Researchers, academics and those with tireless curiosity will know the thrill of chasing down the details of something mysterious or unexplained. In this tweet thread from 2017, noticed a difference in a nearly 100-year-old photo that led him to uncover the real story behind a strange “appendage” on the top of the Temple of Athenian Zeus. What follows is the Twitter equivalent of an architectural thriller. What is it? Why were depictions of the temple altered? .
It’s always interesting to see how ruins are used politically, & how they construct & reinforce ideas of identity. – Paul Cooper
I fell down a bit of a ruins research rabbithole today, thought I’d share some of my weird journey.
It started with this incredible 1858 photo of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens.
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
What drew me attention was this strange protuberance on top. It looked really strange & didn’t fit with the rest of the building
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
It also didn’t fit with reconstructions of how the building originally looked
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
I thought I found the answer when I found an exact copy of the photo, but with the protuberance missing.
All the people etc are in the same positions, but no weird lump on top
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
So I thought I’d found my answer: someone had edited the original photo, adding an odd bit of ruin on top to make it seem taller & more epic
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
That was until I saw this 1833 painting by Johann Michael Wittmer…
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
THERE IT IS AGAIN
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
And when I saw this 1862 photo from another angle, it was obvious that the protuberance had been EDITED OUT of the other photo, not added to the first
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
And when I saw this 1862 photo from another angle, it was obvious that the protuberance had been EDITED OUT of the other photo, not added to the first
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
It turns out that Christian ascetics known as stylites, or “pillar saints” are the explanation.
Stylites believed that living on top of tall pillars brought them closer to God & caused them holy bodily mortification at the same time, atoning for their sins
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
At some point since the ruination of the temple in the 3rd century & archaeologists examining it in the 19th, stylites had laboriously built a small stone hut on top of the ruined temple’s pillars
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
In his 1922 article “the glory the was Greece”, Alexander Wilbourne describes hearing locals tell of a long line of stylites who lived on top of the ruined temple & had food and water brought up to them with ropes & buckets
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
He even describes meeting an old Athenian who remembered taking offerings of loaves and fruit to send up to the Zeus temple stylites, who would send down a basket to receive them
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
After Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, efforts were made in the 19th century to strengthen the national identity by harking back to the greatness of the Hellenic past.
So in the eyes of the Greek authorities, this Christian addition had to go.
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
So the second photo I showed you is part of that effort to scrub the presence of the stylites from the record.
If you look closely, you can see the blanknesses where their hut has been cut out
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
So this is the original photo of the temple of Olympian Zeus, stylite hut and all
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
It’s always interesting to see how ruins are used politically, & how they construct & reinforce ideas of identity.
When is a ruin “finished”?
Who does the ruin belong to?
Can a ruin be ruined?β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
Anyway, that’s the story of how I didn’t get any proper work done today. I’m going to climb up a pillar now to do my proper penance.
Thanks for listening!
β Paul πΉπ Cooper (@PaulMMCooper)
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