Life in ancient Athens : the social and public life of a classical Athenian from day to day / by T.G. Tucker.

  • Tucker, T. G. (Thomas George), 1859-1946.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life in ancient Athens : the social and public life of a classical Athenian from day to day / by T.G. Tucker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    conception of its character. In its simplest form it consisted of a roof supported in front by a row of columns, and at the back by a wall. You thus obtain a covered walk or lounge, open to the air and warmth, but protected from rain and wind. Which¬ ever way the sun shone or the wind blew your Athenian could always find a portico facing so that he could walk or sit in comfort. Sometimes the portico was double, that is to say, there was a wall down the middle with a colonnade on each side. Occasionally, though we are not sure of an instance at our date in Athens, it had two stories. Sometimes, instead of the wall. there were interior rows of colonnades, so as to form aisles of pillars. In the more important cases the whole would be constructed magnificently in marble, adorned in front with statues, and, on the edge of the roof, with both statues and other ornaments. Shields or other trophies were sometimes suspended in or on the building, and the walls were often painted with historical or mythological scenes. What has been so misleadingly called the Painted “ Porch ”—the famous resort of the Stoics, whence they derive their name—was such a colonnade, with great battle paintings by Polygnotus and others. The porticoes served as lounges, walks, places of resort for