Aphaia temple

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Ruins of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
Sanctuary plan
Model of the temple in the Glyptothek Munich

The Aphaia sanctuary is located on a hilltop on the Greek island of Aegina , between the port of Athens and the coast of Epidaurus . Already in Mycenaean times offerings were made here to the fertility goddess Aphaia . Around 570 BC A stone prostylus temple was built on the same site , which was replaced about 70 years later by a late archaic peripteros , a temple surrounded on all sides by columns. The sanctuary fell into disrepair since the 1st century BC. The gable sculptures ("Aeginetes") of the temple, discovered in 1811, are unique, as the figures from the west gable still belong to the archaic period , while those from the east gable belong to the early classical period. They thus form an important reference point for dating the styles. The figures are now in the Munich Glyptothek .

Sanctuary of Aphaia

The sanctuary of Aphaia goes back to approx. 2000 BC. BC, where the goddess was worshiped with a cave in the grove without a temple being built. Over time, this area was demarcated by a temenos .

In the 6th century BC, around 570 BC A first limestone temple in honor of the goddess was built on a raised terrace. This consisted of a vestibule, the pronaos , the main hall, the so-called cella and a hall behind it, the so-called opisthodom . There was no column around the temple. During this time, a 14 m high column was erected in the northeast of the temple, which carried a marble sphinx.

Around 520 BC A fire in the roof destroyed the temple, so that it was torn down and in the time of 510 BC. Until 490/480 BC When Peripteros was rebuilt. The altar was moved so that it was now aligned with the central axis of the temple. The column with the marble sphinx was not affected by the renovation work, so it was not destroyed.

Since 500 BC BC received the original goddess of the Aeginetes, Aphaia, company from Athena , who now acts as the actual patron goddess of the island.

gable

After the discovery in 1811, the gable sculptures were acquired by Crown Prince Ludwig and are now in the Glyptothek in Munich.

The time of the construction of the second temple from 510 BC. BC marks a turning point in the development of cultural history, namely the transition from the archaic to the early classical period . This becomes clear in the representation of the gable figures: the figures in the west gable follow the archaic style of representation, those of the east gable follow the classic style.

The second battle for Troy is depicted in the older west gable, the first battle for Troy in the younger east gable.

West gable

The figures of the west pediment

According to the archaic, the figures are rather rigid, stand on their own and do not form a unit. Rather, it is a series of individual forms. Are shown, among other Ajax (Ajax), which can be identified on his shield because of the eagle. In the middle stands Athena, the patron goddess of the Aeginets, the inhabitant of the island of Aegina. Athena hardly intervenes here, only her left foot turns to the left - otherwise she remains largely indifferent.

East gable

Reconstruction of the original color scheme of the east gable by Adolf Furtwängler

The representation in this gable already follows the style of the early classical period. Athena is also in the middle, but she already intervenes more clearly in the action to the left in a lunge. In addition, the individuals are represented more realistically: the figures in the outer spandrels of the gable no longer have a so-called archaic smile on their faces, but they are “serious” about dying. The entire action depicted is also interlinked across the middle: the archers aim across the central axis and hit the people lying in the gable gusset.

Heracles can be identified on the basis of his costume: he wears the upper part of the head of a lion as a helmet (the so-called Kithaironian lion , which he defeated in battle). The lion's skin is missing in the depiction, which can be traced back to the fact that Heracles is depicted here in battle: Heracles as a warrior.

The other figures can be deduced from tradition: in the left gable corner - depicted as a dying man - Laomedon can be identified, as Heracles fatally injured him with an arrow in the first battle for Troy and thus contributed significantly to ending this battle in favor of the Greeks could.

Athena holds the Aigis threateningly to the left. From this it can be concluded that the threatened person is an enemy of the Aeginetes, i.e. the Greeks. Since the entire pediment is obviously about historically or mythically important persons, Priam , King Troy, is probably shown here.

Polychromy of the temple

The temple's architecture and figural decorations were colored in antiquity ( polychromy ), but hardly anything is visible today.

As early as 1811, the discoverer of the Aeginian gable sculptures, Carl Haller von Hallerstein , and his companion, Charles Robert Cockerell , recorded the first sketches with color information. The report that Haller wrote to the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and individual architectural elements that came to Munich with the Aeginetes are clear evidence of the temple's color.

Johann Martin von Wagner , Ludwig's art agent, suggested to the Crown Prince in 1816 that they display color models of the temple. Leo von Klenze and his colleague Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller were responsible for the implementation. However, the enthusiasm was not as great as expected. The colored plaster relief appeared a bit colorful and clumsy . The meaning of this color relief got around and therefore the French architect Guillaume-Abel Blouet (1795-1853) sent his colleague Pierre Félix Trézel to Munich in 1829 to complete the records of the temple. In 1846 there was another color reconstruction by Jakob Ignaz Hittorff . He himself had never seen the temple and his reconstruction was mainly based on the work of Klenze and Blouet. It was not until 1860 that Cockerell published his color reconstructions of the temple in hand-colored sheets. These are carried out “according to findings”.

The French architect Charles Garnier , who won the Grand Prix ​​de Rome in 1848, was the laureate and had to measure an important ancient building and work out a complete reconstruction. He chose the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina for this task. Garnier received high praise, but not from Hittorff, who was also a jury member of the Paris Academy of Art. He accused him of bizarre inventions , complicated shapes and a certain Etruscan mania . Garnier first published three of his drawn inventories in the Revue archéologique in 1854 , his complete drawings and reconstructions did not appear until 1884. The descriptions are very detailed and it shows exactly what has actually been seen and what has arisen from recourse to analogies.

Reconstruction drawing of the east gable, 1907

From Ernst Fiechter , who at the excavation from 1901 Adolf Furtwängler was there, comes the still valid color reconstruction of the Aphaia temple. Investigations during Dieter Ohly's excavations have confirmed Fiechter's color reconstructions.

Polychromy of the pediment sculptures

At that time, the colors of the figures were out of the question. Cockerell and Haller von Hallerstein documented the remains of paint on the sculptures. Above all, the red on the helmet bushes, for wounds, on the gable floor and the plinths on which the figures were anchored, stood out. But there were also residues of blue paint on helmets and on the back wall of the gable.

In the 1817 report by Johann Martin von Wagner, the colored design of the sculptures is already mentioned. The color reconstruction of the gable published by Blouet in 1838 was rather reserved except for the robe of the archer from the west gable, whereas that of Hittorff (1846) was a lot more colorful. The warriors' hair turned red, their helmets and shields blue, yellow ocher, and red; and the relief ground was reproduced as a blue area. Cockerell published his colored prints with helmets and shields tinted in soft ocher yellow and red. In the reconstruction published by Garnier, the naked bodies of the warriors are tinted brown and the robe of the archer is covered with a scale pattern.

The first comprehensive scientific publication of the Aphaia Temple was by Adolf Furtwängler and appeared in 1906. The ancient polychrome was an important point of his work. His gable figures were only given red and blue paint, as he could still observe these traces of color on the figures. More recent investigations into the polychromy of the gable figures were carried out by Vinzenz Brinkmann .

The Trojan archer from the west pediment, Paris

Reconstruction of the color version by Vinzenz Brinkmann

With the exception of minor damage to the feet and face, the figure has been almost completely preserved. He wears tight-fitting trousers made of a solid material that ends with a clear bulge around the ankle. Despite these pants, muscles can be seen on the legs. He also wears a jacket and a Scythian cap on his head .

During closer examinations, the surface was illuminated with grazing light and the structure of the clothing emerged clearly: the upper body is covered with a sleeveless vest underneath which is a kind of “sweater”, the entire area of ​​which is covered by a diamond pattern on the sleeves. Remnants of red paint were found on the cap and a seven-leaf palmette over a double volute can be seen. On the vest there are small animals ( griffin , lion) that are very detailed.

For the elaborately decorated trouser ornament, a further examination was necessary, the UV reflectography. The basic shape is a zigzag band that ends up and down in diamond-shaped ends. Several problems arose in reconstructing this pattern. The distances between the tips had to be calculated and measured precisely in order to guide the zigzag tape evenly and without seams around the leg. On the basis of a few attempts it has become clear that the ancient artist used a very special grid as guide lines before the paint was applied to the figure. It is extremely astonishing that the diamond pattern has been adapted to the movement and volume of the legs and is not a static pattern.

Athena from the west pediment

The standing Athena, also in the west gable, was examined with the sidelight. She wears a dress as richly colored as the archer. Over her long chiton is the aegis , and on her head wearing a helmet Athena. The serpentine Aegis is armored with over numerous scales - with a tapering central rib. The middle border of the skirt in colorful design can also still be seen.

Warrior head from the east gable

The east pediment is not so well preserved and so the observations relating to the polychromy are limited to only a few details. The warrior whose head is here bows his head slightly forward. Furthermore, only a few fragments and the feet of this figure have survived. Light spots can be seen on the helmet with the naked eye. They form a diamond network that stretches over the top of the skull on both sides of the wide central bar. In the publications by Furtwängler and Ohly, the traces of the painting were highlighted in the illustrations.

Stripe and UV light examinations revealed a surface-covering scale pattern. Here, too, the construction principle had to be rediscovered so that the scales could be arranged evenly. The scales on the two sides of the helmet are mirror-symmetrical to each other and they become a little more compact towards the forehead and neck area.

literature

  • Adolf Furtwängler : Aegina, the sanctuary of Aphaia . Munich 1906 (digitized text volume , table volume ).
  • Adolf Furtwängler: The Aegineten of the Glyptothek King Ludwig I. Munich 1906 ( digitized ).
  • Catherina Philippa Bracken: Hunting for Antiquities in Greece: 1800–1830. Prestel, Munich 1975, ISBN 978-3-7913-0418-2 , pp. 204-234.
  • Dieter Ohly : The Aeginetes. The marble sculptures of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina . 1-3. Beck, Munich 1976-2001, ISBN 3-406-06271-7 ; ISBN 3-406-06272-5
  • Dieter Ohly: Temple and sanctuary of Aphaia on Aegina. Explained on the wooden models in the Glyptothek in Munich. Munich 1977, ISBN 3-406-04115-9
  • Ernst-Ludwig Schwandner : The older Poro temple of Aphaia on Aegina (= monuments of ancient architecture , vol. 16), de Gruyter, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-11-010279-X
  • Hansgeorg Bankel : The late Archaic temple of Aphaia on Aegina. Architecture and design (= monuments of ancient architecture , vol. 19). de Gruyter, Berlin 1993.
  • Heiner Knell : Myth and Polis . WBG, Darmstadt 1990, pp. 68-78.
  • Gottfried Gruben : Greek temples and sanctuaries. 5th edition. Hirmer, Munich 2001, pp. 121–127.
  • Tonio Hölscher : Classical archeology. Basic knowledge. 2002, pp. 119-127.

Web links

Commons : Temple of Aphaia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Garnier: Le Temple de Temple de Jupiter Panhellénien à Égine (= Restaurations des monuments antiques par les architectes pensionnaires de l'Académie de France à Rome depuis 1788 jusqu'à nos jours . Vol. 6). Paris 1884 ( digitized ).
  2. ^ Vinzenz Brinkmann: Colorful gods. The colourfulness of ancient sculpture; an exhibition by the Staatliche Antikensammlung und Glyptothek Munich in collaboration with the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Copenhagen and the Vatican Museums, Rome; Glyptothek Munich, December 16, 2003 to February 29, 2004; [Catalog] . Munich 2003.
  3. ^ Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann: The magnificent prince. Biering and Brinkmann, Munich 2003. ISBN 978-3-930609-20-8

Coordinates: 37 ° 45 ′ 16 ″  N , 23 ° 31 ′ 59 ″  E