Note 25 — THE TEMPLE ON THE ACROPOLIS BURNT BY THE PERSIANS.

Footnote 25: (return) DÖRPFELD, XII, p. 203 f., argues that these headings show that the treasure was moved after the fire of 406 from the opisthodomos of the old temple into the Παρθενών proper, which was emptied of its contents to make room. But the explanation given above seems equally possible. Dörpfeld, (Mitth., vi, p. 283, ff.) proved conclusively that the Παρθενών was not the eastern cella of the Parthenon. His proof that it was the great western room is based primarily upon the assumption (p. 300) that Der Name Opisthodom bezeichnet hei alien Tempeln die dem Pronaos entsprechende Hinterhalle. But for that assumption the Παρθενών might just as well be the western porch. Since the discovery of the pre-Persian temple, however, Dörpfeld maintains that the opisthodomos κατ εξοχήν was the entire western portion of that temple, consisting of three rooms besides the porch (though he does not expressly include the porch). There is, then, no reason in the nature of things why the whole western part of the Parthenon should not be called opisthodomos.