It seems surprising that such a terracotta sheathing should be applied on a structure of stone. For a wooden building, on the other hand, it would be altogether natural. It was possible to protect wooden columns, architraves and triglyphs from the weather by means of a wide cornice. But the cornice itself could not but be exposed, and so this means of protection was devised. Of course no visible proof of all this is at hand in the shape of wooden temples yet remaining. But Dr. Dörpfeld's demonstration [46] removes all possible doubt. Pausanias [47] tells us that in the Heraion at Olympia there was still preserved in his day an old wooden column. Now from the same temple no trace of architrave, triglyph or cornice has been found; a fact that is true of no other building in Olympia and seems to make it certain that here wood never was replaced by stone. When temples came to be built of stone, it seems that this plan of terracotta covering was retained for a time, partly from habit, partly because of its fine decorative effect. But it was soon found that marble was capable of withstanding the wear of weather and that the ornament could be applied to it directly by painting.
Footnote 44:[ (return) ] I follow closely Dr. Dörpfeld's account and explanation of these discoveries in Ausgrabungen zu Olympia, v, 30 seq. See also Programm zum Winckelmannsfeste, Berlin, 1881. Ueber die Verwendung Terracotten, by Messrs. DÖRPFELD, GRÄBER, BORRMANN, and SIEBOLD.
Footnote 45:[ (return) ] Reproduced in Ausgrabungen zu Olympia, V, Taf. XXXIV. BAUMEISTER, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, Taf. XLV. RAYET et COLLIGNON, Histoire de la Céramique Grecque, pl. XV.
Footnote 46:[ (return) ] Historische und philologische Aufsätze, Ernst Cartius gewidmet. Berlin, 1884, p. 137 seq.
Footnote 47:[ (return) ] V, 20. 6.
In order to carry the investigation a step further Messrs. Dörpfeld, Gräber, Borrmann and Siebold undertook a journey to Gela and the neighboring cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia. [48] The results of this journey were most satisfactory. Not only in Gela, but in Syracuse, Selinous, Akrai, Kroton, Metapontum and Paestum, precisely similar terracottas were found to have been employed in the same way. Furthermore just such cyma pieces have been discovered belonging to other structures in Olympia and amid the pre-Persian ruins on the Acropolis of Athens. It is not yet proven that this method of decoration was universal or even widespread in Greece; but of course the fragile nature of terracotta and the fact that it was employed only in the oldest structures, would make discoveries rare.
Another important argument is furnished by the certain use of terracotta plates as acroteria. Pausanias [49] mentions such acroteria on the Stoa Basileios on the agora of Athens. Pliny [50] says that such works existed down to his day, and speaks of their great antiquity. Fortunately a notable example has been preserved in the acroterium of the gable of the Heraion at Olympia, [51] a great disk of clay over seven feet in diameter. It forms a part, says Dr. Dörpfeld, of the oldest artistic roof construction that has remained to us from Greek antiquity. That is, the original material of the acroteria was the same used in the whole covering of the roof, namely terracotta. The gargoyles also, which later were always of stone, were originally of terracotta. Further we find reliefs in terracotta pierced with nail-holes and evidently intended for the covering of various wooden objects; sometimes, it is safe to say, for wooden sarcophagi. Here appears clearly the connection that these works may have had with the later reliefs in marble.
Footnote 48:[ (return) ] Cf. supra, Programm zum Winckelmannsfeste.
Footnote 49:[ (return) ] I, 3. 1.