The Ilissos Temple Reconsidered

This study attempts to collect all the evidence bearing on the Ilissos Temple, with particular attention to the fragments of the continuous frieze. A discussion of the sculptures, which have close parallels in the Nike and Niobid friezes, seeks to lower the accepted chronology. The iconography of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of archaeology 1978-01, Vol.82 (1), p.47-81
Main Author: Picon, Carlos Arturo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architecture
Buildings
Deities
Draperies
Iconography
Religious buildings
Sarcophagi
Sculpture
Statues
Temples
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Summary:This study attempts to collect all the evidence bearing on the Ilissos Temple, with particular attention to the fragments of the continuous frieze. A discussion of the sculptures, which have close parallels in the Nike and Niobid friezes, seeks to lower the accepted chronology. The iconography of the frieze as well as the deity of the temple remain obscure. The architectural evidence corroborates the lower date suggested by the sculpture; none of the architectural features (the sima, column bases, fasciae and type of marble) claimed as evidence for a mid-fifth century date positively supports such a chronology. Thus the suggestion is here advanced that the Ilissos Temple was not built shortly after 450 B.C. from the plans intended for the postponed Nike Temple, as traditionally believed, but that it dates to the 420's, roughly contemporary with the Nike Temple. When the Nike and Ilissos Temples are not placed almost a quarter of a century apart, the striking similarities between both buildings can be more readily understood.
ISSN:0002-9114
1939-828X
DOI:10.2307/503796