193. Restored Elevation of Temple at Tivoli. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
Both in dimensions and design they form a perfect contrast to the Pantheon, as might be expected from their both belonging to the Augustan age of art: consequently the cella is small, its interior is unornamented, and all the art and expense is lavished on the external features, especially on the peristyle; showing more strongly than even the rectangular temple the still remaining predominance of Grecian taste, which was gradually dying out during the whole period of the Empire.
It is to be regretted that the exact dates of both these temples are unknown, for, as that at Tivoli shows the stoutest example of a Corinthian column known and that in Rome the slenderest, it might lead to some important deductions if we could be certain which was the older of the two. It may be, however, that this difference of style has no connection with the relative age of the two buildings, but that it is merely an instance of the good taste of the age to which they belong. The Roman example, being placed in a low and flat situation, required all the height that could be given it; that at Tivoli, being placed on the edge of a rock, required as much solidity as the order would admit of to prevent its looking poor and insecure. A Gothic or a Greek architect would certainly have made this distinction.
One more step towards the modern style of round temples was taken before the fall of the Western Empire, in the temple which Diocletian built in his palace at Spalato. Internally the temple is circular, 28 ft. in diameter, and the height of the perpendicular part to the springing of the dome is about equal to its width. This is a much more pleasing proportion than we find in the Pantheon; perhaps the very best that has yet been employed. Externally the building is an octagon, surrounded by a low dwarf peristyle, very unlike that employed in the older examples. This angularity is certainly a great improvement, giving expression and character to the building, and affording flat faces for the entrances or porches; but the peristyle is too low, and mars the dignity of the whole.[[171]]
194. Plan and Elevation of Temple in Diocletian’s Palace at Spalato. Scale for Plan 100 ft. to 1 in.; for Elevation 50 ft. to 1 in.
To us its principal interest consists in its being so extremely similar to the Christian baptisteries which were erected in the following centuries, and which were copies, but very slightly altered, from buildings of this class.
Athens.
Even assuming that Hadrian completed the great Temple of Venus at Rome in the manner generally supposed, it must have been very far surpassed by the great Temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens, which, though probably not entirely erected, was certainly finished, by that Emperor. It was octastyle in front,[[172]] with a double range of 20 columns on each flank so that it could not well have had less than 106 columns, all about 58 ft. in height, and of the most elegant Corinthian order, presenting altogether a group of far greater magnificence than any other temple we are acquainted with of its class in the ancient world. Its lineal dimensions also, as may be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. [195]), were only rivalled by the two great Sicilian temples at Selinus and Agrigentum (Woodcuts Nos. [151], [152]). It was 135 ft. wide by 354 in length, or nearly the same dimensions as the great Hypostyle Hall at Karnac, from which, however, it differs most materially, that being a beautiful example of an interior, this depending for all its magnificence on the external arrangement of its columns. Mr. Penrose’s discoveries in 1884 show that there was an opisthodomus at the rear and a vestibule or court in front of the cella which may have been hypæthral so as to admit light into the interior. This arrangement became so common in the early Christian world that there must have been some precedent for it; which, in addition to other reasons,[[173]] strongly inclines me to believe that the arrangement shown in the plan is correct.