Plate 58. Corinthian Capitals from Eleusis and Miletus

The Propylæ at Eleusis which is represented on Plates 12 and 38, led into the outer court and from this court a Vestibule or the so-called Lesser Propylæ gave access to the inner court in which stood the Demeter Temple, the Telesterion erected by Ictinus for the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

On both sides of the central door of the Vestibule were antæ and before these stood columns as shown on the plate, Fig. 8. At Fig. 6 is the narrow side of an anta base, the plinth of which has below a sort of panel whose vertical members are shown in plan at Fig. 7. Capitals of the antæ were found tumbled down and much damaged; the ornaments on the corners were broken off, though the wings were preserved. The restoration by means of chimera on the front, Fig. 1, is by Schinkel. On the side view of the second capital the wings are formed spreading away, and they reach farther down; the acanthus leaves are also larger, making a different restoration at the corner necessary, which we have carried out after our idea at Fig. 2.

Of charming fantasy and in keeping with the other parts is the decorative ornament over the leaves, taking the form, at the top, of the abacus (Fig. 3) so that the lotus flower stands out prominently in the middle. The profile of the abacus as well as of the upper part of the shaft is given at Figs. 4 and a at larger scale. The columns before the antæ have, like the latter, a fine profiled base and a fluted shaft. The capitals belonging to them were similar to those of the antæ but with a three-sided abacus, which indicates that they carried tripods and not an entablature. These capitals without doubt belong to the Corinthian order.

The erection of this Vestibule might have been somewhat earlier than the time of the erection of the 12-columned prostyle before the Temple of Demeter, about 318 B. C.; its date was therefore a short time after that of the monument of Lysicrates with which the excellent character of the remains represented on our plate bear striking relationship.

The capital on the lower part of Plate 58 is from the Temple of Apollo Didymæus at Miletus. The location of the two half columns to which this capital belongs was given in the description of Plate 43. It is of considerable size, about 6[…] feet high, excellent in its proportions and highly exemplary, and may have answered as an example for the Corinthian column capitals in Greece during the Roman rule. The ends of the leaves on this capital were broken off, as is the case with all other fragments of Grecian Corinthian capitals. On our restoration, two leaves spring out under the points of the abacus, one of which suitably fills out the space, and the other decorates the surface between the volutes as shown at Fig. 5.

At Fig. 1 is the elevation and at Fig. 2 the section of the front of the capital and in dotted lines on the latter figure is a diagonal view. At Fig. 3 is a portion of the plan, parts of which have the leaves and volutes omitted in order to show the other portions plainly. The time of the origination of this capital can not be given exactly, presumably though it is of the same date as the ones described above.

At Fig. 4 is the egg and dart at larger scale. On the first Grecian examples of this ornament, particularly on the Erectheum, we find as a rule the following relations: The spacing from center to center is the same as the height; the profile from which the ornament is worked is that of an egg, or similar to the echinus of the Grecian Doric capital; the form is that of a serpent egg which is […] of the total height; the width of the egg is the same as the space between, the latter being divided into 3 parts, of which the middle one is for the dart (or tongue) and the other two are for the enclosure or shell of the egg. When one has drawn this egg and dart after these rules, the form and fine proportions of this ornament will make a lasting impression, which can not be said of the wide spreading style found in the later Roman examples.