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A fragment of an archaic temple model from Artemis Orthia, Sparta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

R. W. V. Catling
R. W. V. Catling
Affiliation:
Oxford
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Abstract

A fragment of an archaic temple model from the British School's early excavations at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta is published. It is suggested here that its decoration represents a timber-framed building. Support for this argument is found in the similar construction technique used for the early 7th-cent. temple of Artemis Orthia. Its contribution to the debate concerning the evolution of the developed Doric order is considered. In further discussion of the significance of votive ‘house models’, doubts are expressed about the universal applicability of recent explanations linking them with female cults explicitly associated with protection of the household.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 89 , November 1994 , pp. 269 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1994

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References

1 I am grateful to the Managing Committee of the British School For permission to study the finds from the School's old excavations at Sparta and for financial support for this work. I am further indebted to the Craven Committee of Oxford University for a travel grant. I also wish to thank the director and staff of the British School for their help in obtaining a study permit from the Greek authorities, and Dr Th. Spyropoulos (ephor of Lakonia–Arkadia) and Stella Raphtopoulou for facilitating this work, as well as the guards of the Sparta Museum. Reference to the unpublished house-models from the Menelaion is made with the permission of Dr H. W. Catling. Dr J. J. Coulton kindly discussed the object with me and made a number of valuable suggestions, though he is no way responsible for the views expressed below. Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Pamela, for her constructive criticism. Abbreviations:

AO = Dawkins, R. M. (ed.), The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta (Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, Suppl. Paper 5; London, 1929)Google Scholar

Lawrence = Lawrence, A. W., Greek Architecture (revised edn, Harmondsworth, 1983)Google Scholar

Schattner = Schattner, T. G., Griechische Hausmodelle: Untersuchungen zur frühgriechischen Architektur (AM Beiheft 15; Berlin, 1990)Google Scholar

2 For the chronology of Artemis Orthia see BSA 58 (1963), 1–7. The layer of sand was spread over the remains of the early temple during construction of its successor, effectively sealing the votive deposits beneath.

3 Triangular openings occur at this level on the house models from the Argive Heraion and Perachora: Schattner, nos. 1 and 6; pp. 153–4. A triangular opening was preserved in a collapsed wall of an 8th-cent. house at Zagora (Andros): PAE 1972, 263–4 fig. 7, Pl. 234 a; see Cambitoglou, A., Archaeological Museum of Andros (Athens, 1981)Google Scholar, fig. 8, for a drawing of the construction method of the Zagora houses. Rectangular openings are found on the front of the Perachora model, and also on those from Chaniale Tekke (Knossos) and from Sellada (Thera): Schattner, nos. 3 and 46.

4 The two terms are used to distinguish different types of construction. In half-timbered buildings the wooden components do not necessarily serve as load-bearers, but may perform other functions such as countering outward pressures or serving as wall reinforcements. In timber-frame construction, like concrete or steel-frame, the timbers are the prime load-bearers and the materials (whether of brick, rubble, or wattle and daub) used for the rest of the walls do no more than fill the empty spaces in the basic framework.

5 AO 10–14. See also Drerup, H., Griechische Baukunst in geometrischer Zeit (Archaeologia Homerica, 2 O; Göttingen, 1969), 19–21, 108Google Scholar; Lawrence, 120–2; Schattner, 133; Fagerström, K., Greek Iron Age Architecture: Developments through Changing Times (Göteborg, 1988), 31–2Google Scholar, 99–105, on mud-brick and wood construction methods.

6 The original publication did not do justice to the surviving remains. The most serious deficiency is the use of a sketch plan in place of a measured stone-for-stone plan: AO 14, fig. 8.

7 AO 11–12, 140 no. 35, fig. 101, where they are identified as parts of a sima. Their profiles are not of typical sima types. The suggestion that they might be cornice cladding was made by Dr Coulton. A more remote possibility is that they are from terracotta triglyphs.

8 BSA 65 (1970), 17–19. For a similar interpretation see Lawrence, 125; 130. The conventional view is stated by several of the main authorities on Greek architecture: Dinsmoor, W. B., The Architecture of Ancient Greece (3rd edn; London, 1950), 50–1, 56–7Google Scholar; Berve, H. and Gruben, G., Greek Temples, Theatres and Shrines (London, 1963), 310–11Google Scholar; Martin, R., Manuel d'architecture grecque, i: Matériaux et techniques (Paris, 1965), 16.Google Scholar

9 Lawrence, 123–4.

10 AO 159 no. 10, pl. 42. 8. It is about 0.074 m wide at gable level.

11 Cartledge, P., Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300–362 BC (London, 1979), 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Schattner, 205–7. The same connection was previously made by Fagerström (n. 5), 156–7.

13 The best survey of Spartan religion is by Parker, R. in Powell, A. (ed.), Classical Sparta: Techniques behind her Success (London, 1989), 142–72.Google Scholar