The evidence to chart these changes comes primarily from the drawings and descriptions of early travellers to Athens, and the cuttings
on the walls and reuse of material from various parts of the building. While travelling to research institutions, libraries and museums
all over Europe to consult and search for new images of the Erechtheion, I processed each drawing and painting of the temple on a
grid where each block has a discrete set of co-ordinates. On these grid sheets I noted whether a block is present, absent, or damaged.
The results of this analysis were then entered into a database which was then linked to a CAD rendition of the Erechtheion, created
to an accuracy of 0.02 metres, by Dr. Paul Blomerus. The video you see on to the right shows the blocks falling off the Erechtheion
at certain intervals.
Every text you will read about the Erechtheion will tell you that the temple burned down, probably during the Sullan sack of Athens
in 86 BC, and was rebuilt under Augustus. By analysing the evidence for the cult of Athena Polias and the style of the clamps and
sculptural technique of the repaired sections of the Erechtheion, I was able to place the fire and repair in the Hellenistic period:
the fire took place in the early 3rd century BC after which time the cult of Athena took a nosedive, and the restoration took place
in the first half of the 2nd century BC, perhaps with some financial support from the Pergamene or Ptolemaic kings.
The reception of the Erechtheion is the other important facet to my research, that is, how people reacted to it aesthetically and culturally. The Romans, for example, quoted the Maiden Porch extensively in their monuments. I am looking at the reasons why, and how, these stately women were interpreted by those who placed copies of them in their monuments. Ever since I was an undergraduate, I have been curious about the use of the Vitruvian term "caryatid" and how it relates to the Erechtheion maidens. By sorting through the literary and sculptural evidence chronologically, I was able to determine when the first conflation of the term and the Erechtheion maidens occurred. It was not in the 5th century BC or in the 18th century as usually assumed, but in the 1st century AD, by Pliny the Elder. For more information click on the title of the article on the side-bar.
The reception of the Erechtheion is the other important facet to my research, that is, how people reacted to it aesthetically and culturally. The Romans, for example, quoted the Maiden Porch extensively in their monuments. I am looking at the reasons why, and how, these stately women were interpreted by those who placed copies of them in their monuments. Ever since I was an undergraduate, I have been curious about the use of the Vitruvian term "caryatid" and how it relates to the Erechtheion maidens. By sorting through the literary and sculptural evidence chronologically, I was able to determine when the first conflation of the term and the Erechtheion maidens occurred. It was not in the 5th century BC or in the 18th century as usually assumed, but in the 1st century AD, by Pliny the Elder. For more information click on the title of the article on the side-bar.
Erechtheion
A Diachronic Examination of the Erechtheion and Its Reception
a fresh look at an old building
The Erechtheion has been studied for centuries. My work takes a holistic diachronic approach to this most enigmatic of ancient buildings
by examining it in four dimensions, starting with the Archaic period and ending with its current reconstruction. This approach has
enabled me to make surprising new discoveries such as re-dating the major ancient repair from the Roman period to the Hellenistic
period, pinpointing the first reference to the Erechtheion maidens as "caryatids" to the first century AD, and discerning the form
and function of the Erechtheion in the post-classical period. The Greek Archaeological Service kindly granted me permission to climb
all over the building, take the detailed photographs that serve as the basis of my research and shoot reference points with a reflectorless
EDM.
a new reconstruction of the interior
The reconstruction of the interior of the Erechtheion and the organisation of the various cults within it are matters of intense debate.
There is a great deal of evidence, but almost every bit of it is ambiguous. Unconvinced by any previous reconstruction of the interior
of the Erechtheion, I re-examined the ancient literary, epigraphical and archaeological evidence and approached the monument from
a fresh perspective. I arrived at a radically different reconstruction of the arrangement of the interior of the temple. In summary,
although the exact arrangement of the cults within the temple can never be known without the discovery of new evidence, I concluded
that the interior of the temple was essentially one large room east of the west cross-wall all at the same low level as the North
Porch. The East Porch was a viewing platform from which the public could see some of the ancient relics and the giant peplos
of Athena Polias.
re-dating the restorations: clamps and caryatids
the afterlife of the Erechtheion: post-classical perversions
By looking at the building as a whole and through time and approaching it as a four dimensional jigsaw, I was able to develop of typology
of cutting styles for door jambs and ceiling/roof-beams that allowed me to reconstruct the temple's incarnations as a late antique
pillared hall, two phases as a church (5th and 12th centuries), two phases as a palace for the Frankish bishops (13th and 14th centuries)
as well as the home of an Ottoman officer garrisoned on the Akropolis in the 15th century and as a gunpowder magazine from the 17th
through 19th centuries. During the Greek War of Independence, the Erechtheion continued to serve as a munitions store, consequently
suffering extensive damage from gun and canon fire, including the destruction of the North Porch.
diaries and doodles
chisels and charcoal
When early modern travellers began visiting the Erechtheion regularly during the 18th century, they drew and painted the temple and
wrote accounts of their reactions to it. Many of them also signed their names, thus leaving a permanent record of their interaction
with the monument. I documented their graffiti and examined their reactions to the temple, thereby trying to gauge any patterns
in the attitudes towards various aspects of the monuments such as the famous Maiden Porch. Among these travellers were architects
whose sketches of the temple and its mouldings served as the inspiration for many Neo-Classical buildings in Western Europe and the
Americas.
In addition to the graffiti of the Grand Tourists, I also found a plethora of crosses carved into
the building, probalby evidence for the de-paganisation of the temple in the early Christian period. I also found three
ships carved into the upper reaches of the interior of the North Porch which I have dated to the Byzantine period.
avenues for further study
I am currently preparing the above topics for publication as journal articles and books. Another topic is the Monopteros of Rome and Augustus, a circular building architecturally linked to the Erechtheion by its distinctive necking band motif, and usually sited east of the Parthenon, should instead by restored east of the Erechtheion.
My assistant, Dr. Paul Blomerus, plans to publish the technique we used to generate the views of the Erechtheion in different years by using a database to drive a block-by-block CAD model.
My assistant, Dr. Paul Blomerus, plans to publish the technique we used to generate the views of the Erechtheion in different years by using a database to drive a block-by-block CAD model.
The Erechtheion on the Akropolis at Athens, one of the most beautiful and enigmatic buildings ever built by the ancient Greeks, once housed Athens' most important cult, that of Athena Polias, Protectress of the City. Besides the altars of Erechtheus/Poseidon, Hephaistos and Boutes, the Erechtheion also incorporated in one complex the tokens of the contest for the patronage of Athens, namely the salt-sea of Poseidon and the olive tree of Athena.
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