Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene. There is a rather individual form of Greek Ionic Order employed in the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene, which has been drawn out in Plate XLVI. The base of this Order we have already mentioned, but the capital is unlike any exam ple we have yet seen. It is a version of the simple or plain Greek Ionic, but the designer was not satisfied by showing one-half of Isis volute on the internal angle of the capital, as in the corner capital from the Temple on the Ilissus at Athens, shown in plan in Fig. 62, which should be compared with the plan of the capital on this plate. It will be noticed that in order to show the complete volute in this angle it was necessary to throw out the roll at the back of the capital, opening the space between it and the ornamented egg-and-dart of the echinus moulding which follows in plan the circular shape of the shaft. This would produce a certain awkwardness of the soffit, seen when looking up at the capital from the inside of the porch, which would seemingly offset the advantage gained by completing the circle of the two volutes shown on this internal angle. It also necessitates the pe culiar shape of abacus on that corner, completed in plan in Plate XLVI by the dotted lines. To be sure, this is much more logical in itself than breaking out the abacus on the opposite exterior angle over the corner volute; but it is questionable if the effects in elevation shown in the capital immediately above the plan would be as happy or natural as in the other method, shown in the example from the Temple on the Ilissus already The entablature of the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene is more elaborate than that shown in the Order on Plate XLI, and more nearly approaches the later Roman form. We see here an instance of
the use of a dentil course in the bed-mould of the cornice, which partakes somewhat, by its extreme projection, of the nature of the console or bracket, and which may have given to the Romans the idea they after wards developed. The treatment of the soffit shown in the small plan below is very similar to that between the corner mutules of the Greek Doric building. The cornice and crowning mouldings, shown at the right-hand upper corner of this plate at A, are taken from the gable or pediment of the building. This plate further shows the ornamented soffit of the architrave in the section through the entablature given at the right, which contains a small sunk panel ornamented with a carved moulding, this panel, however, being very narrow. In the sections shown on this plate, the stones hatched with a lighter line are restored and conjectural.
Another authority shows this Order without the frieze, and places the brackets or dentils directly upon the crowning member of the architrave. A method for determining the centers required to draw out the volute of the Greek Ionic capital, is shown in the lower right hand corner of the plate.