The American Journal of Archaeology, 1893-1 | Page 9

is, that the eastern cella of the Parthenon was called [Greek: Ecatompedos (ov)] in the fifth century.[21] Certainly, if there had been a second chryselephantine statue of Athena on the Acropolis, we should know of its existence.
[Footnote 21: This was shown by U. K?HLER. Mitth., v, p. 89 ff., and again by D?RPFELD, xv, 480 ff, who quote the inscriptions. LOLLING'S distinction between [Greek: to agalma] and [Greek: to chrusoun agalma] cannot be maintained. cf. U. K?hler, Sitzungsber, d. Berlin. Akad., 1889, p. 223.]
When the Athenians built the great western room of the Parthenon, they certainly did not intend it to serve merely as a store-room for the objects described in the transmission-lists as [Greek: en t? Parthen?n] or [ek tou Parthen?nos], these being mostly of little value or broken.[22] Now the treasury of Athens was the opisthodomos, and the western room of the Parthenon was, from the moment of the completion of the building, the greatest opisthodomos in Athens. It is Page 11 natural to regard this (with Lolling) as the opisthodomos where the treasure was kept. This room was doubtless divided into three parts by two partitions of some sort, probably of metal,[23] running from the eastern and western wall to the nearest columns and connecting the columns. This arrangement agrees with the provision (CIA, I, 32) that the monies of Athena be cared for [Greek: en t? dexi tou opisthodomou], those of the other gods [Greek: en t? ep dexeia tou opisthodomou]. Until the completion of the Parthenon, the opisthodomos of the pre-Persian temple might properly be the opisthodomos [Greek: cat exochen], but so soon as the Parthenon was finished, the new treasure-house would naturally usurp the name as well as the functions of its predecessor.
[Footnote 22: A general view of these transmission-lists may be found at the back of MICHAELIS' der Parthenon: See also H. LEHNER, Ueber die attischen Schatzverzeichnisse des vierten Jahrhunderts (which Lolling cites. I have not seen it.)]
[Footnote 23: See plans of the Parthenon, for instance, the one in the plan of the Acropolis accompanying D?rpfeld's article, Mitth., XII, Taf. 1.]
But, if the western room of the Periclean temple was the opisthodomos, where was the [Greek: Parthen?n] proper? It cannot be identical with the [Greek: ne?s o Ecatompedos] nor with the opisthodomos, for the three appellations occur at the same date evidently designating three different places. It would be easier to tell where the [Greek: Parthen?n] proper was, if we knew why it was called [Greek: Parthen?n]. The name was in all probability not derived from the Parthenos, but rather the statue was named from the Parthenon after the latter appellation had been extended to the whole building, for there is no evidence that the great statue was called Parthenos from the first. Its official title was, so far as is known, never Parthenos.[24] The Parthenon was not so named because it contained the Parthenos, but why it was so named we do not know. The [Greek: prone?s] is certainly the front porch, the [Greek: Ecatompedos ne?s] is certainly the cella, 100 feet long, the [Greek: opisthodomos] is the rear apartment of some building, (even if I have not made it seem probable that it is the rear apartment of the Parthenon). These names carry their explanation with them. But the name [Greek: Parthen?n] gives us no information. It was a part of the great Periclean temple, for the name was in later times applied to the whole building, and the only part of the building not named is the western porch. It Page 12 is, however, incredible that the Athenians should use this porch, so prominently exposed to the eyes of every sight-seer, as a storehouse for festival apparatus, etc. It is more probable that the [Greek: Parthen?n] proper was within the walls of the building but separated from the other parts in some way. The middle division of the western room, separated by columns and metal partitions from the treasury of Athena on the right and that of the other gods on the left, was large enough and, being directly in front of the western door, prominent enough, to deserve a name of its own. If this room was the [Greek: Parthen?n] proper, it is evident that a fire in the opisthodomos would cause the [Greek: Parthen?n] to be emptied of its contents, which would then naturally be inventoried as [Greek: ek tou Parthen?nos], while another list could properly be headed [Greek: ek tou opisthodomon] referring to the treasure-chambers.[25] The name Parthenon might then be extended first to the entire western part of the building and then to the whole edifice. This is not a proof that the [Greek: Parthen?n] was the central part of the western room of the great temple. A complete proof is impossible. All I claim is