The Temple of Athena, built in the mid-4th century BC of gray-blue marble,
is the largest and oldest monument at Priene. This Temple, located on the culminating point of the city, rose
over a wide terrace of rocks and the defense walls, and was the oldest, the
most important, the largest and the most magnificent building in Priene. It was
oriented on an east west axis in conformity with the city plan and faced east.
It is believed that the
construction of the Temple was begun at the same time as the founding of Priene
4th century. The architect of the building was Pythius, who also constructed
the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the
World. The Temple is accepted as being a classical example of the AnatolianIonian
architectural style.
The plan of the Temple is
peripteral, with 6 columns on the short sides and 11 on the long ones. Together
with the 2 columns each of the pronaos and the opisthodomus, the total number
of columns adds up to 34. The building
rests on a three stepped platform, 37.17 m. long and 19.53 m. wide. The lower
diameters of the columns are one tenth of their 10.10 m. height. The columns of
which the bases are built in the Ephesus type, have 24 flutes in their shaft.
The capitals height is 0.48 m.
The Ionic
foot is used as a unit of measurement throughout. The total column height and
entablature height equal 50 feet, corresponding to half the length of the
cella. The cella, of 100 feet, is thus a hekatompedon, and corresponds closely
with the length of the cella of the Parthenon.
The entablature resting on the capitals
consists of the architrave, made up of three hands, and above it in rising
order, a row of egganddart molding, dentils. Another row of egganddart
molding. The cornice, and on the top a cymatium decorated with plant motifs and
lion-headed gargoyles. These parts were polychromed in bright colors, red and
blue being the most used.
The building was destroyed completely in an
earthquake in ancient times and the pieces were scattered over a large area. It
also suffered great destruction in a later fire. However, the construction of
the plan and the reconstruction of the building have been possible through the
fragments found in the excavations.
A History of Western Architecture 6th Edition
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