The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884Various
History
The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884
Various
Archaeology -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Periodicals
ON Wednesday, May 28, Mr. J. T. Wood, F.S.A., lectured in the Ephesian
Gallery of the British Museum on “The Marbles from the Great Temple of
Diana.” The lecturer said it was needless for him to tell the story of
his finding the temple of the great goddess of the Ephesians. It would
take too much time, and it had been so often told before that he might
take for granted that his audience knew all about it; but he might say
that it was a very difficult thing to accomplish, and that it was six
years before he succeeded in hitting upon the site. It was found one
mile from the city of Ephesus, among corn fields, on level ground, where
there was not the slightest sign of any ruins. Having found the site he
discovered sufficient of the remains to enable him to make a true
elevation of the temple, but there were some details still missing which
he hoped would be obtained by further excavations. They had before them
a rough diagram from which they would see that it had 100 columns
externally, each 6 ft. in diameter, and nearly 60 ft. in height. Only a
portion of the superstructure had been found, which was the lower part
underneath the capitals, some of the lions’ heads, and some of the
enrichment of the cornice. The coloured diagrams were meant to show that
the whole of the temple was coloured. The remains which they saw before
them had lost their colour since they were placed in the museum, with
but few exceptions, but there was one specimen before them in which the
colour was clearly demonstrated. Several of the coloured diagrams would,
however, show the state in which he found the fragments. He should tell
them that these remains were found between 20 ft. and 24 ft.
underground, and their being at so great a depth beneath the surface
accounted for the great expense of these excavations, the Government
having spent £12,000 upon them during the five years which it took him
to clear out the temple. He need scarcely tell them that the remains
they now saw were from the last of the three successive temples. He
found evidence that all the bases were of about the same size, and that
the same marble was used. There were two stones at the end of the temple
which, he believed, belonged to the frieze of the temple, and which were
got out from the drums of the last temple. One, which was marked H 4, he
believed would be proved to be, what he had always thought it was, a
portion of the frieze. Upon it was a representation of Hercules
struggling with a female figure, and he believed it was Hercules taking
the girdle of the Queen of the Amazons. The stone was very much hacked
and disfigured. Mr. Fergusson thought that a column had been placed upon
this; but there were reasons to the architectural mind which precluded
the idea that this stone could have been part of the pedestal of a
column. There was a second stone which he believed was a portion of the
frieze of the temple. Upon one side of it was a representation of either
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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