[2]In speaking of the fountain to which the Libyans conducted the founders of Cyrene, Herodotus says, αγαγοντες δε σφεας επι κρηνην λεγομενην ειναι Απολλωνος, ειπαν—“Ανδρες Ελληνες, ενταυτα υμιν επιτηδεον οικεειν· ενταυτα γαρ ὁ ουρανος τετρηται.”—(Melp. ρνηʹ).
And as the stream here alluded to is the principal fountain of the place we may suppose it with probability to have been that of Apollo.
[3]There are, however, many exceptions to this rule, which does not appear to have been by any means generally adopted by the Greeks. The number of columns on the flanks of temples seem to have been usually (at the same time) more than double the number in front, and seldom less by more than one, the proportion given by Vitruvius.
[4]The pycnostyle is the least intercolumniation allowed by Vitruvius, and is one diameter and a half of the column at the bottom of the shaft; but neither this proportion, nor that of the systyle, which is equal to two diameters of the column, are recommended by him for general adoption: since “the matrons (he adds) who go to their supplications, mutually supporting each other, cannot pass through the intercolumniations (those of the pycnostyle and systyle dimensions are intended) unless they separate and walk in ranks. The view of the entrance, and of the statues themselves, is also obstructed when the columns are placed so little apart; and the ambulatory, whose width is governed by the interval between the columns, is inconvenient from its being so narrow.”—Wilkins’s Vitruvius, vol. i. p. 11, 12.
[5]“The temples of the gods ought to be so placed that the statue, which has its station in the cella, should, if there be nothing to interfere with such a disposition, face the west; in order that those who come to make oblations and offer sacrifices may face the east, when their view is directed towards the statue: and those who come to impose upon themselves the performance of vows, may have the temple and the east immediately before them. Thus the statues they regard will appear as if rising from the east and looking down upon the suppliants.”—(Wilkins’s Vitruvius, vol. i. p. 79.)
[6]The most ancient position of temples appears to have been east and west, with the entrance, or frontispiece, towards the west; and the statue of the deity looking towards the same point; so that they who worshipped should have their faces turned towards the rising sun. The contrary aspect was, however, adopted at an early period, and appears to have been universal in later ages whenever local causes did not interfere with such an arrangement.
[7]The closely-drawn girdle of the ladies of antiquity, like the snood of the Scottish maidens, was symbolical of an unmarried state; and to loosen it was part of the nuptial ceremony.
[8]The height of the upper range from the level of the sea, as obtained by Captain Smyth from a sea base, was 1575 feet.—The dip of the visible sea horizon, repeatedly measured by us with a theodolite from the summit, was 42′ 00″, which, adding ¹⁄₁₄ for terrestrial refraction, gives 2003 feet for the height—the mean of these, which we have adopted, is 1805 feet.