Delphi.
We now return to the early years of the 6th century, and proceed to
trace, by the aid of recent discoveries, the rise of architecture and
sculpture. The Greek temple in its character and form gives the clue to
the whole character of Greek art. It is the abode of the deity, who is
represented by his sacred image; and the flat surfaces of the temple
offer a great field to the sculptor for the depicting of sacred legend.
The process of discovery has emphasized the line which divides Ionian
from Dorian architecture and art. We will speak first of the temples and
the sculpture of Ionia. The Ionians were a people far more susceptible
than were the Dorians to oriental influences. The dress, the art, the
luxury of western Asia attracted them with irresistible force. We may
suspect, as Brunn has suggested, that Ionian artists worked in the great
Assyrian and Persian palaces, and that the reliefs which adorn the walls
of those palaces were in part their handiwork. Some of the great temples
of Ionia have been excavated in recent years, notably those of Apollo at
Miletus, of Hera at Samos, and of Artemis at Ephesus. Very little,
however, of the architecture of the 6th-century temples of those sites
has been recovered. Quite recently, however, the French excavators at
Delphi have successfully restored the treasury of the people of Cnidus,
which is quite a gem of Ionic style, the entablature being supported in
front not by pillars but by two maidens or Corae, and a frieze running
all round the building above. But though this building is of Ionic type,
it is scarcely in the technical sense of Ionic style, since the columns
have not Ionic capitals, but are carved with curious reliefs. The Ionic
capital proper is developed in Asia by degrees (see ARCHITECTURE and
CAPITAL; also Perrot and Chipiez, _Hist. de l'art_, vii. ch. 4).
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Restoration of the Treasury of Cnidus.]
The Doric temple is not wholly of European origin. One of the earliest
examples is the old temple of Assus in Troas. Yet it was developed
mainly in Hellas and the west. The most ancient example is the Heraeum
at Olympia, next to which come the fragmentary temples of Corinth and of
Selinus in Sicily. With the early Doric temple we are familiar from
examples which have survived in fair preservation to our own days at
Agrigentum in Sicily, Paestum in Italy, and other sites.
Of the decorative sculpture which adorned these early temples we have
more extensive remains than we have of actual construction. It will be
best to speak of them under their districts. On the coast of Asia Minor,
the most extensive series of archaic decorative sculptures which has
come down to us is that which adorned the temple of Assus (fig. 18).
These were placed in a unique position on the temple, a long frieze
running along the entablature, with representations of wild animals, of
centaurs, of Hercules seizing Achelous, and of men feasting, scene
succeeding scene without much order or method. The only figures from
Miletus which can be considered as belonging to the original temple
destroyed by Darius, are the dedicated seated statues, some of which,
brought away by Sir Charles Newton, are now preserved at the British
Museum. At Ephesus Mr Wood has been more successful, and has recovered
considerable fragments of the temple of Artemis, to which, as Herodotus
tells us, Croesus presented many columns. The lower part of one of these
columns, bearing figures in relief of early Ionian style, has been put
together at the British Museum; and remains of inscriptions recording
the presentation by Croesus are still to be traced. Reliefs from a
cornice of somewhat later date are also to be found at the British
Museum. Among the Aegean Islands, Delos has furnished us with the most
important remains of early art. French excavators have there found a
very early statue of a woman dedicated by one Nicandra to Artemis, a
figure which may be instructively compared with another from Samus,
dedicated to Hera by Cheramues. The Delian statue is in shape like a
flat beam; the Samian, which is headless, is like a round tree. The arms
of the Delian figure are rigid to the sides; the Samian lady has one arm
clasped to her breast. A great improvement on these helpless and
inexpressive figures is marked by another figure found at Delos, and
connected, though perhaps incorrectly, with a basis recording the
execution of a statue by Archermus and Micciades, two sculptors who
stood, in the middle of the 6th century, at the head of a sculptural
school at Chios. The representation (fig. 19) is of a running or flying
figure, having six wings, like the seraphim in the vision of Isaiah, and
clad in long drapery. It may be a statue of Nike or Victory, who is said
to have been represented in winged form by Archermus. The figure, with
its neatness and precision of work, its expressive face and strong
outlines, certainly marks great progress in the art of sculpture. When
we examine the early sculpture of Athens, we find reason to think that
the Chian school had great influence in that city in the days of
Peisistratus.
[Illustration: From Perrot and Chipiez, vii. pl. 35, by permission of
Chapman and Hall, Ltd., and Hachette & Co.