Sicily presents to the ordinary tourist attractions which in number ...

142 ANTIQUITIES IN THE MUSEUM AT PALERMO.
other difficulties, be explained when the site has been
fully cleared.
Perhaps the most interesting feature in this discovery
is the evidence of polychrome which it supplies ; as soon
as the fragments were disinterred a red tint in the lips of
the lion was observed, and afterwards, on placing the
objects in a better light, Professor Salinas noticed that
the altered surface (patina) of the cornice showed traces
of a painted maeander and an ovolo immediately under it;
what the original colours of these ornaments were, cannot
now be even conjectured. 1
Abundant illustrations of the use of lions' heads as gargoyles
are supplied by the Unedited Antiquities of Attica,
published by the Dilettanti Society. Plate 3, chapter iii,
proves that this ornamental spout was adopted in the
Ionic order as well as in the Doric. "The back of the
cymatium of the cornice w r as channelled for the purpose
of forming a gutter, and the lions' heads in front were
perforated." But the best examples are from the Temple
of Diana-Propylaea, plates 3 & 4, chap, v, in the former
of which we see each block of the sima ornamented with
two lions' heads of bold projection. 2
III. The Mosaics are the glory of Palermo; they are
the first objects that rivet the attention of the traveller,
1 For the painted decoration of Greek
Temples in Sicily see Hittorff," Restitution
du Temple d'Empedocle ϊι Selinonte,"8vo.
vol. of text with atlas of fine coloured
plates, Paris, 1851.
2 Stuart, " Antiquities of Athens,"
vol. ii, c. i, PI. 6, Elevation of the Portico
of the Parthenon; PI. 9, capital and entablature
of the columns of the Portico.
Die Ausgrabungen zu Olympia herausgegeben
von E. Curtius, F. Adler und G.
Treu, Vol. i, pi. xxvii, 2 Lowenkopfe
mit sima vom Zeus-Tempel ; pi. xxx,
architectur fragmente in Thon und
Marmor, &c. Dr. Birch, " Ancient Pottery,"
ii, 253, has a section on gutterspouts
of terra· cotta. The most ordinary
form was a lion's head, but masks comic
and tragic, with open shell-shaped mouths,
and heads of dogs and panthers were also
used. These objects were generally of
the same piece as the gutter-tile, so that
in this respect they resembled the gargoyles
at Himera. Vitruvius does not
give us any word exactly corresponding
to gargoyle, but colliquiae, akin to liqueo,
liquor, liquidus, occurs in his writings, and
means a gutter for carrying the water
from the roof into the impluvium; vi, 3,
colliquias ab angulis parietum ad angulos
tignorum intercurrentes : cf. Forma iii,
f. colliquiae, Einkehlen, ed. Rode.
The gargoyles of the Middle Ages
differ considerably from the classical
types: they show greater variety of grotesque
forms — animal, human, and
daemoniacal; they generally project much
further from the wall; they are often
furnished with leaden pipes from which
the water issues ; and they are sometimes
placed in front of a buttress. In ancient
gargoyles no signs of lead have been
found, as far as I am aware, and buttresses
were very rarely employed by the Greeks
and Romans, because their roofs were
lighter, and their walls were not weakened
by the insertion of windows. Parker's
Glossary, Text, and Illustrations in vol.
ii, pt. i, PI. 95 ; Architectural Publication
Society, "Dictionary of Architecture,"
engravings chiefly of examples in Somersetshire
churches.