doric Column Capitals

Column capitals of the Market Gate of Augustus in Athens:

It is a four-columned Prostyle, which forms the Propylæ of the new Market dedicated to Athena Archegetis, erected about the time of the birth of Christ. The whole capital is shallow and weak. The small, strong swelling echinus is connected to the very short hypotrachelium or necking by three relatively large cinctures in a very inelegant vertical profile. The capital appears as a medium between the Grecian and Roman form.

The Doric column capital of the Propylæ at Athens:

We have already mentioned this Temple as having been copied in the Propylæ of Eleusis at plate 12.

For the column capitals of the Basilica and the Small Temple in Pæstum we refer to the text of plates 4 and 5.

The other two capitals from Pæstum are to be considered as a peculiar departure in their caricatured form from a Doric capital.

The Doric frieze presented on the lower part of the plate which is found in the wall of the Metropolitan Church at Athens presumably belonged to the Eleusinia in Athens, an altar upon which the Eleusinian Demeter was sacrificed. The symbols of the frieze indicate such a use.