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 papers of llje ^rtljirolojical Institute of ^tinerita, 
 
 CLASSICAL SERIES. 
 
 II. 
 
 REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATIONS AT 
 ASSOS, 1882, 1883, 
 
 Part I. 
 
 By JOSEPH THACHER CLARKE. 
 
 W^\X\ an Sppentiii. 
 
 Printed at the Cost of the Boston Society of Architects. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE MAC.MILLAN COMPANY, 
 
 66 Fifth Avenue. 
 
 1898.
 
 University Press : 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.
 
 ARCH.€OLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA. 
 
 (Council, 1897-98. 
 
 Presitient. 
 
 Professor JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE, Ph.D., LL. D , Harvard 
 University^ of the Boston Society. 
 
 I^onorarg ^restljents. 
 
 Professor CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, Litt. D., lA^.V)., Harvard 
 
 University, of the Boston Societj*. 
 President SETH LOW, LL. D., Columbia University, of the New 
 
 York Society. 
 
 Utc£=^r£StliEnt0. 
 
 President DANIEL C. OILMAN, 'LL.Ti., Johns Hopkins University, 
 President of the Baltimore Society. 
 
 Dr. WILLIAM PEPPER, LL. D., University of Pennsylvania, Presi- 
 dent of the Pennsylvania Society. 
 
 Mr. martin a. RYERSON, LL.B., Chicaoo. of the Chica.s;o Society. 
 
 Hon. STEPHEN SALISBURY, A. M., LL.B., IVoreester, of the 
 Boston Society. 
 
 Professor THOMAS DAY SEYMOUR, LL. D., Yale University, of 
 the New York Society. 
 
 iStitor in Cljicf of Hjc Journal. 
 
 Professor JOHN HENRY WRIGHT, A. M., Harvard University, 
 of the Boston Society. 
 
 ©tfjrr fRcmbcrs of tijc Council. 
 
 Mr. GEORGE A. ARMOUR, A. M . Chicago, of the Chicac:o Society. 
 Mr. SELDEN bacon, A.m., LL. B., 7\Vw York, of the Wisconsin 
 Society.
 
 iv ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Mr. DAVID L. BARTLETT, Baltimore, of the Baltimore Society. 
 
 Mr. CHARLES BUNCHER, Detroit, of the Detroit Society. 
 
 Mr. clarence H. CLARK, Philadelphia, of the Pennsylvania 
 
 Society. 
 Professor MARTIN L. D'OOGE, Ph. D., LL. D., University of Mich- 
 
 iga/i, President of the Detroit Society. 
 Professor HAROLD N. FOWLER, Ph. D., Western Reserve Uni- 
 versity, of the Cleveland Society. 
 Professor ARTHUR L. FROTH INGHAM, Jr., Ph. D., Princeton 
 
 University, of the Baltimore Society. 
 Mr. MALCOLM S. GREENOUGH, A. B., Cleveland, President of the 
 
 Cleveland Society. 
 Professor WILLIAM GARDNER HALE, LL. D., University of 
 
 Chicago, President of the Chicago Society. 
 Mr. CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON, LL. D., Chicago, of the Chicago 
 
 Society. 
 Mr. GARDINER M. LANE, A. B., Boston, of the Boston Society. 
 Mr. JAMES LOEB, A. B., (Treasurer,) New York, of the New 
 
 York Society. 
 Mrs. NICHOLAS LONGWORTH, Cincinnati, President of the Cin- 
 cinnati Society. 
 Professor ALLAN MARQUAND, Ph.D., h.U.D., Princeton Uni- 
 versity, of the New York Society. 
 Miss ELLEN F. MASON, Boston, of the Boston Society. 
 Professor EDWARD DELAVAN PERRY, Ph. D., Columbia Uni- 
 versity, President of the New York Society. 
 Mr. FREDERIC J. de PEYSTER, A. M., LL. B., A^eiv York, of the 
 
 New York Society. 
 Professor DANIEL OUINN, Ph. D., Catholic University of America, 
 
 President of the Washington Society. 
 Mr. EDWARD ROBINSON, A. B., Boston, of the Boston Society. 
 Professor MOSES STEPHEN SLAUGHTER, Ph.D., University 
 
 of JVisconsin, President of the Wisconsin Society. 
 Professor FITZ GERALD TISDALL, Ph. D., College of the City of 
 
 JVew York, of the New York Society. 
 Professor JAMES R. WHEELER, Ph. D., Cohimbia University, of 
 
 the New York Society. 
 Mrs. H. WHITMAN, Boston, President of the Boston Society. 
 Mr. CLARENCE H. YOUNG, Ph. D., (Secretary,) Columbia Uni- 
 versity, of the New York Society.
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 THE Report on the Investigations made at Assos in 1881, 
 by the expedition sent out by the Archaeological In- 
 stitute in charge of Mr. Joseph Thatcher Clarke, was issued 
 in 1882. The investigations were still in progress, and it was 
 intended that so soon as possible after their completion a 
 final Report should be prepared and published. The work 
 of the expedition ended in the spring of 1883. Most of the 
 members of the party which had been engaged in it returned 
 home, and Mr. Clarke at once began the preparation of a 
 Report designed to give a complete and thorough account of 
 the unexpectedly important and interesting results of the first 
 American expedition for archaeological investigation in the 
 field of classical antiquity. Mr. Clarke's Preliminary Report 
 had already given evidence, not only of his high qualities as 
 an investigator, but also of his possession of learning ade- 
 quate to enable him to set forth the discoveries made by the 
 expedition in a manner fitted to meet the demands of modern 
 scholarship. 
 
 During the next two or three years a considerable part of 
 the work was accomplished and put into type. 
 
 The pages which now follow have been ready for publica- 
 tion for more than ten years. But the publication has been 
 delayed, greatly to the disappointment of the Institute, in 
 hope that the portion remaining to be written might be 
 completed. 
 
 By a series of calamities, for which he was in no wise per- 
 sonally responsible, Mr. Clarke was compelled to give up labor
 
 vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 upon the Report, and to devote his whole time to other pur- 
 suits. From year to year he has hoped to be able to renew his 
 labors on the work which it was the object of his just ambi- 
 tion to complete, — year after year he has been disappointed. 
 It has finally seemed best to the Council of the Institute 
 to issue that portion of the Report which has been lying 
 ready so long, in order that the account which it contains 
 of the results of the expedition, although it be but partial 
 and imperfect, should no longer remain inaccessible. They 
 have come to this decision with reluctance, both on Mr. 
 Clarke's account and on account of the Institute. It is 
 matter of serious regret that a full record of the results of 
 the expedition should not be made by the person most com- 
 petent to describe the discoveries and to exhibit their impor- 
 tance. The Council cannot but hope that Mr. Clarke may 
 yet find opportunity to conclude his work. 
 
 But, unfortunate as the delay in the issue of the Report 
 has been, the investigations to which it relates have not lost 
 interest. The peculiar character of many of the buildings 
 at Assos, and their remarkable preservation, making possible 
 a complete recovery of the plan and elevation of civic struc- 
 tures quite unique in design and plan, give to the work 
 accomplished there such permanent im.portance that ten 
 years more or less in the date of its publication are of 
 comparatively small concern. 
 
 Meanwhile it is proposed to publish very shortly, under 
 the auspices of the Institute, a work edited by Mr. Francis H. 
 Bacon, the companion of Mr. Clarke in the Assos expedition, 
 which shall present on a large scale the plans and elevations 
 of the more important edifices investigated, and shall give all 
 those details and measurements which may be desired by the 
 students of ancient art, and especially by those of architecture. 
 The preparation of this work, in which Mr. Bacon has re- 
 ceived the valuable assistance of Mr. Robert Koldewey, who 
 also took part in the original investigations, will afford mate- 
 rial for a full study of the monuments of various kinds which
 
 LETTERS. vii 
 
 specially distinguished the site of Assos, and will be a con- 
 tribution to classical archaeology of unusual novelty and 
 extent. 
 
 The letters which follow this Note explain themselves ; they 
 form part of the documentary record of the expedition. 
 
 C. E. NORTON. 
 
 Ffebruary, 1898. 
 
 Charles Eliot Norton, Esq., 
 
 President of the Archczological Institute of America. 
 
 Dear Sir, — The Boston Society of Architects has charged me 
 with the agreeable duty of conveying to you, as President of the 
 American Institute of Archeology, the congratulation of the profes- 
 sion upon the work accompHshed by your expedition to Assos. We 
 desire also, through you, to thank our brethren, Messrs. Clarke and 
 Bacon, and the other members of the expedition, by whose skill, 
 energy, and fine spirit of self-denial this valuable acquisition to our 
 knowledge of Greek architecture has been rendered possible. The 
 contribution of the Boston Society of Architects to the expenses of 
 Mr. Clarke's first expedition in search of new evidence concerning 
 the Doric order was intended as an expression of its desire to know 
 more of the principles underlying the development of Greek archi- 
 tectural forms ; for to these principles, in the midst of the complica- 
 tions and sophistications which inevitably beset all modern works of 
 design, we must continually repair for correction, inspiration, and re- 
 freshment. The later and more fruitful expedition was the logical 
 continuation of the first. 
 
 These successes, therefore, are grateful to this Society, not only 
 because they seem in a manner to justify its first expenditure of 
 means, but principally because this new exposition of the Greek spirit 
 has proved far more complete than the most sanguine friends of the 
 enterprise had anticipated. It has shown us the Greek arcliitect ex- 
 perimenting with forms, and profuse in invention, yet always with self- 
 denial and a just reserve of force ; it has given us, perhaps, the best 
 lesson yet derived from Greek antiquity in the grouping of buildings ; 
 it has thrown new light upon the divine virtue of simplicity in art ; it
 
 Vlll ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 has given us substantially the only examples of the practice of the 
 Greeks in domestic and civic works, and, in short, it seems to have 
 brought nearer to our sympathies and comprehension that spirit which 
 the conditions of modern architecture require as a corrective and 
 purifying force. We therefore anticipate with interest the moment 
 when the results of this expedition shall be made practically available 
 to the profession in the forthcoming Report, which we hope may be 
 as full and complete as possible, especially in respect to drawings. 
 
 This Society, in continuation of its policy of contributing to the 
 extent of its limited means to the advancement of architectural knowl- 
 edge, has authorized me to convey to you its offer to appropriate the 
 sum of five hundred dollars towards defraying the expenses of printing 
 the Report of the Expedition to Assos, and to indicate its intention 
 to raise such additional sum, if any, as may be needed for the pur- 
 pose, it being understood that the total amount is not to exceed one 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 EDWARD C. CABOT, President. 
 
 Boston, March 20, 1884. 
 
 Edward C. Cabot, Esq., 
 
 President of the Boston Society of Architects. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have had the pleasure to-day of laying before the 
 Executive Committee of the Archaeological Institute of America your 
 letter to me of the 20th instant, and I am charged by them with the 
 expression of the gratification which its contents have given them, 
 and of their grateful acknowledgment to the Boston Society of 
 Architects for the substantial and timely contribution it proposes to 
 make toward defraying the expense of printing the second Report ot 
 the Expedition to Assos. The income of the Institute is so much 
 narrower than its opportunities for service in its field of work, that 
 such a contribution is especially welcome. Its chief value, however, 
 is in the testimony it affords of the sense of your Society of the im- 
 portance of the work accomplished by the expedition to Assos, of the 
 novel character of the acquisitions made by it in the domain of Greek
 
 LETTERS. IX 
 
 architecture, and of the permanent worth of its results to students of 
 the art. 
 
 This testimony, coming from a body so eminently qualified to speak 
 with authority on the subject as the Society over which you preside, 
 and expressed by you in terms at once decisive and convincing, while 
 it is in the highest degree gratifying to the Institute, as a proof that 
 it has succeeded thus far in accomplishing one of the chief ends of 
 its existence, is equally stimulating to it to undertake fresh investiga- 
 tions upon classical soil which may make still further additions to knowl- 
 edge of that ancient art which remains so full of instruction and 
 interest to students and artists of the present time. 
 
 The Executive Committee of the Institute recognize their past debt 
 to the Boston Society of Architects for its contribution to the original 
 expedition of Messrs. Clarke and Bacon, and their further indirect 
 but essential obligation to it in the fact that these gentlemen were 
 members of the Society, — a fact which gave assurance of their char- 
 acter and ability. The Committee will have pleasure in transmitting 
 a copy of your letter to each of these gentlemen. They venture to 
 request you to bring the services of Mr. Robert Koldewey, of Ham- 
 burg, who has had charge of some of the most important investiga- 
 tions at Assos, to the attention of your Society, in the hope that it 
 may think proper, upon consideration of his part in the joint labors 
 on the site, to convey to him a distinct expression of its appreciation 
 of the excellence of his work. 
 
 The Committee desire me to state that the fact that the means for 
 the publication of the forthcoming Report have been provided by 
 your Society will be stated upon its titlepage, and your letter to me 
 will be printed as prefatory to the Report itself. The great mass of 
 material to be digested, and the large number of drawings to be pre- 
 pared for the Report, will probably delay its appearance for at least a 
 year. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, with great respect, faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, 
 President of the Archceological Institute of America. 
 
 Cambridge, March 25, 1884.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Course of the Excavations i 
 
 II. 
 Acropolis and Temple 40 
 
 III. 
 Temple Sculptures 141 
 
 IV. 
 Date of the Temple 292 
 
 Appendix : — Relations of Modern to Ancient Life . . 335
 
 LIST OF CUTS AND PLATES. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. Archaic Bronze Arrow-head 44 
 
 2. Bronze Arrow-head 45 
 
 3. Iron Mattock 45 
 
 4. Plan of the Temple of Assos. — Present Condition . 57 
 
 5. Stone in Foundations of Temple, with Bed-moulds 
 
 FOR Metal Castings. — Isometric 58 
 
 6. Employment of Lifting Dog in laying the lower 
 
 Steps. — Isometric 61 
 
 7. Pry-holds and Levers employed in laying the Steps. 
 
 — Isometric 62 
 
 8. Perforation of the lower Step, Eastern Front . . 67 
 
 9. Detail of Mosaic Pavement, Southeastern Corner . 70 
 
 10. Outlines of Echinos Curves, Anta Capital, and 
 
 Hawk's-bill Moulding of Corona 81 
 
 11. Upper Surface of an Abacus 83 
 
 12. Section of the Entablature and Coffered Ceiling 
 
 OF THE PtEROMA 88 
 
 13. Fragments of inner Epistyle Beams, showing Shift- 
 
 holes AND Mason's Marks 92 
 
 14. Triglyph, Face and Side 96 
 
 15. Ends of Cornice Blocks, showing Attachments of 
 
 Derrick Tackle : A, for Looped Rope ; B, for 
 
 Iron Dog 98 
 
 16. Cornice Block, as tilted in Lifting. — Release for 
 
 Turning Grapple 99 
 
 17. Cornice Block from Southeastern Corner. — Upper 
 
 Surface and End 102 
 
 18. Rejected Cornice Block, Recut for Employme.vt i.n 
 
 Ty.vipanon Veil 109 
 
 19. Beam fro.m the Coffered Ceiling of Pteroma . . . 115 
 
 20. Beam from the Coffered Ceiling of Vestibule . . 117 
 
 21. Beam from the Coffered Ceiling of Pronaos ... 121 
 
 22. General Plan of Coffered Ceiling 123
 
 xiv LIST OF CUTS AND PLATES. 
 
 Pace 
 
 23. Section of Pteroma 124 
 
 24. Section of Vestibule and Pronaos 124 
 
 25. Section of Vestibule Ceiling Beam, showing Lewis 
 
 Tackle 126 
 
 26. Fragment of Tile, with Ornamented Edge, from a 
 
 Course interposed between lowest Imbrices and 
 
 Corona 129 
 
 27. Antefix. — From a Photograph 130 
 
 28. Antefix Section 131 
 
 29. Corners of Imbrices, roughly cut for Jointing . . 133 
 
 30. Constructive System of Pteroma. — Isometric . . . 134 
 
 31. Fragment of Gutter. — From a Photograph . . . 135 
 
 32. Fragment of Gutter. — Section and Scale .... 135 
 
 33. Fragment of Ridge Acroterion 136 
 
 34. Fragment OF Acroterion. — Paw of Sphinx or Griffin 137 
 
 35. (Plate.) Retreating Centaurs To face 142 
 
 36. Human-legged Centaur 146 
 
 37. (Plate.) Heracles and Pholos To face 150 
 
 38. Herakles and the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe . . 165 
 
 39. Fragment of a Metope. — Hind Legs of a Centaur . 171 
 
 40. (Plate.) Heraldic Sphinxes. Western Facade. 
 
 To face 172 
 
 41. (Plate.) Heraldic Sphinxes. Eastern Facade. 
 
 To face \ 73 
 
 42. Ionic Capital, with Upright Volutes 176 
 
 43. Couching Sphinx on Sherd from Ophrynion .... 182 
 
 44. Squatting Sphinx. — Figurine from Aqkieui .... 183 
 
 45. A, Archaic Coin of Assos. — B, Bronze Head of 
 
 Griffin, found at Olympia 187 
 
 46. Coin of Assos 188 
 
 47. Coin of Assos 189 
 
 48. Mosaic Pavement from a Building South of the 
 
 Agora, showing Eagle-headed and Leopard-headed 
 
 Griffins 192 
 
 48a. Heraldic Sphinx upon engraved Seal, found at 
 
 Assos 200 
 
 49. Epistyle Relief from the Temple 210 
 
 50. The Struggle of Herakles with Triton 237 
 
 51. Epistyle Relief from the Temple 241 
 
 52. Epistyle Block above the Northernmost Interco- 
 
 lumniation of the eastern facade 250 
 
 53. Epistyle Block above the Southernmost Interco- 
 
 LUMNIATION OF THE WESTERN FaCADE 252
 
 LIST OF CUTS AND PLATES. XV 
 
 Page 
 
 54. Epistyle Block above the Southernmost Interco- 
 
 lumniation of the eastern facade 253 
 
 55. Schematic View of the Southeastern Corner of the 
 
 Entablature. — Isometric 256 
 
 56. Epistyle Block above the Central Intercolumnia- 
 
 tion of the western facade 261 
 
 57. Epistyle Block above the Central IntercoluxMnia- 
 
 TiON of the Eastern Facade 261 
 
 58. Epistyle Block above the Second Intercolumniation 
 
 FROM THE South of the Eastern Facade .... 263 
 
 59. Epistyle Block above the Easternmost Intercolum- 
 
 niation of the Southern Side 265 
 
 60. Epistyle Block above the Second Intercolumniation 
 
 FROM the East of the Southern Side 267 
 
 61. Reconstruction of the Eastern Corner of the South- 
 
 ern Side, showing three Epistyle Blocks relating 
 
 TO the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe 268 
 
 62. Reconstruction of the Southern Half of the East- 
 
 ern Facade, showing two Epistyle Blocks relat- 
 ing to the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe, and the 
 Central Panel with the Coat of Arms of Assos . 269 
 
 63. Restoration of the Central Acroterion, the Re- 
 
 maining Fragment dotted and shaded 271 
 
 64. Epistyle Block above the Second Intercolumniation 
 
 from the North of the Western Facade .... 271 
 
 65. Epistyle Block above the Westernmost Intercolum- 
 
 niation OF THE Northern Side 273 
 
 66. Epistyle Block from the Western Group of the 
 
 Northern Side 274 
 
 (iT. Epistyle Block from the Westernmost Intercolum- 
 niation of the Northern Side 275 
 
 68. Epistyle Block from the Western Group of the 
 
 Northern Side 276 
 
 69. Fragment of an Epistyle Block of the Series re- 
 
 lating TO the Erymanthian Boar 277 
 
 70. Epistyle Block from the Entablature of the Cella. 
 
 above the Pronaos 278 
 
 71. Epistyle Block forming the Pendant to that shown 
 
 IN Figure 70 279 
 
 72. Metope of the Eastern Entablature occupying the 
 
 Fourth Field from the South 2S5 
 
 73. Metope showing the Coat of Arms of Assos . . . 2S5
 
 xvi LIST OF curs AND PLATES. 
 
 Page 
 
 74. Metopf, rf.lated in Subject to the Series of the 
 
 Ekymanthian Boar 285 
 
 75. Fragment of a Metope, related in Subject to the 
 
 Series of the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe .... 286 
 
 76. Metope of uncertain Location and Subject .... 286 
 
 77. Fragmentary Metope of uncertain Location and 
 
 Subject 286 
 
 78. Plan of the Epistyle of the Temple of Assos, show- 
 
 ing IN Black the Position of the known Reliefs . 289 
 
 79. Plan of the Temple of Aigina 302 
 
 80. Plan of the Theseion at Athens 303 
 
 81. Plan of the Temple of Assos 304 
 
 82. Plan of the later Temple of Sounion 305 
 
 83. Diagrammatic Plan and Dimensions of the Temple 
 
 of Assos 320
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COURSE OF EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 IN October, 1881, the di gging of the first year at Asso s 
 was brought to a close by the unwelcome official inter- 
 ruption to which reference has been made in the First Report.^ 
 After the retreat of the would-be commissioner, M r. Bacon an d 
 Mr. Diller remained upon the site with the writer, until the 
 beginning of December. By that time the winter had fairly 
 set in. The prevalent north winds were so heavy that few 
 of the small vessels of the country found their way to the 
 port of Behram, while none were ready to venture from it. 
 It was therefore necessary to leave the coast of the Troad in 
 the Myzethra, the open sail-boat belonging to the expedition,^ 
 and the passage of the Gulf of Adramyttion was attended 
 with much difficulty. The little craft, being heavily laden with 
 chests of the specimens collected by the indefatigable geolo- 
 gist, shipped so much water over her low gunwale, that two 
 Greeks, who had been admitted as passengers, gave up bailing 
 in despair, and, wrapping themselves in their blankets, lay 
 
 1 Clarke (Joseph Thacher), Report on ike Investigations at Assos, 1881. 
 Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America, Classical Series, I., Boston, 
 1882, p. 44. 
 
 2 Report, p. 131. 
 
 I
 
 2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 down in the wet. The Musconisi ^ and Tokmakia^ Islands 
 aftorded some shelter during the latter part of the voyage, 
 and in the harbor of Mytilene the full force of the gale was 
 not felt 
 
 This northern wind is one of those whose effect upon the 
 Lesbian capital is described by Vitruvius ^ as most deplora- 
 ble. What he says of it is, at least, true in December : when 
 the Septentrio blows, the inhabitants do not lounge about the 
 streets because of the biting cold. As part of the town is 
 built upon a neck of swampy land, and as in antiquity a canal 
 ran through its midst, Mytilene may not always have been so 
 salubrious as the description of Cicero^ and the charming 
 account of Longos ^ would lead us to believe. It is possible 
 that some unfavorable report had reached the Roman archi- 
 tect, which he, in his desire to exemplify the disadvantages 
 attending an unwise orientation of streets, has curiously 
 exaggerated and distorted. Still, the north-northwest wind, 
 coming from the interior of this famous and pleasant island,^ 
 and the south wind, wafted across the narrow strait from the 
 orange groves of neighboring Chios, can hardly have occa- 
 sioned the coughs and distempers which Vitruvius attributed 
 to them. 
 
 In exceptionally rough weather the regular steamers from 
 Smyrna to Constantinople do not pass through the channel 
 between Lesbos and the mainland, but put directly out into 
 the open Aegean from Cape Kara Burnu.^ This being the 
 
 1 The ancient Hekatonnesoi, the islands of Apollo Hekatos. 
 
 2 Four small and uninhabited islands lying in the Channel of Mytilene, to 
 the southeast of Cape Argenon, the northeastern point of Lesbos. 
 
 3 Vitruvius, I. 6. i. 
 
 * Cicero de Lege Agrar., II. i6. 
 
 5 Longos, I. I. 
 
 6 " Insula nobilis et amoena." Tacitus, Aftti., VI. 3. 
 t The ancient Cape Melaina,
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 3 
 
 case at the time, the members of the expedition took advan- 
 tage of the passage to Constantinople kindly offered them by 
 the captain of a Turkish man-of-war, then about to leave the 
 island. 
 
 The three winter months were spent in the preparation of 
 the First Report, and the drawings which it contained. 
 
 The wQik ^of archaeological investigation during the seco nd 
 and third years, 1882 and j88^. was carried on by Mr. Francis 
 Henry Bacon, Mr. Robert Koldewey, and the write r. Particu- 
 lar acknowledgment is due to Mr. Ko ldewey. — an architec t 
 of the_ Prussian government and a thoroughly trained archg e- 
 ologist, — who, during the first year of his stay, devoted his 
 services to the undertaking without remuneration. The sur- 
 veys and restorations made at Assos were, roughly speaking, 
 so divided that Mr. Baco n, besides general topographical work, 
 i nvestigated the Ne cropolis, the Gymnasio n, and the Greek 
 Br idge . M r. Koldewey was occup ie 3~wTth the Agfora and t h e 
 buildi ngs in its vicinity , inclu ding the S toa, Bouleuterion^_anfJL 
 Gree k Bath ; while the writer, besides keeping a j ^enera l 
 chronicle of all the results ~obtamed" by the "expedition, m ade 
 s pecial studi_ es_of_the fortifications o f the city, the Templfi^any*^ 
 the Mosque upon the Acrop olis, and t heJTheat re a nd Atrium 
 of the lower town. 
 
 Mr, Joseph Silas Diiler, then holding a scholarship of 
 Harvard University, returned to the Troad in 1882 for ten 
 weeks, and completed his geological studies of the country. 
 John R. S. Sterrett, Ph. D., to whose charge the editing of 
 the inscriptions discovered at Assos had been confided, made, 
 during May and June, 1883, a careful search for epigraphical 
 materials upon the site, while studying also the inscribed 
 stones previously removed to the port. Mr. John Henry 
 Haynes, renewing his voluntary services, took nearly one
 
 4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 hundred and fifty photographs of the antiquities discovered, 
 and of picturesque features of the city and its vicinity which 
 lent themselves to this manner of representation. 
 
 During the first three weeks of the second year the excava- 
 tions were under the charge of Mr. Bacon alone, the writer's 
 return to Assos having been delayed until the end of March 
 by the preparation of the First Report. Digging was recom- 
 menced on the 8th of March, 1882, with ten men, — a number 
 gradually increased during the fortnight following to twenty- 
 five. They w ere se t to work in the^Street of TombSjjvhere the 
 substructure of the larg e^ or name nted sarcophagus (No. XVI.) 
 was first freed from the earth. The coffer itself had been 
 exposed during the excavations of the preceding year,^ but 
 the extent and the important character of the monument had 
 not then become apparent. The summit of the pedestal had 
 been supposed to be the pavement of the street7which_was, in 
 r eality, 2.3 metres~Belowl t, so that more than one half of the 
 structure still remained^ to be excavated." TlTe^altaifwhich 
 adjoi ned the pedestal was found lymg directly upon the pave- 
 ment^while fragments of the sculptured sides of the sarcopha- 
 gus were deeply buried in the earth, showing that the ancient 
 Greek road was kept clear from debris at the time when the 
 sarcophagus was broken into. A further indication of the 
 comparatively late use of the way is the fact that the stones 
 at the base of the pedestal, before being covered by the earth 
 washed down from the upper terraces and from the city 
 walls, had been shattered with a heavy hammer, in order to 
 extract the lead with which the cramps of the steps had been 
 set : a vandalism hardly to be ascribed to a time before fire- 
 arms had come into general use. The lid of the sarcophagus 
 seems to have remained balanced upon the broken sides until 
 
 1 Report, p. 127, figs. 33 and 34.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 5 
 
 very recently, as the enormous stone, — one of the heaviest 
 in Assos, — was found lying upon the surface of the earth. 
 A Doric column. formerly standin ^ of up on the eastern inner 
 cor ner of the pedestal, lay at a considerable dept h, broken in 
 __two__byJts_iaIL' Several of the steps adjoining the substruc- 
 ture of the tomb, and once leading from the paved street to 
 the terrace above, were still in position. Two archaic Greek 
 pithoi (Nos. 6 and 7), lying close to the native rock, had, at 
 the time of the erection of the tomb, been cut through in 
 digging trenches for the foundation walls of the pedestal and 
 for those of the terrace behind it. The Greek builders, how- 
 ever, evidently disturbed these archaic jars as little as possible; 
 the remaining bones, although covered with earth and stones, 
 not having been moved. 
 
 In the first_yg ar the excav ations in the Necropolis, carried 
 on for little more than a week, had been almost entirely 
 restricted to the_Jmposjng_monument^ near the_main gateway. 
 Few sarcophagi were buried in that vicinity after the erection 
 of the vaulted receiving-tombs, — the foundations of which 
 had necessitated the removal of all earlier remains. Hence 
 no discoveries of note had been made in the cemetery dur- 
 ing 1 88 1. The first of the one hundred and twenty-four Un- 
 opened sarcophagi unearthed in 1882 and 1883, were found 
 at the north of the large ornamented sarcophagus. The 
 objects in one of these monolithic coffers (No. 2), notably 
 three vessels of fine transparent glass, were among the most 
 valuable discoveries of the kind made by the expedition. 
 
 Towards the end of March a number of trenches were 
 opened on the lowest — the western — side of the Necropo- 
 lis, and were subsequently carried across all the terraces in 
 a northeasterly direction. The original levels of the street, 
 and the position of the larger burial enclosures, were thus 
 determined. This digging brought to light many ostothckai,
 
 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 containing the crumbling fragments of burnt bones. These 
 remarkable urns, of great age, were found only within a lira- 
 'ited area, and always rested directly upon the native rock. 
 So closely together did they lie, and so delicate and fragile 
 was the pottery of which they were made, that it was neces- 
 sary to use knives for the removal of the earth around them, 
 after the two specimens first found had been shattered by the 
 heavy picks. 
 
 In the mean whil e, p laster rasts p f thnsejtemple sculptures 
 ^hich had_ been discovered du ring the first year were rnade 
 by a marble worker from the island of_Tinos, Jani Laludis, 
 who had been w ith Dr.T^u mann at Pergamon.^ Three sets 
 ofltTTese casts were prepared, and forwarded respectively to the 
 w Boston Museimi of Fine Arts, the Louvre, and the Museum of 
 ' ' Berlin. But a s the only plaster to _be_p rocured was _ofJniJ£Dor 
 qu ality, and the inadequ^ f appHanrps Rt hand rnnld not- pje- 
 vpn t^ the warping of thfr* Huft moulds , the results were far 
 from satisfactory. This is the more to be regretted, as it^ 
 no w impossible to obtain new_ moulds from those reliefs 
 whic h, in the official di vision, fell to the share of the Turkish 
 governmeot. 
 
 Several days in March v^^re^o^old_t hat w ork had to be 
 suspended. On the 15th of the month a storm of snow and 
 hail drove the workmen from the trenches, and even as late 
 as the 8th of April the temperature was so low that standing 
 water in the lowlands of the Troad was covered with ice. 
 The want of comfortable quarters at Behram during this 
 inclement season, together with the attractions of the Easter 
 festival upon the island of Mytilene, caused the Greek labor- 
 ers to desert the site in a body, and excavations could not be 
 recommenced until their return on the 17th of April. Dur- 
 
 1 Humann (Carl), Die Efgebnisse der Ausgi-ahmgen zii Pergatnon. GescJiichte 
 der Unternehmung, Berlin, i8So, p. 20.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS2. 7 
 
 ing this interval the surveys and measurements were dili- 
 gently carried on. Th e e n tire field of ruins Vas search ed 
 foot by foot, and the writer had the pleasure of finding the 
 third block of the sphinxes from the western front of the 
 temple, lying half buried in the earth, face downwards, upon 
 the slope of the Acropolis. New wheelbarrows were made 
 by carpenters in Molivo, and the blunted pickaxes were sharp- 
 ened by a gypsy blacksmith who had encamped in the neigh- 
 boring village of Pasha-Kieui. 
 
 After the Easter holidays so many men were engaged that 
 it was often found impossible to collect enough small money 
 to make out the weekly wages. A great part of the business 
 of this primitive country is carried on by barter, and all the 
 small coins of silver and copper obtainable from the bakhals 
 of Behram and the neighboring villages were not sufficient 
 for the needs of the expedition, — obliged on every pay-day 
 to disburse from one hundred to one hundred and fifty med- 
 jids in small sums. As the expedient of paying several men 
 together with a gold piece proved unsatisfactory, the example 
 of the parochial churches of Mytilene was followed, and a 
 quantity of paper money, of small denominations, was issued 
 by the expedition. The bits of green cardboard, signed and 
 stamped, were readily accepted, and circulated so widely 
 throughout the southern Troad that some difficulty was ex- 
 perienced, at the close of the work, in calling in the out- 
 standing amount. 
 
 When the digging was recommenced, the entire force was 
 employed upon the terrace before the Stoa. The temple at 
 the wes tern end of jLll£_3 f^^''^ wag thoroug hly examined, and 
 the position of the neighbQring_-Stmets_and__pav^ements deter- 
 mined^siiffisi£iilIy_to_^nable Mr. Kojdewey to begin his detailed 
 syrvey of^44ve^ Stoa-and-the adjoining buildings. The rnar- 
 ble pedestal of a statue with an inscription to the Emperor
 
 8 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Constantine (II. a. d. 337-340) wasjbur 
 vestig ationSj lying buried beneath the debris accumulated in 
 the street upon the north of the temple. A new road was 
 made from the eastern side of the Acropolis^ to the port, and 
 the spliinx relief was dra.gged_down upon the sledge. 
 
 Awaiting the advance of the survey, the men were again 
 removed to the Necropolis, where the so-called Larichos 
 enclosure was thoroughly excavated. The work here re- 
 sulted in the discovery of numerous sarcophagi and cinerary 
 urns, the former containing pottery, glass, strigils, coins, and 
 some few ornaments of gold and silver. Together with these 
 were the two best preserved and most ancient skulls found at 
 Assos, — discoveries of far greater value to science than could 
 have been the richest treasures of precious metal. The one, 
 antedating the Persian war, was in a large pithos (No. 5) ; 
 the other, referable to the second century b. c, in a mono- 
 lithic sarcophagus (No. 32) of the Larichos enclosure. Sev- 
 eral inscribed stones were also unearthed. On the 22d of 
 April, thirteen, and on the 24th, no less than seventeen 
 previously unopened sarcophagi were brought to light. 
 
 TiTjjie following week excavajions were resumed upon the 
 
 Ac ropolis, whe re was found the largest of t heepistylel^efs 
 of the temple, — the four centaurs with horses' fore-legs! The 
 workmen remained upon the Acropolis until the 13th of May, 
 the diggin g being fu rther_re warded ^y^^^econd block of the 
 ce ntaur relief, the paw_ of the acroterion griffin, an important 
 fragment of the ornamented terra-cotta gutter of the temple,. 
 and_ajijnscri^tion-mnf3lJaIii°;la n invent^ ry_of the chattels of 
 the buildmgjtsslf. 
 
 Greek-festivals oc currin g during the first part of_May^inter- 
 rupted the work for several days. This opportunity was 
 taken by Mr. Koldewey and by the writer to make a journey 
 through a previously unvisited tract in the interior of the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S2. g 
 
 Troad, lying between Assos and Lecton on the south, and 
 Alexandreia Troas and Neandreia on the north. Besides the 
 ruins of the three towns last mentioned, those of Sminthe, 
 Tragasa, and Larissa, were explored, as well as those of sev- 
 eral ancient villlages the names of which are not known, — j 
 especial attention being devoted to their bearing upon the 
 remains at Assos. The most important discovery was that 
 of the site of Polymedion, on the coast, opposite Methymna. 
 A month later instruments were brought to this interesting 
 locality, which was carefully surveyed, some digging being 
 necessary in order to follow the circuit of the fortifications, 
 and to ascertain the extent of the sacred grove which occu- 
 pied the summit of the Acropolis in place of the customary 
 temple. Eight days were devoted to these investigations at 
 Polymedion, the results of which will be given in a separate 
 publication of the Archaeological Institute. 
 
 On the 17th of May excavations w ere beguj i_ ?^i- the ^ ,^<if- 
 ern end of th e Agora, the foundatio ns of_ th e Bo uleulerion 
 bei ng laid ba re7 wh ile the stairways at the south and w est 
 were cleared. A mass of debris was removed from the 
 Greek cistern on a lower terraceTthe existence of which had 
 become known during~tHe first year.^ Within this sub t^- 
 raneanva ult were d iscovered, in a fine state of preservation, 
 thejmarble h ead of a heroic statue, and several additional 
 fragments— of thfi insrrihed_stele_£ublished as^No. 3 in the 
 First Report.^ The accumulated earth was found to be mixed 
 l yith man y sherds of water vessels of the Byzantine period, 
 and with the bones of domesti c an i ma ls. It was removed 
 through the narrow orifice by means of baskets and ropes, 
 and was carefully sifted in the open air. 
 
 1 Report, p. 37. 
 
 2 Report, Appendix, No. 3. Also, Sterrett (John Robert Sitlington), Tiiscrip- 
 tions 0/ Assos ; Archa;ological Institute of America, Boston, 1SS5, No. XXVllI.
 
 lO ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The Bouleuterion proved to be a construction of much in- 
 terest and importance. Upon its plan were discovered sev- 
 erajLiiiscribeiLsipne^some of which had been built into the 
 d iagonal w alls of a late res t oratio n. All of the men could 
 not be employed upon this spot, and a part of the gang was 
 removed to the front of the Stoa and to the terraces below its 
 retaining walls. The detailed examination of the long__col- 
 onnade, the place of assemblage before the bema, and the 
 ramps and steps leading to the upper town, was a work of 
 great_exl£lit, which thenceforthjreceived uninterrupted atten- 
 tion for more Jthan a year, two or three men being always 
 here employed to clear the pavements, stairways, pedestals, 
 and water-courses, and to aid in the surveys and measure- 
 ments, Tl^e intimate 3cquaiftta{ice^J:hus obtained with the 
 closflxTiirL^^^lsd group_of_ structures s urrounding the market- 
 place has proved to be on e of the_most important results of 
 thejnvestigations. 
 
 During the latter days of May and the first week of June 
 the greater part of the force was engaged at the theatre, the 
 thorough investigation of which occupied twenty men for 
 three weeks. The marble columns which support ed t he 
 st age, th e-Wal£rrWork s for cool ing anJTIraining the enclosure, 
 and both the vomitoria, were thus discovered, while a con- 
 siderable extent of the seats and jjassages of the auditorium, 
 and of the encircling stairs and streets outride the structure, 
 wPTf ; frppd _iro m earth . On the completion of this task most 
 of the laborers were again set to work in the Necropolis. 
 Only a few remained within the town, where, on the loth of 
 Ju ne, they had the good fortune to bring to light the longest 
 inscription f"un d g t A & sos^ buried be neath the pavement of 
 a Christian__apg£L.bui lt into the small templ e at the western 
 ^end of the Agora. 
 
 While excavating those monumental tombs and burial en-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1882. u 
 
 closures which were situated at some distance from the prin- 
 cipal gate, thirty unopened sarcophagi (Nos. 52 to 82) were 
 found. The number of cinerary urns was by this time nine- 
 teen ; of pithoi, seven. The coffers contained the usual 
 quantity of small articles ; the figurini, the coins of Assos, 
 and the neckband, ring, and beads of gold, belonging to this 
 series, all being of especial value. 
 
 Notwithstanding the heat and stifling dust of July and 
 August, the excavations were actively carried on, the number 
 of men being gradually increased to forty-one. The outfit 
 of the expedition did not furnish picks and wheelbarrows for 
 more. After the 27th of June this force was directed to the 
 most extensive task of the undertaking, namely, the thorough 
 examination of the enormous mass of earth and stones which 
 had accumulated beneath the terrace of the Agora, between 
 its retaining wall and the upper seats of the theatre. For 
 nearly ten weeks, until the 9th of September, the whole at- 
 tention of the expedition was directed to this locality, from 
 which much had been expected. There was, indeed, every 
 probability that many antique remains would be found in this 
 enormous heap of rubbish, where all the public records and 
 works of art which must once have stood upon the Agora and 
 in the adjoining buildings would naturally have been cast 
 by pillagers of the city. The experience of all previous in- 
 vestigators upon ancient sites had shown that considerable 
 deposits of antiques, especially fragments of sculpture and 
 inscriptions, existed in the chutes formed by the overthrow 
 of the smaller monuments adorning such centres of civic life. 
 In so far as the earth beneath the Agora of Assos had been 
 examined during the first year, the results had borne out this 
 presumption. Almost all the inscriptions published in the 
 first Report, among them the valuable bronze tablet with the 
 oath taken by the Assians on the accession of Caligula, were
 
 12 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 found in the ruins of Byzantine buildings, situated just below 
 the Bouleuterion. But, however well grounded, these expec- 
 tations were almost entirely disappointed, during the long 
 work of the second year. The movable objects discovered, 
 marble carvings, inscriptions, and the like, were few, — in 
 themselves not sufficient to repay the expense of the work. 
 - TrvRPJiit-'gct'irn^ re^ppri- s, on theotherJtiaiid^_thi^ 
 eminently productive. At the east were found two rooms, 
 paved with exceptionally fine and early_mosaics, the one rep- 
 resenting the coat of arms of the_ city, tw o crouching griffins , 
 t he other a y enderjjf Cupids, with Nikes and tripods at_eith^er 
 side^ T he monu m ental flight of s jeps leading from the street 
 belo w to J:h p mi d dl e of the Agora, the Heroon. a nd, above a ll, 
 thejiniqu e Gree k-JBath, wi th its three stories sur mounted by 
 a broad col onnad e, must be considered a m ong the most strik- 
 ing result s of the exp ^dilion. 
 
 Five of the nine weeks were devoted to this edifice. The 
 greater part of the cisterns, and three of the lowe r chambe rs 
 were thoroughly excavated. This was a work of considerable 
 difficulty, as the heavy sto nes of the_ ^upergtructure entirely 
 covered th e plan . Near the northwestern corner, on the level 
 of the Agora, was found the remarkable standard of roofing 
 tiles, but no objects of interest were brought to light within 
 the building itself. 
 
 On thesouth of the. adjoining street thejemains of_a_Ro- 
 man b Mh were discov ered. These had been too much injured 
 by their continued employment during Byzantine ages, and es- 
 pecially by the reconstruction of the chief halls as a Christian 
 church, to warrant the expenditure of much time and labor 
 in their exploration. Still, four chambers were excavated 
 which appeared to have been buried at an earlier epoch than 
 the rest. In them were found the fragments of two inscrip- 
 tions, dedicatmg the bath and its belongings to Julia Aphro-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 13 
 
 dite.'^and thus giving an accurate date for the construction. 
 The workmen highly approved of researches in this vicinity, 
 as they were allowed to carry off such of the large coarse 
 paving tiles and drain pipes as were of no value in the inves- 
 tigation. At the end of the day each of the Greeks went 
 down to the port laden with as much of this earthenware as 
 he could carry upon his shoulders. The tiles were used to 
 pave bakers' ovens ; the pipes, as gutters for roofs. When 
 the writer passed along the northern coast of the island of 
 Mytilene, some months afterwards, every village seemed to 
 be thus provided. 
 
 I n th e caldarium of the bath the spa ce between the sus- 
 pensurge ^beneath the floor, was found to be still filled w ith 
 fine wood ashes, which, being whirled into the air by the 
 high winds, covered everything in the neighborhood with a 
 thick white coat. It was a picturesque sight, at nightfall 
 after work in this locality, to see the men standing in a long 
 row on the large stones of the ancient mole which still pro- 
 ject above the water. Here they washed before their evening 
 meal, which, like the laborers of classic antiquity, they not 
 unfrequently ate in the dark. 
 
 On the 4th of September, as the funds at the disposal of 
 the expedition ran low, it was necessary to dismiss a great 
 number of the men. A week later, those remaining were 
 transferred to the Gymnasion and its vicinity ; but on the 
 1 8th, many of these had also to be sent away. During Octo- 
 ber only seven men were employed, chiefly in removing small 
 banks of earth, and in aiding the surveys and detailed meas- 
 urements. In an undertaking directed merely towards treas- 
 ure-trove, such a diminution in the number of laborers would 
 have been equivalent to an entire cessation of work. This 
 was not the case at Assos. The delay rendered it possible 
 for the explorers, released from the superintendence of the dig-
 
 H 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 ging, to carry on the investigations necessary for determining 
 the character of the most recent discoveries. The members 
 of the expedition were at no time more busily or more prof- 
 itably employed than during these weeks, when the results 
 previously obtained were collected and systematized. 
 
 Asgns_i p this resp ect present ed peculiar_difficulties. The 
 degree of demolition was such as to make it seem, at first 
 sight, that architectural investigations were here altogether 
 hopeless. The wall s within the c it y had everywhe re been 
 levelled to the present surface of the earth, and in those cases 
 where the buildings were_elevatediipQrL^artificia]_ terraces the 
 foundatiojis the mselves had be en washed away by torrents_of 
 winter rain. Throughout the entire city, lessjhan half a-dozefiL 
 c^umns vvere_stilLerect, and even these were without entabla- 
 tures and capitals. Notjine stone r emained in posilTon abo ve_ 
 the^^feps of the great temp le. Retaining walls_and ramparts, 
 sufficiently-heavy to withstand the wanton destruction of man, 
 had_beejilhrowrLguL_ofjDositipn by the many^evere earth- 
 quakes which Assos4ias-experienced. An enormous mass of 
 masonry, for instance, bordering the Agora upon the south, 
 overhung the bath by more than half a metre ; while t he be d- 
 joints of_a fortificati on wall t lii£e--jnetr£S^J±djckjEQrniing part 
 of t he eastern enclosur ejjyerg_iifte.d^tojLn^ angle oL n^ol^less 
 tjiaiTi^ifteen_degrees. 
 
 The vestiges which had surv ived this terri bl e dem olitjon 
 were buried beneath stoaesialkft-fr&m^4Jie,up£ex jajt of the 
 bjJiTr[;ngc^ qnH gppprall y also beneat h some accumulationjpf 
 earth. This had been overgrown by dwarf oak bushes, inter- 
 twined with briers, and as these are the only forms of vege- 
 tation spared by the browsing goats and camels, they had 
 covered the heaps of debris with low, impenetrable thickets. 
 Such was the aspect of the entire site on the writer's first 
 visit to Assos in 1879. .
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 15 
 
 The work of recovery was begun by burning the bushes. 
 In the dry season the tangled mass took fire readily, and the 
 roaring and crackling flame quickly swept away the patches 
 of green which covered the heaps of moss-grown ruins. The 
 formless rubbish was then removed, and, when the position 
 of the ancient walls became recognizable, trenches were dug 
 on either side to determine their character and extent. Every 
 block still retaining_^ts original sliapg, whether belonging or 
 not to the ed^ce^uppnjvhose plan it^ was found, was meas- 
 ured and drawn to a unifo rm^ scale, generally i : 20. It was 
 wonderful how this "o rder gave each thi ng view." While 
 the plan of a b uil ding could be followed by_ the^J^oundation 
 walls, if not by marks upon the pavement, the elevations 
 were recomposed . upon paper , bit by bit, froi ii_LhgJ[ragments 
 br ought to li.2|h tu_^ The height_gf_the columns, and conse- 
 quently also that of the stories in which they were employed, 
 b ecame evident from a comparison of the proportional dimi- 
 nuti on of all the drums with the diameter traced upon the "^ ^ 
 stylobate, and with that of the necking of the capitals. The 
 _Kole s for dovv els__ajnd._cramps of metal provided the most 
 absol ute proof of contiguity; and even the position of the 
 sep arate stones in cour ses long overthrown c ould be deter- 
 mined_from the shift.,.holes which it was customary through- 
 out Greek antiquity to cut upon the beds beneath them. In 
 short, it is not too much to say that one intimately acquainted — 
 -with the architectural methods and details of the ancients 
 can reconstruct their edifices with absolute certainty through 
 a close study of overthrown and widely scattered stones, — 
 just as a naturalist, from a handful of fossil bones, can pre- 
 sent the image and describe the very habits of an animal 
 which for thousands of years has had no living represent- 
 ative. 
 
 The task of tracing the con nection between the architec- 
 
 C^nij
 
 1 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 UmaLjli£nibexs_was_complicated, in this case, through their 
 having been scattered over the entire site by later Byzantine 
 RnH Turkish builders. Stones o£th^ju£]3eri_storx i)f the Stoa 
 h ad been u^ed for the Christia n churc h on the terrace below 
 Q^ j the Agora; a c apital, an entab lature, and the lintel and jambs 
 o? a d oor from the lower town , together withj nany blo cks 
 from th e summit qf_ the Acropolis, had been built into the 
 mosgiie ; beams of the coffered ceiling of the great temple 
 had been employed in late structures that stood at the east of 
 the Bouleuterion, and at the south of the Gymnasion. The 
 fitting together of such disjecta membra in some cases in- 
 volved more than a thousand measurements. The homo- 
 gen eous cha racter— of -the material was the source of even 
 greater difficulty. Without a single exception, the buildings 
 of Assos, from the archaic Greek temple to the most recent 
 hovels of Behram village, were built of the second andesite. 
 Thus, while in the investigations among other ruins — for 
 instance, those of the neighboring Pergamon — th e color an d 
 gr ain o f the various lim estones were among the most readily 
 r ecognizab le and trustvvprthy indications, at Assos all w as 
 indistinguishable. To this may be added the fact tha t the 
 andesite, although in "general suffering but little from weather- 
 ing, is easily chipped and split, so that projecting mouldings 
 were frequently broken off altogether. 
 
 During the second and third weeks of September, the 
 writer profited by the presence of Mr. Diller to visit with 
 him a large part of the western and southern Troad, the 
 Theban plain to the south of Adramyttion, and the tract 
 between this and Kisthene known as Aphrodisias. The 
 route included all the coasts of the mainland bordering the 
 gulf. A rapid survey was made of the ruins on Qozlou-dagh, 
 referred to in the.first Report as Lamponeia, and a remark- 
 able fastness was discovered upon the very summit of Mount
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. I'j 
 
 Ida, enelosing a spring which rises but a few steps from the 
 highest peaks. These explorations, interesting alike in geo- 
 logical and topographical respects, were continued beyond the 
 head-waters of the Aisepos, to an ancient site where various 
 fragments of marble sculptures in relief were found, and sub- 
 sequently removed to Assos. 
 
 On the 26th and 27th of September, while the digging was 
 being carried on with but few workmen, a number of most 
 welcome guests were entertained at Assos : Prof. W. W. 
 Goodwin, of Harvard University, then on his way to Athens 
 as first director of the American School, Prof. R. C. Jebb, of 
 the University of Glasgow, Frank Calvert, Esq., and three 
 ladies. Professor Jebb has published an interesting account 
 of his journey through the Troad on this occasion, making 
 also some comment upon the work at Assos. ^ 
 
 This opportunity may not pass without mention of the 
 obligations under which the expedition stands to Mr. Calvert. 
 His friendly assistance was given on all possible occasions, 
 — to the undertaking itself, as well as to every member of 
 the exploring party who was so fortunate as to visit the 
 well-known farm at Thymbra, or the hospitable house at the 
 Dardanelles. A familiarity with all parts of the Troad, com- 
 bined with exceptional interest and information in various 
 branches of scientific research, rendered his aid of the great- 
 est value. To say this is but to repeat the testimony of every 
 scholar of our generation who has worked in this part of 
 Asia^ Minor.^ _ 
 
 1 Jebb (Richard Claverhouse), A Tour in the Troad. Fortnightly Review, 
 No. CXCVI., London, 1SS3. 
 
 2 Stark (Carl Bernhard), Jenaer Literatiirzeituns^, Jena, 1877, No. XLIV. 
 " Jeder der seit Jahrzehnten . . . Gelegenheit gehabt hat an den Dardancllen und 
 in der troischen Ebene zu weilen, kennt den Namen der Familie Calvert, und 
 weiss dankbar zu riihmen was bcsonders Frank Calvert durch immcr neue 
 Untersuchungen und durch uneigenniitzige Unterstiitzung und Bcrathungen 
 der Reisenden der Erforschung jener Gegend und ihrer Alterthiimer geniitzt
 
 1 8 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 A ssos is SO far aside from the more freqijented highways 
 that visitors w ere rare. The next were two very humble 
 German HandwerksburscJien, brewers by trade, who were pur- 
 suing a somewhat devious course homeward from Smyrna. 
 In default of the wonted Zehrpfennige of their native villages, 
 they had supported themselves on the road by peddling small 
 packages of polishing-powder of their own manufacture. One 
 had walked all the way from Persia, across Asia Minor. They 
 were glad to work for a time in the survey, and made them- 
 selves exceedingly useful. 
 
 After the 6th of November, funds having been received, 
 the full force was again engaged, and the digging at the 
 Gymnasion was at last completed. Towards the close of the 
 month the men were divided into small gangs, and were em- 
 ployed upon the Agora, in the Street of Tombs, and upon 
 several parts of the fortifications. As it was then thought it 
 might be necessary to end all excavations at Assos with the 
 season of 1882, every exertion was made to complete the most 
 important investigations before the advent of that midwinter 
 month of Lenaion, the cold of which is as terrible to the 
 modern as to the ancient laborer.^ The men dug on Sun- 
 days, feast-days, and even on Christmas, for, great as the 
 superstition of the Greeks certainly is, it yields to their ambi- 
 tion and their love of money. It was not even found neces- 
 sary to increase the wages on these days, as had been done 
 
 hat." Compare also the same writer in his N'ach dent griechischat Orient, 
 Heidelberg, 1874. 
 
 Prof. Dr. Ascherson, director of the Botanical Museum of Prussia, says, in 
 his Beih-ag zur Flora des nordwestlichen Kleinasiens (Jahresbiicher des Botaui- 
 schen Museums, Berlin, 18S3) : "Calvert, dessen vielseitiger wissenschaftlicher 
 Bildung und lebhaftem Interesse Naturwissenschaften und Archaologie schon 
 manchen dankenswerthen Beitrag verdanken. . . ." 
 
 1 See Hesiod's fine description of the rigors of Lenaion in the Works and 
 Days, 504-563-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 19 
 
 by Dr. Schliemann at the neighboring Hissarlik ; ^ the Chris- 
 tians at Assos were unable to demand such a discrimination, 
 as the Mohammedans had, from the first, worked for the 
 usual pay on Fridays. 
 
 The orthodox Greeks had, indeed, far greater objections to 
 working on the many saints' days than on Sundays, always 
 declaring that, if they should fail in honoring him, the saint 
 in question would do them some evil. Their convictions in 
 this respect were very decided. It happened that on such a 
 iravijyvpa, earlier in the year, the writer was helping a num- 
 ber of Turkish workmen to move one of the inscribed epistyle 
 blocks of the Bath, when it fell upon his foot, which was so 
 crushed as to prevent his walking for three weeks. The 
 accident was regarded by the Greeks as a clear evidence 
 that the offended saint had interceded, not for good, but 
 for ill. It proved of but little moment, since, by following 
 a roundabout ascent, the field of ruins could be visited on 
 horseback. 
 
 That the greatest care was taken in laying out and super- 
 intending the work will be evident from the fact that, in 
 spite of the danger of digging in deep pits and trenches, from 
 the sides of which enormous beams of stone often projected, no 
 serious accident occurred during the three years. One Greek 
 laborer was knocked down by a slide of earth beneath the 
 retaining wall of the Agora, and, as his complaints were so 
 pitiful that internal injuries were feared, he was at once taken 
 across the strait to the village doctor of Skamnia. But he 
 returned in a fortnight, asking to be employed again. Even 
 apart from the relatively greater risk of the excavations, this 
 compares favorably with the general statistics of earthwork 
 and railroad building. The official records of France, for in- 
 
 ^ Schliemann (Heinrich), //ios, City and Country of the Trojans, London, 
 iSSo, p. 661 ; and Troja, London, 1884, p. 11.
 
 20 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Stance, show an average of one individual maimed in the 
 expenditure of each $40,000. 
 
 The Greeks were light-spirited, and even somewhat fool- 
 hardy, in the work ; but the Turks, while of greater strength 
 and bravery, were more quiet and careful. The latter were 
 always chosen for posts requiring especial steadiness and en- 
 durance, such as the tottering upper courses of the towers 
 and walls, and the narrow pits sunk between overthrown 
 blocks in order to examine the sills of the great gateways. 
 After the trustworthiness of Omer, the head workman of the 
 Turks, had become known, he was permitted to carry the 
 heavy and extremely delicate transit instrument from place 
 to place, over heaps of rocks and up steep ascents. His 
 strength and fineness of touch in this responsible task were 
 remarkable. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the efforts made to hasten the work 
 after the arrival of funds, it was still found impossible to bring 
 the investigations to an entirely satisfactory conclusion by the 
 end of the second season. The removal of the deep earth ac- 
 cumulated beneath the Agora had occupied the busiest months 
 of the year, and had required more time than could have been 
 foreseen in laying out the work. As has been explained, the 
 small force of men employed during September and October 
 had been able to accomplish but little. And yet it was the 
 intention of the promoters of the undertaking, as well as the 
 great desire of those intrusted with its execution, to leave 
 nothing henceforth to be done upon the site of Assos, — even 
 by the most careful gleaner. 
 
 Therefore, in a letter addressed to the committee of the 
 Archaeological Institute shortly before the suspension of the 
 excavations in December, 1882, it was recommended that 
 the work should be prosecuted during a third season, — as 
 long as was permitted by the irade, which had been granted
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1882. 21 
 
 in May, i88i, for a term of two years. The responsibility 
 of this proposal was seriously felt. It threw a great burden 
 upon the members of the committee, who, with limited means, 
 were then, in addition to the work at Assos, carrying on 
 extensive researches in the field of American archaeology. 
 
 The considerations upon which the recommendation was 
 founded were, however, of decisive weight. Much remained 
 to be freed from earth before the investigations could be 
 regarded as absolutely thorough, and the recovery of the 
 ancient city as complete as it could be made. Upon the 
 Agora it was necessary to remove a mass of debris accumu- 
 lated between the Stoa and the Bouleuterion, south of the 
 great flig ht of st airs, in_ordeiL_io det grmTnpr jh e ch aractex of 
 the monument there existing, — which subsequently proved 
 to be the chief bema of the town. The ends of the reservoir, 
 also, and the juncture between it and the Stoa, were yet to 
 be examined. The unique importance of the market-place 
 at Assos rendered the thorough investigation of all points in 
 its vicinity a matter of the greatest moment. As it had al- 
 ready proved to be the most complete and interesting Greek 
 Agora known, no stone should be left unturned which could 
 throw further light upon the arrangement and appearance of 
 the buildings surrounding it. Equal in importance and 
 extent was the work still to be done upon the fortifications of 
 the city. No digging had hitherto been attempted at several 
 of the gates of the ancient enclosure. They were constantly 
 used by the Turkish inhabitants of Behram, and it was 
 thought advisable to defer the trouble which must arise from 
 any interference with these thoroughfares until towards the 
 close of the undertaking. At the Gymnasion, work remained 
 sufficient to occupy a large body of men for two or three 
 weeks ; the same was the case with the main street of the 
 city, between the great eastern gate and the Agora. The
 
 22 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 exceptionally well preserved ruins of a structure in the lower 
 town, called, upon the map of the first year, a Roman portico, 
 had not been examined at all. And, finally, the investigations 
 at the Necropolis were incomplete, there still remaining, at 
 some distance from the city walls, a mausoleum, which subse- 
 quently proved to be among the most interesting structures 
 of its kind. To this it must be added, that no photographs 
 fit for publication had been taken during the past summer, as 
 the gelatine was frilled by the great heat ; and also, that no 
 professional epigraphist had visited the site to examine those 
 inscriptions which could not be carried away at the close of 
 the work. 
 
 Circumstances of recent occurrence, not immediately con- 
 nected with the undertaking, gave exceptional emphasis to this 
 recommendation. The Turkish Ministry of Public Instruction 
 had, a short time before, annulled the existing laws con- 
 cerning excavations within the limits of the Ottoman Empire, 
 and had resolved thenceforth to grant no further permission 
 to excavate, and even to forbid the sale and exportation of 
 all antiques discovered in the Turkish dominions. It thus 
 appeared more than probable that the Archaeological Insti- 
 tute was engaged in its last, as well as its first undertaking 
 upon classic soil, from which the acquisition of ancient re- 
 mains could be hoped ; the laws of Greece having long 
 restricted freedom of archaeological investigation, and for- 
 bidden the export of antiquities. This made it especially 
 desirable that the explorations at Assos should be completed 
 with the utmost thoroughness, — even though the resources 
 of the Institute should be taken up for some years to come. 
 
 The recommendation was adopted by the committee, and 
 the requisite funds were promptly subscribed by a number of 
 gentlemen interested in the progress of the work. It was 
 soon learned by telegraph from Boston to Assos that ample
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 23 
 
 means had been provided for the continuation of the excava- 
 tions during a third season. 
 
 During the first three weeks and a half of December, the 
 staff of men, gradually decreasing in number from twenty- 
 three to twelve, was employed in the Street of Tombs. But 
 the progress was not rapid, as many rainy days interfered 
 with the work, and water stood deep in the pits and trenches. 
 On the 26th of the month Mr. Koldewey and the writer left 
 the site for Athens. Digging and sledging went on for ten 
 days longer, under the superintendence of Mr. Bacon, after 
 which time the investigations were suspended. Even six 
 weeks before, the streets of the little village and the landing 
 at its port had ceased to be a place of assemblage for the 
 country people. The patrons of the various cafes sat in the 
 smoky interiors, huddled together over basins of burning 
 charcoal. The doors of the windowless hovels, always open 
 during the warm season, were now tightly closed ; within 
 hibernated the women and children, wrapped in the gaily 
 colored rugs which they had woven during the long rain- 
 storms of the early winter. The very dogs had hidden them- 
 selves away, seeking shelter in corners of the many unoccupied 
 houses which attest the greater extent of Behram in former 
 ages. To one riding into the squalid village during this bit- 
 terly cold season, the place seemed uninhabited, — the settle- 
 ment of the Turkish conquerors itself a ruin. 
 
 The writer returned to the Troad alone, on the 2Sth of 
 January, 1883. The beginning of the digging was delayed 
 for more than a week by the slowness of the Kaimaqam of 
 Alvadjyq in appointing a successor to the official supervisor 
 of the work, who was prevented by illness from resuming his 
 functions. The post was ultimately assigned to Hadji Chris- 
 tos, the Greek merchant living at the port, whose friendly
 
 24 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 service to the members of the expedition, on their first arrival 
 at the site, has been referred to.^ 
 
 With eighteen men, all that could be brought together at 
 this time of the year, work was commenced at that structure 
 of the lower town designated upon the plan of the first Re- 
 port as a Roman portico. As the excavations advanced, 
 this proved to be the atrium of a large palace-like dwelling. 
 With exception of the Christian churches and the Turkish 
 mosque, it was the building of latest date examined at Assos ; 
 but it was well constructed, and, in design, proved of interest 
 as exemplifying the persistent retention of Hellenic forms 
 late into the ages of Roman rule. It furnished an additional 
 example of the civic architecture of the Greeks, the devel- 
 opment and adaptability of which is so well shown by the 
 monuments of Assos. 
 
 During February the work was carried forward under great 
 difficulties. The loth of the month was the coldest day of 
 the year, and a fortnight later there were long-continued 
 storms of hail and snow, which put a stop to all digging. 
 Nevertheless, it was found possible to advance the excavation 
 of the Atrium so rapidly as to allow a part of the gang to be 
 transferred to the Stoa, and to the small aediculas at the west 
 of that building, — thus preparing the way for the further 
 surveys of Mr. Koldewey, who arrived at Assos on the ist 
 of March. The digging at the Atrium being by that time 
 entirely completed, all the men, now over forty in number, 
 were employed in the vicinity of the market-place and among 
 the tombs. In both of these fields the work was richly re- 
 warded : at the Stoa, Hereon, and Greek Bath, by finding 
 inscriptions and architectural fragments which went far to- 
 wards solving the various problems of arrangement and con- 
 struction presented by these edifices ; in the Necropolis, by 
 
 1 Report, p. 20.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 25 
 
 the discovery of the finest figurini, vases, and coins obtained 
 during the entire course of the excavations. The 24th of 
 March was a day of good fortune. Several sarcophagi of 
 great age were found, among them No. 87, containing a num- 
 ber of archaic figures. Six hours digging on that day resulted 
 in more valuable discoveries than had been made in this lo- 
 cality for half a year. 
 
 Mr. Bacon having returned to the site early in April, all 
 the workmen were, during this last month of the undertaking, 
 engaged in the Street of Tombs. The number of laborers 
 was maintained at the maximum of forty-five until the 24th 
 of April, when the Easter holidays caused the usual break in 
 the ranks of the Greeks. The minor Greek festivals were 
 not permitted to interfere with the work, which was prose- 
 cuted with the utmost diligence, all the men being employed 
 on Sundays whenever showers had caused any considerable 
 interruption during the week. 
 
 Finally, on the ist of May, the excavations were brought to 
 a close. Throughout the ancient city, every point which it 
 had seemed advisable to expose had been freed from earth, — 
 excepting only one small corner, about seven by five meters, at 
 the western end of the Stoa, beneath the ramp which ascends 
 to the terrace above. So closely had the work been calculated 
 that forty-eight hours more would have sufficed to clear this 
 spot. But the fear of giving the Turkish officials even the 
 slightest pretext for delaying the division of the objects dis- 
 covered, or perhaps even for refusing the grant of those to 
 which the promoters of the undertaking were entitled by the 
 terms of the agreement, prevented any removal of the earth 
 after the expiration of the iradc^ — although for some time 
 there had been no attempt whatever on the part of the 
 Turkish government to keep track of the movements of the 
 explorers. Thus it is not known, and in all probability never
 
 26 ARCHALOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 will be known, what treasures may lie concealed beneath that 
 heap of debris near the entrance to the ancient market-place, 
 left for the last because of its comparative unimportance. 
 
 Early in the year the Turkish Ministry of Public Instruc- 
 tion had been formally requested to send an agent who should 
 make the prescribed division and allotment of the antiques 
 discovered by the expedition.^ The delay of a decision in 
 this matter for some six weeks after the close of the excava- 
 tions was more than compensated for by the excellence of 
 the official appointment. Demetrios Bey Baltazzi, a gentle- 
 man who has rendered many services to classical archseology 
 in the Levant, was named as commissioner, and, during two 
 visits to Assos, — from the i6th to the 2ist of June, and 
 from the 27th of June to the 2d of July, — effected a settle- 
 ment entirely just and satisfactory to both parties. 
 
 The iradc under which the excavations had been under- 
 taken was framed in accordance with the laws concerning 
 antiquities promulgated by the Porte in 1874.^ In regard to 
 the final division these laws determined that one third of the 
 objects discovered should be granted to the owner of the land 
 where they are found, and one third to the finder, while the 
 remaining third should become the property of the Turkish 
 government.^ At Assos the entire extent of the ancient city, 
 
 1 Article XXIX. of the Turkish laws relative to antiques, referred to in the 
 following note, determines that the excavators and the Ministry of Public In- 
 struction shall each appoint an expert to estimate the value of the indivisible 
 objects discovered, and to effect a division of them, — provision being made 
 that a third shall be called as umpire in case of disagreement. 
 
 2 The laws on antiques, promulgated Sefer 20, 1291, are given by Aristarchi 
 Bey, Legislatio7i Ottomane, vol. iii., troisieme division, Constantinople, 1875, 
 pp. 161-167. 
 
 3 " Article III. Toute antiquite non decouverte (gisant sous sol), dans 
 quelque endroit qu'elle se trouve, appartient au gouvernement. Quant aux 
 antiquites trouvdes par ceux qui effectueraient des fouilles par autorisation, un 
 tiers appartiendra au gouvernement, un autre tiers au trouveur et le reste 
 au proprietaire du terrain ou les antiquites ont ete trouvees. Si le trouveur a
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 27 
 
 within the walls, is vakoiif} — a domain set apart for the main- 
 tenance of the mosques, — and hence, in so far as the point 
 in question is concerned, a domain of the state. Two thirds 
 of all the objects discovered were therefore exacted by the 
 Ministry of Public Instruction. The only private enclosure 
 where excavations had been made was the level field lying to 
 the west of the Street of Tombs, the site of the ancient Sta- 
 dion, which had been recently reclaimed and sown with wheat. 
 The owner of this ground had sold to the expedition, for the 
 sum of three Turkish pounds, the right to dig in certain parts 
 of the field, ceding also that portion of the antique objects 
 which would by law fall to his share. But the discoveries 
 here, apart from the important mausoleum with the barrel- 
 vaulted ceiling, were only some half-dozen vessels of coarse 
 pottery, not of sufficient value to render it advisable to enter 
 a protest against a general division on the terms before men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Attention was first devoted to the coins, — of which nearly 
 three thousand had been discovered. Those of gold were at 
 once set aside for consideration with the ornaments of pre- 
 cious metal. Sixty of the coins of silver and bronze were of 
 especial interest on account of the positions in which they 
 had been discovered : in sarcophagi, the ages of which were 
 thereby determined ; under walls and pavements, thus refer- 
 able to subsequent dates ; and in accumulations of Byzantine 
 and mediaeval debris, attesting the overthrow and desertion 
 of the various sites. As these coins were of greater impor- 
 
 trouve ses antiquites dans sa propriete, les deux tiers seront a lui et le reste 
 au gouvernement." 
 
 1 The laws governing vakoiif proi^erty are given in the Lcs^islation Otto- 
 mane, before quoted, vol. i., section dcuxieme, Constantinople, 1873, PP- -4^~ 
 249. There is still no better popular explanation of this peculiar institution of 
 the Turks than that given by Mouradja d'Ohsson (Ignace de), Tableau ghiiral 
 de r Empire Othoman, Paris, 178S-1824.
 
 28 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 tance to the expedition than to the Turkish Museum, the 
 bulk of them was kindly granted to the investigators by 
 Baltazzi Bey, who chose as an equivalent one hundred and 
 twenty of the best preserved specimens remaining. He did 
 not think it worth while to sort and count the oxidized and 
 defaced coins, but weighed out the twenty-five pounds or more 
 with scales borrowed from the village bakhal, allotting alter- 
 nately one oke to the American, and two to the Turkish share. 
 This method of division was, it is true, somewhat crude ; but, 
 as the pieces were well mixed together, it was impossible to 
 complain of it as unjust. Nine hundred and eight coins thus 
 became the property of the expedition, two hundred and fifty- 
 seven of which were of numismatical interest, and had been 
 identified without the aid of a specialist. Among these were 
 no less than one hundred and twenty-two coins of Assos it- 
 self, many of them of silver : the finest specimens, and all the 
 imperial types minted by the city, being obtained in exchange 
 for certain coins of the Diadochi and Byzantines, of greater 
 intrinsic, but of less scientific value. 
 
 On the 28th of June a division was made of the temple re- 
 liefs. In this important matter it was more difficult to reach 
 a satisfactory conclusion, and it was only after much persua- 
 sion, and by giving up to the Porte all the fragments of 
 bronze sculptures discovered during the excavations, that the 
 expedition secured the two finest blocks of the epistyle, — 
 namely, the Herakles with the human-legged centaurs, and 
 the two heraldic sphinxes from the eastern front of the build- 
 ing, superior to all the others in workmanship and of better 
 preservation. 
 
 An especial arrangement was made in regard to the in- 
 scriptions. The commissioner considered the value of the 
 bronze tablet, with the oath of the Assians to Caligula, as 
 equal to twice that of all the inscribed stones together, and »
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 29 
 
 could not be prevailed upon to make any allotment by which 
 the Porte would be obliged to relinquish this treasure. The 
 possession of the tablet was, indeed, greatly to be desired, 
 as it is one of the largest and best preserved among the few 
 bronze inscriptions remaining from Greek antiquity. Al- 
 though its patina of brilliant green and blue had been almost 
 entirely lost through its two years' exposure to the air in the 
 Turkish custom-house, where it had been placed under seal 
 by the first Maimouri, its appearance was still so striking 
 as to make it in this respect also an acquisition to be prized 
 in any museum of antiques. Nevertheless, it was felt that, in 
 the division of all the seventy-four inscriptions discovered at 
 Assos, those cut in stone which it was possible to remove 
 from the site formed, in essential value, decidedly more than 
 one third. In historical interest, for instance, the bronze tab- 
 let is certainly not equal to either the inventory of the great 
 temple, the dedicatory inscriptions of the Bath, or the epitaph 
 of Hellanikos and Arlegilla. The proposed division of the 
 inscriptions, by which the bronze alone was taken by the 
 Porte, was therefore accepted without demur. 
 
 The marble sculptures, figurini, pottery, glass, and miscel- 
 laneous objects were divided, class by class, by Baltazzi Bey, 
 each into three approximately equal lots, the choice of one 
 of these being allowed to the investigators. This was fair, 
 and indeed favorable to the choosers. It would certainly have 
 been much more trying if the commissioner had required the 
 finders to make the division, and leave to him the selection 
 of two of the thirds. Baltazzi Bey, however, arranged his 
 lots with surprising equality, so that the advantage of the 
 first choice was not so great as might have been expected. 
 He was uniformly obliging in putting into the same share 
 objects which in any wise belonged together, whenever this 
 was possible without disturbing the relative values.
 
 30 ARCHALOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The attention of the explorers was invariably directed 
 towards the acquirement, in so far as was possible in this 
 small fraction of the whole, of representative types, — of sci- 
 entific rather than material value. Thus, of the minor an- 
 tiques, as of the coins and reliefs, the Americans secured the 
 most interesting specimens, — although not quite one third 
 of them in number. This will become evident by a compari- 
 son of the objects which have been removed to America 
 with those remaining in the possession of the Turks. Both 
 will be described in detail in the subsequent pages, and the 
 former will be referred to according to the numbers attached 
 to them in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 
 
 The division could not be otherwise than a painful task to 
 the explorers. Series of figurini, glass, vessels of terra-cotta, 
 and many minor objects illustrative of the industries of the 
 city during various ages, — even the trifling memorials buried 
 together within one grave, — had often to be separated, not- 
 withstanding the obliging readiness of Baltazzi Bey to comply 
 with our wishes. It was with sadness that two thirds of the 
 antiques which had been acquired by such long and hard 
 labor, and had come to be viewed almost with a feeling of per- 
 sonal attachment, through the familiarity of close study, were 
 given up to the unheeded corners of a Levantine museum. 
 
 It is but just that attention should be called to the fact, — 
 exceptional, if not unparalleled in dealings of this kind with the 
 Turks, — that not the smallest object, not a single coin or sherd 
 of pottery, was kept back from the division by the explorers. 
 The instructions given in this respect by the executive com- 
 mittee of the Archaeological Institute had been explicit, and 
 were carried out by their agents with scrupulous exactness.^ 
 
 1 It should be stated that these instructions were in conformity to the obliga- 
 tions entered into by the Institute in the acceptance of the iradi ; the executive 
 committee being bound in honor, no less than in morals, to issue them.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 31 
 
 The only antique removed from the site during the progress 
 of the work — a gold coin found during the first year, and 
 submitted to an eminent American numismatist for deter- 
 mination — was returned by mail before the division, and 
 ultimately fell to the share of the Turks, who have it now 
 in possession. Only those experienced in Oriental methods 
 of dealing can fully understand what this means. An entirely 
 different procedure would have been quite in accordance with 
 the accepted laws of human intercourse in the Levant ; and 
 this being naturally taken for granted by the authorities, it 
 was utterly impossible to convince them that the usual pro- 
 testations of fair dealing were in this case literally true. A 
 certain license of appropriation enters into the calculations of 
 all Turkish business ; and, as in most instances of individual 
 deviation from established usages, the consciousness of abso- 
 lute rectitude was here purchased at the expense of great 
 disadvantages. In itself, this position may be regarded with 
 pride by those who planned, as by those who carried out, the 
 work ; but, as a moral lesson to the Turkish official, the fiat 
 justitia of the Archaeological Institute was certainly futile. 
 
 On the other hand, it is certain that some few antiques 
 were stolen from ,the excavations by the Greek workmen, in 
 spite of all precautions. The men were narrowly watched 
 during the work, and received, in addition to their regular 
 wages, gratuities for such small objects as they brought to 
 the explorers. The obliterated and less valuable coins were col- 
 lected every Saturday night, when the pay-roll was called, and 
 were bought in at a fixed scale of prices, — incommensurate, 
 it is true, to their worth for the purposes of investigation, but 
 still rather more than they would have fetched if sold to the 
 bakhalsy or to the travelling Jews, who usually carry on a 
 modest speculation in ancient gems, coins, and fragments 
 of figurini. No instance of an antique being secreted by
 
 32 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 a Turkish workman was detected during the three years ; 
 but the Greeks were often tale-bearers, as well as petty 
 thieves, and exposed various acts of dishonesty on the part 
 of their fellows. 
 
 The lower classes of Mytilene, from which the greater 
 number of the Greek laborers were recruited, are notorious 
 throughout the East for their sharp practices, as attested by 
 the well-known rhyme : 
 
 Kai KaKol M.vTtXrjva'ioL, 
 
 "AAAa Xeyovv to /SpaSv 
 Ki aAAa kci/xvow to ra^. 
 
 Indeed, the inhabitants of this island have often been stig- 
 matized as among the most unprincipled of the modern,^ as 
 their ancestors were among the most depraved of the ancient 
 Greeks. Hence it could be no surprise that pilfering was 
 attempted, notwithstanding every incentive to fair dealing, 
 and that some small thefts passed without detection, despite 
 the strictest surveillance. Whether any of the objects taken 
 were of real importance cannot, of course, be known. It was 
 at least impossible to steal from the trenches anything which 
 could not have been concealed upon the person during the 
 day's work, and the most important investigations — those 
 concerning the architecture, sculpture, and epigraphy of the 
 ancient city — cannot have suffered in the slightest. Some 
 fragments of terra-cotta figurini, said to have been brought 
 from Assos, were in the hand of a dealer at Smyrna, in 
 May, 1883, and were offered for sale at an exorbitant price. 
 But Professor Ramsay, from whom this information is de- 
 rived, states that these were of little value, and certainly 
 
 1 Compare the remarks of Finlay (George), A History of Greece from its Con- 
 quest by the Romans to ... A. D. 1864. (New Edition.) Oxford, 1877, etc., 
 vol. V. p. 60.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 33 
 
 much inferior to the specimens which he had seen at As- 
 sos itself. Even should it prove — and this is a mere hy- 
 pothesis — that any of the better images, which have since 
 come into European and American collections of antiques 
 by way of Smyrna, were originally stolen from the excava- 
 tions at Assos, it will in that case also be borne in mind 
 that the science of archaeology is not the less, because indi- 
 rectly, indebted for these contributions to the promoters of 
 the undertaking. 
 
 The only unauthorized attempt to dig upon the site, dur- 
 ing the two years designated by the irad^, was made by one 
 of the Greek valonea merchants, in a spot where nothing 
 but sherds of pottery and broken terra-cotta figures could be 
 found : a terrace adjoining the lower fortifications, filled in 
 with debris during antiquity. Some few basketfuls of earth 
 were here removed. This should not be considered as any 
 intentional infringement of the rights of the expedition, but 
 rather as a continuation of the desultory digging which had 
 been carried on upon the ancient site for many years. In 
 this instance the objects discovered, ultimately handed over to 
 the expedition, were of no great value ; but before the com- 
 mencement of the systematic excavations the treasure-seekers 
 had often been more successful. In 1878 a Turk of Behram, 
 while digging among the ruins, discovered twelve silver spoons 
 of curious shape. These he carried across to the island of 
 Mytilene, and sold in Skamnia. An attempt was made to 
 find them, but they had passed from hand to hand and had 
 finally been melted up for the manufacture of the hideous 
 images of sheet silver suspended as votive offerings at the 
 shrines of popular Greek saints, — just as certain of the 
 prehistoric gold ornaments stolen from Hissarlik were trans- 
 formed into modern jewelry. 
 
 So firmly did the inhabitants of Behram believe an endless 
 
 3
 
 34 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 wealth of precious metals to be hidden among the foundations 
 of the ancient city, that every now and then one of the old 
 men of the village would come to tell the explorers how he 
 had seen in a dream a treasure, generally a pot of money, 
 buried beneath a certain spot, — offering to indicate the 
 locality if, when the prize was found, he might be allowed a 
 share. 
 
 This belief in hidden treasure was not without its ludicrous 
 aspects. One of the subordinate officials sent by the govern- 
 ment as Maimouri long entertained the most extravagant 
 hopes. He would jump into the trenches whenever a sar- 
 cophagus was unearthed, in order to seize the gold which he 
 confidently expected it to contain. This became troublesome 
 to the workmen, who could hardly be seriously reproved for 
 causing him the transient delight once excited by the pre- 
 tended discovery of a heavy and shining bowl of yellow 
 metal. 
 
 No damage was done by the excavations to any property, 
 public or private, for which the expedition could have been 
 held responsible according to the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 articles of the Turkish code. And in no case was there con- 
 flict or disagreement with owners of fields or sheep-folds, — 
 jealous as the villagers naturally were concerning any disturb- 
 ance of their enclosures. 
 
 By the night of the 30th of June, Baltazzi Bey had packed 
 up all the movable antiques which had fallen to the share of 
 the government, and had deposited them under seal in the 
 magazine of the customs official of the port. 
 
 It had been hoped that the Turks would be readily induced, 
 after the division, to sell the greater part of the antiquities 
 which had thus become their property, — more especially the 
 remaining blocks of the temple epistyle. The Boston Mu- 
 seum of Fine Arts had set aside the sum of $2,000 for this
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 35 
 
 purpose. But it soon appeared that the Ministry of Public 
 Instruction, in extreme pursuance of the principles adopted 
 shortly before, had determined to forbid the sale of antiques 
 to foreigners, as well as to prohibit the exportation of all works 
 of ancient art from the Ottoman Empire. No proposals 
 relative to the purchase of the Turkish share of the objects 
 discovered at Assos would be entertained ; and, as the govern- 
 ment had exercised the option allowed by the fifth article of 
 the code then in force,^ and had divided all the antiques en 
 iiaticre, and not e7i valeur, no further claims could be made. 
 The sum voted by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was there- 
 fore unused. 
 
 An anonymous writer in the New York Nation^ has since 
 urged the Archaeological Institute to undertake legal pro- 
 ceedings against the Turkish Ministry of Public Instruction, 
 on the ground that, as he asserts, the law of 1874 "enacts 
 that indivisible sculptures shall not be divided, but valued 
 and given up to the finder in exchange for their estimated 
 value." Unfortunately, there is nothing in the law in question 
 to bear out this assertion. The finders were by no means 
 thus favored with the certainty of ultimate possession, the 
 decision as to any proposed purchase being left wholly to the 
 option of the government. The code of 1874 had been re- 
 pealed before the division was made at Assos, and the laws 
 at present in force, although not promulgated until February, 
 1884, had already been determined upon. This of course 
 altered nothing in regard to the terms and pri\'ilcges of the 
 trade ; but the commissioner had been instructed to negotiate 
 no sale, and to allow the exportation of no antiques excepting 
 those which the government was pledged to give up according 
 
 1 " Article V. La repartition des antiques se fera, selon la dcmandc du 
 gouvernement, en nature ou en valeur." 
 - The Nation, New York, Nov. 13, 1SS4.
 
 36 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 to the original agreement. It was in conformity with this 
 policy that Baltazzi Bey had made out all the lots in kind. 
 Even if the law of 1874 had actually contained any such 
 clause as that upon which the well-meaning critic in the 
 Nation would have based a legal claim, it would, under these 
 circumstances, have been impossible to persuade the Turks 
 that the sculptures from the epistyle of the temple were to 
 be considered as indivisible, — they being well aware that at 
 that very time a considerable part of this disconnected series 
 of representations was in Paris. 
 
 In conformity with the thirty-second article of the code, 
 detailed lists of the antiques belonging to the American share 
 were made out and submitted to the customs officials of 
 Behram and of the Dardanelles, — the chief station of the 
 Vilayet. Export duties are levied by the Turks even upon 
 fragments of ancient works of art, eight per cent being as- 
 sessed on the assumed value, the determination of which is, 
 of course, in such a case, altogether arbitrary. 
 
 While awaiting a decision in this matter, and the issue of 
 the teskere which should permit the rem.oval of the antiques 
 belonging to the expedition, all the objects were packed in 
 wooden cases : the inscriptions and smaller stones being 
 wrapped in hay, the vases and figurini in a fine dried sea- 
 weed. The greatest care was required in preparing the glass 
 vessels for the long transit, as many of these had become 
 exceedingly fragile through the flaky oxidization of two thou- 
 sand years, the iridescent material being in some places al- 
 most as thin as paper. Indeed the side of one delicate glass 
 pitcher, now in Boston, was found to have fallen in from its 
 own weight while still in the sarcophagus, so that this 
 exceptionally fine specimen was excluded from the division 
 by the commissioner, on the ground that it could not possibly 
 be removed from the site. In packing things of this kind an
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 2>7 
 
 expedient was adopted which proved entirely successful, and 
 may be recommended for similar cases. Fleeces of cotton 
 were lightly held over the object while a spray of thin muci- 
 lage was blown upon them through an atomizer. After this 
 had been allowed to dry, further layers of cotton were wrapped 
 about the whole, which was then wound around with thread 
 and dipped into thick glue. The firm shell thus formed 
 proved a perfect protection, especially as each ball was 
 packed in a separate box that it might not be exposed to 
 pressure. In opening, the outer layers were cut off with 
 shears and the innermost fleeces slightly moistened. Three 
 ancient skulls, which seemed so ready to crumble into dust 
 that even their removal from the Necropolis to the magazine 
 at the port was at first thought hardly possible, were also 
 thus prepared, and when placed in the hands of that emi- 
 nent specialist, Dr. Virchow of Berlin, they were in precisely 
 the same state as when taken from the tombs. In all the 
 long voyages and many transshipments between Behram and 
 Boston the only one of the antiques injured was a vase which 
 separated in the lines of an old crack. 
 
 Every article belonging to the American share being 
 packed, the export duties paid, and the permission to remove 
 the cases having been received by telegraph from the customs 
 officials of the Dardanelles, the writer left the site on the 
 14th of July, 1883. Mr. Bacon and Mr. Koldeway remained 
 for some time longer, in order to complete the detailed surveys 
 of the Necropolis and Agora. 
 
 Difficulties were subsequently raised by the Turkish offi- 
 cials in regard to the removal of the architectural fragments. 
 These consisted of a complete order from the great temple of 
 the Acropolis, the stump of an archaic column, and specimens 
 of various mouldings from the Street of Tombs, capitals from 
 the Stoa and Bath, and portions of the two chief mosaics of
 
 38 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the lower town. They had not been included in the division, 
 but had all been left to the Americans, as Baltazzi Bey did 
 not consider them of sufficient value to the Imperial Museum 
 to warrant the expense of carrying them to Constantinople. 
 After the local officers of the customs had permitted the ship- 
 ment of the other objects, they found a pretext for interference, 
 and stubbornly refused to allow the removal of those blocks, 
 because they had not been specified in the division lists. 
 These stones had been admitted to be of no value to the 
 Turks, and their retention by the customs officials was simply 
 an act of obstructiveness, — an abiis de pouvoir, as the before- 
 mentioned writer in the Nation has justly characterized it. 
 The commissioner could not again be summoned to the site ; 
 and, in spite of the repeated efforts of the Archaeological 
 Institute through the American Legation at Constantinople, 
 nothing has since been obtained but promises from the Direc- 
 tor of the Imperial Museum, and from the Minister of Public 
 Instruction, to whom the ultimate decision is referable. 
 
 The total cost of the investigations at Assos, including 
 every expenditure at all connected with the undertaking, from 
 November, 1880, until May, 1884, was $19,121.16. Of this 
 sum $3,344.53 was directly spent in earth-work, — no small 
 proportion of the whole, in view of the remoteness of the site 
 from the home of the explorers, and the fact that attention 
 was at all times directed rather to a scientific investigation 
 of the monuments of the ancient city, than to a mere sifting 
 of great mounds of rubbish in the hope of discovering an- 
 tiques. The remainder was devoted to the purchase of the 
 household and excavating outfit, to the maintenance of the 
 party of explorers upon the site, to the transportation of 
 the chattels of the expedition and the antiques discovered 
 by it, to the travelling expenses and the salaries of the agents 
 of the Institute, and, finally, to the expensive official relations
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 39 
 
 inseparably connected with all work carried on under Turkish 
 jurisdiction. The entire outlay, although a heavy tax upon 
 the resources of a newly formed society of private individuals 
 cannot be thought excessive, considering the extended and 
 complex nature of the task: 
 
 It has pleased the executive committee of the Institute to 
 express its entire satisfaction with the detailed accounts ren- 
 dered by the agents employed in this work, and to praise their 
 constant economy, upon the exercise of which the success of 
 the expedition was in great measure dependent.^ 
 
 1 Used proverbially by Hesiod, IVorks and Days, 456, and quoted by Plato, 
 Theaitetos, XLII. 17. 
 
 2 Arch(Eological Institute of America. Fifth Annual Report of the Executive 
 Comtnittee, p. 26. Cambridge, 1884.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ACROPOLIS AND TEMPLE. 
 
 THE volcan ic crater which forms the Acropolis of Assos 
 is one of the most striking natural features of the 
 Troad. Rising precipitously o n a narrow strip of land be - 
 twe en the _,s£a^_aiKL the river valley, it is the,highest point 
 between the m ountain of Qozlou-dagh (Gargara), ten kilome- 
 ters to the east, and the great plateau above Polymedion, an 
 equal distance to the west. Its topographical isolation is 
 hence very marked. To repeat the words of the First Re- 
 port : in all the wonderfully picturesque lands inhabited by 
 the Greeks, no site was more majestic or more be autiful than 
 that of Assos. The cliffs upon the seaward s ide are so steep, 
 that, standing on the Acropolis, one can look down into the 
 holds of the vessels moored in the little port beneath, — and 
 so high, that the summit is at times in or above the clouds. 
 On a morning in early spring, while drops of rain were fall- 
 ing at the port, the writer has climbed through a thick bank 
 of vapor, hanging between the Agora and the Acropolis, and 
 has found the sky blue overhead, and the ruins of the temple 
 lighted up by the first rays of the sun. 
 
 The finest views of the Acropolis are to be had from the 
 southeast and the southwest, a mile or more out to sea. It 
 was, without doubt, partly on this account that the temple 
 whix:Ji_cr^wnedjthe_Jheight was placed close to the southern 
 edge ofjthe summit. The building must have formed a land- 
 mark from every part of the Gulf of Adramyttion and the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 41 
 
 Strait of Mytilene ; the sailor nearing the port could grad- 
 ually distinguish the quiet lines of its c olumns and entab- 
 lature, thrown into relief by their dark shadows upon the 
 cjlla_wall. Thej bw, medigeval towers now surmounting the 
 Acropolis caQ_be distinc tly seen fro m the fortress of Molivo, 
 twenty kilometers away, ^1 though at^this distance the hill of 
 As_so^Ts^lK)t~dirfliried against the sky. But its full grandeur,*" 
 dependent in great measure upon its isolation, is felt when 
 the observer stands upon the heights separating the river 
 valley from the sea, — for instance, at the village of Bourgas, 
 upon the west-northwest, or on the road to Sonoba, to the 
 east of the Acropolis. 
 
 On the nort h, the slo ^peJ. s more gradual, b ut even here the 
 cli ffs are often twentyi^m eters high. Towards the sea, the 
 grade is almost one in two ; towards the river plain, it is one 
 in four. While, on the one side, the crater and its surround- 
 ing dikes have been scarped by the action of the waves, on 
 the other the great ravine between the two ranges has been 
 filled in with the detritus brought by the Satnioeis from the 
 heights of Ida since the close of the tertiary period, so that 
 the stream now flows at an elevation*bf one hundred meters 
 above the level of the sea. 
 
 The earliest inhabitants of the land cannot have failed to 
 take advantage of the protection afforded by this great natu- 
 ral stronghold. Geological revolutions, which in one epoch 
 plunged the entire range beneath the sea, had truncated the 
 cone of the crater. The level summit thus formed could 
 easily be rendered impregnable by the erection of walls at 
 those ^ew po ints where the foot of man could make the as- 
 cenL-JPoe-limited circuit could be defended by a small num- 
 b er of b esieged against the attacks of an army ; and yet the 
 enclosed area was of sufficient extent to accommodate a 
 considerable garrison.
 
 42 
 
 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 As if to give every possible advantage, iic-^rejiaLoply 
 surrounded therocky— heights- with the most fertile fields, 
 
 but created ^within the very confines of the citadel, an inex- 
 haustible reservoir of water.^ A large cavity in the rock 
 which forms the northern terrace of the Acropolis retains a 
 provision of water until midsummer, without the slightest 
 effort on the part of man to increase its supply. At the 
 present day, when no buildings stand upon the Acropolis 
 from whose roofs the rainfall could be collected, — when no 
 furrows, even, are made along the earth to carry the winter 
 torrents into the well, and no care is taken to keep it unde- 
 filed, — the inhabitants of Behram can fetch their drinking 
 water from this cistern as late in the season as July. 
 
 It is not possible to say at what period this cavern was first 
 enlarged and rendered accessible. The masonry now remain- 
 ingL_uppn its__sidesj^the reyetement_Qf. the deep fissure at the 
 bottom, a nd th e flight of steps by which the Turkish women 
 descend to the water with their jars, all date from the Middle 
 A^es, The total width of the cistern is 6.8 m., its length 8 m., 
 and its depth, measured from the floor of the eastern chamber 
 to the spring of the vault, 7.5 m. A_ longitudinal division 
 wall h as been bu ilt,, aiid^-the_ta[0-subterranean chambers thus 
 formed have been covered with rude barrel-vaults, the im- 
 posts of which are nearly on a level with the ground. These 
 enormous reservoirs, once filled, would contain enough water 
 to supply, for an entire year, the needs of a garrison of more 
 than six hundred men. Replenished by every rain, they must 
 have been capable of providing drinking water for all the 
 twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants of ancient Assos, at 
 the time of its greatest extent. 
 
 It is plain that the walls of defence erected upon the 
 
 1 Shown on the plan of the Acropolis, given in the First Report, Plate 2, as 
 " Cisterns."
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 43 
 
 Acropolis were in great part razed to the ground after every 
 successful attack. Their stones have gone to increase the 
 great slopes of rubbish which have accumulated at the foot of 
 the cliffs. Nowhere, throughout their entire extent, have the 
 fortifications of the town been so thoroughly demolished as 
 upon this height. The investigations concerning the mili- 
 tary architecture of ancient Assos — of which the surround- 
 ing walls supply so many examples in perfect preservation — 
 derive no materials whatever from this strongest retreat. 
 Only here and there are vestiges of polygonal masonry to be 
 seen, these generally forming low retaining walls in clefts of 
 the native rock. T he only courses .o J..acciiral£lV- squared 
 st ones in p osition are those beneath the huge tower of rubble, 
 erected in the Middle Ages, which, with the other mediaeval 
 fortifications of the Acropolis, will be described in a subse- 
 quent chapter. Even the latest and rudest ramparts, con- 
 sisting of small stones set in thick mortar, have, with few 
 exceptions, been levelled to the ground by the Turks, who, 
 of the successive inhabitants of the place, seem to be the 
 only ones that have done nothing to increase its defensive 
 strength. 
 
 Evidences of-the^Jt tacks made upon the fortress are seen 
 in a number of human skeletons, found buried in the rubbish 
 which had accumulated around the foundations of the enclos- 
 ing wall upon _the^ southeast. These must be the remains 
 of besiegers who had fallen in assault, and whose bodies, 
 covered with the stones and earth thrown over the brink, had 
 not received the rites of sepulture. Fragments of at least 
 three skulls were here brought to light, but the bones crum- 
 bled at a touch, and could not be removed from the site for 
 osteological study. The period at which one of these war- 
 riors had perished was, however, determined, with some 
 degree of certainty, by the character of the weapons found
 
 44 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 near the bones, to be that of the conquest of Assos by the 
 Persians in the sixth century before Christ. In the well- 
 defined stratum in which these remains were buried, three 
 bronze arrow-heads were discovered, one in particular lying 
 close to the skull. The arrow-heads found 
 at this depth were all of precisely the same 
 type, and of a shape exemplified by the 
 specimen last referred to, now preserved 
 in Boston (Museum, No. A, 50, Fig. i). 
 They resemble in every particular the 
 arrow-heads found by Ouseley among re- 
 mains referable to the age of the Achae- 
 menidae,^ and those picked up by Gell 
 upon the field of Marathon.^ 
 
 ■^' Bronze arrow-heads continued, it is 
 
 Archaic Bronze 
 
 Arrow-head. true, to be employed until a much later 
 
 From the Acropolis. period of antiquity. This is proved by 
 their presence in the tombs of Greek warriors at Kertsch, 
 in Southern Russia, dating from the age of Alexander the 
 Great,^ as well as among the remains brought to light at 
 Naukratis^ and in the Altis of Olympia. But the arrow- 
 heads in use subsequent to the Persian wars are readily to 
 be distinguished from such archaic ones as those found in 
 the lower stratum. 
 
 Specimens of a three-bladed variety were also found upon 
 the slopes of the Acropolis of Assos. One is now in Boston 
 (Museum, No. A. 49, Fig. 2). Its form illustrates the term 
 
 1 Ouseley (Sir William), Travels in various Countries of the East, more 
 especially Persia, London, 1S19-23, vol. ii. PL 39. 
 
 2 Gell is quoted, and the arrow-head in question is engraved in the work 
 referred to in the preceding note. 
 
 ^ Academie de St. Petersbourg, Compte-rendu de la Com7?iission Imperiale, 
 St. Petersbourg, 1876, Plate II. 
 
 ■* The objects in question were examined by the writer at the exhibition of 
 antiques from Naukratis, held in the Oxford Mansions, London, 1885.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 45 
 
 rpL^'\(o-)(i<i, applied to an arrow by Homer.^ These heads of tri- 
 angular section seem, like the ones before 
 mentioned, to have been imitated from a 
 Persian type.^ Indeed, the Greeks ap- 
 pear to have derived much of their knowl- 
 edge of the fittings of archery from the 
 well-equipped bowmen who made up the 
 main force of an Oriental army/^ Witness 
 their " Parthian" and " Scythian" bows. 
 Among the weapons found around 
 the walls of the citadel are also an iron 
 spear-head with a long and thin blade of 
 fine workmanship, now much corroded 
 (Museum, No. M. 598, a, b), and a 
 heavy double-headed axe or mattock, 
 excellently preserved, which, notwithstanding its modern 
 appearance, was found in a situation and at a depth proving 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Bronze Arrow-head. 
 
 From the Acropolis. 
 
 Fig. 3. Iron Mattock. 
 From the Acropolis. 
 
 it, at all events, to have antedated the Middle Ages 
 (Museum, No. M. 603, Fig. 3). 
 
 1 liiaJ, V. 393, XI. 507. Elsewhere in the Iliad the fittings of arrows are 
 especially referred to as of bronze (e. g. XIII. 650, 662). 
 
 - Compare the ancient Persian arrow-heads given by James P. Morier, A Scx- 
 ond Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, etc., London, iSlS. 
 
 2 Almost all the troops which formed the army of Xer.xes were armed with 
 the bow. Compare Herodotos, VII. 61-S0. Bronze arrow-heads of this three- 
 bladed kind are, however, said to be found in Greece upon every spot where 
 a battle is known to have been fought. See Dodwell, A Classical and Topo- 
 graphical Tour through Greece, London, 1S19, vol. ii. p. 160.
 
 46 ARCHAEOLOGICAL hXSTITUTE. 
 
 Within the enclosure of the Acropolis no such arms or 
 implements were found, and the only human remains were 
 the crumbling bones of one individual, contained in a cist 
 neatly constructed of large tiles, which had been buried in 
 the deep earth at the north of the temple, 80 cm. above the 
 native rock. 
 
 The coins picked up in the trenches furnished specimens of 
 the mintage of every age, from the time when coined money 
 was first employed in the Troad until the advent of the Otto- 
 man Turks. Remarkable among these were a fine electron 
 of Michael VIII., Palaiologos,^ and a silver coin of the Ve- 
 netian Dandolo, one of the few memorials of the occupation 
 of Assos by the Latins after the fifth Crusade. 
 
 It appears that no buildings have ever been erected by the 
 Turks within the walls of the Acropolis. On the other hand, 
 there can be little doubt that many small dwellings and store- 
 houses did stand within the enclosure during the two centu- 
 ries which intervened between the first Seldjukian conquest 
 Inland the Ottoman occupation. The southern terrace of the 
 nA^ citadel was covered at this period by a pavement of cement, 
 '%\^^ which were embedded small stones and bits of pottery. 
 "O^^^av yhis pavement was on a level with the stylobate of the 
 ternple, the massive blocks of which served as the founda- 
 tions for a confused group of hovels and magazines. At the 
 nn ftbp^'^t-; ttimilar Structures of rubble _walls without mortar 
 were_ built directly upon the native rock ; and near the high- 
 est peak were discovered the lower courses of an apse, — 
 partof a small sanctua ry^^ such as the Byzantine Christians 
 erected upon many of the neighboring eminences. A.U these 
 str uctures w ere enclosed by rude ramparts, consisting, on the 
 west, almost entirely of blocks of the entablature of the 
 
 1 Compare First Report, p. 32. In the official division this coin fell to the 
 share of the Turks. 
 
 ^ 
 
 w
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 47 
 
 temple, aiicl, on the souths of a long array of its capitals, 
 ^lacgjd on J he_sides of their abaci. At the east, ample de- 
 fence had been provided by somewhat earlier mediaeval walls, 
 the stones of which were set in mortar ; and, at the north, 
 the precipitous cliffs rising from the lowest to the highest 
 terrace of the Acropolis were crowned only by a low parapet. 
 The e ntranx j£- to this enclo^iire^at the_westj^ was -flanked_j3y 
 upri£ht_b^jTls^of the inner epistyle of the temple. Alost of 
 the_reli£fs_discQiier€d by the expedition had been built into 
 t hese_walls : the lion and boar, the lion and hind, and the 
 entire metope, standfng at the^west, th'e^sphinxes from the 
 eastern front of the temple_at the east, and the Herakles and 
 Cen taurs at the south. 
 
 The cemetery of the Byzantine garrison was just outside 
 the Acropolis at the northeast. Here the bodies of the 
 defenders were buried in the shallow earth, without being 
 enclosed in coffers of any kind. A number of these graves 
 were opened, but in them were found no coins or weapons 
 by which their age could be determined. Still, we may 
 venture to suppose that the most recent and hasty ramparts 
 were erected at the beginning of the fourteenth century, 
 under Machrames, the last defender of the Greek town, 
 whose pathetic history will be recounted in a subsequent 
 chapter. 
 
 How _completely the tem ple had by this time been destroyed, 
 even the^pavement of the temenos being torn up and washed 
 away, became evident from the position of one of the capitals, 
 which was found lying with its abacus nearly half a meter 
 below the rise of the lower step. 
 
 — It is now impossible to determine the original plan, or even 
 
 the extent, o f the upper terrace ; but it is evident, from the 
 
 size of the boulders which have fallen upon the floor of the 
 
 1 First Report, Plan of Acropolis, Plate 2, " Gate."
 
 48 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 temple , that the bank of earth must have been of consider- 
 able height. So large were several of these stones, that the 
 most recent occupants of the citadel, in building upon the 
 plan of the edifice, did not even roll them away, but piled 
 up the wretched masonry of their dwellings around and 
 against them. It seems improbable that the upper terrace 
 was ever the site of any important monument, as some ves- 
 tiges of it would certainly have been found. It was probably 
 overgrown with verdure in ancient times, and served as the 
 peribolos of the fane. Here must have stood the inscribed 
 stones relating to the temple, one of which, containing an 
 inventory of chattels, was brought to light by the excava- 
 tions in the vicinity.^ The pedestal of another inscription 
 was also found upon the Acropolis, and, as its projecting 
 mouldings rendered it useless as a building stone, it can 
 scarcely be supposed to have been carried up the steep in 
 later times. 
 Hr — The st ylobate of the temple is fully three_ meter s lower 
 th an the highest point of the rock, and must consequently 
 have been at least so much below the level of the upper ter- 
 race. Fro m the se a^-tli e whol e structure was visible ; but 
 from the river valley, at the north, little more than the roof 
 could have been seen. 
 
 In view of the ample space provided by the level bed-rock 
 of the southern terrace, it may be conjectured that the orien- 
 tation of the temple, with its longitud inal axis deviating f rom 
 the east,- _was due to the consideration that this position of 
 the buijding permitted the gable of the front, as well as the 
 long horizontal^ lines of the s ide entablature, to be seen fropi 
 tk^-€hi <;f plac e s of the lo w€I^^towa, — the agora, the theatre, 
 and the direct ascent from the port. There can at least be 
 no doubt that this exceptional relation of the plan to the 
 
 ^ Inscriptions of Assos, No. III.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 49 
 
 points of the compass should be ascribed either to this inten- 
 tion of exhibiting the foreshortened front, or to a similar 
 rnotj ye-_o£ artisti ccomposition ; na_melYx- Jhe desire_ to_place 
 the building near the seaward brink of the Acropolis, in order 
 that as much as possible of the superstructure should be vis- 
 ible from below. Foundations considerably deeper would 
 have been necessary beneath the southwest corner, if the 
 front had faced due east, and had not been set eight and a 
 half meters back upon the summit. 
 
 This was, in truth, a fitting site for the te mple of the pr o- 
 tecting_^odd£SS, the Virgin Patroness. of the town. For the 
 fane was not only visible from afar, but was so placed that the 
 Assians, while offering sacrifices for the welfare of their state 
 within thesacred enclosure, could look far beyond the fortifi- 
 cation walls, the fertile fields of the suburbs, and the port 
 beneath the cliff, to the most distant approaches by land and 
 by sea. On one side, the view commanded the rugged paths 
 winding across the ranges of the interior, whence, in the evil 
 days preceding the establishment of the supremacy of Per- 
 gamon, came devastating hordes of Gauls ; on the other, the 
 deep blue waters of the Lesbian Straits, the great high-road 
 of Aeolic commerce. Even the tiny islets of the Arginousai 
 can be distinguished from the Acropolis of Assos ; and if, on 
 the day of that victory so disastrous to the best interests of 
 Greek culture, the horizon was not veiled by the rack of the 
 storm which delayed the Spartan attack, and served as an 
 excuse for the inhumanity of the Athenian admirals, a sharp- 
 sighted observer, standing on the steps of the temple, might 
 have followed the movements of the rival fleets, exulting over 
 the victory of that power with which his Demos was then 
 allied. 
 
 From stereobate to corona, tlje stQne.af whi£li_Lli e_ temp le 
 wa s built was the same as the native rock upon which it 
 
 4
 
 50 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Stood. The only other stone employed in connection with 
 the edificewa s a light volcanic _tiifa, of the same geological 
 formation, from which were carved the gargoyles and acro- 
 teria of the roof. T he m os aic o f later date, in^the^ijiterior of 
 t he naos, formed of small cubes of_black and white marble, is 
 r ather to be regarded as a furnish mg, than as an integral part 
 o f the struct^ ure. 
 
 Before entering into a detailed consideration of the plan 
 and elevation of the tem pje^t wil l be vy ell to give some ac- 
 count of the rock of the Acropolis, the peculiarities of which 
 exercised a decisive influence upon the architectural style of 
 Assos, as well as upon the topographical character of the site, 
 inasmuch as this material was exclusively employed in the 
 construction, not only of the most ancient and most impor- 
 tant monument, but of almost all the other edifices of the 
 Greek town. Tjus__£]ime,_J±i£_.se£Qlid. ilL point of age among 
 th e three formations- nf-.thp kind in the Southern Tro^d. and 
 t he produc t of the most rec en t eruption o f_th e volc ano of 
 Assos, , figures in Mr. Diller's geological notes ^ as a trachyte. 
 His subsequent examination of thin sections of the rock, 
 under a microscope, has shown, however, that it is more cor- 
 rectly to be described as an andesite. The groundmass, 
 which commonly forms but a small portion of the whole, is 
 of a fine granular and porous structure, and of a gray or 
 occasionally p urplis h-gray color, the general appearance being 
 rendered lighter in toneby~the presence of innumerable por- 
 phyritic crystals of an opaque or glassy white. These crys- 
 tals, which at times attain a length of eight or ten millimeters, 
 give the stone a -su perficial r esem bian££ t o gr anite, — for 
 which, indeed, the formation at Assos has been taken by 
 nearly all the earlier visitors to the site, and even by those 
 who have examined the reliefs removed from Assos to the 
 
 1 The Geology of Assos, by J. S. Diller ; Appendix to the First Report.
 
 INt^ESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1SS3. 5 I 
 
 Louvre.^ This resemblance is increased by a quantity of 
 small crystals of mica and other iron-bearing minerals, the 
 alteration of which often produces small pits and stains. 
 
 In topographical and architectural respects, the most im- 
 portant characteristic of this andesite is the conformityol~its 
 cleavage to two distinctly^ marked joint planes, the one nearly 
 h orizo ntal, the other nearly vertical, Mr. Diller has observed 
 that the longer axes of the larger crystals, and in particular 
 
 1 Hunt, Leake, Richter, Prokesch von Osten, Poujoulat, Texier, and Welcker 
 (in the works cited in the chapter on the Archaeological History of Assos) all 
 term the stone a granite ; the last mentioned, in a very vivid and humorous 
 account of the ruins, characterizing the material as "der hassliche . . . trau- 
 rige, rauhe, graue Granit von Assos." The earliest traveller who has left us 
 any account of the site (Manuscript Journal of John Covel, 1677) speaks of the 
 stone as " a sort of gray marble." Among all those who visited the site previous 
 to the American investigations, the only ones to recognize the all-important vol- 
 canic character of the Acropolis, and to designate the stone as a trachyte, are 
 Webb, Tchihatcheff, and Purearitis. Abbot approaches the truth in calling the 
 formation a basalt, and in describing the walls as built of granite or trachyte. 
 He is followed in this respect, as in many others, by Schliemann. 
 
 It may be pardonable that travellers who could devote but few hours to the 
 examination of such extensive remains should thus entirely mistake the nature 
 of the stone of which they are built. But what can be said in excuse of the 
 Comte de Clarac (Musee de Sctilpture, Antique et Moderne, vol. ii. part ii., 
 Paris, 1841), who, writing as the keeper of the Louvre at the time when the 
 Assos reliefs were removed thither, and describing the sawing asunder of the 
 blocks by lapidaries under his personal supervision, asserts the stone to be a 
 granite, — even basing upon this statement an argument in respect to the age 
 of the temple. This statement has been accepted by many writers upon Greek 
 sculpture for half a century, and, notwithstanding the fact that the reliefs have 
 during this period been exposed to public inspection in the most frequently 
 visited capital of Europe, Overbeck {Geschichte der Plastik, 2d edition, Leipzig, 
 1869, vol. i p. 98) says the material of these important monuments is "Gra- 
 nit nach den Einen, grober aschgrauer Kalkstein nach den Andern " ; while 
 Liibke, in his History of Sculpture, simply calls it "an ash-gray, coarse-grained 
 limestone." 
 
 Fully to appreciate these errors, it must be borne in mind that — while the 
 difference between andesite and trachyte is so slight as to render a definite 
 determination possible only after microscopical examination, the distinction 
 being based upon the percentage of certain of the constituent minerals — the 
 volcanic Assos stone differs fundamentally alike from a primary crystalline rock, 
 such as granite, and from a metamorphic rock like limestone.
 
 52 ARCHJSOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 those of feldspar, are not only approximately parallel to one 
 another, but are parallel also to these joint planes. This ar- 
 rangement is, indeed, sufficiently marked to suggest a con- 
 nection between the jointing and the direction in which this 
 volcanic product flowed at the time of its extrusion from the 
 crater. 
 
 The horizontal plane divides the rock into layers, which at 
 times closely resemble the stratification of rocks of sedimen- 
 tary origin. The terraces of the Acropolis owe their exist- 
 ence to this peculiarity, while in like manner the upright 
 surfaces of the cliffs, and of the pinnacles of rock which rise 
 in the midst of the modern village, were determined by the 
 vertical cleavage. So variable is the resistance of the layers 
 to the disintegrating action of water, that the surface of the 
 cliffs is often deeply furrowed, and in building stones quarried 
 from this formation a series of parallel depressions is de- 
 veloped, resembling those of a weathered sandstone composed 
 of strata of different degrees of durability. 
 
 Thf infliipnrp r>f fhi<; andesi tf, npnn the architecture of an- 
 
 Ci^at^Assos is noticeable chiefly in two ways, determin£d_gn^ 
 nAhf^ opp HanrI hy the natural cleavage planes, on the other by 
 /^the extrem e hardness^and grittiness of the stone. 
 
 ^JThe first of these peculiarit ies affected the general design 
 and the constructive framework. It was possible to quarry 
 hug e paral lelopi pe dons j)f the material by the simplest meth- 
 ods of wedgmg. From this fact resulted the massiveness of 
 all the edifice s, the perfection of the city walls, — due also 
 to the comparatively early adoption of accurately squared 
 b locks for their escar ps, — and hence, in particular, the 
 frequency of monolithic sarcophagi in the Street of Tombs. 
 It appears very probable th at the inhabitants of Assos w ere 
 the first among the Greeks systematically to employ such 
 enormous coffers, at once re ceptacles of the bodies and mon-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 53 
 
 umen ts to_ the memory of _ihe dead. Indeed, the sarcoph- 
 agus seems to have received this name from the famous 
 flesh-devouring stone, found in the vicinity of Assos ; this 
 material, as will be shown in a subsequent chapter, being 
 used to hasten the decomposition of corpses thus elevated 
 above the surface of the earth. Be this as it may, monolithic 
 sarcophagi were of greater prominence in the cemetery of 
 Assos than in that of any other Greek town. The size of the 
 blo cks obtainable permitted t he builders of the temple to ce il 
 the pronaos — a space having a clear span of nearly three 
 meters — with beams and coffers of stone. In the lower town 
 the col umns o£ jhe B ouleuterion and Palace Atrium were 
 rn onolithic . There was thus httle need to res ort to vaulting ; 
 all the gates of the town were trabeate, or terminated by the 
 false arch ; and even subterranean passages, such as that upon 
 the southwest of the Agora, were covered by lintels. An in- 
 exhaustible supply of the stone was tobe had just outside the 
 walls. The ancient fortifications alone must have contained 
 at le ast one hund red thousand cubic meters of this material. 
 (3^ The second peculia rity of the and esite.jjms of influence " 
 chiefly in the carve d details of architectural decoration. A 
 series of experiments which have lately been made upon this 
 stone by a lapidary, under the supervision of the writer, have 
 shown it to be one of the most intractable materials ever 
 chosen for architectural purposes. While the granular and 
 porous structure of the groundmass gives to smaller blocks 
 a rough and angular fracture, the great number and variety 
 of crystals embedded in it make the stone excessively gritty. 
 To give a homely illustration, it was often remarked that Jine 
 da y's walking among the v olcanic rocks of the Southwestern .'V 
 Trngjj, or over the ruins j Tf_Assns, would wear the soles of 
 shoes more^than.a week's excursion among the limestone for- 
 mations ori the southe rn slo pe of Ida. Even with the sharp-
 
 54 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 est tools, it is a difficult task to cut the andesite to exact 
 surfaces or to delicate forms, and without emery wheels it is 
 impossible to render it smooth. The£f£e£is_ofjthis_cliaracter- 
 isti c are evid ent alike in the choice of the architectural style, 
 and in the design and proportion of subordinate features. It 
 \vould have been altogether out of the question to adopt Ionic 
 forms for edifices constructed of such a material, and in no in- 
 stance is this more ornate style — sufficiently common on the 
 island of Lesbos and in the Northern Troad — known to have 
 been adopted at Assos. From the same cause, the primitive 
 stone- cutters of this temple found it necessary altogether to 
 omit certain features^ of the entablature, notably the trunnels 
 oX_the reg:ulas__ajid mutules and the terminal plinths of the 
 triglyphs, and to a dopt, Jn all small members, forms of greater 
 t hickn es s and Jesg^jprDJection than those which, at the time 
 of b uilding, had come_to be regarded as normal. Thus the 
 arrises of the shaft were blunt, the tainia and regulas exces- 
 sively flat ; the drip of the corona was not undercut, and its 
 kyma was much larger and simpler than in other examples 
 of the style. Similar peculiarities are to be observed in all 
 the edifices of Assos. 
 
 The resistance of the andesite to weathering depends 
 greatly upon the stratum from which it is quarried, and the 
 position in which it is placed. Thus, some of the stones 
 of the lower wall of the great eastern gate, having been 
 exposed to the action of percolating water for the last five 
 hundred years, may readily be crumbled with the finger-nail. 
 This softening of the andesite is plainly due to the degenera- 
 tion of the feldspar which enters so largely into its composi- 
 tion. Being unprotected by crystals of quartz, the feldspar is 
 hydrated by long exposure to the atmosphere, and thus trans- 
 formed into kaolin clay. On the other hand, those carved 
 stones which have been buried in dry earth, or which, remain-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 55 
 
 ing above ground, have been sheltered from the storms of 
 dust that among the volcanic formations near Assos exercise 
 the well-known action of the sand-blast, display forms nearly 
 as sharp and firm as they can have been when newly cut. 
 In regard to the temple J tseI£^Tian y of the a jrises o f th e col- 
 umns, and the rings of the cap itals, are still perfectly sharp. 
 It may even be doubted whether the outlines of the sphinxes 
 from the eastern front, or of the lion and hind, have been ap- 
 preciably blunted during the twenty-three centuries or more 
 which have elapsed since they received the last strokes from 
 the chisel of the provincial sculptor. 
 
 The following account of the arrangement and of the con- 
 structive details of the temple supplements and corrects the 
 description given in the First Report.^ So far as possible, rep- 
 etition will be avoided; still, the minute investigations made 
 during the two years subsequent to the publication of those 
 preliminary notes have afforded so much further information 
 concerning the design and execution of this monument, that 
 it will be necessary to touch upon several points treated in 
 the previous volume. 
 
 The aberration of the magnetic needle, especially noticeable 
 in the vicinity of the Acropolis, proved to be so great, that no 
 process of reversion could warrant entire dependence upon its 
 indications. The true pole was hence determined at the mo- 
 ment when the north star passed the meridian, on the night 
 of November 28, 1881. The angle thus obtained proved the 
 
 1 First Report, pp. S0-121. Compare the reservations which were there 
 made : " The following account . . . must be prefaced by a reminder that the 
 time has not come for a thorough and conclusive publication. It is evident 
 the descriptions of monuments but recently discovered, and in part still hidden 
 beneath the earth, will be extended, and possibly corrected as the studies 
 upon the site advance. Indeed, many points are touched upon in this report 
 only to indicate the direction and scope of the work."
 
 56 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 deviation of the main axis of the temple, south of east, to be 
 
 15° 14' 40". 
 
 The ri ght angles at the corn ers of the plan were laid out 
 by the Greek architect with an accuracy surprising even when 
 exa mined by modemjinstrurnents of precision. A deviation 
 of but six minutes could be detected, the corners of the 
 northeast and southwest being this much too small. This 
 deviation in the length of _the temple stylobate amounts to 
 an error of_only 54 mm., or about two inches, in the length of 
 one hundred feet. 
 
 The foundations of the walls and columns were, without 
 exception, placed directly upon the native rock, which was not 
 more than half a meter beneatb the pavement of the naos, and 
 at its greatest depth, not more than 1.15 m. beneath the lowest 
 step. At the point last mentioned, namely, the southwest 
 corner of the building, a mass ive substructure was provided 
 b y four cours es of squared stones, measioring respectively 
 35, 30, 25, and 25 cm. ia_thkkne§s^ each- of . vyh jch proje cted 
 ab out 3 cm. bey ond that resting upon it. Elsewhere the 
 long blocks forming the first step were placed directly on 
 the rock, a level bed being cut to receive them. This was 
 the case along the greater extent of the northern and west- 
 ern sides ; indeed, throughout exactly one half of its length, 
 tl;e juncture^etvveen the pavement of the temenos and the 
 stepsof U]iejte_mple was_a_juncture between the tooled surface 
 o f the native rock and accurately squared blocks quarried 
 froiji--k: ~ 
 
 The plan of the building, in its present condition (Fig. 4), 
 exhibits some points which were omitted from the drawing of 
 the floor published as Plate 7 in the First Report ; — notably 
 the important pry and dog ho les, the_re. mains oLthe-^on- 
 crete foundation of the mosaic exteriding beyond the cubes 
 o f colo red stone, the weathered standpoints of various bases,
 
 ■ TW»rk I Ft I i:^y[_V^I 
 
 J 
 
 ..:.Li|:^..:k^.:4-.4:..4;-,sp. 
 
 L 
 
 Fig. 4. Plan ok the Temple of Assos. — Present Condition. 
 
 Y
 
 58 
 
 ARCHJEOLOG/CAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 whj_ch_4iroba J-jljL^suppor ted votive statues or inscriptions, the 
 bed_lines_oLlh£Liiin£r course of the cella wall, a nd, fi nally, 
 the fractures of the paving slabs. 
 
 The stones of the steps vary in length from one to some- 
 what over three meters. In width the dimensions are more 
 regular, seldom being less than 0.9 or more than i.i m. In 
 the case of the st jlobate b locks, t he, "pp i^rjiiirfarp formkig 
 part of the pteroma floor, was planned to have a regular 
 width of I.I m., and upon the northern side, which was evi- 
 
 FiG. 5. Stone in Foundations of Temple, with Bed-moulds for Metal 
 Castings. — Isometric. 
 
 dently laid first, no deviation from this measurement is to be 
 observed. The supply of accurately quarried stones seems to 
 have given out, however, as the work advanced, and upon the 
 southern side there is much irregularity in the shapes and 
 sizes. Some of the inner bjocks of the lower step bear a 
 bordering fillet, which proves them to have been originally 
 intended for the outside, and to have been rejected on ac- 
 count of some defect. Instances of this are the fifth stone 
 upon the eastern, and the fifth stone upon the western side, 
 counting from the north. 
 
 A most interesting case of the employment ofolderjnc
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 59 
 
 rials J— in default of the regularly hewn stones which had, 
 without doubt, been prepared in the quarry — is presented by 
 one of the inner blocks of the southern lower step, exp ^ed by 
 t he displ acement of the superposed stylobate during the ex- 
 cavat ioiis. In the stone in question are cut two bed-moulds 
 for the casting of primitive sledge-hammers or battle-axes 
 (Fig. 5). These moulds are in shape almost exactly alike, 
 but they differ in size ; the larger being 40 cm. long, and 
 20 cm. on the heft, the smaller being 32 cm. long. The depth, 
 5 cm., in both cases, must have given the full thickness of the 
 object ; there were no ducts by which the molten metal could 
 be run into the hollows, and consequently there can have been 
 no corresponding upper mould. The pro cess of casting must 
 ha ve b een of tlie rudest kind. The beds, after having been 
 filled, can have been covered only with a flat stone, so as to 
 render the upper side of the hammer-heads as even as pos- 
 sible ; and the newly cast implements, after having cooled, 
 must have been so loose in the stone that they could easily 
 be pried out. It was, of course, impossible to heat so large 
 a block in the manner usually employed by the bronze- 
 founders of primitive times. 
 
 A mould of the same kind, for a battle-axe of much smaller 
 Size, was unearthed by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik ; ^ others 
 are reported to have been found in the lacustrine settlements 
 of Switzerland,^ and among the prehistoric remains of Hun- 
 gary,3 and of Sardinia.^ There are no definite indications 
 
 1 Schliemann (Heinrich), Ilios, the City and Country of the Trojans, London, 
 18S0, F"ig. 601. 
 
 2 Gross (Victor), Rhnltats des Recherches dans hs Lacs dc la Suisse occideutah; 
 Zurich, 1876, Plate 17 ; and a later publication of the same author, Les derni^res 
 Trouvailles dans les Habitations Lacustres du Lac de Bienne, Porrentruv. 1870 
 Plate I. ^ -^ 
 
 » Hampel (Joseph), Antiquith PrMstoriques de la Houi^rie, Esztercom, 
 1877, Plate 14. 
 
 * Crespi ( Vincenzo),.// Miisco d' Antichit^ di Cagliari, Cagliari, without date.
 
 6o ARCHMOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 to prove the age of the mould thus curiously preserved 
 among the foundation stones of the temple of Assos ; but 
 the fact that the block, although regarded as unfit for its 
 original use at the time of the Persian wars, was never- 
 theless thus ready at the builder's hand, gives some ground 
 for the belief that it had been employed by the primitive 
 Greeks themselves, rather than by any prehistoric race. If 
 this supposition be deemed inadmissible, it must be assumed 
 that the squared stone containing the moulds had been 
 found by the Greeks of the fifth century before Christ, 
 while digging for the foundations of the temple. 
 
 It is interesting to observe, that, although the block was 
 enclosed upon all sides, (not even its outer edge having been 
 used as a step,) the hollows were accurately filled in with 
 pieces of stone cut tothe exact^^ape of the objects once 
 cast, — in the true antique spirit of admitting no imperfect 
 member in the construction of the sacred edifice. 
 
 The stylobate blocks were invariably so t ooled that the 
 lateral surf ace_of juncture did not comprise the entire side 
 of the stone, but was restricted to narrow bands adjoining 
 the edges. To effect this, a slightly depressed middle field 
 was cut upon the end of the block with a brush hammer, 
 this rougher plane being bordered by fillets, varying ia 
 width from five to ten centimeters, which were tried and 
 smoothed until an accurate joint was obtained. This emi- 
 nently rational method of jointing was universally, and in 
 every age, employed by the architects of Greece. As we 
 learn from the celebrated inscription of Lebadeia,^ which 
 relates to the stone-cutting and laying of a like pteroma 
 
 1 First published by Koumanoudes (Stephen A.) in the 'AO-hvaiou, vol. iv. 
 (Athens, 1876); more'readily accessible in Fabricius (Ernestus), De Arckttec- 
 tura Graeca Comvientatioiies Epi.^raphicae, Berolini, 1S81 ; and in Choisy (Au- 
 guste), Etudes Epis^raphiqiies siir V Architecture Grecqne, Paris, 1884. All the 
 details of the stone-work of Greek pavements are fully described in this most
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 6i 
 
 pavement, joints thus cut were designated by the term 
 anathyrosis, — evidently on account of a fanciful resemblance 
 of the central field to a door-opening, framed by its lintel 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 Employment of Lifting Dog in laying the lower Steps. 
 Isometric. 
 
 and jambs. Surfaces of contact thus tooled may be seen in 
 the illustrations of the step construction (Figs. 6 and 7), and 
 in those showing blocks of the inner epistyle (Fig. 13) and 
 corona (Fig. 15). The last touch was given by grinding the 
 
 interesting antique specification, from the dimensions and forms of the stones, 
 the tools for cutting them, and the rulers and reddle for testing the accuracy 
 of their surfaces, to the methods of casting the metallic cramps and washing 
 the joints with a solution of nitre. The verb avaQvpovv occurs in lines 121 
 and 142 of the inscription.
 
 62 
 
 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 fillets with a flat stone, or by cutting into the joints with a 
 sand-saw.^ The process of adjustment was the more easy, 
 as the face of the stone which it was necessary thus to re- 
 
 FiG. 7. Pry-holes and Levers employed in laying the Steps. 
 Isometric. 
 
 move had been greatly decreased in extent by the sinking 
 of the middle field. Notwithstanding the coarseness of the 
 material used at Assos, it was possible by these means to 
 
 1 In the Lebadeia inscription the terms employed for these processes are 
 TpifxtMaTo\oye7y (line 162) and dno^ia) (line 125).
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 6 
 
 o 
 
 abut the stones so closely that not even a needle can to-day 
 be inserted between them. 
 
 The blocks of the stylobate were lifted, and set as nearly as 
 possible in place, by powerful derricks. This is proved by 
 the presence upon the end surfaces of deep, square holes, 
 which were cut to receive the hooks of the tackling, and were 
 so placed that the stone would swing with its bed in a hori- 
 zontal plane. In exceptional cases, two of these holes appear 
 upon either side. 
 
 The case was different with the blocks of the lower step, 
 and of the foundations upon the same level with them. The 
 upper surfaces of these not being exposed to view, it was possi- 
 ble to chisel upon them an oblique slot, — about in the middle 
 of the upper edge of the stone, on that side against which the 
 next v^as to abut, — and through this to disengage the inner 
 arm of the iron dog by which the adjoining block was lifted 
 and set. This will be made clear by Fig. 6. Where the 
 stones of the stylobate, or of the pteroma pavement, are re- 
 moved, the greater number of those beneath them are seen to 
 have cut upon the upper side one of these slanting notches of 
 rectangular section, about 4 cm. deep, from 5 to 6 cm. broad, 
 and 7 to 10 cm. long. A small portion of the lateral joint 
 surface of the adjoining stone is hereby exposed, and across 
 the lower half of this is seen a sinking of sufficient depth to 
 receive and firmly hold one of the sharply pointed arms of the 
 lifting tongs employed in connection with the derrick tackle. 
 To the notches and sinkings cut upon the stones for this pur- 
 pose the name dog-holes may be given. 
 
 Although they appear to have hitherto escaped the atten- 
 tion of inquirers into the details of antique architecture, these 
 marks are of importance, inasmuch as they indicate the direc- 
 tion from which the process of laying the courses was carried 
 on. In the temple of Assos, for instance, it may thus be seen
 
 64 ARCH/EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 that the masons commenced work upon the northwestern 
 corner of the building, where the native rock was highest, and 
 continued from this point, in one direction along the northern 
 side and eastern front, in the other along the western front. 
 The courses met not far from the middle of the southern side, 
 where the last stone laid may be recognized in the eleventh 
 from the southeastern corner. This last stone was accu- 
 rately fitted in between those adjoining it, and was hence pro- 
 vided on both ends with sinkings to receive the claws of the 
 dog-iron, but with no oblique slots for their release. It is fur- 
 ther evident, upon the eastern front at least, that the blocks 
 which served as the lower step were laid earlier than the inner 
 ones of the same course ; this being the natural consequence 
 of the outer stones following an alignment determined by the 
 architect. 
 
 When a shifting of the blocks to their final position was 
 necessary, this was effected by means of a heavy crowbar, the 
 purchase for which was provided by cutting a groove, one or 
 one and a half centimeters deep, upon the upper surface of the 
 subjacent stone, at a distance of ten or fifteen centimeters from 
 the edge of the block to be moved. By the leverage thus ex- 
 erted, the largest stone could be slid along upon the level bed 
 provided by the course beneath, from the position in which it 
 had been set by the derrick to the closest contact with the ad- 
 joining block. It cannot be determined, from the marks left 
 upon the stone, whether the crowbar was straight, and em- 
 ployed with a block of wood or metal to transmit the power, or 
 whether it was curved, so as to exercise its pressure directly 
 upon the stone. The former method, shown at A in the 
 illustration (Fig. 7), would seem to be the more natural and 
 easy ; but the presence of two grooves in exceptional cases, 
 when the stone may have had to be moved a greater distance, 
 would, on the other hand, indicate the adoption of a lever of
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 65 
 
 peculiar shape, such as that shown at B. An instance of two 
 grooves, cut for a single leverage, is to be observed upon a 
 stone in the foundations of the cella wall, on the western 
 side, and next but one to the southwest corner. See Plan, 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 Like the anathyrosis, the grooves cut for the purpose 
 of thus shifting the separate stones of a course appear 
 iipon the remains of Greek buildings of every province 
 and of every age. They may be observed upon all the 
 varieties of rectangular masonry which form the city walls 
 of Assos, and belong to periods widely remote, — to cen- 
 turies anterior to Alexander, and subsequent to Constan- 
 tine the Great. The indications of this method of prying 
 stones were first noticed by Dorpfeld,^ by whom they have 
 been termed " Stemmlocher." So far as the present writer 
 is aware, they have not been referred to by any English 
 writer upon the details of antique architecture, and the name 
 pry-Jioles may be proposed as the technical name of these 
 grooves. Their great importance to the investigator of Greek 
 remains will be evident from the fact that it is possible to as- 
 certain, from a comparison of the spacing, the position of 
 blocks once resting upon the course in which such marks 
 appear. In the temple of Assos, for instance, although the 
 stylobate of the eastern and western fronts has entirely dis- 
 appeared, it may thus be determined that the one was com- 
 posed oJ_suc, the other of seven stones, of greater length than 
 theaverage of those upon the sides ; while^ the sh ortness of 
 the blocks which are in like manner seen to have formed the 
 lower~~course of the ceTIiTwall indicates this to have begun 
 with a plinth of considerable height, as was the case with the 
 cella wall of the Parthenon. 
 
 ^ Dorpfeld (Wilhelm), Untersuchimgen am Parthenon, \r\ \\\<i Mittheilungen des 
 deutschen archdologischin Institutes in A then, vol. vi., Athen, iSSl.
 
 66 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LWSTITUTE. 
 
 In the case of both the steps, the joints were bordered up- 
 on the exposed face by fillets, averaging 5 cm. in width, and 
 often rising not less than 5 mm. These projections were cut 
 upon the tread of the lower step to within about 35 mm. of 
 the following riser ; and on the stylobate, when not under a 
 column, they were continued across the entire stone. Their 
 purpose was evidently to obviate, in so far as possible, the 
 chipping and defacement of the edges during the construc- 
 tion of the building. And, as was the case with the similar 
 makeshifts observable upon the pavements of the Propylaia 
 of Athens and the great temple of Paestum, their subsequent 
 obliteration does not seem to have been considered necessary 
 to the completion of the edifice. 
 
 The blocks of the stylobate, and some of the outer stones 
 of the lower step, and those of the foundation course be- 
 neath them, were bonded together by cramps of wrought 
 iron. These cramps, averaging 21 cm. in length, were thin 
 and hght, seldom exceeding 12 by 16 mm. in section. Their 
 ends were bent over to more than a right angle, so that, 
 when once set, they could not possibly be loosened from the 
 stone. The ends of the slots cut for cheir reception were 
 often curved and pointed, as shown in Fig. 6. Although 
 the floor of the temple was trodden under foot and exposed 
 to weathering for wellnigh two thousand years before being 
 covered by the earth, the majority of these irons are still in 
 position, and have suffered little from rust. On the other 
 hand, the lead in which they were set has been in great part 
 transformed into a white oxide, through the action of the car- 
 bonic acid of the atmosphere. One cramp, in an exception- 
 ally fine state of preservation, was taken from the southern 
 side of the stylobate, and is now in the Boston Museum 
 (No. M. 581). The only stylobate blocks not thus bonded to- 
 gether upon either end were four in the middle of the northern
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 
 
 67 
 
 side. As these were among the first to be laid, it would ap- 
 pear that the precaution came to be regarded as more neces- 
 sary the further the work advanced. At the corners of the 
 plan two cramps are attached to each end of the first one or 
 two stones. Such a joining of the steps by bars of metal was 
 of course a disfigurement of the finely tooled surface of the 
 pavement, aiid the temple of Assos is in this respect entirely 
 exceptional amongthe constructions "oFThe Greeks. It is to 
 be remarked, howeve rt_ that th e dar k color of the stone ren- 
 dered the contrast between the materials less apparent than it 
 woiTraTrave been in the case of buildings of marble or poros. 
 
 The^TRIrdl stone upon the southern side of the stylobate, 
 counting from the west, was cracked in setting, and was pro- 
 vided upon its vertical face with a cramp 
 of iron of the same shape as those employed 
 upon the upper surface. So well did this 
 repair answer its purpose, that the fissure 
 .. 22 — ^ would not have been detected 
 but for the presence of the 
 iron. 
 
 In the case of the fifth block 
 of the lower step on the main 
 front, counting from the 
 north, ahole iscut through 
 the stone in an oblique 
 line, or, to si)eak more 
 correctly, in the arc of 
 a circle (Fig. 8). This hole, opening upon both the riser 
 and the tread at a distance of 20 cm. from the edge, is of 
 oval section, the axes measuring 9 and 12 cm. Its position 
 corresponded to the side of the column next to the central 
 intercolumniation. There can be little doubt that the pur- 
 pose of the eyelet thus carefully chiselled was to provide a 
 
 Fig. R. Perforation of the lower Step 
 Eastern Front.
 
 68 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 hold for the rope by which the animals intended for sacri- 
 fice before the fane were tethered. Holes of the same kind 
 were cut through the lower step of the Heraion at Olympia,^ 
 before the columns, and the scholars who have called atten- 
 tion to this fact give for it this explanation. 
 
 The stylobate blocks of the front and of the rear of the 
 building had all been displaced, and, as but two of them could _ 
 be found throughout the entire city, appear to have been re- 
 cut for building purposes, or deeply imbedded in late fortifi- 
 cation walls. Of the two brought to light upon the slopes 
 of the Acropolis, one, measuring 0.93 by 2.245 m., was from 
 the east, and by the aid of the shift-holes could be identified 
 as the third block from the north ; the other, measuring 1.15 
 by 1.72 m., was from the west, and adjoined the southwest 
 corner. On neither were the traces of the columns sufficiently 
 distinct to indicate the width of the front intercolumniations 
 more accurately than had been possible by a calculation based 
 on analogy. 
 
 The most careful levellings, repeated and reversed, failed to 
 show the slightest trace of an intentional and regular curva- 
 ture of the horizontals. On the contrary, the steps and floor 
 were found to be surprisingly even, and the displacement of 
 the blocks by the many earthquakes which have overthrown 
 the cities of this part of Asia Minor much less than might 
 have been expected. This immunity is to be ascribed to the 
 fact that the pavement of the building rested, in great part, 
 directly upon the native rock, without the intervention of 
 deep foundations. 
 
 In regard to the construction of the pteroma floor, and the 
 laying of the bed of chips beneath it, little need be added to 
 
 ^ Die Aicsgrabtmgen zu Olympia. Vol. III. Uebersicht der Arbeitemind Finide 
 vom Whiter tend Friihjahr 1S77-78. Herausgegeben von E. Curtius, F. Adler, 
 und G. Treu. Berlin, 1879.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 69 
 
 the account given in the First Report. On jnore mature con - 
 sideration, howev er, it appear s questionable whether the origi- 
 nal intention was to cover the stone pavement by a layer of 
 cement, as was customary in the Doric monuments of Sicily, 
 Th^ irregularity of the jointing in the pteroma floor of the 
 temple of A s.sos is not greater than that noticeable through- 
 out the building ; and the slight differences in level between 
 the upper surfaces of the inner blocks and that of the stylo- 
 bate, as well as the interstices next to the cella wall, now so 
 plainly seen, are, at least in part, to be ascribed to the settling 
 of those stones which did not rest immediately upon the na- 
 tive rock, or upon massive foundations. At Assos, as at 
 Lebadeia, that portion of the lower surface of the pavement 
 blocks which was above the bed of chips was somewhat more 
 roughly tooled than the band next to the outer edge and in 
 contact with the inner stones of the lower step ; but this dif- 
 ference in treatment was much less marked in the archaic 
 than in the later construction. At Lebadeia the stones of 
 the pavement were not allowed to rest upon the filling at all, 
 a space " not wider than a little finger " ^ intervening. At 
 Assos this precaution was impossible, inasmuch as no solid 
 bearing was provided for the inner ends of the blocks, even 
 in those cases where they extended across the entire width of 
 the pteroma. 
 
 Th e stone sill of the naos door is upon exactly the same 
 l evel as t he upper surface of the stylobate. Th e mosaic 
 pavement in the interior is 13 cm. above this, — the difference 
 in height havm^rwith'out' doubt, been equalized by a revetting 
 sill of bronze or of marble. 
 
 The pattern of the mosaic has already been described ; a 
 detailed drawing of the corner which remains may, however, 
 be given to show the shape of each small stone (Fig. 9). 
 
 1 Lebadeia Inscription, line 115.
 
 ^o 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Fig. 9. Detail of Mosaic Pavement, Southeastern Corner. 
 
 These__separate pieces of black and white marble, embedded 
 
 Jn-ar-tiuck layer of cement, were about 5 cm. in depth, and 
 
 were originally flushed over with a fine stucco, which com-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 7 1 
 
 pletely filled the joints between them. C ubes of a br ight 
 yellow ston e and_of a har d-burnt red brickjyere also found in 
 the vicinity. Their place in the composition cannot now be 
 determmed ; it is only certain that the narrow band which 
 separated the wave ornajnent-from the field of diamond pat- 
 tern was of one of these col ors. 
 
 The arrangement of this flooring of the naos has already 
 been made to^figure in the controversy carried on by the ad- 
 vocates of various modes of illuminating the interior of Greek 
 temples. It has even been held to indicate the form of the 
 imaginary hypaithron, or other opening in the roof for the ad- 
 mission of daylight. In the latest contribution to this subject, 
 Fergusson ^ remarks concerning the pavement of the temple 
 of Assos : "The ornamental part of it is 13 feet wide, and the 
 space between the outer face of the cella walls and the pave- 
 ment is between 6 feet 6 inches and 6 feet 9 inches, or as 
 nearly as may be the distance between the outside of the walls 
 and the inner lines of the cella at Bassae. From this I gather 
 that there were internal pillars or pilasters, which thickened 
 the external walls of the cella to the extent of 7 feet at least, 
 which could only have been done if it were wanted to support 
 an opaion or some contrivance for lighting the cella." To 
 this it must be replied, that, as was shown upon the plan of 
 the temple given in the First Report (Plate 7), the remains of 
 the mosaic itself extend so far beyond the ornamental field, on 
 both sides, as to preclude the possibility of pilasters or other 
 supports having stood where Mr. Fergusson supposes. More- 
 over, the layer of cement, in which the separate pieces of 
 marble were imbedded, remains, as was explicitly stated in the 
 text (p. 83), to a considerably greater extent than the pattern 
 shown upon the plan ; reaching quite to the inner side of the 
 
 1 Fergusson (James), T/ie Parthenon ; an Essay on the Mode by which Light 
 was introduced into Greek and Roman Temj>lcs, London, 1883, p. 90.
 
 72 archalOlogical institute. 
 
 enclosing wall. That such supports as Fergusson is obliged 
 by his theory to assume can never have existed at Assos is 
 also proved beyond a doubt by the entire lack of substructures 
 for them. The foundations for all the masonry are invariably 
 placed upon the native rock ; while, as was likewise stated, 
 the entire area of the naos was found to be covered beneath 
 the ancient floor with fine earth, which is plainly the original 
 bedding of the pavement. In other words, it is certain that 
 the ceiling and roof of the naos extended from wall to wall 
 in a single span, and that such a clerestory as Fergusson 
 imagines was impossible. 
 
 The suggestion made in the First Report, that the mosaic 
 floor is of a period later than the building itself, was fully con- 
 firmed by the investigations of the second year. At several 
 points the filling of earthen chips beneath the cement bedding 
 of the mosaic was removed and sifted, and the objects taken 
 therefrom were compared with those which were, in like man- 
 ner, found immediately under the stone pavement of the 
 pteroma. From the latter deposit, which had remained un- 
 disturbed since the construction of the temple, were taken a 
 number of rude sherds of pottery. These were all unglazed, 
 several being of the lustrous, rubbed variety met with in the 
 two oldest " cities " of Hissarlik. On the other hand, the 
 majority of the sherds from under the mosaic were glazed. 
 Among them were fragments of a moulded vessel, repre- 
 senting a tragic mask, and the handle of a delicately painted 
 vase, evidently of the fourth century before Christ. Also a 
 piece of one of the original black roofing tiles of the building 
 itself. 
 
 A further and most fortunate discovery in this connection 
 even renders it possible to assign an approximate date to the 
 repaving of the interior. This was a bronze coin of Gargara, 
 struck during the first half of the fourth century before
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. y^ 
 
 Christ, — so excellently preserved that we may suppose the 
 mosaic above it to have been laid within one generation, at 
 most, after the date of its emission. This coin is now pre- 
 served in the Museum of Boston (No. A. C. 64). From these 
 indications the restoration of the temple, which provided new 
 tiling for the roof as well as a new floor for the naos, seems 
 to have taken place at the time of the greatest political emi- 
 nence of Assos, — when Aristotle was living as the guest of 
 its ruler, the wealthy Hermeias. 
 
 The foundations of the temple are destined to a speedy 
 destruction, its squared stones being much in demand among 
 the Greek masons of the Southern Troad. But the greatest 
 care was taken by the explorers to remove as little as possi- 
 ble of the structure found still in position. The pits men- 
 tioned in the previous Report were dug only under those 
 parts of the bed of cement where the mosaic itself had been 
 destroyed, and only two of the paving slabs of the pteroma 
 were lifted for the purpose of these examinations. It was as- 
 certained that the cement had been cast upon a thick layer 
 of stone chips and large pieces of pottery ; between this and 
 the native rock there still remained the fine earth which must 
 have covered the summit of the Acropolis in prehistoric ages. 
 From the pteroma, as well as from the interior, several hun- 
 dred sherds were collected ; yet nothing was brought to light 
 which tended to contradict the opinion advanced by the writer 
 in regard to the date of the original construction. 
 
 Two dowel-holes on a block of the pavement immediately 
 in front of the northern door-jambs show a narrow stone of 
 square plan — without doubt a stele — to have occupied this 
 prominent position. The holes are cut with runs for a lead 
 casting ; these show the dimensions of the base to have been 
 28 by 55 cm. 
 
 A detailed description of the foundations of the cella wall
 
 74 
 
 archj'EOLogical institute. 
 
 has been given in the First Report. The superimposed ma- 
 sonry was two stones thick, and it is noticeable that the bed 
 for the outer course was much more carefully tooled than 
 that for the inner, the former surface being thus sunk a few 
 millimeters below the latter. Pry-holes appear only beneath 
 the outer stones, those within not having been accurately 
 jointed by means of this expedient. Both of these indica- 
 tions make it probable that the inside of the wall was cov- 
 ered with stucco. On the southern side the foundations of 
 the wall are fully 6 cm. below the level of the stylobate. 
 
 From the width of the stone sill of the naos door, namely, 
 60 cm., it was at first wrongly concluded that this was also 
 the thickness of the division between naos and pronaos, and 
 of the enclosing walls of the sides. It has since been ascer- 
 tained that the stone in question was cut of this width in 
 order to provide space for the lip of the revetting sill placed 
 upon it, and that the jambs on either side were rebated for 
 the same reason. All the walls of the temple were, in fact, of 
 a uniform thickness of 66 cm., agreeing in this respect with 
 the antae. At one or two points on the northern side, the 
 line of juncture between the inner surface of the wall and the 
 foundation stones could be seen at night-time by the light of 
 a lamp so held as to send its rays in almost the same plane 
 with the tooled beds. 
 
 The masonry of the wall itself was, as before said, two 
 courses in thickness, the ashlars being consequently only 
 about 33 cm. in depth. The length of the outer stones of the 
 lowest course is seen, from the pry-holes upon the foundations, 
 to have varied between 0.6 and i.i m., averaging about 84 cm. 
 The walls of the temple must have been demolished at a 
 comparatively early period. The blocks of which they were 
 formed, being of a convenient size and squared on all faces, 
 provided a most excellent material for the Christian and I\Ios-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 75 
 
 lem builders upon the ruins of the ancient town. So thor- 
 oughly had the Acropolis been cleared of these stones, that 
 only four specimens were found which could be identi- 
 fied with certainty. They belonged to different courses, the 
 measurements of the exposed faces being, respectively, 0.82 
 by 1.58, 0.81 by 1.48, 0.79 by 1.25, and 0.76 by 0.97 m. The 
 thickness of each was within a few millimeters of 33 cm 
 The blocks were thus from three to five times as high as 
 thick, and often twice as high as broad. Pry-holes appeared 
 in all the stones, but there were no indications of dowelling or 
 cramping. 
 
 It is plain that a wall thus composed must have been fre- 
 quently bonded by headers ; but, notwithstanding this, it can 
 never have been really secure, in this land of earthquakes. 
 The mass of masonry, it is true, was not weakened by aper- 
 tures, was but 6.38 m. high, and was anchored to the entabla- 
 ture upon all sides by the stone beams of the pteroma ceiling. 
 On the other hand, the ratio of its thickness to its height — 
 namely, i : 9§ — is rather below than above the average of 
 that obtaining in Doric constructions, which, however large, 
 are in this respect seldom less than i : 10, and often as much 
 as I : 9. Moreover, in regard to the length of the wall be- 
 tween transverse supports, the height being taken as the unit, 
 we have at Assos a ratio of more than 2| ; whereas in the 
 Doric temples of Greece, Sicily, and Magna Grecia we find 
 the corresponding figures to be not larger than from 2 to 
 2h, and the strength of the structure consequently much 
 greater. Calculated according to the formulas in practical 
 use to-day, we find the stability of a wall such as that of 
 the temple of Assos scarcely equal to the requirements of 
 the case. 
 
 A renewed scrutiny of the marks of the columns upon the 
 weathered upper surface of the stylobate furnished some ad-
 
 76 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 ditional indications in regard to the position of the shafts. 
 The last block of the upper step upon the southern side, next 
 to the southeastern corner, is now displaced, but it still shows 
 traces of the drums which so long stood upon it. The outer 
 intercolumniation, thus ascertained, was found to be wider 
 than the average of the others upon the sides, its clear open- 
 ing being 1.568 m. There was undoubtedly considerable ir- 
 regularity in the spacing of the columns, the width of the 
 third opening from the southeastern corner not having ex- 
 ceeded 1.5 m. Otherwise those intercolumniations which 
 could be measured with accuracy did not deviate appreciably 
 from the normal width of 1.532 m., or 2.447 '^- from centre to 
 centre, determined by calculation. 
 
 The drums unearthed in the vicinity of the temple, during 
 the digging of the second and third years, were of the same 
 general proportions as those which had been found before the 
 preparation of the First Report. They lend additional weight 
 to the conclusions in regard to the height of the shaft, and its 
 entire lack of entasis, which have been set forth in that pub- 
 lication. It is needless to adduce in detail the several hun- 
 dred measurements upon which these conclusions are based, 
 as these would merely give a list of the accidental and unes- 
 sential lengths of the separate drums, and of the upper and 
 lower diameters dependent thereupon. Suffice it to say, that 
 the diminution was found to average as nearly as possible 
 6"] mm. in the meter, or i : 15, — this factor being precisely 
 the same in the upper as in the lower drums. 
 
 The total height of the column, calculated from these 
 data, is found to have been within a few centimeters of 
 4.78 m. The maximum of this dimension cannot have been 
 more than one third of the width of the lower step, while 
 the minimum cannot have been less than one third of the 
 width of the stylobate. We thus recognize in the temple
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 77 
 
 of Assos that ratio which Pliny,^ following Greek traditions, 
 asserts to have been observed in ancient times between the 
 height of the Doric column and the width of the temple plan. 
 So far as the present writer is aware, attention has not hith- 
 erto been called to any instance in which the adoption of this 
 archaic canon is demonstrable. 
 
 The lower diameter of the column, with an average of 
 91.5 cm., varied from 90.8 to 92 cm. ; the upper, averaging 
 62.8 cm., from 60 to 63.8 cm. 
 
 In so far as regards its significance in the history of archi- 
 tectural development, the exceptional relation of the chan- 
 nelling to the axes of the plan and of the abacus will be 
 considered, in a subsequent chapter, in connection with the 
 proto-Doric shaft found in the Necropolis of Assos. 
 
 While the beds of the drums were invariably tooled to 
 an anathyrosis, the lower surfaces of the capitals were, with 
 a single exception to be mentioned hereafter, perfectly plane. 
 This was, without doubt, due to the fact that the joint was 
 in this case not ground down to an almost imperceptible 
 line ; but was, on the contrary, emphasized by the charac- 
 teristic Doric incision which marked the commencement of 
 the slightly concave necking. This single incision, which 
 increased the opening of the joint to an even width of six or 
 eight millimeters, was formed by bevelling the edge of the bed 
 surface of the capital ; the slant following the outline of the 
 channels, and having a width in plan of from 4 to 7 cm. 
 
 As regards methods of workmanship, no detail of the tem- 
 ple is of greater interest than the capital. The question as to 
 whether this most characteristic member of the Doric edifice 
 was turned upon a lathe, as has been assumed by Botticher,^ 
 
 1 riiny, N. //., XXXVI. 23 (56). 
 
 * "Das m'achtige Echinuskyma des Capitelles, ist wohl durch Axendrchung
 
 78 
 
 ARCILEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 or was cut entirely by hand, is one of much importance, in 
 regard to which the evidence, material and literary, seems not 
 to be fully conclusive. On the one hand, the mark of some 
 centring is visible upon the bed surface of every one of the 
 capitals ; and the most accurate measurements of the echinos, 
 made with a cymograph and with strips of lead bent to the 
 shape, proved the curve in every case to be absolutely identical 
 upon all sides of the capital ; a result which it would have been 
 exceedingly difficult to obtain by hand-chiselling. Moreover, a 
 passage of Pliny, which seems to have escaped the attention of 
 writers upon the constructive methods of the ancients, shows 
 the Greeks of the sixth century before Christ to have possessed 
 lathes which were capable of turning, not only capitals as heavy 
 as those of Assos, but even entire columns. The one hun- 
 dred and fifty shafts of the labyrinth upon the neighboring 
 island of Lemnos were turned by a machine of such perfect 
 construction, that, as the author tells us, almost in the words 
 of a modern advertisement, " a child could work it." ^ 
 
 But, on the other hand, there is not a trace upon any one of 
 the echinoi of such concentric markings as would have re- 
 sulted from a turning of the stone upon a lathe. The groove 
 between the greatest projection of the echinos and the under 
 surface of the abacus even shows lines cut by the chisel in a 
 contrary direction ; so thai, if the capital was turned, at least 
 this quirk of the profile was subsequently cut by free-hand. 
 In view of the difficulty which must have been experienced in 
 turning so sharply marked a groove against the square of the 
 
 auf dem Bauplatz gearbeitet." Botticher (Karl), Die Tektonik dcr Hellenen, 
 2d edition, Berlin, 1874, etc., vol. i. 
 
 1 Pliny, N. //"., XXXVI. 19. 3. The words of the author are : " Lemnius, 
 (labyrinthus). . . . columnis tantum centum quinquaginta mirabilior fuit : 
 quarum in officina turbines ita librati pependerunt, ut puero circumagente 
 tornarentur." This was probably effected by means of a vertical mandrel.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 79 
 
 abacus, this would not, indeed, seem to be an unnatural way 
 of executing the work. And the same considerations would 
 account for the chisel marks which, on some of the capitals, 
 are to be seen upon the portion of the echinos immediately 
 adjoining the upper annulet. As for the mark of a centring 
 upon the bed surface, it is to be borne in mind that the deter- 
 mination of this point was quite as necessary in the free-hand 
 cutting of the necking as in the fitting of the entire block 
 upon a lathe. The sinking itself cannot be supposed to have 
 served for the reception of so gigantic a back-centre as would 
 have been necessary to support these ponderous masses. In 
 fact, stones of this size cannot well be turned without the em- 
 ployment of chucks upon both ends. Thus it must reluctantly 
 be admitted that the capitals of the temple of Assos do not 
 furnish a proof for either view. While the marks upon the 
 stones still admit of the assumption that the echinos was 
 turned from the rough, and the quirk adjoining the abacus, 
 with the zone contiguous to the annulets, retouched by hand, 
 they present no decisive indication of the use of the lathe. 
 
 Owing to irregularities in the upper diameter of the shafts, 
 and in the width of the abaci, the echinoi projected at very 
 different angles. Indeed, scarcely two examples were alike 
 in this respect, and the capitals consequently differed greatly 
 in general appearance. Yet it was found, on graphical com- 
 parison, that, with a single exception presently to be men- 
 tioned, the curves of the echinoi were absolutely identical. 
 This may be seen from Figure 10. By drawing the outline 
 of the first echinos upon a slip of tracing-paper, and laying 
 it over the second, the lines will be found to coincide exactly. 
 The third echinos, belonging to a capital of unusual projection, 
 was lengthened at its base by a straight line, 22 mm. long ; 
 but between the points indicated by asterisks the curve will 
 be found to agree entirely with the first two. Among all the
 
 So ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 capitals of the temple of Assos, the only one whose echinos 
 did not conform to this curve is that shown as the fourth 
 in Figure lo. As may readily be seen, it differs from all 
 the others, not only in the outline of the echinos, but in the 
 formation of the annulets, and the extreme shortness of the 
 necking. 
 
 An explanation of these deviations from the general rule 
 will readily suggest itself to those familiar with the methods 
 of modern architects and their workmen. Each of the stone- 
 cutters intrusted with the making of the capitals must have 
 been furnished by the designer with a templet, in all proba- 
 bility of sheet-metal, by which the curves were tested. The 
 abaci must have been previously hewn upon the blocks of 
 stone by the quarrymen, who delivered them to the masons 
 in the shape of slabs, somewhat more than 43 cm. in thick- 
 ness, the plan of which averaged 1.193 m. in length and in 
 breadth. These latter dimensions, however, like those of all 
 the details of the temple, which may be supposed to have 
 been tooled by masons in the quarry, varied considerably in 
 different cases; the minimum observed being 1.18 m., the 
 maximum 1.238 m. Thus the templet, when applied to the 
 stone, had to be inclined from the axis, not only so as to 
 adapt itself to the given width of the abacus, but so as to 
 make the base of the necking, bevelled for the incision, of 
 exactly the same diameter as that of the uppermost dfum 
 of the shaft for which the capital was intended. These 
 drums, as has been stated, were themselves subject to a 
 variation amounting to not less than 38 mm. The angle 
 which the spring of the echinos formed with the horizontal 
 plane was hence in the first capital shown in Fig. 10 as large 
 as 22°, in the second as small as 15°. Beyond twenty-five 
 degrees the mason did not venture to go, and when the middle 
 of the abacus projected more than 28 cm. beyond the upper
 
 Fig. io. Outlines of Echinos Curves, Anta Capital, and Hawk's-bill 
 Moulding of Corona.
 
 S2 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 diameter of the shaft, as in the case of the third capital (Fig. 
 lo), he was obHged to cut an echinos with an outline con- 
 siderably longer than that indicated by the templet with which 
 he was provided. A share of this equalization was borne also 
 by the projection of the necking curve, and by the width of 
 the annulets; the former varying from lo to 25 mm., the 
 latter from 50 to 55 mm. In the case of the exceptional capi- 
 tal (shown as the fourth in Fig. 10), it is evident that the 
 stone-cutter was without such a templet as that according to 
 which every other echinos throughout the building was shaped. 
 The curve wa§ here determined only by the workman's eye. 
 That this was not particularly accurate can be seen from a 
 comparison between the actual form, shown by the continuous 
 line, and the normal curve, indicated by dots. The annulets, 
 too, are of a different design; and it is to be remarked that in 
 this capital alone is the bed surface tooled, uselessly, to an 
 anathyrosis. 
 
 It further resulted from this method of adjustment, that, 
 while the height of the necking is one of the most constant 
 dimensions of the structure, the height of the abacus varies 
 exceedingly ; namely, from 185 to 216 mm. In one instance, 
 where the abacus was felt to be altogether too high, and yet 
 could not be cut down on account of the impossibility of 
 shortening the altitude of the column, the vertical faces were 
 diminished by so toojing the upper surface that the epistyle 
 beams rested only upon a scamillus, about 80 cm. square, left 
 in the middle of the field, by which they were raised fully 
 25 mm. above the upper outer edge of the abacus. A broad 
 crevice between the sides of the capital and the superincum- 
 bent lintels was thought to be less offensive, when seen from 
 below, than too great a height of the abacus, which could 
 readily be perceived on account of its projection. 
 
 The upper surfaces of all the abaci were bevelled upon
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, ISSS. 
 
 83 
 
 those sides which were placed at right angles to the entabla- 
 ture, in order to obviate a chipping of the edges by the heavy 
 beams laid upon them. This slant had a width of 6 or 8 cm., 
 and a fall of 8 or 10 mm. Compare the drawing of the top of 
 an abacus, Figure 11. 
 
 
 ^" 
 
 
 
 
 -- 
 
 
 
 "^ 
 
 A 
 
 
 .. 1 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 ; 
 
 B 
 
 /. 
 
 i ■ ■ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 = 
 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 Fig. II. Upper Surface of an Abacus. 
 
 On the annulets of the three best-preserved capitals dis- 
 tinct traces of a deep vermilion pigment were to be seen. 
 This tint did not extend beyond the vertical faces of the an- 
 nulets, neither to the necking nor to the echinos. It may be 
 taken as an indication that at least all the smaller mouldings 
 of the building were colored. It proves also, and this is a 
 point of much importance, that the surface of the andesite 
 was not thickly primed with stucco, but that the body pig- 
 ments were applied directly upon the tooled surfaces of the 
 stone. The temple of Assos, though built of so hard and
 
 84 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 gritty a material, is in this respect to be compared with the 
 Attic monuments of the perfected style, rather than with the 
 archaic structures of the Peloponnesos and of Sicily. The 
 andesite was treated like the marble of Pentelikos, rather 
 than like the poros, which its grain more resembles. The 
 accurate jointing, effected throughout by means of the ana- 
 thyrosis, pointed indeed to the same conclusion ; but the 
 lack of trunnels, and of delicate details in the sculptures of 
 the epistyle, might otherwise have permitted the assumption 
 that the minor members were supplied, and the plane surfaces 
 coated and smoothed with the aid of some plastic composition. 
 The blocks of the entablature are so weathered that it is not 
 possible to affirm the employment of pigments upon them. 
 Still, the traces upon the capitals suffice to furnish proof that 
 in the temple of Assos, as in all other Doric monuments, the 
 architectural forms were modified and perfected by a poly- 
 chromatic treatment.^ 
 
 That decorative objects of some light material were affixed 
 to the columns is evident from the rust marks of iron pins, 
 once inserted in the groove between echinos and abacus, and 
 in the joint between the upper surface of the capital and the 
 epistyle beams. It is not possible to determine whether these 
 objects were of metal, and fixtures, — like the shields which 
 once were fastened upon the entablatures of the Parthenon 
 and the temples of Apollo at Delphi and Zeus at Olympia, — 
 or were merely garlands of leaves and flowers with which the 
 building was adorned on festival days. 
 
 Among the most interesting discoveries of the second 
 year relative to the temple is a corner of one of the antae 
 capitals (Fig. lo a). This differs from all other members of 
 the kind, hitherto known, in having the curve of an Ionic, not 
 
 1 The most careful examination of the capitals of the temple of Assos failed 
 to show traces of any painted pattern upon the echinos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1SS3. 85 
 
 a Doric kyma. The fact that it was not undercut to a beak- 
 moulding can scarcely be attributed to the difficulty of tooling 
 the stone to this more delicate profile, inasmuch as the Doric 
 kyma appears in full perfection upon the upper edge of the 
 corona. It is plain that we have here to deal, either with a 
 provincial confijsion of the normal details of the two great 
 styles, or with a deliberate retention of archaic forms.^ In 
 either case we may suppose the characteristic leaves of the 
 Doric anta capital to have been painted upon the member. 
 Viewed at a height of some five meters above the eye, in the 
 dim and diffused light of the pronaos, this capital must have 
 been of good effect : its well-rounded curves and the in- 
 clined and projecting face of the abacus ^ bear witness to 
 the intelligent care of the designer. The small fragment 
 shows no traces of dowelling, or of other metallic attach- 
 ment. 
 
 The epistyle beams were somewhat less finely tooled upon 
 their bed surfaces than upon their exposed soffits. From this 
 difference in workmanship it is possible to determine, with a 
 certain degree of accuracy, the position of the end joints, as 
 relative to the axes of the column. It is thus found that the 
 lintels were by no means so planned as to extend exactly 
 from centre to centre of the supports, — the deviation in this 
 respect amounting in some cases to not less than 15 cm., or 
 one quarter of the upper diameter of the shaft. On the other 
 hand, it is evident that the triglyphs directly above the col- 
 
 1 That the form of the anta capital was among the last details of the Doric 
 style to be definitely established by architectural custom, is indicated by the sin- 
 gularly clumsy and archaic moulding with which it is ornamented in the other- 
 wise fully developed Great Temple of Paestum. 
 
 2 This treatment of the face of the abacus of the antae as a slightly inclined 
 and projecting surface is a refinement scarcely to have been expected in an 
 archaic monument. Although adopted in the Parthenon and Propylaia, and ex- 
 aggerated in the archaistic temple of Bassai, it does not appear in the Theseion 
 or in the temple of Aigina.
 
 86 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LNSTLTUTE. 
 
 umns did not vary from the normal axes in the same manner 
 as did those above the intercolumniations, — a fact which will 
 be referred to in the description of the frieze. The height of 
 the epistyle is, naturally enough, almost constant ; irregular- 
 ity in this respect would have entailed se-rious constructive 
 difficulties. But in all other dimensions, and in the form of 
 every detail, the variations observable in the epistyle, and 
 indeed throughout the entablature, are so great that it is 
 impossible to believe that scaled drawings were prepared by 
 the architect. Nor can the masons have worked according to 
 an accurately determined system of measurement. The final 
 shape must evidently have been given to the blocks after 
 they had been placed in position. The width of the tainia, 
 for instance, while averaging 95 mm., varies from 85 to 
 100 mm. So great an irregularity in this simple fillet is only 
 explicable by the assumption that the total height of the 
 stones was altered after the projecting members had been 
 carved upon them ; that is to say, their tops were cut down 
 to a uniform level. 
 
 The epistyle beams, after having been placed upon the 
 columns and released from the tackling of the derrick, were 
 shifted to an exact position and to a close juncture with the 
 adjoining stone by means of a lever purchasing in pry-holes 
 cut upon the top of the abacus. To facilitate this process 
 the beam was slightly uplifted, or rather tilted, by a crowbar, 
 the sharp point of which was inserted between the epistyle 
 and the abacus, in slots, or shift-holes, cut for the purpose 
 upon the bed surface of the former. These shallow sinkings, 
 of rectangular profile, generally 3 J by 4I cm. in plan, and from 
 I to 1 1 cm. deep, are disposed at a distance of from 24 to 
 50 cm. from the ends of the epistyle beams. They may be 
 observed, either in Pans or Boston, upon the sculptured 
 epistyle blocks removed from Assos. The same method of
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 8/ 
 
 shifting will be noticed in connection with the stone beams of 
 the coffered ceihng. 
 
 Those blocks of the epistyle which were ornamented with 
 reliefs are bordered along the lower edge of their face by a 
 narrow fillet corresponding to the tainia upon the upper edge, 
 and of about the same dimensions. This fillet forms an 
 architectural framework for the sculptured composition, and, 
 inasmuch as reliefs do not elsewhere appear upon the epistyle 
 of Greek buildings, is not to be found in any other Doric 
 monument. The unsculptured lintels of the temple of Assos 
 were cut, conformably to the principles of the style, without 
 such a lower fillet. It is evident that, in its ideal form, the 
 epistyle, like the wall of which it is the representative, should 
 have no architectural divisions, — no memberment upon the 
 face beneath the tainia, or wall-plate. 
 
 The regulas did not have the trapeze shape assigned to 
 them by Texier.^ Their ends were straight and vertical. 
 
 As has been stated in the First Report,^ the outer blocks 
 of the epistyle were provided, along the upper half of their 
 inner side, with a rough boss, occupying nearly one half of 
 the total height of the beam, and projecting from 5 to 20 cm. 
 This peculiar formation at first led to the supposition that 
 the epistyle beams were three in number, as in the Par- 
 thenon, — a view which was set forth in the preliminary de- 
 scription of the building. The investigations of the second 
 year have, however, given proof of the contrary. In the 
 entablature of the temple of Assos a constructive system is 
 now recognizable which is without a parallel in similar fab- 
 
 ^ Texier (Charles Felix Marie), Descriptioii de TAsie Miiieiti-e, fait par Ordre 
 dn Gonverneme7tt Fran^ais de 1832 ^ 1837, et publi^e par U Miiiistire de P Instruc- 
 tion Publique, deuxieme partie, deuxieme volume. Paris, 1S49. The incorrect 
 statement concerning the shape of the regula has been repeated in many text- 
 books on Greek architecture. 
 
 ^ Preliminary Report, p. 9a
 
 88 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 rics. The epistyle was but two stones in thickness, the inner 
 beam occupying nearly two thirds of the width of the soffit, 
 yet being less than one half as high as the outer lintel. The 
 block resting upon it — that is to say, the second member of 
 the inner side of the entablature — was at least 20 cm. less in 
 
 Fig. 12. Section of the Entablature and Coffered Ceiling of 
 
 THE Pteroma. 
 
 thickness, and hence it was not necessary to tool away from 
 the upper half of the back of the outer epistyle beam, and 
 from the lower half of the back of the triglyph blocks, those 
 rough and projecting faces which still show the marks of the 
 quarrying. Indeed, these bosses, keyed in, as it were, to the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 89 
 
 second course of the inner entablature, are in the transverse 
 section seen to have practically formed a broken joint, and 
 must have considerably increased the resistance which the 
 mass of masonry above the columns could offer to the thrust 
 constantly exercised against it by the roofing timbers, and to 
 the dislocating effects of earthquakes. This will be clear 
 from the section of the entablature. Figure 12. 
 
 It was remarked in the First Report, that it would be diffi- 
 cult to advance any satisfactory explanation of the triple con- 
 struction then assumed. The saving effected in the weight 
 of the facing blocks would have been more than counterbal- 
 anced by the additional labor required to cut stones, naturally 
 cleaving to parallel and rectangular planes, into the irregular 
 shape thus determined ; and the difficulty of assuring exact 
 joints upon the soffit would have been increased through such 
 a duplication of the surfaces of contact. 
 
 On the other hand, the more correct information relative 
 to the composition of the entablature gained during the sub- 
 sequent investigation is entirely in agreement with the gen- 
 eral character of the design, and again permits us to recognize 
 the wise economy with which the construction was planned. 
 The inner lintel, and the two courses above it, were formed 
 of the parallelopipedons, most readily obtained in the quar- 
 ries of Assos, while the rough projections upon the back of 
 the single outer epistyle naturally resulted from the cutting 
 necessary upon the lower edge alone in order to bring it to 
 a straight and close joint upon the soffit. Although the 
 sculptured epistyle block was greatly decreased in weight, 
 and could consequently be more readily provided and more 
 easily worked, there were still the fewest possible surfaces of 
 contact, and a triple memberment of the entablature was 
 thus secured upon the inner side, without the necessity of 
 introducing for this purpose a low and narrow string-course
 
 90 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 behind the corona, and upon the same level with it; an expe- 
 dient which would have presented far greater difficulties in 
 the coarse andesite of Assos than in the fine-grained and firm 
 limestones elsewhere employed by Greek builders. 
 
 The true arrangement of the epistyle beams is evident from 
 the position of the pry-holes on the top of the capital. Deep 
 pry-holes of oblique section, a a and 7 7', Fig. ii, were cut 
 upon the outer and inner projections of the abacus. They 
 provided a purchase for the heavy lever by which the stones, 
 while hanging from the derrick tackle, were guided to their 
 positions upon the bed. From the depth and the broad out- 
 ward slant of these sinkings it may be assumed that they also 
 served to receive the ends of the upper timbers of a staging, 
 subsequently erected to facilitate work upon the higher parts 
 of the entablature. The epistyle beam, a, of the outer side, 
 was first swung into position. This stone set, and released 
 from the tackling of the derrick, it was shifted into close con- 
 tact with the epistyle above the next column, already in place, 
 by the help of a crowbar, purchasing in the transverse pry- 
 hole /3. The corresponding inner lintel, b, was similarly set, 
 being pried against the outer epistyle by means of a lever 
 bearing in the slot 7, and against the adjoining inner lintel by 
 placing the lever in the pry-hole 8. In some cases it was 
 necessary to shift forward the outer epistyle from the position 
 in which it was first laid upon the abacus, so as to bring it 
 into the exact alignment determined for the face of the entab- 
 lature. This was effected, as in the case of the beam c. Fig. 
 II, by a leverage exercised from a longitudinal pry-hole, e. It 
 was rare, however, that recourse was had to this expedient, it 
 having almost always been possible to guide the blocks while 
 hanging from the derrick with sufficient precision by means 
 of the outer slots, a and a . The beam a, for instance, is seen 
 to have required no such lateral correction, no pry-hole ap-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 91 
 
 pearing at w. The last stone to be laid upon the capital was 
 the second inner epistyle, d. This was shifted into an exact 
 position, laterally by a leverage applied at 7', and longitudi- 
 nally by a purchase provided upon the next capital in that 
 direction in which the construction was carried on. The last 
 of all the epistyle beams to be laid must have been at one of 
 the corners of the building. Accurate jointing was assured 
 by cutting an anathyrosis upon all the surfaces of contact. 
 
 The indications thus obtained from the pry-holes upon^he 
 top of the abacus were sufficient, not only to prove that the 
 lintels were two in number, but also to determine the width 
 of the blocks which formed the inner epistyle. The height 
 of these was evident, within certain limits, from that of the 
 tooled surface beneath the projecting boss of the outer epi- 
 style. The acquisition of these facts permitted, during the 
 work of excavation on the Acropolis subsequent to the first 
 year, and during the remeasurement of all the squared stones 
 whose original destination had not already become evident, the 
 recognition of one entire inner epistyle beam, and of six others 
 more or less fragmentary. In height these members, with an 
 irregularity of but a few millimeters, averaged 385 mm. Their 
 width, complementary to that of the outer epistyle blocks, va^ 
 ried from 495 to 550 mm. The length of the one entire stone, 
 evidently belonging to the side entablature, was 2.39 m. 
 This block now serves as one of the jambs of the gateway 
 to the Turkish fortifications which once occupied the sum- 
 mit of the Acropolis ; it still stands upright. That so few 
 fragments should remain of the thirty-four inner epistyle 
 beams — which formed a total length of eighty-four meters 
 (or eighty-eight meters, if the inner epistyle was cut to a 
 mitre at the corners, as in the temples of Aigina and Olym- 
 pia) — is readily explicable by the consideration that these 
 stones, having been without projecting members, and accu-
 
 92 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAT. INSTITUTE. 
 
 rately squared upon all sides, were eminently suited to the 
 purposes of later builders, Christian and Mohammedan, who 
 looked upon the ancient monuments as a convenient quarry. 
 
 The blocks of the inner epistyle, like those of the outer, 
 were somewhat less finely tooled upon their bed surfaces 
 than upon their exposed soffits, and were likewise provided 
 with shallow rectangular notches, destined to receive the point 
 
 
 
 ^yt 
 
 ■■^. ^r 
 
 
 
 y..-'. 
 
 • ^ ''\ ■ 
 
 •'.'. £ 
 
 
 
 n'-' 
 
 '-■'j 
 
 
 
 
 _^_^ 
 
 €'■■ 
 
 I:, LJ-_..,,-^ 
 
 
 V'> -.4- •■■■ E- 
 
 x 
 
 
 Fig. 13. Fragments of inner Epistyle Beams, showing Shift-holes 
 AND Masons' Marks. 
 
 of the crowbar by which they were raised while being shifted 
 into position. As it was necessary that the widths of the 
 outer and inner lintels should together make up the total 
 thickness of the epistyle, namely, 82 cm., they must have 
 been fitted together upon the ground. Those which had 
 been matched were occasionally designated by masons' marks. 
 Three of these signs, the only ones found, are shown in 
 Figure 13. They will be referred to in the discussion of 
 the age of the building.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 93 
 
 The members of the frieze show irregularities in point of 
 size, which far exceed those observed in other parts of the 
 structure. The triglyphs and metopes found during the 
 course of the investigations, as well as the spacing of the reo-u- 
 las upon the blocks of the epistyle, prove the dimensions — 
 even of those details which were in immediate proximity, and 
 could easily be compared by the observer — to have varied, 
 in some instances, in the enormous proportion of seven to 
 ten. The width of the smallest triglyph found was 480, 
 that of the largest 575 mm. The former dimension was ex- 
 ceptional, the nearest to it being 51 cm. ; the latter was not 
 uncommon, four of the thirty-eight triglyphs recognizable 
 measuring over 57 cm. In general, the triglyphs may be 
 divided into two classes ; those of the fronts, averaging 56, 
 and those of the sides, averaging 52 cm. The corner tri- 
 glyphs, three of which were found, were of the smaller size, — 
 a fact which is of importance in determining the relative 
 position of the sculptured epistyle blocks. 
 
 In the metopes considerable variations were naturally to be 
 expected, inasmuch as the equalization of the corners of the 
 frieze, and of the front and side intercolumniations, devolved 
 mainly upon them. Still, this fact by no means suffices 
 to explain the great differences in the size of these members. 
 The narrowest metope found was 6^ cm. ; the broadest, 
 nearly half as large again, namely, 905 mm. The nearest 
 approach to the minimum was 680, to the maximum 835 mm. 
 It is to be borne in mind that these blocks were of exactly 
 the same height, and that a variation of, let us say, 5 cm. 
 could readily be detected by the eye. Particularly worthy of 
 remark is the fact that adjacent metopes, which can be meas- 
 ured from one and the same epistyle block, differed in 
 width as much as 13 cm., namely, from 68 to 81 cm. This 
 is proved by the spacing of the regulas on the epistyle sculp-
 
 94 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 tured with horse-legged centaurs, discovered during the 
 course of the excavations. Nor was this an altogether ex- 
 ceptional case. On the large relief of two bulls, in the Louvre, 
 the adjacent metopes are seen to have varied 5 cm. in width, 
 namely, from 63 to 68 cm. 
 
 Under these conditions it appears probable that the exact 
 position of the regulas was determined after the members of 
 the frieze had been set in place above the epistyle. This was 
 without doubt effected by leaving the ends of the regulas, as 
 carved while the epistyle blocks were still upon the ground, 
 somewhat longer than the required dimension, (namely, the 
 width of the triglyphs to which they appertained,) thus se- 
 curing the possibility of a subsequent correction. There 
 does, indeed, seem to be a difference in tooling between cer- 
 tain of the patches adjoining the regulas, and the rest of the 
 epistyle face, although the weathering of the coarse stone 
 renders it difficult to judge of this point with certainty.^ 
 
 Truly, the execution of a Doric entablature in primitive 
 times, without the aid of working drawings on a large scale, 
 or of accurately computed measurements, was a complicated 
 and difficult work. The architects Tarchesios, Pythios, and 
 Hermogenes,^ were not without good grounds when they 
 complained of the irksomeness of laying out the Doric mem- 
 berment, especially the division of the frieze, and the other 
 details of the entablature thereupon dependent. 
 
 Fortunately, we are provided, by the difference in tooling 
 
 ^ The probability that the triglyphs and metopes were placed in position 
 before the ends of the regulas were cut upon the epistyle tends to disprove 
 the etymological note of Botticher, Tektonik, p. 204 : " Regula ist wohl Uebertra- 
 gung von Kavwv, also Richtscheid oder Norm fiir die Statte der Triglvphen." 
 Even viewed solely in the light of constructive development this is an altogether 
 arbitrary assumption. The word Regtila, employed by Vitruvius (IV. 3. 4), needs 
 only to be taken in its literal meaning, — a straight piece of wood, a ruler. 
 
 2 Quoted by Vitruvius, IV. 3. i. Tarchesios is probably identical with 
 Argelios, the builder of the temple of Asklepios at Tralles (Vitr., VII. Pref. 12)
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 95 
 
 on the beds and on the soffits of the epistyle blocks of the tem- 
 ple of Assos, with a means of ascertaining that the triglyphs 
 situated above the columns were but little out of the axes ; 
 the maximum error in this respect amounting to less than 
 5 cm. A greater irregularity than this would, indeed, have 
 been intolerable. In the jointing of the epistyle beams them- 
 selves, on the other hand, so little attention was paid to a 
 correspondence with the axes of the supports, that the half- 
 regulas cut upon the ends of the blocks vary in length from 
 II to 46 cm. ; the joints themselves must have been so close 
 that this want of agreement did not force itself upon the 
 attention of the observer, as did the irregularities in the 
 width of the triglyphs and metopes. Thus no jesthetic con- 
 sideration required an equalization of the lintels, which were 
 worked, as chanced to be convenient, from the stones pro- 
 vided by the quarrymen. The differences in length have, 
 however, to be taken into account in the attempt to determine 
 the arrangement of the reliefs upon the fronts and sides of 
 the building. 
 
 The backs of the triglyphs were so cut that the lower half 
 formed a rough boss, which corresponded with the projection 
 upon the upper half of the epistyle beams, and, together with 
 it, came into bond with the second course of the main entab- 
 lature. This boss, retaining the marks of the quarrying, 
 projects from 8 to 12, and varies in height from 22 to 35 cm. 
 Compare Figures 12 and 14. 
 
 as has been assumed by Schneider and Marini in their editions of Vitruvius, 
 Pythios worked at Prieiie (Vitr., I. i. 12) and Halikarnassos (Vitr., VII. Pref. 
 12, and Pliny, I/ist. Nat., XXXVI. 5- 4, § 31) ; Hermogenes at Magnesia (Vitr., 
 III. 2. 6) and Teos (Vitr., VII. Pref. 12). All three are thus seen to have 
 been Asiatic, and their remarks concerning the Doric system without doubt 
 express the opinion as to that style prevalent in Asia Minor. This is a point of 
 much interest in the present connection, for it is to be borne in mind that the 
 temple of Assos (with exception of the small fane, of much later date, at Perga- 
 mon) is the only known Doric temple on the eastern coast of the Aegean.
 
 96 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Both triglyphs and metopes were shifted to an exact posi- 
 tion by means of levers applied in pry-holes cut upon the 
 upper surface of the outer epistyle beams, and show upon 
 their beds the shift-holes, or rectangular slots which provided 
 a hold for the lifting crowbar, the function of which has been 
 described in connection with the epistyle. The pry-holes 
 visible upon the top of the epistyle beams conclusively prove 
 that triglyphs and metopes were placed in position alternately. 
 
 r 
 
 Fig. 14. Triglyph, Face and Side. 
 
 The triglyphs were not laid first, and the metopes then slipped 
 in between them from above, as has been frequently assumed 
 by writers upon Greek architecture.^ The joints between the 
 two were hidden by inserting the edges of the metopes into 
 rabbets, cut upon the sides of the triglyphs in such a manner 
 that the faces of the former came to be 6 cm. farther back 
 than those of the latter. The form of these rabbets — which 
 
 ^ This time-honored error has been illustrated by a steel engraving in the 
 Expidition Scientifique de Moree, vol. iii. plate lo. Paris, 1831.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 97 
 
 were shaped to receive the projecting band along the upper 
 part of the metopes, but not the delicate havvk's-bill moulding 
 terminating them — is shown in the side view of a triglyph, 
 Figure 14. 
 
 The general arrangement of the cornice has been described 
 in the First Report. So great are the inevitable irregulari- 
 ties in the distribution of the mutules, as to make it probable 
 that at least the soffit of the corona was not carved until the 
 members of the frieze had been laid upon the epistyle, and 
 the position of the individual cornice blocks in relation to 
 them exactly determined. 
 
 The spacing of the mutules — the lacunaria, which in 
 the passage of Vitruvius, before quoted,^ is referred to as so 
 troublesome — could not well be laid out, or even corrected, 
 by the stone-cutter, after the blocks of the cornice had been 
 placed in position. For it was requisite that the length of 
 the separate stones which formed the cornice should exactly 
 correspond with the divisions determined by the irregular 
 widths of the triglyphs and metopes. Moreover, the inclina- 
 tion of the soffit, forming an acute angle with the vertical face 
 of the entatjfeture, would have cramped the workmen, and 
 would of itself alone have rendered it necessary to cut the 
 deep interstices between the mutules before the blocks were 
 set in place. 
 
 The surfaces of lateral contact formed by the anathyrosis 
 upon the cornice blocks averaged 55 mm. in width; the sink- 
 ing between them being, in some cases, as deep as three 
 centimeters. 
 
 From the marks upon the overthrown stones we may 
 recognize two distinct methods of lifting these heavy cornice 
 
 1 The word lacnnaria in this passage, IV. 3. I, should not, I think, be trans- 
 lated "ceiling," as it usually is, (for instance by Brunn, Gcschichte der Griechischen 
 Kiinstkr, vol. ii. p. 359, Stuttgart, 1859,) but rather the soffit of the corona, or the 
 viutulcs. 
 
 7
 
 98 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 blocks into position ; the one by means of ropes looped into 
 broad and deep U-shaped grooves cut upon the lateral joint 
 surfaces, a, Figure 15 ; the other by means of iron hooks, or 
 dogs, grappling into comparatively small and shallow slots in 
 the same position, b, Figure 15. The first of these, the deep 
 grooves, are observable in other Doric edifices of early period, 
 — as, for instance, the temples of Aigina, Paestum, and Se- 
 
 linous. Although 
 C^7 '^ ''"^ ' - ■ ^ they required much 
 
 more stone to be 
 cut from the block 
 than did the slots of 
 the second method, 
 they were far less 
 secure. When the 
 projection was not 
 sufficiently great, or 
 sufficiently under- 
 cut, there was dan- 
 ger of the loop slip- 
 ping off ; and by 
 the swinging of the 
 heavy blocks the 
 rough edges of the 
 stone must always 
 have sawed upon the fibre of the rope. In one instance at 
 Assos, that of an exceptionally heavy corner piece, the entire 
 U-shaped boss had broken away, and was replaced by a deep 
 slot, into which the end of a beam could be inserted. Of the 
 second variety, a square or oblong slot, about 8 cm. in width, is 
 the most simple form, and is, as a general rule, employed upon 
 one end of all those stones which were lifted by grapples. 
 Stones upon both ends of which were simple slots of this kind 
 
 i,„ 
 
 Fig. 15. Ends of Cornice Blocks, showing 
 
 Attachments of Derrick Tackle : A, for 
 
 Looped Rope ; B, for Iron Dog.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 
 
 99 
 
 could not, of course, be laid to a close joint, on account of the 
 bar of the lifting-iron intervening. It was necessary to cut, 
 upon one at least of the two surfaces meeting at a joint, a ver- 
 tical channel, through which the grapple could be released and 
 withdrawn. This channel was made either suffciently deep 
 in plan for the hook of the iron — the dog — to pass freely 
 when slipped backwards, towards the joint ; or sufficiently 
 
 Fig. i6. Cornice Block, as tilted in Lifting. — Release for 
 TURNING Grapple. 
 
 broad to permit the grapple to be turned 90^ on its vertical 
 axis, and to be withdrawn in that position, as shown in Figure 
 16. The latter arrangement, complicated as it appears, was 
 somewhat the more economical in respect to stone-cutting, 
 as it did not require the horizontal slot to be sunk to so great 
 a depth as did the former. 
 
 One of the blocks of the cornice, upon the southern side 
 of the building, deserves particular remark. It evidently
 
 lOO ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 adjoined a stone, inserted between two others already in po- 
 sition, which is to be considered as the very last laid. This 
 last stone seems to have been swung into the air, above the 
 entablature, before it was noticed that in this case both of 
 the ends ought to have been provided with vertical channels 
 through which the lifting-irons could be withdrawn, and that, 
 as it was, it could not be set. The difficulty was ingeniously 
 met, not by lowering the stone and cutting the second chan- 
 nel upon it, but by sinking the release upon the corresponding 
 joint surface of the adjoining block, here in question. 
 
 It appears from the position of all the grooves and slots 
 in the ends of the cornice blocks, that these stones were 
 so balanced as to incline slightly towards their front edge, 
 which thus touched the bed first, and could be adjusted with 
 great accuracy upon the given line above the triglyphs and 
 metopes. Compare Figure i6. The tilt requisite for this 
 expedient was determined by the position of the lifting slots, 
 which were cut somewhat farther back from the face than the 
 centre of gravity ; the exact point being without doubt ascer- 
 tained by some graphic method based upon the section, as 
 actual experiment was scarcely possible. It may be remarked, 
 parenthetically, that modern research constantly tends to 
 prove that the unequalled refinements of classic architecture 
 — perhaps the most striking instances of which are presented 
 by the corrections of optical illusions, namely, the curvature 
 of the horizontals, and the inclination and entasis of the col- 
 umns — were, like the solution of static problems such as 
 those in question, arrived at rather by the means of architec- 
 tural drawings on a large scale than by any system of arith- 
 metical calculation. This was in accordance with one of the 
 dominant traits of Greek intelligence, which delighted in the 
 expression of an idea by some material representation. 
 
 In the variety of methods employed in lifting the cornice
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. lOI 
 
 blocks of the temple of Assos, we have another indication 
 of the many independent hands engaged upon the structure. 
 Throughout the edifice there was as entire a lack of con- 
 structive as of artistic unity, — a fact which is to be borne 
 in mind in the consideration of the provincial character and 
 the archaic semblance, yet comparatively recent age, of the 
 sculptures, so unequal in point of style. 
 
 Having been set in position, the cornice blocks were united 
 by iron cramps, sunk into the upper surface of the stone at 
 about the middle of the bed, namely, 70 cm. from the face 
 of the corona. These cramps, averaging 2 cm. in section, 
 were formed of exceedingly tough wrought iron, and were set 
 by a lead casting. A specimen is preserved in the Museum 
 at Boston, No. M. 578. 
 
 The profile of the hawk's-bill moulding which terminated 
 the cornice is shown on a large scale in Figure 10, b. 
 
 The cornice block from the southeastern corner of the edi- 
 fice, Figure 17, is of particular interest, inasmuch as it dis- 
 plays almost all the marks of dowels, cramps, lifting holes, etc., 
 occurring upon the course to which it belongs. It may hence 
 be considered somewhat in detail, as an example of the many 
 indications which may be derived even from a single displaced 
 block. 
 
 The holes for the grapple irons of the derrick tackle by 
 which this heavy stone was lifted are to be seen upon both of • 
 its ends. One of these ends is exceptional, in being, not a joint 
 surface, but the exposed face of the eastern corona. It was 
 thought preferable to disfigure this member by cutting a deep 
 square slot upon it, rather than to depart from the regular 
 method of attaching the tackle by the adoption of some other 
 form of iron hook, which might, indeed, have been made to 
 find a hold upon the outer edge of the corner mutule, but would 
 have been liable to slip unless a dog-hole had there been cut.
 
 I02 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 o 
 
 Fig. 
 
 A further disadvan- 
 tage of the plan adopt- 
 ed was that the hawk's- 
 bill moulding of the 
 front had to be cut 
 quite through at a, 
 Fig. 17, in order to al- 
 low the grapple, when 
 hooked into the slot 
 B, to lie flat against 
 the vertical face of the 
 corona. It is, of course, 
 to be assumed that the 
 hole in the face of 
 the corona, and the 
 unsightly notch in the 
 moulding above it, were 
 filled in and bridged 
 over with a stucco of 
 the same color as the 
 stone. Upon the in- 
 ner western end of the 
 block — a joint surface 
 — the grapple slot is 
 provided with a release 
 channel, c, for turning 
 the iron, like that pre- 
 viously described, and 
 illustrated in Fig. 16. 
 
 _____^ This proves that the 
 
 1™- adjoining stone of the 
 
 17. Cornice Block from Southeastern southern cornice was 
 Corner. — Upper Surface and End.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1SS3. 103 
 
 set before the corner block was swung into position. On 
 the other hand, the adjoining block of the eastern cornice, 
 which was laid afterwards, cannot have had a release of any 
 kind, for we see at d, Fig. 17, that a broad channel for this 
 purpose was cut upon the corner block, without doubt after it 
 had been placed in position, and the equilibrium of the next 
 stone ascertained by a graphic method, as before explained. 
 
 The iron cramps which attached the block to those adjoin- 
 ing it were sunk in carefully cut grooves at e and f. In order 
 to profit by the stability which was afforded to the next stone 
 of the front by the great depth of bed, from east to west, of 
 this corner block, and more particularly in order to' anchor 
 the stones of the front cornice together for the purpose of 
 resisting the lateral thrust exercised, as will presently be 
 shown, in this line by the inclined course of the pediment 
 cornice, the cramp at f was placed much farther in from the 
 face of the corriice than was that at e. 
 
 In the tooling of the upper surface the bed, g, for the 
 stone carved with the gargoyle, serving also as a base for the 
 corner acroterion, was permitted to project above the rest, 
 having the full slant of the gable, requisite for the continua- 
 tion of the gutter channel to the orifice in the lion's mouth. 
 The inclination of this surface, g, may be seen in the drawing 
 of the end of the cornice block, Fig. 17. The superposed 
 stone, subjected as it was to the thrust of the terra-cotta gut- 
 ter of the front, was securely attached to the cornice block 
 by four vertical dowels at h, h', h", and h' , On all the 
 cornice stones of the front a plane bed, level with the top 
 of the hawk's-bill moulding, was cut to receive the blocks 
 which formed the tympanon veil, — the face of which was 
 situated in the line j. The first of the stones of the pedi- 
 ment cornice, cut to an acute angle, rested directly upon the 
 corner block, having a bearing against an exceedingly stout
 
 I04 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 dowel, the large hole for which is to be seen at k. This 
 dowel must have been quite sufficient to prevent any slipping 
 of the pediment cornice block along its bed, to which it was 
 exposed through the thrust of the other stones of this course, 
 lying as they did upon an inclined plane. At no point in the 
 entire structure did more depend upon the expedient of metal 
 bondings, and nowhere is greater forethought and care dis- 
 played in their arrangement and execution. In recognition 
 of the fact that the force tending to outer displacement was 
 mainly exercised against this dowel, it was placed in a line 
 with the cramp f, by which the corner block was anchored 
 to the other stones of the front cornice ; the cramp f having 
 for this purpose been removed fully one third farther from 
 the corona edge than was the cramp e. In the intimate 
 relations of these bondings, bearing upon different courses 
 and fixed at different times, we have a striking proof of the 
 thought bestowed by the designer, before the erection of the 
 building, upon constructive details apparently of little signifi- 
 cance, whose disposition would, in a modern work, probably 
 be left to haphazard. 
 
 From the sinking of right-angled plan cut in the untooled 
 boss of stone remaining, at l, between the bed for the pedi- 
 ment cornice and the bed for the wall-plate and rafters, m, 
 it must be assumed that the thrust of the pediment cornice 
 was exercised, in its lowest block, not directly against the 
 small surface of the dowel at k, but against the bar of iron 
 interposed between dowel and stone, and affording a broader 
 surface for the pressure. From the size of the sinking in 
 the boss L, this bar may be judged to have had a width of 
 about 10 cm. It was probably not longer than 60 cm., and 
 did not extend farther to the east than to the west of k, being 
 imbedded in a socket cut upon the lower outer edge of the 
 first pediment cornice block, so that the end of the metal bar 
 was not exposed upon the face of the gable.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 105 
 
 The plane bed for the roof timbering, m, extended along 
 the sides of the building, upon a level with the upper edge 
 of the havvk's-bill moulding, from which it is distant about 
 53 cm. Upon this bed lay the wall-plate, n n', into which 
 were mortised the main rafters, the first of these being situ- 
 ated, as will presently be shown, in the line o o'. The upper 
 surface of the cornice, which remained between this plane bed 
 and the outer edge of the stones, namely, a strip about half a 
 meter in width, is roughly split to the slope of the roof tiles ; 
 that is to say, somewhat less than the 15° slant of the gable, 
 owing to the overlapping ends of the tiles. The nature of this 
 difference in slope will be readily understood by a glance at 
 the section of the entablature and roof above the pteroma, 
 Fig. 12. The line of inclination is shown by dots upon the 
 drawing of the end of the corner cornice block, Fig. 17. 
 Along this rough-split surface, at a distance of 18 cm. from 
 the edge, is cut a groove, p p', averaging 3 cm. in depth, 
 the purpose of which was to receive the bent inner edges of 
 a course of ornamental tiles, subsequently to be described. 
 These tiles were attached to the cornice blocks by iron dowels 
 of peculiar shape, two of which, q and q', appear upon the 
 cornice block. The dowels of the gargoyle were of square 
 section, those of the antefixes and that receiving the thrust of 
 the pediment cornice were round rods and bars ; those of the 
 lighter terra-cotta course, on the other hand, arc of oblong sec- 
 tion, considerably thinner than the ones elsewhere employed, 
 as they were not called upon to resist any considerable strain, 
 but merely to prevent an accidental displacement of the long 
 and narrow strips of terra-cotta interposed between the im- 
 brices and the stone. 
 
 The antefixes which terminated the lines of teguloe were 
 each attached to the cornice by two dowels, the corner block 
 showing borings for them at r r' and s s'. The position of
 
 I06 ARCH^OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 these irons furthermore indicates the axes of the tegulae 
 at T and t', and consequently the situation of the rafters, 
 upon which the imbrices were placed without the interven- 
 tion of purlins or slots. The first rafter above mentioned is 
 shown by dotted lines at o o'. The most easterly of the 
 antefixes are thus seen to have been removed exactly the 
 width of one imbrex from the terra-cotta gutter of the gable. 
 We must, however, here terminate our examination of this 
 interesting corner cornice block, reserving the more detailed 
 description of the roofing for a later section. 
 
 On the gable ends of the building the cornice blocks were 
 smoothly tooled upon their upper surfaces, in order to receive 
 the upright slabs which formed the tympanon wall. One of 
 the stones in question, from the western front, is so stepped 
 that the bed thus provided rises to a height of 6 cm. above 
 the tympanon floor. From these indications it is evident 
 that the depth of the gable field, exclusive of the beak 
 moulding of the corona, was 41 cm. The reveal was con- 
 sequently not greater than the projection of the main cornice, 
 differing in this respect from the Parthenon and the temple 
 of Aigina, where it was necessary to increase the width of 
 the tympanon floor because of the gable groups standing upon 
 it.^ At Assos the wall veil was very nearly (within 2 cm.) 
 in the same plane as the face of the entablature. 
 
 From the traces upon the cornice blocks before mentioned, 
 it is further possible to ascertain that the tympanon wall 
 itself was formed of stones which varied from 36 to 40 cm. in 
 thickness. During the excavations of the second year three 
 of these stones, belonging to the western gable, were brought 
 to light. Of equal width, varying in this dimension but a 
 
 ^ In the Parthenon and in the temple of Aigina the width of the tympanon 
 floor is greater than the projection of the main cornice by respectively one eighth 
 and two elevenths of the entire thickness of the entablature.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 107 
 
 few millimeters from 92 cm., they were respectively 0.59 and 
 0.837, 0-837 and 1.084, and 1.084 and 1.33 m. in height. The 
 proportions and constructive arrangement of the tympanon 
 wall became perfectly clear through this discovery. The tri- 
 angular veil, with a total length of 12.64, l^ad a total height 
 of 1.695 m., — the rise in the three stones recovered being ex- 
 actly 0.268 to the unit of length. It is furthermore evident, 
 that a single slab, of pentagonal shape, occupied the centre 
 of the field, and that the three stones found were the sec- 
 ond, third, and fourth upon the north of this. The entire 
 wall must consequently have been formed of thirteen stones. 
 This would seem to be a more perfect arrangement than that 
 attained by the adoption of any even number of slabs, which 
 must result, as in the Parthenon and Theseion, in a central 
 joint, with two acute angles at the apex of the wall veil, in- 
 stead of the one obtuse angle, more easily cut, and less liable 
 to fracture. 
 
 In the restoration of the temple, given in the First Report,^ 
 it was assumed, from a comparison of Doric temples of about 
 the same age, that the inclination of the gable was as one in 
 four. The difference between this assumption and the ttuth 
 now ascertained, namely, between 0.25 and 0.268 in the unit, 
 amounts to but 11 cm. in the total height of the gable. This 
 deviation is nevertheless sufficient to make it certain that 
 the slant of one in four, so easily laid out with entire accu- 
 racy, was not fixed upon by the architect. Indeed, no simple 
 arithmetical ratio corresponds with the proportions now rec- 
 ognized. But on examination it will be seen that the angle 
 of inclination is, with extraordinary accuracy, fifteen degrees, 
 there being hardly the error of a single minute involved in 
 the dimensions of these blocks, which themselves represent 
 nearly half of the entire slope. 
 
 1 Prelimiinuv Report, Plate 14.
 
 I08 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 It will be remembered that the right angles at the corners 
 of the building were found, when tested by instruments of 
 precision, to have deviated but one tenth of a degree from the 
 true square. The geometrical accuracy of the tympanon tri- 
 angle is hence not surprising. Its angle of inclination, just 
 one sixth of that which had been employed in the plan, 
 could readily be, and doubtless was, laid out by dividing the 
 arc of the quadrant into equal parts. We have here a fur- 
 ther instance of the preference so generally shown by Greek 
 architects for graphic methods of design, — for geometrical 
 rather than arithmetical proportions. In such a gable no 
 eye could have detected the difference between the height 
 resulting from the ratio of one to four, and that determined 
 by an angle of inclination equal to fifteen degrees. It is a 
 significant fact, that the designer chose the latter, rather 
 than the former, method of approximation to a purely aes- 
 thetic ideal. 
 
 The largest of the three gable blocks (Fig. i8) presents a 
 curious peculiarity. The stone is a rejected cornice block, 
 and still shows upon the back, which was hidden from view, 
 the mutules and rectangular steppings of the corona soffit. 
 It appears to have been rendered unserviceable, before the 
 completion of the entablature, through some fracture of the 
 end which has been cut off, or through the mutilation of 
 the projecting hawk's-bill moulding. None of those cornice 
 details which still remain upon the stone, now reduced to 
 six sevenths of its original length, show defects sufificient to 
 account for its condemnation. One of the end joint sur- 
 faces became the bed of the gable block, the other being 
 cut to the required slope, while the back was straightened, 
 and the moulding removed from the front, so as to allow of 
 close jointing upon the sides. A deep slot, 75 mm. square, 
 was sunk into the face of the former corona, and into the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 109 
 
 opposite side, so as to afford a hold for the lifting tackle. 
 The two other slabs of the tympanon wall were raised by 
 the same means. After being released from the grapples, the 
 stones were shifted into close contact by means of levers 
 applied in pry-holes, which are to be observed upon the 
 
 ■' ,./•/- ■'••' II'- ... ^..:,„ ■• ' 
 
 ^llllllllllllllieMHlSllllllllllllfllMMliMimiTlllllll^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 ." : '|[ 
 
 iiMiiiiiiKiliiiiiiifiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiifliiiJiMiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiii 
 
 Fig. 18. Rejected Cornice Bi,ock, recut for Employment in 
 Tympanon Veil. 
 
 smoothed tops of the cornice blocks of the eastern and 
 western fronts of the temple. 
 
 The tympanon corona was provided with the customary 
 hawk's-bill moulding, to separate its soffit from the upright 
 surface of the tympanon wall. It was undercut not less than 
 73 mm. in a projection of 41 cm. At the re-entering angle
 
 JIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 thus formed the stones were only 15 cm. in thickness, — too 
 little for such a coarse-grained material, although they were 
 required to support no weight except the light gutter of terra- 
 cotta. Almost all those which were found had been broken 
 at this point by their fall. 
 
 It is worthy of especial remark, that the system of effecting 
 an accurate jointing by means of leverage was adopted even 
 in the case of the gable cornice, which rested upon an in- 
 clined bed. Pry-holes are visible upon the slanting upper 
 surfaces of the three blocks from the tympanon wall. The 
 joints themselves, as in all Greek gables, were not vertical, 
 but at right angles to the slope. 
 
 There were no indications whatever which could lead to 
 a belief that the tympanon was ornamented by sculptures. 
 On the contrary, the entire lack of such an extensive dowel- 
 ling as would have been rendered necessary by the presence 
 of statues is quite sufficient to prove that gable groups never 
 existed. Upon the upper surfaces of two of the cornice 
 blocks of the main front, that is to say, upon the floor of the 
 eastern tympanon, small pins of metal were found to have 
 been driven into the stone ; without doubt for the purpose 
 of afTfixing votive offerings, of no great size or weight. Un- 
 fortunately, these indications do not suffice to convey any 
 idea of the actual character of such decorations, which may 
 have been permanent agalmata, or merely festive garlands 
 of leaves and flowers. 
 
 The inner side of the entablature appears to have been 
 entirely plain. That this was the case with the inner epi- 
 style is rendered certain by the lintels brought to light during 
 the digging of the second year ; and that the upper blocks 
 were likewise without memberment is to be assumed from 
 the fact of there being no fragment of string-courses or 
 mouldings appertaining to the structure to which a position
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. Ill 
 
 is not elsewhere assignable. In this respect the temple of 
 Assos agrees with the Attic Doric of the fifth century, rather 
 than with the archaic style of the farther West. 
 
 The character of the inner lintel has already been set forth. 
 As to the second and highest course of the inner entablature, 
 its dimensions may be determined with a certain degree of 
 accuracy by the maximum heights and projections of the 
 bosses upon the upper half of the outer epistyle and upon the 
 lower half of the triglyphs, the results thus obtained being 
 checked by comparison with the corresponding measurements 
 of the blocks of the inner lintel actually discovered. Thus it 
 becomes evident that the second course was of very nearly the 
 same height as the outer epistyle (82 cm.), and that the third 
 or uppermost course was, both in height and average M^idth, 
 the same as the first, or lowest (namely, the inner epistyle), 
 the variation in no respect having been greater than half an 
 inch. There can be but little doubt that this agreement was 
 intentional, especially in view of the fact that the total thick- 
 ness of the entablature was in like manner equal to the height 
 of the epistyle. It appears probable that some unit of meas- 
 urement was here embodied. The thickness of the second 
 course did not exceed 35 cm. 
 
 The pteroma, vestibule, and pronaos of the temple were 
 covered with a ceiling of coffered stone beams, the recog- 
 nition and restoration of which was entirely a work of the 
 second year. Small fragments of two of these beams were 
 brought to light during the digging upon the site of the 
 temple ; two remaining in their entire length are to be seen 
 built into the walls of the Mosque which stands upon the 
 northernmost terrace of the Acropolis,^ and twelve others, 
 more or less perfect, were found among the debris of the 
 lower town ; namely, seven near the foundations of a portico 
 
 1 J're/imiiiary Kc/'ort, p. 93, Plate 23.
 
 112 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 situated one hundred meters west of the Greek Bath, and five 
 in a modern enclosure about the same distance southeast of 
 the Bouleuterion. 
 
 Three considerations make it evident that these stones be- 
 longed to the temple. A strong presumption is supplied, in 
 the first place, by the presence of several of these beams 
 among the ruins upon the summit of the Acropolis, where 
 the remains of no other antique building are to be found. 
 Carved blocks known to have been derived from the lower 
 town — among them a marble capital from the Greek Bath 
 and an inscribed lintel from a Christian church — have, it is 
 true, been incorporated into the Mosque which stands upon 
 the lower terrace of the Acropolis. Stones so shaped as to be 
 of service to the Turkish builders were undoubtedly removed 
 from a considerable distance to the site of the Mosque ; but 
 with the fragments of coffered beams before mentioned the 
 case is altogether different. It v.^ould be misleading to 
 refer to the marble blocks in the fagade of the Mosque in 
 explanation of the remains of a stone ceiling buried in the 
 earth which covered the plan of the ancient temple, amongst 
 the ruins of this one edifice, and of no other. It is more than 
 improbable that useless blocks belonging to any structure in 
 the lower town would ever have been carried up this great 
 height. On the contrary, the materials of the temple fur- 
 nished enough and to spare for the rude mediaeval fortifica- 
 tions of the citadel, and, having in part been rolled over the 
 steep, are met with in various parts of the enclosure below, 
 A number of the drums, for instance, lie upon the slopes of 
 the southeast, are half buried among the ruins of the Turkish 
 village at the north, and were dug out of the debris which 
 chokes the reservoir beneath the Agora. Thus the coffered 
 beams, before mentioned as having been found upon the lower 
 level, show, by the very fact of their discovery nearly half a
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. II3 
 
 kilometer one from another, that they must have been re- 
 moved from some common centre. Of exceptional length, 
 and plane upon three long sides, they were admirably adapted 
 to serve the later builders as jambs and lintels. Nothing 
 could be more easy than to drag these blocks down the in- 
 cline from the Acropolis, to be used in the construction of 
 the Christian edifices among whose ruins they were found ; 
 nothing more unnatural than to carry them to a height 
 where no building other than the Doric temple ever stood. 
 The wide distribution of the coffered beams is fully explained 
 by the consideration that they must have been the first blocks 
 of the temple to fall. The evenly squared stones of the cella 
 wall must have been regarded with covetous eyes by all those 
 who profited by that edict of Theodosius which authorized 
 the destruction of heathen temples for the purpose of employ- 
 ing their materials in the erection of Christian dwellings ; 
 and these stones could not be removed until the ceiling above 
 the pronaos and pteroma had been overthrown. 
 
 The second point is the character of the stone-dressing. 
 The marks of hammer and chisel, still to be seen upon some 
 of the coffered beams, are precisely the same as those observ- 
 able throughout the temple. The untooled upper surfaces 
 were split in the quarry in the same manner as were the 
 backs of the main lintels ; the brush-hammered finish upon 
 the sides, forming a shallow anathyrosis, is like that upon all 
 the blocks of the entablature ; and, finally, the beds of the 
 beams frequently show near their ends those peculiar rectan- 
 gular notches, cut to receive the end of the lifting crowbar 
 during the process of shifting the stone, which have been 
 described as existing upon the epistyle blocks and the tri- 
 glyphs. These indications are sufficient to furnish a definite 
 proof. 
 
 In the third place, there was not in the ancient town any 
 
 8
 
 114 ARCH^OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 other building to which a stone ceiHng of these dimensions, 
 or of such a variety of span, could have belonged. All our 
 knowledge of Greek architectural remains leads us to the 
 belief that these coffered beams appertained to a temple, and, 
 judging from their proportions and style of workmanship, to 
 an archaic Doric peripteros. It cannot be that a building of 
 such importance as that which is attested by this monumental 
 ceiling should have so entirely disappeared that no traces 
 whatever of it should have been brought to light during the 
 course of investigations so thorough as those at Assos. The 
 small size of the town itself scarcely allows us to assume 
 the existence of two temples of this grandeur within its walls. 
 
 The proofs that these beams belonged to the coffered ceil- 
 ing of the temple are stated thus in detail, because the fact of 
 the discovery of the stones in such remote localities — the 
 majority even in the lower town — might otherwise give rise 
 to doubts in regard to the correctness of the identification, in 
 spite of the agreement of every dimension with the plan of 
 arrangement which the writer believes to have ascertained. 
 
 As in the Theseion, and other Doric temples, the coffers 
 must have been supported upon transverse beams extending 
 from the entablature, above the third course of the inner side, 
 to the cella wall, — a distance, including the projection of the 
 mouldings upon either side, of 2.14 m. in the pteroma, and 
 4.06 m. in the vestibule. No remains of these supports were 
 recognized. Tooled as they were upon all four sides, and 
 provided at most with a narrow kyma along the upper edges, 
 it is easy to account for their entire dispersion by later build- 
 ers, as well as for the impossibility of identifying them among 
 fragmentary remains. From a comparison with the corre- 
 sponding members of other Doric ceilings, however, they may 
 be assumed to have been about two feet in width. In point 
 of fact, the dimension of 0.615 m., including the projecting
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 115 
 
 mouldings, if such existed, is found to fit exactly the present 
 case. 
 
 In those beams referable to the pteroma and vestibule the 
 coffers varied from 325 to 335 mm. square, averaging 33 cm., 
 while the bridges, which separated them, varied from 16 to 
 19 cm., averaging a millimeter or so less than 17 cm. Thus 
 the panels were almost exactly half a meter on centres. 
 The dimension of any set of three or more never varied 
 more than one centimeter from the length calculated accord- 
 ing to the given mean. This difference, small as it is, quite 
 suffices to allow of the slight adjustment requisite in the total 
 extent of the compartments. And, on the other hand, the 
 agreement of the entire plan to the average dimensions of 
 the lacunaria is so striking as to place the intention of the 
 designer, and the restoration of the ceiling, altogether beyond 
 question. 
 
 The width of the pteroma from entablature to wall is, as 
 before stated, 2.14 m. To ascertain the clear span of the 
 
 Fig. 19- Be.vm from the Coffered Ceiling of Pterom.\. 
 (For Scale, see Fig. 20.) 
 
 ceiling we have to deduct from this twice the projection of 
 the cyma moulding upon the third course of the inner entab- 
 lature and upon the wall plate. This dimension must have 
 been about 5 cm. Now, in a compartment four coffers in 
 length, the four sinkings (together, 1.32 m.), the three whole 
 and two half bridges (together, 0.68 m.), and the extra fifth 
 fillet (0.035 m.) very nearly make up the requisite 2.04 m.
 
 Il6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The width of these compartments may be determined by the 
 two coffered beams which were found entire. Their clear 
 span from fillet to fillet was, in one case, 1.53 m. ; in the 
 other, 1.52 m. One of these beams from the pteroma ceiling 
 is shown in Figure 19. 
 
 The number of compartments on the sides and at the rear 
 of the building is at once determined by the known length 
 of beam. From the total length of the cella wall (namely, 
 22.33 m.) is to be deducted the width of the transverse inte- 
 rior epistyle, which divided the ceilings of the pteromas from 
 that of the vestibule. Like that of the Theseion, this lintel 
 may be assumed to have had the same width as the entab- 
 lature, namely, 82 cm. The entire length of the pteroma 
 ceilings upon the sides of the building was, consequently, 
 21.51 m., — exactly ten times the width of the compartment 
 plus the main beam. 
 
 In like manner, the ceiling of the rear pteroma is found to 
 have contained six compartments of the same size, each with 
 twelve coffers. Its actual length of 12.25 "^m when thus di- 
 vided (duly omitting the non-existent sixth beam, and sub- 
 tracting the kymas upon the side entablatures), shows the 
 compartments to have had a mean width of 1.5 1 m. The 
 discrepancy here observable, amounting to less than an inch, 
 is entirely negligible in a construction which, as has been 
 seen, everywhere displays much greater irregularities than 
 this in the dimensions of individual members. 
 
 In regard to the details of the construction, it can only be 
 presumed, from the striking analogy of the Theseion, that a 
 strong under-tie, higher, but not of greater width, than the 
 other transverse beams, was carried across the sides, in the 
 line of the rear wall of the cella. 
 
 As in all other Doric temples, the beams were arranged 
 entirely without reference to the axes of the supports. Con-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 117 
 
 trary as this is to our own statical, and too often mechanical, 
 system of design, it is by no means unjustifiable upon aesthetic 
 considerations. The transverse beams, it must be borne in 
 mind, were situated more than five feet above the tops of the 
 columns, and the want of agreement with these is much 
 more apparent in the drawn plan (Fig. 22), than it can have 
 been in reality. 
 
 The coffered beams which formed the ceiling above the 
 vestibule were longer than those of the pteroma, each con- 
 
 O 1 2 m. 
 
 Fig. 20. Beam from the Coffered Ceiling of Vestibule. 
 
 taining five coffers. This is proved by the remains of three 
 of these stones, found among the ruins of the lower town. 
 The first and best preserved, shown in Figure 20, contains 
 four entire panels and about half of the fifth, — only 37 cm. of 
 the total length of the block being missing. The lifting holes, 
 which will be referred to hereafter, were cut upon either end 
 of the upper surface ; the one remaining consequently affords 
 no indication of the original length of the stone. But that 
 the coffer beams of this series did actually contain five panels,
 
 Il8 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 and no more, is fully proved by the second and third speci- 
 mens discovered, both of these showing a single lifting hole 
 cut in the middle of the block, so as to balance it from a 
 single rope, and disposed exactly above the centre of the third 
 sinking. The length of these coffer beams, thus determined, 
 makes it evident that the ceiling above the vestibule was 
 divided into four compartments, there consequently being 
 three beams of support extending from the entablature of the 
 eastern front to the entablature above the pronaos columns. 
 These main beams, being of so much greater span than those 
 above the pteroma, would, a priori, be supposed to have had 
 a somewhat greater thickness. And in fact, when we sub- 
 tract from the total length of the vestibule ceiling, namely, 
 12.25 rn-> the projecting cymas upon the side entablatures 
 (together about 10 cm.), and the width of four compartments 
 each containing five coffers of the average size (4 X 2.535 m.), 
 we find that there remains to the beams of support a thick- 
 ness of 67 cm. each, — just that increase of strength which the 
 greater span would seem to require. It will be observed that 
 the division of the ceiling of the rear pteroma into eighteen 
 coffers and five beams, and of the equally long front pteroma, 
 or vestibule, into twenty coffers and three beams, permitted 
 this greater thickness to be assigned to the supports of the 
 latter, — the dimensions of two coffers with their bridges 
 being less by about 20 cm. than that of three pteroma beams. 
 And it may be assumed that the choice of four compartments 
 in the vestibule, instead of six, was in some measure influ- 
 enced by this consideration, — certainly an extremely rational 
 and ingenious method of design. 
 
 The division of the vestibule ceiling into an even number 
 of compartments requires a main beam above the central in- 
 tercolumniation in the longitudinal axis of the building ; an 
 arrangement which seems to have been generally followed in
 
 INVESTIGATIOXS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 119 
 
 Greek architecture, appearing in the temples of SeHnous, the 
 Theseion, the Parthenon, the little fane of Nike Apteros, and 
 the temple of Bassai. The vestibule ceiling of the temple 
 of Assos differs, however, from those of all these temples in 
 the much greater span of its coffered beams ; a peculiarity 
 which may have been determined by the before mentioned 
 considerations relative to the thickness of the supports, or 
 may be in part referable to a desire to gain breadth of effect 
 by increasing the size of the compartments in this largest 
 and most important section of the ceiling. 
 
 The width of the vestibule ceiling, from the entablature of 
 the front to that above the pronaos columns, was 4.06 m. 
 This agrees very accurately with the length of the compart- 
 ments, which is to be computed from the size of eight coffers, 
 with their seven whole and two half bridges, plus the width 
 of the extra fillet. Eight coffered beams consequently lay side 
 by side, making a total of forty panels in each compartment. 
 
 The three lintels which crossed the vestibule must ha.ve 
 been the longest stones employed in the construction of the 
 temple. That they could be quarried without insuperable dif- 
 ficulty is evident from the existence, in the much less carefully 
 built Bouleuterion, of monolithic shafts of the same material, 
 which exceeded the clear span requisite for these temple beams 
 by more than two feet and a half, being 4.8 m. long. Elsewhere 
 in the lower town, among the ruins of ordinary dwelling- 
 houses, is to be seen a door lintel ^.y m. long. Nevertheless, 
 there are many indications of the care which was taken to di- 
 minish as much as possible the weight imposed upon these 
 supports. The coftercd beams, already relieved of fully one 
 eighth of their material by the sinkings, were made as thin as 
 was at all consistent with strength ; and in the case of those 
 at the ends of the compartments adjoining the entablatures, 
 the stone was cut away from the ends and outer edge of the
 
 I20 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 upper side so as to form deep steps. In regard to the beams 
 of support, however, little could be gained by this latter ex- 
 pedient, which will be readily understood from a reference to 
 Figure 20. The sinkings of the coffers have the boldness pe- 
 culiar to Doric ceilings of the best period, being cut to a depth 
 of 17 cm., more than half as much as their total width. Only 
 those practically acquainted with the details of stone-cutting 
 can understand how enormous a work is involved in the exe- 
 cution of so deep a reveal, in so refractory a material. So 
 great an expenditure of time and labor in details so unosten- 
 tatious is only to be met with in monuments antedating that 
 debasement of the style which may be said to hav^e commenced 
 immediately after the attainment of its greatest perfection in 
 the age of Iktino.'J. To illustrate this by Assian examples, 
 the shallow coffers of the Prostylos Temple at the west of the 
 Bath, or those of the Tomb of Apollonios in the Necropolis, 
 differ as distinctly from the lacunaria of the temple, both as 
 regards design and workmanship, as do the superficial and 
 pretentious sculptures of the third century from the archaic 
 works of the sixth century before Christ. It is noticeable that 
 in the panels of the temple the depth of the steps, both upper 
 and lower, is made exactly equal to their width, including fillet, 
 the individual beams being thus conceived as square in sec- 
 tion. Compare the detail, Figure 25. This is the case with 
 the small coffers of the pronaos, as well as with those of the 
 pteroma and vestibule. Throughout the ceiling the inner 
 coffered beams, that is to say those not adjoining the wall or 
 the entablature, were cut so that each included, at least upon 
 one of its sides, the fillet running along the middle of the 
 bridge ; the greatest possible width and strength thus being 
 assured to those stones which were supported only at the 
 ends. This is evident from all the fragments of outer, as 
 well as of inner beams, — the former being always without a
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 121 
 
 fillet, while one of the latter in each compartment has two 
 fillets. In this way the junctures between the separate beams 
 were in great measure concealed, the bands being slightly 
 sunk, and without doubt painted up to the edges with some 
 bright color. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the fact, that in the 
 coffered beams of the pronaos ceiling the sinkings and bridges 
 were made of a much smaller size than in those of the pteroma 
 and vestibule, thus following a principle of design which is 
 evident also in the panels of the Parthenon. Several frag- 
 ments of these smaller coffers were met with in various parts 
 of the town, one, in particular, being preserved from further 
 
 5SS5>MS^ 
 
 fc%m\m^^ 
 
 Fig. 21. Beam from Coffered Ceiling of Pronaos. 
 (For Scale, see Fig. 20.) 
 
 injury by its position in the walls of the Mosque. A single 
 beam remained in its entire length, Figure 21. The sinkings, 
 21 5 mm. square, were separated by bridges 135 mm. broad, with 
 fillets 2 cm. in width, — these dimensions being the average 
 of all the specimens found. The one entire beam contained 
 four coffers, and had a clear span of 1.42 m. This makes it 
 probable that the pronaos ceiling was divided into three com- 
 partments, the two adjoining the antae being each four panels 
 in width, while the central field was square, and seven panels 
 in length. Assuming the transverse beams to have been of 
 the same size as those in the pteroma, or a trifle smaller, this 
 arrangement would very accurately conform to the given
 
 122 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 space : the projection of two cyma mouldings upon the antse 
 walls (together lo cm.), the two compartments of four coffers 
 (2 X 1-42 m.), two beams of 62 cm. each, and the central field 
 of seven coffers (2.47 m.) making up the total length of the 
 pronaos, between the antae, namely, 6.65 m. The only other 
 possibility is that there may have been four compartments, 
 two of four, and two of three coffers each ; but such an ar- 
 rangement must be regarded as extremely improbable, on 
 account of its irregular and awkward character. A square 
 central field, on the other hand, must have been of good 
 effect. The design of the pronaos ceiling would thereby be 
 brought into connection with that of the vestibule, as the main 
 beams of the former would lie almost exactly in the axes of the 
 two middle compartments of the latter. The triple division 
 would also have been the more economical from a construct- 
 ive point of view, only two transverse supports being re- 
 quired. In regard to the width of the pronaos ceiling, from 
 the entablature above the columns in antis to the wall above 
 the door, it is plain that this must have been occupied by 
 seven coffered beams laid side by side ; the dimension of this 
 number of sinkings and bridges agreeing very accurately with 
 the total of 2.48 m. 
 
 The plan of the entire ceiling, as seen from below, is shown 
 in Figure 22 ; while sections of the pteroma and of the vesti- 
 bule and pronaos are given in Figures 23 and 24, drawn to a 
 uniform scale for the purpose of comparing the very dissimi- 
 lar proportions of these spaces. For a representation of the 
 ceiling of the pteroma on a larger scale, see also the section. 
 Figure 12, and the isometric elevation. Figure 30. 
 
 The arrangement of the coffered ceiling, thus demonstra- 
 ble, is of fundamental importance in the consideration of the 
 ground plan of the temple. It is plain, not only that the size 
 and number of the compartments must have been determined
 
 
 i 
 
 oaoyro 
 
 /-vo a a n o 
 v^aainiaa 
 
 Fig. 22. General Plan of Coffered Ceiling.
 
 124 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Section of Pteroma. 
 
 upon before a single stone of the 
 building could be laid, but that 
 the design of the panels must 
 have been drawn out, or figured, 
 by the architect earlier than the 
 plan of the stylobate. The in- 
 dependent ceiling of the ves- 
 tibule required the anta^ and 
 columns of the pronaos to stand 
 in precisely the same transverse 
 axis as those columns of the sides 
 to which they corresponded, be- 
 cause of the epistyle beam which 
 was carried above them. And 
 the fact that, contrary to the 
 normal development of the Do- 
 ric plan, the pteroma of the rear 
 
 ,.^^ 
 
 Fig. 24. Section of Vestibule and Pronaos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 125 
 
 was made equal in width to that of the sides, can only be 
 explained by the adoption, in these spaces, of compartments 
 containing the same number of coffers. More than this : 
 the arrangement of the ceiling must have been determined at 
 the same time as was that simple system of numerical propor- 
 tions which is to be traced throughout the plan. The width 
 of the compartments was so calculated as to give, when taken 
 six and ten times respectively, the width of the peripteros 
 and the length of the cella. The factor is here of such mag- 
 nitude, exceeding two meters, that it is not possible to be 
 mistaken in the recognition of its multiples. The known 
 irregularities of the structure, amounting at most to some 
 centimeters, have scarcely to be taken into consideration 
 in this regard. An agreement of the main dimensions, so 
 exact as that set forth in the points in question, certainly 
 furnishes a convincing proof of the correctness of the recon- 
 struction. 
 
 In respect to the constructive details of the ceiling, one 
 peculiarity still requires attention. While — fortunately for 
 the proof of the identification — some of the coffered beams 
 were shifted by the same lever as the stones of the stylobate 
 and entablature, and bear the rectangular notches indicative 
 of that method, others were attached to the derrick rope by 
 a lewis precisely like that in use to-day. Upon the upper 
 surface of these latter is to be seen the narrow slot, in sec- 
 tion of inverted wedge shape, peculiar to this form of tackle. 
 Such a lewis-hole is shown in the plan and top view of the 
 vestibule beam. Figure 20. From a careful consideration of 
 the sectipn of these blocks, it appears that the slots were 
 so disposed that the centre of gravity should fall between 25 
 and 35 mm. inside the inclined edge : this proving the chief 
 iron of the lewis to have been about 6 cm. in width at its 
 narrowest part. Figure 25. As far as it was possible to as-
 
 126 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 certain from the fragmentary material under examination, the 
 coffered beams of the pteroma and pronaos were invariably- 
 lifted by dogs, and only the longer ones, belonging to the 
 vestibule, by the lewis. Certain it is, at all events, that 
 lewis-holes never appear upon those remains of the former, 
 
 and dog-holes never upon 
 those remains of the latter 
 which could be identified 
 with certainty. Hence it 
 may be concluded that the 
 derricks erected above the 
 wide span of the vestibule 
 differed from those em- 
 ployed elsewhere in the con- 
 struction, — having wedge- 
 shaped irons, instead of 
 crampoons, for their tackle, 
 and being, without doubt, 
 considerably lighter in the 
 wood. When possible, as 
 in the case of the pteroma, 
 the lifting apparatus which had been in use for the sub- 
 structure was employed also for the laying of the coffered 
 beams. But when a new derrick was required b}' the exigen- 
 cies of the vestibule, its form was altered to suit the case. 
 The light stones of the ceiling did not need to be attached 
 to the ropes by methods so strong and clumsy as the U- 
 shaped grooves, or as the deep slots observable upon the 
 massive cornice blocks. Under these conditions the choice 
 of a lewis was perfectly natural. 
 
 It may be assumed that those five-coffered beams upon 
 which only one lewis-hole was cut, and which were conse- 
 quently lifted from a single support, belonged to the two 
 
 Fig. 25. Section of Vestibule Ceil- 
 ing Beam, showing Lewis Tackle.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1SS3. I 27 
 
 outer compartments of the vestibule ceiling, — where the 
 erection of two derricks, one at either end of the beams, 
 would have been impossible on account of the insufficiency 
 of the standing space afforded by the side entablatures. 
 The beams of the two inner compartments, on the other 
 hand, must have been lifted and set by the help of two 
 derricks, two legs of each of which rested upon the entab- 
 lature above the pronaos columns. The employment of two 
 complete sets of tackle, hence to be assumed, is further in- 
 dicated by the fact that the lewis-holes situated at the ends 
 of the beams, such as that shown in Figure 20, were not cut 
 slanting towards a common centre, but exactly vertical to 
 the bed surface. 
 
 On the first discovery of the coffered beams among the 
 ruins of Assos, it was thought that these stones could not 
 be identified with the temple, inasmuch as the lewis does 
 not appear to have been employed in any other part of the 
 structure. This view seemed to find confirmation in the 
 opinion, entertained at the time, that this mode of lifting, 
 so modern in appearance, necessarily indicated a later age 
 than that to which the temple can be assigned. The only 
 lewis-holes which the writer had previously seen among 
 ancient remains were those in the marble epistyle of the 
 Olympieion at Athens, six centuries more recent than the 
 temple of Assos.^ The first of these objections, not in itself 
 unreasonable, is fully met by the above considerations, which 
 have on this account been set forth at length. And that this 
 mode of lifting was known to the Greek architects of the sixth 
 and fifth centuries before Christ has been proved, since the 
 
 1 The lewis may possibly be that lifting-iron " the teeth of which fit into 
 holes cut in the stone " mentioned by Vitruvius (X. 2. 2). This, at all events, is 
 the opinion of Piranesi (Giovanni Battista), Zj- Aittichita Romatie, (Roma, 1756,) 
 vol. iii.
 
 128 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 commencement of the investigations at Assos, by the excava- 
 tions at Olympia, where, as the writer can testify from recent 
 examination of the remains in the Altis, lewis-holes are to be 
 seen on fragments of the oldest ruins. Lewis-holes appear 
 also upon blocks of the archaic Doric temples a, r, d, and t, 
 of Selinous.^ It is particularly worthy of note that the last 
 named of these — perhaps the most recent of the temples of 
 Selinous, but still erected in the fifth century before Christ — 
 offers an example of that very appearance of the lewis-hole 
 and the U-shaped groove, side by side, which is so remark- 
 able in the temple of Assos. So far, indeed from being an 
 invention of the Diadochi, it can be shown that the lewis 
 was in common use among the Egyptians,^ — those earliest 
 teachers of the Greeks in all that appertains to the working 
 of stone. 
 
 The arrangement of the temple roof is clear in its main 
 features, more or less complete remains having been found 
 of the terra-cotta bands, antefixes, tiles, and gutter, and of 
 the stone acroteria. But as this part of the building was 
 evidently subject to frequent repairs, and even extensive 
 restorations, there is uncertainty in regard to some details 
 of its construction. 
 
 The upper surfaces of the corona blocks of the sides are 
 regularly tooled to a slope somewhat less than that of the 
 roof for a space of about half a meter from the outer edge. 
 The ends of the rafters rested upon the horizontal bed behind 
 this projection, all downward pressure upon the projecting 
 portion of the corona being thus avoided. The imbrices, lying 
 
 1 Hittorff and Zanth, Architecture Antique de la Sicile, 2d ed., (Paris, 1S70,) 
 Books 3, 4, 5, and 8, Plates 16, 44, 47, and 89. 
 
 2 Representations of the lewis appear among the sculptures in the sandstone 
 quarries of Silsilis. Compare Long (George), Egyptian Antiquities, vol. i. (Lon- 
 don, 1S32,) or other books upon Egyptian remains.
 
 IN VES TIG A no AS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 129 
 
 directly upon the rafters, must in the lowest course have 
 overlapped the stone so far as effectually to have prevented 
 water from penetrating to the interior. Along the sloping 
 upper surface of the cornice, at a distance of 18 cm. from 
 the front, there is cut a groove, from two to four centimeters 
 deep, the purpose of which was evidently to hold the bent 
 inner edge of a course of ornamental tiles, interposed be- 
 tween the cornice and the terra-cotta antefixes, A single 
 fragment of this original course, now in the Museum at Bos- 
 ton (P. 4258), was found upon the site of the temple during 
 the digging of the second year (Fig. 26). It is of dark gray 
 clay, primed with black, is 54 mm. thick, and bears in relief 
 the lines of a meander 
 ornament. During a res- 
 toration of the roof, which 
 appears to have been made 
 at least two centuries af- 
 ter the completion of the 
 building, this moulding 
 was replaced by a band 
 of terra-cotta, of about the 
 same thickness, but of an 
 entirely different material, 
 much more porous and 
 lighter in color. The peculiarity of this band is that only 
 those parts of its edge which were situated immediately be- 
 neath the antefixes were ornamented, these sections, exactly 
 as long as the original antefixes were wide, having a wave 
 pattern, of the usual Greek type, but quite foreign to the 
 Doric grammar of ornament. 
 
 The discovery of one of the painted antefixes of the temple, 
 Figure 27, was mentioned in the First Report.^ This fine 
 
 54 
 
 Fig 26. Fragment of Tu.e, with or- 
 namented Edge, from a Course in- 
 terposed BETWEEN LOWEST IMBRICES 
 AND Corona. 
 
 1 Preliminary Report, p. 96.
 
 I^O 
 
 ARCH^OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 specimen of archaic Doric terra-cotta, now in the Museum at 
 Boston, No. 4149, is remarkable for the richness of the colors, 
 deep red and black, still to be seen upon it. It is formed of a 
 coarse and porous kernel, coated with a priming of fine clay and 
 powdered flint, technically known as a slip, the oxide of iron 
 
 Fig. 27. Antefix. — From a Photograph. 
 
 contained in which gives to the surface its delicate reddish 
 fawn tint. The inner mass contains numerous crystals of the 
 andesite of Assos, which is thus seen to have been employed 
 by the local potters in the same way as was crushed granite 
 and quartz in those specimens of terra-cotta from the North- 
 ern Troad analyzed by Dr. Landerer.^ The principle of an 
 
 1 Landerer, in Schliemann's llios, p. 21S.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 131 
 
 anathyrosis jointing, so consequentially carried out in all the 
 stone-work of the structure, appears even in the antefixes, 
 which were moulded with a slight projection along the edge 
 of the bed surface. Compare the section, Figure 28. In view 
 of the tendency of terra-cotta to warp in the 
 baking, this precaution must here have been 
 of particularly good effect, inasmuch as these 
 narrow rims could easily be filed to an exact 
 plane. Each of the antefixes was attached 
 to the cornice by two circular dowels 
 of iron, about i cm, in diameter, these 
 evidently having been carried through 
 the intervening plates of terra- 
 cotta. The holes in which these 
 pins were inserted were 
 neatly bored to a depth of 
 not less than 7 cm. Their 
 positions upon the upper 
 surfaces of the cornice 
 blocks show the antefixes 
 to have been spaced at a 
 distance averaging be- 
 tween 63 and 64 cm. from 
 centre to centre, and thus 
 consequently to have been 
 arranged without the 
 slightest reference to the mutules beneath them. 
 
 The roofing of Doric temples seems always to have been 
 constructed without purlins or cross slats, — the tiles lying 
 directly upon the inclined timbers. The spacing of the ante- 
 fixes consequently determines also the distance of the rafters 
 from centre to centre, and the total width of the imbrices. 
 There can be but little doubt that these latter were intended 
 
 Fig 28. Antefix Section.
 
 132 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 to be exactly two Greek feet in width, — that is to say, of a 
 dimension commonly employed in all parts of the ancient 
 world. ^ The flat tile shown upon the sculptured slab which 
 was set up in the market-place of Assos as the official standard, 
 has precisely this width of 63^ cm. with a length of 71 1 cm. 
 It is not possible to ascertain the exact age of this interesting 
 gauge, which will be described in detail hereafter, but it is 
 evident that either the slab is as old as the building of the 
 temple itself, or that the size of roofing tiles common at the 
 beginning of the fifth century before Christ was retained until 
 the period when this official standard was sculptured. 
 
 No remains of tegute belonging to the temple were found 
 in a state of preservation sufficient to show their dimensions, 
 or their exact shape. It is only certain that they were of 
 angular section, like that sculptured upon the standard, from 
 which they cannot have materially differed in width. 
 
 The fragments of three imbrices belonging to the temple — 
 the only ones referable with certainty to that structure — 
 form part of the collection in the Museum at Boston, P. 4175, 
 4180, 4186. All these are of a coarse-grained terra-cotta, 
 coated with a lustrous black glaze. No two are precisely 
 alike. The side lips of the first and third are of a curved 
 section at the juncture with the body, like that shown by the 
 standard, while the lip of the second is sharply angular. The 
 material of the third also differs from that of the others in 
 being of a yellow color, and having a tinge of purple in the 
 glaze. The varieties of contemporary manufacture, and of 
 the tiles employed in the slight repairs so frequently neces- 
 sary, quite suffice to account for these differences, which can 
 scarcely warrant the assumption of so many complete resto- 
 rations of the roofing. As no notches were moulded upon 
 
 1 Dorpfeld, Graber, Borrmann, und Siebold, Ueber die Verwenduiig von Terra- 
 cottenam Geison und Dache griechischer Bauwerke. Berlin, 188 1.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. I 33 
 
 the corners of these imbrices to receive the ends of those 
 in the courses above or below them, the jointing was rudely 
 effected by cutting off the angles on the inner edge of the 
 upper and outer edge of the outer lip, so as to form a tri- 
 angular base (Fig. 29). 
 This clumsy makeshift 
 is visible upon the spe- 
 cimens numbered 4175 
 and 4180. 
 
 The constructive sys- 
 tem of the temple thus Fig. 29. Corners of Imbrices, roughly 
 
 , . , 1-1 CUT FOR Jointing. 
 
 far considered is shown 
 
 in Fig. 30. The gable ends of the building were provided with 
 gutters, in order altogether to prevent, above the entrance, 
 that dripping which was not considered objectionable upon 
 the sides. At the time of writing the First Report, the mere 
 fact of the existence of such a gutter was evident from the gar- 
 goyle brought to light during the digging of the first year. In 
 the restoration of the temple which is figured in that volume,^ 
 this moulding was represented as an anthemion band, — ac- 
 cording to the analogy of other Doric temples, which show the 
 crowning member to have been ornamented in the same fash- 
 ion as coronets, such as that worn by the Juno Ludovisi. The 
 correctness of this restoration was confirmed during the second 
 year by the discovery of a portion of the original sima, now 
 in the Museum at Boston, P. 4152. This important fragment, 
 Fig. 31, is formed of a kernel of coarse and exceedingly hard 
 terra-cotta, coated upon the face with a slip of fine clay, in 
 which the details of the ornament — an archaic astragal and 
 anthemion — are carefully moulded in high relief, projecting 
 II mm. from the background. (Compare the section, Fig. 32.) 
 Traces of a dark red glaze are still visible upon the diamond, 
 
 ^ Preliminary Report, pi. 14.
 
 Fig. 30. Constructive System of Pteroma. — Isometric.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 JO 
 
 while the slip itself is of a light red tint. The inner side is 
 primed with a hard stucco, 2 mm. thick, of a yellowish color. 
 The thickness of the upright 
 body is 3 cm., that of the base 
 something over 4 cm. The 
 separate lengths were attached 
 to the upper surfaces of the 
 tympanon corona by iron pins, 
 the distance between which in 
 the single instance capable of 
 measurement was 53 cm. It 
 will be remarked that the pro- 
 file of the gutter is perfectly 
 straight-lined, having nothing 
 of the vigorous and graceful 
 curve which characterizes the 
 simas of the perfected style. 
 
 Fig. 31. Fragment of Gutter. 
 From a Photograph. 
 
 Fig 32. Fragment of Gut- 
 ter — Section and Scale. 
 
 The small amount of water col- 
 lected by these gutters was dis- 
 charged through four gargoyles at 
 the corners of the building. One 
 of the fine lion's heads of volcanic 
 tufa which performed this function 
 was found during the first year, and 
 has been fully described and illus- 
 trated.^ It is now preserved in the 
 Museum at Boston, S. 1162. 
 
 Fragments of the acroteria were 
 found sufficient to convey an under- 
 standing of the nature of these prom- 
 inent ornaments, although not to 
 permit of a complete restoration. 
 
 ^ Preliminary Report, p. 94, pi. 12.
 
 I ^6 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fragment of Ridge Acroterion. 
 
 The ridge acroterion is represented by a block of the same vol- 
 canic tufa employed for the gargoyles, having a regular thickness 
 of 1 8 cm., and cut to the form of a scroll (Fig. 33). The inner 
 convolutions are indicated by rectangular incisions, about 8 mm. 
 broad, which deepen as they retreat from the centre, varying 
 from a shallow notch to a cut fully 5 cm. deep. The spiral 
 line thus varies in appearance from a light gray to a perfectly 
 
 black shadow. The 
 circular perforation 
 in the centre of the 
 volute, correspond- 
 ing to the 6(f)da\/x6(; 
 of the Ionic capi- 
 tal, is cut completely 
 through the stone, 
 and probably served 
 for the insertion of 
 disks of some more brilliant material, such as colored glass 
 or gilded metal. A branch is thrown off from the scroll at 
 a point situated one entire revolution from its inner termina- 
 tion, the juncture being marked by four narrow lines, nearly 
 parallel, incised across the volute. The treatment is the same 
 upon both sides of the slab. 
 
 It is plain that we have here to deal with the upper scroll 
 of a central acroterion, closely resembling that of the temple 
 of Aigina, now in the Glyptothek of Munich. Remains of a 
 similar kind have also been found among the overthrown 
 stones of the Parthenon ; and, taking these facts in connec- 
 tion with the representations of archaic temples upon vases, 
 gems, etc., there is good ground for the belief that a monu- 
 mental anthemion, dccoupe irova a slab of equal thickness, was 
 regarded as the normal decoration of the apex of Doric gables. 
 The sky line of the building was thus emphasized at its most
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 ^2>7 
 
 salient point by an ornament having the forms which appear 
 in the terminations of sacred steles, and frankly treated in 
 profile alone. 
 
 In technical respects the fragment closely resembles the 
 Proto-Ionic capital discovered by the writer upon the site of 
 Neandreia, in the Troad.^ The material is the same, and 
 seems to have been employed at no other period by the Greek 
 builders of this country. The surfaces are dressed with a fine 
 brush-hammer of the same kind. In both cases the scrolls 
 seem to have been laid out by unwinding a cord, to the free 
 end of which was attached a chisel-point, from a cylinder fixed 
 in the centre of the scroll as an involute, — the opJitJiahnos, 
 perhaps for this purpose, having been cut entirely through 
 the stone. Above all, the spiral lines are in both indicated 
 by peculiar incisions of rectangular section, varying in depth 
 from a slight sinking to a cutting nearly equal to one third 
 the thickness of the stone. In short, the workmanship is 
 that of one and the same school of masonry, and is to be re- 
 ferred to about the same period of artistic development, — 
 a fact which will be re- 
 ferred to in the discussion ■^.■•i- i^'^r> 
 of the age of the temple. 
 
 Of the corner acrote- 
 
 ria, the single fragment 
 
 brought to light was the 
 
 fore paw of a sphinx or 
 
 griffin, standing upon a 
 
 portion of the base by 
 
 which the figure was 
 
 attached to the end of ^ ^ 
 
 Fig. 34. Fragment OF AcROTERioN. Paw 
 
 the sima, above the gar- of Sphinx or Griffin. 
 
 
 1 Clarke (Joseph Tliacher), A Pioto-lonic Capital from the Site of N'eandrcia. 
 Baltimore, 1S86. Reprint from the American Journal of Archicology, vol. ii. p. i.
 
 138 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 goyle (Fig. 34). The stone is now in the Museum at Boston, 
 S. 1 105. The carving of the paw displays that mastery in the 
 rendering of animal forms which is so evident in all the sculp- 
 tures of the temple ; and it is much to be regretted that noth- 
 ing remains of the body, which would have been especially 
 interesting as an example of the work of the sculptors of 
 Assos in the full round. 
 
 It will be remarked, that in the choice of subjects for the 
 corner, as well as for the central acroteria, the temple of 
 Assos agrees with that of Aigina. But in Assos there was 
 particular reason for the representation of the sphinx or 
 griffin in connection with the fane of Athena Polias, one 
 or the other of these animals having formed the heraldic 
 symbol of the city. 
 
 The corner acroterion, like the central scroll, the lion's 
 head, and the before mentioned Proto-Ionic capital from Nean- 
 dreia, is carved of a fine-grained tufa, obtained from quarries 
 in various parts of the Southern Troad. This stone, though 
 stratified by the action of water, is of the same volcanic for- 
 mation as the andesite of which the temple is constructed. 
 But it is much softer and more easily worked, and was there- 
 fore better adapted to the requirements of the earliest Greek 
 stone-cutters. So far as the writer is aware, tufa is never 
 found among remains of a later date than the first half of 
 the fifth century before Christ. It thus bears the same rela- 
 tion to the archaic architecture of the Troad as poros does 
 to that of the Peloponnesos and Sicily. As poros because of 
 its coarseness, so tufa seems to have been discarded by the 
 masons of later ages on account of its friability. This was 
 not wise ; for, though crumbled by a blow, the resistance 
 of this stone to the disintegrating effects of the weather is 
 far greater than that of the andesite. The forms of the 
 lion's head and the delicate fillets of the Proto-Ionic capital
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 retain a sharpness unequalled in the sculptures or archil 
 tural details executed in other materials. \ 
 
 A most careful search was made for materials which might 
 serve to prove the existence of any aperture in the roof of the 
 building for the purpose of admitting light to the interior. 
 But nothing was found which could possibly be brought into 
 connection with such a feature. 
 
 All the dimensions of the temple were remeasured at the 
 close of the excavations, and the averages of those members 
 which show perceptible variations were recalculated. The 
 final results are given in the following table : — 
 
 Meters. 
 
 Length of lower step 30.86 
 
 Breadth oflovver step i4.58 
 
 Tread of lower step 0.2 7|- 
 
 Length of stylobate 30.31 
 
 Breadth of stylobate i4'03 
 
 Exterior of cella, length 22.33 
 
 " " breadth 7.97 
 
 Walls of cella and antae, thickness 0.66 
 
 Door of naos, breadth of opening 1.65 
 
 Interior of naos, length i7-7i 
 
 " " breadth 6.65 
 
 Ant?e walls, length 3.30 
 
 Total width of vestibule, before antre 4.95 
 
 " " pteroraa, sides and rear 3.03 
 
 Columns on centres, sides, average 2.45 
 
 " " front, average 2.61 
 
 Lower diameter of shaft, average 0.9 li- 
 
 Upper diameter of shaft, average 0.64 
 
 Height of steps, each 0.28 
 
 " column, calculated 4.78 
 
 " shaft, calculated 4.3 
 
 " capital, average 0.48 
 
 " epistyle 0.82
 
 140 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Meters. 
 
 Height of frieze 0.78 
 
 " cornice 0.42 
 
 Total height of order/ including steps, calculated . . 7.36 
 
 Thickness of entablature (epistyle) 0.82 
 
 Dimensions of coffered ceiling, vestibule . . 4.06 X 12.25 
 
 " " " sides . . . 2.14 X 21.51 
 
 " " " rear . . . 2.14 X 12.25 
 
 " " " pronaos . . 2.4S X 6.65 
 
 Angle of gable slope 15° 
 
 The remeasurement led to the conviction that it is not 
 practicable to express the general dimensions of an edifice 
 constructed of so rough a material as the Assos andesite in 
 units smaller than half a centimeter. 
 
 On comparing these figures with those given in the First 
 Report,^ slight corrections will be remarked. These have be- 
 come necessary, partly through the greater number of meas- 
 urements which have gone to make up the averages, and 
 partly through the comparison of the steel tape used by the 
 expedition with an accurate standard, — a task kindly under- 
 taken by Professor William A. Rogers, of Cambridge, Mass. 
 Attention has already been called to the fact, that throughout 
 the structure the dimensions exhibited variations greater 
 than those of any other Greek temple with which the writer 
 is acquainted. The above table in all cases states the aver- 
 age computed from every recognizable block. The labor in- 
 volved in its preparation may be judged from the fact, that 
 in the case of the columns" alone more than one thousand 
 measurements were taken with rod and tape. 
 
 1 In an anonymous review of the First Report, published in the American 
 Architect, Boston, 1882, it was asserted that the height of the order does not 
 agree with the total obtained by adding together the dimensions of the steps, 
 column, and entablature. The critic, however, omitted to include the low-er 
 step in his computation. His total of 7.0S m. increased by the neglected figure 
 gives the 7.36 m. of the original table, here repeated. 
 
 2 Preliminary Report, p. 96.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TEMPLE SCULPTURES. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that during the first 
 year of the work at Assos the plan of the temple had 
 been entirely laid bare, and the greater part of the rude 
 mediaeval fortifications which surrounded the upper citadel 
 examined, hopes were still entertained that additional reliefs 
 might be brought to light by further digging in this vicinity. 
 The eleven fragments of the sculptured epistyle which had 
 been already found constituted one of the most valuable re- 
 sults^of^the undertaking, and nothing was to be left undone 
 from which an extension of this series could be expected. 
 A thorough search was consequently made upon all parts of 
 the Acropolis during the early months of the second year, as 
 has been related in the first chapter of the present volume. 
 The faces of all walls known to have been built after the 
 temple was overthrown were exposed to their lowest courses, 
 while those masses of masonry which were of sufficient thick- 
 ness to hide sculptured blocks between scarp and counter- 
 scarp were broken up with wedge and hammer. '!^he__g^reat 
 square tower adjacenttothe mosque was found to contain 
 no recognizable stones of the temple whatever, while the 
 spTifnxes from the eastern facade proved to be the only work 
 of sculpture emBeddcd in those masses of rubble and mor- 
 tar which protected the uppermost step of the Acropolis 
 upon the northeast. But in the most recent of the fortifi-
 
 142 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 cation walls, hastily piled up of large stones without mortar, 
 namely, those at the south of the temple site, severaLepistyle 
 blocks^^ were discovered, one of them sculptured. A block 
 sji owing the body^f one of the sphinxes from the western 
 front of the temple was found, face^ownwards, upon the sur- 
 face of the e arth, outside..-th£ citadel gate. In short, five fur- 
 th.er_fragments of the temp le reliefs were-^i^eav-ered during 
 the_workof the second year. Three of these form an entire 
 lintp], withp rppxesen Tation of _ horse-l egged centaurs ; one 
 completes the heraldic sphinxes from the western front ; and 
 the last, a part of a new metope, shows the hind legs of a 
 galloping centaur. Meagre as these results appear in them- 
 selves, they are yet of scientific importance, as throwing new 
 light upon the significance and arrangement of the sculptures 
 previously known. The total count of the fragments discov- 
 ered by the expedition is thus brought up to sixteen, — within 
 one of the number of those removed to the Louvre in 1838.^ 
 The pieces in the Louvre represent thirteen separate reliefs ; 
 those found by excavation, ten. 
 
 The la rgest and most important of the newly found sculp- 
 tures (Fig . 35 ) represents four centaurs,^ gallopinigLwith up- 
 li frpd fnrp f pptanfl outstretched arms. The design is frankly 
 
 ^ Clarac [li/nsee, vol. ii. part ii.) repeatedly refers to the fragments of sculp- 
 tures removed from Assos to Paris as seventeen in number. But if we consider 
 the relief of the Banquet to be composed of four separate pieces, the total 
 number of fragments would be eighteen. 
 
 2 The archaeological literature upon the subject of centaurs is extensive. 
 The chief authorities in regard to it are referred to by Colvin (Sidney) in his 
 Representations of Centaurs in Greek Vase Painting, yournal of Hellenic Stitdies, 
 vol. i., London, iS8o. But although he goes as far back as Bochart (Samuel), 
 Hierozoico7t, sive de Animalibus Sacra Scriptiirce, Londini, 1663, and Bachet (Claude 
 Caspar), Commentaires sur les Epitres d'Ovide, La Haye, 17 16, his list is far from 
 complete. The most thorough and learned contributions to the subject in recent 
 years have certainly been those of Stephani (Ludolf), in the Conipte Rendu de la 
 Commission Itnperiale d' Archeologie de St. Petersbourg, 1865 and 1S73.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. I43 
 
 decorative, the differences in position being so slight that 
 the mon sters, p laced as^lKey^wereTiT^a^aixhitecUlral frame- 
 work, and at some height above the eye, must at the first 
 gla.noe_h ave appea red^almost like-repetitions of a convention- 
 alized ^rn amen t. The bodies, entirely similar in outline, are, 
 like the heads, shown exactly in profile ; yet, in a childlike 
 striving after clearness of representation, the front legs of 
 each centaur are placed before, while the hind legs are be- 
 hind, those of the individuals which they adjoin. The pattern- 
 like effect of the composition is greatly augmented by this 
 overlapping. With a single exception, the arms are held 
 out at length ; the thumbs of the left hand all point up- 
 wards, the thumbs of the right downwards. The right and 
 left legs are precisely parallel, being, as it were, shown in 
 perspective. The tails, made prominent in the relief by too 
 great a projection from the background, fall in the same 
 curve, nearly to the ground. 
 
 The third centaur roars, open-mouthed, with a peculiarly 
 na'ive and archaic expression. He alone has bent one of his 
 arms, as if carrying a club or stone ; yet nothing is grasped 
 in his clenched fist. 
 
 The body of the second centaur has been split off with 
 clean fracture. Ot-hervvise the preservation of the relief is 
 excellent, — much superior, for instance, to that of the frag- 
 mentary and weathered centaur-blocks which have been re- 
 moved to Paris. Coarse as the stone is, the fillets around 
 the heads, the twisted curls of the hair and beards, and the 
 outstretched fingers, are quite distinct. It will be shown, 
 in a subsequent discussion of the arrangement of the 
 sculptured lintels, that this block was probably situated 
 upon the main fa9ade, above the second intercolumniation 
 from the southeastern corner, and adjoining that relief — 
 discovered by the expedition during the first year — which
 
 144 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 represents Herakles in combat with the centaurs who had 
 fallen upon him in the cave of Pholos/ presently to be re- 
 ferred to. There can hence be no doubt in regard to the 
 action in which these four centaurs take part : they are flee- 
 ing from the arrows of the hero.^ Their precipitous haste 
 is well expressed by the arms flung into the air, and by 
 the position of the heads ; the foremost three of which are 
 stretched forwards in headlong flight, while the last is turned 
 
 1 Some account of this myth was given in the First Report, p. 107 ; but the 
 passages of the ancient authors referring to it were not there cited. Those 
 known to the present writer are as follows. The story of Herakles and Pholos 
 is not mentioned in the Iliad or Odyssey, though evidently referred to in the 
 pseudo-Homeric Ka^iz'os % Kepafils, 18. There is, however, reason to suppose 
 that it was included in the narratives of the epic poets and chroniclers of the 
 seventh and sixth centuries before Christ, — notably in those of Peisandros of 
 Kameiros, Panyasis, and Herodoros the Pontian. Quintus of Smyrna {Posthom., 
 
 VI. 273, and VII. 107), imitating the manner of Homer, towards the close of the 
 fourth century of our era, is without doubt following an ancient epic prototype 
 when he describes the labors of Herakles wrought in relief upon the shield of 
 Eurypylos, and among them the combat of the hero with the centaurs of Mount 
 Pholoe, " when wine and the spirit of strife stirred up these monsters to fight 
 a2;ainst him in the house of Pholos." A passage of Stesichoros, preserved by 
 Athenaios, XL 499 B, is the most ancient reference which has been handed down 
 to us. It will be quoted in a subsequent passage of the text. Among the Attic 
 tragedians this exploit of Herakles is referred to by Sophokles (Trachin., 1095) 
 and Euripides (Here. Fur., i8t, 364, 1272). We learn from Eustratios (Com- 
 mentary to Aristotle, Et/i. Nicom., III. 5, ed. Camerarius, Francofurti, 1578, 
 p. 126) that one of the comedies of Epicharmos was entitled 'Hpa/cA^s 6 iropa 
 *oA.9). The story is alluded to also by Aristophanes (Frogs, 38, and the scho- 
 liast), and told at considerable length by Apollodoros (II. 5. 4), Diodoros (IV. 
 12. 3-6), and Tzetzes (Chil., V. 111-137), who are our chief authorities for the 
 details of the exploit. Other references are to be found in Theokritos (Idyll., 
 
 VII. 149), Lykophron (Alex., 670, with the commentary of Tzetzes), Ptolemy 
 (A'ov. Hist., v., ed. Westermann, p. 192), Lucian (Jitp. Tragoed., 21), Orpheus 
 (Argon., 410), Philostratos the Lemnian (Imag., XVI.), Polyainos (Strateg., I. 
 3. i), Stephanos of Byzantion (p. 670, ed. Meineke). Further, among the Ro- 
 mans, Virgil (Aen., VIII. 294, with the commentary of Servius, and Georg., II. 
 456), Juvenal (Sat., XII. 45), and Lucan (Pharsal., VI. 388, 391). 
 
 ^ The French authorities attached a much less tragic significance to the two 
 reliefs of centaurs, belonging to this representation, which were removed from 
 Assos to the Louvre. The clubs and stones with which the devoted combatants
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 1 45 
 
 backwards, in full profile, to cast a glance of terror at the 
 pursuer. 
 
 In point of style this block presents a marked contrast to 
 its more archaic neighbor. The most striking difference is 
 that — while the centaurs upon the corner block are repre- 
 sented in that primitive combination of man and beast in 
 which an entire and perfect human being is joined to the 
 trunk and hind legs of a horse, the front legs being human — 
 in this relief the centaurs show the improved form of the 
 monster, with equine fore legs. While centaurs with human 
 fore legs are not unfrequently figured upon archaic vases ^ 
 
 are armed were held to be the instruments of pastoral music, and the attack- 
 ing column itself but a festive train. The official account of the Director 
 of the Louvre (Clarac, Musee, vol. ii. part ii.) is delightfully idyllic: "Ceci pa- 
 rait une course de plaisir, et ce que ces centaures tenaient presque tons a la 
 main gauche et pres de leur bouche, pourrait bien etre une sorte de trompette 
 ou de cornet dont les sons champetres accompagnent et excitent leur course 
 joyeuse." 
 
 1 Representations of human-legged centaurs upon archaic vases have been met 
 with by the writer in the following works : Dorow (Wilhelm), Voyage Archeolo- 
 gique dans rAticienne Etrurie, Paris, 1S29, PI. I. 6, and IV. 2. Witte (Jean 
 Joseph Antoine Marie de), Pelee et Thetis, Atmali, Roma, 1832, pp. 91-127, 
 engraved in the Mofttimenti Inediti for 1832, vol. i., Roma, 1829-32, pi. 37. 
 Micali (Giuseppe), Storia degli Antichi Popoli Italiani, Firenze, 1832, pis. 19, 
 20, 95. Inghirami (Francesco), Etriisco Museo Chmsino, Firenze, 1833-34, 
 pi. 84. Maximis (Franciscus Xaverius de), Musei Etri'isci quod Gregoriits XVI., 
 in Aedibiis Vaticanis Constituit Monimenta, Romae, 1842, vol. ii. pi. 100. Roulez 
 (Joseph Emmanuel Ghislain), L' Education d^Achille, pi. i. E. Acadimie de 
 Bruxelles, Bulletin, vol. ix., 2me partie, 1842. Campana (Giovanni Pietro), 
 Antiche Opere in Plastica, Roma, 1842-52, part 2, pi. 22. Micali (Giuseppe), 
 Monumenti Inediti, Firenze, 1844, pi. 27. 4. Michaelis (Adolph), Atheuische 
 Vasen, Archaologischer Anzeiger, No. 149, 150; Archdologische Zeitung, Perlin, 
 1861, No. 14. Gamurrini (G. F.), Un Antico Sepolcreto in Arezzo, Annali, 
 Roma, 1872, p. 279; compare the notes entitled Scavi d^Arezzo, by the same 
 writer, in the Bullettino, Roma, 1S69, p. 72. Heydemann (Heinrich Gustav 
 Dieudonne), Vasensammlung des Afuseums zn Palermo^ Archdologische Zeitung, 
 Berlin, 1871. Salzmann (Auguste), Necropole de Camiros, Paris, 1875, P'^- -6' 
 27. 39' Colvin, Centaurs in Greek Vase Painting, quoted above, pis. i and 2, 
 fig. 4. Puchstein (Otto), Kyren'dische Vasen, Archdologische Zeitung. Berlin, 
 1881. Special search among the catalogues of vase collections would with- 
 
 10
 
 146 ARCH.^EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 and gems/ in sculpture they are exceedingly rare. The 
 Assos relief of Herakles and Pholos, discovered by the ex- 
 pedition, is the only known example of the occurrence of such 
 forms in any work of considerable size, or of monumental 
 character. A figurine, found by Ross upon the Acropolis 
 of Athens, and a small bronze relief, lately unearthed at 
 
 out doubt reveal many others. Li the Museo Etrusco, Rome, is an inedited 
 vase with representations in low relief, one of the human-legged centaurs of 
 which is shown in Fig. 36. Besides two fragments from Kameiros, published by 
 Salzmann in the work quoted above, and the vase given by Colvin, pi. 2, there 
 are in the collection of the British Museum two fine inedited vases with repre- 
 sentations of human-legged centaurs. These are numbered B. 116, and B. 420. 
 The scene illustrated by the latter is the reception of 
 Herakles by Pholos. The writer has observed un- 
 published vases showing human-legged centaurs in 
 the Louvre and the Museum of Berlin ; but as the 
 purpose of the present note is merely to provide 
 proof for the statement in the text, a further enu- 
 meration is unnecessary. 
 
 A curious uncertainty of form — a hesitation be- 
 tween human and equine members — is noticeable 
 in some representations referable to a period of tran- 
 sition. Thus centaurs with human fore legs termi- 
 FiG. 36. Human-legged 
 
 Centaur. rating m horse s hoofs are shown upon an archaic 
 
 Upon a Vase in the Museo Etrusco, vase published by Hclbig ( Wolfgang), Imitazioni di 
 ^°"^- Vasi Corintii, Annali, Roma, 1863, tav. i. The 
 
 same combination appears upon one of the gems in the British Museum, re- 
 ferred to in the following note. 
 
 1 In the British Museum are two gems representing human-legged centaurs ; 
 one from the Hamilton, the other from the Castellani collection. At the time of 
 writing they are not designated by catalogue numbers. Woodcuts of them are 
 given by Colvin in the Essay before quoted, figs. 2 and 3. Two other gems are 
 illustrated by Micali, Storia, pi. 46. A striking peculiarity of these latter is 
 that both of the human-legged centaurs are winged ; the one, with the front legs 
 terminating in talons, having the wings extended from the human shoulders, the 
 other from the horse's back, Pegasos-like. These additions open a wide vista of 
 monstrous formations, and prove the agglutinative character of such types, which 
 may very probably have arisen, as Mr. Murray has suggested to me, through the 
 combination of various heraldic symbols, like the quarterings of our coats of 
 arms. A fifth gem, showing a human-legged centaur, and published by Gori 
 (Antonio Francesco), Museum Florenthmm, Florentiae, 1731-66, vol. ii. pi. 39, 
 appears, as well as can be judged from the exceedingly mannered engraving, to
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 147 
 
 Olympia, have been mentioned in the Preliminary Report ^ as 
 being the only parallels to this representation which are to be 
 found in the wide field of Greek decorative sculpture. To 
 this may be added two Etruscan bronzes,^ between three and 
 four inches in height, and, notably, a terra-cotta figurine 
 from Cyprus, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of 
 New York.3 
 
 The combinations of human with animal forms, which played 
 so great a part in the sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, 
 were rarely adopted, and never favorites in that of Greece. 
 It is hence the more remarkable that, in this type of centaur, 
 as in the primitive gorgones (/jiop/j,oXvKeta), the archaic art of 
 Hellas and Etruria even exceeded the malformations in vogue 
 among the barbarians. Oriental art does not appear to have 
 ever figured a quadruped with human legs. Such a form was, 
 however, too monstrous to be long retained by the rapidly 
 advancing sculpture and painting of the Greeks, and was soon 
 proscribed as disgraceful. Entirely apart from its horrid 
 
 be a forgery of the later Renaissance. A gem in cr3'stal, representing a female 
 centaur of this type drinking from a rhyton, in the National Library at Paris 
 (Chabouillet, Catal. des Camecs, No. 16S9), is engraved in A. Bougot, Philostrate 
 I'ancien. Une Galerie ajifiqtte, p. 361. 
 
 A bronze vase with a representation of this kind is given by Helbig (Wolf^ 
 gang), Ciste Preiiestine, Bullcttnio, Roma, 1S66, p. 144, No. 16 ; and a large cylinder 
 of ivory ornamented with reliefs, is published by the same writer in the Bullettino, 
 1874, p. 210, in an article entitled Scavi di Chiusi. This highly interesting cylin- 
 der is now in the Terrosi collection, Cetona. 
 
 1 FtJ-st Report, p. iio, notes i and 2. 
 
 2 The one published in Gori (A. F.), Afusetim Etntsaim, F\oreut\ae, 1737-43, 
 pi. 65; the other by Braun (Emil), Bronzi Etruschi, Annali, 1B36, p. 61, en- 
 graved in the Monumcnti Inediti, Roma, 1836, vol. ii. pi. 29. Compare the refer- 
 ences in the Bullettino for 1835 '"^"^ ^<^'' '^36. It is apparently the latter of these 
 to which reference was made by Helbig, in a paper read at an archajological 
 meeting and reported in the Bullettino for 1871, No. IV. ; if this be not the case, 
 then a third bronze, closely resembling the other two, is to be added to the list. 
 
 2 See Note on a Terra- Cotta Figurine from Cyprus of a Centimr icith human 
 Fore Legs, by Thomas W. Ludlow, in Bulletin of the Arehiroloqieal Institute of 
 America, I., Jan., 1883, Boston; with a photograph of the object.
 
 148 ARCHAEOLOGICAL lASTITUTE. 
 
 nature, this combination was at a disadvantage, because not 
 lending itself to the exigencies of artistic representation. In 
 a state of rest, the dissimilarity of the legs might not be found 
 intolerable, but any vigorous movement became at once un- 
 manageable and ludicrous, — the mode of locomotion of the 
 human members being entirely unlike that of the equine. 
 The awkward sprawl of the human-legged centaurs upon the 
 Assos epistyle, for instance, must have formed a striking con- 
 trast to the easy gallop of their neighbors. Thus the primi- 
 tive conformation of the centaur, in which a horse's trunk and 
 hind legs were attached as an outgrowth to the complete 
 body of a human being, was given up after but few experi- 
 ments. The more perfect structure seems to have come into 
 general use some time before the building of the Assos 
 temple, — as early, at all events, as the time of Pindar, who 
 refers to centaurs as horse-legged, " from their dam inheriting 
 the parts below, from their sire the parts above." ^ In fact, 
 the earlier conception, which in monumental stone-carving is 
 represented only by our relief, ultimately became altogether 
 foreign to the Greek mind, as is evident from a forcible, 
 albeit somewhat coarse, epigram preserved in the Anthology 
 of Planudes : 
 
 'AvSpo^ev Ikk^^vQ^ iTTTTos ' ave^pafie S 'nnrodev dv^p, 
 avrjp v6a(pt ttoSwi', K^pakrjs S urep aloXns ittttos • 
 "ttttos fpevyerai avhpa, dvfjp 8 drroTTep^erai lttttov.- 
 
 And even more directly from another : 
 
 "imros erjv aKaprjvos, dvfjp S' dr eXeaTos eKeiTO 
 ov ■ye (bvais nai^ovcra Bow iveicivrpicrev Lirivca? 
 
 1 Pindar, Pythia, II. 8S, ed. Ileyne. IMuller (Archdologie dcr Kiinst, ed. 1S78, 
 § 389) seems to place too late a date for this transformation of the human-legged 
 to the horse-legged centaur, stating that it took place " etwa seit Pheidias." 
 Schmitz (Article Centauri, in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography 
 and Mythology, London, 1876) likewise states that the latter form " was probably 
 not used before the time of Phidias and Alcamenes." 
 
 2 Anth. Palat., Append. Planud., 115. ^ Ibid., 116.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 149 
 
 The appearance of three human-legged centaurs upon the 
 Assos relief sufifices to disprove the assumption of Klug- 
 mann/ who has argued that this form was not that in which 
 the archaic designers figured to themselves the entire race 
 of centaurs, but was a distinction with which the more hu- 
 mane and mild-mannered among them were alone honored : 
 Cheiron, and occasionally Pholos, being thus anthropomor- 
 phized, as it were. Still it must be admitted that the human 
 members were retained until a somewhat later date in the 
 case of Cheiron, who, from the nature of those mythological 
 scenes in which he appears, was not commonly represented 
 in violent action.^ 
 
 While the Herakles relief is unquestionably the more char- 
 acteristic and interesting work, the block newly discovered 
 displays a great advance in respect to technical ability. The 
 bodies of the horse-footed centaurs are much more correctly 
 formed ; the curves of back and belly show a direct observa- 
 tion of the living animal, and contrast strongly with the lank 
 and almost cylindrical bodies of their human-footed neighbors. 
 The action of the hind legs, though entirely conventional, is 
 more true to nature ; and the same may be said of the human 
 trunks, which are better proportioned, and modelled with a 
 greater understanding of the muscular development. These 
 remarks apply also to the arms, — much too short in the 
 more archaic relief. The heads are of a like type, — the hair 
 
 1 Klugmann (Adolph), Sulla Maniera di Rappresoitare i Caitattri, Bullet- 
 tino, 1876, p. 140. It i.s interesting to note in this connection that the ancient 
 tradition (Aelian, Var. Hist., IX. 16) represented Mares, the centaur of the Auso- 
 nes, to have been human-legged. 
 
 2 Ahiiost all those vases of later date which have been referred to as 
 showing human-legged centaurs represent the single figure of Cheiron. It is 
 worthy of especial notice that on the Fran9ois vase (Rraun, Emil, luiso di 
 Clitia ed Ergolinto, Aiiiiali, 1S4S, engraved in the Mctiutnoid Iticditi, 1X44-48, 
 vol. iv. pis. 54, 55) Cheiron has human legs, while all the other centaurs are 
 horse-legged.
 
 150 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 looped above the ears and falling in a thick mass upon the 
 back of the neck, while lying so closely upon the skull itself 
 as clearly to show its round outline. In the new relief they 
 are smaller and in better proportion with the figures, but 
 much less expressive, being almost entirely free from that 
 uncouth and goblin-like aspect which is so attractive in the 
 centaurs of the corner block, because so well in keeping with 
 the wild nature of this mountain roaming race, infuriated by 
 the odor of the wine which Pholos had broached for the hero. 
 The most interesting, and in scientific respects by far the 
 most important, of all the Assos reliefs, namely, that represent- 
 ing Herakles, Pholos, and the three human-legged centaurs 
 (Fig. 37), fell to the share of the explorers in the official divis- 
 ion, and is now in the Museum of Boston, No. S. 1157. The 
 main features of this work have been referred to in the Prelim- 
 inary Report.^ In one respect that description was at fault. 
 It was stated that, judging from the position of the middle 
 regula, and the width of the intercolumniations, this block 
 is, upon its upper surface preserved in its original length. 
 Hence it was concluded to be hardly possible that the body 
 of a horse could have been sculptured upon the missing 
 portion of the relief, and that the figure standing imme- 
 diately behind Herakles was consequently not a centaur, but 
 a human being.^ In conformity with this view the figure in 
 
 1 First Report, ■p-p. 107-111, PI. 15. 
 
 2 A curious argument is advanced by an anonymous writer in the A'ew York 
 Critic, July i, 1882, in respect to this figure. The author of a review of the 
 First Report states that there exist ancient representations of centaurs which 
 show them not as quadrupeds, but as perfect human beings with the sole addi- 
 tion of a horse's tail. Hence, it is argued, the individual standing behind Her- 
 akles on our relief, although destitute of a horse's trunk and hind legs, may 
 nevertheless be held to be a centaur, and in fact Pholos himself, who is " thus 
 represented to distinguish him from the other centaurs." It is scarcely necessary 
 to enter into a criticism of such a confusion between the clearly differentiated 
 forms of satyrs and of centaurs.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 15 I 
 
 question was identified as lolaos, the companion of the hero, 
 who not infrequently appears in ancient representations of 
 this scene. A calculation of the original length of the blocks, 
 with reference to the positions occupied by the separate re- 
 liefs upon the epistyle, — in this case to be determined with 
 certainty, — has shown the incorrectness of the identification 
 at first adopted. Owing to the excessive irregularity of all the 
 members of the entablature, no estimate of dimensions can 
 pretend to greater accuracy than that which may be expressed 
 in decimeters, but even this is sufficient to furnish a proof. 
 To ascertain the width of the intercolumniation, from centre 
 to centre of the columns above which the block was placed 
 we have to add to the total length of the two fragments 
 found the length of the half-regula which is missing upon 
 the left-hand side. The result thus obtained — namely, a 
 minimum of 2.7 m. — makes it evident that this relief was 
 above one of the corner intercolumniations of the front, 
 which alone are of so great a dimension. Now the position 
 in which the two fragments were discovered — close to the 
 southern corner of the eastern front — leaves little doubt as 
 to which of the four corner intercolumniations it is to be as- 
 signed. The exact spot in which the Herakles relief was 
 unearthed is indicated upon the plan of the Acropolis given 
 in the First Report.^ It may be here remarked that those 
 sculptured epistyle blocks which were incorporated into the 
 rude masonry which surrounded the temple plan seem never 
 to have been moved, after their fall, from the front to the 
 rear of the building, or vice versa. This fact, naturally to 
 be assumed in the absence of contrary evidence, is actually to 
 be proved in the case of all those other reliefs of which the 
 position upon the entablature is recognizable from other con- 
 siderations ; namely, the two fragments of the sphinxes now 
 
 1 Fust Kiport, PI. 2, B.
 
 152 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 in Boston, and the horse-legged centaurs of the eastern front, 
 and the two fragments of the other sphinxes, and the lion and 
 boar from the western front. In the case of the Herakles 
 relief the conclusion drawn from the place of discovery is 
 confirmed by the general direction of the composition, which 
 would naturally have been advanced towards the centre of 
 the fagade, rather than towards the sides of the building. 
 The movement from left to right, so decidedly pronounced, 
 would thus indicate the relief to have occupied either the 
 northern corner of the rear, or this southern corner of the 
 front. To contain the full body of a centaur behind the trunk 
 of the individual standing next to Herakles would, indeed, re- 
 quire the panel to have had a length of about three meters, — 
 greater by 20 cm. than any intercolumniation in the building, 
 — so that the identification set forth in the First Report was 
 not without a semblance of reason. The difficulty is, however, 
 entirely removed, and a further argument to prove the position 
 of the relief gained, by the recognition of the fact that the 
 corner epistyle was lengthened be3'ond the axis of the cor- 
 ner column by one half the thickness of the entablature, so 
 that there must have been a length of three meters from the 
 right-hand side of this relief to the corner of the building. 
 It does not, of course, follow that the lintel itself was of this 
 length, for the corner epistyle blocks were not mitred, but 
 overlapped, and, as the lap and true corner seem, as will be 
 subsequently explained, to have been cut upon the beams 
 of the side, we have to deduct from the given total the 
 width of these overlaps, which, judging from the lower thick- 
 ness of the epistyle beams, and the length of the two other 
 corner beams, was planned to equal somewhat less than one 
 half of the corner regula, or about 20 cm. The original 
 length of the relief representing Herakles and the centaurs 
 may thus be asserted to have been very nearly 2.8 m., — or,
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 153 
 
 in other words, of just that dimension which, taken together 
 with the overlap, would be necessary to contain the body of 
 a centaur behind the hero. The figure called lolaos in the 
 Prehminary Report is hence, beyond all doubt, that of Pholos, 
 whose presence is scarcely less necessary for the identification 
 of the scene than that of Herakles himself. 
 
 Pholos holds in his left hand the drinking vessel which, in 
 the most ancient reference to the story that has come down to 
 us, the friendly centaur is described as handing to his guest : 
 
 lKvn(f)fiov Se Xn^wi' 8fnas (fifieTpcv a)? TptXdyvvov, 
 ir'itu iTTKTxpjxevos, tJ pit o'l TTcipeO'jKe 4-6Xos Kepdaai.^ 
 
 1 Stesichoros in Athenaios, XI. 499 B. The form of drinking vessel illus- 
 trated by Jahn (Otto), Beschreibung der Vasensammlung A'onig Ludwig's in dcr 
 Pinakothek zu Munchen, Miinchen, 1854, pi. i. 6, (re-engraved and more gen- 
 erally accessible in Guhl and Koner, Das Lebeii dcr Griechen tiiid Rbnier, ed. 3, 
 Berlin, 1S72, fig. 19S. 4,) as a skyphos, is precisely like that held by Pholos in 
 the relief discovered at Assos. This form of drinking vessel is termed by Pa- 
 nofka (Theodor), Kechcrchcs siir les veritablcs Noms des Vases Grecs, Paris, 1829, 
 pi. 4, a kotyle; but that this identification is incorrect may be plainly seen from 
 the testimony of Athenaios (XI. 478 B), who expressly states that the kotyle 
 has but a single handle. Stephani, Cotnpte Rendu, 1873, '^ likewise in fault 
 when describing the skyphos as a henkelloses Gefdss, — for that the skyphos 
 was provided with handles is plain from a reference of Simonides (in Athenaios, 
 XI. 498 E) to an ovarSevTa aKJrpov. The correct identification of the ancient 
 name is due to Gerhard (Eduard), Intorno le Forme di Vasi Volcenti, Annali, 
 1831, p. 257, and Moniunenti Inediti, \'&y, pi. xxvii. 46-49; also, Ultitne 
 Ricerche siille Forme di Vasi Greet, Annali, 1836, pi. c. 24, 25, and 47, and Ber- 
 lin's Antike Bildwerkc, Berlin, 1836, Beilage A, No. 28. Compare the critical 
 remarks upon this point by Letronne (Jean Antoine), Observations Philologiques 
 et Archeologiqnes stir les Noms des Vases grecs, Paris, 1833. 
 
 The skyphos, a homely substitute for the kantharos, seems to have been par- 
 ticularly in use among country people. Thus Asklepiades of Myrlca (in Athe- 
 naios, XI. 49S F) says, " None of those who live in towns, not even citizens who 
 are but moderately well off, use the skyphos, — which is employed only by 
 swineherds and shepherds, and men in the fields generally." Alkman (in Athe- 
 naios, XI. 499 A) speaks of a huge skyphos "such as is owned by shepherds"; 
 and Eumaios offers wine to Odysseus in a cup of this kind [Odyss., XIV. 114). 
 Theokritos (Idyll., I. 143) even uses the word for wooden milk pails: evidently 
 such two-handled vessels as are still employed by the herdsmen of Sicily and 
 Calabria in dipping out whey from the enormous caldrons in which the milk is
 
 154 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The left hand is raised as if in deprecation of so rude an 
 interruption of his hospitality. The quiet and almost stately- 
 attitude of Pholos contrasts strongly with the wild gestures of 
 the other centaurs. His head is of a higher type than theirs, 
 being smaller and better formed. He is bearded like the 
 others, but his beard is shorter and more comely. The chest, 
 which is shown in direct profile, is full and well formed ; and 
 though the head, supported upon too short a neck, droops 
 slightly forward, as if to indicate the physical weakness of 
 this aged centaur, the carriage of the shoulders is erect and 
 dignified. In fine, the endeavor of the sculptor to give a 
 certain nobility to this personage is clearly apparent. 
 
 The other figures were correctly identified in the Prelimi- 
 nary Report. Hence the following remarks concerning them 
 should be taken in connection with the general description of 
 the relief, and of the scene which it represents, given in that 
 volume.^ 
 
 The chief attention of the sculptor was evidently devoted to 
 the figure of Herakles, which displays a closer observation of 
 nature, and greater care in execution, than do the centaurs. 
 In spite of the surface weathering, the details of the head are 
 still distinct, and prove how firmly the outlines must origi- 
 nally have been marked. Though elevated considerably more 
 
 boiled. In short, the vase is precisely such a one as might be supposed to be in 
 the hands of the more civilized of the centaurs, and is fitly representative of the 
 rude hospitality which Pholos offered to the Doric hero. 
 
 To this it may be added that the skyphos had come to be peculiarly identified 
 with the gluttonous Herakles, who was said to have originally used this kind of 
 a cup while on his expeditions (Athenaios, XI. 500 A). Macrobius {Sat., V. 21) 
 says, " Scyphos Herculis poculum est." "To drink the cup of Herakles" evi- 
 dently came to mean excessively large potations. (Plutarch, Ahx. 75.) Com- 
 pare Virgil {Aen., VIII. 27S) and the commentary of Servius on this passage. 
 Lucian (Conviv., 14) particularly refers to the position in which the ancient 
 Greek painters were wont to represent Herakles, drinking in the cave of Pholos, 
 and holding this cup in his right hand. 
 ^ First Report, ■^•^. 108- no.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. I 55 
 
 than seven meters above the eye of the beholder, every feature 
 must have been readily distinguishable, even without the 
 emphasis of color. The hair, though by no means so closely 
 cropped as that of Herakles is usually shown in later times, 
 is comparatively short, as becomes an athletic hero. Masses 
 of clustering curls, the separate locks of which were without 
 doubt represented by painted spirals, are indicated by a broad 
 welt above the brow, and by a short chignon. Between these 
 a sharply pronounced curve displays the outline of the skull, 
 high and short, — in fact of the same hypsibrachycephalic 
 type as the crania of the ancient Assians themselves. The 
 features are those of a young man. The receding forehead is 
 higher and somewhat more convex than that customary in 
 the more advanced style, forming with the coarse and promi- 
 nent nose a profile resembling that of the heads of such stat- 
 ues of athletes as the so-called Apollos of Thera and Tenea- 
 The eye, standing in a slightly oblique position, is full and 
 almond-shaped, almost as if drawn de face. The lips are 
 thick and pouting, nearly touching the lower surface of the 
 nostrils ; the corners of the mouth are still drawn upwards, 
 but the archaic smile has almost vanished. The inferior jaw 
 is massive ; the chin round. In short, the face is that of a 
 vigorous, unintellectual athlete, excellently characterized. 
 
 Although the energetic movement of the body has evidently 
 been studied from the living model, and is rendered with con- 
 siderable freedom and technical skill, it is in the forms of the 
 trunk and lower limbs, rather than in the head, that we meet 
 with distinct reminiscences of archaism. Thus the waist is un- 
 naturally compressed ; the buttocks are too small, and yet too 
 protruding ; the upper part of the legs is of too convex a curve 
 upon the front side; the knees, especially the left, are insuffi- 
 ciently indicated, and too much rounded in outline. The feet 
 are small, the heel and ankle having but little projection,
 
 156 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 while the toes are too long and too flat. Now all these fea- 
 tures are characteristic of black-figured vases of a style which, 
 without taking into account the influence of provincial back- 
 wardness, would be ascribed to the end of the sixth, or first 
 decade of the fifth century before Christ. On the other hand, 
 a highly intelligent observation of nature is no less noticeable 
 in those parts which are in action, and in the representation 
 of which no set model of forms and proportions can have been 
 employed by the designer of this figure. Indeed, the treat- 
 ment is here extremely skilful. The swift yet cautious stride 
 upon the slippery ground ; ^ the inclination of the trunk, 
 thrown forward in pursuit ; the outstretching of the arms, so 
 as to hold the bow entirely free ; the slight lowering of the 
 head, in order to take sight of the arrow; — all these move- 
 ments are clearly expressed, while the body is brought into 
 perfect equilibrium. The muscles of the right upper arm are 
 distended with the effort of drawing the stout bow ; the left 
 arm is stiffened in full resistance. The chest, expanded as if 
 by a deep breath, is excessively thick, this effect being pro- 
 duced by a greater exaggeration of the muscles of the back 
 than of those of the breast. This peculiar formation evidently 
 resulted from an attempt to indicate the displacement of the 
 right shoulder by the strain of the arm, but even taking this 
 into account, the back appears too round, and even slightly 
 humped. The difference in plane between the lower ribs and 
 the abdomen is so marked as to cause the latter to appear 
 unnaturally contracted. This extreme development of the 
 trunk is, however, entirely in accord with the character of the 
 hero, who was conceived by the Greek sculptors of all ages 
 
 1 Nephele, the cloud mother of the centaurs, had during the combat deluged 
 the earth with torrents of rain, so that Herakles could hardly stand upright upon 
 the slippery ground, while his four-footed opponents were not thereby discom- 
 forted. Diodoros (IV. 12. 6) makes particular mention of this picturesque de- 
 tail of the legend.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 1 57 
 
 as a human being of extraordinary strength and energy, 
 rather than as a demigod endowed with supernatural powers. 
 It has been truly remarked that the testimony of Greek 
 writers ^ clearly shows us that what seems an undue exag- 
 geration in such figures as these was but the emphasized 
 idealization of the athletic form as it appeared in reality. 
 
 Herakles attacks the affrighted centaurs with the bow so 
 closely connected with several of his exploits. His peculiar 
 skill in the use of this weapon was renowned in the Homeric 
 poems,^ and was, throughout antiquity, so striking a charac- 
 teristic of the hero that the bow must be regarded as his 
 original attribute. As Preller^ has ingeniously surmised, the 
 'OfMTjptKr] cToXrj of the Herakles of the poet Xanthos * signifies 
 this accoutrement of the hero as an archer, as distinguished 
 from his further equipment with a club, which, if we are to be- 
 lieve the statement of Mcgakleides, preserved by Athenaios,^ 
 was first introduced by Stesichoros. Thus the reference of Pau- 
 sanias^ to the primitive (^XW*^ o^ Herakles upon the chest of 
 Kypselos in Olympia asserts the hero to have there appeared 
 as a bowman, — of the same type, doubtless, as the 'HpaK\Tj<i 
 
 ^ For instance, Aristophanes, Clouds, 1009-1014. 
 
 2 It was with the bow that Herakles wounded Aides, and even Hera herself 
 (//., V. 395). Compare also the renown of Herakles as an excellent bowman in 
 the Odyssey (VHI. 224 and XI. 606). It is quite possible that the last mentioned 
 of these passages, relating to the descent of Herakles to the infernal regions, is 
 the interpolation of a later age (compare the special literature of this question, in 
 particular Lauer, Quaestiones Homericae, Berolini, 1S43) ; but we may nevertheless 
 recognize in the tradition there recorded a true exponent of the primitive concep- 
 tions obtaining in regard to the hero, who is described as " armed with a naked 
 bow, and an arrow at the string, . . . always like unto one about to let fly a 
 shaft." The peculiar skill of Herakles in archery was celebrated also in later 
 ages; e. g. Euripides, Here. Fur., 157-164, 18S, etc. 
 
 8 Preller (Ludwig), Griechisehe Mytkoh^ie, Leipzig, 1875, '• i-9> "• 
 
 * Xanthos in Athenaios, XII. 512 F. 
 
 5 Ibid. For the costume of Herakles see Miiller's Dorians, B. ii. ch. 12, § i. 
 
 * Pausanias, V. 17. 11.
 
 158 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 To^oTT]'; in combat with a human-legged centaur, shown upon 
 the archaic bronze rehef before mentioned as having been 
 recently unearthed at Olympia, or as the Herakles of the 
 Assos relief of the same subject, now under consideration. 
 By its contrary flexure we recognize the weapon which he here 
 holds in his hand to be that given to him by the Scythian 
 shepherd Teutaros, earliest instructor of the Dorian hero in 
 archery,^ — a legend significant, it may be surmised, of the 
 Oriental origin of all that was known to the primitive Greeks 
 in regard to the bow and its fittings.^ No doubt can exist 
 concerning the peculiar form of this Scythian bow. Its double 
 curve, re-entering to the bar grasped by the hand, is compared 
 by Agathon^ to the shape of the cursive ^, as written towards 
 the close of the fifth century before Christ. Moreover, the 
 ancient geographers * were accustomed to compare the outline 
 of the Black Sea to that of a Scythian bow ; the northern 
 coast, with its two great gulfs separated by the promontory 
 of the Crimea, standing for the bow itself, the comparatively 
 straight southern coast for the string. This graceful contrary 
 
 1 Scholiast to Theokritos {Tdyll., XIII. 56), quoting from Herodoros. Com- 
 pare Lykophron, Alex., 56 and 45S, with the commentary of Tzetzes, and also on 
 V. 50. 
 
 ^ The Oriental origin of Greek archery has been referred to in the previous 
 chapter, p. 45, in connection with the bronze arrow-heads of Persian shape found 
 upon the Acropolis of Assos. Raoul-Rochette [Diswi), Siir T Hercule assyrien 
 et phenicien, considSri dans ses Rapports avec VHei-cide grec, {Memoires de I'Aca- 
 dettiie des Inscriptions, Paris, 1848, voh xvii., deuxieme partie,) has called atten- 
 tion to the striking similarity between the 'Hpa/cXfjs to%6ti]s of the archaic coins 
 of Thasos, and the types of the royal archer upon the darics of Persia. 
 
 8 Agathon, in Athenaios, X. 454 D. This was, of course, not the later 
 sigma of segmental shape. Euripides and Theodektes (in the same passage of 
 Athenaios), the one writing in the same age as Agathon, the other nearly a cen- 
 tury later, both compare the form of the letter sigma to that of a wavy lock o 
 hair. The contrary flexure of the letter, and of the bow which it is said to 
 resemble, is thus fully assured. 
 
 * Dionysios Periegetes, 156. Strabo, II. 5. 22, p. 125. Ammianus Marcellinus, 
 XXII. 8. 10.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 159 
 
 flexure, so foreign to the nature of wood, must have resulted 
 from the employment of the horns of animals in the manu- 
 facture of bows, — the bases of two horns being attached by 
 a spHcing of a metal ferule to a short, straight middle piece. 
 Such were the weapons so accurately described by Homer ; ^ 
 while the bow thus came, even in later ages, to be termed 
 
 The Scythian bow was the favorite arm of Herakles, and 
 continued to be a characteristic attribute of the national hero 
 until the latest ages pf Greek literature and art.^ As will be 
 remembered, this was the very weapon given by Herakles 
 to his friend and armor-bearer Philoktetes,^ which, after 
 conquering the islands near the Troad and expelling from 
 them the Carian (Lelegian) population,^ finally terminated 
 the Trojan war by killing Paris.^ And it is not impossible 
 that the Aeolic colonists of Assos, the Greek inhabitants of 
 the ancient capital of the Leleges, may have chosen this epi- 
 sode of the Centauromachia from among the many deeds of 
 Herakles on account of the connection of this invincible bow 
 with the traditional history of the land which they occupied. 
 As shown upon our relief, it is a stout and very short weapon, 
 — scarcely more than half as long as the bow of Pandaros 
 described in the Iliad. So diminutive is it, indeed, that we 
 
 1 Iliad, IV. 105; Odyssey, XXI. 395. 
 
 2 As, for instance, in the passage of Strabo before quoted, and Theokritos, 
 Idyll., XXV. 2c6. 
 
 8 A reference of the twelfth Christian century to the Scythian bow as an 
 attribute of Heralcles is contained in the commentary of Tzetzes to Lykophron, 
 Alex., 917. 
 
 * Diodoros, IV. 38. 4. Philostratos, Her., V. i. Philostratos the Lemnian, 
 Imag; 17. Scholiast to the Iliad, II. 724, ed. Bekker, 90 B, 6. Hyginus, Fab., 
 36, 102, and other ancient authorities. 
 
 6 Philostratos, Her., V. 3. 
 
 8 The ancient authorities in support of this version of the legend, ranging as 
 they do from Sophokles down to Kedrenos, are too numerous, and in part at 
 least too well known, to be quoted here
 
 l6o ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 are led to suspect that archery was but little practised by 
 the Assians at the period to which this sculpture is to be 
 ascribed. There is ample space upon the relief for the in- 
 troduction of a larger bow, and the careful observation of 
 nature, so evident in the muscular development of the bow- 
 man, could not otherwise have failed to be extended to this 
 important adjunct, which thus appears rather as a model, 
 a plaything, in short a conventional attribute, than as a 
 really effective weapon. Some acquaintance with the na- 
 ture of the bow is shown in the thickqning of the tips by 
 the ends of the cord wound around them ; but the curved 
 horns do not taper sufficiently, and the string is stretched 
 to much too acute an angle. Moreover, the arrow is not 
 represented, as it should have been, with a bow thus bent in 
 actual use. 
 
 The fact that Herakles is depicted at Assos without the 
 lion's skin is exceptional among archaic works of art, — there 
 being but very few instances of this guise upon black-figured 
 vases,^ — and may perhaps be adduced in support of the belief 
 that the date of the temple is to be placed at least as late as 
 the close of the Persian war. A more forcible argument to 
 the same effect is to be based upon the adoption of a youth- 
 ful and beardless type in this figure. We have in the head 
 of Herakles a very definite indication that the sculptures of 
 Assos are to be assigned to the first half of the fifih century 
 before Christ, rather than to a more remote date; for, while 
 upon black-figured vases belonging with certainty to the sixth 
 century before Christ, Herakles is almost invariably shown 
 as bearded, he has here the beardless youthful form in which 
 
 ^ One is shown by Welcker (Friedrich Gottlieb), Rappreseittazioni dell' Idra 
 Lernea, Annali, 1842, p. 103, and Motmmenti Inediti, pi. 46, Roma, 1836 ; also 
 in the Alte Denkmaler of the same author, vol. iii. pi. 6, Gottingen, 1849-64. 
 The hero attacking the hydra is armed only with quiver and sword.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. i6l 
 
 he appears in the gable group of the temple of Aigina and in 
 the metopes of the Parthenon, — works which, in respect to 
 style, must certainly have been in advance of the sculptures of 
 provincial Assos. This manner of depicting Herakles may 
 have been introduced by the Argive sculptor Ageladas, whose 
 youthful Herakles, preserved in Aigion, is mentioned by Pau- 
 sanias ^ in a manner which seems to show that the represen- 
 tation of the hero without a beard was an innovation in the 
 age when that artist was at work. The determination of the 
 exact date of Ageladas is, as Brunn has remarked in his dis- 
 cussion of this point,^ one of the most difficult questions in 
 the history of ancient art. For our present purpose, it will, 
 however, suffice to bear in mind that Ageladas, having been 
 alive at least as late as the eighty-second Olympiad, cannot 
 well be assumed to have created this type of Herakles, which 
 subsequently became common, before the termination of the 
 Persian wars. 
 
 In regard to the comparative iconography of the Assos 
 relief, a striking parallel presents itself in the well-known 
 Karapanos relief of Herakles drawing the bow. Attention 
 has been called to the similarity of these figures by Emer- 
 son,^ who has engraved them side by side for the purpose of 
 comparison. The genuineness of the Karapanos relief, as- 
 signed by Rayet ^ to the first years of the fifth century before 
 Christ, has been questioned by Emerson, who nevertheless 
 conceded this work to have retained many features of some 
 original very similar to the Assos sculpture. Furtwangler,^ 
 
 1 Pausanias, VII. 24. 4. 
 
 - Brunn, Griechische Kiinstler, 1857, i. 64. 
 
 3 Emerson (Alfred), Two Modern Antiques. American Journal ofArchaology, 
 vol. i. p. 152, pi. 5. Baltimore, 1S85. 
 
 * Rayet (Olivier), Momiments de VArt Antique, pi. 23. Paris, 18S0-S4. 
 
 5 Furtwangler (Adolf), American Journal of Archa:ology, vol. ii. p. 52. 
 Baltimore, 1886. 
 
 IX
 
 1 62 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 on the other hand, believes the Karapanos relief to be, not a 
 modern, but an ancient imitation, ranking it among the finest 
 known examples of archaistic art, and suggesting the first 
 century before Christ as the probable date of its execution. 
 Furtwangler bases his argument wholly upon the style of 
 the relief. He compares it with another slab of the same 
 size (showing Herakles with his knee upon the neck of a 
 stag), which he holds to have belonged to the same series of 
 representations of the labors of Herakles. A direct proof of 
 this view, which asserts the Karapanos relief to be an antique 
 but archaistic work, may be derived from the fact, that, while 
 the similarity between it and the sculpture of the Assos epi- 
 style is so great as to exclude the assumption of chance 
 resemblance, no other figure of this type is known to be in 
 existence, and at the time of the discovery of the Kara- 
 panos relief the Assian sculpture was still buried beneath the 
 earth. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to assume the archaistic relief to 
 have been imitated directly from the decorations of the 
 temple of provincial Assos, especially as it appears to be but 
 one of a series of representations of the labors of Herakles, 
 We have hence to seek for some common original from which 
 the leading features of both these works were derived. Furt- 
 wangler suggests that these archaic originals were statuary 
 groups of the series of Kritios and Nesiotes, inasmuch as the 
 head of the Karapanos Herakles bears a close resemblance 
 to that of Harmodios in the group of the Tyrannicides at 
 Naples, — itself a copy of the work by Kritios and Nesiotes, 
 dedicated in 477 b. c. by the Athenians.^ This striking re- 
 semblance, to which attention was called by Rayet, has been 
 
 1 Marmor Parium, C. I. G., vol. ii. No. 2374, Epoch, i. line 70. Compare 
 Bergk (Theodor), Zur Periegese der Akropolis von Atheti. Zeitschrift fiir Alter- 
 thujtiswissenschaft, vol. iii. p. 972. Giessen, 1S45.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 1 63 
 
 fully recognized by both Furtwangler and Emerson. When 
 critics of opinions so various — the one seeing in the Kara- 
 panos relief a work antedating the Persian wars, the second 
 ascribing it to the age when Greece was a Roman province, 
 and the third even terming it a modern forgery — are so 
 unanimous in fixing upon the type from which it must have 
 been imitated, it is certainly difficult to avoid the conclusion 
 that the original from which these characteristics were de- 
 rived is indeed to be referred to the school in question. 
 Moreover, the peculiarities of the style of the Kritios and 
 Nesiotes, as described by Lucian,^ (a most competent observer, 
 himself trained as a sculptor,) are certainly recognizable in 
 both the Assos and Karapanos reliefs. VVe have in the figure 
 of Herakles a clear illustration of the term d7rea(^i'yfieva, 
 tightly drawn in, compressed like the abdomen of our hero ; 
 vevpcoSr] koI aKXr^pd, sinewy and rigid, of firm rather than 
 lithe and supple muscles ; and in the execution of the entire 
 relief, that sharply cut composition of tfie outlines and some- 
 what exaggerated emphasis of the physical development result- 
 ing from a too distinct demarcation of the protruding muscles, 
 which is referred to as a/cpt/^co? diroTeraixeva raU ypafifxals. 
 
 We thus have good grounds for the belief that the style of 
 the Assos relief now under consideration was influenced by 
 that of Kritios and Nesiotes, and may perhaps even go so far 
 as to assume that the type of the Herakles which here ap- 
 pears was a direct creation of these sculptors. The converse 
 cannot be admitted for a moment. It is obviously impossible 
 to entertain the supposition that the work of Athenian artists, 
 who represented the highest contemporary development in 
 the modelling of the human figure, can have been in any 
 way influenced by the rude decorations of a building in a 
 provincial town of Asia Minor. 
 
 1 Lucian, A'/nf. Praec, 9.
 
 164 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 This identification is entirely in harmony with the date 
 which other considerations would lead us to assign to the 
 temple of Assos. If the building was in reality erected 
 during the age immediately succeeding the Persian wars, — 
 let us say between the seventy-fifth and eighty-fifth Olym- 
 piads, — nothing would have been more natural than that its 
 sculptures should have displayed in the better figures some 
 traces of the contemporary art of Athens, with which city 
 Assos was then politically allied, and to which she must have 
 looked as the great leader of intellectual and artistic advance. 
 Even as the plan of the temple was copied almost exactly 
 from that of the Theseion, the types of its most perfect 
 sculptured decorations were derived from contemporary 
 works of the Attic school. 
 
 While the Karapanos relief thus supplies us with an indi- 
 cation as to the artistic style of the work from which this 
 figure of Herakles was derived, other parallels make it plain 
 that this original was a relief of considerable extent, depicting 
 the combat of Herakles and the centaurs of Mount Pholoe in 
 the same general composition as that which appears in the 
 sculptured epistyle found at Assos. There exist a number of 
 painted vases with representations of this scene in which the 
 grouping of the figures evidently was determined, in greater 
 or less measure, by reminiscences of some archaic work of 
 art known throughout the Hellenic world, and regarded as 
 typical of the subject. The composition and forms of this 
 popular original were imitated, not only in the monumental 
 decorations of a provincial temple, but in the paintings of 
 those exquisite vases which were to be found in the dwellings 
 of every Greek citizen ; even as to-day a popular picture — 
 such as, to take an example, Rubens's Trinity — is not only 
 copied in the altar-pieces of the churches of small towns, but 
 is more or less recognizable in the coarse prints which in
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 O «
 
 1 66 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Catholic countries enliven the walls of the most humble 
 cottages. 
 
 Chief among the vases of this class is an archaic amphora, 
 probably of Attic manufacture, found at Caere, and now in 
 the Museum of Berlin.^ Upon it the chief figures of the 
 Assos relief are readily to be distinguished (Fig. 38). So 
 great is the similarity that no doubt can obtain in regard 
 to the fact that both of these representations were influenced 
 by some common model. The composition, advancing from 
 left to right, is almost exactly the same. Herakles, bending 
 the Scythian bow, strides with body bent forward, the ad- 
 vanced left foot flat upon the ground, while the right is par- 
 tially raised, as in the Assos and Karapanos reliefs. The 
 retreating centaurs are in the same peculiar position as those 
 shown upon the newly discovered block, — their front legs 
 overlapping, while their hind legs are behind those of their 
 neighbors. In general outline the likeness is quite sufficient 
 to establish the point in question ; for, in a comparison of 
 this kind, it is obviously the similarities, and not the differ- 
 ences, of design which require to be taken into consideration 
 as proof of a relation to some common model. When these 
 features of similarity surpass the narrow limits of chance 
 resemblance, the fact of some imitation, conscious or un- 
 conscious, is at once fully established. This remains true, 
 whatever may be the variations in the treatment of detail, — 
 dependent, it may be, upon the exigencies of the space to 
 which the composition is adapted, or upon the individual 
 taste of the designer. In consideration of the further fact 
 that these representations are not supposed to have been de- 
 
 1 Gerhard (Eduard), Auserlesene Griechische Vasenbilder, Berlin, 1839-58, 
 vol. ii. pi. 119. The tracing reproduced above (Fig. 38) was made by me from 
 the vase, for the purpose of this illustration, as the lithograph given by Gerhard 
 is incorrect in certain details.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 167 
 
 rived the one from the other, but from a third and still more 
 archaic composition, the general agreement must certainly be 
 admitted to be surprisingly close. 
 
 Another painted vase, representing this scene, and appa- 
 rently deriving some of its features from the common proto- 
 type, is that found at Akrai, and published by Judica.^ The 
 fiofures of Herakles and his antagonists are here shown in 
 much the same arrangement, the composition being hkewise 
 from left to right. One detail, altered in the Caere vase, 
 is here preserved, — Pholos standing behind the hero, with 
 arm uplifted, as at Assos. Other vase paintings of this type 
 would doubtless be found on examination of all those repre- 
 senting the subject, few of which have been published in 
 plates, or are distinctly recognizable from the short descrip- 
 tions given in the catalogues of the various collections.^ 
 
 1 Judica (Gabriele), Le Antichita di Acre, Messina, 1S19. 
 
 2 As was mentioned in the First Report (p. loS, note i), seventeen antique 
 illustrations of the combat of Herakles with the centaurs of Mount Pholoe have 
 been quoted by Stephani, Compte Rendu, 1873. This list has been unquestioningly 
 referred to as correct by both Colvin and Puchstein, in the works quoted above, 
 p. 142, note 2, and p. 145, note i. An examination of these representations will, 
 however, make it evident that many of them are, in reality, not at all referable to 
 the subject. Thus, the most important in monumental respects, the sculpture 
 upon the Roman sarcophagus published by Braun [Y.m\\),Sarcophago rappresen- 
 taiite Combattimento tra Ercole e Centauri, Monumenti Iiiediti, 1855, pi. 19, which 
 figures as No. 15 of Stephani's list, shows one of the centaurs to have seized upon 
 a woman, one of whose feet and some folds of whose drapery, visible upon the 
 shattered side of the coffer, were evidently overlooked by the learned Russian 
 archaeologist. The rape thus indicated cannot possibly be brought into connection 
 with the combat of Herakles with the centaurs of Mount Pholoe, who were on that 
 occasion attracted solely by the odor of the liquor. It is probable that the sculp- 
 tor of the sarcophagus has illustrated an episode from the wedding of Peirithoos, 
 — one of the most popular subjects of ancient art. The same objection is appli- 
 cable to the bronze of Antoninus Pius, which Stephani cites as his si.xtecnth in- 
 stance. (Published by Foy-Vaillant (Jean), Selectiora Numismata, Parisiis, 1694, 
 pi. 25; Beger (Laurentius), Ilerctdes Ethnicoriim, Berlin, 1705, pi. 18; Millin de 
 Grandmaison (Aubin Louis), Galerie Alythologiqiie, Paris, iSii, pi. 195, No. 437 ; 
 Guigniault (Joseph Daniel), Religions de P Antiquity, Paris, 1825-51, pi. 170, No. 
 659 ; Cohen (Henri), Description Historique des Monnaies frappies sous P Empire
 
 1 68 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 By putting these various indications together we can gain 
 a tolerably definite idea of the characteristics of that archaic 
 work of art, now lost, whose fame is attested by so many 
 imitations. The general outlines of its composition, and 
 some of the peculiarities of its style, are clearly recognizable, 
 and have been set forth at sufficient length. In other re- 
 spects we can only assert that the original representation 
 occupied a field much longer than broad, and was, in all 
 probability, a relief composed within the limits of some archi- 
 tectural framework. Ancient writers have left us no account 
 of any works of Kritios and Nesiotes representing Herakles ; 
 and Furtwangler's identification of the Karapanos relief, as 
 derived from " the series " of those artists, should, without 
 doubt, read a series. 
 
 A celebrated work in relief, representing the labors of 
 Herakles, in an architectural framework, and fully answering 
 
 Ro7nain, Paris, 1859-68, vol. ii. p. 338, No. 436.) Here also a centaur is shown 
 carrying off a woman, — perhaps Homados with Alkyone, the sister of Eurys- 
 theus, as identified by Guigniault. In this case the objection has been antici- 
 pated, but by no means fully met, by Stephani, who errs also in describing the 
 coin as silver. With the representations of the wedding of Peirithoos we have, 
 furthermore, to class the red-figured vase published by Inghirami (Francesco), 
 Pittiire di Vast Etruschi, Firenze, 1852-56, 2d ed., vol. i. pi. 79, and Hugues 
 (Pierre Franfois), Antiqiiites Etrusques, Paris, 1785, pi. 124; Stephani's list, 
 No. 12. The fine silver vessel now in Munich, published by Arneth (Joseph 
 Calasanza von), Die Antiken Gold und Silbernionnmente des k. k. Miinz, und 
 Antiken Cabhiettes in IVien, Wien, 1850, pi. S. II, Stephani, No. 17, also does 
 not relate in any way to the legend of Herakles and Pholos, merely showing 
 the struggle of two Lapithae with two centaurs before an image of Ares; and the 
 vase published by Moses (Henry), A Collection of Antique Vases, Altars, Patera, 
 Tripods, Candelabra, Sarcophagi, etc., London, 1814, pi. i, represents Herakles 
 between two centaurs, with nothing to identify the site of the combat. Still an- 
 other of Stephani's references (No. 13, quoting Maximis, Mtis. Etrusc, vol. ii. 
 pi. 77) is erroneous, there being no such representation shown upon the plate in 
 question. Several of the rest are catalogue entries, so vague that the real char- 
 acter of the scenes depicted upon the vases cannot be fully ascertained there- 
 from. Even taking these latter into account, as correctly identified, Stephani's 
 list is to be reduced from seventeen to eleven examples.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 1 69 
 
 the requirements of the case in point of date, was the sculp- 
 ture of the temple of Athena Chalkioikos at Sparta, the work 
 of Gitiadas. We learn from Pausanias ^ that these reliefs, 
 evidently arranged in compartments upon the wall, repre- 
 sented, not only those labors which Herakles was com- 
 manded to perform by Eurystheus, but also those exploits 
 in which the hero engaged of his own free will. In the latter 
 category, the combat with the centaurs of Mount Pholoe can 
 scarcely have been lacking. The fame of the decorations of 
 this sanctuary was widely extended ; for instance, coins were 
 struck, not in Sparta alone, but in other towns, with the 
 type of the sacred effigy preserved within the building.^ But 
 beyond the suggestion that a connection may have existed 
 between these reliefs and those of Assos, our present entire 
 ignorance concerning the artistic style of Gitiadas and its 
 relation to the contemporary work of Attica, does not permit 
 us to go. 
 
 Little remains to be said concerning the other figures 
 shown upon this relief, namely, the three human-legged cen- 
 taurs who hasten away from the arrows of Herakles. A 
 general description of them has been given in the First Re- 
 port, and the chief peculiarities of their form have already 
 been discussed. Although evidently the work of another hand 
 than the horse-legged centaurs, they display indications of 
 having been imitated from one and the same model with 
 them. The arrangement of hair and beard, and of hind legs 
 and tail, is entirely similar ; and, in particular, the position of 
 the outstretched arms of the middle centaur upon the corner 
 block closely resembles that of the others, the juncture with 
 the body showing the same malformation of the muscles, 
 
 1 Pausanias, III. 17. 3. 
 
 2 Compare Koner (Wilhelm), Darstelhing des Standbildes der Athene Chalki' 
 oekos zu Lacedaemon, in Koehne's Zcitschrift fiir Miitiz, Siegel und Wappaikittide, 
 vol. v., 1845.
 
 170 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 
 
 while the thumbs of the left hand are turned up, and those of 
 the right down, in the same way. These peculiarities of 
 agreement are the more remarkable, because of the great 
 technical superiority and general correctness of form notice- 
 able in the relief now first published. The centaur nearest 
 to Herakles, turning back his head to aim his missile, holds a 
 stone in his uplifted right hand ; the foremost bears upon his 
 shoulder a thick club, — these being the weapons with which, 
 according to the legend, the centaurs of Mount Pholoe carried 
 on the combat.^ 
 
 Among the discoveries of the second year is the fragment 
 of a metope, about 44 cm. long and 27 cm. high, represent- 
 ing the hind legs of a running centaur. (Fig. 39.) Being 
 the lower left-hand corner of the slab, it shows a rebate, in 
 plan, about 25 by 15 mm., cut upon that side of the stone 
 which was to be hidden behind the projecting edge of the ad- 
 joining triglyph. A fillet 7 cm. broad forms a plinth for 
 the feet, and corresponds to the tainia upon the lower edge 
 of the epistyle blocks. This emphasis of the architectural 
 framework of the metopes — a decided drawback in assthetic 
 respects, as it cramps the field available for sculptured repre- 
 sentations — is an archaic feature, omitted entirely from the 
 
 1 That the centaurs were armed with the branches of trees is attested by 
 Hesiod {Scut. Here, i8S), Pindar [Frag., 144, ed. Bergk), Apollonios Rhodios 
 (Argon., I. 64), Orpheus (Argon., 173), Diodoros (IV. 12. 5), Apollodoros (II. 5. 
 4. 3), and Ovid (Metam., XII. 507). We learn from the three authorities last 
 named that they also threw stones. 
 
 Upon the shield of Eurypylos, described by Quintus of Smyrna [Posthom., 
 VI. 273), the centaurs of Mount Pholoe were represented as fighting with clubs, 
 attacking Herakles. The poet, without doubt following an ancient epic proto- 
 type, says, " Some were shown prostrate upon the pines which they grasped, while 
 others still carried on the fight with like weapons." 
 
 The names of two centaurs, written out upon a vase published by Gerhard 
 (Eduard), Etruskische uud Kampanische VasenbilJer des Museitms zu Berlin, 
 Berlin, 1843, pi. 13, viz. TAAIGS and nETPAIOS, are evidently derived from the 
 wooden club and the rock with which they threaten Herakles.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 
 
 171 
 
 Theseion and Parthenon. It had, however, certain practical 
 advantages, protecting in some measure the raised portions 
 of the relief from being split away during the process of lift- 
 ing and setting the block, and is more tolerable in the coarse 
 stone of Assos than it would have been in the marble of 
 Attica. 
 
 The small portion of the figure which remains is perfectly 
 sharp and free from weathering, and shows the sculpture to 
 have been executed with 
 much care. The hoofs and 
 legs are in the conven- 
 tional position, but some- 
 what farther apart than 
 any of those represented 
 upon the other reliefs of 
 centaurs. It will be recol- 
 lected that one of the three 
 metopes removed from As- 
 sos to the Louvre also rep- 
 resents the single figure of a centaur, galloping, with a club 
 upon his shoulder. The hind legs shown upon the newly dis- 
 covered fragment are of the same size as those upon the 
 block in Paris. It is hence evident that this metope also did 
 not contain a second figure, — in this respect differing most 
 disadvantageously from the metopes of the Attic monuments 
 before mentioned. 
 
 The last of the reliefs found during the second year which 
 remains for our consideration is a fragment of the heraldic 
 sphinxes once decorating the western front of the temple. 
 The greater part of the other sphinx sculptured upon this 
 epistyle block was removed from Assos by the French in 
 1835, and has since been preserved in the Louvre. A 
 second fragment, found by us upon the surface of the 
 
 Fig. 39. Fragment ok a Metope. 
 Hind Legs of a Centaur.
 
 172 ARCHAEOLOGICAL hWSTITUTE. 
 
 earth, where it had apparently been seen and drawn by 
 Texier, was pubHshed in the First Report.^ The third frag- 
 ment, with which we are now concerned, contains the body 
 and wings of the sphinx upon the left-hand side ; it com- 
 pletes the sculptured subject, — the panel now lacking but 
 a small portion of the tainia, split from the second fragment. 
 (Fig. 40.) 
 
 Before going further, it should be explained that the fact 
 of this relief having been situated above the central inter- 
 columniation of the western front, and not in the correspond- 
 ing position of the eastern front, can be determined from the 
 lengths of the half-regulas cut upon the ends of these blocks, 
 which, together with those adjoining, must have exactly made 
 up the total widths of the triglyphs above them. As has 
 been already set forth, there can be little doubt that the 
 epistyle block sculptured with the four centaurs, found dur- 
 ing the second year, was placed next to the relief of Herakles 
 and Pholos, and consequently adjoined one of these sphinx 
 reliefs upon the left-hand side. Now the half-regula upon 
 the right-hand end of the relief of the four centaurs is ex- 
 ceptionally long, namely, 33 cm., and cannot have been com- 
 plementary to the corresponding moulding upon the newly 
 discovered sphinx, which is itself 27 cm. long. It agrees 
 entirely, however, with the space remaining for a half-regula 
 upon the shattered end of the other sphinx block, discovered 
 during the first year, and published in the First Report as 
 Plate 16. We are thus as fully justified in assigning these 
 heraldic reliefs to the front and rear of the building, respect- 
 ively, as we are in the assumption that the four centaurs 
 formed a continuation of the file retreating before the bow- 
 man Herakles. They will hence be distinguished as the 
 eastern and western sphinxes. 
 
 1 Preliminary Report, p. 115, pi. 19.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 173 
 
 It is interesting to compare the sculpture of this epistyle 
 from the less important facade, to which our newly discov- 
 ered fragment appertains, with that of its pendant from the 
 front of the building. A glance at the photogravures of the 
 two reliefs (Figs. 40, 41) will suffice to show that the figures 
 were executed from the same design, but by different hands, 
 differing widely in technical skill. The variations in position 
 manifestly resulted from the sphinxes being framed in panels 
 of unequal dimensions, that of the front measuring less than 
 
 2.5 m., while that of the rear was considerably more than 
 
 2.6 m. in length. The sculptor of the latter placed his fig- 
 ures quite as near to the ends of the block as they were in 
 the former, the entire difference in length falling between 
 the heads and breasts of the animals. Thus the fore legs 
 of the western sphinxes were disproportionately lengthened, 
 while the angle of their elevation was correspondingly de- 
 creased. It was without doubt in conformity with this 
 change of angle that the wings were made to lie somewhat 
 lower upon the back. With these exceptions, the outlines of 
 the two reliefs are almost identical. 
 
 In modelling, however, the sphinxes of the west are de- 
 cidedly inferior to those of the east. Although projecting 
 quite as far from the background, they yet appear flat and 
 undefined, — betraying in technical respects a more marked 
 influence of the sphyrelaton style. The western relief is, in- 
 deed, an especially good example of that clumsiness of form 
 in the masses, the protuberances being of basket-shaped 
 rather than of oval section, and of that angular and strap- 
 like rendering of the details, so indicative of a practice of 
 beaten-metal work in which the sculptors of Assos were evi- 
 dently versed. The curves of trunk and haunch are not so 
 true to nature as in the eastern sphinxes, while the edges of 
 the relief are too thick and cushion-like to permit of the
 
 174 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 rotundity of the body being effectively rendered. Thus the 
 fine gradations of light and shade within the outhnes of the 
 figures are almost entirely lost. The thigh-bone does not 
 project sufificiently from the flank, the hind legs are too 
 weak and thin, the tail too little prominent and too sharply 
 curved. In short, the western sphinxes are of a dull and 
 heavy sleekness, while those of the east are sinewy and 
 vigorous. Although the main outlines are, as before said, 
 substantially identical, there are still slight differences in the 
 curves and relative positions of the members. Even if we 
 suppose the design to have been transferred to the surface 
 of the stone from an original cartoon by a tracing, or other 
 mechanical means, there must have remained a certain scope 
 for the sculptor to display his taste and technical skill, 
 
 A noticeable deviation in the western sphinx from the forms 
 of the eastern is the decorative scalloping of the outer edges 
 of the wings. More important and less successful are the 
 straightening and flattening of the outlines of the belly, 
 through which much of the grace and force of the original 
 has been lost. It is evident that the architect or artistic 
 superintendent of the decoration of the temple was well 
 acquainted with the relative abilities of the sculptors work- 
 ing under his directions, and assigned the execution of 
 those reliefs which were to be placed upon the front of the 
 building to the more intelligent and skilful hands. 
 
 We may even venture the supposition, that the less pro- 
 ficient sculptor of the western sphinxes was, as compared 
 with his rival, an artist of the old school, clinging to con- 
 ventional methods. As has already been pointed out, the 
 style of the sphyrelaton is more apparent in his work, while 
 the wings are scalloped in conformity with a highly archaic 
 decorative practice. Another feature of much interest, lead- 
 ing to the same conclusion, is the shape assigned to the terrai-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 175 
 
 nation of the vertical shaft upon which the sphinxes rest their 
 uplifted paws, and which marks the centre of the symmetrical 
 composition. In the relief from the rear of the building this 
 termination has the form of an archaic Ionic capital with 
 upright volutes, — an architectural member which was cer- 
 tainly antiquated at the period to which we must assign the 
 execution of these sculptures. The outline of the volutes 
 and of the anthemion surmounting them is clearly indicated, 
 and there still remain upon the weathered surface of the 
 stone traces of the engraved spiral lines which mark the con- 
 volutions of the heUx. The member thus represented is of 
 precisely the same shape and proportion as the proto-Ionic 
 capital, found by the writer upon the site of Neandreia, in the 
 interior Troad, and described in a separate publication of the 
 Archaeological Institute.^ The significance of this form in 
 architectural history has been fully discussed in that connec- 
 tion. In regard to its place in the composition of this relief 
 it will suffice to observe that the heraldic sphinxes of Assos 
 rest their paws upon a diminutive proto-Ionic stele, in the 
 same manner as the heraldic lions of Mykenai face a small 
 column having proto-Doric characteristics. 
 
 This arrangement was a common one in every age of 
 Oriental art, and has by some historians been directly re- 
 ferred to an Asiatic origin. We may trace it, in examples 
 too numerous to mention, from Assyria and the highlands of 
 Asia Minor, through Phoenicia and Cyprus, to Attica and the 
 Peloponnesos. It had certainly been adopted by the Greeks 
 at a period long anterior to the building of the temple of 
 Assos, appearing not only above the gate of Mykenai, but in 
 many ornaments of precious metal found in the still more 
 ancient sepulchres of that citadel,^ and among the remains 
 
 * Clarke, Proto-Ionic Capital, fig. 2. 
 
 2 Schliemann, Mycence, Nos. 175, 264-266, 274, 279, 4S0, and 539.
 
 176 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 unearthed at Menidi in Attica.^ Sphinxes and griffins with 
 uplifted paws, in precisely the same attitude and relative 
 position as those of Assos, occur upon the well-known 
 Francois vase,^ and are frequently to be observed upon vessels 
 of the early Corinthian style. 
 
 The archaic Ionic capital with upright volutes — evidently 
 a favorite in the Troad and its neighborhood/ whence the 
 
 majority of the known ex- 
 amples have been derived — 
 finds still another illustra- 
 tion among the minor dis- 
 coveries at Assos, which 
 may appropriately be no- 
 ticed in this connection. 
 The object in question is a 
 fragment of a terra-cotta 
 vessel, apparently the han- 
 FiG. 42. Ionic Capital, with upright ^^t of a large amphora (Fig. 
 Volutes. . 
 
 42). The upright scrolls are 
 
 boldly modelled, the anthe- 
 mion, too small a feature to be fully indicated, being replaced 
 by a knob-like abacus. The spiral lines of the volutes are 
 deeply ploughed out with some pointed instrument. Scrolls 
 and abacus are lightly touched with a white pigment, the sur- 
 face of the red clay being elsewhere covered with a dull red 
 priming. The decorative effect of the detail is striking ; 
 
 1 Deutsckes archdologisches Institiit. Das Kuppelgrab bei Menidi. Ausgrab- 
 ungsbericht von H. C. Lolling. Athen, 1880. 
 
 '- Moti. hied., vol. iv. Roma, 1844-48, pis. liv., Iv. 
 
 3 Shortly after the discovery upon the site of Neandreia, Ionic capitals with 
 upright volutes were found upon the coast of Lesbos, opposite the Troad, 
 These capitals have not as yet been published, but they are referred to by 
 Puchstein (Otto), Das lonische Capitell. Siebemtndvierzigstes Programvi zum 
 Winckelmanjisfeste der Archdologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin. Berlin, 18S7, 
 P-SS- 
 
 Portion of the Handle of a large Jar found at Assos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. I J J 
 
 and, though slight in execution, it is evidently the work of 
 a skilled hand. The fragment is now in the Museum at 
 Boston, and is numbered P. 41 21. 
 
 In regard to the fragment of a sphinx from the western 
 front of the temple, among the reliefs removed from Assos 
 to the Louvre in 1835, it should be remarked that the litho- 
 graph published in the Monumenti errs in omitting the up- 
 lifted paw.i The engraving given by Clarac ^ makes good this 
 defect, while the accompanying text supplies us with an all 
 too elaborate explanation of the significance of these mythi- 
 cal animals in this connection. As types of intelligence and 
 perspicacity, Clarac holds that the sphinxes have reference to 
 the story of Proteus, with whom he would identify the marine 
 monster of another relief, and are to be taken as significant 
 of the astuteness displayed by the hero Menelaos in over- 
 coming the wiles of this prophetic old man of the sea. In the 
 exposition of this view Clarac draws a parallel between the 
 feat of Menelaos in discovering Helen in her Egyptian re- 
 treat, and that of Oedipus in solving the riddle of the The- 
 ban sphinx, even going so far as to suggest that the latter 
 episode may have been represented upon the walls of the 
 temple of Assos. We could scarcely point out a more 
 striking instance of the far-fetched interpretations, based 
 merely upon vague suppositions, which were in favor among 
 classical scholars as recently as the middle of the present 
 century. 
 
 The researches of more modern archaeologists have thrown 
 so clear a light upon the wide scope of the mythical repre- 
 sentations of the sphinx, and its general use in this form 
 
 1 Monumenti Inediti puhblicati dclF Istituto di Correspondenza archeologica, vol. 
 iii. Roma e Parigi, 1839-43, pi. 34. 
 
 - Clarac, Musie de Sculpture antique ct nioderne. Paris, 1841, tome ii. seconde 
 partie. 
 
 12
 
 178 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 by ancient decorators, — whether Mesopotamian, Egyptian, 
 Syrian, or Greek, — that we need no longer thus grope after 
 some episodical connection in order to justify the appearance 
 of the sphinx among the Assos reliefs. As will presently be 
 shown, a sphinx, in later ages generally transformed to a grif- 
 fin, was the heraldic symbol — the coat of arms, as it would 
 to-day be termed — of Assos. It was on this account that 
 these figures, in heraldic position and duplication, were sculp- 
 tured above the main entrances to that sanctuary which was 
 dedicated to the guardian deity of the town. Apart from this, 
 in its independent significance, we need seek in this symbol 
 nothing beyond those characteristics of supernatural force, 
 wisdom, and ever-blooming youth which were ascribed by 
 popular belief to the sphinx as a combination of the bodily 
 forms of the strongest animal of the earth, the strongest bird 
 of the air, and the intelligent head of a human being. These 
 picturesque attributes of mysterious, almost demonic power, 
 seem to have been gradually connected with the sphinx 
 through the observation of a definite image, which had itself 
 arisen through the agglutinative methods of heraldry, rather 
 than to have been originally based upon any specific tradi- 
 tion. Among the ancients, no composite form was more 
 widely known, none more frequently employed. From that 
 oldest Egyptian sphinx, the Colossos of Gizeh, a work of the 
 fourth dynasty, and from the winged Assyrian sphinxes of 
 the palace of Esarhaddon (681-668 b. c), we may trace the 
 migration of the monster, and the development of the various 
 types of its representation in every part of the ancient world, 
 and in every age of ancient history. The original home of 
 the human-headed and lion-bodied sphinx seems to have 
 been Egypt. In the demonology of Mesopotamia the form 
 was never of more than secondary importance. The Assyrian 
 images always bear a foreign stamp, more or less distinct.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 179 
 
 The winged type seems, however, to have been derived from 
 Assyrian art by the Greek designers of the archaic period, 
 and in the lack of direct communication we are led to seek 
 for some intermediate stage of development and transference. 
 This can have taken place only upon those southeastern 
 coasts of the Mediterranean where the hieratic forms of both 
 Egyptian and Mesopotamian art were blended in merely 
 decorative types, free from all fetters of religious symbolism. 
 It is a well known fact that the favorite subjects of Hittite 
 and Phoenician decorators were constantly repeated in every 
 branch of Greek art-workmanship, during the archaic period, 
 and were retained long thereafter in distant Etruria. The 
 hybrid art of Phoenicia, so widely disseminated through the 
 commerce of Tyre and Sidon, is, without doubt, responsible 
 for the introduction of the sphinx to Greek culture. Beyond 
 the recognition of this fact, it is for the present scarcely 
 possible for us to go ; the threads of artistic history which 
 from the tenth to the seventh century before Christ con- 
 nected the civilization of Phoenicia with that of Asiatic and 
 European Hellas are so inextricably entangled that we cannot 
 attempt to assign to the races of Cyprus and southern Asia 
 Minor, more closely allied to the Greeks, their direct contri- 
 butions to the transformation and introduction of this ancient 
 form. We may recognize in the sphinxes of Euyuk ^ a 
 transitional stage, — a link between the sphinxes of Nimroud ^ 
 and those of archaic Spata^ and Etruscan Vulci,* — but we 
 are as yet far from possessing even so clear and succinct a 
 
 1 Pcrrot (George), Exploration Archeologiqicede la Galatie et de la Bithynic',trinie 
 Partie de la Mysie, de la Cappadoce et du Pont; exkutce en 1861. Paris, 1862-72, 
 pi. 65-67. 
 
 2 Layard (Austin Henry), The Monuments of Nineveh, vol. i. London, 
 1849, pi. 44. 
 
 8 Milclihbfcr, in the Mittheiltmgcn dcs dcutschen archdologischai Instituts 
 vol. iv. Athen, 1S79. 
 * Micali (Giuseppe), Momimenti Inediti. Firenze, 184^, pi. v.
 
 l8o ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 
 
 history of the artistic development of this form as we have, 
 for instance, in the case of the similar evolution of the Ionic 
 capital. 
 
 It is only certain that in the sphinxes of Assos we have 
 already to deal with a fully developed type, determined by 
 long familiarity with the composite form. The wings, 
 rounded and bent forward at the tips, are of a peculiar shape, 
 frequently met with in the oldest black-figured vase paint- 
 ings. This conformation, most excellent in decorative effect, 
 however much at variance with all natural wings, whether of 
 feathers or membranes, is evidently the result of two distinct 
 tendencies. In the first place it was necessary to adapt the 
 projecting members to the panels upon which such figures 
 were drawn or sculptured. Thus it became particularly im- 
 portant that the wings should rise but little above the crown 
 of the head, which was to be made as prominent as possible. 
 In the second place, the conventionalization of the forms of 
 the living model for the purposes of decorative design made 
 itself particularly felt in such irregular terminations as the 
 tips of wing feathers. As the wings of the most ancient 
 Mesopotamian and Syrian sphinxes and grififins are not thus 
 rounded, this improvement is undoubtedly to be ascribed to 
 that Greek genius for conventionalization which everywhere 
 left its mark upon the material borrowed from the East. 
 The beginnings of the change in formation are to be traced 
 upon many painted vases and sherds of the early Rhodian 
 style, as well as upon some few Phoenician works, referable 
 to the period when the art of that country was influenced by 
 Hellenic traditions and methods. 
 
 In various other details already referred to, both reliefs 
 bear the stamp of that well trained yet somewhat conven- 
 tional school of archaic design which in remote and provincial 
 parts of the ancient world but shortly preceded the highest
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. l8l 
 
 development of sculpture in Attica and the Peloponnesos, or 
 was even contemporary with it. The very type and the du- 
 plication of the sphinxes adopted as the coat of arms of Assos 
 are not infrequently met with in other parts of the ancient 
 world during the archaic period. The design on the Fran- 
 cois vase has already been referred to, and, to name another 
 example, a tripod vase recently discovered at Tanagra, and 
 now in the Museum of Berlin,^ shows couchant sphinxes face 
 to face, in almost exactly the same position as those sculp- 
 tured above the entrances to the temple of Assos. In the 
 Troad itself, such figures were naturally favorite subjects 
 with the painters of vases and the modellers of figurini. 
 Two sherds of decorated vessels, showing the heads and 
 wings of sphinxes of this design, have been found among the 
 Greek remains of Hissarlik,^ the first being a fragment of 
 hand-made ware. The second of these heads, in particular, 
 is much like those of the Assos sphinxes ; the hair is arranged 
 in a similar manner, and bound by a tainia, which, after 
 encircling the forehead, falls behind the wings in the same 
 way as the fillet upon our reliefs. Among the earlier dis- 
 coveries at Hissarlik^ was the figurine of a sphinx squatting 
 upon its haunches, in form and position exactly resem- 
 bling the sphinx sculptured upon one of the metopes of 
 the temple of Assos, now in the Louvre. To these may 
 be added seven further examples of squatting and couching 
 sphinxes, found by Calvert in various parts of the Troad. 
 Among these the most striking parallel to the figures of 
 the Assos reliefs is the sphinx painted on a sherd found 
 
 1 Loschckc [Gcox^, Dreifussvase aus Tanap-a, in the Archdologischc Zcitung, 
 Berlin, 1881. 
 
 - Schliemann, Ilios, figs. 1432 and 1434. The former of these now bears the 
 number 2379 in the collection at Berlin. 
 
 "^ SchViemcLnn, Trojcim'sc^e Al/c'r/Ziiimer. Atlas. Leipzig, 1S74, no. 3362. This 
 figurine is now numbered 2433 '" ^'^'^ collection at Berlin.
 
 l82 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 upon the ancient site of Ophrynion^ (Fig. 43). The figure 
 here shown might almost pass as a direct copy of the couch- 
 ing sphinxes of the Assian reliefs, so close is the resem- 
 blance. We may notice the same fillet-bound hair, falling in 
 a convex curve, the same bordering tainia, the same wings 
 bent forward at the ends, and membered by a rib at the con- 
 ventionalized juncture between flesh and feathers, the same 
 doubly curved turn of the tail, and, in particular, the same 
 
 Fig. 43. Couching Sphinx on Sherd from Ophrynion. 
 
 excessive emphasis of the rising curve of the belly, which 
 along its entire length is arched above the ground in exagger- 
 ation of the natural appearance of recumbent animals. The 
 painting upon this sherd is mainly dark brown upon a light 
 red ground, the pigment being applied very thinly. Another 
 color makes its appearance in the fleshy part of the wing, 
 between neck and wing feathers, this being of a dull deep 
 red, similar to dragon's blood. The length of the sherd 
 is 15 cm. 
 
 1 Near Erenkieui, between the sites of Troy and Abydos. Compare Virchow, 
 Alt-Trojatiische Griibcr und Schddel. Berlin, 1882.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 83 
 
 ^■: 
 
 A resemblance nearly as close is observable between the 
 squatting sphinx of one of the metopes of the Assos temple, 
 before referred to, and a figurine from Aqkieui, identified by 
 Calvert as the site of Berytis (Fig. 44). This small image, 
 II cm. high, is formed of a light red clay, hollowed within, 
 and primed with a slip of grayish black. It is carefully and 
 intelligently modelled, belonging to the same category as the 
 figurine from Hissarlik, before re- 
 ferred to, and as another, somewhat 
 ruder, image of a sphinx found by 
 Calvert at Bounarbashi (Lecheva- 
 lier's Troy). Almost the only dif- 
 ference between this form of the 
 sphinx and that shown upon the 
 Assos metope is the high head-gear, 
 of Oriental appearance, which is 
 seen upon the Berytis figurine, but 
 could not find place in the low 
 frieze of the temple. The list of 
 sphinxes discovered in the Troad by 
 Calvert further includes four speci- 
 mens on black-figured sherds from 
 Akshi-Kieui, the site of the later 
 (Hellenic) Thymbra. 
 
 Turning now from the coat of 
 arms of Assos as it appears among the ornamental sculptures 
 of the chief sanctuary of the town, to the heraldic symbol 
 stamped upon the coins, from the earliest to the latest Assian 
 mintage, we are at once struck by the fact that in the latter 
 case the image of a griffin is substituted for that of the sphinx. 
 In formation and position the bodies of the two mythical 
 animals are precisely alike, but upon the coins the head of a 
 human being is exchanged for that of an eagle. 
 
 .--- _^ 
 
 Fig. 44. Squatting Sphinx. 
 Figurine from Aqkieui.
 
 184 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 It is perhaps impossible to adduce a decisive reason for this 
 change of type. The most probable explanation which the 
 writer is able to advance is, that the coins of Assos, circu- 
 lating widely throughout the Troad, were, from the first, im- 
 printed with a griffin in order to distinguish them from the 
 coins of another town of the province. Upon the coins of 
 Gergis, a sphinx forms the symbol of the obverse. References 
 by ancient writers to matters of this kind are extremely rare, 
 but the fact of its appearance upon the Gergithian coinage 
 is specially mentioned by Stephanos^ of Byzantion.^ The an- 
 tiquity of Gergis, renowned as a stronghold of the Teucrians,^ 
 and as the native place of one of the Sibyls, is beyond ques- 
 tion, and the fact that it was one of the first towns of the 
 Troad to establish a mint is attested by the archaic coins 
 preserved in all large collections. Thus no difficulty stands 
 in the way of the assumption that coins of Gergis, bearing 
 the image of the sphinx, had been issued prior to the 
 emission of coins by Assos. The adoption of this symbol 
 would naturally have precluded its repetition elsewhere in 
 the Troad. Every precaution would, moreover, be taken 
 to prevent the confusion of the coinages by the country 
 folk, inasmuch as the values of the Gergithian pieces were 
 based upon a different standard from that adopted by the 
 Assians.^ 
 
 Brandis is certainly justified in speaking of the griffin as 
 das eigentliche Stadtwappen of the city, but he is at fault in 
 assuming that the Assians did not issue coins before the 
 fourth century. Coins of an archaic series, probably dat- 
 ing from the middle of the fifth century, are to be found in 
 most of the numismatical cabinets of Europe, under various 
 
 1 Stephanos of Byzantion, s. v. Tepyis. 
 
 2 Herodotos, V. 122, VII. 43. 
 
 8 Brandis (Johannes), Das Miinz-, Mass- und GewicJitswesen in Vorderasien, 
 bis auf Alexander den Grossen. Berlin, 1S66, pp. 310, 313.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 185 
 
 classifications. They bear upon the reverse a lion's head in 
 an incuse square, and upon the obverse a couching griffin. 
 The discovery, during our excavations, of a coin of this type 
 with the inscription AXX, leaves no doubt as to the true 
 attribution. In the British Museum the rearrangement of 
 the coins of Assos thus indicated has already been made. 
 
 The form of the griffin stamped upon the oldest known 
 coins of this series is shown in Figure 45 A. We here see a 
 creature precisely like the sphinx of the temple reliefs, ex- 
 cepting that the head is that of an eagle. So close is the 
 resemblance of the body in attitude and modelling, that we 
 are tempted to believe that the die-cutter intentionally fol- 
 lowed the design so familiar to Assians from its prominent 
 position among the sculptures of their temple. The action 
 of the fore legs is the same : the nearer one lying extended 
 on the ground, the one beyond being so uplifted as to rest 
 against the circular framework of the coin, in place of the 
 upright support. The belly rises in the same compressed 
 curve ; the hip is similarly salient. In like manner, the tail 
 has the single turn, and the wings are rounded at the ends 
 and bent forward at the tips, being bordered along the fore 
 edge by that fillet which may be regarded as a convention- 
 alized and elongated representative of the wing-bone. The 
 short head, on the other hand, is that of the oldest known 
 type of Greek griffin. Its features are peculiar, and in part 
 unnatural. The mouth is widely opened, the lower jaw being 
 disproportionately long ; so long, indeed, that if closed it 
 would project much beyond the hooked beak. The pro- 
 truding tongue curves upward ; the outline of the jawbone 
 is prominently indicated. The one ear visible is a formida- 
 ble appendage, entirely foreign to bird nature, and rather 
 resembling that of a hare. It stands erect, as if in e.xcite- 
 ment and vigilance. A further abnormal addition appears
 
 1 86 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 in the shape of a knobbed projection, rising from the 
 centre of the skull, just above the large round eye. This 
 projection is perhaps a reminiscence of the single horn 
 upon the lion-headed proto-griffins of Mesopotamia.^ It 
 effectively enhances the energetic and defiant aspect of the 
 monster. 
 
 In all these details the head closely resembles the fine 
 archaic bronze discovered at Olyrapia,^ which is sketched 
 in Figure 45 B. On comparing this and the representa- 
 tion upon the Assian coin, certain features of the latter 
 which might otherwise have appeared inorganic and inex- 
 plicable are made clear. Thus, it is evident that the down- 
 ward curve of the lower jaw, which, as before mentioned, 
 could not possibly fit into the beak if closed, is derived 
 from an exaggeration of the similarly curved, but too short, 
 lower jaw of some head similar to the Olympian bronze. 
 Another point of the same character is the strap-like con- 
 ventionalization of the swollen cheek-pouch, which results 
 upon the coin in a distinct line, running downwards from 
 
 1 Witness the figure upon the relief of a small temple near the palace of 
 Nimroud, referable to the age of Assurnasirpal (8S5-860 B.C.). Layard, Monu- 
 ments of Nineveh, second series, London, 1853, pi. 5 ; and Discoveries in the 
 Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, (Second Expedition,) London, 1853, p. 348 et seq. 
 Compare Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de I'Art dans rAntiguiti, Vol. IL Assyrie, 
 Paris, 1883, p. 408. The horn appears upon similar images of archaic coins 
 of Asia Minor (ascribed to Miletos) referable to the seventh century {A^umis- 
 matic Chronicle, new series, vol. xv., London, 1875, P^- '^'ii)> ^""^ upon the lion's 
 head of the Kroisos mintage (Head, Barclay Vincent, A Guide to the Principal 
 Gold and Silver Coins of the Anciefits, pi. i.). Furtwangler (s. v. Gryps, in 
 Roscher's Lexikon der Griechischen und Romischen Mythologie, Zehnte Lieferung, 
 Leipzig, 1886) is inclined to ascribe the adoption of this feature in the head of 
 the griffin to the Ionian Greeks of the Asiatic coast. 
 
 2 Ausgrabungen zu Olympia, pi. xxvii. This head is the most perfect repre- 
 sentative of a distinctly pronounced and widely known type. Among other 
 examples of the same form may be mentioned that shown by Salzmann (Au- 
 guste), Nkropole de Camiros, Paris, 1875, P^- 43> ^"^ two in the Museum of 
 Berlin, Nos. 2935 and 1023.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1SS3. 
 
 187 
 
 the eye, and gradually approaching the outline of the 
 
 jawbone. 
 
 Furtwangler^ has shown this peculiar form of griffin's 
 
 head to have been developed by Greek designers from the 
 
 Phoenician image of the 
 
 . . A B 
 
 monster. He mamtams 
 
 that the open mouth, 
 with curved and pro- 
 jecting tongue, is a spe- 
 cifically Greek device, 
 referable to the seventh 
 century before Christ. 
 The form of the griffin 
 which appears upon the 
 earliest known coins of 
 Assos thus belongs to 
 a distinctly pronounced 
 and widely known archaic type. The appearance of this 
 type, so different from that in general use throughout the 
 Greek world at the period when this coinage was issued, 
 may with good reason be considered as the retention of a 
 still older stamp, and thus be held to indicate the employ- 
 ment of the griffin during the sixth century side by side 
 with the sphinx, and perhaps interchangeably with it, as the 
 civic symbol. Be this as it may, it is certain that in all 
 representations of this kind upon the coins of Assos the 
 image of the griffin is exclusively adopted. 
 
 Upon Assian coins of subsequent issues the form of the 
 griffin is that which is known to have been employed in Euro- 
 pean Greece as early as the fifth century before Christ, and 
 which continued in vogue, without material alteration, until 
 
 Fig. 45. A, Archaic Coin of Assos. 
 
 (Enlarged two and a half diameters. ) 
 
 B, Bronze Head of Griffin, found 
 
 AT OlYMPIA. 
 
 ^ Furtwiingler (Adolf), Die BrouzefunJe aus Olympia und dcrcn kunst- 
 geschichtlUhe Bcdeutung. Berlin, 1880.
 
 i88 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the latest ages of classic art. (Fig. 46.) The unnatural ap- 
 pendages, top-knot and upright ears, are here omitted, their 
 place being taken by a jagged comb. The entire head has 
 been so lengthened and flattened as more closely to resemble 
 that of a bird. The wings are turned backward, and divided 
 along their entire length into distinct feathers. The tail is 
 often flung into the air in a double curve. A curious remi- 
 niscence of the older grifBns and sphinxes is retained in the 
 
 farther fore leg, which, though 
 not supported by a stele, or 
 pressed against the framework of 
 the coin, is lifted aimlessly in the 
 air. As the anatomist recognizes 
 the derivation of one species of 
 animal from another in the exist- 
 ence of rudimentary and useless 
 muscles, so also may the student 
 of decorative forms trace the 
 development of one type from 
 another by the appearance of 
 features such as these, otherwise inexplicable. 
 
 With the exception of a single variety, presently to be re- 
 ferred to, this form of the griffin remained unaltered until the 
 latest ages of Assian mintage, even appearing upon coins 
 which bear the heads of Tiberius and Claudius. It is how- 
 ever to be remarked, that on such imperial coins the griffin, 
 which in earlier ages invariably faces to the left, is occasion- 
 ally turned to the right. 
 
 In the early years of the third century before Christ a 
 temporary fashion completely altered the stamp of the Assian 
 coinage, and led, as before mentioned, to the adoption of a 
 griffin of entirely different appearance. The head of Athene 
 upon the obverse, previously in profile, here turns to three- 
 
 FiG. 46. Coin of Assos. 
 
 (Enlarged two diameters.)
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 189 
 
 quarters face ; the griffin upon the reverse arises from his 
 recumbent position, and strides upon all fours. (Fig. 47.) A 
 striding griffin of this form appears upon contemporary coins 
 of the neighboring town 
 of Phokaia, and evidently 
 served as model to the die- 
 cutter of this Assian series. 
 A single issue only seems 
 to have been made of this 
 novel type, the mintage im- 
 mediately afterwards revert- 
 ing to the accustomed im- 
 ages. We are enabled to 
 assign an approximate date 
 to this experiment through 
 the close resemblance of 
 the three-quarters face of 
 Athene, which appears upon the obverse, to the head upon 
 a coin of Antiochus I. (b. c. 280-262)} 
 
 It is not possible to advance an entirely adequate explana- 
 tion of the reasons which led to the temporary abandonment 
 of the time-hallowed Assian type, but we may be permitted 
 to assume that it was due to those political motives which 
 were of so great importance in this age of the fusion and 
 centralization of the Greek states of Asia Minor. The 
 change in the civic symbol may have been brought about 
 through agents of one of the earlier rulers of Pergamon, with 
 the intention of breaking down, in this as in many other 
 ways, the autonomous spirit of a town destined to be annexed 
 to that kingdom. From the first revolt of Philetairos (c. c. 
 283) the Pergamene dynasty had made its influence felt on 
 
 Fig. 47. Coin of Assos. 
 
 (Enlarged two and a third diameters.) 
 
 1 Gardner (Percy), TAe Seleucid Kings of Syria. London, 1878, pi. iv. 
 no. 12.
 
 190 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the coast of the Gulf of Adramyttion, rapidly extending its 
 power throughout the Troad by reason of the services it 
 rendered in repelling the continual inroads of the Gauls. 
 The absolute dominion of Eumenes and Attalos must have 
 been preceded by many such attempts to counteract the indi- 
 vidual and separatist spirit of towns which clung obstinately 
 to the rights of local independence. In few matters was 
 this conservative feeling of the Greek citizen more strongly 
 evinced than in the unaltering retention of the civic symbol 
 upon coins, as indicated by the archaic character of many 
 Greek mintages. An entire change of the Assian symbol per- 
 haps being found impracticable, something might at least be 
 effected by altering the design, and assimilating it to that of 
 a town upon the farthermost confines of the advancing state, 
 This town, Phokaia, had originally been a stronghold of the 
 lonians, and it was in the interest of the cosmopolitan power 
 at Pergamon to break down the distinctions of race, as well as 
 the tenacious hold of autonomous feeling. 
 
 A highly remarkable combination of the forms of the two 
 varieties of griffin which appear upon the Assian coinage, 
 namely, the couching and the upright or striding, is met with 
 in the figures of a mosaic pavement of a building unearthed 
 in the lower town. This building, which stood in close com- 
 munication with the Agora, was evidently employed for some 
 administrative purpose, and was therefore ornamented with 
 the civic symbol. It is situated at a distance of only 23 m. 
 from the Bouleuterion, but on a much lower level, access be- 
 ing provided to it from the market-place by a subterranean 
 passage and staircases, designated J J upon the general plan 
 of this quarter of the town, and shown in section upon the 
 drawing of the western fagade of the Bouleuterion. The 
 edifice forms a quadrangle of 12.6 by 5.4m., and is divided 
 into two rooms of unequal size, the larger and easternmost
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1S83. I91 
 
 of which, paved with the mosaic, has a clear space of 6.3 by 
 4.6 m. That the building was not a dwelling or shop, but 
 was devoted to the transaction of some public business, is 
 evident from the entire lack of fireplaces, as well as from the 
 simple division of the plan, and the character of the interior 
 decoration. The masonry is substantial, but exceedingly 
 rough, having been hidden from view by a revetment of 
 plaster, painted with brilliant colors, which will be described 
 in detail in a subsequent chapter. The southern wall, to- 
 gether with the terraced street upon this side, has been en- 
 tirely destroyed, — carried away by the masses of earth and 
 debris which, falling from the Bouleuterion and other build- 
 ings upon a higher level, deeply buried the re-entering angle 
 of the rooms, and left the masonry upon the north standing 
 to a height of from 1.2 to 0.5 m. Traces of an entrance 
 doorway from the street are, however, still to be perceived 
 near the eastern end of the southern wall, from which side 
 the chambers must have been lighted through windows. As 
 the hillside is particularly steep at this point, almost the en- 
 tire plan of the structure had to be quarried from the native 
 rock, which is here of a bright red color, resembling ochre, 
 and is occasionally used as a pigment by the Turks of 
 Behram. Specimens of this material are preserved in the 
 Museum at Boston, under the number S. 1155. The pave- 
 ment was, in part, laid directly upon the quarried surface of 
 the native rock. The flooring consists of a thick substratum 
 of mortar, upon which the mosaic pattern is formed by 
 rounded pebbles of various colors, imbedded in a fine cement. 
 The lime of this cement was mixed with minute particles of 
 pounded brick, for the purpose of diminishing the brightness 
 of the white background visible between the pebbles, — a mode 
 of preparation known to Roman builders as opus signininn} 
 
 1 Vitruvius, II. 4. 3. Columella, I. 6. 12.
 
 192 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 -^wm. 
 
 '" ^r^^- 
 
 S < 
 
 5 9
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 193 
 
 A plain border, one meter in width, formed of mixed light 
 gray and olive-green pebbles, surrounds the central pattern, 
 which occupies an oblong measuring 4.3 by 2.66 m. This 
 pattern itself, shown in Figure 48, consisted of two borders 
 of considerable width, separated by narrow white bands, and 
 surrounding a central field which measures 2.53 by 0.89 m. 
 The outermost border, 51 cm. wide, contains upon each side 
 two griffins face to face; the inner border, 22cm. wide, a 
 wave ornam_ent with large scrolls of many convolutions. 
 The central field was broken away in so great part that 
 it was not possible to make out the subject represented 
 therein. It is only certain that brilliant colors, red, yel- 
 low, and white, were here employed in comparatively broad 
 surfaces on a dark green background. 
 
 The outermost and broadest border — our interest in the 
 subject of which has led to the consideration of the mosaic 
 in this connection — is fairly well preserved throughout one 
 half of its extent. Almost everywhere the background of 
 dark olive-green was found to have held together better than 
 the figures, and in several patches where the pebbles had 
 been broken away the pattern could still be traced by the 
 impressions left on the bed of mortar and the cement of the 
 interstices. Every detail of the two griffins upon the longer 
 side remaining was thus clearly recognizable. 
 
 The monsters, alike in formation and posture of body, are 
 dissimilar in their heads, the one having the crest, elongated 
 skull, beak, and wattles of a bird, the other a head resem- 
 bling that of a leopard or lioness, with widely open mouth 
 and protruding tongue, and with curiously conventionalized 
 horns and beard. ^ It will be recollected that similar pairs 
 
 1 Furtwangler (s. v. Gryf>s, in Roscher) has pointed out that the Greeks derived 
 this horned panther-hcadcd or lion-headed t)-pe of the griffin from the Persians, 
 who in their turn had taken it from the Chaldean image of Tiamat, the enemy 
 of the gods. Compare the characterization of this monster given by Delitzsch, 
 
 13
 
 194 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 of eagle-headed and leopard-headed griffins appear among 
 the sculptured decorations of the temple of Miletos/ and 
 formed favorite subjects in later ages.^ The feathered wings, 
 turning slightly forward at the tips, are similar to those of 
 the griffins represented upon the more common coins of 
 Assos, while the farther fore legs are uplifted in the air like 
 those of the sphinxes sculptured upon the temple : this imi- 
 tation of the posture, while omitting the supporting stele, 
 resulting in the same aimless and inorganic character which 
 has been noticed in the corresponding feature of the coins. 
 The hind legs, on the other hand, are erect and striding, like 
 those shown upon these coins, which, as before said, belong 
 to the first half of the third century before Christ. The tail, 
 abnormally long and thin, is flung into the air in a graceful 
 curve. So fine is the execution of the mosaic that even such 
 
 Wo lag das Paradics ? Leipzig, i8Si, p. 88. A sufficient number of Meso- 
 potamian and Persian representations of the figure have been quoted by Furt- 
 wangler. This lion-headed and horned griffin undoubtedly found its way to the 
 northern coasts of the Aegean by way of Lycia, where it appears upon coins 
 assigned to the first half of the fifth century B. c. (Gardner, Percy, Types of 
 Greek Coins, Cambridge, 1883, pi. iv., and Fellows, Charles, Coins of Anciejtt 
 Lycia before the Reign of Alexattder, London, 1855, pi. xi.), as well as upon 
 mintages of later date. 
 
 1 Chandler (Richard), Ionian Antiquities, London, 1769, vol. iii. pi. vii.-x. 
 Rayet et Thomas, Milet et le Golfe Latmiqtee, Fouilles et Explorations Arche- 
 ologiqnes, Paris, 1877, pi. 17, 49-51. 
 
 - Eagle-headed and leopard-headed griffins form pendants upon the reliefs 
 of one of the fine bronze helmets found in the Caserma dei Gladiatori at 
 Pompeii (Niccolini, Fausto e Felice, Le Case ed i Monumenti di Pompeii, 
 Napoli, 1854, fasc. 19, tav. ii. 2, and ii. 7), upon the vase of Xenophan- 
 tos (Gille and Stephani, Antiquites du Bosphore Cimmerien, St. Petersbourg, 
 1854, pi. 45, 46), upon a vase in the Museum of Berlin (Gerhard, Eduard, 
 Neuerzvorbene antike Denkmdler des kbniglichen Museums zu Berlin, Berlin, 
 1836-40, vol. iii. no. 1791), and in a wall-painting (Zahn, Wilhelm, Die schdn- 
 sten Ornamente und merkwurdigsten Gemdlde aus Pompeji, Herkulaneum und 
 StabicE, Berlin, 1828-56) and on a marble table of Pompeii (Niccolini, Case e 
 Monnmefiti, fasc. vi.). They are likewise common upon Roman sarcophagi ; 
 compare Zoega (Georg), Abhandlungett, herausgegeben . . . von T. G. IVclcker, 
 Gottingen, 1817, and Guattani (Giuseppe Antonio), Monumenti Antichi, 
 Roma, 1785, tav. iii.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 1 95 
 
 small details as the claws are distinctly indicated. In ar- 
 tistic respects the design of the griffins is exceedingly good. 
 They are drawn with a clear understanding of animal move- 
 ment, — see the outstretched hind leg, and the swell of the 
 muscles in all parts of the body, — as well as with a full 
 appreciation of the principles of conventionaliasm. A trained 
 skill is likewise displayed in the adaptation of the figures to 
 the exacting methods of mosaic-work. Thus, while there is 
 no attempt to give roundness to the limbs by shading, the 
 concave curve of the wing and the distance of the farther 
 hind leg are ingeniously indicated by means of darker local 
 tints. The outlines are everywhere vigorous and graceful. 
 These griffins rank among the finest works of ancient mo- 
 saic known, and are without doubt to be assigned to that 
 period in which this branch of art attained its very highest 
 development. 
 
 Between the griffins, and in the corners of the border, 
 are six-pointed stars, of the shape familiar to all who have 
 amused themselves with striking arcs from centre to centre 
 with a fixed radius. It is with figures such as these that 
 modern carpenters delight to decorate architectural drawings 
 intrusted to their care. There is a singular fascination to 
 the human mind in this use of a pair of compasses, — so 
 accurately can the periphery of a circle be divided with six 
 strokes of the opening by which it was generated. The 
 mechanical and inartistic character of these ornaments does 
 not, however, stand in contradiction to the antique spirit of 
 design. The same six-pointed star appears not infrequently 
 upon Greek vases, and is to be seen, in monumental execu- 
 tion, upon the sacred buildings of Eleusis. 
 
 Enough remains of the griffins upon the shorter sides of 
 the border to make it apparent that they were, pair by 
 pair, precisely like those already described. The dotted line
 
 196 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 A A (Fig. 48) indicates the longitudinal axis of the pattern, 
 and will convey an idea of the proportions of the whole. The 
 fore legs and claws of one of the griffins beyond this line will 
 be perceived upon the left-hand side. The monster shown 
 upon the right-hand side of the drawing has an eagle's 
 head. The corresponding feature of the griffin upon the 
 left has been almost entirely obliterated, yet from curved 
 lines above it, undoubtedly representing the peculiar crooked 
 horns, we may safely conclude it to have been that of the 
 quadruped. 
 
 This altogether unnatural combination of the typical out- 
 stretched and uplifted fore legs with erect and striding hind 
 legs — that is to say, with conventional forms which elsewhere 
 appear only during the early ages of Pergamene supremacy — 
 leads to the supposition that the mosaic was executed during 
 the third century before Christ. All other indications to be 
 gathered concerning the age of the pavement and the build- 
 ing which contained it are in entire agreement with this 
 view. Apart from the artistic style of the design itself, the 
 chief argument for this date is the close relation of the edifice 
 to the Agora, known to be a creation of the Pergamene period. 
 There is thus little doubt that we have in the fine figures 
 of the mosaic a further evidence of that period of the monu- 
 mental renaissance of Assos. It was under this dynasty that 
 figured mosaics, which had previously been restricted to sa- 
 cred edifices, were generally extended to profane buildings.^ 
 A civic hall such as this would naturally have been among 
 the first of the latter class to profit by this extension. The 
 flinty pebbles are deeply worn, and must have been trod- 
 den under foot for generations. Although not restored, the 
 figured pavement may even have remained in sight until 
 
 ^ See upon this point Becker (Wilhelm AdolphJ, Ckarikles, neubearbeitet 
 T071 Hermaim Goell, Berlin, 1S77, vol. ii. p. 143, with the ancient authorities 
 there quoted.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 1 97 
 
 the Christian era. Moreover, the hall continued to be used 
 for a considerable period after the mosaic had been con- 
 demned as no longer serviceable, for it was found to be 
 covered with other floorings of plain stucco, the removal of 
 which from the surface of the design was a work of some 
 difficulty. 
 
 The fact that the conventional colors of the griffins, as well 
 as their forms, are indicated in the mosaic, permits us to con- 
 sider them from another point of view, rarely to be obtained 
 in relation to ancient works of art, and peculiarly interesting 
 when it is borne in mind that the conclusions thus derived 
 are without doubt directly applicable to the polychromatic 
 treatment of similar subjects in sculpture. All the back- 
 grounds of the patterns, as also the pavement outside the 
 design, were formed, as has been said, of grayish green peb- 
 bles, shading from a tint such as that shown by the inner 
 side of an olive leaf to an almost perfect black. The darkest 
 of these pebbles were selected for the background, so that 
 the general effect of this was much deeper and more solid 
 than that of the outer border. 
 
 The bodies of the grifflns themselves were of round whitish 
 gray pebbles, of two distinct shades. It is apparent that an 
 attempt was thus made to indicate the spots which were at- 
 tributed to the griffins by ancient mythographers. Pausanias ^ 
 describes these markings as similar to those of a leopard, 
 an animal still common in Asia Minor, and it may well be 
 that the substitution of the head of a leopard for that of 
 an eagle was thus rendered more natural. An indication 
 of such spots may be observed upon various other works 
 of ancient art.- 
 
 1 Pausanias, VIII. 2. 7. 
 
 2 For instance, upon the highly remar]<able Etruscan relief, published by 
 Braun (Emil), Pittiire Etrusche Vulcenti, Annali ddV Institiito di Corrispondenza 
 Archeologica, Rome, 1859, and figured in the Monumenti Inediti, vol. vi., Roma,
 
 1 98 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The wings are of a very light bluish gray, edged along the 
 front line of the bone with a bright yellow. The same yel- 
 low appears upon the beards, as well as upon the crest of 
 the eagle-headed and the horns of the lion-headed monster. 
 The beak of the former and the tongue of the latter are of a 
 brilliant red jasper. Fragments of the mosaic showing these 
 colors, as well as illustrating the method of adjoining the 
 separate stones, are preserved in the Museum at Boston 
 (No. in). In general, it is to be remarked that the mosaic- 
 work of the figures is composed of carefully selected stones, 
 finer and smoother in texture than those of the background, 
 as well as brighter and clearer in color. 
 
 The prevalent white tint of the bodies of the grififins is in 
 accordance with the descriptions of the traditional colors of 
 these monsters given by ancient writers.^ It may likewise be 
 observed, that in the rare specimens of ancient vase paintings, 
 where a number of pigments are employed on which griffins 
 are represented, their bodies are white. Upon a vase pub- 
 lished by Jahn,^ the resemblance of the colors to those of 
 our mosaic is very close, the wings of the griffin being blue, 
 while the rest of the body is white. The same colors appear 
 upon the well known painted vase of Xenophantos,^ and upon 
 the fragments of an antique wooden sarcophagus,* as well as 
 
 1S57-63, as well as in Des Vergers (A. Noel,) UEtrtirie et les JEtrtisques, dix 
 Ans de Fouilles dans les Maremmes Toscanes, Paris, 1862, vol. iii. pi 27. Com- 
 pare also the Pompeian helmet referred to in a preceding note. 
 
 1 Concerning the conceptions of the ancients in respect to the conventional 
 colors of griffins, compare Aelian, De Nat. Anim., IV. 27, quoting from Ktesias 
 and preserving the fragment of the Indica numbered xxvi. in Lion's edition. 
 Aelian is in turn followed in the mediaeval tract De Anim, Propr. of Manuel 
 Philes, II., ed. Pauw, p. 15. A different description, altogether at variance with 
 the colors of our mosaic, is given by Ktesias, Ind., xii. 
 
 2 Jahn (Otto), Ueber bemalte Vasen niit Goldschmuck, Leipzig, 1865, pi. 15, 
 No. 29. 
 
 ^ Stephani, Antiqitites du Bosfhore Cimmerien, pis. 45. 46. 
 * Published in the same work, pi. 84. Further examples are supplied by 
 various painted sherds found in the same locality. PI. 70 A.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 199 
 
 upon various less, important keramic specimens, too numer- 
 ous to mention. Great stress should not, however, be laid 
 upon this point, as the instances of a different usage are 
 common ; witness the red and dark green plumage of two 
 inedited sphinxes in the Barbakion and Central Museum of 
 Athens. It is possible that, as the specimens referred to 
 would tend to show, the Asiatic and the European usages 
 differed in this particular. 
 
 The appearance of the sphinx above the main entrance to 
 the temple of Assos led to the remark that the figure of this 
 monster may have been employed interchangeably with that 
 of the griffin as the symbol of the city. This assumption 
 derives further support from the appearance of the sphinx, in 
 its characteristic crouching position, upon an engraved seal 
 discovered at Assos. The gem in question, broken from the 
 setting in which it had originally been secured, was found 
 among the debris of the lower town by a peasant of Behram, 
 some years before the arrival of the American explorers. It 
 was purchased from the custom-house official of the little port 
 by the present writer, who, after mounting it in a gold ring, 
 copied from an antique of about the same age and character, 
 gave it to the Museum of Boston, where it is preserved under 
 the number S. 1020. 
 
 The stone is a carnelian, — a material much more highly 
 prized in ancient than in modern times. It is worthy of note 
 that Pliny 1 particularly mentions Assos as one of the two 
 places in the Greek world whence were derived supplies of 
 carnelian, described by him under the name Sarda. The 
 geological researches of the expedition did not lead to the 
 discovery of any deposit of this stone in the vicinity of Assos, 
 and it appears probable that the carnelians known to the 
 ancients as Assian were merely brought into commerce from 
 
 1 Pliny, Nat. Hist., XXXVII. 31, ed. Delph.
 
 200 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 this port, and were found at some place in the interior Troad 
 where the formation is not of a volcanic origin. 
 
 The gem is of an oval shape, measuring 12 mm. on its 
 longer axis, and is but slightly convex. The intaglio engrav- 
 ing upon it (Fig. 48'"*) is carefully executed, being decidedly 
 superior to the average work of the class to which it belongs. 
 With exception of the farther fore leg, which is not uplifted, 
 and of the tail, which is thrown straight up into the air, the 
 attitude is that of the sphinx sculptured upon the epistyle of 
 
 Fig. 48^ Heraldic Sphinx upon engraved Seal found at Assos. 
 
 (From the Impression. — Enlarged six diameters.) 
 
 the temple. The wings, fully feathered, turn backwards like 
 those upon the later coins of Assos. The female breasts are 
 distinctly indicated. Evident reminiscences of the archaic 
 image of the Assian sphinx are to be seen in various details, 
 such as the modelling of the haunch, and the fillet binding 
 the head and falling upon the shoulders, as well as in the 
 general position. There can be little doubt that this gem 
 was engraved with definite reference to the civic symbol
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 20I 
 
 of Assos. We cannot, indeed, adduce direct proof that the 
 seal was actually used in this significance by city authorities, 
 but there is nothing in the nature of the case to render this 
 view unlikely. The identity of the words employed by the an- 
 cients for coat of arms and seal ring (or the use of the same 
 root, as in the Latin signuni and sigilhini) shows that the fun- 
 damental idea of such an image was heraldic ; and there 
 can scarcely be a doubt that seals bearing the symbol or de- 
 vice of a boar were made use of not infrequently. There 
 is thus an entire agreement between the ancient and 
 the mediaeval usage in this respect, and it may well be 
 that we have become possessed of an actual seal of the 
 Greek city. 
 
 We are reminded by this gem of one of the most interest- 
 ing episodes in the history of the town. When Hermeias, 
 tyrant of Assos and Atarneus, fell into the hands of the 
 Persians (b. c. 345), his enemies possessed themselves of his 
 ring, and by sending letters bearing the impression of its seal 
 to the governors left in charge of those towns beguiled them 
 into giving up the citadels and garrisons, under the belief 
 that an amicable arrangement had been effected between 
 King Artaxerxes and their former ruler.-^ We may imagine 
 this ring of Hermeias to have borne the image of the sphinx, 
 inasmuch as the rulers of such small states commonly 
 adopted for this purpose the symbol which they stamped 
 upon their coins. ^ 
 
 1 Diodoros, XVI. 52. 
 
 - It may be mentioned as a coincidence, that the Emperor Augustus likewise 
 employed seal rings bearing the image of a sphinx, two of which he had found 
 among the jewels of Atia (Pliny, Aa/. Hist., XXXVII. 4, ed. Delph. ; Suetonius, 
 Octav., I.; Dion Cassius, LI. 3). In the absence of the Emperor from Rome, 
 during the civil wars, his agents were authorized to use the duplicate to seal 
 official documents which had to be sent from the capital. Pliny informs us that 
 it was a common jest among those who received such edicts that this sphinx 
 was ever the bearer of some enigma. On account of this mockery, Augustus 
 subsequently exchanged the sphinx upon his seal for another image.
 
 202 ARCHJLOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The interchangeable employment of sphinxes and griffins 
 as the heraldic symbols of Assos, surprising as it appears at 
 first sight, is thus to be traced in the Hellenistic as well as 
 in the archaic period. While, on the one hand, we have a 
 parallel between the oldest coins of the town and the coat of 
 arms sculptured above the entrances to the temple, on the 
 other, we have the figures of the civic hall and of the seal 
 ring. Even a cursory examination into the relations between 
 the sphinx and the griffin, intimate in all ages of antiquity,^ 
 will fully explain this interchange. We may even recognize 
 in it a constant tendency. 
 
 In mythological significance, griffin and sphinx were most 
 closely allied, and in that conventional artistic usage with 
 which we are at present concerned they were often regarded 
 as actually identical. The fundamental idea in both is that 
 of a supernatural, irresistible force, ascribed to these mon- 
 sters because of their combining the characteristic features 
 
 1 The parallelism between sphinx and griffin formed the subject of learned 
 investigations as early as the of time Turnebus (Adrianus), Adversariorum, 
 vol. iii., Basileae, 1581, x. 62 ; xxiii. 26; xxiv. 23. It has been treated at great 
 length by Voss (Johann Heinrich), Mythologische Briefe, Stuttgart, 1827-34, 
 Theil i. p. 305, Anhang, Ueber den Ursprutig der Greife, and Theil ii. p. 189 ; 
 and more particularly by Stephani (Ludolf), Erkldrung einiger hn Jahre 1863 
 im siidlichen Russland gefundenen Gegefistdnde, Compte Rendu de V Acadeniie de 
 St. Petersboiirg, St. Petersbourg, 1864, p. 64. 
 
 The most important materials for a consideration of the position and develop- 
 ment of this type in ancient literature and art have been collected, among others 
 by Ukert (Friedrich August), Geographie der Griechen tind Rotner, Weimar, 
 1816-46; Welcker (Karl Gottlieb), Hekate ti7td Eros, von Grei/efi gezogen, in 
 his Alte Denktndler erkldri, Gottingen, 1849-64, vol. ii., and in another paper 
 entitled Sarcophag im Museum zu Koln, Zeitschrift fur Alterthumskunde des 
 Rhemlandes, Bonn, 1S45 '■> Baehr's note to Herodotus, 2d ed., Lipsiae, 1856-61, 
 vol. ii. ; Bruuet's Recherches sur quelques Animaux fantastiques, in the Revue 
 Archeologique, vol. ix., Paris, 1853 ; Brunn's Ititorno ad alcune rappresenianze 
 della Sfinge, in the Bulletino deW Instituto, Roma, 1853 ! ^"'^> ™ore particularly, 
 Stephani, in the works already quoted and in the volumes of the Compte Rendu 
 de PAcademie de St. Petersbourg for the years 1863 and 1867; Langbehn (J.), 
 Flilgelgestalten der dltesten griechischen Kunst, Miinchen, 18S1 ; and Furtwangler 
 as quoted above.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 203 
 
 of the most powerful animals of earth and air. Hence both 
 are among the most common apotropaic symbols.^ Sphinx 
 and griffin being identical in formation with the sole excep- 
 tion of the head, it is not difficult to account for their similar- 
 ity of attributes and exchange of functions. The alternation 
 of the head of a leopard with that of an eagle, in the griffins 
 of our mosaic, indicates the readiness with which the human 
 head might be exchanged for that of the bird. 
 
 As the result of this we may frequently notice in ancient 
 literature a failure clearly to distinguish between these mon- 
 sters, while in ancient decorative art we constantly see sphinx 
 and griffin employed as the most natural pendants, and often 
 used interchangeably. 
 
 Thus it is worthy of note that in one of the earliest refer- 
 ences to the griffin Aischylos terms it 6 ^varofio^ Z7)v6<; 
 uKpajr)^ KVQjv,^ a designation which closely corresponds with 
 that applied by the same author to the sphinx, SvaijfxepLdv 
 Trpiirava kvcov.^ The Romans certainly conceived sphinx 
 and griffin to be identical, designating both by one and the 
 same word.* So direct literary proof of this particular con- 
 fusion is, it is true, wanting in the case of the Greeks them- 
 selves ; but a noteworthy parallel is presented by their 
 identification of the griffin with the hippalektryon.^ 
 
 We reach these same conclusions more directly, and with 
 
 1 For much that concerns the prophylactic signifiance of sphinx and griffin, 
 see Jahn (Otto), I?ie Lattersforter Phalerae, Bonn, 1S60. Sphinxes are very 
 frequently represented upon apotropaic vases. 
 
 2 Aischylos, Prom., 803. 
 
 8 Aischylos, Frag., No. 232. Sophokles {Ocd. R., 391) applies to the sphinx 
 the word paypipSbs Kvtxiv. 
 
 * " Piceis," " Pices," or " Phices," (Fesfus, ed. Miiller, p. 206 ; Isidorus, Orig., 
 XX. 2, 3 ; Nonius Marcellus, De Profr. Scrm., p. 152. 7, Leipzig ed., who refers 
 to the important passage of Plautus, Aul., IV. 3. i), from the Boeotian form of 
 the word sphinx, (pl^, as used, for instance, by Hesiod, Theos^., 326. 
 
 ' This is done by Photios, Lex., and by Hcsychios, both s. v. 'iTrraXeKTpuwv.
 
 204 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 greater certainty, in surveying the wide field of ancient deco- 
 rative art, a small number of characteristic examples from 
 which will sufBce for illustration. The potency in warding 
 off malign influences, attributed alike to sphinx and griffin, 
 led to the employment of both forms in the sculptured decora- 
 tions of arm-chairs, couches, lamps, and other furnishings of 
 the dwelling, as well as upon the helmets and breastplates of 
 the warrior, and it was without doubt through this common 
 significance of an occult protection, quite as much as through 
 the resemblance of form, that the identity of character was 
 established. In one of its commonest functions, as the guar- 
 dian of funeral monuments or of sacred edifices, the grifiin 
 formed a pendant to the sphinx, or even replaced it alto- 
 gether. It will be recollected that in the case of the 
 acroterion of the temple of Assos we were in doubt as to 
 which of these monsters the fragment of a paw was to be 
 ascribed. 
 
 In apotropaic vases, of the earliest as well as of the most 
 recent styles, the grifiin is constantly found in combination 
 with the sphinx. Apart from Oriental examples of this 
 parallelism ^ well known Greek examples of the appearance 
 of both monsters in figure compositions are afforded by the 
 Francois vase, before instanced, by a vase of the Ermitage, 
 published by Micali,^ and by one firom the Castellani collec- 
 tion.^ It must have been as such pendants that sphinxes 
 and grififins stood together in the palace of the Scythian King 
 Skyles at Olbia,* — if, indeed, we may not conclude, from 
 
 ^ Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, vol. i. pi. 89; vol. ii. pi. 69. Cesnola 
 (Alessandro Palma di), Salaminia, London, 1884, 2d ed., fig. 115. Lajard (Jean 
 Baptiste Felix), Recherches stir le Culte publiqtte et Us Mysteres de Mithra en 
 Orient et en Occident, Paris, 1867, fig. 58, et al. For an Etruscan example, see 
 Micali, Moniimenti, tav. xliii. 
 
 2 Micali, Monumenti, tav. xl. * Herodotos, IV. 78. 
 
 3 Frohner (Wilhelm), Collection Castella7ii, Rome, 1SS4, No. 368.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 205 
 
 the frequency of griffins and the entire lack of sphinxes 
 among the remains of this part of the ancient world, that 
 Herodotos himself affords us an example of that confusion 
 between the two forms which appears to be frequent among 
 ancient writers.^ 
 
 The griffin, like the sphinx, with which it was so readily- 
 confounded, by no means originated amongst the Greeks. 
 This fact is substantiated not only by the constant appear- 
 ance of griffins upon Oriental monuments of the highest 
 antiquity ,2 but also by the traditions of an Eastern derivation 
 
 1 Compare upon this point the note to this passage given by Ravvlinson in his 
 translation of Herodotos, London, 1875, '^'°^- i"'' ^^^ '^^e authorities in regard to 
 the discovery of griffins in Scythia there cited. 
 
 2 An outline history of the employment of this form in ancient art may be 
 recognized from, the facts already adduced. To sum up concisely. The griffin, 
 like the sphinx, undoubtedly had its origin in the agglutinative methods of 
 mythology and heraldry. The earliest formal combination of the kind known 
 to the writer is that Chaldean image of the winged lion with bird's talons upon 
 its hind legs which Assyriologists identify as the enemy Tiamat. In Assyrian art 
 we see this figure assume the eagle's head (Lajard, Culte de Mithra, figs. 54 B, 
 56, 57; Menant (Joachim), Les Pierres Gravees de la Haute Asie, Paris, 18S3-S6, 
 vol. ii. fig. 7 ; Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de PArt dans PAutiquite, vol. ii. fig. 
 11), and finally adopt the characteristic form of the griffin with the hind legs 
 of a lion (Layard, Moniimenls of Nineveh, vol. i. pis. 8, 43, 46 ; Discoveries in the 
 Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, p. 200, et al.). 
 
 An adequate investigation into the further history of the type would here 
 lead us too far afield. Attention should, however, be called to the fact that 
 griffins, closely approaching in form those depicted by the Greeks of the archaic 
 period, and differing in certain important respects from the Tiamat type of 
 Mesopotamia, appear upon the most ancient engraved cylinders of the Hittites. 
 Lajard, Culte de Mithra, fig. 58 ; Wright (William), The Empire of the Hittites, 
 London, 1884, pi. i. ; Seal from Marash in the Museum of Berlin, No. "894. 
 
 Perhaps the next stage in the further migration is presented by the sitting 
 griffin so frequently met with upon Cyprian seals, such as that referred to in a 
 former note. In general it may be remarked that the griffin quietly posed as a 
 guardian, and not in attack as a beast of prey, forms the Syrian, as contrasted with 
 the Mesopotamian type. It is this guardian which appears upon the seals of the 
 very earliest Greek period, such as the "island stones" in Copenhagen, Breslau, 
 and the British Museum, published in the Archdolo^ische Zcituvg, Berlin, 1S83, 
 pi. 16; and upon the Boeotian tablet mentioned by Milchhtifcr (Arthur), Z>/> 
 Anfdnge der Kunst in Griechcnland, Leipzig, 1S83, p. 48, and now in the Museum
 
 2o6 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 dwelt upon by almost all those classic writers, before quoted, 
 who make mention of the monster. The task of the Greek 
 archaeologist is hence rather to follow the changes which 
 altered and perfected the primitive Oriental type, than to 
 seek for direct explanations of its origin, or original mytho- 
 logical signification. Taken from this point of view, the 
 great diversity of the sphinxes and grififins of Assos renders 
 them of peculiar interest. 
 
 The attributes of the chief deities of ancient towns were 
 commonly adopted as civic symbols ; for example, the owl of 
 Athenian Pallas, the steeds of Delian Apollo, the peacock of 
 Samian Hera, the cock of Epidaurian Asklepios, the stag of 
 Ephesian Artemis, the goat of Ainian Hermes, and many 
 others. This usage leads us to inquire whether the sphinx or 
 griffin may not have been — upon this Asiatic coast, at least, 
 where these monsters were early received from the East, 
 and possibly connected with an orientalized cult — associated 
 with the protecting deity of Assos. Some indications do, in 
 fact, point to the existence of such an association. Chief, 
 as also most famihar among these is the general adoption 
 of sphinx and grifQn as symbols upon the helmet crest of 
 Athena, as in the chryselephantine statue of Pheidias,^ a work 
 in which all such details were most carefully considered. 
 Some other points, capable of supporting this argument, have 
 been referred to by Stephani.^ But after examination of all 
 instances of such association, we are forced to the conclusion 
 that the available materials do not suffice for a definite attri- 
 bution of either sphinx or griffin to Athena, or indeed any 
 
 of Berlin, No. 7548. The small griffins of beaten sheet gold found among the 
 most ancient remains of Mykenai (Schliemann, Mycenae, No. 261) are more 
 Oriental in character. 
 
 1 Pausanias, I. 24. 5. 
 
 ' Stephani (Ludolf), Der atisruhende Hcrakles, pp. 147, 1S2, and the other 
 publications of this author already quoted.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 188S. 207 
 
 one Greek deity. Perhaps the closest relation recognizable is 
 that existing — doubtless in great measure by virtue of their 
 attributes of invincible force — between these Oriental mon- 
 sters and Phoenician Herakles. The exploits of this hero, as 
 will be borne in mind, formed the subjects of the sculptures 
 of our temple. Whether it was in any wise through this 
 intimate connection of Herakles with the official worship of 
 Assos, natural enough in an Aeolian colony, that sphinx and 
 griffin were adopted as civic symbols, can, in the present state 
 of our information, be no more than a conjecture. 
 
 Here we may terminate our consideration of those temple 
 sculptures which were discovered during the excavations of 
 the second and third years, and of those other works of art 
 which by reason of their subjects are connected with them. 
 The following observations upon the reliefs previously known 
 have the sole purpose of correcting and supplementing the 
 accounts hitherto published. 
 
 Of the epistyle blocks and metopes seen upon the site of 
 the temple by earlier investigators, there is one which it has 
 been impossible to discover, or at all events to identify. 
 Prokesch von Osten, in the two descriptions of his visit to 
 the site of Assos in the year 1826,1 enumerates eleven frag- 
 ments of the reliefs which were at that date to be seen upon 
 the surface of the earth. Of these the eighth is described as 
 "ein sitzender Amor, der die Hand auf den Bogen stiitzt" 
 Nothing exactly corresponding with this was found either 
 by the French or by the American explorers. We are thus 
 left in doubt whether a relief showing a subject of this 
 nature actually disappeared during the nine years which 
 
 1 The earlier of these accounts was given in the Anzeii^cbhitt of the Wiener 
 Jahrbuch der Literatur, vol. Iviii., Wien, 1S32, under the title, " Mittheilungen 
 aus Kleinasien von Oberstlieutenant von Prokesch Osten : I. Reise von Smvrna 
 durch Mytilene nach Alexandria-Troas und Assos," July, 1826 ; and subsequently 
 in his Dcnkwiirdigkeiten und Erinnerun^en aus dcin Orient, before quoted.
 
 2o8 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 elapsed between the visit of Prokesch and that of Texlcr, or 
 whether Prokesch may have seen a portion of the rehef of 
 Herakles and Pholos (Fig. 37), — discovered at no great depth 
 beneath the surface during the American excavations, — and 
 have entirely mistaken the position of the body and failed 
 to discriminate between the two personages. That a figure 
 of Eros should have been represented among the sculptures of 
 the temple is, in itself, exceedingly improbable, and we are 
 perhaps warranted in assuming the bowman seen by Pro- 
 kesch to have been the Aeolic hero. It is, moreover, well 
 known that some carved blocks belonging to the temple have 
 been removed from the site by Turkish builders of the pres- 
 ent generation. Indeed, it is surprising that so much still 
 remains. 
 
 The one complete metope relief discovered during the first 
 year was referred to in the Preliminary Report as represent- 
 ing a man pursuing a woman. Further examination of the 
 block has, however, made it apparent that the figure upon the 
 left, supposed to be that of a female, is entirely nude. This 
 amounted to a proof that it was also male ; for, as is well 
 known, naked female figures were not depicted by the Greeks 
 in the age to which these sculptures belong. Even as late 
 as the time of Praxiteles the nudity of the Knidian Venus 
 required to be explained and justified by the suggestion of 
 the bath. Close scrutiny of the stone showed that the figure 
 of the pursued, like that of the pursuer, had been originally 
 provided with male organs, which must have been obliterated 
 at some period subsequent to the displacement of the frieze. 
 Several of the other reliefs have sufifered similar mutilation. 
 
 In order to complete our view of these sculptures, we must 
 now give our attention to two of the reliefs from the temple 
 of Assos, removed from the surface of the ground by the 
 French in 1835, and now preserved in the Louvre. The sub- 
 jects of these remarkable works, in the writer's opinion, have
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 209 
 
 not hitherto been correctly explained. A determination of 
 their significance is of importance, not merely on its own 
 account, but because it has a bearing on the age and dedi- 
 cation of the temple, and on the artistic relations of its 
 sculptured decorations. 
 
 The chief of these reliefs, upon the longest known epistyle 
 block of the temple, represents a marine monster, a kind 
 of merman with human body and fishy tail, who has been 
 seized from behind by a naked hero. (Fig. 49.) The mon- 
 ster occupies considerably more than half the panel, the 
 space beyond and above the tail being filled in with six 
 human figures, retreating with outstretched and uplifted 
 arms, as if affrighted at the struggle. As the trunks of 
 the merman and hero are inclined to an angle of about 
 thirty degrees, and as all the heads rise to precisely the 
 same level, the six upright figures are of less than half the 
 size of the hero. This want of scale results from the de- 
 signer having adhered to the conventional principle known 
 as isocephalism : a method of composition regardlessly fol- 
 lowed in many archaic works, and often recognizable, though 
 skilfully disguised, even in reliefs of the perfected style. In 
 this case the naive violation of relative proportions is not 
 without advantage; for the figures of the chief actors in the 
 scene are thus rendered prominent in the same striking fash- 
 ion as are the heroes of those monumental wall-paintings 
 and reliefs of Egyptian and Assyrian art, in which a giant 
 king strides victorious through hosts of pygmy assailants, and 
 warriors outtop the fortification towers which they defend. 
 
 The surface of the stone is so chipped and corroded 
 that it is scarcely possible to determine the sex of the six 
 retreating figures. Texier^ and Clarac^ describe them as 
 
 1 Texicr, Description de VAsie Mineure, vol. ii. 
 
 2 Clarac, Miisie de Sadpture, vol. ii. 
 
 14
 
 i 1^1. "^
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 21 I 
 
 female ; De Witte, as male.^ The writer inclines to the 
 former view, and it is at least certain that the engravings 
 published in \.\\q. Mommtenti'^ are incorrect in showing these 
 bodies as nude. As indicating the terror inspired by the 
 struggle, these fugitives effectively emphasize the main ac- 
 tion. In decorative respects, they contrast strikingly with 
 the slanting trunks of the combatants, being erect, or slightly 
 inclined from the group, the arms of the first five outstretched 
 in a contrary direction, while those of the last, terminating 
 the relief, are held vertically aloft. The regularity of the 
 postures is almost that of a conventional ornament ; even 
 the turn of the heads, towards or from the dreaded spectacle, 
 is in unvaried alternation.^ 
 
 The attacking hero, though entirely naked, bears upon his 
 back a quiver, seemingly rather as an attribute than as part of 
 his equipment, and is thus sufficiently designated as Herakles. 
 Such was not, however, the identification of this figure given 
 by the earliest editors of the relief. Both Texier and Clarac 
 conceive the wrestler to be King Menelaos, and the monster 
 to be one of the shapes of Proteus, the Egyptian, whom the be- 
 reaved husband is constraining to prophesy, as recounted in 
 the Odyssey.* In conformity with this view, Texier supposes 
 the six fugitives (whose figures are, as he declares by way 
 of support for the identification, toitt a fait Egyptiennes) to 
 represent Helen and her maids, at that time domiciled with 
 Proteus, after having been driven to Egypt by contrary winds, 
 while on the voyage from Sparta to Troy.^ Clarac, on the 
 other hand, conjectures that the six subordinate personages 
 
 1 De Witte, Annali, 1842. 
 
 2 Monuniciiti, vol. iii., 1839-43. 
 
 3 It is a further error of the engraving in the Momimenti, that the fourth fig- 
 ure from the combatants is shown looking forwards. 
 
 * Odyssey, IV. 435-460. 
 6 Herodotos, II. 112, 118.
 
 212 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 may be taken for the daughters of the Old Man of the Sea, 
 " among whom we may recognize the divine Eidothea" (the 
 only daughter of Proteus known to Homer, by the way) ; 
 or, again, six of the Nereids ; or, if one prefer, the Pleiades, 
 or the Hyades, — " constellations which, by reason of the 
 changes produced by them in the seasons of the year, may 
 be brought into relations with Proteus, the variable god, to 
 whom they may have been compared, and with whom they 
 may have been associated." 
 
 Yet, perplexed by the fact that Menelaos is not known 
 to fame as a huntsman, while a variety of animals, lions, 
 boars, bulls, and the like, are figured among the sculptures 
 of the temple, Clarac offers as an alternative an entirely 
 different identification of the hero, who he suggests may be 
 Aristaios, son of Apollo^ and Kyrene. Virgil,^ in evident 
 imitation of the Homeric episode, has described this bucolic 
 divinity as questioning the prophetic Proteus concerning bee 
 culture, and Aristaios thus might be represented in the strug- 
 gle with the marine monster quite as naturally as Menelaos. 
 Clarac calls attention to the fact, that the attribute of the 
 quiver is decidedly more in keeping with the functions of 
 Aristaios than with those of the Lacedaemonian king ; while 
 the six fugitives of the relief may remain, as before, the 
 daughters of Proteus, the Nereids, the Pleiades, or the Hyades, 
 or they may be taken as representatives of the Muses, or 
 of the Seasons, from whom Aristaios had received his train- 
 ing in the arts of husbandry. Every indication afforded by 
 the decorations of the temple is readily brought into line 
 with this explanation. Thus, the lion is that beast which 
 ravaged the country around Mount Pelion, and attacked 
 Kyrene, the mother of Aristaios ; the Centaurs are Thessali- 
 ans, naturally connected with the nymph and her son, inas- 
 
 1 Georgics, IV. 3S7 et seq.
 
 INVESTIGA TIONS A T ASSOS, 18S3. 2 I 3 
 
 much as Cheiron had himself instructed the boy ; the pairs 
 of bulls are those offered by Aristaios in sacrifice before enter- 
 ing upon the struggle with Proteus ; and, finally, the pig and 
 the stag are peaceable animals, significant of the agricultural 
 renown of this mortal, who attained to the dignity of a god 
 through the benefits bestowed by him upon mankind. An 
 exegesis such as this is too perfect and too characteristic to 
 be passed without mention. 
 
 On the other hand, the sufficiently obvious fact that the 
 hero represented upon our relief is none other than Herakles 
 was fully recognized by De Witte, one of the earliest editors 
 of the Assos sculptures, and, as compared with Texier and 
 Clarac, a trained archaeologist. The monster whom the hero 
 attacks was, in De Witte's view, Nereus,i — a being gifted, 
 like that other Old Man of the Sea, Proteus, with powers of 
 prophecy and of transforming his shape to elude the grasp 
 of mortal hands. Herakles was, as is well known, fabled by 
 the later Greeks to have sought from Nereus advice concern- 
 ing the whereabouts of the Hesperides and golden apples, 
 and for this purpose to have fallen upon him while he was 
 asleep, holding him firmly during his various transforma- 
 tions.^ This identification of the monster as Nereus, correct- 
 ing as it did the most obvious error of the Menelaos-Proteus 
 version, was generally accepted, found its way into many 
 handbooks, and has been reiterated in recent years by author- 
 ities such as, among others, Lenormant^ and Murray.'* 
 
 The fact was, however, soon recognized that the scene thus 
 
 1 In respect to this marine opponent of Herakles, De Witte, though naming 
 Nereus first, still leaves the choice open between him and Triton. The same 
 failure to decide between the two candidates is noticeable in the description of 
 the relief given by Guigniault. 
 
 - Apollodoros, II. 5. 11. Scholiast to Apollonios of Rhodes, Arg., IV. 1396. 
 
 8 Lenormant (Fran9ois), Iniailles Archaiques de I'An/iipd Grec, Revue 
 Archeologiqiie, vol. xxviii., Paris, 1S74, pi. 12. 
 
 4 Murray (Alexander Stuart), History of Greek Sculpture, London, 1SS0-S3.
 
 2 14 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 appearing among the sculptures of Assos belongs to a well 
 defined category of archaic representations, and Gerhard,^ 
 republishing in the year 1843 a vase painting which resembles 
 the Assos relief in several characteristic features, satisfactorily 
 proved that the monster suffering under the rough embrace 
 of Herakles is not Nereus, but Triton. His argument was 
 based upon the observation, that in no case does the group 
 display indications of that illusory change of shape by which 
 Nereus resisted Herakles, as Proteus did Menelaos, and The- 
 tis did Peleus. To this is to be added, that upon three of the 
 vases depicting this struggle the name of the monster is given 
 by accompanying inscriptions as Triton.^ Moreover, Nereus 
 himself, identified by an inscription, appears in several of 
 these representations as a spectator of the combat.^ Hence 
 Gerhard justly concludes: "■ Dass ein wirklicJier Triton in 
 
 1 Gerhard, Auserlesene Griechtsche Vasenbildcr, vol. ii. pi. cxi. This vase 
 had, in the previous publications of De Witte, Descriptioji des Antiqtiitcs et Ob- 
 jets d'Art qui cofnposeiit le Cabinet de Feu M. le Chevalier E. Durand, Paris, 
 
 1S36, No. 302, and Dubois (Leon Jean Joseph), Description des Antiques fai- 
 sant Par tie des Collections de M. le Comte de Potirtales-Gorgier, Paris, 1841, 
 No. 196, passed as representing Herakles and Nereus. Gerhard, in his Berlin's 
 Antike Bildwerke beschriebeft, Berlin, 1836, had in like manner called the 
 monster of the vase No. 697 " Nereus," in spite of the inscription " Tritonnos " 
 upon it. Compare also the same author's Etruskische tmd Kampanische Vasen- 
 bildcr des Museums zic Berlin, Berlin, 1843, P^- ^v. 5, 6. 
 
 2 One of these is the vase in the Berlin Museum, referred to in the preced- 
 ing note, which has been more recently described by Furtwangler (Adolf), Be- 
 schreibung der Vasensammlung im Antiquarium, Berlin, 1885, No. 1906. For 
 the second, see Brondsted (Peter Oluf), Description of thirty-two Ancient Greek 
 Fainted Vases, lately found in Excavations made at Vulci, in the Roman Territory, 
 by Mr. Cainpanari, London, 1832, No. 7; also in the Archdologische Zeitung, 1856, 
 p. 24S. For the third, see De Witte, Description d'une Collection de Vases Feints 
 et Bronzes Antiques provenant des Fouilles de I'Etrurie, Paris, 1837, No. 84. 
 
 3 As, for instance, on the vase last referred to in the preceding note. That 
 on another vase, published by Dubois, N'otice d'une Collection de Vases Antiques, 
 Paris, 1843-48, the name Nereus does not appertain to the monster, but to one 
 of the lookers on, has been pointed out by Jahn (Otto), Berichte der K. Sdch- 
 sischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Leipzig, 1854, p. 173. An excellent 
 r'esuml of the argument for this change of names is given by Roulez (Joseph
 
 INVESTIGA TIONS A T ASSOS, 1883. 2 I 5 
 
 dtesein gequdlten Me ergot t gcmehit sei Icidet somit diircJiaus 
 keiiien Zweifel." 
 
 Reasons for questioning the appearance, upon such archaic 
 works of art, of Nereus engaged in a struggle with Herakles, 
 are likewise to be derived from purely literary sources. Long 
 before the publication of Gerhard's argument, Welcker^ had 
 advanced the theory that the legend of Nereus prophesying 
 to Herakles was merely an imitation of the Homeric story of 
 
 Emmanuel Ghislain), Lictle d^Hercule et de Triton, Bulletin de r Acadhnie 
 Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres de Bruxelles, vol. xi., Bruxelles, 1S44. 
 
 ^ Welcker (F. Q.), Die zw'olf Kdmpfe des Herakles bey Pisander, Rheinisches 
 Museum filr Philologie, Geschichte und Griechiscke Philosophic, Bonn, 1833, re- 
 printed in the second edition of his Akademische Kunstmtiseum zii Bonn, 1841, 
 and in his Kleine Schriften, vol. i., Bonn, 1844-50. Welcker apparently over- 
 looked the fact that the scholiast to Apollonios of Rhodes [Argon., IV. 1396), in 
 repeating the tale of Nereus prophesying to Herakles, refers to Pherekydes as 
 his authority for this version of the story. Pherekydes the logographer (not to 
 be confounded with the better known philosopher of the same name) lived dur- 
 ing the first half of the fifth century before Christ, and it is hence evident that 
 this episode of the Herakles legend is older, at all events, than that large class 
 of literary embellishments and duplications for which we are indebted to the 
 plagiarists of the Hellenistic age. On the other hand, we learn from Athenaios 
 (XI. 38, p. 469 d), that Panyasis the poet, a contemporary of Pherekydes, relates 
 that Herakles received the sun-bowl for the voyage to Erytheia from Nereus. 
 This may well have been the original version of the tale, which but loosely con- 
 nected the adventurous hero with the Old Man of the Sea. Athenaios himself 
 remarks, that " perhaps, as Herakles was fond of large cups, the poets and his- 
 torians, jesting because of the great size of this one, may have invented the 
 fable of his having gone to sea in a cup." This vessel was naturally reputed to 
 have been given to Herakles 'by Okeanos, as stated by Peisander (Athenaios, 
 XI. 38), — a much older and better authority than either Pherekydes or Panyasis, 
 — and in this business Nereus is obviously nothing more than a deputy for Okea- 
 nos. From this genesis of the tale of Herakles and Nereus it is plain that the 
 connection between the two was neither sufficiently primitive nor sufficiently 
 close to serve as the basis for a scene so popular as that represented upon such 
 numerous works of archaic art must have been. 
 
 In regard to the marine monster itself, Welcker, though rejecting all connec- 
 tion between this combat and the expedition to the Hesperides, yet fails to make 
 any advance towards the true solution of the jiroblem. He still follows the iden- 
 tification of the merman shown upon the ancient vase-paintings as Nereus, con- 
 tenting himself with the generalizing remark that the labcrs of Herakles led him 
 to subdue the monsters of the sea as well as those of the land.
 
 2i6 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Menelaos and Proteus, invented as an embellishment of the 
 exploits of Herakles. 
 
 Gerhard's identification of the monster is now regarded as 
 so firmly established, that Klein ^ has based upon it the bold 
 yet plausible suggestion that the scene sculptured upon the 
 highly archaic throne of Amyklai, described by Pausanias'-^ 
 as the struggle between Menelaos and Proteus, in reality 
 belonged to the wide-spread category of works of art depict- 
 ing the combat of Herakles with a Triton. The antique 
 sight-seers would thus have fallen into precisely the same 
 error with respect to this representation, so entirely obsolete 
 in his day, as did the French archaeologists upon its redis- 
 covery in modern times. 
 
 Judging from the great number of archaic Greek works of 
 the kind which have come down to us, this victory of the 
 national hero over the emissary of Poseidon must have been 
 one of the most popular exploits of the cyclus. Gerhard ^ 
 had collected twenty-three representations of the struggle at 
 the time of his publication, and this list was increased to fifty 
 by Stephani.^ Seventeen further examples have recently 
 been added by Petersen,^ and, finally, seven more by Stud- 
 
 1 Klein (Wilhelm), Bathykles, A7-chdologisch-epigraphische Mittheibmgeit aus 
 Oesten-eich-Ungarn, vol. ix., Heft 2, Wien, 1885. In basing his argument upon 
 the Olympian bronze, which forms so excellent a parallel to this representation 
 upon the throne of Amyklai, the author justly remarks that this change of iden- 
 tification removes the relief described by Pausanias from its inexplicable isola- 
 tion, placing these two works side by side, at the head of a long and typical 
 series of archaic designs. 
 
 2 Pausanias, III. 18. 15. 
 
 ^ Gerhard, Aitserlesejie Griechische Vasenbilder, vol. ii. p. 95, note 12. This 
 list is not without important errors. Thus No. 9, the pi. xxxii. of Millingen 
 (James V.), Pcintnres Antiques et TnSdites de Vases 6"^^^^, Rome, 1S13, is inco:- 
 rectly referred to as showing two female figures beside the combatants. 
 
 * Stephani, Compte Rendu de la Commission Imperiale Archiologique, St. Peters- 
 bourg, 1S67, p. 21, and Nachtrag, p. 209. 
 
 5 Petersen (Eugen), .fi'r.ro/,? ^ Tritone, Annali,vo\. liv., Roma, 1882. Petersen 
 overlooks one of the representations given (in the Appendix to the Compte
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 2 I "J 
 
 niczka,^ bringing the total up to not less than seventy-four. 
 Among these we have, in works of monumental sculpture, 
 the poros gable, recently unearthed upon the Acropolis of 
 Athens,^ a bronze fragment found at Dodona,^ the Olym- 
 pian bronze* and the Assos relief now under consideration. 
 Probably no single subject in all the wide range of ancient 
 mythological scenes is known to have been so frequently 
 illustrated. 
 
 In not one of these representations is Herakles shown as 
 attacking with his accustomed weapons, the club or the bow. 
 In accordance, doubtless, with some detail of the legend now 
 lost, the hero wrestles with the monster naked-handed, seizing 
 him from behind, and employing those devices of the palais- 
 tra known to the sport-loving Greeks as afju^ara. Moreover, 
 
 Rendu) by Stephani, to whom he refers as having collected forty-nine examples 
 only. The same remark applies to Studniczka. The example thus omitted in 
 these recent lists is No. 416 of Dubois (L. J. J.), Catalogue des Vases Grecs for- 
 viattt la Collection de Mr. C. L. F. Panckoucke, Paris, 1835. 
 
 1 Studniczka (Franz), Attische Porosgiebel, Mittheilungen des Deutscheti Ar- 
 chdologischen Instituts, vol. xi., Athen, 1S86. 
 
 ^ Described in the essay quoted in the foregoing note. Other fragments of 
 this gable relief have since been discovered, and were examined by the writer in 
 the small museum upon the Acropolis of Athens. 
 
 3 Carapanos (Constantin), Dodotie et ses Ruines, Paris, 1878, pi. xvi fig. 4. 
 This fragmentary relief, published by Carapanos as Herakles and the Lernean 
 Hydra, was identified as Herakles and Triton by Studniczka in the essay before 
 quoted. It is a work of the second half of the fourth, or even the first half of 
 the third century, and is of interest as one of the very few works of so late 
 a date which depict this scene. So little remains of the body of the monster 
 upon this fragment, that it appears scarcely sufficient to afford a conclusive 
 refutation of the original assumption of Carapanos ; nevertheless Furtwiinglcr 
 (in Roscher's Lexikon, art. Herakles) unquestioningiy adopts Studniczka's 
 identification. 
 
 * Aus^rabungen zti Olymfia, vol. iv. pi. 25, p. 19. Engraved also in Curtius 
 (Ernst), Das archaische Bronzerelief von Olympia, Abhandluiigcn der k. Al-a- 
 demie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 18S0, p. 13, No. 6. Compare especially Furt- 
 wangler (A.), Die Bronze funde atis Olympia und deren Kttnstgeschichtliche 
 Bedeuiiing, Abhandlungen der k. Akademie der Wis sense haf ten, Berlin, 1880, 
 p. 96.
 
 2l8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 two classes of these numerous works are to be distinguished, 
 as well by the formation of the merman as by the different 
 action and grip of the hero. In the more primitive and by 
 far the larger category the fishy portion of the triton extends 
 as high as the navel, or even higher. Herakles sits astride 
 of the monster's back, the farther leg being concealed from 
 view, and chokes or hugs him with interlocked arms. In the 
 later works, among which the Assos relief is to be classed, 
 these features are considerably altered, and, from an artistic 
 point of view, improved. The human portion of the fish-man 
 has been extended to the hips, while Herakles, shown in en- 
 tire figure in front of the monster, no longer bestrides and 
 garrotes his victim, but grasps him firmly by the wrists, as at 
 Assos, or otherwise holds him in subjection. It is in some 
 measure possible to trace the development of the older works 
 towards this type. In the most ancient representation of the 
 scene, upon an "island stone" now in the British Museum,^ 
 the scales of the Triton extend quite up to the armpits, only 
 head and arms being human. Herakles, on the other hand, 
 naked, yet with the quiver slung across his back, is shown in 
 substantially the same guise and action as at Assos. It would 
 be difficult to find a more striking illustration of the persis- 
 tency with which artistic traditions were retained by the 
 Greeks than the identity of this type upon works of such 
 widely different epochs ; the gem referred to being perhaps 
 the very earliest known instance of a mythological subject 
 represented by Hellenic art. Even in the movement of the 
 struggle from left to right, as shown upon the Assian relief, 
 we may note the retention of an archaic feature, which may 
 
 1 Lenormant (F.), Intailles Archaiques de PArckipel Grec, quoted above, 
 page 213, note 3. Re-engraved in Milchhofer (Arthur), Die Anfanqe der Kinist 
 in Griechenlajtd, Leipzig, 1 883, fig. 55. Lenormant, as has been noted, still 
 follows the identification of the figures as Herakles and Nereus. Mythological 
 representations are of extreme rarity upon gems of this class.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1S83. 219 
 
 be traced from the island stone, through the long series 
 of black-figured vases, to the red-figured vase of free style 
 v^hich closes the list.^ 
 
 That the advance in artistic composition which led to 
 the changes above enumerated had been made in Euro- 
 pean Greece a century or more previous to the building 
 of the temple of Assos, is rendered probable by the tran- 
 sitional character of the gable relief recently discovered 
 upon the Acropolis of Athens. The hero shown upon it, 
 though still garroting the Triton, no longer sits astride of 
 the monster's back, but stands in front, entirely naked, like 
 the Assian Herakles. There can be little doubt that these 
 improvements were the result of the execution of the scene 
 on a monumental scale. Postures which were tolerable, and 
 in some respects even advantageous, in the outline drawings 
 of the vases, were felt to be altogether unsuitable when en- 
 larged and rendered in relief.^ These changes, when once 
 
 1 Described by Brunn (H.), Viaggi in Etruria, IV. Vasi e SpeccJii Chiushii, 
 BjiUettino, 1859, p. 105, and engraved by Petersen in the paper before referred 
 to, Aimali, 1882, tav. K. The entire class of archaic black-figured vases dis- 
 plays a marked tendency, almost amounting to a rule, to turn the profiles and 
 direct the action of the composition towards the right. On this point compare 
 Loschcke (G.), Darstdlung def Athenagebiirt, Archdologische Zeitiing, 1S76, 
 Berlin, 1877. 
 
 2 Studniczka advances the contrary view. (See p. 75 of the essay before 
 quoted.) It will be remarked, however, that he is forced to contradict his own 
 theory in treating of the red-figured vase, the design of which, though depicting 
 an archaic subject, is wholly free from archaistic mannerism. As has been ob- 
 served in connection with the human-legged centaurs, it was the steady tendency 
 of Hellenic art to free itself from those monstrous combinations of human and 
 animal forms which had, in early ages, been adopted from the Orient, and to 
 relieve, so far as might be possible, such of these images as were retained from 
 their horrid and unnatural character. Thus the extension of the human trunk 
 of the Triton from the armpits to the waist, as in the Attic gable, the Assos 
 relief, and the red-figured vase, is a distinct advance. The assumption that 
 these figures appertain to a more ancient type than that of the black-figured 
 vases, or of the island stone, is at variance with leading principles of historic 
 criticism.
 
 2 20 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 made, were readily adopted by designers of all classes, as is 
 shown by the painting of the red-figured vase before referred 
 to. In view of the fragmentary condition of the Athenian 
 gable, it is difficult to determine how far the Assian relief 
 was directly influenced thereby. That the provincial artists 
 who decorated our temple depended largely upon prominent 
 works of Attica and the Peloponnesos is certainly to be 
 assumed, as we have had occasion to observe in connection 
 with the relief of Herakles and Pholos. The main point of 
 difference — the adoption of the wrist grip instead of the 
 interlocked arms — may possibly, as Petersen has suggested,^ 
 be ascribed to a misunderstanding of the wrestling hold of 
 the older type, through which the arms of the combatants 
 were interchanged. The readiness with which this might 
 happen may be judged from a comparison of the illustra- 
 tion of the relief, Fig. 49, with the drawing of a black- 
 figured vase. Fig. 50. Yet the present writer hesitates to 
 adopt this explanation, in view of the otherwise intelligent 
 character of the design, and the evident purpose of the sculp- 
 
 1 The observations of Petersen (Essay in the Annali, 1882, before referred to) 
 in regard to this relief are so interesting as to deserve quotation in full: "£ 
 d' uopo gettare uno sguardo di confronto anche sul rilievo d'Assos. Fu gia 
 osservato che la forma di Tritone e quivi analoga a quella della tazza a figure 
 rosse ' R' [published as plate K of the Amiali, 1S82]. Con lo stesso \sic\ e con 
 pochi altri esso ha comuni le donne che corron via. II gruppo dei combattenti 
 poi non mostra mai altrove deviazioni si notevoli dal tipo antico se non in 
 'R'; ma vi contribui forse anche la necessita dello spazio. Ercole non ca- 
 valca piu Tritone ; vedesi pero ancora serbato il gran passo ; egli non abbraccia 
 piu Tritone, ma gli afferra le braccia, non si sa bene con quale scopo. Chi 
 sa che 1' autore di esso rilievo non abbia frainteso 11 tipo Greco, come pure e 
 accaduto a recenti osservatori, ed abbia scambiato il braccio destro di Tritone 
 con quello di Ercole ? Ammesso questo, e imaginandoci che la sinistra di Ercole 
 abbracciasse il petto di Tritone e fosse quindi intrecciata coll' altra, allora 
 anche la sinistra alzata di Tritone e stringente senz' alcun dubbio un pesce 
 avrebbe il suo esemplare nei vasi. L' ammetter questo abbaglio diminuirebbe 
 r affinita con ' R,' ma gioverebbe a mettere in luce il carattere semigreco del 
 rilievo."
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 22 1 
 
 tor to bestow upon the Triton his attribute, — the conch held 
 in the uplifted right hand. 
 
 For despite the weathered and battered surface of the 
 relief, and the consequent uncertainty of outline, there can 
 be little doubt that this object is actually a shell trumpet, 
 through which the distressed merman is about to blow a call 
 for aid. No different explanation was offered by Texier, Cla- 
 rac, De Witte, and Guigniault, the first four editors of these 
 sculptures, and no other possibility suggested itself to the 
 mind of the present writer, during a close scrutiny of this 
 rehef. Yet Stark ^ speaks of the object as a ring ; TiimpeP 
 sees in it a handle of the sun-bowl which Herakles received 
 from Nereus ; and Petersen and Wolters ^ have recently pub- 
 lished it as their opinion, that the attribute is not a conch, 
 but a fish, seemingly basing this view rather upon the fre- 
 quent appearance of a fish in other representations of Tritons 
 than upon an examination of the work itself Furthermore, 
 Studniczka,* following the same method of determination, and 
 arguing from an ancient description of a certain " statue of 
 a Triton, carved of wood and holding a silver kratanion in 
 its hand,"^ believes the object to be a drinking-vessel. He 
 quotes in this regard the statement of De Villefosse, the 
 present Director of the Louvre, in reply to inquiries made by 
 Purgold, that the attribute in question is at all events not a 
 fish, and may be either a drinking-horn or a conch. Were 
 
 1 Stark (C. B.), Gaza und die Philisldische Kiisle, Jena, 1S52. 
 
 ^ Tiimpel, Die Aithiopetildnder des A ndromedaniythus , Siipplemoitband der 
 yahrbikher fUr classische Philologie, Leipzig, 18S7, p. 199. 
 
 8 Friedrichs and Wolters, Die Gypsabgiisse antiker BildiMrke in historischer 
 Folge erlddrt, Berlin, 1S85. 
 
 * Essay in the fliitthcilinigen des Deittschen Archdologischen Institutes, 18S6, 
 before quoted, p. 67, note i. 
 
 ^ Polcmon (or the author of the Manners and Customs of the Greeks) quoted 
 by Athenaios, XI. 59, p. 4Soa. The Triton thus described, evidently a xoanon» 
 stood in the treasure house of the Byzantines at Olympia.
 
 22 2 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 
 
 it necessary to bring forward literary and archaeological ar- 
 guments to explain the appearance of a shell in the hand 
 of a Triton, it would not be difficult, on the one hand, to 
 adduce a great number of classic references to this attribute,^ 
 while, on the other, besides the ancient account of figures of 
 Tritons blowing conches in the gable of a temple far older 
 than that of Assos,^ we have examples of the kind upon well 
 known coins of Corinth, Akragas, and Askalon, as well as in 
 vase paintings, and on reliefs, engraved gems, mosaics, etc., 
 too numerous to mention.^ It is worthy of remark, that the 
 great majority of these representations show the conch as of 
 a curved form, like that of the Assian relief. 
 
 Recent investigations have given us much information con- 
 cerning the origin of this monster, graphically designated 
 by an inscription upon the archaic Olympian bronze as the 
 "Old Man of the Sea" (AAI02 TEPfiN). Like his adversary, 
 Herakles, he is of Oriental, and, as it appears, Phoenician 
 extraction.^ The similarity of the formation of this fish-man 
 to that of the deities Dagon and Derketo, especially wor- 
 shipped in Askalon and Gaza,^ must strike every observer. 
 The prototypes of the Greek Triton appear upon Assyrian 
 
 1 Pausanias (VIII. 2. 7) states as particularly characteristic of Tritons that 
 they blow through perforated shells. Compare also Moschos, Idyll., II. 120; 
 Nonnos, Diofzys., I. 61, VI. 270, XXXVI. 93; Virgil, Aen., X. 209; Lucan, 
 Phars., IX. 347; Ovid, Meta?n., I. 333; Pliny, Hist. Nat, IX. 9; Hyginus, Fab., 
 II. 23 ; Appuleius, Metavi., IV. 85 ; and many others. 
 
 2 This was the temple of Saturn, in Rome, destroyed by fire in the year of 
 the city 257. The account referred to is given by Macrobius, Sat., I. 8. 4. 
 
 ^ A list, far from complete, of such representations of Tritons and their 
 conches, is given by Stephani in the Compte Rendu de la Commission Imperiale 
 Archeologiqiie, St. Petersbourg, 187 1. 
 
 * Compare, upon the course of this development, the remarks of Milchhofer, 
 Anfdnge der G^iechischen Ktinst, p. 84. 
 
 5 A discussion of this point is to be found in Stark, Gaza, p. 249. For 
 examples, see Lajard (J. B. F.), Reckerches siir le Cidte, les Syrnboles, les Attri- 
 buts et les Moimments figures de Venus, en Orient et en Occident, Paris, 1S37-49, 
 pi. 22, 24.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 223 
 
 reliefs and seals ;^ and upon that class of painted vases 
 termed by keramic specialists of the older school Tyrenian, 
 Phoenician-Babylonian, or Syrian-Phoenician,^ we see mon- 
 sters of similar shape, the offspring of the same artistic 
 tradition. Furtwangler^ believes this image to have been 
 introduced to Hellenic art by the Ionian inhabitants of the 
 Asiatic coast during the eighth century before Christ. Cer- 
 tain it is that the island stone, before referred to as repre- 
 senting the struggle of Herakles with the monster, shows 
 distinct traces of the Phoenician influence. 
 
 The Attic vase painters who inscribed their representa- 
 tions of this monster with the name " Triton " undoubtedly 
 followed an identification of this Oriental type made by Greek 
 mythographers of a much earlier age. The image of the 
 Phoenician sea-god was readily made to serve for that of a 
 corresponding member of the Hellenic theogony. It is inter- 
 esting to observe, as illustrative of the Greek conception, 
 even at the early date when this adoption took place, that 
 such a monstrous combination of human and animal forms 
 
 1 As, for instance, the relief from the palace of Sargon, which dates from the 
 close of the eighth century, engraved in Botta and Flandin, Monument de JVinive, 
 Paris, 1849-50, pi. 32, 34. Babylonian seals representing the subject are shown 
 in Lajard, IMithra, pi. 62, i, 2; 17, 2; 31, 5; Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of 
 Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1853, P- 343? King (Charles William), Antique 
 Cetns and Rings, London, 1S72, vol. ii. pi. 3, 6; and others. 
 
 - On this class of vases compare De Witte, Cabinet Dioand, Pref. IL and 
 in. ; Gerhard, Archdologisches Intelligenzblatt, Berlin, 1836, p. 307 ; Raoul Ro- 
 chette, Nouvelles Observations siir les Anciennes Fabriqucs de Vases Feints, yournal 
 des Savants, Paris, 184 1, p. 356. 
 
 Human figures ending in fishes' tails are shown upon the so called Phoenician 
 vase published by Gerhard, Ueber die Kunst der Plionicier, Berlin, 1S4S, pi. 47 ; 
 and upon those given by the same author in his Berlin's Anti.le BiLkoerke, 
 Nos. 480 and 542. Upon a vase now in the collection of Munich, published by 
 Micali, Moinnncnti Inediti, Firenze, 1844, pi. 43, sphinxes and griffins closely re- 
 sembling those of Assos appear, together with a winged figure provided with a 
 similar appendage. 
 
 '^ Furtwangler, Die Bronzefundc aus Olympia, pp. 96, 97.
 
 2 24 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 was never employed to represent the mighty Poseidon him- 
 self, but was, from the first, restricted to an inferior order 
 of beings, the frightful emissaries of the Earth-Encircler. 
 The name Triton, as we may observe in such compound 
 forms as Amphitrite and Tritogeneia,^ is directly signifi- 
 cant of the element inhabited by these creatures, having, as 
 has been recently pointed out, a common origin with the 
 Sanscrit word trita, water. 
 
 Pausanias^ has given us a description of the appearance of 
 these beings, which corresponds closely with their portraits 
 upon the archaic works of art, and furthermore indicates 
 various details which upon the reliefs of Athens and Assos 
 were undoubtedly supplied by color. He remarks that their 
 hair resembled the frog-grass seen in swamps, falling in 
 masses so that the separate hairs were not distinguishable; 
 that they had a human nose, eyes of a bluish tint, hands with 
 fingers indicated and with finger-nails similar to mussel shells, 
 and that they had below the belly, instead of legs and feet, 
 a tail like that of a dolphin. 
 
 When the conception is confined to a single individual, this 
 Triton,^ as is well known, takes his place in the mythology of 
 
 1 It is interesting to observe how entirely the Greeks themselves were igno- 
 rant of the derivation and the true significance of this word, referring its first 
 two syllables to the Lake Tritonis in Libya, near which Athena was born, — 
 to the stream Triton in Boiotia, — to the head of Zeus, — or to the numeral Tpets, 
 either because the goddess was born on the third day of the month, or v»'as the 
 third child born (after Apollo and Artemis), or, finally, was the author of the 
 three main bonds of social life. The references to the classic authors who have 
 thus explained the word will be found in Stephani's, Thesatiros, s. v. Tpiro- 
 yiveia. Compare upon this point also Wekker, Die Aeschylische Trilogie, Darm- 
 stadt, 1824, pp. 164, 2S2. The recognition of the Sanscrit root can leave no doubt 
 as to the real significance of the epithet, of which not one of the ancients seems 
 to have been aware. 
 
 2 Pausanias, IX. 21. i. 
 
 3 Triton is said to have been the son of Poseidon by Amphitrite (Hesiod, 
 Tkepg,^T,o, and Apollodoros, I. 4. 6), or by Kelaino (Tzetzes, commentary to 
 Lykophron, 8S5), or by Salakia (Servius, commentary to Virgil, Ae7i., I. 144).
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 18S3. 225 
 
 the Greeks as a son of Poseidon, dwelling with his parent in 
 a golden palace beneath the waves. ^ 
 
 But why is this son or satellite of the sea god so frequently 
 depicted as thus struggling in the rough embrace of Hera- 
 kles ? Not one of the archaeologists who have treated of the 
 subject has had the slightest explanation to advance in this re- 
 gard. Welcker, Gerhard, and Stephani alike remark that the 
 ancient authors make no mention whatever of such a combat, 
 popular as it was in the earliest ages of Greek art. Baumeis- 
 ter and Furtwangler speak of the legend as altogether un- 
 attested by the mythographers. In short, all those who have 
 treated of the subject are in agreement with the concise 
 conclusion of Petersen, " abbiamo freqitentissime rappreseii- 
 tazioni, ma nessitna menzione nei siiperstiti monnmcnti let- 
 tcrariiy 
 
 Yet in spite of this great weight of authority, the present 
 writer believes it possible to explain the nature of the strug- 
 gle, and to connect this large class of ancient works of art 
 with one of the most notable exploits of Herakles, recounted 
 by classic authors of every age. The conclusion at which he 
 has arrived is, briefly stated, that the combat represented is 
 that known to have taken place between Herakles and the 
 sea monster who devastated these very coasts and threatened 
 the life of Hesione, in visitation of the wrath of Poseidon upon 
 Laomedon, king of Troy.^ 
 
 This legend is one of the oldest of the Trojan Cyclus, 
 
 ^ Thus described in the passages of Hesiod and Apollodoros referred to in 
 the foregoing note. According to the Homeric idea [Iliad, XIII. 20), this palace 
 was situated at Aigas, — the name of half a dozen Greek towns near the sea, 
 derived, without doubt, from the same root as kl-yaoiv and alyta\6s. 
 
 - This explanation was suggested in the Prelhninary Report, p. 106, — the 
 ground for the reason there assigned being the local character of the Ilesione 
 legend. It is perhaps fair to state that the identification would not have been 
 advanced at that time had the writer then been aware of the difficulty of sup- 
 porting this bold hypothesis in the lack of many arguments since collected. 
 
 15
 
 2 26 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 connected with the most primitive traditional history of the 
 country, and repeatedly referred to by the singer of the 
 Homeric epics as if familiar to all his hearers. Poseidon, 
 together with Apollo, had been bound over to serve Laome- 
 don, king of Ilion, for a full year, whether in punishment for 
 a revolt against the power of Zeus, or voluntarily, in order 
 to test the presumptuousness of this mortal ruler.-^ During 
 this year, Poseidon, obviously in his character as Asphalios, 
 built the fortification walls of the city. When this task was 
 performed, Laomedon refused to give the gods the wages 
 which had been promised them, and drove them from his 
 dominions, threatening to cut off their ears, to bind them 
 hand and foot, and to sell them in some distant island as 
 slaves. In revenge for this ignominious treatment Poseidon 
 sent a sea monster, which destroyed those who ventured 
 upon the sea-shore, and even those whom it caught tilling 
 the fields near the coast. ^ Laomedon, in distress at the suf- 
 fering which had thus befallen his people, inquired of the 
 oracle of Apollo for a remedy, and was told that a virgin 
 must be sacrificed to the monster as a propitiatory offering. 
 The lot fell upon Hesione, daughter of the king, who was 
 accordingly exposed to her fate upon the promontory of 
 Agamias or Agammeia,^ — a spot to-day recognizable in the 
 steep and desolate point of land which forms the northern 
 
 1 Iliad, VII. 452 and XXI. 443. Apollodoros, II. 5. 9; Hesiod, quoted by 
 the scholiast to Lykophron, 393 ; Horace, Carvi., III. 3. 21 ; Valerius Flaccus, 
 Argon., II. 491 ; Servius, commentary to Virgil, Aen., II. 610. 
 
 2 Of this vengeance, the fullest account, and that preserving most of the fea- 
 tures of the archaic legend, is given by Diodoros, IV. 42, 49. For other refer- 
 ences to the story of Herakles and Hesione see Lykophron, Cass., 34, with the 
 commentary of Tzetzes ; the scholiast to the Iliad, XX. 145 ; Apollodoros, II 
 5. 9 ; Dictys of Crete, IV. 22 ; Philostratos Jr., Imag., 13 ; Eudokia, Viol., p. 344; 
 Isaac Porphyrogenitos, preserved in Allacci (Leone), Excerpta Varia, Romae, 
 1641, p. 272; Hyginus, ivz/^., 89; Valerius Flaccus, /4r^^«., II. 497-533; Servius, 
 commentary to Virgil, Aen., I. 550, III. 3, VIII. 157. 
 
 8 Hesychios, s. v. 'Aya/xias, and Stephen of Byzantion, s. v. 'Ayd/j-ixeia.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 227 
 
 boundary of Beshika Bay. At this moment it chanced that 
 Herakles, proceeding on his expedition against the Amazons, 
 passed that way, and, releasing Hesione, took her with him 
 into the city. Here Laomedon induced the hero to go forth 
 to battle against the monster, offering as a reward, in case 
 of success, the immortal horses which his grandfather, Tros, 
 had received from Zeus in compensation for Ganymede. The 
 details of the struggle have been variously related. The onl}- 
 archaic account, that of Homer, tells of a wall of earth which 
 the Trojans, with the help of Athena, piled up for the pro- 
 tection of the hero " when he should be driven back from 
 the coast to the fields." ^ Other and later descriptions of 
 the encounter will subsequently be referred to. 
 
 Setting aside that late imitation of the Homeric story of 
 Menelaos and Proteus, by which Herakles was connected 
 with Nereus, — a legend excluded, moreover, from the present 
 consideration by inscriptions upon archaic vases, as before 
 mentioned, — this exploit of the hero in subduing the mon- 
 ster sent by Poseidon against Laomedon is the only feat of 
 the kind which the ancients attributed to Herakles. It can 
 be no other than this deed to which Euripides refers, when, in 
 connection with the twelve labors, he describes Herakles as 
 
 ^ Iliad, XX. 145. The same statement in regard to the wall is made by the 
 scholiast to this passage, who refers to Hellanikos as having related the story. 
 Welcker (F. G.), yasoti der Drachentodter, Rheiiiischcs Museum fur Pliilologie, etc., 
 Bonn, 1835, III., subsequently reprinted in his Alte Dcnhndkr erkldrt, Gbt- 
 tingen, 1S49-64, — followed by Wicscler (Friedrich), Herakles in den Rachen des 
 Meerungehetiers tretend und die befreilc Hesione, Zcitschrift fiir Alterthitmsivisseit- 
 schaft, Giessen, 1851, Nos. 40 and 41, and Flasch (Adam), AnqeNic/ie Argona/t- 
 tenbilder, Miinchen, 1S70, — emends the scholion by substituting reCxoi for refxos. 
 preferring to believe that Herakles was supplied by his patroness with means 
 of attack rather than with means of defence. But in view of the clear account 
 of the wall and its purpose given in the Homeric te.\t, and of the fact that the 
 word Ttixos is repeated by Tzetzes (commentary to Lykophron, 34) this change 
 appears altogether inadmissible.
 
 2 28 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 " entering a bay of the sea and establishing with his oars a 
 calm for mortals,"^ — or which is meant by Pindar,^ Sopho- 
 kles,^ and Euripides in another passage,* when they speak 
 of the hero as clearing the sea of its monsters. 
 
 It would, indeed, be an altogether unparalleled case in the 
 mythology of art, if a deed so celebrated as to have formed 
 the subject of some seventy of the black-figured vase paint- 
 ings known to us should have been passed by entirely without 
 mention by the ancient poets, playwrights, and mythogra- 
 phers. But here we have full accounts of a legend, of ex- 
 ceptional popularity and of the highest antiquity, which is 
 applicable to this scene, or is in its turn wholly unrepresented 
 by Greek art. 
 
 The fact that this identification has not hitherto been pro- 
 posed is undoubtedly due to two considerations, which will 
 suggest themselves to every archaeologist as objections. The 
 first of these is that the marine monster sent by Poseidon 
 was called by a word (/<:?/to?) which in later ages, and espe- 
 cially in its Latin form, gradually came to be restricted to 
 large sea animals having an actual existence, such as whales, 
 sharks, and the like ; the second, that, in consequence of 
 this change of idea, works of ancient art of a later period — 
 among the Romans, though not among the Greeks — actually 
 
 ^ Euripides, Here. Fur., 399 : TrovTias ff a\hs fj.vxovs elaelSaLve, Qvarols yaXaveias 
 
 This passage shows that the exploit was not performed with the intention of 
 forcing the sea-monster to prophesy, but rather for the purpose of establishing 
 peace for mortals. The figurative words of the poet fully characterize the deed 
 as the deliverance of some human sufferer. 
 
 '^ Pindar, Tsthm., III. 75 ; and Nem., I. 62. 
 
 ^ Sophokles, Track., 1012. 
 
 * Euripides, Here. Fur., 225. These references are in entire contradiction 
 with the only explanation of the purpose of the combat between Herakles and 
 Triton hitherto advanced, namely, that of Furtw'angler (in Roscher's Lexikon, 
 art. Herakles, section iii. p. 2192), who speaks of the Triton as "subdued and 
 held in restraint until he imparts his secret knowledge to Herakles."
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 229 
 
 represented the monster to which Hesione was exposed as 
 a large fish or sea-dragon. 
 
 That, however, the word Ketos, as employed by Homer, is 
 not necessarily to be taken to mean a fish of any kind, is evi- 
 dent from the context of other passages, in which the word 
 is applied to sea-dwelling monsters of entirely different na- 
 ture.^ Elsewhere, the word is used for such frightful beasts 
 as crocodiles and hippopotami.^ And, finally, that Triton was 
 himself considered to be one of these monsters is evident from 
 the reference of Lykophron to him as Poseidon's Kap^apo^ 
 Kvwv? to which the scholiast adds, that this Triton is the Ke- 
 tos subdued by Herakles.* This passage is conclusive, and 
 completes the chain of evidence. To it may be added another 
 and most curious instance of the employment of the word in 
 this signification, to which attention has not, in so far as I 
 am aware, hitherto been drawn. It appears, namely, from 
 the accounts of Demostratos^ and Pausanias,^ that a show 
 monster, purporting to be the embalmed body of a Triton, 
 formed one of the chief sights of a temple at Tanagra, in 
 precisely the same way as the mummies of mermaidens and 
 sea-serpents are exhibited in the booths of country fairs at 
 the present day. So famous w^as this ancient curiosity, 
 
 1 The word is, for instance, applied to the sea-calves (seals) of Proteus 
 {Odyssey, IV. 446, 552). It is correctly rendered "sea-beasts" by Butcher 
 and Lang in their version of the Odyssey, and by Voss, still more correctlv, 
 "Meerscheusal"; but Buckley (London, 18S0) translates the word "whales," 
 absurdly mistaking the obvious sense of the passage. The translator last named 
 thus exemplifies the error into which the mythographers of later antiquity had 
 themselves been led. 
 
 2 Euthymenes, quoted by Athenaios, II. 90. 
 
 * Lykophron, Cass., 34, with the scholion of Tzetzes to this passage. 
 
 * Preller [Griechische Mythologie, vol. ii. p. 163, note 2), in referring to the 
 passage of Lykophron quoted in the text, remarks concisely, " Triton also be- 
 longs to the category of the /c^ttj." 
 
 6 Demostratos, Ilalieutics, preserved in Aelian, Dc Animal., XIII. 21. 
 
 * Pausanias, IX. 20. 4.
 
 230 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 that its effigy was frequently impressed upon the coins of 
 Tanagra as one of the symbols characteristic of the tovvn.^ 
 The bloated appearance of the stuffed animal evidently be- 
 came proverbial; and Athenaios, in adducing it as an illustra- 
 tion of excessive obesity, has referred to the defunct Triton 
 as "the Ketos of Tanagra,"^ thus leaving no doubt as to the 
 direct applicability of this term to the being in question. 
 
 The instance of his evil deeds afforded by the adventure 
 of Hesione is quite in accord with what the ancients have 
 otherwise reported in regard to the nature of Triton. At 
 Tanagra he was believed to have attacked the women who 
 went down to the sea to bathe, and to have carried off the 
 herds grazing near the coast,^ even as he had at Troy in 
 the days of King Laomedon. And without doubt such a 
 Triton was in the mind of Odysseus, when he dreaded lest 
 Poseidon should send an evil Ketos against him.'* 
 
 It is nevertheless undeniable, that, through the gradual 
 restriction of the word to members of the fishy tribe, the 
 conception of the monster to which Hesione was exposed 
 came more and more to resemble a whale, rather than a mer- 
 man. Thus the scholiast to the Venetian manuscript of the 
 Iliad ^ relates that Herakles entered the body of the sea beast 
 
 1 A number of such coins have been collected by Wolters, Der Triton von 
 Tanagra, Archdologische Zeitiing, 1885. 
 
 ^ Athenaios, XII. 75, p. 551 a : ni^cr&i ovv Ka.\\i6v ianv, dyaOe Tifj.6Kpares, 
 ■jrevSfj.ei'ou elvai XeTrrSrepov wu KaTaXeyei "Epfiiinros iy KepKcofiv ^ virepTrXov- 
 TovpTus Tw Tava-ypaiip ktit€i iotKivai, KaBdirep 01 irpoeipriix^voi &vdpes. Meineke, 
 in his edition of tlie Deipnosophists (vol. iv. p. 253), has questioned the correct- 
 ness of this passage, basing his doubts upon a corrupt gloss of Hesychios. The 
 question raised has been adequately discussed by Wolters in the essay quoted 
 in the foregoing note. 
 
 ^ Pausanias, IX. 20. 4. This legend appears, indeed, to be a duplication of 
 the Hesione story. 
 
 * Odyssey, V. 421. 
 
 ^ Scholiast to Iliad, XX. 146. The commentator remarks that the story of 
 Herakles and Hesione had been related by Hellanikos, but it by no means fol-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 23 1 
 
 and pierced its ribs; while Theophylaktos^ and Tzetzes,- writ- 
 ing in the eleventh and twelfth Christian centuries, go still 
 farther in this direction, asserting, in obvious imitation of the 
 Biblical legend of Jonah, that the hero remained in the belly 
 of the monster for the space of three days. That the archaic 
 conception of Herakles having wrestled with the monster 
 bare handed had been entirely forgotten, even in the classic 
 period of Latin literature, may be gathered from the long 
 account of the combat given by Valerius Flaccus,'^ who de- 
 scribes the hero as killing the monster with a rock, after 
 vainly attempting to wound it with arrows. And that some 
 uncertainty in this respect began to creep into the legend 
 early in the epoch of the red-figured vases of Greece may be 
 surmised from the fact, that, upon the single representation 
 of the subject belonging to this category, Herakles is shown 
 armed, although not attacking, with his club. 
 
 Probably no other ancient legend became, as time went 
 on, more entirely perverted. The later writers confounded 
 the deliverance of Hesione with that of Andromeda, the Triton 
 with the dragon and with Jonah's whale, and the tactics of 
 Herakles with those of Menestratos the Thespian.'* The ven- 
 geance wrought by mighty Poseidon upon the presumptuous 
 Laomedon and his subjects appears, in the account preserved 
 by Diodoros, as the visitation of a divine emissary, — "a Sea 
 God who destroyed the people by a plague, and blasted all 
 the fruits of the field." This original conception had some- 
 what of the mystical character of the Oriental mythology 
 from which it was derived ; its vagueness rendered it the 
 more superhuman and terrible. But when this Sea God 
 
 lows from this fact that all the details of the talc are to be referred to the more 
 ancient authority. 
 
 1 'Yheo\:>\\y\3.\iXos,, Expositio in Prophedim JoHiirn, cap. ii. i (ed. Mignc, p. 1S9). 
 
 ^ .Scholion to Lykophron, 34. 
 
 '^ V'alerius Flaccus, II. 497-533- * Pausanias, IX. 26. 5.
 
 232 ARCHu£OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 reappears, in the decrepitude of Greek culture, the archaic 
 idea is wholly lost, and we see nothing but an ugly beast : 
 the hungry, carnal monster depicted in the shape of a con- 
 ventional dragon. 
 
 Thus it came about that in Roman art, when the story of 
 the exploit was again popularized and freely paraphrased by 
 Latin mythographers, the Ketos became at last a true ceta- 
 cean, or sea-dragon. Subsequent to the isolated red-figured 
 vase and the Dodona relief, we do not find this scene depicted 
 in any work of ancient art until after the advent of the Chris- 
 tian era.-^ When, after this long break, the subject is again 
 taken up, the change has been fully effected. No less than six 
 
 1 This is a highly remarl^able fact, for the story of Herakles and Hesione 
 was, in the third century before Christ, still sufficiently popular to have been 
 chosen as the subject of a comedy, called Hesione, by the poet Alexis. Rib- 
 beck (Otto), Die Romische Tragbdie im Zeitalter der Republik, Leipzig, 1S75, 
 p. 46, is thus in error when he asserts that no Greek drama is known to have 
 treated of this legend. From the fragment of the play preserved by Athenaios 
 (XI. 41), we may see that the struggle with the monster was related in detail, 
 the lines in question describing the exhaustion and great thirst of the hero after 
 the exploit. 
 
 From two of Pliny's lists {Nat. Hist., XXXV. 1 14 and 139) we know that 
 the subject was treated by Antiphilos and Artemon, artists of the Hellenistic 
 epoch, but the mention throws no light whatever upon the nature of these repre- 
 sentations. That the exploit was not forgotten in the subsequent ages would 
 likewise be proved by the painting upon an Apulian amphora in the Museum 
 of Berlin, if we are to accept the explanation given by Gerhard {Aptdische Va- 
 senbilber, Berlin, 1845, pi. xi., described in the same author's Berlin^s Antike 
 Bildwerke, No. 1018), who identifies the figures as Herakles, after the struggle 
 is over, approaching Laomedon to ask for his reward, — ■ the rescued, yet still 
 fettered Hesione following with Telamon. This vase has however been referred 
 by Furtwangler {Beschreibimg der Vasensa7timlung, No. 3240) to an entirely dif- 
 ferent subject, Laomedon appearing in this identification as Kreon, and Hesione 
 as Antigone. Compare the critical literature to the subject cited in the volume 
 last mentioned. 
 
 It is likewise uncertain whether we should include among these examples the 
 painting upon an Etruscan vase, found at Perugia, of late yet fine style, en- 
 graved in the Moniinienti, vol. v., Roma, 1S49-53, pi. ix., in the Atmali, vol. xxi. 
 1849, pi. A, and in Welcker's Alte Denhndler, vol. iii. pi. 24 (compare the re- 
 marks in the Adunanze, Biillettino, 1.S46, p. 87), which depicts a hero advancing
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 18S3. 233 
 
 of the Pompeian wall-paintings, hitherto unearthed, represent 
 the deliverance of Hesione, and in those in which its form is 
 distinguishable the monster is a veritable sea-serpent, wholly 
 without human semblance.^ In two of these instances it is 
 
 with drawn sword into the mouth of an enormous fish or dragon. This scene 
 was identified by Welcker {Jason der Drac/ientodter, quoted above, p. 227, note), 
 and by Emil Braun {Iiigresso di Giasone nclle Fauci del Dragoiw, Aniiali, vol. 
 xxi., 1849), as Jason and the dragon, but has since been held by Wieseler [Hera- 
 hies in den Rachen des AIeerungeheiie7-s tfetend, before quoted) and by Flasch 
 (Angebliche Argonauten Bilder, III.) to represent Herakles and the sea monster. 
 Flasch even goes so far as to detect in the mantle which the hero has thrown 
 over his head the Tivxos of Welcl^er's emendation, before referred to. Although 
 there is nothing whatever upon the vase peculiarly characteristic of Hera- 
 kles, recent writers, e.g. Baumeister, Dcnkmdler, Art. Herakles, (Furtwangler, 
 in Roscher^s Lexikon, Art. Herakles, is less committal,) incline to the latter 
 identification, which, were it susceptible of proof, would render this Etruscan 
 vase-painting the earliest known representation of that version of the legend 
 which is given by the scholiast to the Iliad. 
 
 ^ No. I. Reale Accademia Ercolanese di Archeologia, Pitture Antiche d'Erco- 
 lano, Napoli, 1757-92, vol. iv. p. 62 ; Helbig (Wolfgang), Wandgemdlde der vom 
 Vesuv verschiittetejt stddte Campaniens, Leipzig, 1S6S, No. 1129. A hero upon 
 the shore, identified as Herakles by Wieseler, but as Telamon by the Neapolitan 
 Academicians and by Helbig, hurls a rock at the monster. In the background 
 another hero armed with a club (Telamon according to the former view, Hera- 
 kles according to the latter) converses with two women, one of whom, naked, 
 is doubtless Hesione. Notwithstanding the indorsement of so high an authority 
 as Helbig, the view of the Academicians, which would attribute the destruction 
 of the monster to Telamon, appears altogether inadmissible. 
 
 No. 2. Helbig, Wandgenidlde, No. 11 30. The monster is slain by a rock in 
 like manner. This fresco had been identified by the Academicians as Perseus 
 and Andromeda, but was correctly explained by Wieseler, to whom Helbig has 
 adhered. 
 
 No. 3. Helbig, Wandgemdlde, No. 1131. Herakles armed with the club; 
 the image of the monster defaced. 
 
 No. 4. Helbig, Wandgem'dlde, No. 1132, pi. xiv. Compare Schone, Scavi 
 di Pompei, Bidlettino, 1867, p. 83. Herakles standing as victor, armed with club 
 and bow, while Telamon releases Hesione with a hammer from the shackles 
 which bind her to the rocks. 
 
 No. 5. Helbig, ?f^z;/a^v/«a7i/f,Appendi.\, p. 45S ; Sogliano (Antonio), /'///«r^ 
 Mtirali Cafnpane, Napoli, 18S0, No. 494 ; Kekule, Scavi di Pompei, Btillettiuo, 
 1867, p. 165. Herakles armed with bow and club ; the monster entirely, and 
 Hesione in greater part defaced. 
 
 No. 6. Robert, Adunanze deW Instituto, Bidlettino, 1S75, p. 40, identifies as
 
 2 34 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 killed by a rock, as described by Valerius Flaccus;^ in the 
 third, it lies pierced by an arrow ; while in the others Herakles 
 is armed with club and bow. We may perceive from this 
 variety, among works nearly contemporaneous, how freely the 
 details of the legend had been treated by mythographers of 
 the period, and how entirely the original conception had be- 
 come obsolete. In conformity with the account of the exploit 
 given by Hyginus,^ who had at this very time brought the 
 story again into vogue, Telamon appears as the companion 
 of Herakles in two of these frescos, as he does upon the 
 later terra-cotta relief of the scene engraved by Campana^ 
 and upon the well known mosaic of the Villa Albani. published 
 by Winckelmann.* Upon a fragmentary paste cameo, of 
 Roman workmanship, belonging to Gerhard and published by 
 him,^ Herakles bends his bow against the dragon guarding 
 Hesione, the monster having here the head of a serpent 
 rather than that of a fish. A relief of debased style upon a 
 marble discus in the Museum of Vienne ^ likewise shows 
 the struggle to have been carried on with the bow. 
 
 Herakles and Hesione the painting given in the Pitture d^ Ercolano, vol. iv. p. 6r, 
 and in Helbig, Wandgetndlde, No. 1184, where it had in both cases been de- 
 scribed as Perseus and Andromeda. The hero wades into the water to meet 
 the monster. 
 
 As proof of the popularity of the subject early in the first Christian century, 
 there may be added to these pictures of the deliverance of Hesione the presen- 
 tation of Priam to Herakles by Hesione (Helbig, Wandgetndlde, No. 1147, upon 
 which identification compare the extensive literature there quoted). 
 
 1 Valerius Flaccus, Argon., H. 533 : " Alcides saxo surgentia colla obruit." 
 
 ^ Hyginus, Fab., 89. 
 
 3 Campana (Giovanni Pietro), Antiche Opere in Plastica, Roma, 1842-52, pi. xxi. 
 
 * Winckelmann, Motmmenti Antichi, Roma, 1767, vol. i. pi. 66. Engraved 
 also by Guignault, Religions de I'Antiquite, pi. clxxxii. No. 663 ; and by Millin, 
 Galerie Mythologiqiie, pi. cxv. No. 443. 
 
 5 Gerhard, Getntnenbilder, Arc/idologische Zeitung, 1849, pi. vi. No. 4. This is, 
 I presume, identical with the gem representing the subject, referred to as in- 
 edited in Gerhard's Apulische Vasenbilder, p. 18. 
 
 ^ Stark (K. B.), Museographisches, Archdologischer Anzeiger, 1S53, No. 52.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 235 
 
 It appears to have been an immediate result of the rep- 
 etition of the story by Latin poets, that this delivery of 
 the Trojan princess was adopted by the decorative art of 
 the Romans as one of the most characteristic exploits of the 
 heroic age, and perhaps even regarded with a certain na- 
 tional pride in the mythical origin of the earliest rulers of 
 Latium, It was introduced, obviously in this significance, 
 and as typical of the valor of Trajan, that second Herakles, 
 among the reliefs of the Triumphal Arch at Treves, frag- 
 ments of v/hich have recently been brought to light. ^ That 
 the legend retained its place in popular favor until the very 
 latest ages of antiquity is furthermore proved by its appear- 
 ance upon a Roman sarcophagus, referred by inscriptions 
 to the beginning of the third century of our era, which is pre- 
 served in the Museum of Cologne;^ by an altar of similar 
 character in the palace garden of Durlach;^ and by a frag- 
 ment of a rude sandstone relief also discovered in the Rhenish 
 Provinces,^ which shows the figure of the chained Hesione. 
 
 1 Wilmowsky (J. N. von), Die rbmische Villa zii N'ennig, fig 4. Trier, 1868. 
 
 2 Welcker (F. G.), Sarkophag im Museum zu Kdln, Jahrbuch des Vereins von 
 Alterthumsfretmden im Rheinlande, vol. vii., Bonn, 1845, Plates iii. and iv. ; re- 
 published in the same author's Alle Denkmg,ler, vol ii. Wieseler, in the paper 
 in the Zeitschrift fur Altertlmmswissenschaft, 1851, before quoted, has pointed out 
 that the object held in the hand of Herakles is the stone which plays a part 
 in the story as told by Valerius Flaccus, — not an apple, as supposed by 
 Welcker m his contemptuous remarks concerning the sculptor. 
 
 ^ Urlichs, Neicster Ziiiuachs des k. Musetims, Jahrbuch des Vereins von Alter- 
 t/iumsft-etcnden im Rheinlande, vol. ix., 1846, p. 153. 
 
 * Engraved in the paper referred to in the foregoing note. 
 
 Upon a Roman sarcophagus m the Villa Borghese, apparently inedited, Hera- 
 kles is shown forcing open the jaws of a sea-dragon, this deed standing next in 
 order to the Battle with the Amazons in a series of the Twelve Labors. 
 
 Weizsacker, in Roscher's Lexikon, Art. Hesione, refers to a relief at Nime- 
 guen, representing Andromeda chained, as published in the Bonner Jahrbuch, 
 vol. xxxiii. p. 66, and vol. vii. p. 39, No. 6. These volumes have not been 
 accessible to me. On the other hand, both Weizsacker and Baumeistcr have 
 failed to include in their lists the highly important relief for the Arch of Trajan 
 at Treves, representing the subject in a manner similar, yet decidedly superior,
 
 236 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL IxVSTITUTE. 
 
 Upon sarcophagus and altar the form of the monster has re- 
 mained that of a dragon, with curled tail and fin-like feet. 
 
 Let it be observed that, without a single exception, these 
 late works of ancient art — all that have hitherto been iden- 
 tified as bearing upon the archaic Greek story of Herakles 
 and the sea monster — are creations of the Roman Empire. 
 
 Homer recounts but two of the exploits of Herakles : this 
 is one of them. It is referred to by the great lyric poet of 
 Boeotia, by the Attic writers of tragedy and comedy, and by 
 prose authors of every Greek race and of every age ; yet not 
 a single work of Greek art has hitherto been admitted to 
 illustrate it. Surely this is a fact not less remarkable than 
 the existence of so large a class of vase-paintings and reliefs 
 unconnected with any known myth. 
 
 If the conclusions now advanced in respect to this ex- 
 ploit be correctly drawn, it results that the subordinate 
 figures shown upon representations of Herakles and Triton 
 must frequently be otherwise explained than has hitherto 
 been done. Thus, to give a single typical example, the 
 painting upon a vase formerly in the Durand and Pourtales 
 collections, reproduced on a small scale in Figure 50, displays 
 the combat in a manner fully characteristic of the large cate- 
 gory of black-figured vases. We see Herakles, clothed with 
 the lion's skin but wholly without weapons, bestriding the back 
 of the fish-tailed monster, and holding him tightly around 
 the chest with hands interlocked in the labyrinthine grasp of 
 the palaistra. Three dolphins beneath show the struggle 
 
 to that of the Cologne sarcophagus, and published in the work mentioned in a 
 preceding note. 
 
 Altogether uncertain is the Trojan coin of Septimius Severus, retouched in 
 modern times, and thus rendered most untrustworthy, which Mionnet, Descrit- 
 tioit de Mcdailles, vol. ii. p. 664, No. 224, describes as representing Herakles 
 crowned by Hesione. 
 
 This completes the list of representations of this subject known to me.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S< 
 
 m 
 
 to take place in the water. Upon the left, Poseidon, accom- 
 panied by Amphitrite, hastens with uplifted trident to the 
 aid of his distressed emissary. On the right, an interested 
 but powerless spectator, stands the white-haired Laomedon, 
 his royal state designated by the ruler's staff which he holds 
 in his hand, by the coronet upon his head, and by his wide- 
 
 FiG. 50. The Struggle of Herakles with Triton. 
 
 Painting upon a Black-figured Vase. 
 
 folding and sleeved mantle. Behind him stands the coro- 
 neted princess Hesione, awaiting, with archaic impassiveness, 
 the issue of the conflict. Beneath this scene race the horses 
 of Tros, the promised reward of the victor, which play so 
 prominent a part in the subsequent story. The appearance 
 of these horses, upon this as upon other representations of the 
 struggle,^ may possibly serve as a further argument in favor 
 
 ^ As, for instance, the I^funich vase, described by Jabn, Beschreihung der 
 Vasensammht7tg, No. 391, and that published by Brondsted, Description of thirty' 
 two Ancient Greek Painted Vases, No. 7.
 
 238 ARCHAZOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 of this identification of the exploit, — the only one with which 
 they can be connected. 
 
 In the first descriptions of this vase-painting, by De Witte^ 
 and Dubois,^ the monster was identified as Nereus, the king 
 as Proteus, and Hesione and even Amphitrite as Nereids. 
 Nereus was correctly called Triton by Gerhard,^ as before 
 stated, but the two figures upon the right were, in the 
 opinion of the present writer, wrongly designated as Nereus 
 and Dons. Gerhard could not but feel the difficulty of ex- 
 plaining the quiet spectator-like posture of this pair, which 
 contrasts so strikingly with the active advance of the other 
 sea gods upon the opposite side, and to justify this he was 
 forced to the altogether baseless and unnatural assumption 
 that the combat between Herakles and Triton did not take 
 place until after Nereus had in some way been induced to 
 favor the interests of the hero. Although these subordinate 
 figures seem so evidently intended for Laomedon and He- 
 sione, this identification as Nereus and Doris has been un- 
 questioningly repeated by all modern authorities.* 
 
 Too large a number of vase-paintings would require revision 
 in this sense to permit of a complete treatment of the sub- 
 ject in this place. Suffice it to note that the very next plate 
 of Gerhard's work^ shows the reward of the victor in the 
 quadrigas represented above, the fact of the struggle taking 
 place upon the coast being indicated by dolphins and by 
 trees; and that, finally, on the isolated red-figured vase, so 
 frequently referred to, Laomedon, characterized by the royal 
 staff and mantle, appears as a spectator of the struggle, 
 
 1 De Witte, Cabinet Dicrand, No. 302. 
 
 2 Dubois, Collections Potirtales-Gorgier, No. 196. 
 
 8 Gerhard, Anserlesene griechische Vasenbilder, vol. ii. pi, cxi. 
 * As, for instance, by Baumeister and Furtwangler. 
 
 5 Gerhard, Auserlesene griechische Vasenbilder, vol. ii. pi. cxii., also described 
 in De Witte, Cabinet Durand, No. 304.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 239 
 
 standing before his palace, naively indicated by a single 
 column. 
 
 That upon the Greek representations of the struggle He- 
 sione is never shown as chained to the rock, and is generally 
 omitted altogether, is due to the fact that the Greek legend 
 does not describe her as present upon the shore on this occa- 
 sion, she having been previously released by Herakles, and 
 taken by him from Cape Agamias to Troy. In the accounts 
 given by the Latin writers this is otherwise, and Hesione is 
 in consequence invariably seen upon the Roman works. 
 
 Laomedon having defrauded Herakles of the promised re- 
 ward, the hero revenged himself, as well as Poseidon and 
 Apollo, by killing the deceitful monarch and demolishing 
 Troy, as mentioned in the Iliad. ^ It is particularly worthy 
 of note, as an evidence of the importance attached to this 
 legend by natives of the country during the historic period, 
 that Strabo^ found the inhabitants of Ilion offering no wor- 
 ship to Herakles, because, as they explained, of a feeling of 
 resentment which they entertained on account of this de- 
 struction of their town. Nothing could better illustrate that 
 antique spirit of local patriotism which leads us to attach 
 great weight to specifically localized traditions in the exe- 
 gesis of works of art such as this. At Assos, with its Aeolic 
 population, Herakles was the object of peculiar veneration, 
 and it is not strange that the one exploit of the national 
 hero which was intimately connected with the province 
 should have been represented upon the walls of the chief 
 temple of the Southern Troad. The defeat of the Triton 
 which threatened Hesione, and the consequent dethronement 
 of the unjust Trojan king, cannot but have been regarded as 
 
 1 Iliad, V. 640. Compare also the other authorities for the legend, quoted 
 above, especially Diodoros, IV. 49. 
 
 2 Strabo, XIII. p. 596.
 
 140 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 significant of the emancipation of the country by Hellenic 
 valor. It certainly presented the most fitting subject for 
 the decoration of the first monument erected by the Greek 
 colonists of the Troad after their deliverance from Persian 
 tyranny. 
 
 The choice had, moreover, a religious as well as a national 
 relevancy. It was Athena who participated with the hero 
 in the performance of this exploit, by erecting the rampart 
 which was to serve for his protection : it was upon the walls 
 of Athena's temple that the struggle was depicted. 
 
 The second in size and importance among the Assos reliefs 
 of the Louvre — a corner block, like that which we have just 
 considered — represents four men reclining at a symposion 
 (Fig. 51). They are waited upon by a fifth, who, standing 
 upright, is, by reason of the isocephalism, of much smaller 
 proportions than the others. As the chief figures are more 
 inclined, the difference of scale is even more marked in this 
 composition than in that of Herakles and Triton.^ Each of 
 the banqueters holds in his left hand a drinking cup, the fore- 
 most, at the left, being provided with two such vessels, one 
 of which the attendant fills from an oinochoe, replenished 
 from a huge krater standing behind him. 
 
 The only notable act depicted upon the relief, and that 
 which evidently forms the subject of the scene,, is the pre- 
 sentation of a strap-like girdle by the second figure on the 
 
 1 Texier {Description, vol. ii.) remarks that the cupbearer is made smaller be- 
 cause of his less dignity •, but this subordination is obviously the result of, rather 
 than the reason for, the great difference in proportions. In compositions such as 
 these, archaic artists displayed their ability by so arranging the positions, while 
 adhering to the principle of isocephalism, as to give prominence to the chief fig- 
 ures. Upon Etruscan reliefs and wall paintings representing funeral banquets, 
 a more perfect scale of proportions was rendered possible, while keeping all the 
 heads upon the same level, by elevating the reclining figures upon couches. 
 Compare, for instance, the relief found at Chiusi, and published by Micali, 
 Moniimenti, pi. xxiii. Even here the upright figures are too small.
 
 C4 
 
 w
 
 242 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 right to the first. The recipient places his hand upon his 
 heart in an eloquent gesture of humble and almost hypocrit- 
 ical obligation. The scene thus depicted is conceived by the 
 present writer to be the delivery by Herakles to Eurystheus 
 of the girdle of Hippolyte, well known as the trophy of the 
 expedition against the Amazons. 
 
 If this identification be correct, the subject forms a contin- 
 uation of the one represented upon the corresponding block ; 
 for it will be borne in mind that the contest of Herakles with 
 the sea monster, and the deliverance of Hesione, by which 
 the hero was so intimately connected with the Troad, was an 
 episode of that expedition which resulted in the defeat of the 
 Amazon queen. -^ Apollodoros makes particular mention of 
 the fact that the girdle was given to Eurystheus by Herakles 
 himself.^ And it is an accepted belief among critics of the 
 text, that, in his concise relation of the exploits, Apollodoros 
 has given us an abridgment of the work of Hellanikos of 
 Lesbos, greatest of the early logographers, who, as a native of 
 the parent city of Assos, writing in the very age to which the 
 building of this temple is referable, would certainly be the best 
 possible authority for the version of the legend followed by 
 the designer of these sculptures. That, moreover, the de- 
 livery of the girdle in the residence of Eurystheus was a 
 detail of the story regarded with peculiar satisfaction by the 
 Greeks, is apparent from the words of Euripides concern- 
 ing this expedition : " For Hellas received the rich spoils of 
 the barbarian maid, and they are safely kept at Mykenai."^ 
 
 1 Apollodoros, II. 5. 9. It was related by Hellanikos (Frag. 33, ed. Miiller, 
 p. 49, preserved by the Scholiast to Pindar, Nem., III. 64) that the Argonauts 
 accompanied Herakles in his expedition against the Amazons, and thus the ex- 
 ploit gradually came to be treated as a mere episode of this cruise. Compare 
 Diodoros, IV. 42, 49; Apollonios of Rhodes, II. 967 ; Valerius Flaccus, V. 132. 
 
 2 Apollodoros, II. 5. 9 : KOfilcras 5e rhv i^'warripa fls MuKT)vas. eSwKsv Evpvadu. 
 ^ Euripides, //ere. Ftir., 416 : -rh. kXuvo. 8' 'EWas (\a0e 0ap0dpov Kopoi \d(pvpa, 
 
 Kal acv^er' iv MvKTjvats.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 243 
 
 These direct references to the delivery of this prize may be 
 held to outweigh an isolated account of late date as to the 
 strained relations existing between Herakles and Eurystheus, 
 according to which the cowardly king, after the fright ex- 
 perienced in receiving the Erymanthian boar, — on which 
 occasion he had crept away to hide himself in a brazen jar,^ — 
 refused to give personal audience to the hero.^ 
 
 The feat of Herakles in obtaining the girdle was one popu- 
 lar in archaic art,^ and upon the few vase paintings which 
 display the girdle itself this object is of a form entirely sim- 
 ilar to that shown upon our relief.* With exception of the 
 
 1 Thus related by Diodoros, IV. 113. ApoUodoros (II. 5. i) refers the 
 fright of Eurystheus to the sight of the Nemean lion. This picturesque story 
 of the king hiding away from the terrible beasts brought into his house is un- 
 doubtedly of great antiquity, being shown upon archaic vases referable to the 
 close of the sixth century. That the event was not, however, originally held 
 to have resulted in the entire exclusion of Herakles from the presence of his 
 royal cousin is evident from the fact that ApoUodoros, in his subsequent ac- 
 count of the delivery of the Erymanthian boar (II. 5. 4) and of the mares of 
 Diomedes (II. 5 8), as well as of the girdle of Hippolyte, describes the hero as 
 entering Mykenai, and on one such occasion, when returning with the Cretan 
 bull, as himself showing the animal to Eurystheus (II. 5. 7). 
 
 Diodoros gives a similar account of interviews between the two, and makes 
 no mention of any refusal to grant personal audience. 
 
 2 Venetian Scholiast to the Iliad, XV. 639, following the passage of ApoUo- 
 doros (II. 51), commented upon m the foregoing note. The Victorian Scholiast 
 to the same passage of the Iliad gives another explanation of the relationship 
 between the hero and the king, which is in like manner recognizable as a per- 
 version of the original legend, and well illustrates how freely such alterations 
 and additions were circulated during the later ages of antiquity. This is that 
 Eurystheus was the pederast of Herakles, who executed the labors at his behest 
 on account of this unnatural affection. If any weight at all be attached to these 
 late embellishments of the tale, it must be admitted that the latter asserts the 
 continuation of personal intercourse denied by the former. 
 
 3 Compare the review of this subject given by Jahn (Otto), Ercole com- 
 battente le Amazzoni, Annali, vol. xxxvi., Roma, 1S64. 
 
 * As, for instance, upon the vase referable to the close of the fifth cen- 
 tury, published by Welcker, Herakles und die Amazonenkbnigin, Archdologische 
 Zeitintg, Berlin, 1856, pi. 89. The extensive ancient literature in regard to the 
 girdle is fully given by Kliigmann (Adolf), Die Amazonen in der Attischen Lite- 
 ratiir und Kunsi, Stuttgart, 1S75, particularly in notes 19 to 23. The classic
 
 244 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 girdle no attributes are represented, and no peculiar features 
 distinguish the four reclining figures ; unless, indeed, we may 
 put this interpretation upon the fact that Herakles alone is 
 provided with a deep-lipped drinking bowl,^ each of the 
 others holding in the left hand a kantharos of the ordinary 
 type. The shallow vessel without handles, uplifted by the 
 right hand of the foremost figure, and filled by the attendant, 
 is a phiale, such as was customarily used for libations ; and 
 that it had this significance in this case seems evident from 
 the fact that the jnember of the banquet who holds it has, 
 like the others, a drinking vessel for his own use in his left 
 hand. 
 
 An identification of the two figures at the left, who thus 
 appear as guests at the royal table of Eurystheus, is neither 
 requisite nor possible. It is obvious that they were intro- 
 duced for the sole purpose of filling out the elongated panel. 
 They belong to that class of figurants of which the ancient 
 designers and vase painters possessed so large a retinue. 
 
 The variety and elegance of the seven vases represented 
 upon the relief may, as will be argued in a subsequent con- 
 nection, be taken as an indication of the fact that the work is 
 not referable to any period more remote than the Lydian and 
 Persian invasion ; and the same conclusion, if any, is to be 
 drawn from the reclining postures of the banqueters. The 
 Greeks of the Homeric poems, as is well known, sat at their 
 
 authors, however, devote their descriptions rather to the brilliancy and great 
 value of the trophy than to its shape. 
 
 1 It may be observed that Herakles holds a cup of the same shape in his 
 symposion with Pholos, as represented upon the archaic vase published by Ger- 
 hard, Herakles bei Pholos und Busiris, Archdologische Zeitimg, 1865, and that 
 his position there is precisely that of Eurystheus upon the Assian relief, — the 
 left elbow leaning upon a cushion, the right arm crossing the breast. The ex- 
 ceptional direction of the composition, from right to left, is also the same, and 
 likewise points to some common prototype. The peculiar attitude is doubtless 
 that to which Lucian [Conviv., XIV.) refers as customary in paintings of the 
 banquet of Herakles and Pholos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 245 
 
 meals and drinking bouts ;i and upon the celebrated vase of 
 Sosias in the Berlin Museum, — a work of severe style, yet 
 red-figured, — the gods of Olympos are shown seated at their 
 carousal.^ Reclining at table was originally an Oriental 
 usage as may be gathered from the domestic scenes depicted 
 upon Assyrian monuments, and it has been plausibly assumed 
 to have been introduced to Hellenic life by the lonians.^ At 
 just what period this custom became general is, however, by 
 no means certain, and no definite tennimis post qicem can be 
 derived from the adoption of this posture upon the Assian 
 relief. Still it appears worthy of further consideration in this, 
 sense, that all the banqueters are here shown as leaning luxu- 
 riously upon cushions, in like Oriental fashion. Long after 
 the Greeks had accustomed themselves to recline at table, 
 they continued to employ plain couches for this purpose,* 
 Even in the third century the Spartans " were wont to lie 
 upon bare benches during the whole banquet," and " hesi- 
 tated to put their elbows upon the pillows " which had come 
 into fashion at court during the reigns of Areus and Akro- 
 tatos.^ 
 
 Notwithstanding the obvious indication afforded by the 
 girdle, none of the writers who have discussed the subject of 
 
 1 Iliad, XXIV. 475, 515; Odyssey, VII. 203, XXI. 89. 
 
 2 Furtwangler, Beschreilnuig der Vasensamniluug hn Aittiijuariitm, Berlin, 
 18S5, No. 227S, where see the very extensive literature concerning this vase. 
 
 3 By Miiller (Carl Otfried), Geschichten Helleiiischer Stdmme tend Stddte : 
 Die Dorier, 2d ed., Breslau, 1844, IV. 3. i. The author further concludes, from 
 a passage of Alkman preserved by Athenaios (III. 75), that the Greeks of the 
 age of that poet reclined at meals, inasmuch as klinai are mentioned as being 
 provided for the guests. Alkman, however, who was himself a Lydian by birth, 
 appears to have described in these lines the lavishness of some Oriental banquet. 
 The similar change in the customs of the Romans was effected at a much later 
 date, and was particularly mentioned by Varro. Compare Servius, ad Aett., 
 VII. 176, and Isidorus, Orii^., XX. 11. 9. 
 
 * Plutarch, Lycurg., XVIIJ. , Athenaios, XII. 1 1;, p. 51S; Souidas, j. v. 
 ^iK[rioL and Ay/coDp7os ; Cicero, Pro Afitraeua, XXXV. 
 
 ^ Phyiarchos, Hist., XV. and XX., preserved by Athenaios, IV. 20, p. 142.
 
 246 ARCHAEOLOGICAL hYSTITUTE. 
 
 this relief have connected it in any way with the expedition 
 of Herakles against the Amazon queen and the possession 
 of this trophy. Indeed, none of the rehefs has been more 
 misunderstood. Thus, Poujoulat conceived it to represent 
 " women upon a couch, their long hair, which forms their 
 only covering, floating carelessly upon their shoulders." ^ The 
 block happens to be so fractured as to form two chief pieces, 
 each containing two banqueters, and it was attached to the 
 walls of the Louvre joint surface to joint surface, so that Eu- 
 rystheus rested his elbow against the krater at the other end 
 of the relief. It was thus displayed to the public for half a 
 century, until, in 1886, the writer called the attention of M. de 
 Villefosse to the matter, and the fragments were correctly 
 adjoined. This failure rightly to connect the figures natu- 
 rally rendered the subject still more unintelligible. Clarac 
 was thereby led to consider the relief as containing two sepa- 
 rate representations, — Menelaos and Proteus en pourparlers 
 (right half), and Menelaos and Proteus d' aceord {\q.I\. half).^ 
 Texier, who correctly combined the groups in his engraving,^ 
 described the scene as the feast of Perithoos, which, in view 
 of the huge wine jar, and the centaurs of the other reliefs, was 
 not so bad a guess. More modern critics and historians of 
 
 1 Michaud et Poujoulat, Corj-esfoiidaiice d'Oriejit, vol. iii., Paris, 1S34, 
 Lettre LXIX. 
 
 2 Clarac, Mtcsee, vol. ii. seconde partie, Paris, 1S41. The account is too good 
 not to be given as a last quotation from this delightful book : " Nous retrouvons 
 encore ici Menelas et Protee ; ils sont a peu pres d'accord, et le heros I'a emporte 
 sur la resistance opiniatre du dieu marin qui semble deja lui avoir appris une 
 partie de ce qui I'interesse et qui, partageant avec lui la coupe de I'hospitalite, 
 cherche par ses demonstrations, et en posant sa main sur son cceur, a le con- 
 vaincre de sa franchise. Le Roi de Sparte n'a pas une entiere confiance en ses 
 protestations, et I'espece de bandelette qu'il presente d'un air serieux a Protee, 
 n'indiquerait-elle pas que, s'il ne lui tient pas entierement ses promesses, il va 
 revenir encore a la force, et I'entourer de liens dont il ne lui sera pas si facile 
 de se degager ? " 
 
 •* Texier, Description d'Asie Mineiire, vol. ii. pi. 114; re-engraved in the vol- 
 ume of UUnivers entitled Asie Mineure, Paris, 1S62, pi. 15.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 247 
 
 Greek art have been less committal in regard to the subject, 
 concerning which, in the entire lack of parallel representa- 
 tions among the known works of ancient art, an absolute 
 certainty is perhaps not attainable. 
 
 The positions originally occupied by many of the sculp- 
 tured epistyle blocks are ascertainable from an elaborate 
 calculation, having for its base the various widths of the 
 intercolumniations of fronts, sides, and corners, the various 
 lengths of the regulas and half-regulas carved upon the pan- 
 els, and that peculiarity of the Greek Doric entablature by 
 which the corner metope is removed from the axis of the 
 corner column to the corner of the frieze. To these definite 
 facts there are to be added, as secondary indications, the 
 kindred nature of the subjects represented in certain cases 
 upon adjoining reliefs, the direction of the compositions to- 
 wards the central panels of the fronts, and, finally, the rela- 
 tive positions in which the overthrown blocks obtained by 
 the American excavations were discovered. In the case of 
 those reliefs which were removed from the site by the 
 French, the last mentioned of these indications has, unfor- 
 tunately, not been put on record. Moreover, these blocks 
 have been deprived of many of their characteristic features, 
 such as pry-holes, corner joint surfaces, and relative thick- 
 nesses of boss and sofht, by bemg sawed to thin slabs, in 
 order to facilitate their attachment to the walls of the 
 Louvre. 
 
 In view of the shattered and defaced condition of the great 
 majority of these stones, the results attained through this 
 examination cannot but be regarded as surprisingly full. Of 
 the forty-four epistyle beams of the temple, only fifteen sculp- 
 tured panels are now known ; and of these fifteen, but a single 
 one remains entire. Only four arc sufficiently represented
 
 248 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 by fragments to permit the measurement of their original 
 lengths, and three of these, again, are deprived of one or both 
 of those half-regulas which alone can supply trustworthy in- 
 dications as to width of span. Yet, notwithstanding this, the 
 relative position of every one of the reliefs is now known. 
 Thirteen may be assigned to their exact positions ; and in 
 regard to but two small fragments, belonging to the series of 
 wild beasts, can any doubt obtain as to the particular inter- 
 columniation which they occupied. 
 
 The lengths of the entablature, side and front, not includ- 
 ing the projection of the tainia, or of the band bordering the 
 panels upon the lower edge, may be accurately ascertained 
 by subtracting from the corresponding dimensions of the 
 stylobate the lower diameter of the column, plus twice the 
 distance of the arris from the rise of the upper step, and 
 adding to this result the thickness of the epistyle. For the 
 fronts the dimension thus obtained is 13.89 m. Assuming, 
 for the purpose of preliminary examination, the columns of 
 the facades to have been equally spaced, it is evident that the 
 corner panels would have a length of about 3.03 m., while 
 the three inner beams would have averaged 2.61 m. The 
 length of the side entablature is in like manner found to have 
 been 30.17 m. As it is known from the marks upon the 
 stylobate that the corner intercolumniations of the sides were 
 somewhat larger than the others,^ — the clear opening between 
 the shafts being in one instance 1.568 m., — the corner blocks 
 must have been 2.9 m. long, and the others have averaged 
 2.44 m. We might hence expect to find four distinct classes 
 of epistyle beams, respectively 2.44, 2.61, 2.90, and 3.03 m. in 
 length. 
 
 It is to be borne in mind, in this examination, that the half- 
 regulas carved upon the ends of the panels are often consid- 
 
 1 See page 76 of the present volume.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 249 
 
 erably longer or shorter than one half the width of the 
 triglyphs, thus proving the joints of the lintels to have been 
 displaced from the axes of the columns. While the triglyphs 
 average 52 cm. upon the sides, and 56 cm. upon the fronts, 
 the half-regulas vary from 11 to 38 cm., showing the joints to 
 have been occasionally as much as 15 cm. out of centre.^ In 
 the calculation of the corresponding intercolumniations, the 
 plus or minus, thus definitely ascertainable, has of course to 
 be taken into account. 
 
 The first fact to be recorded is, that the unsculptured epi- 
 style blocks discovered upon the site were, without exception, 
 of a length corresponding to an intercolumniation not greater 
 than 2.45 m., and are consequently to be assigned to the 
 sides of the building. 
 
 Turning to the reliefs,^ we find three which, including the 
 corner lap, must have had a total length of over three meters, 
 and consequently must have occupied three of the four cor- 
 ners of the fagades. These are the Herakles and Triton, the 
 Banquet, and the Herakles and Pholos. 
 
 1 A further proof of this fact, derived from differences in the character of 
 the tooling upon the soffits of the epistyle beams, has been given on page 85 of 
 the present volume 
 
 2 The twenty-two drawings of the Assos reliefs following in the text are 
 given, not as adequate illustrations of the sculptures, but as displaying all these 
 blocks in their character as architectural members The total length of each 
 lintel when complete is given in centimeters by the figures beneath, those above 
 indicating the length of the regulas, and of the spaces betwen them, which cor- 
 respond to the metopes. The writer is responsible for these measurements, 
 which were taken in Paris and at Assos from the blocks themselves. In the 
 outlines of the sculptures which are preserved in the Louvre he has, however, 
 followed a series of sketches made by Mr. Bacon prior to the commencement of 
 the excavations These sketches were not drawn to strict scale, and those who 
 desire to verify the arguments dependent upon the dimensions of these reliefs 
 should base their calculations upon the figures accompanying these cuts and 
 given in the text. The dots follow the architectural lines obliterated from the 
 blocks, and give the probable length of the missing members. They furthermore 
 show the deviation of the lintels from the normal lengths by indicating the a.\es 
 of the columns.
 
 250 
 
 ARCHyEOLOCICAL lASTITUTE. 
 
 The first mentioned (Fig. 52), though fractured, is pre- 
 served in its entire length, which measures not less than 
 2.9s m. The half-regula at the left-hand side of the block is 
 about 8 cm, too long, and this amount is to be deducted in 
 calculating the width of the corresponding intercolumniation. 
 But, as an entire regula is not cut at either end, at least 
 20 cm. must be added in order to make up the length of the 
 lintel from axis to angle; and this total of 3.05 furnishes a 
 decisive proof that the stone was above one of the corners of 
 
 Fig. 52. Epistyle Block above the northernmost Intercolumniation 
 OF THE Eastern Facade. 
 
 Series relating to the Rescue of Hesione. 
 
 the fronts, and not one of the corners of the sides. It is fur- 
 thermore evident that the laps forming the corners of the 
 entablature were cut upon the epistyle blocks of the sides, 
 and not upon those of the fronts. Ample grounds for the 
 adoption of this arrangement are to be found in the consid- 
 eration that the quarrymen were thus required to provide, 
 and the builders to handle, eight blocks of but 2.90 or 2.95, 
 instead of four of 2.70, and four of not less than 3.10 or 
 3.15 m.. — an immense saving in practical respects, of which 
 the primitive builders, ill provided with machines for trans- 
 porting and lifting such heavy stones, must have well been 
 aware. Even as it is, these front corners of the epistyle are 
 the heaviest and most awkward stones employed in the edi-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 25 1 
 
 fice, weighing half as much again as the bulky corner cornice 
 blocks, and being much more clifiEicult to set. The fact that 
 another relief is known to have occupied the southern corner 
 of the eastern front, while two reliefs of an entirely different 
 subject adjoined the northern corner block of the western 
 front upon either hand, and, above all, the grouping and move- 
 ment of the composition, leave little doubt that the right- 
 hand end of this panel, and not the left, was outermost. The 
 hero has driven the monster into a corner ; the affrighted 
 spectators fly towards the middle of the entablature. From 
 a decorative point of view, also, the broad masses formed by 
 the bodies of the combatants are of decidedly better effect at 
 the outer end, the upright lines of the smaller figures at the 
 inner. Hence the lap has been drawn in Figure 52 upon the 
 right hand of the lintel ; and we only remain in doubt whether 
 to assign the block to the northern corner of the eastern, or 
 the southern corner of the western facade, — a point in re- 
 gard to which no immediate decision is possible, as we have 
 no information concerning the position in which these reliefs 
 were found. Certain indications derived from the spacing 
 of the metopes, and pointing to the probability that the 
 Herakles and Triton occupied the eastern, and the Banquet 
 the western facade, will be adduced in another connection. 
 The distance from the central regula to the joint sur- 
 face upon the right hand of the lintel is 1.12 m. At this 
 end the half-regula has been split away, but it appears 
 scarcely possible that the member can have had a greater 
 length than 27 cm. As th^ corner triglyph is known, in 
 one instance at least, to have been 52 cm. square in plan, it 
 follows that 25 cm., or thereabouts, is to be added to the 
 actual length of the lintel. Thus it is evident that the entire 
 panel, from joint to angle, cannot have been less than 3,2 m. 
 in length.
 
 25^ 
 
 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 It was more difficult to obtain an accurate measurement of 
 the relief of the Banquet, this being broken into four pieces, 
 which were, at the time of examination, arranged upon the 
 walls of the Louvre in incorrect sequence, and not very 
 closely fitted together. Still, the total length of 2.86 m., 
 given upon the drawing (Fig. 53, compare Fig. 51), can 
 hardly involve a greater error than one inch. The half- 
 regulas in this case are both excessive, measuring 36 and 
 38 cm. The larger of these was outermost, and adjoined 
 
 Fig. 53. Epistyle Block above the southernmost Intercolumniation 
 
 OF THE Western FAgADE. 
 
 Series relating to the Girdle of Hippolyte. 
 
 the lap, the thickness of which hence cannot have exceeded 
 18 cm., while it may not have been greater than 14 cm., 
 being in either case the thinnest block of andesite employed 
 in the construction of the temple. The object of thus re- 
 stricting the width of the lap was evidently to extend the 
 sculptured surface of this panel as nearly as possible to the 
 corner. The length of the epistyle from axis to angle was 
 about 2.96 m. ; of the entire* panel, including lap, about 
 3.04 m. That the right-hand end of the block, and not the • 
 left, adjoined the corner is indicated by the direction of the 
 composition, — the banqueters naturally facing the middle of 
 the facade, — as well as by the points referred to in connec- 
 tion with the relief of Herakles and Triton, which is thus
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 253 
 
 seen to have been placed upon the corner of the building 
 diagonally opposite. 
 
 The third front corner block is that sculptured with the 
 figures of Herakles and Pholos, discovered during the Amer- 
 ican excavations. (Fig. 54.) It presents fewer factors for 
 the calculation than do the others, inasmuch as the two frag- 
 ments remaining do not constitute the entire lintel, a con- 
 siderable portion, including one of the half-regulas, being 
 missing from the left hand side. Furthermore, the half- 
 
 Fig 54. Epistyle Block above the southernmost Intercolumniation 
 
 OF the Eastern FAgADE. 
 
 Series relating to the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 regula from the other end has been split away from the sur- 
 face. From the end of the central regula to the joint upon 
 the right is 1.05 m. ; and it is 83 cm. from the other end to 
 the fracture upon the left, where no commencement of the 
 half-regula is visible, although the tainia is perfectly sharp. 
 Measured along the lower edge of the tainia, the total length 
 recovered is 2.43 m. ; and if the dimension of the missing 
 member be added to this we have a lintel of not less than 
 ^.7 m., — much too long to permit us to assign it to any of 
 the inner intercolumniations. That it furthermore occupied 
 a front, and not a side corner, is evident from the fact that a 
 half, and not a whole regula, was cut upon the end remaining 
 intact, which, as may be concluded from the direction of the 
 composition, and from other indications, would be that occu-
 
 254 ARCHJSOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 pying the angle of the building, if the relief had been assigned 
 to a side corner. All these considerations are in agreement 
 with the theory that this relief was placed at the southern 
 corner of the eastern front, beneath which it was found. By 
 adding to the extent of the remaining fragment the dimension 
 of the corner regula, we see that the entire panel, from joint 
 to angle, must have been at least 2.95 m. in length, and may 
 have been more. 
 
 It will subsequently be shown, by a calculation based upon 
 the lengths of the two adjoining blocks, that, assuming the 
 middle triglyph of the front to have occupied the exact centre 
 of the entablature, this corner stone, plus the width of the 
 angle lap, must have had a length of exactly 3.085 m. ; or, in 
 other words, that the panel from axis to angle was precisely 
 the 3.03 m. requisite according to the width of the correspond- 
 ing intercolumniation. It is thus susceptible of proof, that 
 a fragment of the relief has been broken away just large 
 enough to contain the equine body of Pholos, — a fact to 
 which reference has been made in the consideration of the 
 sculptured subject.^ 
 
 A similar calculation, if it be not affected by a want of 
 symmetry in the position of the central triglyph of the front,^ 
 proves that the disproportion between the widths of the two 
 metopes above the relief even exceeded the very considerable 
 
 1 Page 151 of the present volume. 
 
 2 The probability that some slight correction in this sense is necessary in 
 order to determine the exact dimensions of these epistyle blocks, is indicated by 
 the fact that the stele upon which the confronting sphinxes of the eastern fa9ade 
 rest their paws, and which marks the centre of the symmetrical composition, is 
 itself removed about two centimeters from the axis of the regula above it. It is, 
 however, impossible to make allowance for a variation of this nature, in the ab- 
 sence of one of the epistyle blocks of the front. The dimensions given in the 
 text must approximate very closely to the actual sizes, and serve the most impor- 
 tant purpose of this consideration, namely, the determination of the positions of 
 the known reliefs, and the projected widths of the intercolumniations.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 255 
 
 amount already evident from the spacing of the regulas upon 
 the fragmentary block. The metope on the right hand can- 
 not have been broader than 74 cm. ; that upon the left is seen 
 from the space remaining upon the relief to have exceeded 
 83 cm., and is now shown to have been not less than o.i m. 
 more than this. The difference between them of nearly 
 0.2 m. is at first sight astounding; yet it is proportionally 
 little more than that between the metopes above the adjoin- 
 ing block, measuring 68 and 81 cm. respectively. In the 
 latter case, the unequal dimensions can be taken from the 
 relief itself, and thus admit of no possible doubt. Moreover, 
 it is ascertainable, even from the few metope slabs found 
 upon the site, that these members varied still more in width 
 than is indicated by this calculation, namely, from 62, cm. to 
 905 mm. 
 
 An explanation of such inequalities in the division of the 
 frieze, particularly above these two front epistyle beams, will 
 suggest itself in reviewing the method of construction adopted 
 by the builders. It has been seen, from marks upon the sty- 
 lobate, that the laying of the stones which form the steps 
 was commenced near the northwestern corner of the edifice, 
 and was continued in both directions until they met upon the 
 southern side.^ The same sequence appears to have been fol- 
 lowed in the construction of the entablature. Thus, the lin- 
 tels and frieze members of the eastern front were laid in the 
 direction from north to south. The work having evidently 
 been carried on in the most primitive and irregular manner, 
 without the aid of scaled working drawings, or accurately de- 
 termined tables of dimensions, everything had to be done by 
 
 ^ Page 64 of the present volume. The considerations wliich determined this 
 course of construction were undoubtedly connected with the facts that the stone 
 was brought to the site of the temple from the northwest, there being no ap- 
 proach to the Acropolis from the south, and that the native rock reached the 
 highest level at this part of the plan.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 257 
 
 testing and fitting. The temple was built in the same way as 
 were the polygonal city walls of that epoch, with their irregu- 
 lar angles and unequal lengths of the separate stones. For 
 the width of every second metope, at least, independent 
 measurements had to be taken from the edifice in the course 
 of construction. The want of agreement between the joint 
 surfaces of the lintels and the axes of the columns was one 
 result of this system, and we have been forced to conclude 
 that the exact lengths of the regulas were cut upon the face 
 of the reliefs after the members of the frieze had been placed 
 in position above them. The only fixed principle in the ar- 
 rangement of the frieze was that every alternate triglyph 
 should be placed as nearly as possible in the line of the col- 
 umn beneath it. Thus it was brought about that the entire 
 correction rendered necessary by the elongation of the mem- 
 bers of the frieze to correspond with the longer beams of the 
 fronts, and especially of the corners, was thrown upon the 
 second metope laid on each lintel, — this being in the case 
 under consideration that upon the left hand. 
 
 This will be rendered clear by retracing the steps naturally 
 taken by the masons. As shown in Figure 55, which gives 
 in isometrical projection the dimensions of the southeastern 
 corner of the building, the triglyph A' was placed as nearly 
 as possible in the axis of the column A, regardless of the 
 jointing of the lintels beneath it. To this triglyph adjoined 
 the metope A" , for which no width could be directly meas- 
 ured upon the epistyle, and which was consequently cut of 
 the mean dimensions, about 0.7 m. ; those upon the right- 
 hand sides of the reliefs of Herakles and Pholos, and the four 
 horse-legged centaurs being but about an inch longer and an 
 inch shorter, respectively, than the average of the side meto- 
 pes. Then followed the triglyph B', for which likewise no 
 direct measurements were available, and which was made of 
 
 17
 
 258 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the width of 56 cm. determined for these members. In con- 
 firmation of this, it may be observed that not one of the inner 
 entire regulas appearing upon the fagade reliefs varies an inch 
 from the average. The second triglyph being set, the ques- 
 tion of adjustment could no longer be ignored, inasmuch as 
 the width of the next metope, B'', determined the position of 
 the columnar triglyph C, Any perceptible deviation of this 
 member, the ideal continuation of the line of support in the 
 entablature, from the axis of the column C, would have been 
 intolerable. Hence the location of C, thus fixed, was marked 
 upon the upper surface of the epistyle, and the width of B'' 
 deduced therefrom. It is obvious that so ill-considered a 
 manner of adjustment inevitably resulted in differences be- 
 tween B" and A''. And it is entirely in accord with this 
 explanation that the maximum irregularity should occur be- 
 tween the metopes above the front corner block, Q," and D'', 
 upon which devolved the equalization of the displacement of 
 the corner triglyph E' from the axis of the corner column E 
 by not less than 15 cm., or half the thickness of the entabla- 
 ture minus half the width of the corner triglyph, as seen from 
 the calculation of the tainia and regula lengths of the relief 
 of Herakles and Pholos, Figure 54. 
 
 This observation concerning the two metopes situated 
 above one and the same elongated epistyle beam, according 
 to which that last placed in position tends to become the 
 broader, has direct bearing upon the assignment of the corner 
 blocks of the Banquet and the Herakles and Triton to the 
 eastern or western facades. Of these reliefs, that represent- 
 ing the m^Lrine monster has been seen to be the more im- 
 portant, in respect both to its national significance for the 
 Greeks of Assos and to its connection with that deity to 
 which the temple was dedicated. It is also superior in picto- 
 rial treatment, while in decorative composition it balances the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 259 
 
 relief of Herakles and Pholos, which occupies the southern 
 corner of the front, far better than would the Banquet. The 
 six figures of the affrighted spectators who fly from the scene 
 of the struggle correspond well to the discomfited and re- 
 treating centaurs of the pendant. These considerations alone 
 might have sufficed to justify the relegation of the Banquet to 
 the western facade. That the arrangement is correct is fur- 
 ther indicated by the spacing of the regulas upon the epistyle 
 beams in question. The construction of the frieze having, 
 according to our hypothesis, been carried on above the Her- 
 akles and Triton from right to left, and above the Banquet 
 from left to right, we should expect to find the left-hand 
 metope above the former and the right-hand metope above 
 the latter to be larger than their fellows. This is actually 
 the case, by the amounts of 4 cm. and 5 cm. An exchange 
 of the positions of the reliefs would involve the assumption 
 of a double exception to the natural law which they thus 
 exemplify. 
 
 We may deduce the width of the corner intercolumniations 
 of the fagades from the data already acquired. If from the 
 smallest possible length of the Herakles and Triton panel, 
 namely, 3.15 m., we subtract 8 cm. for the excess of the half- 
 regula at the inner end, and 42 cm. for half the thickness of 
 the entablature, we shall have a spacing of about 2.65 m. on 
 centres ; and if from the total length of the Banquet panel 
 from joint to angle we make a similar deduction, we have 
 about 2.54 m. The difference between these results is to 
 be ascribed to the irregularities in the spacing of the frieze 
 members. It is to be borne in mind, that the position of the 
 triglyphs in respect to the axes of the columns often varied 
 even more than this, as has been seen from the bed toolings 
 visible upon the soffits of the epistyle beams.^ Now the cor- 
 
 1 Compare page 85 of the present volume.
 
 2 6o ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 ner columns of the fronts are known, from traces upon the 
 stylobate, to have been 13.07 m. distant from centre to centre ; 
 if the shafts between them had been placed at perfectly regu- 
 lar intervals, we should have an intercolumniation of 2.614 rn- 
 This is very nearly the distance represented by the average 
 of the two corner beams preserved in their entire length, 
 the one of which is, from axis to axis, but two inches shorter, 
 the other two inches longer ; and with this dimension the 
 length of the relief of Herakles and Pholos, determined by 
 a method entirely independent, is in perfect agreement. Had 
 the temple followed the customary proportions of the Doric 
 plan in this particular, a very considerable difference between 
 the intervals, say 0.2 m., would have been observable. Thus 
 there can be no doubt concerning the fact that the design 
 called for an equal spacing of the columns of the fronts, con- 
 trary to the general usage of the style. The want of this 
 refinement is entirely in accord with the general character 
 of the edifice. The inequality of its dimensions, especially 
 in the division of the frieze, was so great, that the aid in the 
 adjustment of the corner metope, commonly derived from a 
 diminution of the corner intercolumniations, was not felt to 
 be requisite. This neglect of one of the most characteristic 
 features of the style is, as will subsequently be shown, by no 
 means an evidence of great age, but merely the result of pro- 
 vincial rudeness. 
 
 The equal spacing of the intercolumniations being thus 
 determined, we can proceed with greater certainty to a con- 
 sideration of the other epistyle blocks of the fronts. I\Iost 
 readily recognizable among these are the reliefs of heraldic 
 sphinxes. That assigned, for reasons already adduced, to the 
 western front, is preserved in its entire length. (Fig. 56.) 
 The block is broken into three fragments, two of which were 
 found during the American excavations, while the third is
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 261 
 
 among the reliefs of the Louvre, so that it was not possible to 
 fit the fractures together for the purpose of accurate measure- 
 ment. The given total of 2.58 m. cannot, however, vary more 
 than two centimeters from the original length. Fortunately 
 
 Fig. 56. Epistyle Block above the Central Intercolumniation 
 
 OF THE Western Facade. 
 
 Coat of Arms of Assos. 
 
 both half-regulas are preserved, and these, as has been seen, 
 have sufficed to determine to which of the fagades this relief 
 appertained. As these members are short, about 8 cm. is to 
 be added to the length of the stone in order to obtain the 
 
 Fig. 57. Epistyle Block above the Central Intercolumniation 
 
 OF the Eastern Fa^'ade. 
 
 Coat of Arms of Assos. 
 
 width of the corresponding intercolumniation, which is thus 
 seen to have been some 5 cm. longer than the average, as- 
 suming, for the purpose of this calculation, the axes of col- 
 umns and triglyphs to be exactly identical. The relief from 
 the eastern front (Fig. 57) is lacking a considerable portion,
 
 262 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 including the right half-regula, while the left half-regula has 
 been split away from the surface. It is nevertheless ascer- 
 tainable, both from the space remaining upon the stone and 
 from the length of the complementary half-regula upon the 
 adjoining block, that the member was about 23 cm, in length. 
 The distance from the remaining joint surface of the lintel 
 to the centre of the middle regula, and of the symmetrical 
 composition, is 1.26 m. By adding to this a supplementary 
 5 cm. for the short half-regula, and doubling the result, we 
 have 2.62 for the width of the central intercolumniation. It 
 is thus proved that both these reliefs of sphinxes were above 
 inner intercolumniations of the fronts, and that these can 
 have been no others than the central openings is sufficiently 
 obvious from the absolute symmetry and heraldic character of 
 the figures upon them. So little doubt is possible in regard 
 to this point, that the sphinxes were assigned to this position 
 even by Texier's restoration of the fagade of the temple, upon 
 which every other relief is wrongly placed.^ 
 
 It is worthy of note, that the three half-regulas which may 
 be measured upon the two sphinx reliefs are all too short, the 
 deficiency amounting in one case to 7 cm. The blocks in 
 question are thus seen to have intentionally been made smaller 
 than those adjoining them, and shorter than the intercolumni- 
 ations over which they were placed. An explanation of this 
 lies near at hand. The sculptured subject, consisting only of 
 two figures, was without doubt felt to be too small, or at all 
 events proportionally too high, to fill a panel of the normal 
 length and proportions. While this difficulty was met, in so 
 far as was possible by such adjustment, a corresponding ad- 
 vantage was gained by transferring the deducted length to 
 
 1 Texier, Description, vol. ii. pi. 112. The author especially refers to the 
 relief of the Banquet, one of the two largest blocks removed to Paris, as having 
 been upon the side of the building.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 263 
 
 the neighboring epistyle blocks, containing a greater number 
 of figures. Of the two sphinx reliefs, that upon the eastern 
 front was the more shortened in this manner, the half-panel 
 measuring 1.26 m. ; and it has been pointed out, in consider- 
 ing the style of these sculptures, of what decided advantage 
 to the design even this slight diminution proved to be. 
 
 As a still further, if slight, indication of the correctness 
 of the assignment of the Herakles and Triton to the eastern 
 fagade, it may be observed that the longer corner relief thus 
 
 Fig. 58. Epistyle Block above the second Intercolumniation from 
 the south of the eastern pagade 
 
 Series relating to tlie Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 becomes complementary to the shorter central beam, and vice 
 versa, excess and deficiency corresponding very closely. 
 
 Fortunately for our understanding of the arrangement of 
 the reliefs upon the building, one of the sculptured blocks 
 discovered during the American excavations fills the gap be- 
 tween the Herakles and Pholos and the eastern sphinxes, hav- 
 ing formed the lintel of the second intercolumniation of the 
 main front from the southeastern corner. This is the relief of 
 the four horse-legged centaurs fleeing from the arrows of the 
 hero (Fig. 58). The stone, preserved in its entire length, and 
 with all its mouldings intact, is 2.6 m. in length. That it 
 belonged to an inner intercolumniation was thus evident at 
 once. Despite the striking difference presented by the horse-
 
 264 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 legged and human-legged monsters of the two blocks, it was 
 further assumed that it adjoined the Herakles and Pholos 
 group, next to which it was found, at the southeastern corner 
 of the building, just beneath its original position. And this 
 assumption has been confirmed through a comparison of the 
 half-regulas carved upon its ends with the corresponding 
 members upon the blocks on either hand. That on the right, 
 measuring 33 cm., is exceptionally long, in agreement with 
 the small space remaining for the other half upon the inten- 
 tionally shortened sphinx block (Fig. 57) ; that on the left, 
 measuring 24 cm., in like manner corresponds to the space 
 upon the right-hand end of the Herakles and Pholos relief. 
 Still another proof of contiguity is supplied by the total 
 length of the half front entablature represented by these 
 three reliefs, — an accurate test, inasmuch as no great vari- 
 ation is here conceivable. The total length of the corner 
 panel, 3.085 m. from joint to angle, as before determined, 
 added to the 2.6 m. of this relief of the four horse-legged 
 centaurs, and to the 1.26 m. represented by the half-panel 
 of the eastern sphinxes, gives just that total of 6.945 m. re- 
 required for the half-entablature length, definitely determined 
 by measurements of the plan. 
 
 Continuing the examination of those reliefs which are to 
 be assigned to the southeastern corner of the building, we 
 have next to deal with two epistyle beams in the Louvre rep- 
 resenting centaurs (Figs. 59 and 60). Their regular gallop 
 in the same direction, their conventional positions, so similar 
 to those of their brethren upon the reliefs of the front, natu- 
 rally lead to the supposition that they were connected with 
 the exploit of Herakles against these monsters, of which the 
 chief scene is depicted upon the front corner ; and that, as 
 the line of retreating centaurs is known to have been termi- 
 nated by the heraldic sphinxes occupying the middle of the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 265 
 
 fagade, these wine-attracted disturbers of the hospitality of 
 Pholos are hastening to the assault, around the corner, upon 
 the side entablature. It may furthermore be observed, that 
 the sculptor has shown all but one of the centaurs retreating 
 discomfited before the arrows of the hero to have lost their 
 weapons, while all but one of those advancing have their 
 weapons still in their hands. Convincing indications of the 
 correctness of this view of the incident, and of the arrange- 
 ment of the blocks in accordance therewith, may be derived 
 
 Fig. 59. Epistyle Block above the easternmost Intercolum- 
 
 NIATION of the SOUTHERN SiDE. 
 
 Series relating to the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 from the dimensions of the two Louvre reliefs under consid- 
 eration. The first (Fig. 59) is recognizable as having belonged 
 to a side corner by the great length of its central regula, and 
 by the distance of this member from the remaining joint sur- 
 face. While the inner side lintels averaged, as has been 
 shown, but 2.44 m. in length from axis to axis, the corners 
 were not less than 2.9 m. long from axis to angle. Discrimi- 
 nation between them is hence neither difficult nor uncertain. 
 From the ideal axis, 15 cm, beyond the left joint surface of 
 our block, to the centre of the middle regula, is 1.32 m.; twice 
 this, plus the length of the half corner regula which is to be 
 included in the calculation, gives precisely the required di- 
 mensions. It will be noticed in connection with this ideal 
 axis, that the stone presents a further peculiarity indicative
 
 266 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 of its position above one of the corner intercolumniations : 
 the half-regula at the left is the shortest member of the kind 
 cut upon any of the epistyle blocks known, being only ii cm. 
 in length. It is evident that the beam was thus shortened 
 through the same desire to spare the labor of quarrymen 
 and masons which determined the cutting of the laps upon 
 these corner blocks of the sides, rather than upon those of 
 the fronts. It was much easier to provide and handle two 
 blocks of 2.6 and 2.75, than two of 2.45 and 2.9 m., respect- 
 ively. The length of the whole regula is over 57 cm., con- 
 siderably more than the ordinary width of the side triglyphs, 
 which appear to have averaged about 52 cm. For a corner 
 block this is entirely normal, such an extension being the 
 most natural method of effecting an adjustment between the 
 different lengths of the two classes of lintels. For the same 
 reason, the metope was allowed a width of 76 cm., while the 
 average width of the metopes above the inner intercolumnia- 
 tions of the sides cannot have exceeded 71 cm. Still another 
 indication, and one of an entirely different nature, may be 
 adduced to prove the position of the block. If the panel ex- 
 tended to the corner of the entablature, with an entire regula 
 at the right-hand end, as indicated by the dotted lines in 
 Figure 59, just sufficient space would have been provided to 
 contain the figures of two centaurs in advance of the fore- 
 most now remaining. This would by no means have been the 
 case had the lintel been above an inner intercolumniation, and 
 terminated by a joint surface in or near the axis of the next 
 regula upon the right. It is true that the body of the last 
 centaur upon the left is divided by the joint ; but this single 
 instance of the kind in any of the reliefs was due, as will pres- 
 ently be explained, to this very elongation of the corner block 
 by a lap, owing to which nine centaurs could be represented 
 upon two adjoining panels, instead of four upon each.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 
 
 267 
 
 The second of the Paris centaur reliefs (Fig. 60) is of the 
 small dimensions which prove it to have been above one of 
 the inner intercolumniations of the sides. The length of the 
 half-panel remaining intact is only 1.2 m. from the right-hand 
 axis, 2 cm. beyond the point to the centre of the middle reg- 
 ula. The latter moulding is considerably shorter than the 
 average of its class, measuring but 48 cm. in length. This 
 block obviously did not adjoin the corner lintel ; the missing 
 hind quarters of the last centaur upon that relief are not 
 
 Fig. 60. Epistyle Block above the second Intercolumniation 
 
 FROM the east OF THE SOUTHERN SiDE. 
 
 Series relating to the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 sculptured upon it, while the half-regulas are by no means 
 complementary. It is to be assigned, without doubt, to the 
 third intercolumniation of the southern side, from the east. 
 If we assume the joint surface upon the left-hand side, now 
 lost, to have been displaced a few centimeters beyond the 
 ideal axis, as would naturally have been the case in the first 
 sculptured lintel, ample space would have been provided for 
 the body of a fourth centaur. Even had joint and axis co- 
 incided, this figure might have found room. It appears 
 probable that this fourth centaur terminated the long line 
 of advancing assailants, and that the adjoining epistyle block 
 upon the left was unsculptured ; yet this point cannot be 
 definitely determined. 
 
 The arrangement of the reliefs upon the six epistyle beams
 
 o 
 
 
 2; 
 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 270 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 nearest to the southeastern corner, thus ascertained, is shown 
 in Figures 61 and 62} Observe the difference between the 
 easy canter of the centaurs advancing in regular file to the 
 attack, and the headlong flight of those who retreat in terror 
 before the victorious arms of the hero ; the node of the ac- 
 tion, so to speak, being the comparative repose of the upright 
 figures of Pholos and his guest, emphasizing the vertical lines 
 at the corner of the entablature in excellent architectural 
 effect. 
 
 One other epistyle relief can be proved to have appertained 
 to a front of the building; namely, that of the lion and boar, 
 discovered during the first year of the American excavations. 
 (Fig. 64.) The fragment, comprising about three quarters of 
 the entire panel, measures 1.34 m. from the remaining joint 
 surface to the middle of the central regula. Deducting 4 cm. 
 
 ^ The restored elevation of the gable and gable ornaments, given in 
 Figure 62, introduces architectural features which require some words of fur- 
 ther explanation. 
 
 The three stones of the tympanon wall veil, referred to in the description 
 of the edifice, pages 106-109 of the present volume, are indicated by dots. It 
 is not absolutely certain that the blocks recovered appertained to the eastern, 
 and not the western gable ; yet the position in which they were found favors 
 the former attribution, while the fact that the three stones belonged together 
 and originally adjoined is evident from the exact agreement in height of their 
 corresponding sides. 
 
 The relief decoration of the terra-cotta gutter is based upon the indications 
 afforded by the fragment discovered during the second year of the excavations. 
 (Compare page 133, V\g. 31.) The height of this member is the chief feature 
 which remains uncertain- 
 
 In respect to the grifSn drawn as the corner acroterion, it is obvious that a 
 single paw (page 137, Fig. 34) is by no means sufficient to warrant a trustworthy 
 restoration. The figure is introduced merely for the purpose of indicating the 
 ascertained fact that a monster of this nature, whether griffin or sphinx, occu- 
 pied this position. Its height, which may appear excessive, is but one meter, 
 and has been made proportionate to the dimensions of the acroterion surmount- 
 ing the apex of the gable. 
 
 This central acroterion, decoiipe from a slab eight centimeters in thickness, 
 may be reconstructed with reasonable certainty as to its main features from the 
 existing fragment of its left-hand lower convolution. (Page 136, Fig. ^iZ-) The
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 
 
 271 
 
 for the excess of the half-regula, and doubling the remainder, 
 the Hntel is found to have corresponded exactly to an inter- 
 columniation of 2.6 m., or one of the inner spaces of the 
 
 Fig. 64. Epistyle Block above the second Intercolummation 
 
 FROM the north OF THE WESTERN Fa^ADE 
 Series relating to the Erymantliian Boar. 
 
 fronts. It is plain that it cannot have occupied a corner, 
 for the direction of the composition shows that a longer half- 
 fragment in question, indicated by siiading, is shown, together with the outline 
 of the suggested reconstruction, upon a larger scale in Figure 63. As the volute 
 sends off a main branch upon the side opposite to the incised parallel lines 
 which evidently designate a horizontal juncture, 
 it is plain that the ornament must have consisted 
 of at least two pairs of scrolls. The fragment 
 remaining is not less than 55 cm. broad, showing 
 the width of the scrolls to which it belonged to 
 have been very nearly one meter. The given 
 dimensions of the acroterion are thus by no means 
 too large. At first sight, so broad and bulky 
 a mass will appear disproportionate to the gable. 
 But it is to be borne in mind that the temple of 
 Assos was at once archaic and of small size, 
 both of which characteristics commonly led, as 
 will be recognized by students of Greek archi- 
 tecture, to a comparatively large acroterion or- 
 nament. In the restoration of gutter anthemion 
 and central acroterion, the indications of deco- 
 rative style afforded by the known antefix have 
 been followed as closely as possible. 
 
 It is instructive to contrast the heavy acro- 
 terion of poros stone from the temple of Assos 
 with the graceful and refined ornament of marble 
 
 Fig. 63. Restoration of the 
 Central Acroterion, the 
 remaining fragment dot- 
 ted and shaded.
 
 272 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 regula would in that case have been cut upon the left-hand 
 end, remaining intact, in order to make up the complement 
 to the lap. On the other hand, the slight excess of the 
 actual member was evidently determined by the desire of 
 the masons to diminish the length of the corner block, which 
 adjoined it upon this side. The corresponding lintel of the 
 eastern front being already known, we may safely conclude 
 that the relief of the lion and the boar, one of the finest in 
 point of execution, was situated above the intercolumniation 
 of the western fagade second from the north, having on its 
 right the heraldic sphinxes, and on its left the missing corner 
 block which would have figured as the fourth in our list. 
 This conclusion is borne out by the position in which the 
 relief was discovered, — close to the western end of the 
 temple, and directly opposite the intercolumniation to which 
 it has been assigned.^ The mass of rude mediaeval masonry 
 in which the stone was embodied was found to consist almost 
 wholly of cornice blocks from the western entablature and 
 gable. This circumstance would of itself almost suffice to 
 determine the original position of the relief. 
 
 Among the smaller fragments in the Louvre is a portion of 
 that epistyle which was situated above the westernmost inter- 
 columniation of the northern side of the building, and over- 
 lapped the missing corner of the western facade. This is the 
 relief of the lion springing upon the back of a hind. (Fig. 65.) 
 Upon it is seen, extending from the end surface at the right 
 across three quarters of the short length remaining, an entire 
 
 which occupied the corresponding position upon the temple of Aigina. As the 
 present writer has become aware through a study of the fragments of the latter 
 member, now preserved in the Glyptothek of Munich, none of the published res- 
 torations of the Aiginetan acroterion are altogether correct ; still they suffice, 
 in such comparison, to illustrate the characteristic differences between Euro- 
 pean and Asiatic, between advancing and provincial, design of one and the 
 same age. 
 
 ^ Prelhninary Report, plate 2. N.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 273 
 
 regula, fully equal to the known width of one of the corner 
 triglyphs to which it must have corresponded. The relief 
 which formed the easternmost corner of the southern side 
 being known, it is evident that this lintel can only have been 
 situated diagonally opposite to it. This block with the cor- 
 ner lap is the only one of its kind which has come to light. 
 When found by the French explorers it must have clearly 
 displayed the method followed by the ancient builders in cut- 
 ting the lap with reference to the narrow soffit and peculiar 
 
 Fig. 65. Epistyle Block above the westernmost Intercolumniation 
 OF THE Northern Side. 
 
 Series relating to the Erymanthian Boar. 
 
 boss of the epistyle beams. Hence it is a matter of great 
 regret that, by the sawing of the lintel to a thin slab, these 
 indications have been altogether obliterated, while no record 
 was kept of the original formation of a member so important 
 in architectural respects. 
 
 As the three corner blocks of the fronts preserved to us 
 represent three of the deeds of Herakles, it is natural to as- 
 sume that the subject of the fourth was of a similar nature. 
 The reliefs adjoining the missing scene, and doubtless stand- 
 ing in connection with it, display the struggle of a number of 
 wild beasts, — the lion and boar, and the lion and hind, — 
 " ces animaux feroces dechirant les paisibles botes des forets, 
 dont la v^locite ne peut les d<^rober h leur insatiable soif de 
 
 18
 
 2 74 
 
 ARCHyEOLOCICAL IXST/TC/TE. 
 
 sang," as Clarac poetically describes thcm.^ Hence, the as- 
 sumption is ready at hand, that the missing scene was the 
 combat of Herakles with the Nemean lion, or with the Ery- 
 manthian boar. It has been observed that two of the chief 
 subjects were connected with one and the same expedition, 
 and as the adventure of the hero with the centaurs of Mount 
 Pholoe was an episode of the pursuit of the Erymanthian 
 boar, the latter suggestion enjoys the greater probability. 
 
 Three of the remaining reliefs evidently belong to the same 
 series of representations, and may be supposed to have orna- 
 
 FiG. 66. Epistyle Block from the Western Group of 
 THE Northern Side. 
 
 Series relating to the Erymanthian Boar. 
 
 mented the northwestern corner of the edifice. These are 
 the two lions and stag (Fig. 66), the lion and bull (Fig. 68), 
 and the lion with the legs of a deer thrown over his back 
 (Fig. 69). That the first of these was upon the side of the 
 building is rendered wellnigh certain by the exceptionally 
 small size of the central regula, which measures scarcely 
 48 cm. in length. In calculating the width of the inter- 
 columniation to which it appertained, we find the distance 
 from the middle of the central regula to the axis of the col- 
 umn upon the left hand, about 7 cm. beyond the actual joint 
 surface, to be equal to 1.34 m. Thus, if the block be assumed 
 to have been above an inner side intercolumniation of 2.44 m. 
 1 Clarac, Musee, vol. ii., seconde partie.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 
 
 -V5 
 
 on centres, as is indicated by the dotted lines of Figure 66, it 
 is evident that the central regula has been displaced at least 
 12 cm. to the right. Although irregularities even greater 
 than this have been observed in other lintels, this feature, 
 taken together with others capable of a like interpretation, 
 leads us to the conviction that this relief of the two lions and 
 stag is the left-hand half of that side corner panel of which 
 the other end is represented by the fragment of the lion and 
 deer shown in Figure 65. The half-regula at the left is less 
 than 20 cm. long, being the smallest member of the kind 
 
 Fig. 67. Epistyle Block from the westernSiost Intercolumnia- 
 TioN OF the Northern Side. 
 
 Combination of Fragments shown in Figures 65 and 66. Series relating 
 to the Erymanthian Boar. 
 
 known, with the exception of that occupying the correspond- 
 ing position upon the other side corner block of the advan- 
 cing centaurs, Figure 59. Reference has already been made 
 to the practical considerations which in the case of lintels 
 placed above side corners led to such curtailment of the inner 
 half-regulas. Shorter stones could thus be utilized than would 
 be possible had the joint surfaces conformed to the axes of the 
 columns. The small size of the detail in question may hence 
 serve as an argument in support of the combination of the 
 two fragments shown in Figure 67. Computing the length of 
 the panel thus constituted, and assuming the two metopes 
 above it to have been of equal size, we find the stone, from 
 joint surface to corner of lap, to have been of a dimension
 
 276 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 closely agreeing with the 2.9 m. required for the lintel occu- 
 pying this position. In combining the fragments in the 
 manner indicated, we are struck with the agreement in de- 
 sign of the groups thus brought together. Just sufficient 
 space remains upon the missing portion to contain the trunk 
 and hind quarters of the lion whose head and shoulders are 
 seen upon Figure 65. The beasts of prey spring upon their 
 booty in the same way, and with bodies inclined in the same 
 direction, forming in their conventional regularity a pendant 
 
 Fig. 68. Epistyle Block from the Western Group 
 OF THE Northern Side. 
 
 Series relating to the Erymanthian Boar. 
 
 to the monotonous file of the advancing centaurs upon the 
 other end of the building. 
 
 The second relief belonging to this series represents a lion 
 dragging a bull to the ground. (Fig. 6Z?) That this is to 
 be assigned to one of the inner intercolumniations of the 
 sides is susceptible of little doubt, as the distance between 
 the two remaining regulas exactly corresponds to the dimen- 
 sions requisite for such a lintel had the two metopes been 
 equal in size, and the triglyphs of the normal side width. 
 The half-regula at the right is slightly excessive, and it is 
 quite possible that the block may have adjoined the side cor- 
 ner panel, shown in Figure Gj. In this case the third tri- 
 glyph from the northeastern corner, though slightly broader 
 than the second, and than that above one of the epistyles of
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 277 
 
 the southern entablature, would still have been two or three 
 
 centimeters narrower than the average. 
 
 In regard to the third relief, that of the hind quarters of a 
 
 lion with the legs of a deer thrown over his back (Fig. 69), 
 
 we have a further indication of its connection with the series 
 
 of the northwestern corner in the position in which it was 
 
 found, immediately adjoining the relief of the lion and boar.^ 
 
 The only measurement which can be taken from the small 
 
 fragment is that of the half-regula, 33 cm. in length. The 
 
 excess is here so great that we are led 
 
 33 
 to consider the possibility of this block ^7JQ~~~~~^ 
 
 being the end of the corner lintel of the \r- 
 
 western fagade, complementary to the (n C \\ 
 
 lap. Its evident superiority in design ){x\ /^~~^' 
 
 and execution might be put forward in M'-^^ d' / 
 
 support of this identification. But, on i-^^^:^.-^^^ ZIJ~Z''.'"i 
 
 the other hand, we cannot fail to observe Fig. 69. Fragment of 
 
 ,1 , • • -1 •*. r i-t- • 1 • AN Epistyle Block of 
 
 the entire smiilarity of the anmials in ^„^ s^^,,3 ^^^,^^,^^ 
 
 scale and action with those sculptured "^o "^^e erymanthian 
 
 Boar. 
 upon the two blocks of the northern 
 
 side, and the want of any indication of a struggle of either 
 boar or lion with Herakles. The stone represents too small 
 a portion of the panel to allow of any decision in this matter; 
 and it might, upon grounds quite as convincing, be deemed 
 to have formed the left half of the side block of the lion and 
 bull (Fig. 68). 
 
 There remain but two sculptured epistyle blocks, which 
 cannot be brought into connection with either of the four 
 chief scenes depicted upon the corners of the temple. These 
 are the reliefs of the butting bulls, Figures 70 and 71. Bear- 
 ing in mind the perfectly regular manner in which the se- 
 quence of subject was carried out in all the reliefs of the 
 
 ^ PrcUmiuarv Report, plate 2, N.
 
 :78 
 
 ARCH.'EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 entablature hitherto considered, — a sequence in favor of 
 which the fundamental law of the Doric style forbidding the 
 decoration of the epistyle had been sacrificed, — it appeared 
 at first sight impossible to assign a position to these blocks. 
 On the one hand, it was difficult to conceive their having 
 adjoined either of the series depicting the deeds of Herakles ; 
 on the other, the number of lateral epistyle beams being 
 even, there was no possibility of the bulls having occupied 
 the middle of the sides, in that absolute symmetry and dis- 
 connection from the other scenes which would have been 
 
 Fig. 70. Epistyle Block from the Entablature of the Cella, 
 
 ABOVE THE PrONAOS. 
 
 Subject related to the Cult of Assian Athena. 
 
 demanded by the subject and composition of these reliefs. 
 Such difficulties are, however, entirely avoided by their re- 
 moval from the peripteros. That these two epistyle blocks 
 were, in fact, situated within the colonnade, upon the wall 
 of the cella, can be proved from indications of so different 
 nature that the argument is free from those dangers of a 
 vicious circle against which we must constantly be on our 
 guard in reconstructions of this kind. 
 
 One of the reliefs, shown in Figure 70, is remarkable as 
 being the only lintel, preserved in its entire length, upon 
 which the extent of all the mouldings can be measured. Its 
 half-regulas, respectively 31 and 37 cm. long, are both ex- 
 cessive. Deducting from the actual length of the stone the
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 279 
 
 16 cm. thus determined, we find the axes of the columnar 
 triglyphs to have been only 2.35 m. apart, or 9 cm. less than 
 the average of the side intercolumniations. In like manner, 
 the fragmentary relief of the same subject (Fig. 71) measures 
 but 1.14 m. from the remaining joint surface to the middle of 
 the central regula. The span thus indicated is not less than 
 16 cm. narrower than that of the side lintels; and although 
 this dimension was without doubt slightly increased through 
 a want of correspondence between joint surface and ideal 
 
 Fig. 71. Epistyle Block forming the Pendant to that 
 
 SHOWN IN Figure 70. 
 
 Same subject and corresponding location. 
 
 axis, we have good grounds for believing that the amount of 
 such correction cannot have exceeded six or eight centimeters 
 in the total length. This lintel is unfortunately deprived of 
 both half-regulas, so that no direct information is obtainable 
 upon this point from the stone itself. But if the metopes 
 above it be assumed to have equalled those above its pendant, 
 the joint surface is found to have been removed from the axis 
 of the support by not more than three or four centimeters. 
 An indication leading to the same conclusion is furnished by 
 the subjects represented upon these panels. The animals are 
 so entirely similar in posture and proportions that the out- 
 lines actually appear to have been transferred to the stones 
 from one and the same drawing. This may be tested by 
 laying a strip of tracing-paper bearing the outlines of Figure
 
 28o ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 yo over Figure 71, when the forms will be seen to agree 
 in a manner otherwise inexplicable. The only variations 
 are those rendered necessary by the different height of the 
 tainias, this member measurmg in one case but eight and a 
 half, in the other fully ten centimeters. The lengths, with 
 which alone we are at present concerned, are absolutely iden- 
 tical. Hence, it is impossible to assume that the figures upon 
 the fragmentary block occupied a more elongated panel. 
 
 It is thus evident that we have to deal with lintels placed 
 above considerably narrower intercolumniations than those 
 of the sides, which, with the exception of the corners,^ are 
 known, from the traces of the columns upon the stylobate, to 
 have in no case varied more than a centimeter or two from 
 the average of 2.44 m. In short, the reliefs of the butting 
 bulls formed no part whatever of the entablature of the 
 peripteros. They can only be assigned to the two side inter- 
 columniations of the pronaos, between the antae and the col- 
 umns in antis, inasmuch as the lintels above these openings 
 are the only ones of a smaller span than those hitherto 
 considered. 
 
 The exact widths of these intercolumniations are not ascer- 
 tainable from the plan, the traces upon the stylobate being 
 too indistinct to permit of an accurate measurement. The 
 columns in antis stood upon blocks larger, and without doubt 
 deeper, than those of the surrounding pavement, having ex- 
 posed surfaces of 1.2 m. square and i.i by 1.4 m. (Compare 
 
 1 The deviations of the corner intercolumniations of the sides from the nor- 
 mal width, evident from traces upon the stylobate referred to upon page 76 of 
 the present volume, are themselves not equal to the difference in length between 
 the epistyle blocks sculptured with the two bulls and the lintels placed above 
 the inner intercolumniations of the sides. The increased span indicated by 
 these traces is readily explicable by the consideration that the corner passages 
 of the sides were intentionally approximated to those of the fronts ; while it is, 
 on the other hand, impossible to assume that a restriction of such amount can 
 have existed in the case of any intercolumniation of the peripteros.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 28 1 
 
 the plan, Fig. 4.) Upon these blocks are to be seen the dis- 
 colored patches in slight relief resulting from the presence 
 upon them for wellnigh two thousand years of the lowest drums 
 of the shafts. The outlines of the arrises, here eighteen in 
 number, could be followed in but one case, and even there 
 with no certainty in respect to the demarcation. All that 
 could be definitely determined was that the circular patches 
 occupied about the middle of the slabs, in their axes from 
 east to west. The central opening may in this wise be seen 
 to have been at least 1.9 and possibly 2 m. in the clear, and 
 the columns in antis 2.8 or 2.9 m. on centres. This shows 
 the side intercolumniations to have been spanned, from centre 
 of anta wall to axis of column, by lintels but 2.2 or 2.25 m. in 
 length, and to have been even narrower than we should have 
 been led to assume from the dimensions of the blocks now 
 under consideration. It is, however, probable that the ad- 
 justment of the members of the frieze led to some displace- 
 ment of the columnar triglyphs from the axes of the supports 
 beneath them. Although the central intercolumniation was 
 thirty, or even forty, centimeters wider than the intercolumni- 
 ations of the fronts, the average of the three pronaos lintels 
 was almost exactly equal to that of the side lintels of the 
 peripteros. Thus the average width of the metopes and tri- 
 glyphs, determined by the dimensions of the outer entabla- 
 ture, would naturally have been retained, and the axes of 
 these members have tended to a displacement in the sense 
 indicated. This is precisely the conclusion which might have 
 been drawn from the exceptionally short distance between 
 the columnar axes and the excessive lengths of the half- 
 regulas upon these blocks of the butting bulls. Lintels of 
 the normal length supplied by the quarrymen were, from 
 constructive reasons presently to be adduced, adjusted with- 
 out curtailment to agree with the details of a frieze cor-
 
 282 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 
 
 responding to somewhat narrower intercolumniations than 
 those of the peripteros. It is obviously impossible to assume 
 any fundamentally different division of the pronaos frieze. 
 Broad as the central intercolumniation was, the lintel above 
 it was still much too short to permit of the introduction of 
 a supernumerary metope and triglyph. We need not, of 
 course, suppose the spacing to have been perfectly equal ; 
 the increase of ten or fifteen centimeters, apparent from the 
 lintels in question, would have sufficed to effect the equaliza- 
 tion in a manner perfectly satisfactory to any eye which 
 would tolerate the irregularities known to have existed upon 
 the fagades. In the light thus thrown upon the construction 
 of the cella front, we can readily perceive the reasons which 
 led the ancient builders to permit a very considerable exten- 
 sion of these lateral epistyle beams beyond the axes of the 
 columns in antis. This can only have been done for the pur- 
 pose of decreasing the length of the central lintel spanning 
 the widest intercolumniation of the building. 
 
 It may further be noticed that the two epistyle beams with 
 the reliefs of the butting bulls asie the only ones which do not 
 display upon the edges of their soffits those shallow sinkings 
 of rectangular plan intended to receive the end of a crowbar 
 during the process of shifting the stone to its exact position. 
 Although scarcely of itself sufficient to furnish a definite proof, 
 this peculiarity suggests the employment of another means for 
 the lifting and setting of these lintels of the pronaos than that 
 adopted to meet the different requirements of the peripteros, 
 and may hence be advanced in support of the arrangement 
 proposed upon other grounds. 
 
 That the entablature upon the front of the cella should 
 have been distinguished by sculptures, is entirely in keeping 
 with the importance assigned by ancient architects to the 
 portal of the inner fane. Doric temples, in which sculp-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 2S 
 
 o 
 
 tured decorations were, from motives of economy, not extend- 
 ed to the entire edifice, invariably display their finest reliefs, 
 whether metopes or consecutive frieze, above the pronaos. 
 Well known instances of this are the temple of Bassai, 
 the temple of Sounion, and that most striking analogy, the 
 Theseion. 
 
 Moreover, the subject represented upon these two lintels, 
 so entirely unconnected with the extended scenes of the 
 outer entablature, is such as to render them eminently suit- 
 able to the decoration of the inner house of the goddess. It 
 relates, not to the exploits of the Aeolic hero there depicted, 
 but, as will be set forth in a subsequent connection, to the 
 peculiar cult of Trojan and Assian Athena. 
 
 And, in conclusion, the argument may be enforced by a 
 reference to the strictly symmetrical and almost heraldic 
 manner in which the animals are depicted. It is at once 
 obvious that these panels were intended to be seen as pen- 
 dants. So decisive is the indication thus afforded, that it 
 induced the designer of the French restoration of the temple 
 to assign these shortest known epistyle beams to the widest 
 intercolumniations of the building, at the corners of the main 
 fagade.^ It is impossible not to recognize the correctness of 
 the instinct which led to this error, readily to be detected by 
 a measurement of even the few fragments removed to the 
 Louvre ; and it is satisfactory that the principle, though in a 
 different application, may now be justified by the most careful 
 comparison of the actual dimensions. 
 
 ' Texier, Description, vol. ii. pi. 112. In the volume of L'Univers, referred 
 to ill a foregoing note, the author explicitly remarks, " Les deux extremites de 
 la fa9ade etaient ornees de deux couples de taureaux dans I'attitude de combat." 
 The lion and bull, and the two lions and deer, occupy the intermediate lintels. 
 In order to make them fit the given spaces, these blocks have been subjected to 
 a truly Procrustean elongation, even the reliefs of the wild beasts last men- 
 tioned being of that short length which proves them to have belonged to the 
 sides of the building.
 
 284 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Six sculptured metopes belonging to the temple are now 
 known, three of these having been removed from Assos to 
 the Louvre, and three brought to light during the American 
 excavations. Four are preserved in their entire width, yet in 
 only one of these can the exact distance between the edges 
 of the bordering triglyphs be ascertained. This is due to the 
 fact that rebates, of slightly variable depth, were generally 
 cut upon the ends of the projecting bands, so as to fit into 
 the corresponding reveal of the triglyphs, in order to prevent 
 the appearance of open joints. In such cases the exposed 
 face was, of course, narrower than the slab itself, and no 
 conclusions are to be drawn in this regard concerning four 
 of the metopes, the edges of which have been so weathered 
 and defaced that the extent of the overlap cannot now be 
 determined. 
 
 Accurate measurements in this respect are to be taken only 
 from the relief of the running centaur. Figure "ji. While the 
 total width of the slab is a fraction over "j^^ cm., that of the 
 face visible between the rebates is 68 cm. The latter dimen- 
 sion is exactly that of the exceptionally narrow space remain- 
 ing between the regulas of one of the epistyle blocks of the 
 eastern front ; and there can be little doubt that this metope 
 was placed above the right-hand side of the second inter- 
 columniation, from the south, of this facade, as shown in 
 Figures 55 and 62. The sculptures upon the epistyle, and 
 the metope above it, are thus seen to have agreed, in this 
 instance, both in subject and direction of composition ; and it 
 is natural to assume that this was the case with all those 
 metopes where such an agreement is indicated by repetition 
 of type. 
 
 According to this principle, the relief of the two squatting 
 sphinxes repeated in heraldic symmetry. Figure 73, would be 
 assigned to the central intercolumniation of either the eastern
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 2S5 
 
 or western front Unfortunately, the width of but one of the 
 metopes placed above the epistyle blocks in question can 
 be measured from the lintels, while the edges of the sphinx 
 metope are so rounded that it is impossible to determine the 
 exact width of the exposed face of this slab. Hence, no means 
 of proving this contiguity are at hand. The dimensions as 
 far as they can be ascertained do not, however, render it 
 improbable. The width of the left-hand metope, above the 
 central epistyle of the eastern front, was 75 cm., somewhat 
 
 Fig 73- 
 
 Fig- 74- 
 
 Metope of the Eastern Entablature occupying the 
 Fourth Field from the South. 
 Related in subject to the series of the Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 Fig. 73. Metope showing the Coat of Arms of Assos. 
 
 Probably placed above the central epistyle block of one of the facades. 
 
 Fig. 74. Metope related in subject to the series of the 
 Erymanthian Boar. 
 
 less than that indicated by the 82 cm. of the sphinx metope, 
 if the rebate upon this slab be assumed to have been of the 
 same depth as those upon the two centaur metopes. The 
 right-hand metope above the central intercolumniation of the 
 eastern front was undoubtedly somewhat wider than the left, 
 averaging, together with the two metopes following towards 
 the north, above the missing epistyle block, fully ^6 cm. 
 
 In like manner the metope of the boar. Figure 74, agreeing 
 as it does with one of the reliefs of the western front, both 
 in subject and direction of composition, may be supposed to
 
 286 
 
 A RCH^OL OGTCA L INS TITUTE. 
 
 have occupied one of the first four panels, counting from the 
 north, of the frieze of that facade. Here, again, proof is 
 lacking, as the edges of the slab are rounded, and the space 
 between two of the regulas of the relief of the lion and boar 
 cannot be measured. We must, furthermore, admit the pos- 
 sibility of this metope having been above the missing lintel 
 of the northwestern corner, the subject of which was in all 
 likelihood that of Herakles and the Erymanthian boar. 
 
 In the case of the three metopes brought to light by the 
 American excavations, we have such additional information as 
 
 SL 
 
 Fig. 75- Fig 76. 
 
 Fig. 75. Fragment of a Metope, related in subject to the Series of 
 THE Centaurs of Mount Pholoe. 
 
 Probably from the southern half of the eastern entablature. 
 
 Fig. 76. Metope of uncertain location and subject. 
 
 Fig. 77. Fragmentary Metope, of uncertain location and subject. 
 
 may be derived from a record of the position in which these 
 reliefs were found. The small fragment showing the hind 
 legs of a centaur, Figure 75, was unearthed close to the south- 
 eastern corner of the temple, together with a jiumber of blocks 
 known to have appertained to that part of the entablature. 
 There is thus good ground for the belief that this centaur 
 metope, like that other one already considered, stood in con- 
 nection with the series renting to Herakles and Pholos, and 
 occupied one of the three southernmost panels of the eastern 
 facade. It will be observed that the galloping position and
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 287 
 
 the direction of the course are in both cases the same as 
 those of the centaurs depicted upon the epistyle. 
 
 The entire metope, Figure ^6, was found to have been re- 
 moved from the spot where it had fallen, and to have been 
 incorporated into the rude Byzantine fortifications erected 
 upon the west of the citadel. The exact point is marked 
 D upon the plan of the Acropolis, Preliminary Report, 
 Plate 2. Inasmuch as both the other reliefs found in this 
 rampart are known to have belonged to the western facade, 
 it appears probable that this metope ornamented that end 
 of the building. It certainly was not placed above the relief 
 of Herakles and Triton, the regulas of which correspond to 
 slabs of considerably greater width ; and the movement of 
 the composition, from left to right, renders it unlikely that 
 it was above the southern half of the eastern front. 
 
 The two fragments of a metope shown in Figure yj were 
 found buried in the earth which had accumulated upon the 
 stylobate of the temple itself, and, as the original width of 
 the slab is not apparent, we possess no indications whatever 
 in regard to its original position. 
 
 The two metopes last considered apparently represent com- 
 bats of Herakles, and form further illustrations of the theme 
 chosen for the decoration of the peripteros. Standing in no 
 direct connection with the four great scenes of the epistyle, 
 they open a wide field for conjecture in regard to the number 
 of exploits thus depicted. It is highly improbable, if not 
 absolutely impossible, that all six of these reliefs are to be 
 assigned to the metopes of the eastern front, the widths of 
 which, enumerating them in their order from south to north, 
 are known to have been 93, 74, 81, 62,^ 75, three unknown 
 averaging y6, and, finally, 90 and 85 cm. It is hence to be 
 assumed that all the metopes of both fronts were sculptured, 
 and that fourteen of the twenty slabs thus distinguished have
 
 288 ARCH^OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 disappeared. That a proportionately smaller number of meto- 
 pes than of epistyle blocks should have survived the ruin 
 of the edifice, is readily explained by the consideration that 
 their smaller size, square shape, and plane backs adapted 
 them better to the needs of Byzantine and Turkish builders. 
 Restriction of the sculptured metopes to one or both fronts 
 was a common practice m Greek architecture, as, for in- 
 stance, in two of the temples of Selinous. The metopes of 
 the sides, like those of the fronts, may be supposed to have 
 been painted, the differences between the reliefs and the 
 unsculptured surfaces being rendered less apparent by this 
 means. 
 
 Here we may terminate our investigation into the positions 
 occupied by the sculptures of the temple. For the benefit of 
 those who may not have cared to enter into all the details of 
 the argument, the conclusions are graphically set forth in the 
 plan of the entablature, Figure 78. The sculptured epistyle 
 blocks now known are shown in solid black, and the names 
 of their subjects are given in the larger lettering. The 
 smaller lettering indicates the probable sequence of the series. 
 The arrows drawn between the lettering and the entablature 
 denote the direction of the composition of the sculptured 
 blocks, and show the entire regularity of the arrangement in 
 this respect. 
 
 The question which naturally arises as to the proportion of 
 sculptured blocks, known and unknown, is best answered by 
 an analysis of this plan. One lintel is certainly lacking from 
 the eastern, and two from the western facade. If the reliefs 
 were extended over an equal number of intercolumniations 
 upon the two sides, at least six sculptured epistyle blocks of 
 the shorter span are missing. The loss which we most de- 
 plore is that of the central lintel of the pronaos entablature, 
 the subject of which doubtless had reference to the cult of
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 C/1 
 
 a: 
 
 CO 
 
 UJ 
 
 D 
 
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 X. 
 
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 _i 
 
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 X 
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 X 
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 2 
 
 o 
 z 
 
 < 
 
 a: 
 
 CO 
 
 < 
 
 HESIONE MYTH 
 H ESI ONE MYTH 
 
 HESIONE MYTH 
 
 WILD BEASTS 
 
 WILD BEASTS 
 
 {advancing centaurs 
 
 ADVANCING CENTAURS 
 
 JADVANCING CENTAURS 
 
 HIPPOLYTE MYTH 
 
 HIPPOLYTE MYTH 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 
 CO 
 
 L' 1 
 
 
 UJ 
 
 -J 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 
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 X 
 
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 o 
 
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 Cu 
 
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 LU 
 CQ 
 
 C/5 
 
 Ul 
 
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 Ul 
 
 «8 
 
 D 
 
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 CL 
 
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 LU 
 
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 LU 
 
 —1 
 
 P 
 
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 I 
 
 < 
 
 Fig. 78. Plan of the Epistyle of the Temple of Assos, showing 
 IN Black the Position of the known Reliefs.
 
 290 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Assian Athena. From these imperfect indications we should 
 assume the epistyle of the peripteros to have had twenty 
 sculptured panels, of which twelve now exist, in more or less 
 considerable fragments. Of the unsculptured epistyle blocks, 
 the remains of eleven, or possibly of twelve, were found upon 
 the site. If twenty-four of the forty-four lintels of the perip- 
 teros were plain, this is a somewhat smaller proportion than 
 that of the known to the unknown reliefs. It is, however, to 
 be supposed that the stones with plane faces would be se- 
 lected by Byzantine and Turkish builders in preference to the 
 others, — the Mohammedan antipathy to graven images de- 
 termining this preference no less than the practical consider- 
 ations of unskilled masons. 
 
 The most significant fact which has been elicited through 
 this examination is, that the sculptured face of the epistyle 
 was not broken up into independent and disconnected panels, 
 as has been assumed in the French restoration, and in all 
 those text-books which treat of this subject, so exceptional in 
 the history of Greek architecture. The reliefs formed four 
 extended compositions, with their chief scenes at the corners 
 of the building, separated in the middle of the fagades by the 
 coat-of-arms of the city. A canon of the Doric style, embody- 
 ing one of the principles of architectural propriety, forbade 
 the decoration of members directly functional in the construct- 
 ive framework, but, in this instance, this canon was set aside 
 for a definite purpose, that of securing for the sculptures the 
 continuity of the Ionic zophoros. It was a similar purpose, 
 coupled with the determination to respect the laws of the 
 style, which induced Iktinos to hide the frieze of the Par- 
 thenon behind the columns of his peripteros. In aesthetic 
 respects we must condemn the expedient adopted in the 
 temple of Assos. Yet, in tardy justice to the unknown and 
 much maligned architect, we may now recognize the fact that
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, ISL. 293 
 
 the decoration of the epistyle was decided upon, not a's^"^ 
 altogether purposeless innovation, but in the desire of secur- 
 ing a recognized advantage ; and, as in every genuine en- 
 deavor to effect an improvement, the design, with all its 
 faults, thereby attained a high degree of individuality and 
 interest. In connection with a plan of absolute regularity, 
 this provincial attempt to extend and connect the sculptured 
 decorations, undisciplined and injudicious as it was, must 
 have given to the temple an air of rude picturesqueness 
 analogous to that which we find so attractive in the earliest 
 edifices of the Romanic style in Northern Europe.
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DATE OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 THE Temple of Assos is of unique interest in the history 
 of ancient art, not only because of the enigmatic char- 
 acter of its sculptures, but because of the fact that it is the 
 only kn own D orjc edifice in Asia Minor which antedates the 
 decadence oi-tbat style. The determination of its date is 
 therefore a matter of signal importance. A definite settle- 
 ment of the disputes which have arisen in this regard would 
 of itself justify the direction of the American expedition to 
 this site. 
 
 Prior to these investigations little information of a posi- 
 tive nature was to be gathered, either from the fragmentary 
 and disconnected reliefs removed to Paris, or from the_, alto-_ 
 geth er incorre ct and mislea dingf engravings of the archi- 
 tect ural_j;emaijTS_jvh^^ 
 
 explorers.^ Notwithstanding ihi&r— th e, age of the monu- 
 
 menr~an3 its position in the development.„oJL_Hellenic 
 sculpture_and^ architecture have been discussed with extra- 
 ordinary_ boldness of aasumptiDn by those scholars whose 
 deli ght it i s ^ to red uce every phenomenon of the classic 
 world to a categ orized system. Almost every archaeologist 
 who has had occasion to refer to the Assos reliefs stands 
 committed to some opinion on these points. A date, 
 expressed with greater or less precision, is to be found 
 
 ^ Instances of Texier's perversions of fact in his description of the architec- 
 ture of the temple have been adduced in sufficient number in the Prelitnimiry 
 Report, pp. iS, 99, etc.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 293 
 
 in almost every book which deals with the history of ancient 
 art. It was inevitable that such assumptions should be char- 
 acterized by a high degree of incompatibility, and we have lit- 
 tle ^ausejor^urprise when we find them ranging even from 
 the twelfth cen tury to the fifth js^ntury before Christ, — from 
 semi-mythical ages preceding the Dorian migration to the 
 years which witnessed the rivalry of full-grown Hellenic states, 
 and the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. 
 
 Bursian ^ brackets the sculptures of Assos with the Gate 
 of the Lions at Mykenai and with works of Assyrian art at 
 the period of its highest development. In a more recent 
 history, Perry 2 lays stress upon their " most primitive char- 
 acter, ... in the highest degree archaic," conceiving them to 
 be " among the very earliest works of the relief style." 
 Friedrichs,^ followed by Wolters,* refers them to the seventh 
 century, remarking that they are among the most ancient 
 works of Greek art, and that they cannot have been pre- 
 ceded by any development extending over a considerable 
 period of time. Studniczka^ assigns the reliefs to the 
 seventh century ; Furtwangler,^ describing them as " hoch- 
 alterthiimlich," classes them with monuments of the seventh 
 and first half of the sixth century ; Murray" thinks them not 
 later than the middle of the sixth century ; and Llibke^ char- 
 
 1 Bursian, s. v. Griechische Kunst, in ErscVi unci Gruber's Allgemeine Eucyclo- 
 pddie, vol. Ixxxii., Leipzig, 1862. 
 
 2 Perry (Walter Copland), Greek and Roman Sculpture, London, 1SS2. 
 
 3 Fiiedrichs (Carl), Berlin's Antike Bildwerke {Baiisteine), Diisseldorf, 
 1868-71, vol. i., and in Schnaase's Gcschichte der Bildeiiden KUnste, 2d ed., 
 Diisseldorf, 1866-79, vol. ii. p. 126. 
 
 * Wolters, in Friedrichs's Gypsabgusse antiker Bildwerke in historischer Folge 
 erkldrt, 2d ed., P.erlin, 1885. 
 
 5 Studniczka, Attische Porosgieheh Mittheiltingen des deiitschen archdologischen 
 Institiits, vol. .xi., Athen, 1S86, p. 75. 
 
 •5 Furtwiingler, s. v. Herakles, in Roscher's Lexikon, p. 2193. 
 
 ^ Murray, History of Greek Sculpture, London, 188D-83. 
 
 8 Liibke, Geschichte der Plastik, 3d ed., Leipzig, 1S80, vol. 1.
 
 294 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 acterizes them as the most primitive among those works of 
 sculpture which have come down to us from the archaic age. 
 Krell 1 refers the building of the temple to the period 
 immediately succeeding the Lydian conquest of the Troad 
 (b. c. 560), but adds that, judging from the sculptures, it 
 may be somewhat more recent ; while Durm,^ expressing a 
 decided opinion that the building was anterior to the invasion 
 of Kroisos, fixes the date, with a single note of interrogation, 
 at the year 000 b. c. A certain allowance is, however, to be 
 made in the case of the two authorities last named, inasmuch 
 as these viewed the problem mainly in its architectural as- 
 pects. The drawings and restorations of Texier, upon which 
 their judgments were based, undoubtedly do bestow an air of 
 extreme rudeness upon the temple. The excessive, and, as 
 Krell terms it, " baggy " entasis of the shafts (which are in 
 reality perfectly straight-lined), — the fictitious course of 
 mouldings interposed between the frieze and the corona, in 
 strange disaccord with the normal forms of the Doric en- 
 tablature, — the supernumerary steps upon the fronts, — 
 the lack of an incision between hypotrachelion and upper- 
 most drum, — the trapeze-shaped regulas, — combine with a 
 host of similarly incorrect features of plan and elevation to 
 give to the edifice a grotesque and primitive aspect, which 
 would, indeed, be wholly inexplicable in any known period 
 of Greek architectural history. 
 
 Contrasted with these extreme views, we have the opinions 
 of two historians of Greek art, whose writings have been 
 distinguished in a high degree by penetration, lucidity, and 
 independence, and who have been the first to advance well 
 
 1 Krell (Philipp F.), Geschichfe des dorischen Styls, Stuttgart, 1S70, p. 20. 
 
 2 Durm, Bankunst dcr Griechen, Darmstadt, 1S81, p. 5, and p. 135. Obvi- 
 ously mistaking the sense of the word which he employs, Durm speaks of the 
 •'pronounced archaistic \sic\ character " of the temple of Assos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 295 
 
 founded doubts concerning the great antiquity so generally 
 attributed to the sculptures of Assos. The earlier of these, 
 Reber,^ has contended, in words exactly contradictory to 
 those of Furtwangler, that the " keineswegs so hochalter- 
 thlimlicher Fries " does not warrant the assignment of the 
 temple of Assos to the most archaic period of the Doric 
 style. The second, Overbeck,^ quoting Reber, has enforced 
 this view with definite arguments, carrying the examination 
 into greater detail. He has pointed out that representations 
 analogous to the relief of Herakles and Triton, in point of 
 style as well as of subject, are found, not among the works 
 of immature Greek art, but in a class of vase paintings of 
 comparatively late date, remarkable because of the frequency 
 with which they depict figures with mclmed bodies. This 
 class of vase paiHrngs'Tie~^ [mainTams fo~ije the'earlTest in 
 whjrh gnrh jp^g niously desig ned subjects, fully developed 
 in org anic respects, albeit so mew hat exagg erated in move- 
 ment^ are known to appear.^ Indications derived from 
 parallels such as this, from the formation and action of the 
 smaller figures of the same relief, and from the appearance 
 of horse-legged centaurs upon another block, have led 
 
 1 Reber (Franz), Geschichte der Bauktmst im Alterthume, Leipzig, 1866, 
 and Kunstgeschichte des Alterthums, Leipzig, 1871, p. 213. In the American 
 edition of the latter work, Histoy of Ancient Art, by Dr. Franz von Reber, 
 translated and augmented by Joseph Thacher Clarke, New York, 1882, the 
 translator omitted the words above quoted, thinking it advisable to be less 
 committal in respect to the age of the sculptures, in view of the decisive in- 
 formation so soon to be expected from the excavations at Assos, then about to 
 commence. This omission he has now cause to regret. 
 
 2 Overbeck (Johannes), Geschichte der griechischen Plastik, 3d ed., Leipzig, 
 1881-83. 
 
 8 The chief argument to this effect is based upon the fact that designs of this 
 nature are not to be found in archaic compositions of the style represented, for 
 instance, on the vases published in plates 95 and 96 of Gerhard's AuserUsenc 
 Griechische Vasenbilder, while they correspond well with later paintings, such 
 as those shown on plates 94, 102, 105, iii, and 113 of the same work, and on 
 plate D of Gerhard's Etruskische und Kampanische Vasenbilder.
 
 296 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Overbeck to deny to the Assos sculptures that great an- 
 tiquity attributed to them by so many antiquaries, and to 
 doubt whether they are, at all events, earlier than the six- 
 tieth Olympiad. This is the first and only attempt to deter- 
 mine the age of the temple by the comparative methods of 
 historical science ; for we can scarcely give precedence in 
 this respect to Clarac,^ who supported his opinion that the 
 reliefs of Assos were contemporary with the gable group of 
 Aigina by arguing that, as Pliny ^ informs us, it was not until 
 the fiftieth Olympiad that the Daidalian sculptors Dipoinos 
 and Skyllis employed marble in statuary. We may conse- 
 quently assume that the hard and coarse stone of Assos 
 could not have been worked by the Greeks before the ac- 
 quirement of considerable experience in the tooling of more 
 tractable materials. 
 
 In view, however, of the scanty and untrustworthy data 
 at the disposal of the scholars whose opinions have been 
 cited, no surprise can be felt at the want of agreement be- 
 tween their estimates, or at their failure to hit upon the 
 actual truth. The American investigations have been the 
 first to provide materials fully adequate for a solution of 
 the problem. The reliefs known are now nearly twice as 
 numerous as before, and are, moreover, seen to have stood 
 in definite relation, as parts of a mythological series, the sub- 
 jects of which were carefully considered and highly significant. 
 Above all, a defi nite determ ina tion of th e architecturaLchar::^ 
 acteristics of the edifice enables us to establish the exact 
 position of its design in the history of the Doric style. 
 
 1 Clarac, Musie, vol. ii. 2d partie, Paris, 1841. Clarac, as will be remem- 
 bered, believed the trachyte of the Assos reliefs, which were sawed into thin 
 slabs under his personal supervision, to be a granite. Compare note i, page 51, 
 of the present volume. It seems unnecessary to enter into a serious refutation 
 of an argument such as this. 
 
 2 Pliny, Nat. Hist., XXXVI. 4. i.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 297 
 
 The conclusions thus reached may be concisely stated at 
 the outset. The jemple of Assos was erected di2nn^Mjhipj)gp 
 which had seen the termination of the Persian .wars, towards 
 the niTdHT^ oFthe 1fiTnr~centufy before Christ, at that period 
 when the Greeks of the Asiastic coast were in the first en- 
 joyment of their relief from Oriental oppression. XheJiuikl- 
 ing wa Funquesti onably somewhat later in date than either the 
 temple of Aigina or theTheseion, and contemporaneous with, 
 or somewh^at 6Tder~than, the temple of Sounion, The archaic 
 appearaiTce oi the sculptures," to which many advanced fea- 
 tures present a marked contrast, is to be attributed to the 
 influence of local and conservative tendencies, favored by the 
 refractory character of the material in which they were exe- 
 cuted. Paradoxical as itjjiay appeaFp-the te,mplfi_QC .Assos is 
 o,f nearly the. same date as the Parthenon.^ 
 
 That rude and primitive character, which so many writers 
 on Greek art have sought to explain by the assumption of a 
 remote date, is to be attributed to provincialism ; a factor 
 which, be it observed, has by no means received due weight 
 in the estimates of many similar archaeological problems. 
 
 1 Are we actually to believe, it may be asked, that the rude figures of the 
 temple of Assos were sculptured at the same period as the incomparable gable 
 groups of the Parthenon ? Not necessarily. We have to take into considera- 
 tion in this connection the revolutionary hypothesis of Puchstein, — first pub- 
 lished in the Berli)ier philologische IVocheiischrift, IVinckelmannsfest der archd- 
 ologiscken Gesellschaft zic Berlin, January 18, 1890, and subsequently elaborated, 
 with highly interesting sections of the draperies of the different schools, in the 
 [ahrbuch des preussischeii archdologischen Instituts, vol. v., 1890, Heft 2, Die Par- 
 thenoHskiclpturen. According to this view, which in the opinion of the present 
 writer has been established by scientific methods of comparison, the sculptures 
 of the Parthenon were not the work of Pheidias, or of his generation. They are to 
 be ascribed to some date subsequent, at all events, to 430 n. c, and are possibly 
 more recent by half a century than the architectural design. If we are to seek, 
 among the contemporary works of European Greece, a parallel to the sculptures 
 of the temple of Assos, a more fitting example, itself displaying marked inequalitv 
 of treatment, would be the central group of the eastern gable of the temple of 
 Zeus at Olympia, which must be very nearly of the same age.
 
 298 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 From the point of view of the practical investigator, it is 
 peculiarly unfortunate that the foundations of the temple of 
 Assos should have been laid directly upon the native rock, 
 and have thus precluded the possibility of a discovery, be- 
 neath the stylobate, of vestiges of an earlier occupation of 
 the site, such as those which proved of decisive importance 
 in the exploration of the Olympian Altis. The on l y spot j n 
 which any considerable bed of earth existed b eneatlLjhe 
 stones of the temple was within the cella, and here the laying 
 of the mosaic pavement, apparen tly to be referred to the 
 fourth century before Christ, led to disturbances of the soil 
 which make it irnpossible to draw conclusions from objects 
 discovered therein respecting the epoch of the origiryal con- 
 struction.^ The inconsiderable deposits of earth which exist 
 beneath the paving stones of the pteroma, and which may, 
 or may not, have^beerT'HIsturbed at a "subsequent period, 
 were, when accessible, carefully sifted by the explorers, but 
 were found to contain nothing beyond a few small sherds of 
 an unglazed pottery, such as was in every-day use from the 
 earliest to the latest ages of Greek antiquity. 
 
 In the entire absence of direct indications, the only defi- 
 nite proofs as to the age of the building are to be derived 
 fr om a compajison of the leading features of the temple of 
 Assnajvith_those of temples of the same style and of kngwn 
 date^ Architecture, as has been generally recognized, is less 
 influenced by personal and local conditions than sculpture, 
 and is hence that art in which a regular growth is best to be 
 traced. This is due to the fact th at developme nljn th^ art 
 of hni'jdi'ng — in cesp ect to de sign, as well as in j'esp^t to 
 
 1 The discovery, beneath the mosaic floor of the naos, of various fragments 
 of painted and moulded vessels, as well as of a bronze coin, — all of which 
 probably belonged to the fourth century before Christ, — has been mentioned in 
 a former chapter, page 72.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 299 
 
 those improvements of plan andjconstruction which are insep- 
 arabl3/_connected^therewith — is dependent upon the regular 
 advance of technical invention, an d upo n Jhe degree of civil- 
 ization and culture of a race or community, rather than upon 
 any stimulation or refinement of the imaginative and percep- 
 tive faculties of individual members of such race or commu- 
 njty*- The works of the formative arts, in the historical view, 
 are always affected in a marked degree by local and individual 
 influences. Throughout the long vista of- artistic history, 
 sculp ture and painting are naturally divided into countless 
 schools, working in more or less restricted fields, while 
 architecture is, on the other handj^group ed in styles, — 
 like the Roman, the~Byzantine, and the Gothic, — extend- 
 ing, with comparatively slight and superficial variations, 
 throughout the entire world influenced by a kindred civili- 
 zation. Hence it follows that reliefs or wall paintings can- 
 not provide us with so direct and so valid arguments in 
 respect to the age of the monuments with which they 
 are connected, as the plan and the constructive details of the 
 architectural framework. 
 
 These conclusions are of especial force at Assos, where the 
 sculptures are extraordinarily provincial in character, — works 
 of different hands, displaying the greatest dissimilarity of con- 
 ception and execution ; as, for instance, the horse- and human- 
 legged centaurs of adjoining panels, — yet where the arch i- 
 tectural feat ures^ f a most pronounced and regularly devel- 
 oped style, are directly depende nt upon the contemporary 
 advances of the Doric peripteros in European Greece. , Hence 
 the synthetical methods of architectural history here find a 
 most direct and most trustworthy application. 
 
 This will become evident from a comparison of the temple 
 of Assos with its immediate prototypes. 
 
 Towards the close of the sixth century, before the in-
 
 300 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 terruption of the development of archaic Greek art by the 
 inroads of the Persians, architects of Attica and Aigina had 
 effected signal improvements in the arrangement and propor- 
 tions of the Doric peripteros. 
 
 Recent researches have shown that the excessive elonga- 
 tion of the archaic plan, so noticeable in the temple of 
 Corinth/ had been greatly reduced in the older temple 
 upon Cape Sounion,^ an edifice which appears to have been 
 unfinished at the time of its demolition by the barbarians. 
 The length of the stylobate, which was at Corinth twice 
 and a half its width,^ was at Sounion less than twice and 
 a third its width ; the appearance of the edifice being more 
 affected thereby than might be conceived from the bare 
 statement of the proportions of the oblong. Thus, while 
 there were fifteen columns upon the side of the temple 
 of Corinth, there were at Sounion but thirteen, the fronts 
 of both edifices being hexastyle. The absolute dimensions of 
 the temple were at the same time reduced to about three 
 fifths of those previously in vogue, this reduction proving of 
 excellent effect, in sesthetic as well as in economic respects. 
 
 ^ Dorpfeld (Wilhelm), Der Tempel I'on Koritith,m Mittheilungen des deiiisc/ten 
 archdologischen Institiits, vol. xi., Athen, 1886. 
 
 2 Ibid., Der Tempel von Siittion, in Mittheilungen des deiitschen archdologischen 
 Instituts,vo\. ix., Athen, 18S4. The plan of this temple given by Blouet, Expedi- 
 tion scientifique de Moree,vo\. iii., plate 32, is altogether untrustworthy as regards 
 the plan and dimensions of the edifice, and gives no indication of the existence of 
 an older temple upon the site. 
 
 3 The proportion of two to five in the width and length of the stylobate 
 was evidently brought about through the employment of round numbers of the 
 units of measurement adopted in the design of the edifice. This proportion 
 is so absolutely accurate, — namely, 21.32 by 53 30 m., according to Dorpfeld's 
 measurements, — that it is impossible to suppose it to have been due to mere 
 coincidence. 
 
 The temple of Corinth is by no means exceptional in this respect among 
 Greek ruins of its class. The exact dimensions of the lower step of the The- 
 seion, which are given by Penrose as 14.462 by 32.516 m., were obviously de- 
 rived from some round number of feet having the ratio of four to nine.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 3OI 
 
 Unfortunately, the exact conformation of the cella — that all- 
 important nucleus of the Doric plan — is not ascertainable 
 from the vestiges of the older temple of Sounion which have 
 been brought to light beneath the stylobate of the more re- 
 cent temple. Still it is certain that in its width, and prob- 
 able that in its length also, the cella of this building presents 
 the earliest known instance of the employment of those fixed 
 dimensions (twenty-five by seventy Greek feet, or approxi- 
 mately eight by twenty-two and a half meters) which, as we 
 shall see, were adhered to almost as a hieratic canon in the 
 Doric temples of the first half of the fifth century. 
 
 In the temple of Aigina (Figure 79), — probably the 
 first edifice of its class erected after the retreat of the Per- 
 sians, and consequently but a few years later than the first 
 temple of Sounion, — these dimensions of the cella were 
 closely followed, while a still further reduction of the length 
 of the plan was essayed. The stylobate is here but little 
 over twice its width, and the flank has but twelve shafts. In 
 evident recognition of the fact that the eleven intercolumnia- 
 tions of the side colonnade were scarcely sufficient to give the 
 best proportions to the plan, these intercolumniations were 
 extended as much as possible, being wider even than those 
 of the fronts, and greatly exceeding those of any other Doric 
 peripteros. Notwithstanding this, the spaces remaining be- 
 tween the end of the cella and the columns of the facades 
 were much cramped. The hyperoun galleries within the 
 naos, which had formed so important a feature of the tem- 
 ples of the archaic period, were retained, though here ren- 
 dered practically useless by reason of the smallness of the 
 scale. F'inally, it may be observed, and this is a point of 
 particular importance, there is in the temple of Aigina no 
 attempt whatever to bring the cella into organic connection 
 with the surrounding peripteros, either by means of the
 
 302 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 agreement of main lines, or by the introduction of epistyle 
 beams extending from wall to outer entablature. The ori- 
 ginal fane, the naos, around which the colonnades had been 
 erected as an embellishment, still formed a distinct and al- 
 together independent feature of the plan, the architectural 
 unity of which was as yet incomplete. 
 
 Fig. 79. Plan of the Temple of Aigina. 
 
 20" 
 
 This last great advance of the Doric style towards perfec- 
 tion was reserved for the designer of the Theseion at Ath- 
 ens (Figure 80), and was more immediately brought about 
 through the introduction, above the pteroma and vestibules, 
 of a coffered ceiling constructed of stone. The dimensions 
 of the cella, before referred to, having been found of good 
 effect in the temples of Sounion and Aigina, and possibly 
 having acquired some ritual significance now unknown, were 
 adopted in the Theseion without alteration. On the other 
 hand, the excessive width of the side intercolumniations at 
 Aigina was recognized as a blemish. In the Theseion, the 
 columns upon the flank were again made thirteen in number, 
 the length of the stylobate being increased by five Greek 
 feet, although the interval between the shafts was reduced
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 
 
 303 
 
 to its most advantageous dimensions. The organic con- 
 nection of cella and peripteros was thereby the more read- 
 ily effected, the front of the cella being thrown back so far 
 from the eastern facade that the columns in antis of the 
 pronaos were brought into line with the third columns of 
 the sides, with which they were connected by two transverse 
 
 20 M 
 
 Fig. 80. Plan of the Theseion at Athens. 
 
 epistyle beams, on a level with those of the outer entabla- 
 ture. An important vestibule was thus created at the east- 
 ern end of the edifice, emphasizing the approach to the portal 
 of the sacred interior. The diminutive galleries within the 
 naos were wisely omitted, and do not appear in any Doric 
 hexastyle of subsequent date. 
 
 It was this building, the Theseion at Athens, which was 
 regarded as the most perfect model by the designer of the 
 temple of Assos. The information placed at our disposal 
 by the American excavations warrants the assertion, that 
 the provincial architect was in the possession of accurate 
 plans of the Attic masterpiece. lie exactly reproduced the 
 dimensions of the cella. He adopted a slightly simplified 
 and more economical form of its ceiling of stone coffers and
 
 304 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 beams. He introduced the same trabeate connection be- 
 tween the columns of the pronaos and the corresponding 
 shafts of the sides, — hesitating, in like manner, to effect a 
 similar connection between the rear of the cella and the 
 peripteros, and being thus constrained to support this por- 
 tion of the coffered ceiling by the same inorganic undertie, 
 
 ffi!^ooGr sjm'^rg o 
 
 I — k 
 ' H 
 
 
 ^SViHSVrWWWVinSirrRWfl^ irWi-rTW n^ A 
 
 Fig. 8i. Plan of the Temple of Assos. 
 
 20 M 
 
 which cannot but be regarded as an inadequate and unsuc- 
 cessful expedient. 
 
 The peculiar features which the Theseion and the temple 
 of Assos possess in common altogether exceed the possibil- 
 ities of coincidence. It is obvious that one of the edifices 
 was copied in its main features from the other, and we can- 
 not for a moment doubt in which of the two it was that 
 the great and original improvements were first effected. 
 Athens, in the age of Perikles, did not seek its artistic in- 
 spiration from remote and backward towns of the Asiatic 
 coast. Assos was, moreover, at this very period in political 
 confederation with Athens, to whom she looked as the guar- 
 dian of her newly acquired liberty, and whom she cannot 
 but have regarded as the most brilliant pattern of artistic 
 excellence.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 ]05 
 
 We have abundant proof that, throughout the Hellenic 
 world, the Theseion was recognized as a decided success. 
 Not only were certain features of its sculptures imitated in 
 the remote Lycian village of Trysa ; ^ its coffered stone ceil- 
 ing, constituting as it did the most striking architectural 
 innovation which the generation had witnessed, is now found 
 
 20 « 
 
 Fig. 82. Plan of the later Temple of Sounion. 
 
 to have been reproduced upon the eastern coast of the 
 Aegean, as well as in the extreme west, where an adaptation 
 of this type is recognizable in a reconstruction of the Tem- 
 ple G (otherwise R) of Selinous,^ probably of about the same 
 date as the building which we have now under consideration. 
 
 1 Between Kyaneai and Myra, near the modern village of Gieulbashi. The 
 reliefs of the heroon of this place were removed, in the year 1SS2, to the 
 Museum of Vienna, and are to form the subject of an elaborate monograph, 
 now in the course of preparation. Some account of them is contained in the 
 second volume of Bcnndorfs Siidiuestluhe Kleiiiasien, by Petersen (Eiigen) and 
 Luschan (Felix von), Rcisen in Lykicn, Milyas unci Kibyratis, Wien, 1SS9. 
 
 - Hittorff, Architecture antique de la Sicile, plate 36 of the original publi- 
 cation, plate 41 of the new edition. Compare the discussion as to the age of 
 this building given in Benndorf (Otto), Die Metopen Ton Se/inunt, tnit Cuter- 
 suchuns;en iiber die Geschickte, die Topo^^raphie und die Tempel von Selniunt, 
 Berlin, 1S73. 
 
 20
 
 306 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 In a former chapter, treating of the design of the coffered 
 ceiling of the temple of Assos, stress was laid upon the fact 
 that the proportions of panelling and beams must have been 
 determined before the plan of the peripteros could have been 
 laid out. This plan, like the ceiling upon which it depended, 
 may now, in comparison with the corresponding features of 
 the Theseion, be clearly seen to be a simplification, and not 
 a prototype. The relative ages of buildings so closely allied 
 in point of design cannot be a matter of doubt to the student 
 of architecture. 
 
 Apart from the arguments which may "be derived from 
 parallels such as these, we have inherent in the temple of 
 Assos itself indubitable indications of its eclectic character. 
 With features of the most rude and helpless archaism it com- 
 bines a highly organic and perfected disposition of plan. By 
 an attentive consideration of the details of the elevation, we 
 may clearly distinguish where the builder neglected to follow 
 his model, and, from motives of economy, or from the require- 
 ments of the material in which he worked, fell back upon his 
 own conventional methods and mediocre powers of design. 
 Hence arose that inequality of architectural expression which 
 may well be compared to the provincial dialect of a highly 
 cultivated speech : that curious compound of good and bad, 
 of antiquated and perfected, which has been noticed in a 
 foregoing chapter. 
 
 In European Greece the contemporary development of the 
 hexastyle Doric peripteros can be traced in a fourth example, 
 the later temple of Sounion (Figure 82).^ The plan of this 
 building, like that of the temple of Assos, was directly in- 
 fluenced by the design of the Theseion, but its independent 
 features, instead of reverting to the practices of the archaic 
 style, still further pursued that course of development in 
 
 ^ Dorpfeld, Der Tempel von Siinion, quoted in a previous note, page 300.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 307 
 
 which the Aiginetan and Attic prototypes had made so suc- 
 cessful an advance. The organic connection between the 
 supports of the peripteros and those of the pronaos is here 
 extended to the columns in antis upon the back of the cella, 
 the vestibule before the epinaos becoming equal in size and 
 importance to that before the pronaos. The two fronts were 
 thus exactly alike. This was a disadvantage in se;^thetic 
 respects, inasmuch as it detracted from the pre-eminence 
 of the main portal of the sacred naos, and deprived the tem- 
 ple of the only outward feature which had served to indicate 
 its true orientation. The change was nevertheless in keep- 
 ing with the formal tendencies of the age, and may be taken 
 as an evidence that the designer was bent upon effecting 
 original improvements in consonance therewith. It betrays, 
 perhaps, the first taint of that academic formalism in mat- 
 ters of architectural design which was destined so to debase 
 the Doric style during the following centuries. Evidently 
 aware of the ambiguous duplication which his change had 
 involved, the architect of the later temple of Sounion dis- 
 tinguished his eastern vestibule by a sculptured frieze, the 
 slabs of which are shown in solid black upon the plan (Fig- 
 ure 82). This wealth of detail, invisible from without, could 
 not, however, relieve the general composition from its bi- 
 frontal character, and is noteworthy in the present connec- 
 tion chiefly as a proof that the disadvantages attendant 
 upon the adherence to the system were in some measure 
 recognized at the time. The ends which the designer had 
 in view were, at all events, fully attained ; his changes 
 brought the main lines of cella and peripteros into the 
 most intimate connection, and resulted in absolute unity of 
 plan. 
 
 Purposes of comparison do not render it necessary for us 
 to trace the subsequent development of the Doric temple;
 
 308 ARCHALOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 suffice it to note that the next stage of advance, appearing at 
 about this same date in both the Parthenon and the temple 
 of Bassae, and hence undoubtedly to be ascribed to the genius 
 of Iktinos, was the entire omission of transverse supporting 
 beams in the pteroma ceiling, the coffered slabs of which were 
 made to extend from wall to entablature. A lighter and 
 more airy effect was hereby attained. That the builders of 
 the temple of Assos were acquainted with this simplification 
 appears improbable, inasmuch as the narrow span of their 
 pteroma ceilings, and the readiness with which slabs of 
 trachyte of the requisite dimensions were obtainable, would 
 doubtless have induced them to take advantage of so eco- 
 nomical a method of construction. 
 
 The four hexastyle Doric temples, so closely related in 
 pointoT date^ dimensions, and style, are shown by Figures 79 
 to 82 in plans drawn to the same scale. In each of these 
 structures the dependence upon those preceding is clearly 
 apparent. No mere coincidence can be held to account for 
 resemblances so striking, or for dimensions so uniform. Were 
 the arrangement of the cella in the older temple of Sounion 
 evident from the ruins, we should doubtless be in possession 
 of a fifth plan of this class, which would have ranked as the 
 most primitive in point of development. 
 
 The actual measurements of these edifices, to the close 
 agreement of which attention has not hitherto been drawn,^ 
 may be tabulated in the following form. 
 
 1 The similarity of the dimensions of the temple of Aigina and the Theseion 
 is referred to, in a general way, by Cockerell (Charles Robert), The Temple of 
 Jupiter Panhellenius at A egina, London, iS6o.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 
 
 309 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Older Tem- 
 ple of 
 Sounion.* 
 
 Temple 
 
 of 
 Aigina.^ 
 
 Theseion, 
 Athens." 
 
 Temple 
 
 of 
 Assos. 
 
 Later 
 Temple of 
 Sunion.2 
 
 Widthof Cella3 
 
 m. 
 abt. 8.00 
 
 m. 
 
 (M.) 8.054 
 (C.) 8.115 
 (D.) 8.006 
 
 m. 
 
 (S.) 7-93 
 (B.) 7-93 
 
 Ml. 
 
 7-97 
 
 m. 
 8.13 
 
 Length of CellaS 
 
 abt. 22.50 
 
 (M.) 22.628 
 (C.) 22536 
 (D-) 22.555 
 
 (S.) 22.38 
 (B.) 22.25 
 
 2=-33 
 
 20.78 
 
 Width of Stylobate 
 
 13.12 
 
 (M.) 13.S20 
 (C.) 13.714 
 
 (s.) 13-79 
 (i:-)i3 82 
 
 (P.) 13.72 
 
 1403 
 
 13.48 
 
 Length of Stylobate 
 
 30-34 
 
 (M.)2S.790 
 (C ) 2S.660 
 
 (S-) 31-77 
 
 (P..) 31.77 
 (P.) 31.76 
 
 30-31 
 
 31-15 
 
 1 According to the measurements and estimates of Dorpfeld, published in the 
 essay before quoted. 
 
 2 According to the accurate measurements of Dorpfeld. The figures in- 
 scribed upon the plan of Blouet are so incorrect as to be useless in this 
 parallel. 
 
 '^ The dimensions here given are those of the cella walls, exclusive of the 
 projections of base and capital mouldings. 
 
 * The dimensions of the temple of Aigina appearing in this table are taken 
 from Blouet's Expedition de Moree (plate 48), and from the work of Cockerell 
 quoted in the note on the preceding page (plate 3), and from the Antiquities of 
 Ionia, published by the Society of Dilettanti, vol. ii., London, 1797 (plate 3), the 
 given measurements in English feet, inches, and hundredths of inches being re- 
 duced to meters. These authorities are designated, in the order mentioned, by 
 the letters M, C, and D. 
 
 Cockerell's plan displays a slight discrepancy, amounting to half an inch. 
 The corner columns of the fa9ades, namely, are marked as 41' 5" distant from 
 centre to centre, and as standing 7' 4I" from the face of the cella wall, exclusive 
 of plinth moulding. This makes the width of the cella 26' 7I". But, on the 
 other hand, the width of the interior of the naos is marked as 21' 3^", and the 
 thickness of the walls, exclusive of mouldings, as 2' 8;^", which would make 
 the width of the cella equal to 26' 8". In one case we have a width of 8.1 153, 
 and in the other 8.128 m. for this dimension. 
 
 In the plan given in the Antiquities of Ionia the figures marked in the second 
 intercolumniation of the eastern fa9ade, from the north, namely, 8' 7".55, are 
 obviously intended for 8' 7".45, as the amount of the total shows. 
 
 5 The dimensions of the Theseion appearing in this table are taken from 
 Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens, London, 1762-1816, vol. iii. (plate 2),
 
 3IO ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 The striking similarity of the cellas, both in length and 
 width, is deserving of particular notice. The later temple 
 of Sounion presents the only instance of an appreciable di- 
 vergence in this respect, and in this instance constructive 
 considerations can be proved to have been directly responsi- 
 ble for the departure from the normal size. The steps of the 
 later temple were laid, it has been found, directly upon those 
 of the older edifice which had been demolished by the Per- 
 sians, — length and width of the new stylobate being thus de- 
 termined by an adventitious and unalterable gauge. While 
 in the other temples of this category the cella extended con- 
 siderably beyond the third pteroma columns from the west, it 
 had at Sounion to be brought back into line with these shafts 
 for the purpose of introducing a connecting epistyle beam be- 
 tween the supports of the peripteros and those of the epinaos. 
 Hence the length of the cella became at Sounion directly de- 
 pendent upon the width of eight lateral intercolumniations, 
 which had in their turn been determined by the available 
 extent of the older steps. The deviation from the normal 
 length of seventy feet is thus accounted for. The limit of 
 
 from Biihlmann (Joseph), Die Architektur des classischeit Alterthums, Stuttgart, 
 1872 (plate 4), and, after reducing to meters the given dimensions in English 
 feet, from Penrose, An Investigation into the Principles of Athenian Architecture, 
 2d ed., London, 1888. These authorities are designated, in the order mentioned. 
 by the letters S, B, and P. 
 
 In the measurements of the cella length given by Biihlmann there is con- 
 siderable discrepancy. The separate dimensions of pronaos, naos, epinaos, 
 and walls amount, when added together, to but 22.077 rn-. while the length 
 obtained by subtracting the width of the pteromas, front and rear, from the 
 length of the stylobate is 22.56 m. The latter result is obviously the more 
 correct. 
 
 The dimensions of the cella of the Theseion are not given by Penrose, whose 
 work is concerned only with the peripteros. A new and complete publication of 
 this important monument is much needed. The methods of architectural re- 
 search have fully kept pace with the growth of scientific investigations in other 
 fields, and almost all those surveys and restorations which antedate the middle 
 of the present century may, in a sense, be regarded as obsolete.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1SS3. 31 i 
 
 possible compromise had here been attained. The more the 
 archaic plan had been altered in favor of an organic connec- 
 tion between cella and peripteros, the more had the cella lost 
 its fundamental and independent importance. In the later 
 temple of Sounion, where transverse epistyles connected 
 both pronaos and epinaos with the outer entablature, its 
 length was altogether dependent upon that of the stylobate. 
 When the size of the frame is taken as the starting point of 
 a design, the size and proportions of the picture must, of 
 course, conform themselves thereto. 
 
 From these observations we may conclude that the archi- 
 tects of the temple of Aigina, the Theseion, and the temple 
 of Assos began their designs with a definite nucleus, the 
 cella, the measurements of which were fixed by some hieratic 
 statute, concerning which we have no direct testimony. The 
 fundamental importance thus assigned to this portion of the 
 building is, however, entirely in accord with what may be 
 ascertained from other sources concerning the conceptions 
 of the Greeks in respect to the ideal character of the temple. 
 The naos alone corresponded to the holy of holies of the 
 Jewish sanctuary. The oblong cella, with its columns in 
 antis, had originally formed the entire fane. The colonnades 
 of the peripteros did but provide a canopy-like roof for the 
 protection and embellishment of this house of the deity, 
 emphasizing its dignity and sacred character by that " most 
 ancient symbol of terrestrial and celestial authority." ^ This 
 
 1 Semper, Dc-r Sfil, 2^ Aui., u. 3S9 : "Die Idee, der nackten, rriumlich klei 
 nen, Cella die ihr fehlende Autoritat zu verschaffen, fiihrte darauf, fiir sie einen 
 Tcmpel zu bauen, d. h., einen geweiheten und bedeckten viereckigen Bezirk 
 (Temenos), dcssen Saulendach die Cella (welcheihre voile alte Heiligkeit behait) 
 nicht ersetzt, sondern nur bestimmt ist aufzunehmen, auch in struktiver IJeziehung 
 vollstiindig von ihr unabhangig ist, vvie das Sanctuarium von dem agyptischen 
 Sekos Oder das jiidische Tempelhaus von der Bundeslade. Eine monumentale 
 Kapsel fiir das Heiligthum, — aber eine offene Kapsel, die das Alierheiligste, 
 Oder vielmehr dessen nachste Hiille, die Cella, nicht verbirgt, wie der agyptisch-
 
 312 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 attractive suggestion of the greatest modern investigator into 
 the origin and principles of architectural style may be said to 
 have received direct and final proof from the present investi- 
 gations, and more especially from our recognition of the fact 
 that the design of these temples under discussion had been 
 crystallized, so to speak, around a cella of given form and 
 dimensions. 
 
 A further indication of the fact that the ancients them- 
 selves attached chief importance in this matter of dimen- 
 sions to the cella, and not to the stylobate, is to be found in 
 the application of the epithet " hundred-footed " to the Par- 
 thenon, the term " hekatompedon " designating, not, as was so 
 long believed, the upper step of the facade, which very nearly 
 corresponded to this length, and might readily have been ac- 
 curately adapted thereto, but the length of the naos.^ The 
 most carefully elaborated fane of Greek antiquity may thus 
 be cited as a parallel instance pointing to the correctness of 
 our assumption. 
 
 This is not the place to enter into an adequate discussion 
 of the bearing which the facts thus elicited may have upon 
 
 jlidische Tempel es thut, sondern sichtbar lasst, indem sie ihm Schutz gewahrt, 
 vor allem aber seine Autoritat raumlich und zugleich symbolisch hervorhebt und 
 vermehrt ; — ein machtig monumenlales Schirmdach (Baldachin) als uraltestes 
 Symbol irdischer und himmlischer Macht und Hoheit." 
 
 Admiration for the insight into the principles of architectural growth which 
 is evinced by such passages as this does not, of course, commit us to any 
 acceptance of Semper's untrue and contradictory theory that the Doric peripteros 
 was originally developed as a pseudodipteros, any more than admiration of the 
 contents of Semper's book commits us to approval of his literary style. 
 
 1 The belief that the upper step of the Parthenon displays the exact length of 
 one hundred Attic feet has been current, and almost universally adopted, since 
 the time of Stuart and Revett. The error of this assumption has been made 
 clear by Dorpfeld, Uiitersiichungen am Parthenon, Mittheihingen des detitschen 
 arch'dologischen I>istituts, vol. vi., Athen, 1881 ; Beitrdge zur antikcn ATctrologie, 
 Miitheilungen, vol. vii., 1882; and Fusstnaasse griechischei- Tetnpel, Archaologische 
 Zcitung, vol. xxxix, Berlin, 1S81. The phraseology of the well known Parthenon 
 inscription is such as to leave no doubt upon this point.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1S83. 313 
 
 the earlier history of the Doric style. It must sufifice to 
 point out that they afford direct and trustworthy evidence 
 concerning the derivation of the Greek peripteros, tending to 
 strengthen our belief in the development of the Doric entab- 
 lature upon a wall, and not upon free-standing supports, — 
 from a wooden rather than from a stone prototype, — while 
 it altogether controverts a host of artificial modern theories 
 concerning systems of arithmetic and geometric proportions 
 alleged to have been followed by the ancients in the design 
 of their temples. 
 
 The four edifices which have been illustrated in Figures 79 
 to 82 display a development of plan far more regular than 
 that, for instance, of the systems of the similarly related 
 cathedrals of Mayence, Speyer, and Worms, or of the ca- 
 thedral of Amiens, the cathedral of Seez, and the church of 
 St. Ouen at Rouen, inasmuch as the development of the 
 Doric style during the fifth century before Christ was the 
 result of a more intimate connection, and was marked by 
 greater regularity and unity, than that of the Romanic or the 
 Gothic style at any period of the Middle Ages. To speak 
 of the temple of Assos as a link in the chain of Doric de- 
 velopment would be to employ a metaphor not altogether 
 applicable, for while it was directly dependent, in its most 
 essential features, upon the design of other monuments, it 
 was not a creation in which any generally recognized advance 
 was effected, or from which the forms of any subsequent 
 works were derived. Hence, if the simile be permissible, it 
 may be likened rather to a childless uncle than to a direct 
 ancestor of the Doric temples of later generations. Its pecu- 
 liarities found no imitators. This isolation, albeit limiting 
 the scope of our conclusions in one direction, by no means 
 detracts from the value of the historical argument for the 
 present purpose. The marked dependence of the design upon
 
 314 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Other works affords a perfect terminus post, though its isola- 
 tion restricts the terminus ante qucm. 
 
 What, then, is the positive outcome of the recognition of 
 the fact that the design of the temple of Assos was subse- 
 quent to that of the temple of Aigina and that of the 
 Theseion, and doubtless contemporary with the rebuilding of 
 the temple of Sounion ? To what date are these edifices 
 themselves to be assigned ? 
 
 With regard to the temple of Aigina we may feel reasona- 
 bly certain that its construction is to be referred to the 
 comparatively short interval which elapsed between the de- 
 feat of the Persians at Salamis, in 480 b. c, and the subjuga- 
 tion of Aigina by the Athenians, which began twenty years 
 later. It is hardly to be assumed that the inhabitants of the 
 island could, after the severe losses which they sustained in 
 their naval encounters with the Athenians at this period, and 
 especially after the siege of their chief city,^ have devoted the 
 very considerable amount of time and money which were 
 required for the construction of an edifice such as this. The 
 surrender of the island, and the entire loss of the indepen- 
 dence of its inhabitants, took place four years after the open- 
 ing of hostilities, in 456.^ Few modern archaeologists admit 
 the assumption of Stackelberg,^ repeated by Curtius,'* which 
 identifies the ruins of the Doric edifice in question as those 
 of a certain temple of Athena which Herodotos ^ mentions as 
 having been built by the Aiginetans after their triumph over 
 a band of Samian pirates, in 520 or 519 b. c. Still less ac- 
 ceptable is the argument adduced by Smith ^ to prove that this 
 
 1 Thucydides, I. 105. 2 i^ij^ \ jog. 
 
 8 Stackelberg (Otto Magnus vor\),Der Apollofempet Z2( Bassae,Fr3.nkiuTt am 
 Main, 1826, Beilage III., Das Panhellenium mif Aegina. 
 
 * Curtius (Ernst), Griechische Geschichte, ed. 3, Berlin, 1S6S-74, Book III., i. 
 
 5 Herodotos, III. 59. 
 
 ^ Smith (William), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, London, 1S73, 
 S. V. Aes'ina.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. 315 
 
 temple was built before 563 b. c. ; namely, that the Aiginetans 
 had, previous to this date, erected at Naukratis a temple to 
 Zeus, assumed, altogether without grounds, to have been an 
 imitation of this particular fane of their own island. Since 
 the publication of Brunn's suggestive essay on the age of the 
 Aiginetan sculptures,^ in which these works are shown to be 
 of later date than the battle of Salamis, the opinion of scholars 
 has been in practical unanimity, and it is rare that the pos- 
 sibility of an earlier origin ^ is admitted. Overbeck ^ even 
 names a precise date, Olympiad 76.4 to 77.1 or 77.2, — 473 
 to 471 B. c, — which would be as difficult to disprove as to 
 verify. 
 
 That the building of the Theseion took place after the fourth 
 invasion of Greece by the Persians, 479 b. c, is likewise beyond 
 question. Its exact age is, however, still a disputed point. 
 This temple, — the best preserved monument of classical an- 
 tiquity, not only in Athens, but in all Hellenic lands, — still 
 presents itself to us as a nameless stranger in a city where 
 
 1 Brunn (Heinrich), Ue&er das Alter der dgmetischen Kunstiverke. SitziingS' 
 berichte der k'oniglich bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Miinchen, 1867, 
 Heft 4. 
 
 - Prior to the appearance of the essay quoted in the preceding note, an ex- 
 treme antiquity was often attributed to the temple of Aigina. Thus, Ross (Lud- 
 wig), Reisen des K'oiigs Otto wid der K'onigin Amalia in Griechenlaiid, Halle, 
 1S48, vol. i., and Brbndsted (Peter Olaf), Die Brotizen von Siris, Kopenhagen, 
 1837, thought the building to be more ancient than the time of Peisandros and 
 the thirtieth Olympiad (660 B.C.). Among those writers who, since the publi- 
 cation of Brunn's paper, have had occasion to refer to the age of the temple of 
 A\gm2L,^lvi.xr3.y, History of Greek Sctdptitre, has been almost alone in even ad 
 mitting the possibility that the gable sculptures are as ancient as 4S5 or 480 B. c, 
 and may thus antedate the battle of Salamis. 
 
 An excellent ristimi o\ the arguments which have been brought forward in 
 regard to the age of this building is to be found in Overbeck's Geschichte der 
 griechischen Plastik, 3d ed., Leipzig, 1881-S3. 
 
 8 Compare the work quoted in the preceding note. Overbeck had, in a 
 previous essay, Ueber das Datum der dginetischen Giebelgruppe)i, {Zeitschrift far 
 Alterthninswissenschaft, Giessen, 1856, No. 51,) assigned the completion of the 
 temple of Aigina to Olympiad 64.2 (523 B. c).
 
 3l6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 every other nook and corner is known by its ancient epithet. 
 After having been assigned successively to Theseus, Ares, 
 Apollo, Hephaistos, Herakles, as well as to Herakles and 
 Theseus and to Hephaistos and Athena in joint proprietor- 
 ship, it has lately been restored to the hero by whose name it 
 is generally called.^ Were it indeed definitely identifiable with 
 that fane, which is known to have been erected after the 
 removal of the relics of Theseus from Skyros to Athens by 
 Kimon, we should have a fixed date, 469 b. c, for the founda- 
 tion of the edifice.^ The opinion of the best judges of style 
 agrees, however, in referring its construction to a somewhat 
 later period, little if at all anterior to the erection of the 
 Parthenon. Michaelis^ speaks of the building of the two 
 great Doric monuments of Athens as contemporary. Adler * 
 believes that work upon the Theseion was carried on from 
 468 to 440, or even 429 b. c. Gurlitt^ concludes a long and 
 detailed examination into the subject with the conviction that 
 the construction extended from 450 to 440 B.C. Certain of 
 Gurlitt's arguments have been traversed by Julius,^ who as- 
 serts the architectural forms and sculptured decorations of 
 the Theseion to be more ancient than those of the Parthenon ; 
 
 1 For a review of the various identifications of the Theseion, compare the 
 work of Gurlitt, quoted below, note 5. Gurlitt himself assigns the temple to 
 Theseus, and Hultsch (Friedrich) — Bestimmung des attischen Fusses nach dem 
 Parthenon und Theseion, Archdologische Zeitiing, vol. xxxviii., Berlin, 1881 — re- 
 fers to this point as definitely settled. Dorpfeld, in the work of Miss Harrison 
 quoted in note i, page 317, identifies the Theseion as the Athenian temple of 
 Hephaistos. 
 
 2 Plutarch, Theseus, XXXVL, and Kimon, VHI. 
 
 8 Michaelis (Adolph Theodor Friedrich), Der Parthenon, Leipzig, 1871. 
 
 * Adler (Friedrich), Untersuchung am Thesetistempel zu Athen, reported in the 
 Chronik der Winckelmannsfeste, Archdologische Zeitung, 1873. 
 
 5 Gurlitt (Wilhelm), Das Alter der Bildwerke und die Bauzeit des soge^iannten 
 Theseion in Athen, Wien, 1875. 
 
 8 Julius (Leopold), Z^ Metope del Tempiodi Teseo in Atene, Annali deW Insti- 
 tuto di Corrispondenza Archeologica, vol. 1., Roma, 1878.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 317 
 
 but Dorpfeld^ has, on the other hand, thrown the great 
 weight of his authority in favor of a subsequent date. It will 
 be borne in mind, that the Parthenon, as we now know it, was 
 begun about the year 447 b. q? A favorite assumption with 
 those scholars who have been unwilling to adopt so late an 
 age for a Doric temple which undeniably displays a tentative 
 and experimental character in certain architectural details, 
 has been that the sculptures of the Theseion were executed 
 at a period subsequent to the completion of the edifice. This 
 is clearly inadmissible, for the sculptured frieze of the pronaos 
 may be seen to be in bond with the constructive members of 
 the entablature. We must, in like manner, exclude the chief 
 argument which was advanced by Ross ^ to serve as a proof 
 that the temple antedated the middle of the fifth century ; 
 namely, the appearance, upon the coffered ceiling beams, of 
 masons' marks having forms of Greek letters which after the 
 eightieth Olympiad were no longer employed in inscriptions. 
 It is futile to put this argument aside, — as has been at- 
 tempted by Miss Harrison,'^ — by a resort to the groundless 
 and improbable assumption that the beams thus marked once 
 formed a part of some more ancient edifice, the materials of 
 which, after its demolition, were employed again in the con- 
 
 1 Dorpfeld's opinion upon tliis subject has been publislied by Harrison 
 (Jane E.), Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens, London, 1S90. 
 
 2 Tiie last and best review of the data which we possess concerning the age 
 of the Parthenon has been given by Koepp (Friedrich), Z>/> Ilerstelliing der 
 Tevipel nach den Pcrserkriegen,Jahrbnch des preussischen archdologisehen Insti- 
 ttits, vol. v., Berlin, i8go, Heft 4. 
 
 ^ Ross (Ludwig), T6 Or/treiof koX b Na6s rov "Apevs, iv 'KO-fivais, 1S38. Re- 
 published, with additions, in a German form: Das Theseion und der Tern pel des 
 Ares in Athen, Halle, 1852. Certain masons' marks which had been overlooked 
 by Ross are given by Gurlitt, in the work quoted above. Ross concluded from 
 the forms of these letters that the temple could not be, in any event, more 
 recent than Olympiad 80 (460 n. c). 
 
 * In the work quoted in the preceding note.
 
 3l8 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 struction of the Theseion. The position in which the letters 
 in question appear upon the stones is such as to make it evi- 
 dent that they were cut during the erection of this very 
 building. The true explanation doubtless is that masons' 
 marks such as these were retained by workmen from the 
 time of their first apprenticeship to their craft, and pos- 
 sibly even handed down from father to son, thus naturally 
 preserving the palaeographical characteristics of a some- 
 what earlier age.^ A parallel instance of the employment of 
 obsolete letters of the Greek alphabet as masons' marks late 
 in the Pergamene period is to be found in the market-place 
 of Assos, and will be discussed in a future chapter of this 
 book. 
 
 If, then, it be susceptible of proof that the building of the 
 temple of Aigina took place in the first or second, and that 
 of the Theseion not earlier than the third decade succeeding 
 the final repulse of the Persians from European Greece, it 
 follows that the temple of Assos was not much, if at all, an- 
 terior to the middle of the fifth century before Christ. As 
 will be demonstrated, there is nothing in the sculptured 
 decorations of the temple to contradict this view, and much 
 to support it, while the political history of the town shows 
 that during the forty-four years intervening between the 
 two subjugations of the Troad by the Persians the citizens of 
 Assos were at the height of their power and independence. 
 The invading barbarians led by Xerxes showed little respect 
 for the national sanctuaries of the Hellenes. Where, in all 
 
 1 Specimens of writing from right to left also occur among the masons' marks 
 upon the stones of the same building ; yet inscriptions of this character were 
 considered by Herodotos (II. 36) to be barbarous. It is to be borne in mind, in 
 this connection, that Onatas, supposed to be the sculptor of the Aiginetan gable 
 groups, wrote from right to left in the same manner. Compare Pausanias, 
 V. 25. 9.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS, 1883. 319 
 
 the Greek lands overrun by these hosts, is any Greek temple 
 known to have stood the conquest uninjured? Yet the 
 temple of Assos, as we know it, can be proved to have 
 remained intact until the advent of the Christian era. 
 
 Before turning from the architectural features of the build- 
 ing to its sculptures, it will be of interest to trace, in the light 
 obtained by the foregoing analysis, the method of laying out 
 the plan which must have been adopted by the provincial 
 designer, and to seek, in connection therewith, for an ex- 
 planation of the archaic and peculiar features which appear 
 in the constructive framework, as well as in the decorative 
 details of the edifice. It is now possible for us to follow, 
 step by step, the evolution of the plan and dimensions of 
 the temple of Assos, even as it was inscribed, some twenty- 
 three hundred and fifty years ago, upon the abakos of the 
 provincial designer. 
 
 The chief features of the calculation involved are diagram- 
 matically set forth in Figure 83. The architect began by 
 laying out an oblong celia, having the exact dimensions 
 noted upon some tracing of the plan of the Theseion which 
 had been procured as a pattern. These dimensions we find 
 to equal in length at A exactly 70, and in width at B ex- 
 actly 25 Assian feet.^ Around this cella was drawn the 
 plan of the peripteros, the determination of the width of 
 the pteroma being the next step. Early in the develop- 
 ment of the hexastyle Doric temple, the eye of the Greek 
 architect had perceived that the best proportions of the 
 lateral colonnades were secured when the two outermost 
 columns of the facade framed the vista obtained in looking 
 
 ^ The grounds upon which this assertion relative to the numlicr of Assian 
 feet embodied in the length and breadth of the cella are based, will be set forth 
 in full detail in the succeeding pages.
 
 H-44' 
 
 D O O O I O : O 
 
 o 
 
 G=92V 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 ■F=124 
 
 o I 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 o- 
 
 O 
 
 Df8' 
 
 \ 
 
 K 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 :-e-f-G-' 
 
 & 
 
 t^ 
 
 B=25' 
 
 
 t Q ^ Q j © 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 o 
 
 Q 
 
 6 
 
 D ,>.. C 
 
 €■ 
 
 C^-'^. D / 
 
 Fig. 83. Diagrammatic Plan and Dimensions of the Temple 
 OF Assos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 1883. 32 I 
 
 along the side wall of the cella, thus displaying but one 
 intercolumniation of the distant front, and not permitting 
 the inner side of the aperture to be outlined against the 
 bright sky by the vertical line of the cella corner or anta. 
 In the temple of Aigina and in the Theseion the desired 
 effect had been obtained by placing the second and fifth 
 columns of the faqades exactly in line with the outer face 
 of the cella wall. This method was followed by the Assian 
 designer. The three intercolumniations between the axes 
 of the second and fifth columns of the facades, C, O, and 
 C^, thus determined, were consequently equal to the width 
 of the cella, or twenty-five feet. The width of the adjoin- 
 ing corner intercolumniations, D, which were, for static and 
 aesthetic reasons, to be made somewhat narrower than those 
 adjoining, naturally became eight feet from axis to axis. It 
 is apparent, however, that the employment of round num- 
 bers was here somewhat disadvantageous, inasmuch as the 
 interval between the outer shafts should have differed in 
 width from those between the inner by more than one 
 third of a foot. Both in respect to the ideal balance of the 
 supports and the equal spacing of the members of the frieze, 
 the outermost columns thus came to stand too far apart. 
 
 The width of the side pteroma, D, from the axes of the 
 columns to the face of the cella wall, being thus fixed at 
 eight feet, the distance between the corner columns of the 
 facades, from axis to axis, E, was found to amount to forty- 
 one feet. The distance from the axes of the columns of the 
 peripteros, F, was next fixed at one foot and a half, or, in 
 other words, six palms, and the width of the pteroma pave- 
 ment from the rise of the upper step to the face of the 
 cella wall, G, became equal to nine and a half feet, the 
 total width of the stylobate itself, H, becoming equal to 
 forty-four feet. 
 
 21
 
 32 2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Before setting out the intercokimniations of the sides, the 
 width of the rear pteroma — if so we may term the space be- 
 tween the western end of the cella and the columns of the 
 western fagade — remained to be deterfnined. Here the 
 Assian architect failed to profit by the example of the The- 
 seion, and adopted a dimension much too small. Doubtless 
 having in mind the difficulties and complications presented 
 by a coffered ceiling having a width different from that of 
 the lateral pteroma, and possibly aware that the vestibule 
 at the rear of the temple of Aigina did not exceed the side 
 pteroma in width, he here adopted for D' precisely the same 
 dimension as for D, namely eight feet. The want of a suffi- 
 cient reveal upon the rear of the building cannot but have 
 been apparent to the observer who approached the Acropolis 
 from the western side, for the bare wall at the back of the 
 cella of the Assian temple formed a background to the col- 
 umns of the western facade very different from the Aiginetan 
 epinaos with its deep shadows. The entire omission of col- 
 umns in antis at the rear of the temple of Assos was, as will 
 presently be seen, undoubtedly due to hieratic considerations 
 peculiar to Asia Mmor; but this defect should have been 
 concealed as much as possible by setting the columns of 
 the peripteros at a greater distance from the rear than from 
 the side walls of the cella. 
 
 Inasmuch as the second columns of the flanks were placed, 
 for the purpose of receiving the transverse epistyle which 
 connected the front of the cella with the outer entablature, 
 in exact line with those of the pronaos, and consequently at 
 a distance, F", of one foot and a half from the front face of 
 the antae, and inasmuch as the axis of the columns of the 
 western fagade was eight feet from the rear wall of the cella, 
 it is evident that the ten westernmost intercolumniations of 
 the sides occupied together an extent of seventy-six and a half
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 188S. 323 
 
 feet. The spaces from centre to centre of the columns from K 
 to K^*' were naturally determined by an equal division of this 
 lensfth, and the second columns of the sides from the west- 
 ern corners thus failed to come in a line with the outer sur- 
 face of the rear wall of the cella by seven twentieths of a 
 foot, or more than one palm. This affords an explanation 
 of an irregularity which was a source of much perplexity to 
 the investigators during the measurement of the plan, other- 
 wise so regular. The width of the two succeeding or east- 
 ernmost intercolumniations of the sides, L and L^, were made 
 of the nearest possible dimensions to the others which could 
 be expressed in a round number of palms ; thus becoming 
 seven and three quarters, instead of seven and thirteen 
 twentieths feet from centre to centre. Thus the width of 
 the vestibule before the cella, from the front face of the 
 antse to the axes of the columns of the eastern facade, at 
 M, became exactly fourteen feet, the distance between the 
 corner columns of the sides, N, being ninety-two feet from 
 axis to axis, and the total length of the stylobate, O, ninety- 
 five feet. 
 
 By this arrangement it was brought about that the length 
 of the stylobate was exactly ten times the width of the pte- 
 roma. The existence and intentional character of this pro- 
 portion was recognized during the investigations of the first 
 year, and the dimensions in question were correctly assumed 
 to embody a round number of units of the standard em- 
 ployed by the ancient architect in laying out the measure- 
 ments of the edifice. But ignorance of the facts now as- 
 certained rendered it then impossible to determine logically 
 the number of feet or palms thus embodied, and the writer's 
 guess that the dimensions were respectively ten and one 
 hundred ancient feet was quite as far from the truth as
 
 324 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 that of Bohn, who assumed these numbers to have been 
 nine and ninety,^ 
 
 The further steps involved in the calculation of the plan 
 by the ancient architect, the chief of which relate to the 
 divisions of the cofifered ceiling, have not been indicated 
 in Figure 83, but follow in direct sequence from the data 
 already obtained. The determination of the sides of the 
 square coffers and stiles was dependent upon the width of 
 the pteroma ceiling. The thickness of the entablature was 
 fixed at two feet nine dactyls, this dimension perhaps being 
 chosen so as to make up the length of the corner epistyle 
 panels, with the lap, to exactly nine feet and a half. Sub- 
 tracting from the distance between the cella wall and the 
 axis of the columns (namely, D, or eight feet) one half of 
 the thickness of the entablature plus the projection of the 
 cyma mouldings which crowned both wall and inner entab- 
 lature, there remains a clear span of six feet six dactyls. In 
 the pteroma ceiling of the temple of Assos, as in that of 
 the Theseion, this space was divided into four panels, each of 
 
 1 It was remarked in the Preliminary Report, that "in comparing these dimen- 
 sions with the intention of recognizing the unit of measure employed in the 
 building, it is noticeable that the width of the side and rear pteroma is as 
 nearly as possible one tenth of the length of the stylobate. This relation of 
 the most important divisions of the plan is so strikingly exact as to exclude the 
 assumption of a coincidence. It is hence extremely probable that a system of 
 decimal feet was employed, or that 3.0335 meters contains an entire number of 
 the original unit of measure." The latter alternative is now proved to be cor- 
 rect, the former erroneous. 
 
 The succeeding paragraph of the Preliminary Report contains mere ground- 
 less suppositions, but, inasmuch as they are referred to in the present text as 
 the evidence of an accuracy of those measurements upon which the identifica- 
 tion of the Assian foot is founded, they must be quoted in like manner : " If 
 the plan be supposed to be 100 feet long, and the pteroma 10 feet, a foot of 
 0.30335 meter would result. ... A suggestion, perhaps more plausible, has 
 been made by my friend Richard Bohn, architect of the excavations at Perga- 
 mon, that the dimensions were respectively 9 and 90 feet, of a consequent length 
 of 0.337 meter."
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 325 
 
 which was one foot and nine dactyls square. These panels 
 were divided in such wise that each sinking was exactly one 
 foot square, and each stile nine dactyls broad, the fillet run- 
 ning along the centre of the stiles being two dactyls wide. 
 Thus four sinkings, four stiles, and the supplemental fifth 
 fillet, exactly made up the extent of one hundred and two 
 dactyls, or six feet six dactyls, required by the span of the 
 ceiling from wall bed to entablature bed, above the pte- 
 romas of the sides as well as above that of the rear. The 
 aggregate width of the ceiling compartments above the side 
 pteromas was found, from data already given, (namely, the 
 length of the cella minus the thickness of one epistyle beam,) 
 to be sixty-seven feet seven dactyls. This extent was divided 
 into ten fields, each being, together with its beam, six feet 
 twelve dactyls wide, within a small fraction amounting to 
 less than one twelfth of an inch. One foot and fifteen dac- 
 tyls was assigned to the thickness of the transverse support- 
 ing beam, together with its cyma mouldings, — a dimension 
 from which constructive considerations permitted no wide 
 departure. The remainder, four feet thirteen dactyls, was 
 divided into three coffers of the dimensions previously de- 
 termined, according to the width of the pteroma : three 
 coffers of one foot each, three stiles of nine dactyls each, 
 and the supplementary fillet of two dactyls, amounting to 
 just the space remaining between the beams. 
 
 The first departure of the design of the temple of Assos 
 from the arrangement of the Theseion plan is to be observed 
 in the number of fields into which the ceiling of the side 
 pteroma was thus divided, — an alteration for which the 
 intractable nature of the stone employed was evidently re- 
 sponsible. It is to be remarked, however, that the impossi- 
 bility of dividing the length into compartments having, like 
 those of the Theseion, only two coffers in width, may have
 
 326 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 furnished the occasion for this independent step. The six- 
 teen fields of the Theseion, if made of the dimensions requi- 
 site at Assos, would not have permitted the employment of 
 supporting beams more than fifteen dactyls wide, including 
 their mouldings, and practical considerations rendered this 
 most inadvisable. 
 
 The length of the ceiling above the rear pteroma, which 
 had been determined by the Width of the plan, proved to be 
 readily capable of division by the factors thus obtained. The 
 space of thirty-eight feet seven dactyls between the inner 
 sides of the lateral entablatures, further diminished by the 
 projection of the cyma mouldings to about thirty-eight feet 
 two dactyls, could be apportioned into six fields of nearly the 
 same size, and having the same number of sinkings, as those 
 of the side compartments. An adjustment of but about three 
 quarters of an inch in each compartment was all that was 
 necessary to permit the continuation of the same system of 
 coffers in this ceiling. The necessity of such adjustment, 
 small in amount though it be, affords a proof that, as has 
 been shown in the foregoing pages, the dimensions of the 
 ground plan were not originally and directly based on exact 
 multiples of the ceiling compartments, but had been deter- 
 mined irrespective of these, by the length and width of the 
 cella. 
 
 Owing to constructive and aesthetic considerations, which 
 have been fully set forth in an earlier chapter, the ceiling 
 of the vestibule was otherwise designed than that above 
 the rear pteroma. Its length was divided into four fields, 
 each containing five, instead of three coffers, — the thick- 
 ness of the supporting beams being increased in proportion 
 to their greater span. Five sinkings of one foot each, five 
 stiles of nine dactyls each, and the supplementing fillet of 
 two dactyls, required each of these compartments to be
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 327 
 
 seven feet and eleven dactyls in length. Deducting three 
 such compartments, plus the projection of the cymas wpon 
 the inner sides of the lateral entablatures, from the dis- 
 tance between these sides, there remained six feet four dac- 
 tyls to be divided between the three supporting beams, 
 these supports thus becoming about three dactyls wider than 
 those of the pteroma. The ingenuity displayed in this 
 method of division has already been commented upon. 
 Thus it was found that the width of the vestibule ceiling, 
 although independently determined, called for no alteration 
 of the dimensions of the coffers. The space between the 
 inner side of the eastern entablature and the front wall of 
 the cella, equal to the distance between the columns of the 
 facade and those of the pronaos, from axis to axis, or fif- 
 teen feet eight dactyls, minus the thickness of the entabla- 
 ture, amounted to twelve feet eleven dactyls, which was fur- 
 ther reduced to twelve feet six dactyls by the projection of 
 the cyma mouldings. Only a small adjustment was required 
 to adapt eight sinkings, eight stiles, and the supplementary 
 fillet, to this span, and the design of the ceiling of the pte- 
 roma and vestibule could thus be carried out with coffers of 
 the same size. 
 
 In the ceiling above the pteroma, which was seven feet 
 eight dactyls in depth and twenty feet fourteen dactyls in 
 length, including the cyma mouldings, we may trace a simi- 
 lar principle of division, .but on a smaller scale, the dimen- 
 sion of the square panelling — or in other words of the unit 
 formed by coffer and stile together — being here reduced to 
 a factor of one foot one dactyl. 
 
 It would have been unreasonable to hope, at the com- 
 mencement of the investigations, that so clear an insight 
 could be gained mto the workshop of the builders of Assos. 
 But what would have been the amazement of the provhicial
 
 323 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 architect, methodically laying out his plan, had he been in- 
 formed that, after the lapse of nigh two and a half millennia, 
 his work would be thus retraced, step by step, by fellow crafts- 
 men of barbarous race and of an unknown continent! 
 
 The chief dimensions of the temple of Assos, expressed 
 in Assian feet, and compared with calculated and with actu- 
 ally measured lengths in meters, may thus be tabulated : — 
 
 Length of cella 
 
 Width of cella 
 
 Axes of columns from wall, side and rear 
 Axes of columns from edge of stylobate 
 (Width of pteroma, side and rear) . . 
 Axes of front columns from antse . . 
 
 (Width of front vestibule) 
 
 Corner columns of sides, axis to axis . 
 Corner columns of fa9ades, axis to axis 
 
 (Length of stylobate) 
 
 (Width of stylobate) 
 
 Length of naos interior 
 
 Thickness of cella walls and antce . . 
 
 Height of each step 
 
 Tread of lower stepi 
 
 Height of column 
 
 Height of capital 
 
 Length of corner epistyle panel . . . 
 Thickness of entablature (epistyle) . . 
 
 Height of epistyle 
 
 Height of frieze 
 
 Height of corona 
 
 Length of roofing tile 
 
 Width of roofing tile 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 Calculated 
 
 Actual 
 
 
 
 Dimeti- 
 
 Measure- 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Palms. 
 
 Dactyls. 
 
 Meters. 
 
 Meters. 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 
 
 22.330 
 
 22.33 
 
 2S 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 7-975 
 
 7-97 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2.552 
 
 2-55 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 0.479 
 
 0.4.S 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 3-030 
 
 Z-^l 
 
 14 
 
 — 
 
 
 4.466 
 
 4-47 
 
 IS 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 4-945 
 
 4-95 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 29.348 
 
 29-35 
 
 41 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 13.079 
 
 1307 
 
 9S 
 
 T— 
 
 — 
 
 30-305 
 
 30-31 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 14.036 
 
 1403 
 
 SS 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 17705 
 
 17.71 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 0.65S 
 
 0.66 
 
 — 
 
 ,3 
 
 2 
 
 0.279 
 
 0.2S 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 0.279 
 
 0.27I 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 
 4.785 
 
 4.78 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 0.478 
 
 0.48 
 
 Q 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3031 
 
 3-03 
 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 0.818 
 
 0.82 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 0.81S 
 
 0S2 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 0.778 
 
 0.78 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 0.419 
 
 0.42 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 — 
 
 0.718 
 
 0.711 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 0.638 
 
 o.63i 
 
 1 It is plain that the rise and tread of the lower step was intended to be 
 equal ; yet the tread, from edge to angle, actually measures about five millimeters 
 less than the rise, and appears upon both tables as equal to but 27^ cm. An 
 explanation of this small difference will have suggested itself to those who have 
 closely followed the account of the methods of construction adopted by the As- 
 sian builders, given in an earlier chapter. In setting the stones of the stylo- 
 bate the tread of the lower step was evidently scaled from its rise to those 
 narrow fillets which, having a projection equal to about four millimeters, border 
 the joints of the stylobate blocks. These fillets have been described upon page
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS, 1883. 329 
 
 With sole exception of the width of the cella door, which 
 is apparently incommensurable/ and of the height of the 
 gable, which was determined, not by arithmetical, but by 
 geometrical methods,^ all the main dimensions of the build- 
 ing will be found to be included either in this table or in 
 the preceding analysis of the method followed in laying out 
 the intercolumniations of the peripteros and the compart- 
 ments of the coffered ceilings. Some of these dimensions 
 did not, however, require independent determination by the 
 architect, but could be directly deduced from a preceding 
 step of the design. These are, in the table, enclosed in 
 parentheses. They are given, not only as proofs of the sys- 
 tem followed in laying out the plan, but as indications of 
 the accuracy with which the ancient unit of measurement 
 is embodied. 
 
 No less than sixteen of the dimensions above enumerated — 
 and these sixteen include every length over a meter — em- 
 body an entire number of feet, or of half-feet. The deter- 
 mination of the fundamental unit is hence neither difficult 
 nor uncertain. We may estimate the length of the foot rule, 
 so accurately employed by the Assian architect, to have been 
 as nearly as possible 319 millimeters (i foot and 0.56 inch 
 English). The closeness of the agreement between the 
 lengths now calculated as multiples of this common factor 
 and those which have been actually measured from the ruins 
 of the temple is indeed extraordinary. The average devia- 
 
 66 of the present volume, and are illustrated in Figures 6 and 7. The allowance 
 thus made was evidently responsible for the discrepancy in the dimensions. 
 
 1 The entire width of the door, together with its jambs, is not ascertainable 
 from the ruins, and it may well have been that this dimension was laid out by 
 the architect with some round number of Assian feet. 
 
 2 The fact that the architect designed the slope of his gable to form an angle 
 of exactly fifteen degrees with the horizon has been ascertained and discussed in 
 a former chapter, page 106.
 
 r'^^O ARCHyEOLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 tion from the standard adopted, as ascertained by an analysis 
 of the twenty-four items of the above table, is but about one 
 fifth of a millimeter (less than one hundredth of an inch) in 
 the foot, while the average variation of the actual measure- 
 ments from the calculated, adding both plus and minus to- 
 gether, is but about three millimeters in the total distances, 
 these having a mean of nearly seven meters. This is an 
 amount too small to have figured in the table of dimensions, 
 which, as has been remarked in an earlier chapter,^ can make 
 no pretence to a micrometrical accuracy such as this. The 
 maximum deviation is less than a centimeter, and this ap- 
 pears in one of those dimensions most difficult of practi- 
 cal determination, either by builder or investigator, namely, 
 in the distance between the corner columns of the facade 
 from axis to axis. As this dimension, moreover, exceeds 
 seven meters, the relative error is less than one seventh of 
 one per cent. 
 
 It must be frankly admitted that so close an agreement 
 between theory and measurement as that now demonstrated 
 appears most extraordinary in a structure displaying so great 
 irregularities in respect to the spacing of the members of the 
 entablature. Such a coincidence may even appear suspicious 
 to those investigators who are practically familiar with the 
 inexactitude of architectural dimensions, ancient as well as 
 modern, and who, like the present writer, entertain a deeply 
 rooted distrust of those artificial systems of harmonic propor- 
 tions, whether arithmetic or geometric, which are being con- 
 tinually put forward as a solution of the problems and a key 
 to the excellence of Hellenic design. It is, therefore, just 
 
 1 It has been remarked, in connection with the table of measurements given 
 in a former chapter, page 140, that the remeasurement of the temple during the 
 second and third years of the investigations led to the conviction that it is not 
 practicable to express the general dimensions of an edifice constructed of so 
 rough a material as the Assos andesite in units smaller than half a centimeter.
 
 INVESTIGATIOXS AT AS SOS, 1883. 
 
 00 
 
 that especial attention should be called to the fact that the 
 embodiment in the dimensions of the temple plan of an 
 Assian foot of any particular length was not recognized at all 
 until after the table of measurements given upon pages 139 
 and 140 of the present volume had been put into print and 
 stereotyped. In proof of the truth of this, it may be noticed 
 that a table of dimensions, identical in all essential particulars 
 with those here repeated, was published in the Preliminary 
 Report,^ and that in connection therewith the writer ventured 
 a different suggestion, now proved to have been erroneous.^ 
 
 The coexistence in one and the same structure of meas- 
 urements of such exceeding accuracy, and of a spacing of the 
 frieze members so irregular that metopes and triglyphs occa- 
 sionally varied by amounts equal to one fifth of their re- 
 spective widths, may, however, be fully accounted for by a 
 consideration of the methods of construction which were 
 adopted by the builders of the temple. The dimensions of 
 the stylobate, and the site of walls and columns, were laid out 
 in conformity with a regular design, which must have been 
 traced and figured before the work itself was begun. The 
 ruins of the temple show the ancient architect to have en- 
 graved upon the planed surface of the native rock, and upon 
 the smooth slabs of the stereobate laid thereon, a series of lines 
 indicating the position of the outer face of the cella walls y^ 
 the krepidoma of the temple, thus characterized technically, 
 as well as ideally, as an dSa^, being actually employed as a 
 drawing board. On the plan, Figure 4, these delicate incisions 
 are shown in broken lines, being thus distinguished from the 
 
 1 Pn/im/iiarv Report, p. 96. - Compare above, p. 200, note. 
 
 8 It may be observed that the lack of such engraving upon the inner side of 
 the cella walls furnishes a clear indication that the dimensions which were more 
 directly followed by the builders, and which might hence, a priori, be supposed 
 to have embodied a round number of ancient feet, were those of the exterior of 
 the cella, and not those of the naos interior.
 
 332 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 traces of weathering at the bottom of the columns, and along 
 the inner face of the cella wall, which are dotted. 
 
 A high degree of accuracy, both in survey and measure- 
 ments, was rendered possible by this method. It will be 
 recollected that the right angles at the corners of the plan 
 were found, when tested by the instruments of precision at 
 the service of the investigators, to have been laid out with 
 surprising exactitude. A deviation of six minutes from the 
 theoretical ninety degrees was all that could be detected, this 
 error amounting to but fifty-four millimeters in a length of 
 over thirty meters. Now it is well known that, for bajilders 
 working with measuring rods alone, the laying out of angles 
 is a matter of far greater difficulty than the direct deter- 
 mination of dimensions, and it is hence not surprising that 
 the length and breadth of stylobate and cella should vary 
 but little from the calculated amounts. 
 
 The case was altogether different with the spacing of the 
 frieze m'embers, this having been effected, not by any direct 
 application of a predetermined scale, but by testing and fitting 
 each lintel, metope, and triglyph upon the entablature in the 
 course of erection. The extent and tendencies of the devia- 
 tions resulting from this system of construction have been 
 fully discussed in the section of this work which treats of the 
 location of the sculptured epistyle blocks/ and to the argu- 
 ments therein set forth the attention of the reader must now 
 be referred. 
 
 The unit of measurement employed in the building of the 
 temple at Assos being thus determined, we are naturally 
 led to inquire whether a foot of similar length is known, 
 from other investigations, to have been in use among the 
 Greeks. The affirmative answer to this question, which is 
 given by the most trustworthy data of classical metrology, 
 
 1 Compare above. Chapter III. pp. 255 to 258.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS, 18S3. ^oZ 
 
 provides a conclusive proof of the correctness of the present 
 identification. 
 
 The foot of 319 millimeters, now ascertained to have been in 
 use in the Troad towards the middle of the fifth century be- 
 fore Christ is clearly identical with that chief unit of measure- 
 ment among European Greeks at this period, the so called 
 Olympian foot, which has been determined with great ac- 
 curacy, by the recent excavations in the Altis, to have had a 
 length of from 320.1 to 320.6 millimeters.^ Both must have 
 been derived from one common prototype, the Assyrian foot 
 of 319.68 millimeters,^ a unit of that system to which the 
 tttJ^^u? yLter/oto? of Herodotos^ is known to have belonged. 
 The historical connection which is to be traced between 
 the metrical systems of Assyria and Hellas has been ably 
 set forth by Lepsius* and by Brandis,^ whose belief that 
 
 1 See the deductions of Adler and Dorpfeld in vol. iii. pp. 26 and 29, and 
 vol. V. pp. 23 and 37, of Die Ausgrabungeti zu Olympia. Compare also the con- 
 clusions of Lepsius (Carl Richard), Die Langenmaasse der Alien, Berlin, 1884, 
 and of Hultsch (Friedrich), Z>/V Grii7idmaasse der grieckiscken Tempel, Arch'do- 
 logische Zeitung, vol. xxxviii., Berlin, 1S81. 
 
 2 The most accurate determination of the length of the Assyrian foot is that of 
 Lepsius, in the work quoted in the preceding note; his estimate is that adopted 
 in the text. Oppert (Jules), A/issioti de la Bahylonie, in U Athenamm Fran- 
 (^ais, Paris, 1854, No. 16, deriving his conclusions from the average measurements 
 of 550 bricks, first fixed the length of this unit at 315 mm., but subsequently, in 
 his Expedition scientifiqiie en ]\Iesopotamie, Paris, 1859-63, vol. i. p. 229, found 
 a unit of 320 mm. to be more nearly correct. This does not appear surprising, 
 in view of the well known shrinkage of burnt clay. Brandis (Johannes), Das 
 Munz-, Mass- und Gewichtswesen in Vorderasien, Berlin, 1866, gives 320 mm. 
 in round numbers ; but Hultsch, Griechische und Romische Metrologie, § 8, 
 prefers 315 mm., with variations ranging between 314 and 316.6 mm. Petrie 
 (W. M. Flinders), Inductive Metrolos;y, or the Recovery of Ancient Measures from 
 the Monuments, London, 1877, apparently following the earlier determination of 
 Oppert, assumes the Assyrian foot to equal 12.40 English inches, or 314.95 me- 
 ters. Compare also upon this point Queipo (Vasquez), Essai siir les Systimes 
 Mifriqnes et Mo7tStaires des anciens Pcuplcs, Paris, 1859, vol. i. p. 279. 
 
 8 Herodotos, L 178. 
 
 ^ Lepsius, work quoted in a foregoing note, p. 73, et passim. 
 
 ^ Brandis, work quoted in note 2, above.
 
 334 
 
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the Mesopotamian units of length were received by the 
 European Greeks through the intermediation of the Greek 
 colonists of Asia Minor is fully confirmed by the discoveries 
 at Assos. The difference observable between the Assyrian 
 and the Assian foot, namely, three fifths of a millimeter, or 
 two per mille, is altogether negligible in a comparison of 
 this nature. Even to-day, when measuring rods are divided 
 by the scientific process of engine ruling, the foot and meter 
 measures in use by practical men frequently display a varia- 
 tion much greater than this.^ 
 
 1 Dorpfeld, in illustrating this truth, relates that the meter sticks offered for 
 sale in the shop of one optician at Athens, a few years ago, varied fully three 
 millimeters. I have now before me two finely divided foot measures, stamped 
 U. S. Standard, which, doubtless from shrinkage, vary not less than three sixty- 
 fourths of an inch. A hair-splitting measurement of architectural members, 
 such as has been assumed by certain writers upon ancient metrology, would 
 not only be practically impossible in stone-work of any kind, but would have 
 been inconceivable to the mind of the Greek workman, untrained in the Ameri- 
 can system of interchangeable parts. For information concerning the discre- 
 pancies in dimensions which are to be detected even in the Parthenon, — the 
 most perfectly e.xecuted building which the world has ever seen, — compare 
 Penrose, Principles of Athenian Architecture, pp. 9, 141, etc.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 RELATIONS OF MODERN TO ANCIENT LIFE. 
 
 TO an intimate knowledge of Greek civilization, derived from 
 the material remains of antiquity and from the passages of 
 classic literature bearing upon them, archaeological science should 
 add a feeling of immediate, and, so to speak, personal acquaintance 
 with the life of the ancients. In the endeavor to gain this, there 
 can be no greater aid than that resulting from a thoughtful obser- 
 vation of the Greeks of to-day, — notably from a comparison of the 
 Romaic with the Hellenic peasant, — certain primitive conceptions 
 and customs having been retained by the country people, under 
 peculiarly favorable circumstances, through unbroken traditions. 
 Among the modern representatives of the Greek race, debased as 
 it has been by centuries of Byzantine ecclesiasticism, and by subju- 
 gation to Tartar conquerors, we have an occasional glimpse of the 
 well-known figures of antiquity, — not as historical abstractions, but 
 as living beings, dwelling beneath the same clear sky, their horizon 
 bordered by the same sharp outlines of volcanic crests. 
 
 In none of the lands occupied by the ancient Greeks have the 
 peculiar features of their daily life been better preserved than on 
 the islands of the Archipelago and the coasts of Asia Minor. The 
 Turks of the fifteenth century, landing upon the Sporades to 
 enforce tribute, saw the inhabitants scamper away to the moun- 
 tains, without an attempt at resistance, and called them taushan- 
 lar (hares), by which name the Rayahs are still derided. Yet this 
 very timorousness, this bending of the weaker but more supple
 
 336 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 race before the stronger, — of the reed before the storm-wind, — 
 has saved the civilization of the Byzantine Greeks from being 
 altogether swept away before the resistless advance of the Moham- 
 medan power. Communities such as those in the interior of Lem- 
 nos, or upon the remote height of Samothrace, continued to exist 
 in an almost entire seclusion lorrg after Turkish arms had subju- 
 gated the southern coast of the Mediterranean, and had even ap- 
 peared beneath the walls of Vienna. The self-centred life of the 
 Greek peasants in these forgotten corners may be compared to an 
 eddy at the side of some great stream, keeping within its slowly 
 revolving circles vestiges of materials, of which the mass was long 
 since borne down by the main current. 
 
 The exceptionally favorable character of the Sporades, and of the 
 northern coasts of Asia Minor, in this respect, has often attracted 
 notice. As early as 1677, Georgirenes, Archbishop of Samos, re- 
 marked, in the words of his English translator : " Scarce any part 
 of Greece has less intermixture with the Turks than these isles, 
 where the Greek language and religion is less intrench'd upon."^ 
 Douglas''^ thought that pure Greek blood was more generally to 
 be found on the islands of the Archipelago than on the continent 
 of Europe. Wachsmuth -^ compares the Sporades, and that portion 
 of Asia Minor which has retained its Greek population, with the 
 fastnesses of Maina; while Schmidt* declares the civilization of 
 these districts to be more free than that of the Peloponnesos from 
 the influence of Albanian and Bulgarian immigrants, and in support 
 of his position offers various proofs derived from etymological 
 comparisons. 
 
 The maintenance of Byzantine traditions on the shores of the 
 Gulf of Adramyttion is attested by the numerous contributions to 
 Greek folk-lore which have been derived from these districts. 
 
 1 Georgirenes (Joseph), A Description of the Present State of Samos, AUcaria, 
 Patmos, and Mt. Athos. London, 1678. There appears to be no Greek original 
 of this valuable tract. 
 
 2 Douglas (Frederic Sylvester North), Essay on certain Points of Resem- 
 blance between the Ancient and Modern Greeks. Second edition. London, 
 1823. 
 
 3 Wachsmuth (Curt), Das alte Griechenland im N'euen. Bonn, 1864. 
 
 * Schmidt (Bernhard), Das Volksleben der Neugriechen nnd das hellenische 
 Alterthum. Leipzig, 1S71.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. -^t^^ 
 
 Three of the Marchen in Hahn's collection ' were told in Aivaly,^ 
 almost within sight of Assos ; and two of the shorter tales given by 
 Schmidt 3 are from Mytilene. 
 
 Language and Superstitions. 
 
 The Greeks of the Asiatic continent maintain a most creditable 
 pride in their national traditions and language, even in cases where 
 the Romaic idiom has been in great measure lost. The villagers 
 on the southern slope of the range of Ida, between Assos and 
 Adramyttion, speak a curious jargon, the names for objects in 
 every-day use being chiefly Turkish. Traces of the Genoese occu- 
 pation of the Lesbian principality are also apparent. The Rayah 
 peasants, when asked the name of some rude agricultural imple- 
 ment, would almost invariably reply by a Turkish word ; but they 
 would not fail to speak of themselves as y]\j.€i% to FpeKo ! 
 
 In the interior the case is often still more striking. A friend of 
 the writer, a Frank engaged by the Porte as a civil engineer, on a 
 journey through the province of Hodavendigiar,* came to a small 
 town, so completely severed from communication with the Greek 
 population of the coast that its inhabitants, though of Greek descent, 
 had, after six centuries of subjugation to the Turks, altogether 
 forgotten their native language. The visitor was waited upon by 
 a deputation of the chief men of the place, who asked him, in 
 Turkish, to do them the favor of conversing in Greek with their 
 new schoolmaster, that he might be able to tell them whether this 
 person spoke a good dialect, and was competent to teach their 
 
 1 Hahn (J. G. von), Griechisclie tmd Albanesische Marchen. Gesammelt, 
 ubersetzt und erldutert. Leipzig, 1864. Numbers 49, 50, and 72. The second 
 of these is, however, not a true Marchen, but a reminiscence of the novel of 
 Apollonius of Tyre. Attention has been called to this origin of the tale by 
 Liebrecht, in the Heidelbcrger yahrbiicher, Jahrgang 1864, No. 14. It should 
 be particularly observed that the tenure of Byzantine civilization in the modern 
 town of Aivaly is wholly dependent upon the Greek inhabitants of the island of 
 Mytilene and the neighboring Adramyttion. 
 
 '^ On the site of the ancient Herakleia. 
 
 8 Schmidt (Bernhard), Gricchische Marchen, Sagen und VolksUeder. Leipzig, 
 1877. Marchen No. 22, and Sage No 2. 
 
 * Comprising the greater part of ancient Mysia. 
 
 22
 
 338 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 children well. It appeared that these men, being possessed of 
 some little property, had, in order that their descendants might 
 again become Greeks, sent for a schoolmaster from Athens, with 
 whom they were themselves unable to talk.^ So deeply rooted are 
 the national sympathies, even in those Rayahs among whom the 
 traditions of Byzantine culture have been lost for twenty genera- 
 tions! It would be impossible to find, in modern times, a better 
 illustration of those sentiments of the inhabitants of ancient Posei- 
 donia, described by Aristoxenos : " For it happened to them, who 
 were originally Greeks, that they were utterly barbarized, becoming 
 Tyrrhenians or Romans, so that they changed their language and 
 all their customs. But even at the present day they observe one 
 Hellenic festival, on which occasion, coming together, they call to 
 memory their ancient names and usages, bewailing them one to 
 another ; and having wept for the loss of them, they separate." - 
 
 The Christian communities in the vicinity of the Gulf of Adra- 
 myttion retain many of those reminiscences of the religious ob- 
 servances of the Pagans which have so often been referred to by 
 writers upon the origin of the rites of the Church. On festival 
 days the churches of the modern, like the temples of the ancient 
 Greeks, are decked with leaves and flowers ; ever-burning lamps 
 are still placed before the sacred images ; offerings of cakes, still 
 known as KoWvfSa, are laid upon the altars ; and even to-day the 
 country people parade saintly relics from field to field, to drive away 
 the enemies of the harvest. In districts remote from the great 
 commercial centres, exorcism is practised with rites singularly re- 
 sembling those of classical antiquity. Not only human beings, but 
 flocks and herds, even fields of grain and orchards of olives, are 
 believed to be liable to the baneful influence of bewitchment and 
 demoniacal possession. During the summers of 1881 and 1882 
 the inhabitants of Eren-Kieui,^ one of the few villages of the Troad 
 
 1 The Greeks throughout the interior of Asia Minor, parts of Kappadokia 
 alone excepted, have lost their language, and are now making the most strenu- 
 ous efforts to regain it. Their success is remarkable. In Konia, for instance, 
 all the Greek children under fifteen years of age speak Romaic well, while their 
 parents know only Turkish. — J. R. S. S. 
 
 2 Quoted by Athenaios, XIV. 31. 
 
 3 Close to the site of the ancient Ophryneion.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 339 
 
 populated exclusivelyby Greeks, went in solemn procession through 
 all the fields of the neighborhood. They were led by a priest, who 
 bore aloft certain relics, brought from the island of Lemnos, which 
 were considered efficacious against the swarms of locusts then de- 
 vouring the young wheat.^ So firm was the belief of the villagers 
 in the potency of this charm, that they went to considerable expense 
 in order to obtain the sacred remains for such occasions. The 
 same desire to ward ofif these pests induced the dwellers on Mount 
 Oite, two thousand years ago, to invoke the aid of Herakles Kor- 
 nopion,^ — the locust-scarer, — and even the Athenians of the time 
 of Perikles to erect, near the Parthenon, a statue of bronze dedi- 
 cated to Apollo Parnopios.^ 
 
 Names and Personal Characteristics. 
 
 As was customary in the days of Homer, the Greeks of the lower 
 classes are usually known by one name only. When a more exact 
 designation is necessary, either the paternal name or that of the 
 native place is added. The latter combination is the more fre- 
 quent. Thus, the Christian name John being particularly common, 
 almost every village in the vicinity had its representative at Assos, 
 called Jani-Chipni, -Stypsis, -Skamnia, etc. So entirely lost are the 
 higher forms of the language, that the genitive is in Asia Minor 
 never employed in these additions. 
 
 Among the workmen the well-known names of classical antiquity 
 were not wanting. In one of the gangs there was a Themistokles 
 and a Perikles ; in another, a very degenerate Aristeides.* The 
 laundress of the expedition, a woman of Mytilene, was known as 
 Eriphyle, — a name of especial interest because its rare occurrence 
 
 1 The similar employment of a picture of the Virgin, brought to the coast of 
 Asia Minor by a monk of Leros in order to charm away the locusts which were 
 devouring the grape-vines, is related by Ross (Ludwig), Reisen aiif den Gric- 
 chischen Inseln des Aegdischen Meeres, vol. ii. p. 117. Stuttgart, 1840-43. 
 
 - Strabo, p. 613. ^ Pausanias, I. 24. 8. 
 
 * An extended, but still very incomplete list of the names of classical an- 
 tiquity which have survived among the Greeks of to-day is given by Boltz 
 (August), Die Hellenischcn Taitfnamcn der Gegen'wart, so7ueit dieselben antikiii 
 Ursprungs sind. Leipzig, 1SS4. The consideration of these names is not 
 without philological importance.
 
 340 ARCIL'EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 in classic literature may almost be taken as a proof of its having 
 been retained in unbroken tradition from the earliest ages of Hel- 
 lenic culture, from the legends of the necklace of Samothracian 
 Harmonia, or those of the house of Theban Cadmus. At least three 
 generations of her family, natives of the interior of the island, had 
 borne this name. They were illiterate people, and could not have 
 chosen it from books. Moreover, the words of Odysseus, " Hateful 
 Eriphyle, who accepted precious gold for her dear husband,"^ — 
 the only passage of ancient literature containing this name to which 
 even the most learned Mytilenean of the last century could have 
 had access, — are hardly such as to make it attractive. 
 
 As was the case also in ancient times, the men were known on 
 all hands by nicknames, generally derived from their personal ap- 
 pearance. One hard-working and good-natured giant, for instance, 
 was invariably called cnrav6<i, — the poorly-whiskered. Any scanti- 
 ness of the hairy covering of the face is held in great disfavor by 
 the modern Greeks. Thus the puny tailor of our nursery tale, who 
 kills seven flies at one stroke, becom-es sufficiently contemptible in 
 the Romaic^ rendering of this Indo-European myth through being 
 called "the beardless one." The extreme aversion felt for this 
 defect appears, however, of Mohammedan or of Slavonic rather 
 than of Hellenic origin, and is to be traced in legends which cannot 
 have been derived from classic sources. The pride taken by the 
 Turks in a full and flowing beard may also have influenced the 
 views of the Rayahs in this regard. 
 
 By far the greater part of the conceptions and customs of the 
 modern Greeks are, however, such as were introduced by Chris- 
 tianity. The names of the saints and fathers of the Eastern 
 Church are today much more numerous than those of classic 
 origin. These latter are limited, on the one hand, to the most 
 humble of the country people, — who, being entirely illiterate, have 
 retained them through persistent family traditions, — and, on the 
 other, to the educated and unbelieving classes, who adopt them 
 through an affected archaism. Between these extremes, almost all 
 the names are Christian. A characteristic instance is that of our 
 friend, the wealthy valonea merchant, the official Commissioner of 
 
 1 Homer, Od., XI. 325. 
 
 2 Hahn, Mdrchen, quoted above, No. 18.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 34 1 
 
 the third year. He himself was christened Nikolaos Hadji Chris- 
 tos, — perhaps in honor of that eminent leader of the Servian and 
 Bulgarian cavalry who fought against Ibrahim at Krommydi in 
 1825 ; but his sons, enjoying the advantages of an academic edu- 
 cation in Athens, bear names famous in the fifth century before 
 Christ. 
 
 Among the Turkish workmen were examples of nearly all the 
 well-known names of Ottoman history, — Osman, Ali, Hassan, 
 Houssein, Veli, Mehmet, and others. Omer, the foreman of his 
 gang, a native of Behram, and a typical representative of his power- 
 ful and noble race, was known as Choush, he having been a ser- 
 geant in the Turkish army during the late war with Russia. From 
 the first until the last day of the excavations he was regarded, with- 
 out question, as a leader, and fully justified the steadily increasing 
 confidence which was reposed in him. Ahmet Sudji, the water- 
 carrier, was equally faithful in service, as were, indeed, all the other 
 Turkish villagers who were employed. Their energy and ability, 
 their unvarying faithfulness and personal attachment, inspired a 
 high opinion in regard to the physical and moral nature of the un- 
 corrupted Turk. One would hesitate in bestowing commendation 
 upon men of such simple dignity, were it not improbable that these 
 words should ever come to their knowledge. Not one of the 
 Turks, and only two among the sixty Greeks, who from time to 
 time worked for the expedition, could read. 
 
 The Rayahs were, in general, found to be more active, but less 
 enduring; more ambitious, and generally more intelligent, but far 
 less trustworthy, than the Turks. They are characterized by the 
 same elasticity of body and mind which was so prominent a trait of 
 the ancient Greeks, — by the same fickleness, and the same pride 
 in superior cunning and dissimulation. Throughout Greece the 
 exclamation, ^ei'^ara Xeyci?/ is merely a cajoling flattery, quite free 
 from the insulting rudeness of its English equivalent ; and the 
 Romaic, like the Hellenic Greek, acts in perfect conformity with 
 the famous apophthegm of Theodoros,^ that a man ought to appro- 
 priate all he can, but ever to sing the praises of justice and moder- 
 ation. During the course of the work two exceedingly efficient 
 Greek foremen had to be dismissed, for deceit and for theft, 
 1 In Athenaios, III. 94.
 
 342 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 although they had only been promoted to their positions of trust 
 after long and intelligent service. 
 
 All the men were hard workers. The ruins were not often pro- 
 tected by a deep soil, and much time and labor had to be spent in 
 disengaging and rolling away the large building stones, which lay 
 as they had been overthrown. The late Atrium of the lower town 
 was the structure most deeply buried, by earth carried down upon 
 it from the terraces above. Calculations made at this point, and at 
 the great chute beneath the retaining wall of the Agora, showed 
 that the average work of the men compared favorably with the 
 seven cubic meters of gravel which the convicts of Siberia are 
 daily required to move. 
 
 Wages and Cost of Living. 
 
 During 1881 the number of men employed was so small, that it 
 was found expedient to pay all of them at the uniform rate of one 
 half a medjid a day. The digging of the first season was not begun 
 until August, when it is always more difficult to obtain workmen 
 than in the earlier summer and spring. The crop of valonea, 
 the all-important staple of the Troad, requires no care whatever 
 during the greater part of the year, but in the autumn attracts 
 laborers even from the olive gardens of Mytilene. At the begin- 
 ning of the second year's work, in March, 1882, tliere was no lack 
 of hands. Every one of the Turks who had been employed during 
 the preceding year, and the majority of the fickle Greeks, though 
 often living at a considerable distance from the site, returned to ask 
 for re-engagement. In the dull season, after the Easter holidays, 
 over one hundred applicants presented themselves. 
 
 Favored by this state of the labor market, the wages were gen- 
 erally reduced. At the same time, the employment of a more 
 numerous force rendered it advisable to grade the amounts paid, 
 according to the efficiency of the individuals. New hands, shov- 
 ellers or barrow-trundlers, received thirteen piasters cherouk,^ or 
 
 1 Cherojik, or long money, signifies that the medjid is divided into thirty- 
 three piasters, in contrast to gera, according to which it is divided into twenty. 
 The distribution of these two systems in the various provinces of the Ottoman 
 Empire is very peculiar, adjoining towns often employing the same coins at
 
 INVESTIGA TIONS A T ASSOS. 343 
 
 $0.32,^ a day; the original wages of one half a medjid (sixteen and 
 a half piasters cherouk), or $0.40, being allowed only to the car- 
 penter and one or two chief pickmen, whose reliability had been 
 proved during the first season, and who were held responsible for 
 the work of their gang when employed in positions which rendered 
 a constant supervision impossible. 
 
 Small as these sums may seem to persons unacquainted with 
 Oriental values, they were nevertheless a fair return even for the 
 hard ten hours' work required. The cost of living at Behram, for 
 a single man, was but about thirty piasters cherouk per week, this 
 providing the simple food and paying the bakhal or cafddji for the 
 privilege of sleeping under shelter. Thus, unless the outlay was 
 increased by an unreasonable consumption of tobacco, — to be had, 
 contraband, for about twelve cents a pound, — the workmen might 
 easily lay by from one half to two thirds of their earnings. 
 
 An interesting comparison may be made between the wages paid 
 during the excavation of Assos and those customary in Greek an- 
 tiquity, the value of both being expressed in the necessaries of life. 
 Considering that such a parallel between the economics of the ancient 
 and modern Greeks has not hitherto been made, — so far as the writer 
 is aware, — and that the disbursements of the expedition and the ex- 
 penses of the workmen at Behram provide an excellent basis, a detailed 
 examination of the question will not be without importance.^ 
 
 It cannot involve any considerable error to assume, in the com- 
 putation of ancient prices, the sum of four obols (13 cents metallic 
 value) as the average daily pay of a common laborer two thousand 
 years ago. Lucian,^ referring to the age of Timon the misanthrope, 
 
 different valuations. The complication is increased by the maintenance of 
 other systems still, for official customs, banking calculations, etc. The accounts 
 of the expedition in Turkish money, begun in Mytilene where ^^ra is universal, 
 were continued in that reckoning, although at Behram cherouk is alone in use. 
 
 1 In this calculation the Turkish pound (lira) is reckoned at its gold value, 
 ^4.37, and the medjid consequently at about Jo.Si. 
 
 - I scarcely need to remind the reader of the words of Adam Smith: "Labor 
 alone, never varying in its own value, is the ultimate and true standard by which 
 the value of all commodities can at all times and places be estimated and com- 
 pared. It is their real price ; money is their nominal price only." 
 
 ^ Lucian, Timoit, VI. It is of little moment, in the present consideration, 
 whether the writer be assumed to state here the wages of his own day, or those 
 which were customary at the earlier period.
 
 344 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 speaks of the wages of a digger with the spade as equal to this amount, 
 and the same also appears as the daily earnings of a porter in a frag- 
 ment of Aristophanes.^ 
 
 The stone-cutters who sawed the beams of the coffered ceiling of 
 the Erechtheion were paid at the rate of one drachma, or six obols, a 
 day,'^ while the carpenters who framed the roof of the same building 
 had five obols.^ This is but one half and one quarter as much again, 
 respectively, as the average amount assumed for a day laborer. More- 
 over, throughout antiquity, the expenses of living were greater in 
 Athens than elsewhere,'* — even as at the present day the necessaries 
 of Ufe, and consequently also the wages, rule somewhat higher in large 
 towns than in the country. It is difficult to account for the ex- 
 ceedingly small pay of these thoroughly trained artificers, one 
 might almost say artists.^ The salaries paid to the architect and 
 the clerk of the works were little more than nominal, the former 
 receiving no more than a stone-sawyer, one drachma a day ; the 
 latter no more than a carpenter, five obols. ^ 
 
 Of greater importance in the present calculation than the wages of 
 such skilled hands, is the hire of marines and mercenary soldiers. 
 The pay of common sailors in the navies of Greece and Persia, shortly 
 before the beginning of the fourth century before Christ, seems to have 
 been three obols a day."' This was in time of war, when able seamen 
 were in great demand, and when, as is evident from the extraordinary 
 
 1 Preserved by Pollux, VII. 133 (XXIX.). Aristophanes elsewhere [Ekkles., 
 310) mentions wages of three obols a day. 
 
 2 Corpus Imcript. Attic, No. 324. 
 
 3 Compare upon this point the restoration of the inscription given by Rhi- 
 zos Rhankabes (Rangabe, Alexander), Antiqtiites Helleniqties, vol. i. p. 68, § 2. 
 Athenes, 1842-55. His conclusions are accepted by Boeckh (August), Die 
 Staatshaushaltung der Athener, vol. i. p. 165. Second edition. Berlin, 1S51. 
 
 * The authorities for this statement have been collected by Boeckh, Ibid., 
 vol. i , quoted above. 
 
 5 These low salaries can hardly be e.xplained by supposing that the honor 
 which labor upon the noble monuments of the Athenian Acropolis might imply 
 was regarded as a compensation, as might possibly be inferred from the state- 
 ment that the very beasts of burden which had borne the stones employed in 
 the building of the Parthenon were thereafter freed from all labor, and permitted 
 to graze at liberty for the rest of their lives. Plutarch, Caio Maj., V. 5. 
 
 6 See the explanation of this interesting passage given by Rangabe, Anti- 
 quites, quoted above, vol. i. p. 67, § 14, and p. 78, § 4. 
 
 7 Plutarch, Alkib., XXXV. 5.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 345 
 
 gratifications obtained for his men by Lysander,^ every effort was made 
 to render the service attractive. It is, of course, to be borne in mind 
 that no expense was here incurred for food and lodging, and that, con- 
 sequently, fully half as much again is to be added in computing the 
 pay of those living under ordinary circumstances. In accordance 
 herewith, the usual hire of soldiers maintaining themselves was fixed 
 at four obols a day.- So general, and so long continued was this 
 rate, that the phrase rerpoj^SoAov /8tos became proverbial for a trooper's 
 hfe' The hnes of the Stratiotites of Theopompos,'* 
 
 KaiTOL TLS ovK av (LKus ev TrpUTTOl TeTpOO^oXl^OiV, 
 El vvv ye Stco/SoXof (pepcov avrjp rpe'cfiei yvvaiKa, 
 
 are of especial interest, not only as showing that four obols a day was 
 an average wage, — the hire of the mercenary necessarily having been 
 made equivalent to the ordinary pay of the agricultural laborer, — but 
 that the expenses of living for a single individual during antiquity^ 
 stood in the same relation to his earnings as that which obtains to-day 
 among the Greek peasants. 
 
 It is more difficult to arrive at a precise estimate of the price of 
 grain during antiquity. One of the inscriptions found at Assos,'' 
 relates to this very subject, but the stone in question is, unfortunately, 
 mutilated, and the text so incomplete as to afford almost no direct 
 information concerning the most important point. Could one more 
 letter be deciphered at the beginning of the eighth line, it would 
 be possible to determine the price asked for the imported grain 
 sold at Assos by the benefactor of tlie town in whose honor this 
 stele was erected. A calculation of the gap, according to the res- 
 toration of Professor Ramsay," who assumes that four or five letters 
 only are missing from the left side of the stone, would indicate 
 
 1 Plutarch, Lysand., IV. 4, and the passage quoted in the preceding note. 
 
 2 Eustathios, on Iliad, XIII. 636, Leipzig edition, vol. iii. p. 178, I. 10. 
 
 3 Pausanias, quoted by Eustathios, Od., I. 156, vol. i. p. 41, 1. 23. 
 * Preserved by Pollux, IX. 64 (VI.). 
 
 ^ Two obols each, a day, was also the amount set apart by the inhab- 
 itants of Troizen for the maintenance of the Athenians who had taken refuge 
 with them during the Persian invasion. (Plutarch, Tlicmist., X. 3.) 
 
 *■ Assos Inscriptions, No. XXV. 
 
 "^ Ramsay (William '^.), Notes and Inscriptions from Asia I\[i7ior. VI. The 
 Inscriptions of Assos. American yournal of Arcluvology, vol. i. p. 149. Baltimore, 
 1SS5.
 
 346 ARCH.'EOLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 a number expressed by two letters, — that is to say, the sign for 
 some number greater than ten. It is certainly more probable that 
 the medimnos of wheat was sold for six than for eleven drachmas. 
 But this method of determination is altogether too uncertain to 
 form the basis of any further calculation. Moreover, the gratuitous 
 distribution of food among the populace, and the sale of ten thou- 
 sand drachmas' worth of grain at a rate so low as to be put on 
 record as a public benefit, makes it almost certain that the inscrip- 
 tion refers to a time of dearth. Hence the prices obtaining under 
 such exceptional conditions could not have a direct bearing on the 
 present question, even were the numeral known with certainty. A 
 case strikingly parallel to the public-spirited action commemorated 
 by the Assos inscription is that of certain clients of Demosthenes.'^ 
 The orator relates that, in order to relieve the suffering of the poorer 
 classes during the general distress occasioned by the assault of Alex- 
 ander upon Thebes, Chrysippos and his partner, wealthy merchants 
 of Athens, had sold a large quantity of grain at the usual price, ^ — five 
 drachmas the medimnos, — although it had then risen to sixteen 
 drachmas. The grain market of the ancients, still more than that of 
 the moderns, was subject to great fluctuations, dependent upon the 
 yield of the harvest, the effects of wars and blockades, and, in par- 
 ticular, the artificial values resulting from speculation and usury. Thus 
 a passage in Pollux^ refers to the payment of thirty-two drachmas 
 for the medimnos of wheat, — apparently in connection with the 
 " corner " which resulted from the infamous commercial operations of 
 Kleomenes. Such prices can enter as little into a calculation of the 
 normal value of cereals, as can the fabulous sums paid for small 
 quantities of grain in besieged towns. The six or more drachmas for 
 which the medimnos of wheat was sold to the Assians, if the proposed 
 restoration of the inscription be correct, would thus be ruled out by 
 the same principle which excludes the two hundred drachmas paid 
 for the medimnos of grain by the inhabitants of Praeneste when be- 
 
 1 Demosthenes, Adv. Pkorm., XXXVIII. (91S). 
 
 2 The words of Demosthenes, Kade(TTT]Kv7a rifxjj, can in this case only be 
 taken to signify the normal price. Boeckh {Staatshatishaltimg, vol. i. p. 132), at all 
 events, refutes the assumption of Letronne (Considerations, p. 113), who trans- 
 lates the phrase in question "prix taxe." 
 
 ^ Pollux, IV. 165. Compare Boeckh 's note [Staaiskajts/ialtiing, vol. i. p. 135) 
 on the reading of this passage.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 347 
 
 sieged in Casilinum by Hannibal/ the three hundred drachmas paid 
 by the Athenians during the attack of Uemetrios upon their city,- or 
 the thousand drachmas said to have been paid during the siege of 
 Athens by Sulla, when the inhabitants were reduced to eating their 
 leather bottles, and even their shoes.^ 
 
 It is thus necessary to base the present calculation upon the ref- 
 erences concerning the value of grain in Greece during times of 
 peace and plenty, which are to be derived from the writings of 
 the ancient authors, and from inscriptions. A comparison of many 
 such indications, though often widely divergent, leads to the belief 
 that the price of wheat, during the last four centuries before Christ, 
 maintained an average of three drachmas a medimnos, — that is 
 to say, $0,585 (metallic value) for 52.35 litres, or $11.17 "^^ 
 stare. 
 
 Only the more important passages which have led to this conclu- 
 sion need here be quoted. In the Ekk/esiazousai^ we hear Blepyros 
 complaining of having failed to receive a hectos of wheat, which he 
 refers to as the equivalent of a triobolon, — thus estimating it at three 
 drachmas the medimnos. This value is quite in accordance with the 
 price of barley at about the same time. We learn from passages of 
 
 ^ Strabo, p. 249. The present writer has followed Boeckh in rejecting the 
 emendation of Casaubon, who would read tJiv6s for fj.e5i/xvov, — a conjecture 
 adopted by many editors. No serious difficulty is presented by the mention of 
 the measure, without further specification ; and it is evident that, while the 
 buyer may have saved himself from dying of hunger, during the continuation 
 of the siege, by the consumption of a bushel and a half of grain, it is scarcely 
 possible that he could have supported life upon a mouse ! Nevertheless, the tale 
 was widely circulated throughout antiquity, that, during this siege, a mouse was 
 sold for a large sum : stated as two hundred denarii by Pliny (VIII. 82) and by 
 Valerius Maximus (VII. 6. 3), and as one hundred by Frontinus {Slratei:^emati<:a, 
 IV. 5. 20). The identity of these traditions with that given by the Greek writer 
 is evident from the repetition of the same phrases. In view of these objections, 
 it can only be assumed that the manuscripts of Strabo have preserved the true 
 account of a transaction which the Latin authors have misrepresented. 
 
 '■^ Plutarch, Demetr., XXXIII. 2. Boeckh's emendation, fieSi/nvos for /llSSios, 
 is adopted in the text ; otherwise the price of grain would have been nearly 
 double that which obtained during the much greater famine caused by the siege 
 of Sulla. It is doubtless owing to a misprint that Boeckh's remark [Shiats/iauS' 
 haltuno, vol. i. p. 135) reads "/x<^5»oj statt u.fSiixvos." 
 
 8 Plutarch, SiMi, XIII. i. 
 
 * Aristophanes, Ekkks., 547.
 
 348 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Plutarch ' and of Arrian,^ relating to the time of Sokrates, that the 
 latter grain cost one obol the half-hektos, or two drachmas the medim- 
 nos ; barley being without doubt considered in Attica, as elsewhere 
 throughout the ancient world,^ to be worth two thirds as much as 
 wheat. The same estimate for barley may be derived from Diogenes 
 Laertios,"* who speaks of the choinix as selling at two chalkoi, — 
 certainly cheap for so late a period, as we learn from a passage of 
 pseudo- Aristotelian Economics^ \\\2X four drachmas the medimnos 
 was a not uncommon price for pearl barley at Lampsakos, on the 
 highway of the grain trade from Scythia to the Peloponnesos, and 
 that the price was raised by the state, in an exceptional case, to 
 half as much again. 
 
 The most important of the inscriptions bearing upon this point is a 
 tariff of the income of certain Attic priests, dating from the first quarter 
 of the fourth century before Christ.'* In this interesting document the 
 price of the hemihektos of wheat is fixed at three obols ; but in con- 
 sideration of the small quantity sold, and the practice of privileged 
 dealers in sacrificial requisites at all periods, it is not too much to 
 assume, with the learned editor, that the profit taken was large, — at 
 least one hundred per cent, if we may trust the indications derived 
 from the passages before quoted. Calculations based upon Koppen's 
 celebrated inscription'' show the medimnos to have been sold, among 
 the Borysthenians, in the last half of the third century before Christ, 
 for two and for four drachmas. Still, little weight can be attached 
 to the inscription in this respect, as, unless the reading of the lines 
 be at fault, similar calculations lead to prices possible only under 
 exceptional conditions. 
 
 It is evident that, from the time when barter was first superseded 
 
 1 Plutarch, De Tranqiiillitate Animi, X. 
 
 '•2 Stobsus, Flor., XCVII. 28. 
 
 3 Compare the Sicilian prices given by Polybios, XXXIV., apud Athen., 
 VIII. I. 
 
 ^ Diogenes Laertios, VI. 2. (35). 
 
 5 Aristotle, Oecon., II. 7. 
 
 ^ Published by Boeckh, De Inscriptione Attica Res sacras spectante, in the 
 Verzeichniss der Vorlesimgen der Berliner Universitdt, 1835-36. Berlin, 1S36. 
 Reprinted in his Gesammelte kleine Schriften, vol. iv. Leipzig, 1S74. 
 
 "^ Koppen (Peter von), Olbisches Psephisina zit Ehren des Protogeiies. Wien, 
 1823. Corpus Inscript. Grace, No. 205S.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 349 
 
 by the use of coined money, and when Solon fixed the price of the 
 medimnos of wheat at one drachma/ the value of grain relative to 
 that of the precious metals steadily continued to increase. Letronne,- 
 in his admirable investigations concerning the coinages of antiquity, 
 reaches the conclusion that the average price of the medimnos of 
 wheat, at the end of the fifth century before Christ, was two and a half 
 drachmas. He estimates the value of wheat, compared with silver, 
 weight for weight, to have been enhanced from i : 3146 in 400 b. c. to 
 I : 2681 in 50 B. c. This increase is only between five and six per 
 cent for each hundred years, and though Letronne's assumption of 
 two and a half drachmas the medimnos may be a fraction too small, 
 even for the eminently productive period preceding the outbreak of 
 the Peloponnesian war, it is impossible to adopt for any subsequent 
 age, under normal conditions, a higher estimate than three drachmas 
 the medimnos. 
 
 This argument is borne out by an examination into the price of 
 cereals in Rome and its dependencies. The value of wheat cannot 
 have differed greatly in Italy and Greece, supplied as both these 
 countries were by importation. In Rome we find, at the same period, 
 an average price of three sesterces the modius, that is to say, $0,127 
 (metallic value) for 8.72 litres, or _^ 14.49 ^'^^ stere. The difference 
 between this price and that which resulted from a comparison of the 
 passages of the Greek writers before quoted is fully explained by 
 the later dates of most of the Latin accounts entering into the esti- 
 mate. The best authority is Cicero, who states that in Sicily, in his 
 time, the modius of wheat was valued by law at three sesterces. The 
 orator also refers to the price having, in some cases, been as low as 
 two and two and a half sesterces,^ but it should be borne in mind that 
 this was in an exceptionally fertile and well-cultivated country, which 
 supplied a great part of Italy with grain.^ Moreover, we learn from 
 
 1 Plutarch, Solofi, XXII 1. 5. 
 
 2 Letronne (Jean Antoine), Considerations ginSrales snr revaluation des 
 Monnaies Grecques et Romaines. Paris, 1S17. 
 
 8 Cicero, In Verrem, Act. II. Lib. III. 75, et seq. * Ibid., 74. 
 
 5 How great weight is to be attached to this consideration is evident from 
 the fact, that in Cisalpine Gaul — a province extraordinarily fertile, and so re- 
 mote from the great grain markets of antiquity that the produce could not be 
 transported to them — the medimnos of wheat was sold in the time of Polybios 
 (II. 15) for the equivalent of four obols.
 
 350 ARCHJLOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the same authority that four sesterces the modius was paid by the 
 government for a i]^uantity of wheat furnished in compliance with a 
 levy.^ In subsequent ages, under Nero, the price of three sesterces 
 was considered remarkably low,'- the value of the Roman coinage being 
 only seven eighths of that in use before the imperial epoch. 
 
 According to the two averages thus obtained, the pay of the com- 
 mon laborer of antiquity, determined above, would be equivalent to a 
 daily wage of 1 1.6 or of 9 litres of wheat, the mean being 10.3 htres. 
 
 From 18S1 to 1883 the price of wheat at Behram varied from one 
 and a quarter to one and a half medjids the kilo (a Turkish measure 
 of capacity equal to 35.266 litres), that is to say, from $28.72 to $34.17 
 the stere. The sum of thirteen piasters paid by the expedition to 
 the commonest laborers was thus equivalent to a daily wage of from 
 9.26 to I I.I litres, the mean being 10.18 litres. 
 
 A comparison between these results shows that the average earn- 
 ings of ancient and modern workmen, upon the same soil, differ only 
 about one per cent : a fraction which in a calculation of this kind is 
 not worthy of consideration. There could be no more striking illus- 
 tration of the unvarying standard of human productivity maintained 
 under circumstances almost identical.^ 
 
 1 Cicero, In Verrem, Act. II. Lib. III. 70. 
 
 - Tacitus, Amtales, XV. 39. 
 
 3 It is evident that the comparison must be strictly limited to these condi- 
 tions. The differences between the modes of life in Asia Minor and in our own 
 country to-day are infinitely greater than are those between the circumstances 
 of the ancient and of the modern agricultural laborers in Greek lands. In the 
 social economy of the United States and of Northern Europe we meet with 
 factors which have no parallel in the sparsely populated tracts of the Orient, — 
 factors which, like the high rents of dwellings and fields in congested districts, 
 are of the utmost importance in every estimate, and forbid a comparison based 
 upon any single item. Thus the expression of the average wages in the amount 
 of grain for which they are exchangeable, would here be altogether misleading. 
 
 The English laborer, for instance, compared with the leisurely tiller of the 
 Trojan plain, is forced to a much more grinding toil, while obtaining a more 
 scanty and precarious livelihood. In Great Britain, as is well known, 10,000 
 landlords receive from the soil an income equal to more than twice the wages 
 paid to their 850,000 servants. Nothing can be more certain than that the 
 English workman is underpaid. Yet, judging from the item of bread alone, he 
 receives nearly half as much again as does the Turk or Greek. The laborers 
 at Assos who earned least had the equivalent of 4.74 kilograms of bread, — 
 the oke costing three and a half piasters gera, or $0,086. The poorest farm
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 35 I 
 
 A similar correspondence becomes evident from a comparison of 
 the ancient and the modern prices of wine, which, as an article of con- 
 sumption grown upon the soil, is, for comparison, second in impor- 
 tance only to the cereals. During the ages of antiquity for which the 
 preceding calculations were made, the ordinary cost of native wine 
 seems to have been about four drachmas the metretes, or, expressed in 
 metallic value, two cents the litre. In the speech against Phainippos, 
 the speaker tells us that the price, which had then risen to thrice 
 the usual amount,^ was twelve drachmas the metretes. ^ This is a fair 
 average between, on the one hand, the excessively low values of Upper 
 Italy 3 and Sicily,'* where the metretes was sold for two obols and for 
 one drachma respectively, and, on the other, the exceptionally fine 
 and expensive varieties,^ such as the vintage of Chios, sold at Athens, 
 even as early as the time of Sokrates, for one mina the metretes.^ 
 The laborer of antiquity, for his four obols a day, would thus have 
 received six litres and a half of wine. The same quantity would be 
 equivalent, also, to the average daily wages of the workmen employed 
 in the excavation of Assos. The fluid oke of Tenedos or Mytilene 
 wine was sold, in 1883, for one piaster and a half gem (three fortieths 
 of a medjid), — that is to say, for about six cents the litre. Six litres 
 and a half would consequently have cost somewhat less than half a 
 medjid. 
 
 The relative cost of meat cannot be so accurately determined ; still 
 it is sufficiently evident that in this article of food, as in grain and 
 wine, there was a general agreement between the ancient and modern 
 values. No beef is now to be had in the Troad, cattle being kept 
 
 laborers in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, hired for twelve shillings a week, and 
 buying the quartern loaf for fivepence, or, as at present, for fourpence, receive 
 6.9 or 8.6 kilograms a day. Notwithstanding this, the latter is decidedly the 
 worse off. 
 
 1 Demosthenes, Aa'-j. Phaen., XXXI. (p. 104S. 24). 
 
 2 Ibid., XX. (p. 1045. 4). 
 
 8 Polybios, II. 15. * Ibid., XXXIV., apud Athen., VIII. i. 
 
 8 A fragment of Alexis (in Athenaios, III. S6) shows the chous to have 
 been retailed at ten obols. At this rate the metretes would have cost twenty 
 drachmas. But this price is given by the play-writer as an instance of the 
 extortionate charges of the Athenian cooks ; moreover, it was asked for wine 
 provided at a banquet, and doubtless of superior value. 
 
 •^ Plutarch, De Tranquillitate Animi, X.
 
 352 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 solely for the purpose of drawing the plough and treading out the 
 grain. The ample information possessed concerning the value of 
 oxen, in ancient times, is thus not directly available for this com- 
 parison. The flesh of goats is that most commonly eaten by the 
 present inhabitants ; but the passages of the classic authors refer- 
 ring to the price of these animals do not afford a basis for trustworthy 
 calculation. As to sheep, a laborer can to-day earn a fine animal, 
 costing about three medjids and a half, by the work of from seven to 
 nine days. This would lead us to expect the value of a sheep to have 
 been, in ancient times, between five and six drachmas. About the 
 same amount results from computations based upon the exceptionally 
 low prices obtaining in Greece in the age of Solon, ^ and in Lusitania 
 at a later period,"^ if we may suppose these values to have compared 
 with those of the fourth century, under normal circumstances, in the 
 same ratio as did the prices of cereals. The estimates based upon 
 these values, recorded by Plutarch and Polybios, agree perfectly ; they 
 are more applicable to the present case than are such of the prices 
 given in ancient literature as refer to exceptionally fine animals, to be 
 offered upon the altars of the deities. It does not conflict with the 
 assumption of an average cost of between five and six drachmas, that, 
 for instance, in a fragment of Menander,^ the price — and, let it be 
 observed, the maximum price — of a sacrificial sheep is estimated at 
 ten or twelve drachmas. 
 
 The expense of clothing, extremely small in both cases, seems to 
 be even less in modern than it was in ancient times. According to a 
 passage preserved in Pollux,^ a chlamys cost the weight of three 
 (silver) staters, — that is to say, twelve drachmas; a mantle is re- 
 ferred to by Aristophanes ^ as worth four staters, — sixteen drachmas ; 
 and Sokrates ^ thought ten drachmas cheap for a workman's sleeve- 
 less exomis. But these are only portions of the ancient dress, and 
 the gala costume of a Mohammedan potter of Chanak Kalessi," strik- 
 
 1 Plutarch, Solon, XXIII. 5. 
 
 2 Polybios, XXXIV., apud Athen., VIII. i. 
 
 3 In Athenaios, IV. 27, and VIII. 67. 
 
 * Pollu.x, VI. 165 (XXXVII.). 5 Aristophanes, Ekkles., 413. 
 
 ^ Plutarch, De Tranqidllitate Animi, X. 
 
 ^ For a photographic illustration of this costume see Hamdy Bey and De 
 Launay, Costumes fofiilaires de la TnrqiUe en 1S73, ^^''t- 2, Plate III. Con-
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 353 
 
 ing and even magnificent as it is, costs, all in all, only about three 
 medjids and a quarter (^2.63). If the peasant of ancient Attica 
 could earn one of his garments by the work of two or three weeks, 
 the modern inhabitant of the Troad can procure his serviceable and 
 picturesque suit by the work of Httle more than eight days. It is true, 
 the costume of the fashionable Greek of Mytilene,i with its rich em- 
 broidery, is rather more expensive, costing about ten medjids, but this 
 is a far more elaborate dress than the simple garb which the palikaria 
 wore while at work, and is treasured up in chests of cypress-wood, 
 to be displayed only on saints' days and wedding feasts. 
 
 Dress, Food, and Modes of Life. 
 
 The costumes of the Turkish workmen were bright in color, and 
 gracefully worn. The sway of changing fashion is unknown in the 
 East, and the garments and accoutrements of the country people 
 are still the same as those engraved by Manno, three centuries 
 ago.^ The turban is reduced in size, and is now worn only by old 
 men ; but the red fez is generally wound around with some wisp 
 of colored stuff. A good Mohammedan never bares his head in 
 public, — the only exception on record being the act of Selim I. 
 after the conquest of Cairo, — and the Turk has certainly found in 
 the fez and turban cloth the most becoming, as well as the most 
 comfortable covering. 
 
 So great has been the influence of the conquering race upon its 
 cringing subjects, that the dress of the Greeks is now of the same 
 general character as that of the Turks. Few reminiscences have 
 been retained of the costumes of the Byzantine Empire, or of those 
 of the Frankish occupation of Mytilene. 
 
 In respect to one article, however, the Greeks have preserved 
 
 s^antinople, 1873. The expense of the suit is here estimated at fourteen francs. 
 As usual, the dress of the potter's wife, more richly ornamented, costs consider- 
 ably more than his own. 
 
 ^ Ibid., Plate VIII. The writer must admit that he has never known a Greek 
 of Mytilene, or indeed of any of its neighboring islands, to wear such a fusta- 
 nella as that shown in this photograph. Notwithstanding this, the estimate of 
 the cost of the gala dress may be admitted without question. 
 
 - These engravings, published in Denmark and signed F. Manno, are dated 
 between 1570 and 15S2. 
 
 23
 
 354 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 a manner of make well known in classical antiquity. While the 
 Turks depend altogether upon cobblers for their shoes, — the 
 pointed and turned up toes of which are characteristic of a deriva- 
 tion from the Far East, — every Greek workman makes his own 
 foot covering; forming, from a single piece of untanned ox-hide, 
 the same brogues as those described by Hesychios ^ as dypoLKiKov 
 vTTohrijxa jxovoSepixov, — which froze to the feet of Xenophon's sol- 
 diers," and are referred to in the Pastorals of Longos ^ as having 
 been worn by the peasants of this very neighborhood. These san- 
 dals, to-day called r^apovxt-a, are the Kapftarivai of the ancients. 
 The skin, after being thoroughly dried, is soaked in oil until it is 
 pliable ; the edges are turned up at the sides of the foot, perforated, 
 and laced into position with thongs of the same material, the ends 
 of which are long enough to be wound around the ankle and lower 
 leg. The hair is left upon the outside, curiously enough, and soon 
 wears off from the sole. Such simple articles of daily use, made 
 by the common people according to traditional forms, are much 
 less liable to the innovations of improvement than are the manu- 
 factures of trained workmen. This peculiar foot covering offers 
 one of the best instances of the continuity of ancient customs 
 among the modern Greeks. 
 
 In October, all the men, Turks as well as Greeks, began to knit 
 diligently upon their stockings of coarse undyed wool, spending 
 their evenings, and even the shorter pauses of the day, in this 
 employment, which naturally called to mind the fact that many 
 varieties of work now considered fit only for women — such as 
 embroidery* — were, in Greek antiquity, practised by men. 
 
 '1 he Greeks of this unfrequented coast are, indeed, as a writer of 
 the time of James I. has described them : " A happie people that 
 Hue according to nature ; and want not much, in that they couet 
 but little. Their apparrell no other than linnen breeches ; ouer 
 that a smocke close girt unto them with a towell ; putting on some- 
 times long sleeuelesse coates of homespun cotten. Yet their backs 
 
 1 Hesychios, stid voce Kapirdrtvov. Compare also the definitions given by 
 Photios s. V. Kap^aTLv-q, and Pollux, VII. 88. 
 
 2 Xenophon, Anab., IV. 5. 14. 
 •* Longos, II. 3. 
 
 * Aischines, In Timarch., XL.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS. 355 
 
 need not enuie their bellies : Biscot, Oliues, Garlicke, and Onions 
 being their principall sustenance. Sometimes for change they will 
 scale the rocks for Sampler, and search the bottome of the lesse 
 deepe seas for a certaine little fish (if I may so call it) shaped like 
 a burre.^ Their ordinarie drinke being water : yet once a day they 
 will warme their blouds with a draught of wine, contented as well 
 with this, as those that with the rarities of the earth do pamper 
 their uoracities." ^ 
 
 The food of the workmen has been referred to in the First Re- 
 port,^ where it was pointed out how closely the present ways of 
 life resemble those of antiquity. The alimentary resources of 
 Behram are scant, even for Asia Minor. The chief meat is the 
 stringy flesh of goats. The sheep of the country, which are of the 
 KovpiovKo. or fat-tailed variety {Ovis sieatopygos), are not to be had 
 at all seasons. In classic times Assos was famed for its enormous 
 swine ; ■* but, owing to the religious prejudices of the Turks, there 
 are now no tame pigs in the Southern Troad. The Turkish hus- 
 bandmen on the upper Touzla kill great numbers of the wild boars 
 which descend from the wooded heights of Ida to ravage the culti- 
 vated fields ; yet the savory meat is never eaten, and the bodies 
 are left as they fall. Occasionally, Greek villagers were induced to 
 bring the young and tender boars to the port, — a task which they 
 undertook with many precautions. But during the second year an 
 unfortunate incident altogether stopped this supply. A small ani- 
 mal was brought at night to Behram, and left for some hours in the 
 shop of a Greek bakhal. Here it was discovered by an orthodox 
 Mussulman, and for some time thereafter the premises which had 
 harbored the unclean flesh were avoided by all the Turks of the 
 neighborhood. It resulted from this species of boycotting that the 
 corpus delicti was' the last eaten at Assos by the explorers. 
 
 1 The edible sea-urchin [Echinus csailenttis), a favorite food of the ancients. 
 Compare the passages collected in Stephanus's Thes., s. v. ^x^''"^- 
 
 2 Sandys (George), A Relation of a Journey begun IGIO. Foure Bookes. 
 Containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Aigypt, of the Holy Land, 
 and of the remote Parts of Italy and Islands adjoining. (First edition.) 
 London, 161 5. This well-known and once popular book went through four 
 editions during the reign of Charles I. 
 
 * Report, p. 26. 
 
 4 Ptolemy VII., Physkon, quoted in Athenaios, IX. 17
 
 356 ARCH.'EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Fresh and salted fish are to be had in abundance, and are still 
 as important an article of food as in classical antiquity. On two 
 occasions, during the stay of the expedition, great schools of fish 
 played along the coast, so closely crowded together that they could 
 actually be caught by hand. The villagers, lounging in the caf^s 
 and shops of the little port, were informed by a general clamor of 
 the appearance of the prize, and rushed into the water waist-deep, 
 using their garments as casting nets, and dragging the fish on 
 shore by hundreds. Naturally, the Gulf of Adramyttion is much 
 frequented by fishermen, craft coming to it even from Apulia and 
 Malta. The variety of the fish caught within sight of Assos is very 
 great ; investigations made in this region by a scholar as learned, in 
 the present state of science, as was Belon in the sixteenth century, 
 or Sibthorp a hundred years ago, could not fail to throw much light 
 upon the ichthyology of the ancients. 
 
 Not only can we trace the classic origin of almost all the names 
 by which the fish are still called, but we may recognize, in the 
 means employed for their capture, those in use among the ancients. 
 The methods of the modern fishermen form in many ways an inter- 
 esting commentary on the Halieutics of Oppian, of Pankrates, and 
 of Ovid.^ At nightfall, in calm weather, the fishing boats left the 
 little port, each having, in a cresset projecting beyond the prow, a 
 bright fire of resinous wood. Attracted and dazed by the glare, 
 the fish were speared in great numbers. The beats were kept near 
 to the shore, and the flames lighted up the field of ruins upon the 
 slope towards the sea. Far in the distance could be seen the fires 
 kindled by the fishermen of Mytilene and of Aivaly. This spear- 
 ing by torchlight, now known as ■n-epifjidvevfj.a, was customary in 
 antiquity, served Plato as an illustration in one of his Dialogues,^ 
 and has been described by Oppian.^ 
 
 The wholesale poisoning of fish, which excited the repugnance of 
 the poet, and gave occasion to one of his finest similes,* is also 
 
 1 Tchihatchef (Aste Miiieiire) remarks, with great truth : " Les operations des 
 pecheurs de I'Anatolie sont encore au point ou elles se trouvaient il y a plus de 
 seize siecles (du temps d'yElien)." Unfortunately, the work of the great Rus- 
 sian naturalist and explorer does little more than record a few disconnected 
 observations concerning this subject. 
 
 2 Plato, Sophist., V. (p. 221, d.). 
 
 3 Oppian, Hal., IV. 640-643. * Ibid., IV. 644-693.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 357 
 
 practised to-day, although more frequently in the mill-races of the 
 Touzla than in the open sea. The plants employed for the pur- 
 pose are those whose fish-poisoning qualities were known to the 
 ancients: a kind of mullein {Verbascum phiofnoides ?), referred to 
 by Aristotle ; ^ and the spurge ^ {Euphorbia characias ?), seven vari- 
 eties of which are described by Dioskorides.^ The first of these 
 is still called <f)Xofj-6 by the common people. That this method of 
 killing fish has been handed down from ancient times in unbroken 
 tradition is proved by the occurrence of the expression (^A-o/xo/xeVw 
 ij/dpr] in the Byzantine version of the novel of Apollonius of Tyre,* 
 dating, according to Hagen,^ from the thirteenth century. 
 
 The vertebrce of sharks were often found among remains refer- 
 able to the classic period. One specimen, taken together with 
 various playthings from the tomb of a child (sarcophagus No. 97), 
 was cut to serve as the hub of a wheel for a toy cart. This whit- 
 
 1 Aristotle, I/isi. AnhnaL, VIII. 20. (13). 
 
 2 Schliemann states, in his Heise in der Troas im Mai 1881, Leipzig, 1S81 
 (translated and reprinted in his Troja, London, 1884, Appendix I.), that his 
 horses, when crossing the range of Ida, were muzzled to prevent their cropping 
 the herbage by the wayside. He gatherered that this was on account of a mys- 
 terious plant, known as Agil, which within a few hours causes the death of any 
 animal eating of it, but which is harmless after flowering in the month of July. 
 It may be observed, in reference to this "hochwichtige Thatsache," that the 
 Turkish word Agol signifies spurge. As animals instinctively avoid this plant, 
 no fear of poisoning is entertained by herdsmen of experience. Moreover, the 
 plants of the genus Euphorbia have the same qualities in the autumn as in the 
 spring. Schliemann's statement, upon the authority of his guide, that no animals 
 whatever are allowed to graze on the heights of Ida before the middle of July, 
 is, at all events, incorrect. Great herds are driven to the mountain pastures 
 long before that season. 
 
 8 Dioskorides, CLXIL, ed. Kuehn, 162. 
 
 ^ This work, reminiscences of which are still to be traced in a popular tale of 
 the Gulf of Adramyttion (compare p. 003, note i ), has been accessible to the writer 
 only in the form of a chap-book, printed at Venice in 1778. A copy of the origi- 
 nal edition, in the library of Munich, which Dr. A. Emerson had the kindness 
 to examine, bears the title, l^i-r\yt\ai% wpatwTaTTj, 'Airo\oviov (so written through- 
 out) r7)v (sic) iv Tvpo), l>tiJ.6Sa, and concludes, " Stampato in Vinegia per Christo- 
 foro Zanetti, MDLIII." The passage in r|uestion, line 896 of the poem, reads, 
 Kai fvy'iKfu fls rh niKayoi aaf (pKojj.ofXffw tfapTj, — " And he came up to the 
 surface like a poisoned fish." 
 
 •^ Hagen (Hermann), Dcr Roman vom A'onii^ Apollonius von Tyrus, in scincn 
 verschiedenen Bearbcitungen. Berlin, 1666.
 
 358 ARCH.^EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 tling of an Assian father is now preserved in an archa^clogical 
 museum, after having lain with the ashes of the dead for more 
 than twenty centuries. The investigations of Reichert and Peters ^ 
 have shown that sharks formed a common article of food in the 
 northern Troad, during the earliest ages of antiquity ; but the mod- 
 ern Greeks expressed abhorrence at the idea of eating this fish. 
 
 There can be no doubt, on the other hand, that the /xe'ya k^tos 
 which devoured the unfortunate Thrasis in these waters^ was a 
 shark. A pointed fin was occasionally seen above the surface, 
 unpleasantly near the bathing-place of the expedition ; and, within 
 the memory of the present generation, sponge divers have been 
 killed by sharks. A case in point, which happened off the neigh- 
 boring Tenedos, is related by Ross.^ Still, the divers seem to 
 apprehend no danger, although the light rubber armor with 
 which they are now generally provided could afford no adequate 
 protection. 
 
 Few sponges are to be gathered on the northern coast of the 
 Gulf of Adramyttion, and only once during the stay of the expe- 
 dition was a professional diver seen at Behram. His visit was 
 brought about by an accident which attracted the entire population 
 of the village to the shore, but this was of a more harmless nature, 
 and of a happier issue than those before mentioned. The case 
 was as follows. In the summer of 1882 a Turk of Behram, in 
 charge of a small coasting vessel, returned from Smyrna with the 
 money of his employer, received in payment for a cargo of valonea. 
 Fearing that his gold pieces might be stolen, he had tied them in a 
 bag and stowed them away among the stones of his ballast. By 
 some neglect this bag was left in its hiding-place after coming into 
 port, and was cast out with the stones. Now, because of the in- 
 creasing shallowness of the little port, the leading men of Behram 
 enforce a rule that nothing shall be thrown overboard within the 
 mole. The vessels have consequently to be rowed outside, in order 
 to discharge ballast. Thus it came about that the gold was sunk 
 at a great depth. The sum, eighty pounds, was a fortune to the 
 
 1 IwWxc^av} {'^Vi'SioM), Beitrdge ziir Laiidcshmde der T)-oas. Berlin, 1880. 
 
 2 Leonidas, in Aiitkol. Palat., VII. 506. 
 
 ^ Ross (Ludwig), Reisen aiif den griuhischen Inscln dcs dgdischcn MeereSy 
 vol. ii. Stuttgart and Tiibingen, 1840-43.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 359 
 
 poor captain. After desperate attempts to pull himself down to the 
 bottom by means of an anchor chain, he rowed at night to Aivaly, 
 in search of help. There he fortunately found a diver, who came 
 to Behram on the following day, bringing with him all the appa- 
 ratus of his profession. The search was rendered difficult by the 
 depth of the water, but in about an hour the precious bag was 
 found. Those who were with the Turk in the vessel, and shared 
 his anxious expectation, will not forget the expression of his face, 
 and his joyful outcry, when the diver, looking in his armor like 
 some monster of the sea, rose to the surface with the gold in his 
 hand. 
 
 On days when there was no work the Greeks diligently gathered 
 a species of acephalous mollusk, undoubtedly the same Ascidia 
 described by Aristotle,^ and used as food in the time of Homer.- 
 Heaps of shells among the refuse thrown outside the city walls 
 during ancient times show that the oysters of the Hellespont — so 
 highly praised by Archestratos,^ that Hesiod of epicures, and famed 
 as late as the time of Virgil^ — were appreciated by the ancient 
 inhabitants of Assos as well as by those of Ilion and Thymbra.^ 
 But, as the Turks eat no shell fish of any kind, the beds are little 
 cultivated, and oysters are not now to be had in the Southern 
 Troad. 
 
 The bread was always good, — as might naturally be expected in 
 a district which from the earliest ages has been celebrated for the 
 superior quality of its cereals. So highly prized was the wheat of 
 Assos, that it was chosen from among all the varieties of the East- 
 
 ^ Aristotle, Hist. Animal., IV. 6. 
 
 2 Homer, //., XVI. 747. Notwithstanding the direct testimony of Athenaios 
 (III. 39) and Suidas {stib voce) there can be little doubt that the tt\Qos of Homer 
 is not, as commonly rendered, the oyster, but is identical with the mussel de- 
 scribed by Aristotle. 
 
 8 Archestratos, in Athenaios, III. 44. 
 
 * Georg. I. 206 : 
 
 "... in patriam ventosa per aequora vectis 
 Pontus et ostriferi fauces tentantur Abydi." 
 
 ^ The Ostrca cristata, or flicattila, was found at Hanai-Tepeh ; the Ostrea 
 lamellosa, at Hissarlik. An interchange of these names in Appendix IV. of 
 Schliemann's //wj is corrected by Virchow (KvidoM), Alttrojanische Graber utid 
 Schadtl. Berlin, 1SS2.
 
 360 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 ern world to supply the table of the luxurious kings of Persia, and 
 was exported even to Susa,^ a distance, by sea and land, of over 
 two thousand miles, — enormous for the commercial relations of 
 the time. The fields which now produce the finest wheat are those 
 upon the north of Behram, just beneath the walls of the ancient 
 city, in the alluvion brought down by the little river from the 
 detritus of the limestone and volcanic formations of Ida. The 
 celebrity of the harvests of Assos was shared by those of the neigh- 
 boring Gargara, its colony, the fertility of this country having been 
 renowned even in distant Italy : — 
 
 " Hinc grata Cereri Gargara, et dives solum, 
 Quod Xanthus ambit nivibus Idaeis tumens." 2 
 
 Equally renowned in antiquity was the grain of the opposite island, 
 by which the supply of the ill-cultivated Troad has now to be eked 
 out. Chief among the bounteous gifts of Demeter, Archestratos ^ 
 reckoned the bread of Lesbos, made of flour whiter than driven 
 snow; such were the loaves of which the gods themselves did 
 eat, obtaining them through Hermes, their steward and their mes- 
 senger. 
 
 The wheat grown in the valley of the Touzla is mostly ground 
 in a mill of primitive construction, the overshot wheel of which is 
 turned by the stream. Handmills are, however, still in use, and a 
 number of saddle-querns, found beneath the pavement of the tem- 
 ple during the course of the excavations, were carried off by the 
 Turkish villagers to be again put to the use for which they were 
 roughly hewn in prehistoric ages. 
 
 The dairies of the country are almost altogether in the hands of 
 the Yuruks, a nomadic race whose tents are pitched in all parts of 
 Asia Minor,* and who, attracted by the wide expanses of uncul- 
 
 1 Strabo, p. 735. Strabo probably derived his information concerning the 
 habits of the Persian kings from Poseidonios. The latter is quoted by Athenaios 
 (I. 51) as stating the facts in regard to the wine of Chalybon, which are also 
 mentioned by the geographer. 
 
 2 Seneca, Phoen., IV. 608. Compare also the lines of Virgil, Georgics, I. 
 102, 103. 
 
 3 Archestratos, in Athenaios, III. 77. 
 
 * A picturesque account of the Yuruks is given by Choisy (Auguste), VAsie 
 Mineure et les Turcs en 1885. Paris, 1876.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 36 1 
 
 tivated land and the excellent pasturage of Mount Ida, are partic- 
 ularly numerous in the Troad.^ Although undoubtedly of Tartar 
 origin, they are quite distinct from the Osmanlis, who look down 
 upon them as an inferior race. 
 
 The Greeks eat little butter, and, like their ancestors, regard it 
 rather as a medicine than as a food."'^ Its place upon the table, and 
 especially in the cuisine, is taken by olive oil. This was also true 
 of the ancients, being in great measure due to the exigencies of 
 the climate. As in antiquity, butter is looked upon as an aliment 
 peculiar to the barbarians, — to the Turks of the present, as to the 
 Scythians of former times, — and among them its use, to repeat 
 the words of Pliny,^ still distinguishes the rich from the poor. The 
 Yuruks, at least in the Troad, themselves consume but little of 
 this much-esteemed fat, which is produced in small quantities, and 
 is taken by the wealthier villagers in exchange for the few manu- 
 factured articles required by these primitive tribes.* It is at best 
 only to be had during the early months of the year. The fierce 
 heat of summer so completely destroys the herbage, that the cattle 
 would perish of starvation were they not driven from the arid 
 plains to the cool and green heights of Ida. Among the Yuruks 
 the churning is effected by means of a goat-skin, which, being filled 
 with milk and securely tied, is rocked about until the globules are 
 deposited upon its sides.^ The butter thus obtained is scraped 
 from the skin, mixed with an excessive quantity of salt, and melted 
 into earthenware pots. From these it can be generally poured, 
 and eaten rather as a liquid than as a solid. 
 
 Far more appetizing is the yaourt, or curdled milk, the o^r^yaXa 
 of the classics, which is one of the chief articles of food of the 
 
 ^ Photographs of Yuruks of the Troad are given in Ilamdy Bey and De 
 Launay, Costutnes, Part. 2, Plates IV. and V. 
 
 2 Compare the references in Dioskorides, II. 81, ed. Kuehn, p. 200 ; and in 
 passages of Galen, too numerous to quote. 
 
 ^ Pliny, N'at. Hist., XXVIII. 35 : " E lacte fit et butyrum barbararum gentium 
 lautissimus cibus, et qui divites a plebe discernat." 
 
 * The chief employment of butter, by the Turks of Asia Minor, is in the 
 cooking of the pilaf, or btilgur, a dish of unsweetened rice which forms a staple 
 article of food. — J. R. S. S. 
 
 5 These skins are in some cases suspended, and the churning is then done 
 with an upright dasher. — J. R. S. S.
 
 362 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 Turks, as it was of the ancient Persians^ and Scythians.^ The 
 two methods of making it practised by the Yuruks are precisely 
 the same as those known in antiquity.^ Actual delicacies are the 
 myzethra, or fresh cream-cheese, and the kaimak, or clotted cream. 
 The secret of these preparations, which apparently were unknown 
 to the ancients, and are unequalled by the products of the most 
 renowned dairies of Europe, must have been brought by the Turks 
 from their original homes in the far interior of Asia.* The kaimak, 
 at all events, is described by a hungry traveller in this country, a 
 generation before the Mohammedan conquest of Constantinople." 
 During the past five centuries the customs of the Turks have 
 changed even less than those of the Greeks. 
 
 The wine of this district was famed throughout antiquity equally 
 with its wheat ; the produce of the parent city, and of the colony of 
 Assos, being classed together by Ovid in an extravagant parallel : 
 
 " Gargara quot segetes, quot habet Methymna racemos, 
 Aequore quot pisces, fronde teguntur aves, 
 Quot caelum Stellas, tot habet tua Roma puellas." ^ 
 
 The praises bestowed by the ancients upon the wine of Lesbos 
 were endless, and exhaust the commendatory adjectives of the 
 classical dictionary.'^ The vintage of Methymna, in particular, was 
 
 1 Plutarch, Artax., III. i ; and also Ctesias, Ind., XXII., ed. Lion, p. 193. 
 
 2 Strabo, p. 311. 
 
 8 Pliny, Nat. Hist., XXVIII. 36. The more common of these methods is 
 mingling a portion of old curds with the fresh milk. 
 
 * The best kaimak is made from sheep's milk, which is boiled for several 
 hours while being constantly stirred. A considerable part of its water is thus 
 evaporated. It is then permitted to cool very gradually, and the cream is 
 removed by skimming. 
 
 5 La Brocquiere (Bertrandon de}, Voyage d'Outremer et Ketour de Jerusalem 
 en France par la Voie de Terre, pendant 1432 et 1433. Ouvrage extrait d'un 
 Manuscrit de la Bibliotheque Nationale, remis en Fran^ais vioderne. Par Le- 
 grand d'Aussy. In Hakluyt (Richard), Collection of Early Voyages, etc, vol. 
 iv. New edition. London, 1S09-12. 
 
 6 Ovid, Ars Amandi, I. 56-58. 
 
 ■? Many references of ancient authors to the wine of Lesbos are given by 
 Plehn (Severus Lucianus), Lesbiacorum Liber, Berolini, 1S26. The verdict of 
 antiquity may be summed up in the words of Alexis (in Athenaios, I. 51) : 
 
 Aec/Siou TrcifiaTOS 
 
 OuK icTTlV &\\0S olvOS TjSici)!' TTIUU.
 
 INVESTIGATIOXS AT AS SOS. ^^^ 
 
 regarded as one of the choicest;^ and the grapes of this town 
 were extolled even by Virgil,^ whose testimony in their favor is of 
 especial interest, as that of a tiller of the fertile soil of Italy. 
 
 There can be little doubt that, during antiquity, the vine was 
 extensively grown on the slopes of Assos. The importance of this 
 cultivation, on the continent as well as on the island, is attested by 
 the wide repute of the extract of vine leaves made in the neighbor- 
 ing town of Adramyttion.^ The nature of this preparation is not 
 fully known, but it was believed by the ancients to be good for the 
 stomach, and to have the admirable effect of keeping the mind 
 clear. As Edremit has a considerable Greek population, the vine- 
 yards in that neighborhood are still of great extent ; but Behrarn 
 is altogether dependent upon the opposite coast for grapes and 
 wine. The change of race which is gradually taking place through- 
 out the Troad is destined to effect a revolution in the agricultural 
 conditions of the country. 
 
 Asia Minor is so mountainous that few of its larger towns are 
 without a supply of snow, which is used, as in antiquity,* to cool 
 the wines of the Greeks, and the sherbet, milk of almonds, and 
 other sweet drinks of the orthodox Turks. 
 
 Near the highest peaks of Ida the writer has seen, as late in the 
 season as the middle of September, great quantities of snow, stored 
 in enclosures of stone and brushwood, and covered with thick layers 
 of leaves and earth. A fragment of a contemporary history of the 
 campaigns of Alexander^ shows that this was the very method of 
 preserving snow practised by the Greeks during the siege of the 
 Indian city of Petra. This snow, packed in great saddle-bags of 
 felt, is carried upon the backs of mules from the heights of Ida 
 
 1 Galen ranks the wine of Methymna second only to that of Eressos, Method. 
 MeJeiuL, XII. 4, ed. Kuehn, vol. x. p. 832. 
 
 2 Gcorgics, II. 89 : 
 
 "Non eadem arboribus pendet vindemia nostris 
 Quam Methymnaeo carpit de palmite Lesbos." 
 
 » Athenaios, XV. 38. 
 
 * The custom of cooling wine with snow is referred to by Xenophon [Mem., 
 II. I. 30), and by a host of authors quoted in Athenaios (III. 97-99). Thus 
 we learn from a fragment of Euthyklcs (loc. cit.) that snow was regularly sold 
 as a commodity. 
 
 ^ Chares of Mytilcne, in Athenaios, III. 97.
 
 364 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 to the market-places of Eclremit and Bergama. Its gathering and 
 removal is a business of such importance that rude huts are built, 
 high above the timber line, for the shelter of those engaged in the 
 work ; while beacons of stone are erected to mark the site, which 
 would otherwise be trackless after the autumn storms have covered 
 the earth. But there was not sufficient demand for snow among 
 the poor villagers of Behram, or indeed in any part of the Troad, 
 to repay its transportation from the Qazdagh towards the west. 
 The workmen, unable to obtain the luxuries of Alexander, resorted 
 to the method of cooling known to King Antiochus.^ The water 
 was kept in vessels of porous earthenware, sprinkled from time to 
 time, and placed by day in the shadow of some great stone near 
 the working-place, and by night upon the house-tops, where a light 
 breeze was generally stirring. The evaporation kept the contents 
 so cool that on very dry and windy days the water seemed almost 
 to have been iced. 
 
 None of the Greek workmen lived in the village. They were all 
 immigrants, and found more congenial company among the bak- 
 hals, petty traders, and fishermen at the port. Accommodations 
 were provided by the four small houses at the water side, which 
 were at the same time caf^s, shops, and bakeries. Here the Myti- 
 leneans hung up the bags of goat-skin containing their Sunday 
 apparel ; and here, during the colder months of the year, they 
 slept, closely packed together upon the dais of the cafes, or stowed 
 away upon the shelves of the grocers and bakers. 
 
 In midwinter this life was decidedly uncomfortable. The cold 
 was bitter, and the winds searched through the badly built houses. 
 Although one of the two rooms occupied by the expedition had the 
 exceptional advantage of glazed windows, it was still found impos- 
 sible to warm it by means of the matigal, — a modern representative 
 of the charcoal brazier held by Skiron in the relief upon the Tower 
 of the VVinds.^ In February, 18S3, the dwelling was so cold that 
 
 1 Protagorides, in Athenaios, III. 9S. 
 
 2 A chapter in Rigler [Die Tiirkei, Erster Theil) deals with the mangal, and 
 with the tandur, — an arrangement of wadded blankets, like a gigantic tea-cosey, 
 used in connection with it. The work of this eminent physician, long a resident 
 of Constantinople, gives one of the best accounts of Turkish customs ever pub- 
 lished. It is, however, not entirely free from plagiarism ; the author has copied 
 extensively from the very books which he criticises with so much asperity.
 
 INVES TIG A TIONS AT A SSOS. 365 
 
 it was impossible to write or to draw for any length of time. At 
 this season the digging itself was delayed through hardships which 
 would seem rather in keeping with an Arctic than with an Oriental 
 expedition. Great fires were kept up during the day within the 
 Atrium, which was then being freed from earth, and the men ate 
 their midday meal at the bottom of a large trial pit, singeing the 
 hair upon their sandals in the endeavor to keep warm. At night- 
 fall they huddled around the baker's oven, a comfortable lounging- 
 place corresponding to the "seat at the smith's forge," against 
 whose temptations Hesiod warns the country laborer.^ 
 
 In the summer time these uninviting quarters were exchanged 
 for the flat house-top of the oldest caf6. But as its timbers were 
 weak, and sagged in a threatening manner under the weight, the 
 number of sleepers was strictly limited by the proprietor. Those 
 excluded from the roof lay around the fountain, and between the 
 houses and the shore. As they were here liable to be disturbed 
 by sniffing dogs, or by a troop of camels on a stampede, they 
 would often, in the middle of the night, steal upon the roof from 
 the slope behind, and for a while sleep peacefully with their fel- 
 lows. Presently a cracking of the timbers would alarm the caf^dji, 
 who, becoming aware that the number of those licensed to lie upon 
 his house-top had been exceeded, would drive off the intruders 
 with imprecations and blows. In the clamor which ensued, the 
 chorus of dogs played an important part, appearing promptly upon 
 the scene, and continuing its noisy discourse long after the origi- 
 nal interlocutors had been silenced. 
 
 Indeed, the dogs generally whined and howled the whole night 
 long, giving warning of the approach of any stranger by especially 
 savage barks. The plaintive grumbling and spluttering of the 
 camels, of which no less than sixty or seventy were often to be 
 seen together at the port, the bleating of tightly packed ship-loads 
 of sheep and goats, awaiting in extreme discomfort a wind favor- 
 able to their passage across to Skamnia, and the occasional shriek 
 of an owl or howl of a jackal from the ravines above, united with 
 the hoarse voices of the dogs in a most discordant nocturne. 
 
 1 Hesiod, Works and Days, 493. That the brazier's forge was even regarded 
 as an inn, in the earliest ages, is evident from the words addressed to Odysseus 
 by Melantho, Homer, Od., XVHI. 328.
 
 366 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 One might suppose that this ceaseless disturbance would render 
 the dogs useless as a watch. The experience of the natives 
 throughout the East has, however, taught them otherwise. There 
 is a well-known Turkish saying, that a dog does not whine and 
 sleep at the same time ; moreover, the fury of his bark, and the 
 entire change of its tone, when a suspicious person does ap- 
 proach, is quite sufficient to warn the entire community. There 
 is nothing really startling in the usual vociferations of the Turkish 
 dogs, and the villagers think it well that whoever may be prowling 
 around their dwellings by night should be informed afar off that 
 these sentries are awake. Their ordinary whine is nothing more 
 than a continual report to the garrison that all is well. The 
 student of history will recollect that it was through this very 
 change of tone in the voices of the dogs that the citizens of ancient 
 Messene became aware of the presence of the Lakedaimonians 
 within their walls. ^ 
 
 The breed of ownerless and half-wild dogs in the Troad is the 
 same as that of Constantinople, so often described. Still, the 
 difference in the appearance of the animals is astonishing. The 
 wretched curs who are kicked aside in the dirty streets of Galata 
 are spiritless and pitiful ; but in the interior of Asia Minor, where 
 the dogs are esteemed as the guardians as well as the scavengers 
 of the village, they are fierce and upright of bearing, although 
 usually half famished. 
 
 Flora and Fauna. 
 
 The admirable contributions of Webb, Tchihatchef, and Yirchow 
 to our knowledge of the natural history of the Troad leave little 
 to be said by the non-professional writer concerning the animals 
 and plants of this district. Still, the field is so extensive, and of 
 such exceptional interest, that much remains to be done by well- 
 equipped specialists. The American expedition esteemed itself 
 fortunate in being able to entertain at Assos, for some weeks dur- 
 ing the spring of 1883, Mr. Paul Sintenis, a gentleman sent out by 
 the Botanical Museum of Berlin to make a thorough investigation 
 
 ^ Pausanias, IV. 21. i.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASS OS. 367 
 
 of the flora of the Troad.^ The publication of his reports, and 
 of the descriptions of his extensive collection, will throw more 
 light upon the botany of this part of Asia Minor than do all the 
 works relating to this subject which have been cited and compiled 
 by Ascherson.^ 
 
 The long sojourn of the American explorers in the country gave 
 them, however, the opportunity of observing a number of wild 
 beasts, — such as boars and bears, — which, as they are seldom to 
 be seen in the lowlands except when driven from their native for- 
 ests by extreme cold, did not come under the notice of the writers 
 before referred to, most of whom made but a comparatively short 
 stay in the Troad, visiting the remote and sparsely populated dis- 
 tricts only during the pleasant months of the year. Some observa- 
 tions concerning the wild boars, which still roam the upper valley 
 of the Satnioeis in great herds, have been made in connection with 
 the representations of this animal upon the reliefs of the chief 
 temple of Assos. The bears of the Ida range, "mother of wild 
 beasts," ^ seem to have escaped notice by modern travellers. Two 
 fine specimens, a she bear and her cub, were met with by the 
 writer in the autumn of 1SS2, near the headwater of the Qoja 
 Tchai.'' They were of the common brown variety, and appeared to 
 differ in no respect from the shaggy and short-snouted animals 
 which are led through Hungary and Lower Austria by strolling 
 players. During the later ages of antiquity these bears of the 
 Troad were renowned for their fierceness and strength, and were 
 especially prized by those great showmen among the ancients, the 
 contractors of the amphitheatre, whose task it was to supply the 
 savage beasts baited in the arenas. One of the letters of Libanios ^ 
 expresses the intense interest felt by that distinguished sophist in 
 an attempt made by his fellow citizens to obtain from Mount Ida a 
 number of bears for a gladiatorial combat to be held at Antioch. 
 
 1 A preliminary notice of the researches of Mr. Sintenis is given in the Vc-r- 
 handlungen von dem bota^iischen Verein fur die Proviiiz Brandenburg, vol. xxv. 
 Berlin, 1884. 
 
 2 Ascherson (Paul), Catalogue of the Plants hitherto known in the Troad. 
 Appendix VI. to Schliemann's Ilios. 
 
 '^ ■'IStjc 5' Ikuv^v Tro\vwiSaKa, /UTjre'pa drjpoiiv. II. , VIII. 47. 
 
 * The ancient Aisepos. * 
 
 * Libanios, Epist., 1454, ed. Wolfius, p. 665.
 
 368 ARCHAEOLOGICAL hXSTITUTE. 
 
 A kind of large black snake, common at Assos, has been iden- 
 tified as the Coluber acoiitistcs. Two specimens, killed by the 
 men while at work, were found to measure not less than two and 
 two and a half meters in length. Although not poisonous, they 
 were much dreaded by the Greek laborers, and it was undeniably 
 disagreeable to the surveyor, occupied with a large drawing-board 
 upon his lap, to have one of these enormous reptiles glide forth 
 from a heap of ruins beneath him, and across bis leg. These ser- 
 pents are without doubt the same as those of Pella, described 
 by Lucian ^ as having been employed with success in the juggling 
 tricks of Alexander of Abonouteichos. Although not tamed, as in 
 ancient times, they still come without fear into the houses, which 
 are overrun with rats and mice, and join in the destruction of these 
 pests with the great weasel, or stoat. It is a curious fact concern- 
 ing this weasel, that it changes the color of its fur in winter, — 
 even as do its relatives inhabiting more northern latitudes. This 
 change has generally been attributed to some harmonious relation 
 between the lighter color of the animal in winter and that of its 
 environment of snow, and the conformity to this law in the case of 
 the weasel of the Sporades — where snow never lies upon the 
 ground — is certainly worthy of remark as an indication of the 
 northern origin of the genus. Inquiry among the country people 
 of Samos and Chios proved the difference between the winter and 
 the summer coat to be quite as marked in those islands as it is in 
 the colder Troad. 
 
 The size of the serpents killed at Assos is, however, as nothing to 
 that of a species which is said occasionally to make its appearance 
 in the upper valley of the Satnioeis. The Turks of Avdjylar^ tell 
 of a reptile killed in this region some years ago, the body of which 
 was " as large round as a man's waist," and measured sixteen piks 
 (nearly eleven meters!) in length. Improbable as the tale may 
 sound, the existence of such latter-day pythons on the coasts of the 
 Aegean is well authenticated. Dr. Erhard, long a resident of the 
 Greek islands, in his work on the fauna of the Cyclades ^ gives 
 several instances in point. One of these — which may well serve 
 
 1 Lucian, Alex.^ VII. 
 
 2 Near the site of the ancient Antandros. 
 
 8 Erhard (Dr.), Fauna der Cycladen, Theil I. Leipzig, 185S.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT AS SOS. 369 
 
 as a parallel to the great deed of Apollo Pythios — relates to a 
 serpent of enormous size that had taken up its abode on a moun- 
 tain of Kephallenia, and had rendered the district literally unin- 
 habitable for miles around. Two brothers, armed with spears and 
 axes, attacked and killed the monster, and were rewarded for this 
 performance by a remission of taxes during lifetime, and by hav- 
 ing the mountain renamed in their honor ; these privileges being 
 set forth and assured by a document drawn up by the civil authori- 
 ities. It is characteristic of the degenerate spirit of modern days, 
 that these heroes are reported to have long watched the reptile, 
 and to have fallen upon him while asleep. 
 
 Landscape and Climate. 
 
 A short distance inland, at the north of Assos, is an extensive 
 tract of hilly country, traversed by none of the Turkish bridle- 
 paths, and hitherto unvisited by any of those travellers who have 
 given accounts of the Southern Troad. Lying between the towns 
 of Neandreia, Larissa, Assos, and Kebrene, this tract is a blank upon 
 the ancient map, and was evidently as sparsely populated in an- 
 tiquity as it is to-day. It still remains in a condition almost pri- 
 meval : it has been alike spared by the conquerors, and neglected 
 by the settlers of the fertile valleys of the Kebren and the Satnioeis. 
 Its arid heights are covered with a stunted growth of ilex, oak, and 
 conifers. Along its scant water-courses grow the wild fig, the wild 
 almond, and the wild olive, the gray green of whose foliage is re- 
 lieved in the early spring by the bright pink of the oleander, and 
 the delicate violet-blue of the agnus castus, "ancient garland of the 
 Carians." ^ Here sing at evening an endless choir of nightingales, 
 so fearless of man that they might almost be taken by hand. Here 
 are found Hocks of wild doves, and occasionally the shy roller-bird 
 {Garrulus glandarius) is seen, the brilliancy of whose plumage, 
 streaked with tlie colors of ultramarine beryl and changeable fawn, 
 no pigments can represent. Every aspect of nature is the same 
 as it must have been to that band of Cretan Teukrians, who, 
 
 1 Nicainetos, in Athenaios, XV. 14. The myth which was adduced in ex- 
 planation of this custom is related by Mcnodotos of Samos, quoted in Athenaios, 
 XV. 13. 
 
 24
 
 370 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 following the oracle of Apollo, wandered through this land until, 
 attacked by the hordes of earth-born mice, they rested upon the 
 appointed site of Hamaxitos.^ 
 
 Throughout the greater part of its extent, this region is without 
 streams and springs, and during the heat of summer the appear- 
 ance of many a wide expanse is that of a desert. There is an al- 
 most entire lack of one all-important family of plants, the grasses, 
 which on the heights of Ida, and in the meadows watered by the 
 chief streams descending from it, provide nourishment for great 
 herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. A few stalks of the Cynodon 
 or Panicum species spring up from the rocky soil, as if to prove 
 that it is possible for the Gramines to exist, despite unfavorable 
 conditions. But they do not suffice even for the maintenance of 
 omnivorous goats, and cannot satisfy the eye accustomed to the 
 greensward of Northern lands. It is only in favored spots that thin 
 patches of verdure appear for some weeks after the autumn rains 
 have set in. On these wind-swept heights the cold of winter is 
 severe. The range upon the north of the Satnioeis forms a distinct 
 climatic division between the southern coast and the interior of the 
 Troad. At the beginning of March, while the vegetation in the 
 valley of the Scamander, and even in that of the Kebren, shows no 
 sign of recovering from its winter's sleep, — while the lowlands are 
 often covered with snow, — the banks of the river flowing by the 
 walls of Assos are again decked with the brightest green, and with 
 countless varieties of low-growing flowers : the yellow, white, and 
 blue crocus, the saffron, the delicate iris, and many-colored tulips. 
 These high hills seem to mark the northern limit, in Asia Minor, of 
 the wild pomegranate and rhododendron ; and it is a point of the 
 greatest importance in the agricultural economy of the Troad, that 
 the olive, which is so wonderfully productive on all the coasts of the 
 Gulf of Adramyttion, does not repay cultivation in the interior, and 
 is but rarely met with along the Hellespont. 
 
 At Assos itself the field of ruins is thickly overgrown with the 
 velvety green of an aromatic herb, Ballota acetabulosa, which, 
 although common in the Peloponnesos and on the islands of the 
 Aegean, is not to be found in the Trojan plain. This plant gives 
 to the ancient site its most striking and most pleasing floral char- 
 
 1 Strabo, p. 604, following Kallinos.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 371 
 
 acteristic. Amidst its soft tufts rises the tall thorny stalk of a 
 poisonous thistle {^Echinops viscosjis), bearing a ball spiked like 
 a mediaeval mace, the points of which penetrate leather and tear 
 strips from garments of corduroy ; and in the shady corners of 
 the fortification walls grows the Arum dracunailus, its gigantic 
 flower exhaling an odor of carrion so intolerable and so over- 
 powering that it can only be approached with tightly closed mouth 
 and nostrils. 
 
 In October and November the landscape of Assos displays its 
 greatest beauty. The autumn rains have then cleared the air, and 
 cool breezes have swept away the hazy vapor which hangs over 
 the distant peaks of Ida during the summer months. The sharp 
 crests bordering the horizon are iridescent in an atmosphere of 
 limpid purity. The reds, the grays, the purpled steel of these vol- 
 canic formations, are veiled in a verdure of every hue and tone, 
 from the sombre shade of cypress groves to the emerald light of 
 fields along the river's bank. Every form and every color varies 
 from hour to hour as the day advances, until at last the summit of 
 Gargaros glows with the reflection of the sun, as it sets behind the 
 great plateau above Palamedeion. Lesbos, like a coquettish beauty, 
 arrays herself in her finest colors at evening. The ravines upon 
 the side of Mount Lepethymnos are marked by deep transparent 
 shadows, and the white houses of its villages gleam across the 
 strait. The island upon which the slopes of Assos continually 
 look is truly, as the Turks have called it, a " Golden Island," — 
 " the Garden of the Ottoman Empire." In antiquity its natural 
 loveliness must have been enhanced by well-cultivated groves of 
 olives, and by the quiet lines of columned stoas and temples, 
 standing in every town and on every picturesque height. The 
 spectacle brings to mind the words by which Cicero characterized 
 this land : " Urbs et natura, et situ, et descriptione aedificiorum 
 et pulchritudine, in primis nobilis ; agri jucundi et fertiles " ; ^ 
 and we join in the admiration felt by Diodoros for Lesbos and 
 her sisters : " Indeed, these islands in richness of soil and plenty 
 of all things did not only excel »11 neighboring countries in an- 
 cient times, but do so even to this day. For the fertility of the 
 soil, the pleasantness of the situation, and the healthfulness of 
 
 ' Cicero, Dc Lege Agraria, II. 16.
 
 372 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 the climate is such that they are not without cause called, but 
 are really and in truth, blessed and happy islands." ^ 
 
 The effect which the seasons of the year have upon the ap- 
 pearance of the country is wonderful. In the heat of summer, the 
 traveller will fail to recognize many a spot the beauty of which he 
 admired but a month or two before. During July and August, 
 when the thermometer is known to rise to 115° Fahrenheit in the 
 shade, all vegetation in the plains and upon the hillsides is burnt 
 and leafless. At midday the hand can scarcely be borne upon the 
 baked and fissured earth. It is rare that the parched fields are 
 refreshed by a shower between the months of June and October. 
 In 1883, an exceptionally cool season, there were storms of thunder 
 and lightning during the first days of July, yet there was no appre- 
 ciable fall of rain. Much damage has, however, been known to 
 occur from hail, in midsummer. 
 
 A spectacle which frequently presents itself at this time of the 
 year is the mirage, which generally appears at Assos, towards the 
 west, above the strait between Methymna and Lecton. The phe- 
 nomenon has also been observed upon the western coast of the 
 Troad.^ 
 
 When the summer gales of northern wind — the Etesians of the 
 ancients — were not in force, great relief from the heat was 
 brought by a sea-breeze from the w^est-southwest, known as the 
 Imbat, which springs up at about two o'clock in the afternoon and 
 continues until nightfall. It was without doubt owing to the in- 
 fluence of these winds, that the level of the tideless sea w^as varied 
 by an otherwise inexplicable ebb and flow, the difference in height 
 from one day to the other, often being more than half a meter. 
 
 In the late autumn the south wind brings heavy rains, which 
 filled our trenches and trial pits, and made outdoor work impos- 
 sible. This wind, still called by its classical name Nona (Noro?), 
 is figuratively known to the Greek workmen as a TraWrjKdpLov, — a 
 handsome youth of proud bearing. They say that he possesses 
 large bags of skin,® which he dips into the sea by means of the 
 
 1 Diodoros, V. 82, Booth's translation. London, 1700. 
 
 2 Fontanier (V.), Voyages en Orient, de PAmtee 1821 d. 1829. Paris, 1S29. 
 
 3 The larger size of these skins of pigs and goats, used for the transportation 
 of wine, oil, cheese, and even honey, was known at Assos as yvreKiov ; the 
 smaller size, as rovXovfjLiov.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 373 
 
 clouds, lifting them, full of water, high up into the air, and carrying 
 them to distant countries where he empties them upon the earth ; 
 either through a small sieve,^ through a large meshed screen,^ or 
 without any such medium for dividing the drops, — according as 
 the rain falls in a fine drizzle, in a heavy shower, or in one of 
 those torrents, known only in southern latitudes, in which the 
 water seems to descend in sheets.^ The personification of the 
 south wind as a graceful and wayward youth, and of the north wind, 
 Boreas, as a fierce and bearded man, is the same as that which 
 prevailed among the ancients. In the reliefs upon the Tower of 
 the Winds in Athens, Notos holds a sprinkler, which corresponds in 
 idea to the sieve of the Romaic peasant. The antique conception 
 of the winds as winged messengers, which was certainly retained 
 in the Middle Ages, seems to be wholly lost. These picturesque 
 myths are more and more forgotten as Occidental literature and 
 ideas are introduced by means of the increasing commercial inter- 
 course with Europe. The popular fairy tales, and even the legends 
 of Byzantine Christianity, are held to be outgrown, and are told 
 only by old women. The coming generation will have little knowl- 
 edge of this unwritten lore, handed down from generation to gener- 
 ation, the tradition of which still forms a link between the present 
 and the past. 
 
 On the whole, it may be said that, in the Troad, more real suf- 
 fering is caused by the cold of winter than by the heat of summer : 
 this being due to the same lack of provision for excluding chill 
 draughts and for warming living-rooms. At Assos the inclemency 
 of January is to be ascribed rather to the piercing wind, than to a 
 really low temperature. The rivers of the country are frozen over 
 for but a short time, if at all, and the sensitive rhododendrons and 
 pomegranates are rarely injured by frost. 
 
 The spring is variable. Calm, clear days in April are sometimes 
 uncomfortably warm, but the north wind may bring a sudden re- 
 turn of the cold. It is the old struggle of the sun and the wind, — 
 
 ^ Known at Assos as arapKi, or, more commonly, by its Turkish names, Cal- 
 bour and Eleck. 
 
 ■■^ Greek Sptix6ve, Turkish Jiusare. 
 
 ^ A myth of the same character, differing only in detail, is still current in 
 Attica. Compare TloKlr-ns (N. F.). Ar)fxwS(is MfT(iopo\oyiKol Mvdoi. 'E7 'Adrjvois, 
 1880.
 
 374 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 always present to the mind of the Greeks. Upon the north of the 
 range bordering the Satnioeis the alternations of temperature are 
 much greater than in the immediate vicinity of Assos. On the first 
 day of April, 1883, the writer lost his way while riding among the 
 hills near the juncture of the Kebren and the Scamander, on 
 account of the bridle-paths being covered with snow ; ice was 
 formed upon standing water in the Trojan plain on the morning 
 of the 8th of April, 1882 ; and snow has been known to fall 
 heavily along the Hellespont on the 12th of May. Yet the white 
 caps disappear from the peaks of Ida early in June ; Schliemann 
 errs in speaking of these heights as covered with eternal snow.^ 
 This fickleness of the spring is characterized by the Greek 
 peasant in a warning quatrain : 
 
 "OA.0 T^ MapTTj (pvXaye, 
 Kal t' 'ATTpiAwv ras SeKa, 
 Kt ''ukS/jlt] Kal ras SeKOKTa 
 TlfpSiKa ^'^6(t}7)(Te V rh avy6.'^ 
 
 Few parts of Asia Minor are of more general interest and more 
 easily accessible than the Troad. The number of visitors to it will, 
 without doubt, increase from year to year. For those who love the 
 sea, who have some knowledge of modern Greek, and who are not 
 in haste, the best way of becoming acquainted with the country 
 is to hire one of the small sail-boats which abound in Mytilene, 
 provision it well, and with two sailors, one of whom may serve as 
 guide, run along the coast from Atarneus (now the port of Per- 
 gamon) to Troy, — making leisurely excursions into the interior, 
 on foot, and unimpeded by baggage. The great drawbacks of 
 the journey by land — the bad food and sleepless nights — may 
 thus be avoided. The manner of travelling through the interior 
 on horseback has not changed in any particular since the visit of 
 
 1 Schliemann (Heinrich), Trojanische AUerthi'nner. Bericht iibcr die Aitsgra- 
 bnngen in Troja, p. 15. Leipzig, 1874. 
 
 2 " Be on your watch (against the frost) the whole of March, and (until) the 
 loth of April (22d, new style), and even (until) the i8th (30th, new style), when 
 a partridge has been known to perish (by freezing to death) on her very eggs." 
 
 The early dates named in this saying seem to show it to have been framed 
 for a warmer latitude, a supposition confirmed by its familiar use in the vicinity 
 of Smyrna. Compare Mommsen (August), GriecJiische Jahreszeiten, No. 440. 
 Schleswig, 1S73.
 
 INVESTIGATIONS AT ASSOS. 375 
 
 Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, in 1432.^ For such an excursion the 
 months of September, October, and November are by far the most 
 pleasant. The heat of summer has then abated, while showers of 
 rain are neither so frequent nor so heavy as to cause the loss of 
 much time. The weather is cool and bright ; and the landscape, 
 covered with a varied vegetation, is seen at its greatest beauty. 
 For a trip of but a few days, horses and a guide can be hired in 
 the town of the Dardanelles at the rate of about one medjid 
 apiece per day. But the independence desirable for a longer 
 journey can only be secured by buying the mounts, care being 
 taken to provide a European saddle. The sturdy and sure-footed 
 little horse of Mytilene and the Troad — so highly extolled in for- 
 mer centuries by Stochove ^ and Sestini ^ — may be bought for 
 eight or ten Turkish pounds,^ and, if well cared for, sold again at 
 the end of the journey with little or no loss. 
 
 A region of much interest, hitherto almost entirely unvisited, is 
 
 1 La Brocquiere, Voyage d'Oiitrcmcr. The author gives a most detailed ac- 
 count of all matters relating to travel. 
 
 '^ Stochove (Vincent dc), Voyage faict es Annees 1630-1633. 1st edition. 
 Kruxelles, 1643. 
 
 3 Sestini (Domenico), Lettere odeporiche, o sia Viaggio per la Pcnisola di 
 Cizico per Brussa e Nicea, fatto P Anno 1779, vol. vi. Livorno, 1785. 
 
 * The price of hor.ses in the Troad is certainly low, not only in comparison 
 with the sums asked for the same animals in Constantinople to-day, but also 
 and especially in comparison with those which are recorded to have been paid 
 during antiquity. It is difficult to account for the difference in the value of 
 horses in ancient and modern times. Isaios (De Dicaeog. Hered., ed. Schomann, 
 XLIII.) speaks of an animal of the poorest kind as worth three minas, — or, in 
 other words, the equivalent of the wages of a laborer for more than a year 
 and a half. That twelve minas was a not uncommon price for a good saddle 
 horse is evident from Aristophanes (Clouds, 1224), and especially from Lysias 
 (irphs Tovs (TvuovaiacTTas KaKoAoyicov, cd. Franz, X.) who tells of this amount having 
 been lent on a horse which had been taken in pawn. The sum last named 
 would not have been earned by the architect of the Erechtheion in four years I 
 Even restricting the parallel to the poorest paid class of day laborers, such 
 prices as these are from ten to twenty times as much as those now ruling in 
 Asia Minor. 
 
 It may be remarked, as a curiosity, that Boukephalos was sold for the enor- 
 mous sum of thirteen talents (AuliusGellius, V. 2, quoting Chares of Mytilene), — 
 the equivalent of fully $35,000 to-day, — and yet could have served only to 
 gratify the pride of personal display in the owner, not bringing to him any such 
 income in the shape of prize and entrance moneys as docs a modern racer.
 
 376 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 that upon the north and northeast of Ida, around the head-waters 
 of the Karesos and the upper course of the Aisepos. The thor- 
 ough examination of this tract could scarcely fail to increase our 
 information concerning the remains of antiquity, as well as con- 
 cerning classical topography. 
 
 Could the traveller have come to Assos during the excavations 
 of the American expedition, he would have heard, afar off, the 
 chorus of the workmen, as they sang together, sailor fashion, while 
 rolling aside the shaft of some column ; he would have been guided 
 to the site of the ancient temple or theatre by the creaking of the 
 dusty barrow wheels, and by the blows of the heavy hammer 
 breaking some stone too large to be lifted entire. Now the silence 
 of that hillside will be broken only by the roll of the waves upon 
 the beach beneath the cliff, and by the tinkling bells of the goats, 
 as they twist their necks to browse upon the tough shoots of the 
 oak bushes which have again overgrown the ruins of the Greek 
 Bath, the Agora, and the Street of Tombs.
 
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