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A DIACHRONIC EXAMINATION OF THE ERECHTHEION AND ITS RECEPTION

LESK, ALEXANDRA L.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1108170608

Abstract Details

2005, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Classics.
“A Diachronic Examination of the Erechtheion and Its Reception” examines the social life of the Ionic temple on the Athenian Akropolis, which was built in the late 5th century B.C. to house Athens’ most sacred cults and relics. Using a contextualized diachronic approach, this study examines both the changes to the Erechtheion between its construction and the middle of the 19th century A.D., as well as the impact the temple had on the architecture and art of these successive periods. This approach allows the evidence to shed light on new areas of interest such as the Post-Antique phases of the building, in addition to affording a better understanding of problems that have plagued the study of the Erechtheion during the past two centuries. This study begins with a re-examination of all the pertinent archaeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence, and proposes a wholly new reconstruction of how the Erechtheion worked physically and ritually in ancient times. After accounting for the immediate influence of the Erechtheion on subsequent buildings of the Ionic order, an argument for a Hellenistic rather than Augustan date for the major repairs to the temple is presented. Copies of both the Erechtheion’s special Ionic order and the maidens of the South Porch were incorporated into many Roman monuments. This study examines the significance of these quotations in the light of Vitruvius’ opening statements in De Architectura, where the Roman architect calls female architectural supports “caryatids.” The surviving architectural evidence, in conjunction with the accounts and depictions of the Erechtheion by the early travelers to Athens, provide the bases for reconstructing the different phases of the afterlife of the Erechtheion. After it served as a pagan temple, the Erechtheion was transformed into a pillared hall in Late Antiquity, a basilica church in the Byzantine period, an elaborate residence in the Frankish period, and finally into a house for an Ottoman official. After the Venetian bombardment of the Akropolis in 1687, the building served as a gunpowder magazine, and as a ruin to be admired for its antiquity. By gauging the aesthetic reception of the Erechtheion by early travelers to Athens, this study attempts to appreciate the temple’s timeless appeal and its role in the creation of the nascent Greek state’s national identity.
Dr. Charles Rose (Advisor)
1556 p.
Erechtheion; Athens; Akropolis; Acropolis; ancient architecture; ancient religion; byzantine; Frankish; Ottoman; Athena Polias

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • LESK, A. L. (2005). A DIACHRONIC EXAMINATION OF THE ERECHTHEION AND ITS RECEPTION [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1108170608

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • LESK, ALEXANDRA. A DIACHRONIC EXAMINATION OF THE ERECHTHEION AND ITS RECEPTION. 2005. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1108170608.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • LESK, ALEXANDRA. "A DIACHRONIC EXAMINATION OF THE ERECHTHEION AND ITS RECEPTION." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1108170608

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.