1 00:00:02,700 --> 00:00:14,250 Kitty, thank you. On November 28, 16, 60, the Royal Society was founded in London with the motto Nullius and Verver, take no one's word for it. 2 00:00:14,250 --> 00:00:19,140 It quickly became England's principal forum for the practise and dissemination of experimental, 3 00:00:19,140 --> 00:00:27,500 natural and mechanical philosophies through 17th century intellectual categories that we would that would become modern science. 4 00:00:27,500 --> 00:00:33,320 Its early membership included some of the heroes of the scientific revolution Robert Boyle, Robert Hawkins, Isaac Newton. 5 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:42,930 And I show you here that society's greatest hits mobile zap, Newton's prank, IBM, Mathematica and Lovenox micrograph here. 6 00:00:42,930 --> 00:00:50,310 But its early is the society's intellectual mandate, extended far beyond the familiarly scientific and its meetings and its publications. 7 00:00:50,310 --> 00:00:55,800 It promoted research into phenomena that would now like comfortably outside the scientific corpus. 8 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:04,020 This included material of an antiquarian, anthropological and philological nature, as well as that relating to surveying and architecture. 9 00:01:04,020 --> 00:01:08,430 Indeed, the presence in the society of intellectuals such as Hooke, Christopher Wren, 10 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:15,840 John Evelyn and John Obree mean that it was the principal forum in England through which architectural and antiquarian material was disseminated. 11 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,050 Up until the founding of the Society of Antiquarians in 1787 zounds. 12 00:01:21,050 --> 00:01:27,150 To talk about one particular moments in the Royal Society's early engagement with both architecture and the Antique, 13 00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:33,390 its publication of the first account in the English language of the architectural topography of Athens. 14 00:01:33,390 --> 00:01:40,560 This had been written by Francis Burnham, a Royal Society member, former diplomat and traveller, and I'm afraid no portraits of either Vernon. 15 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:46,540 So you don't have to put up with the fact that a whole paper on somebody don't know what it looked like. 16 00:01:46,540 --> 00:01:55,050 I'm sorry, Vernon. The kinds of Athens is in the form of a letter sent to the Royal Society from Turkey and sixteen seventy five. 17 00:01:55,050 --> 00:02:03,840 It was published in society's journal. The Philosophical Transactions. The next year, Fern was in Paradise Observer and Recorder of Ancient Buildings, 18 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:09,630 and his account included brief but illuminating descriptions of the RSA on the Cecil and the Parthenon. 19 00:02:09,630 --> 00:02:16,510 The are written over 10 years before the bombing of the temple by Venetian Army and sixteen eighty seven significantly Vernons. 20 00:02:16,510 --> 00:02:23,990 That's a pre dated, more famous early publications on Athens, and in particular I am referring to those by George Wheeler and Jakob Spon, 21 00:02:23,990 --> 00:02:28,560 published in the decade after Vernon, neither of which were related to the Royal Society in any way. 22 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,030 We'll all be talking about that a bit today. So today I want to explore Vernon. 23 00:02:33,030 --> 00:02:39,660 Sure. Publication in detail as well as his travel journal, which survives and published in the Royal Society's Library. 24 00:02:39,660 --> 00:02:47,010 Together, they reveal much about the level of engagement the English scholars operated on with regards to ancient Greek architecture in this period. 25 00:02:47,010 --> 00:02:52,970 Verlan was amongst the very first Englishman to see temples such as the Parthenon firsthand and in situ. 26 00:02:52,970 --> 00:02:59,070 Thus, both the accounts and the Journal demonstrate Vernons unfamiliarity with Greek classical form. 27 00:02:59,070 --> 00:03:06,690 His writings also point to the ways in which English authors began the process of explaining his apparent deviations from the Roman norm. 28 00:03:06,690 --> 00:03:13,380 Vernons account is also noted for the repeated notable for the repeated emphasis that he put on the accuracy of his recordings, 29 00:03:13,380 --> 00:03:19,920 as well as his own competence as a witness. In this respect, I would argue that has exposure to natural historical discourse. 30 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:26,190 Prior to his visit to Athens, when his description of the ancient ruins was remarkably similar to accounts of naturally 31 00:03:26,190 --> 00:03:31,890 or experimentally produced knowledge that had been published also in the transactions. 32 00:03:31,890 --> 00:03:38,970 I think then his writings also raise interesting questions about the nature of accuracy in antiquarian publications in the period. 33 00:03:38,970 --> 00:03:46,530 But the most interesting aspect, the van, and I think is what Vernons writings is, what they pre-empted for many years after his death. 34 00:03:46,530 --> 00:03:52,800 The buildings that he would first record would come to have a profound influence on the development of British architectural design. 35 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:59,130 In many respects, value might be seen as the very earliest profit of the Greek revival in Britain. 36 00:03:59,130 --> 00:04:08,790 So who was Vernon? He was born in London and 16, 17, so 16, 37 and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church College Oxford. 37 00:04:08,790 --> 00:04:15,600 In both instances, he was a contemporary of the future curator of the Royal Society, the scientist and architect Robert Hooke. 38 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:20,610 Vernon and Hooke would remain friends throughout their adult lives, and they shared mutual interests, including architecture. 39 00:04:20,610 --> 00:04:28,260 Hook was, incidentally, an architect as well as a scientist after Oxford and made an educational visit to Italy. 40 00:04:28,260 --> 00:04:33,690 And he was he was in Rome in sixteen sixty seven before embarking on a diplomatic career. 41 00:04:33,690 --> 00:04:39,670 He went to Paris in sixteen sixty nine as part of the English embassy in the French capital then, 42 00:04:39,670 --> 00:04:43,200 and largely neglected his official duties in favour of immersing himself in the 43 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:48,420 Parisian intellectual world that he befriended to the principal astronomers of the day, 44 00:04:48,420 --> 00:04:54,660 Giandomenico Cassini and Cristián Horgan's, and through them kept up to date with the activities of the KIPP, the Academy. 45 00:04:54,660 --> 00:04:59,750 You out to see sciences in the city. This information he relayed back to Henry. 46 00:04:59,750 --> 00:05:03,240 But the secretary of the Royal Society in London had a series of letters that 47 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:08,440 have recently been published as part of the Oldenberg correspondence project. 48 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:17,830 Off to Paris, Vernon himself returned to London, where his services to Oldenberg in the society let him being elected a member in 16 72. 49 00:05:17,830 --> 00:05:24,820 It was also around this time that he began planning an ambitious, self-funded journey through the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. 50 00:05:24,820 --> 00:05:28,780 The impetus for this journey seems to have been his longstanding interest in ancient culture, 51 00:05:28,780 --> 00:05:37,430 which is revealed in his earlier letters from Paris and Rome. But this new journey will be a lot more hazardous than those earlier trips abroad. 52 00:05:37,430 --> 00:05:42,770 He was proposing to travel into Ottoman health Greece, where very few English people had been before him. 53 00:05:42,770 --> 00:05:46,820 Indeed, he would become one of the very first modern Englishman to set foot in Athens. 54 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:55,010 So his Vernons journey made on a map by me, but then left London in 16 73 and sailed from Venice in early 16th. 55 00:05:55,010 --> 00:06:02,770 Seventy five across the Adriatic to the Dalmatian coast. He reached this in July, where he began keeping his travel channel. 56 00:06:02,770 --> 00:06:09,830 His companions at this stage of journey were an English traveller called Sir Giles East Coast, which I can't find any information about really, 57 00:06:09,830 --> 00:06:16,130 as well as Spohn and Wheeler, who began their more famous voyages in the eastern Mediterranean alongside Vernon. 58 00:06:16,130 --> 00:06:25,370 The party was in Corfu in late July 16 75 and subsequently travelled to the Ionian Islands to Zanti, which they reached on the fourth of August. 59 00:06:25,370 --> 00:06:31,100 Here van, an east court parted company with Bond and Wheeler, who sailed through the Aegean to Constantinople. 60 00:06:31,100 --> 00:06:39,860 They would return to Athens the following year. Instead, vanity's court went directly to Athens and from that left the currents and the Peloponnese, 61 00:06:39,860 --> 00:06:44,330 which they did a little tour of a little circular, all on the 24th of September. 62 00:06:44,330 --> 00:06:47,440 During their stay in the town of Vitrine, it's there on the Gulf of Currents. 63 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:55,670 East Coast fell ill and died, leaving Vernon to return alone to Athens via Delfi through its October and November 16 75. 64 00:06:55,670 --> 00:07:00,770 He resided in the city, sketching numerous ancient ruins and writing their measurements down in his journal. 65 00:07:00,770 --> 00:07:06,650 He also spent time with the few Western Europeans that lived locally after leaving the city. 66 00:07:06,650 --> 00:07:11,600 Vernon spent a month in the six cities where he was robbed of most of his possessions by pirates. 67 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:17,540 By the end of seventy 75, he had reached smatter in Turkey and from there send a number of letters back to Paris and London. 68 00:07:17,540 --> 00:07:22,070 This included the letter to Oldenburg that was to be published in the transactions. 69 00:07:22,070 --> 00:07:27,320 He then travelled to Constantine Constantinople and from there through Turkey and into the Middle East. 70 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:32,870 In September 60 76, he was killed by a group of locals near Isfahan in modern day Iran, 71 00:07:32,870 --> 00:07:38,120 apparently in an argument over the ownership of a penknife, which is presumably one airport it survived with him. 72 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:43,580 Which is why my little map shows in one way voyage. 73 00:07:43,580 --> 00:07:48,620 News of his death reached London the following May and was recorded by his friend Hook in the last diary, 74 00:07:48,620 --> 00:07:54,140 who claimed that he heard the ill news of Paul Francis Vernon's death killed by Turks at Scimitars. 75 00:07:54,140 --> 00:07:59,720 As evidence in Varner's letters and journals suggest that had he survived, 76 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:05,840 Vernon's intention was to travel as far as India and then to return to London by sea. 77 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,510 In spite of the distance he travelled before his violent death, 78 00:08:08,510 --> 00:08:14,720 Vernon's travel journal somehow made it back to London and was found amongst hoax papers upon the latter's death in 1783, 79 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:20,270 and has a page from this document, which is remarkably well-preserved given its provenance, 80 00:08:20,270 --> 00:08:25,670 reveals that London's interest during his time in Greece and Turkey were predominately antiquarian. 81 00:08:25,670 --> 00:08:31,310 Thus, he recorded Greek and Latin inscriptions as well as any any interesting ancient buildings he saw. 82 00:08:31,310 --> 00:08:36,580 It seems to Vernon's intention to publish significant parts of his journal upon his return. 83 00:08:36,580 --> 00:08:41,390 And in his letter he wrote that Athens, quote, deserves a whole book to discourse of it. 84 00:08:41,390 --> 00:08:47,780 Well, which now I have neither the time nor room to do, but I have memorials of by me, of all I saw, 85 00:08:47,780 --> 00:08:53,660 which one day, if it please God, I may show you by the law, as it is apparent to this document, unfortunate. 86 00:08:53,660 --> 00:08:57,470 His untimely death meant that the only record of the voids that entered the public sphere 87 00:08:57,470 --> 00:09:02,030 was the letter which was read by Oldenberg to the Royal Society on the 16th of March 16th, 88 00:09:02,030 --> 00:09:03,440 76, 89 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:12,020 at which quite diverse members expressed their desires that this letter of Mr. Vernon might be printed and quotes and appeared in the transactions. 90 00:09:12,020 --> 00:09:17,840 On the 24th of April 16 76, one of Europe's premier intellectual journals. 91 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:25,430 The transactions have been created in sixteen 65 to Powder's research and discoveries generated in and around the society. 92 00:09:25,430 --> 00:09:30,080 In reality, it included only a small proportion of the letters and reports that were read to the group and 93 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,560 selection for publication dependent on their being an informal consensus amongst the members. 94 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:42,050 That piece is important enough to release into the wider domain in the case of Vernons, that there was little doubt that this was the case. 95 00:09:42,050 --> 00:09:45,830 In fact, one of the principal reasons for the publication of the letter was the general 96 00:09:45,830 --> 00:09:51,440 prevalence of material relating to ancient architecture in the periodical. 97 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:56,780 This often took the form of smaller parts of larger travellers' accounts that featured regularly. 98 00:09:56,780 --> 00:10:01,790 In particular, when an author was writing from a location in which the ruins of ancient buildings could be found. 99 00:10:01,790 --> 00:10:07,020 They often included accounts of these, sometimes with measurements and very rarely with illustrations. 100 00:10:07,020 --> 00:10:13,070 Then letter was not illustrated on. Some of these were from parts of Britain with surviving Roman ruins. 101 00:10:13,070 --> 00:10:18,090 Places such as York, Washington, later, or from the Mediterranean and Near East. 102 00:10:18,090 --> 00:10:24,530 For the time being. He was a he was the most extraordinary image that the transactions ever published showing architecture. 103 00:10:24,530 --> 00:10:27,420 This is these are the ruins of Palmyra in Syria. 104 00:10:27,420 --> 00:10:32,330 They were published in the transactions in sixteen ninety five as part of a traveller's account or series of. 105 00:10:32,330 --> 00:10:35,840 The case of the Syrian desert should manage to untie me. 106 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:43,520 Time to talk back to them. So knowledge of ancient culture, including architecture, was hugely prised but prised by the society. 107 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:49,460 And as a result, the publication of these accounts is an important part of the content of the early philosophical transactions, 108 00:10:49,460 --> 00:10:57,030 as Oldenberg, the Journal's editor, until his death in 16 77, observed in an early volume quotes. 109 00:10:57,030 --> 00:11:01,310 This is our main business, as well as to retrieve all valuable antiquities as a supply. 110 00:11:01,310 --> 00:11:04,310 Fresh discoveries to recover good old helps, 111 00:11:04,310 --> 00:11:11,930 as well as to devise new owner artifices designed and appropriated unappropriated to unlock the repositories of nature, 112 00:11:11,930 --> 00:11:15,470 to draw out the most concealed operations and rarities, 113 00:11:15,470 --> 00:11:20,310 to produce them with their best advantages and in their fairest ornaments for all good occasions. 114 00:11:20,310 --> 00:11:28,850 And whatever we find excellent in old Greece or Rome, or more ancient monarchies, or in any one more part happy part of the world that endue seasons, 115 00:11:28,850 --> 00:11:34,580 communicate all over the world to as many as have the ingenuity to give them a hearty entertainment. 116 00:11:34,580 --> 00:11:39,050 Therefore, and in line with the Roz's. So I, I'm not quite. 117 00:11:39,050 --> 00:11:45,730 Therefore, one in line with the Royal Society. Broader social concerns, information about ancient culture had an important utilitarian function. 118 00:11:45,730 --> 00:11:48,800 It would provide old helps for new problems. 119 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:54,620 In the case of architecture, it would improve the base level of architectural knowledge in England at the time. 120 00:11:54,620 --> 00:11:56,990 Contemporary with the Oldenberg passage I've just read, 121 00:11:56,990 --> 00:12:02,300 Ross Society members such as John Evelyn were arguing that contemporary English architects were on the whole, 122 00:12:02,300 --> 00:12:08,120 largely ignorant of the rules of classical architecture. As Evelyn puts it, in sixteen sixty four, 123 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:13,260 the mistress and absurdities in our modern structures see chiefly from our busy and gothic trifling 124 00:12:13,260 --> 00:12:18,410 flings in the composition of the five odas what was needed claiming claimed Evelyn was a safe, 125 00:12:18,410 --> 00:12:23,480 expedient and perfect guide to ancient architecture in which the noblest remains of antiquity 126 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:28,520 are accurately measured and conspicuously demonstrated and the rules are laid down, 127 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:33,740 end quote. This then, was the context of Varner's letter and one of the reasons why it was published, 128 00:12:33,740 --> 00:12:38,900 containing, as it dates, accurate measurements of numerous ancient ruins. 129 00:12:38,900 --> 00:12:43,250 But this is not his eagerness to publish the van, and I can also stem from its novelty. 130 00:12:43,250 --> 00:12:48,350 As Oldenberg had argued, information about ancient culture needed to be harvested and safely and accurately 131 00:12:48,350 --> 00:12:52,860 relayed back to London from both quote's remote and nera parts of the world. 132 00:12:52,860 --> 00:13:00,440 And novelty and exoticism were often the driving factor behind the society's interest in travel writing. 133 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:08,000 Previously unknown phenomena in Sorry in the world of the Aligarh Society, previously unknown phenomena had an important epistemic status. 134 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,990 Knowledge from different locations have the potential to shape the direction of the society's 135 00:13:11,990 --> 00:13:17,640 interest because the structure of the group's knowledge was open to change and was not fixed. 136 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:23,600 Vernon's letter demonstrates that architectural knowledge could be included in this in providing the kinds of important ancient buildings that 137 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:32,200 the community had little prior knowledge of his lesser enhanced and developed the community's knowledge rather than just consolidating it. 138 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,060 In this respect was particularly suited to the mandate of the transactions as it can, 139 00:13:36,060 --> 00:13:43,880 then brand new information relating to valuable antiquities that previously dropped out of Western European knowledge for weapons, 140 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:49,910 that it was also an important moment in English, architectural and antiquarian culture as a whole. 141 00:13:49,910 --> 00:13:55,700 Up to this point, English knowledge of ancient architecture was almost exclusively limited to Roman material. 142 00:13:55,700 --> 00:14:00,770 As a result of European editions of ancient texts such as Daniel Barbaras fifteen fifty six Italian 143 00:14:00,770 --> 00:14:07,950 additional Vitruvius and Paros French translation of the same text and 16 73 trade show here. 144 00:14:07,950 --> 00:14:12,260 That's the Barbro Editions paper. English. 145 00:14:12,260 --> 00:14:16,250 Our intellectuals were increasingly familiar with the principles of Roman architecture, although, 146 00:14:16,250 --> 00:14:20,750 as Evelyn's just told us, the majority of English architectural practitioners didn't know this stuff. 147 00:14:20,750 --> 00:14:31,420 People like even Vernon did, and some of them, including even in that van, and even managed to travel to Italy and see Roman ruins firsthand. 148 00:14:31,420 --> 00:14:35,120 But Vernons travellers in Greece brought to light forms of ancient architecture that were completely 149 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,750 novel to 17th century English scholars and not really included in any of these publications. 150 00:14:39,750 --> 00:14:42,910 There's a Greece rather than right in his letter. 151 00:14:42,910 --> 00:14:48,560 But it was clear that Athens is it and has its architecture have come as something of a surprise to him. 152 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:55,220 He told Oldenberg and the society that it was, quote, the most wealthy city to be seen for antiquities of any and have yet been at, 153 00:14:55,220 --> 00:14:59,360 end quote, implying that they would not necessarily have known this. 154 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:03,410 This observation highlights the genuine novelty of Athens as an intellectual subject matter. 155 00:15:03,410 --> 00:15:05,240 In late 17th century England, 156 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:13,310 and it's important to stress the paucity of English people's knowledge of the city in the years before Vernon and subsequently Spon and Wheeler. 157 00:15:13,310 --> 00:15:19,910 Although Greek statues or these Roman copies of Greek statues were beginning to appear in large numbers in Western Europe and England, 158 00:15:19,910 --> 00:15:28,430 the animal models remaining, for example, which were acquired in 17th century images of Greek cities in their architecture were extremely rare. 159 00:15:28,430 --> 00:15:37,290 Knowledge of Athens and its buildings was, on the whole, still limited to Pisania second century accounts and an unreliable 16 75 French text. 160 00:15:37,290 --> 00:15:44,840 Discuss in detail later. Any new knowledge that came to light about a city that played such a crucial role in ancient history, 161 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:53,210 yet remains so elusive in the modern period, was a noteworthy moment. And Vernon's recordings also expand the community's knowledge of ancient 162 00:15:53,210 --> 00:15:57,080 architecture beyond the pages of the principal surviving source and the subjects. 163 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,810 Vitruvius, of course. In the first century B.C., 164 00:16:01,810 --> 00:16:05,330 the Roman authors treatment of Greek architecture was brief and confusing when 165 00:16:05,330 --> 00:16:09,290 compared to his account of the architecture of his native city and its empire. 166 00:16:09,290 --> 00:16:13,820 And although Vitruvius was clear that there was a difference between the architecture of Greek and Roman buildings, 167 00:16:13,820 --> 00:16:19,280 he gave very few, if any, details of how that distant difference manifested itself. 168 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:27,450 As we shall see, this is a problem that and keep coming back to when he himself confronted and recorded the senior buildings. 169 00:16:27,450 --> 00:16:31,790 His account, therefore, had the potential to advance the English intellectual communitys knowledge 170 00:16:31,790 --> 00:16:36,980 of ancient architecture beyond that contained and surviving textual sources. 171 00:16:36,980 --> 00:16:43,250 However, I did want to introduce a quick caveat. We have to be cautious in seeing Vernon and his fellow travellers. 172 00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:51,020 Epistemic conquest of Greece and its architecture as too big a step is important to remember that this was still a pre neoclassical period. 173 00:16:51,020 --> 00:16:55,010 Now, while they had widely held notion that Greek buildings were either the fountainhead or 174 00:16:55,010 --> 00:17:00,350 the apogee of classical architecture would not be formulated until the 18th century. 175 00:17:00,350 --> 00:17:05,420 There was little sense in late 17th century writings of an awareness of a development from architectural style, 176 00:17:05,420 --> 00:17:09,710 from the Greek period to the Romans, only that they might be different in some way. 177 00:17:09,710 --> 00:17:16,910 In fact, chronology and dating where she the most observers of ancient Greek architecture in this period either ignored or stumbled over. 178 00:17:16,910 --> 00:17:21,230 This is best evidenced by both Spon and Wheeler's rather infamous dating of the pediments 179 00:17:21,230 --> 00:17:26,120 statues of the Parthenon to the Adriatic period that he himself said very little, 180 00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:30,770 either in his letter or in his travel journal regarding the dates of any buildings he encountered 181 00:17:30,770 --> 00:17:37,040 or that place within a broader scheme of classical architectural development in the ancient world. 182 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:43,670 Nonetheless, he was aware through his own observations, that the buildings of Athens displayed marked differences from Roman examples. 183 00:17:43,670 --> 00:17:50,570 They were also, in many cases, better preserved. Indeed, Venice believed that Athens was the most worthy to be seen for antiquities, 184 00:17:50,570 --> 00:17:57,260 reflected the fact that many of its structures were considerably more intact in sixteen seventy five than they are today. 185 00:17:57,260 --> 00:18:03,110 For example, he thought the Parthenon was as well preserved as the pantheon in Rome, which of course it isn't. 186 00:18:03,110 --> 00:18:10,240 But. But it was then nonetheless, the city that van and spent two months in and six and seventy five was still a very different one, 187 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:18,200 not only from today but from passiveness as Athens of 1500 years earlier, and under which it pretty much all I have to go on before he gets there. 188 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:19,760 I'm here is a rough, 189 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:29,550 not particularly accurate sketch of the Acropolis in the 60s 70s produced by French draughtsmen for south of the Acropolis, was now a castle. 190 00:18:29,550 --> 00:18:31,110 It had huge defensive walls. 191 00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:40,030 They've been built by Frankish occupants in the 14th century and reinforced by Ottoman forces in the years since they took the city and for 14 58, 192 00:18:40,030 --> 00:18:44,920 many of the buildings are ancient authors described had disappeared or had been altered dramatically. 193 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:53,080 For example, the proper layout, which is just out of shock. It was described by seniors as unrivalled for its beauty. 194 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:59,320 But by this time was incorporated into the defences and was largely obscured by the 26 metre high Frankish tower. 195 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,910 This thing that have been built up in the 14th century. 196 00:19:03,910 --> 00:19:09,700 The other Copley's temples of fell just as badly erect, say, on have been converted into a church in the Middle Ages. 197 00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:18,160 And according to Wheeler, was in the 60s. 70S, uses a harem for the Ottoman commander of the temple, have sort of the castle, the temple of Athena. 198 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,350 Nike was still standing and was amongst the best preserved buildings on the site. 199 00:19:22,350 --> 00:19:26,560 But it's used as a paid magazine by the garrison meant that it was largely inaccessible. 200 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,850 Vernon noted in his journal that one could only view the front of it. 201 00:19:30,850 --> 00:19:37,010 Even the Parthenon had been dramatically altered since antiquity around this sorry, no clear image. 202 00:19:37,010 --> 00:19:44,550 But this is a 20th century reconstruction of what the Parthenon like in the in the mid 17th century. 203 00:19:44,550 --> 00:19:49,200 Essentially, before the Venetians blew it up around the turn of the 7th century, 204 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,190 the Parthenon had been converted into a church involving fairly drastic changes. 205 00:19:53,190 --> 00:19:58,620 And then into a mosque in the 14th 60s, which was a less invasive procedure in Venice. 206 00:19:58,620 --> 00:20:05,260 Time it had a minaret. See that clearly been a Christ that had previously been a Christian watchtower. 207 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:09,900 The ruminations had been closed off halfway up the interior. 208 00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:15,960 And then to its right, close up halfway up the interior, which included the 12th century apse, 209 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:24,650 which at any see in this image was a jumble of Christian mosaics and windows, punched the horribly through ancient freezes. 210 00:20:24,650 --> 00:20:31,260 Travellers interested in the ancient architecture of the city therefore had to disentangle the ancient ruins from more modern buildings. 211 00:20:31,260 --> 00:20:36,160 They also had to avoid the attention of the Ottoman garrison on the Acropolis, who was suspicious of any Western, 212 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:42,360 is viewing Lassard and measuring their fortifications lest the information be passed to the Venetians. 213 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:47,110 Given what would occur in 697, they were probably right to hold such feeds for then. 214 00:20:47,110 --> 00:20:55,740 And however, it meant that much of his activities on the Acropolis took place outside of daylight and at least once under musket fire from above. 215 00:20:55,740 --> 00:21:01,500 But in spite of these trying circumstances, Fulham managed to take measurements of all the major buildings and the sites. 216 00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:05,670 These he related to. Oldenberg in society in the 16th seventy five letter, 217 00:21:05,670 --> 00:21:09,460 which began with an account of the Parthenon giving all its important measurements 218 00:21:09,460 --> 00:21:14,010 down to this conference of the pillars and the distance of the Intercon elimination. 219 00:21:14,010 --> 00:21:19,460 He also showed Oldenberg that he had taken all the dimensions within and those are the proneness in the porticos. 220 00:21:19,460 --> 00:21:25,320 But they are too long for a letter. And here I've got this is a this is from Vallens published letter. 221 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:29,140 These are the measurements. These are some of the measurements he gets in the travel journal. 222 00:21:29,140 --> 00:21:32,790 There's more than this as well, actually. And basically see extensively. 223 00:21:32,790 --> 00:21:40,210 There's a lot more in the journal that are taken down compared to what ended up in the letter. 224 00:21:40,210 --> 00:21:47,830 Vulnerable, I gave a brief description of the freeze and pediment carving in the latter. But again, his journal contained a much richer account. 225 00:21:47,830 --> 00:21:55,300 Next, Vernon turns to the well-preserved FESSEY on the Agora, which he noted was like the Parthenon Doric building of white marble. 226 00:21:55,300 --> 00:22:00,940 He again gives measurements. He turned to the Kadlec monuments of Socrates, 227 00:22:00,940 --> 00:22:07,870 which he decided was a temple dedicated to Hercules based on the representation Danny got in the car freeze. 228 00:22:07,870 --> 00:22:16,120 He also described the time of the winds, an octagon with the figures of eight winds, which are large and of good workmanship, according to to Vernon. 229 00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:22,340 He also talked about the Iraq say on and I'll do I'll deal with Iraq found later because he has his own particular take on that. 230 00:22:22,340 --> 00:22:32,890 So I want to explore in detail etal. He discusses the various buildings built by Heydrich in the city and what was left of the Panama Ethnic Stadium. 231 00:22:32,890 --> 00:22:38,980 He also discussed the Odean of charities S.A.S., which again I will return to later because it's a really important building in 232 00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:43,210 the letter for all of these brief measurements were given and as it showed, 233 00:22:43,210 --> 00:22:51,130 only a fraction of that contained in the journal. There were various reasons for providing his correspondence with these measurements. 234 00:22:51,130 --> 00:22:55,810 On the one hand, I think they provided information architects, architecture scholars might have found useful. 235 00:22:55,810 --> 00:23:01,410 And they also increased the community's knowledge of the dimensions of ancient temple architecture. 236 00:23:01,410 --> 00:23:09,100 But they also argue part of a standard natural historical textual apparatus that then deployed to make his account seem more credible. 237 00:23:09,100 --> 00:23:15,010 In the latter, he assured his readers that they could rely on his measurements as exact a half a foot. 238 00:23:15,010 --> 00:23:20,170 This explicit reassurance of the accuracy of his recordings betrays Bannon's previous exposure 239 00:23:20,170 --> 00:23:25,480 to the content of the philosophical transactions and civil society literature in general. 240 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:33,160 Accurate maturation was, of course, important to any kinds of architecture in a period, but in the society's journal it was particularly appropriate. 241 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:38,710 As a historian of science, Stephen Shapen has observed, numerical precision was highly prised by the society, 242 00:23:38,710 --> 00:23:42,370 not just because it yielded important information about phenomena architectural, 243 00:23:42,370 --> 00:23:47,350 natural or otherwise, but also because it endowed the text with a layer of circumstance reality. 244 00:23:47,350 --> 00:23:53,110 Precise measurements were much more plausible than Vago approximated accounts of the dimensions of things. 245 00:23:53,110 --> 00:23:58,420 Thus, in Vernon's case, the apparent precision of his many measurements and his assurance to that effect was evidence. 246 00:23:58,420 --> 00:24:07,370 The hidden view, the buildings in person, as we will see. It was particularly pertinent for him to do this in the case of Athens. 247 00:24:07,370 --> 00:24:12,830 In fact, Vernon's letter contained other devices that enhance credibility through circumstantial reality. 248 00:24:12,830 --> 00:24:16,070 Again, these point to his prior knowledge of raw society literature. 249 00:24:16,070 --> 00:24:20,930 For example, in the transactions, his letter was published in in its original form as a letter, 250 00:24:20,930 --> 00:24:25,820 complete with the address to Oldenberg and Vernons excuse for not writing to him earlier. 251 00:24:25,820 --> 00:24:32,360 It also contains a significant amount of circumstantial detail, including information about travel arrangements and the fact that Van had lost 252 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:37,250 all his previous correspondence with Oldenberg when he was robbed by pirates. 253 00:24:37,250 --> 00:24:42,310 This was common in travel accounts in the period and in more society related travel literature in particular, 254 00:24:42,310 --> 00:24:50,750 a certain kind of scene setting such as this was often included to emphasise as an author had indeed been to the destination described indeed 255 00:24:50,750 --> 00:24:58,400 and his travel journal that he can remember he intended to publish on his return van and made further provisions for circumstantial reporting. 256 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,390 Hey result, he resorted to another tactic common in our society writings, 257 00:25:02,390 --> 00:25:07,460 the recording of phenomena as discrete events rather than generalised statements. 258 00:25:07,460 --> 00:25:13,940 As the historian Peter Dair has noted, society members like to record the results of experiments as an actual event that had taken place at a 259 00:25:13,940 --> 00:25:20,030 specific time and place Funspot van and applied this method to his archaeological recording in Athens. 260 00:25:20,030 --> 00:25:25,640 For example, when he wrote down his measurements of the festival, he recorded the dates he had taken and down, 261 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:32,690 as well as the identity of witnesses, noting that the measures quotes were taken on Friday, August the 30th, with Mr. Roundoff and Mr Giles. 262 00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:36,290 Mr Giles is that that died halfway through the journey. 263 00:25:36,290 --> 00:25:45,080 Mr Randall is a type of Bernard Randolph. He's an English the English consonance man that comes across the Adriatic to join them for a week. 264 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,560 This grounded the act of measuring in reality. 265 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:53,330 It has happened at a specific time and was witnessed by a pair of trustworthy English gentlemen, presumably. 266 00:25:53,330 --> 00:25:54,950 Had he been able to publish the journal, 267 00:25:54,950 --> 00:26:02,020 he would have gone to similar lengths in the text to describe the actual circumstances under which is recording's took place. 268 00:26:02,020 --> 00:26:07,490 The letter also follows Royal Society conventions by including a certain amount of mathematically driven analysis. 269 00:26:07,490 --> 00:26:13,020 This manifests itself in the personal measurements and here we can see in calculating 270 00:26:13,020 --> 00:26:17,470 that the illumination was one of the quarter times the diameter of the columns, 271 00:26:17,470 --> 00:26:20,630 which says that I actually could go to the journal now. 272 00:26:20,630 --> 00:26:27,020 We note that he worked at the diameter of the columns by dividing the circumference circumference by PI. 273 00:26:27,020 --> 00:26:31,760 Like all good mathematicians. So in this sentence is nasty 17th century handwriting. 274 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,160 But he notes down the circumference of the pillars, then he's writes. 275 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:42,380 Hence diameter, which is just him doing his little calculation as opposed to actually measuring the diameter itself, 276 00:26:42,380 --> 00:26:50,420 which would be a lot harder for his use of mathematics, albeit on a fairly simple level, is common in both the letter and the travel journal. 277 00:26:50,420 --> 00:26:53,780 Indeed, he seems to have identified himself as a mathematician. 278 00:26:53,780 --> 00:27:00,500 First and foremost, Ya'acov Spon, who travelled with Vernon and would himself measure the Athenian ruins the following year, 279 00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:07,560 noted both but his mathematical skills and his knowledge of architecture, calling the Englishman a skilled mathematician and architect. 280 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:17,780 The later French traveller Jesse Pete on the 24 also described Vernon as a learnt mathematician rather than a traveller or antiquarian persay. 281 00:27:17,780 --> 00:27:22,220 But his apparent precision sorry presentation of himself as a mathematician and his awareness of the 282 00:27:22,220 --> 00:27:28,250 conventions of raw society literature mattered to his Athens account being compared favourably to other, 283 00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:32,600 more overtly scientific publications in the Journal. 284 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,980 In the preface to the volume of the transactions that contained the letter, its editor, Oldenberg, 285 00:27:36,980 --> 00:27:41,480 discussed the role of the diligent travel writer and recorder of architecture contrast, 286 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:46,610 contrasting that figure with more quite romantic authors and quotes in particular. 287 00:27:46,610 --> 00:27:48,230 Oldenberg praised, quote, 288 00:27:48,230 --> 00:27:55,320 those learnt inquisitive writers who have searched deep into the antiquities which have happened in the places they undertook to describe. 289 00:27:55,320 --> 00:28:02,930 And we must acknowledge many excellent, ingenious and truly philosophical histories of the architecture and grandeur and situation of palaces, 290 00:28:02,930 --> 00:28:08,960 cities, Citadel's fortifications, Tyne's bridges, etc. In all, it is that designated natural history. 291 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:15,950 We have more needs to for severe, full and punctual truth than of romance or panegyric. 292 00:28:15,950 --> 00:28:22,730 Some travel writers, Oldenberg noted, were inclined to write romantic evocations of places, but not those of the Royal Society. 293 00:28:22,730 --> 00:28:27,930 Instead, Van Sabira kinds of Athens's example, according to Oldenberg, of natural history. 294 00:28:27,930 --> 00:28:34,070 It was an allergist, an accurate reports of natural phenomena that appeared regularly in the journal. 295 00:28:34,070 --> 00:28:38,360 But Oldenberg had another reason for contrasting Vernons full and punctual truth with other 296 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:43,790 texts that quotes do rather belong to arts and artifices and quotes for Vernons letter. 297 00:28:43,790 --> 00:28:56,390 Besides providing measurements of the architecture of Athens also confronted directly a particularly pernicious example of just such a romance. 298 00:28:56,390 --> 00:29:01,870 As I've already outlined, there are a number of reasons why there are numerous reasons why the society was so keen to publish the letter. 299 00:29:01,870 --> 00:29:08,030 But one, I weighed all the others. I think this related to a single building discussed in the text. 300 00:29:08,030 --> 00:29:13,130 Neither the Parthenon nor the erect sound, but a structure viewed with considerably less reverence today. 301 00:29:13,130 --> 00:29:20,300 The Odean of Hebrides attackers built in 161 A.D. on the South Slope of the Acropolis site in the Roman period. 302 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:27,620 Essentially Verm, like all authors on Athens until the 19th century, referred to this building as the theatre of Baccus, 303 00:29:27,620 --> 00:29:32,300 thinking that it was the seizure of diagnosis referred to by spiciness. 304 00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:40,760 This would later the passengers as the age of dinosaurs would later be revealed to be on the theatre over here to the south of the idea. 305 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:45,830 Which is a much like earlier earlier building, but in this period, so ruin almost like you hardly see it. 306 00:29:45,830 --> 00:29:51,290 So everybody, including 19th century authors, thinks this is the theatre of Bacchus. 307 00:29:51,290 --> 00:29:56,120 Regardless. This is the last building discussed in Vernons published. 308 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,860 Athans accounts and as he had done with his predecessors. He set about recording its measurements. 309 00:30:00,860 --> 00:30:02,540 And this is again expressed mathematically. 310 00:30:02,540 --> 00:30:09,650 So he's as the semi diameter, which is the right sign of the DME circle, which makes the theatre is about 150 feet. 311 00:30:09,650 --> 00:30:14,240 However, he quickly broke off in this to address a serious problem that he had identified 312 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,290 in the existing European Corpus of knowledge on ancient Athenian architecture. 313 00:30:18,290 --> 00:30:23,990 And on this building in particular, this realisation was of such importance that I think it renders Burmans latter 314 00:30:23,990 --> 00:30:27,590 amongst the most valuable architectural documents in circulation and 60s, 315 00:30:27,590 --> 00:30:34,920 70s London. Although I have repeatedly stressed the novelty of Athenian architecture to Vernon and his English contemporaries, 316 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:39,080 his kind of Athens had not been the first to enter the London public sphere. 317 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:46,640 That distinction belonged to a French publication called Athens and shown a NIVEL, which had been published in sixteen seventy five the year before. 318 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:53,150 Vernons letter reached London and also named George Gear designer George in its gay 319 00:30:53,150 --> 00:30:57,650 related A Tale of a Voice to Athens that had purportedly been undertaken by his brother, 320 00:30:57,650 --> 00:31:05,210 who he calls the guillotine. It contains descriptions of various Athenian buildings and the topography of the city. 321 00:31:05,210 --> 00:31:10,670 In reality, however, Gidday had never been to Athens and furthermore, his brother did not even exist. 322 00:31:10,670 --> 00:31:16,400 Instead, the book was a combination of extracts taken from a contemporary and very brief the kinds of Athens provided by a group of cap, 323 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:22,640 French capital and monks alongside pieces of fiction. And it is majority fiction. 324 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:29,300 Although it was not an unnecessary unusual for travel writing in this period to be based on accounts of others as opposed to first hand experience, 325 00:31:29,300 --> 00:31:34,370 his book was unusually presented a first person travel narrative purported to be genuine. 326 00:31:34,370 --> 00:31:42,170 As a result, a number of European scholars assumed that the King's book was trustworthy and have come from direct knowledge of the city. 327 00:31:42,170 --> 00:31:46,190 We know from his Journal of Unem possessed a copy of Kia when he visited the city, 328 00:31:46,190 --> 00:31:49,580 and he must have quickly realised that the French text was inaccurate. 329 00:31:49,580 --> 00:31:54,680 He also knew that no one back in London or Paris, for that matter, would have been aware of this fact. 330 00:31:54,680 --> 00:32:00,960 Vernon is the first person to get to Athens, post the publication of this of his text. 331 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:05,820 To Vernon, the most obvious example of glazed gaze, disingenuousness, 332 00:32:05,820 --> 00:32:11,040 disingenuousness was in his description and representation of the Odean of Paradies Atticus. 333 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:14,470 The only building illustrated in the French text. I'm not gonna. 334 00:32:14,470 --> 00:32:17,140 Yeah, I'm saving's up. It's quite funny. 335 00:32:17,140 --> 00:32:26,350 He immediately warned Oldenberg and the society Mr Mesure delegate gay in that book he has written of Athens this, this and says it has to do. 336 00:32:26,350 --> 00:32:29,610 And this is sorry. This is a quote from Vernons letter. Published letter. 337 00:32:29,610 --> 00:32:37,290 Had it done so, Michelle Gay Gay has made a cut of the theatre which he calls as a Baccus, which is a mere fancy and an invention of his own. 338 00:32:37,290 --> 00:32:40,560 Nothing like the natural one which I judge he did not know. 339 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:47,520 I give you this one hint that you may not be deceived by that book, which is wide from the truth, as will appear to anybody who sees the reality, 340 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:58,290 though to one who has not seen it, it seems plausibly written right here is your illustration, which is completely nonsensical in some respects, 341 00:32:58,290 --> 00:33:06,690 although perhaps in effect not shows a building made up of a large semicircular substructure reminiscent of Roman theatres 342 00:33:06,690 --> 00:33:13,290 with a of ovations that seemed to me to be in look like a sort of amalgam of the Colosseum and a theatre of Marcella's, 343 00:33:13,290 --> 00:33:18,740 although if anyone spot direct source for it was almost certainly Roman, whatever it is, 344 00:33:18,740 --> 00:33:26,200 it had a scheme Fromm's with a pitched roof and Doric plaster's and an imagined perspective backdrop, which is brilliant. 345 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,540 So in a go James style, and perhaps most ridiculously, 346 00:33:30,540 --> 00:33:37,760 a square stage and wooden balustrade that resembled early modern playhouses is ignorance of the actual innovations. 347 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:44,010 I mean Crude Keanna and show it next to the building. Not to mention so its ignorance of the actual elevation's. 348 00:33:44,010 --> 00:33:47,400 Not to mention the fact that the seating of the real theatre was cut into the slopes of the 349 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:53,100 Acropolis confirmed van suspicion that neither he nor his fictional brother had been to the site. 350 00:33:53,100 --> 00:34:01,310 I should say that this seating is this is 1950s seating, but in valence time it had the remains of its Athenian, of its ancient seating. 351 00:34:01,310 --> 00:34:06,940 But it gets cut into the to the side of the of the hill feathers exposure. 352 00:34:06,940 --> 00:34:11,540 This duplicity was, I argue, hugely significant in the world of the Aliu. 353 00:34:11,540 --> 00:34:17,240 Our society exposing false information was as important as collecting accurate knowledge of phenomena. 354 00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:20,610 The gay account and reconstruction were epistemically dangerous. 355 00:34:20,610 --> 00:34:27,510 They had the potential to cause considerable damage within the architectural knowledge community, as Varnum was well aware. 356 00:34:27,510 --> 00:34:32,880 Very few people in Western Europe had first hand of the ruins of our first hand knowledge of the ruins of Athens, 357 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:39,240 and there was a real possibility that Lanard architects and scholars might have been duped by a seemingly plausible book. 358 00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:45,750 Perhaps this may have even happened to Vernons friend Hooke, who recorded in his diary that Hippolyte borrowed the key a text from an acquaintance in 359 00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:50,700 June sixteen seventy five and then subsequently bought a copy for himself a week later, 360 00:34:50,700 --> 00:34:56,220 which he then learnt. He then lent to Robert Boyle. This took place eight months before Vallens letter. 361 00:34:56,220 --> 00:35:02,160 London and Hooke's eagerness to buy and subsequently circulate the book suggests that he may have admired it. 362 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:10,310 There are certainly no hints in Hooke's Diary that he or Boyle, for that matter, suspect that the French are to be disingenuous in any way for Vernon. 363 00:35:10,310 --> 00:35:16,470 And the Royal Society then gives tax presented a particularly troubling example of mendacious information masquerading. 364 00:35:16,470 --> 00:35:22,470 As matter of fact, a plausible untruth such as this could spread like a virus in the knowledge community 365 00:35:22,470 --> 00:35:26,930 and lead to a serious loss of reputation and credibility for anyone taken in. 366 00:35:26,930 --> 00:35:29,280 In this case, the stakes were particularly high. 367 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:34,430 Like many ancient belling types, we can Roman theatres, which were of great interest to architects in this period, 368 00:35:34,430 --> 00:35:38,070 and surviving Roman states that we use as source material for new buildings. 369 00:35:38,070 --> 00:35:45,110 When, for example, used his knowledge of Roman theatres in his design for the Sheldonian Theatre in sixteen sixty four. 370 00:35:45,110 --> 00:35:49,890 The consequences would have been extremely serious if an architect as respected as Rannoch had in good 371 00:35:49,890 --> 00:35:55,860 faith used a shoddy reconstruction of the idea of heritage massacres as an architectural source. 372 00:35:55,860 --> 00:36:00,690 Therefore, Venz account was a hugely important remedy to a dangerously unreliable text, 373 00:36:00,690 --> 00:36:04,380 and the Royal Society's eagerness to publish it is understandable. 374 00:36:04,380 --> 00:36:09,540 The minutes for the meeting when Varner's letter was read out reveal the group's overall concern in this respect. 375 00:36:09,540 --> 00:36:16,280 And they say that so there was read a large Lassard by Mr Francis Vernon and wished 376 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:20,240 to giving a summary account of his observations and taking notice of Miss Your Dad. 377 00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:24,060 Gay's description of Athens as containing many mistakes and faults. 378 00:36:24,060 --> 00:36:30,840 Falsities, though, plausibly written quite so. The minutes of the side pick up on the parent plausibility of Geass. 379 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:36,030 The society agreed then that the apparent plausibility of the text rendered is a particular threat. 380 00:36:36,030 --> 00:36:37,440 This is also the reaction of Origin. 381 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:44,070 Stelle, one of Oldenburg's Parisian correspondents who'd been another to receive a letter from VUN and warning him about the book, 382 00:36:44,070 --> 00:36:51,060 just l wrote to Oldenberg. Telling him that Mr. Verlan quotes has written to me from Smyrna his adventures and his description of Athens, 383 00:36:51,060 --> 00:36:53,910 where he is well remarked on everything with exactness. 384 00:36:53,910 --> 00:37:00,390 Athens and Teekay Modern, of which much has been made, is not real and is full of mistakes and quite. 385 00:37:00,390 --> 00:37:04,170 Just now noticed the seriousness by which some scholars had treated guey, 386 00:37:04,170 --> 00:37:10,260 including perhaps hot, but he also highlighted antithetical exactness of Vernons account. 387 00:37:10,260 --> 00:37:16,080 As is apparent from these sources, Vernons revelation sent sent a convulsion for the European Knowledge Community. 388 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:24,960 It was up to the Royal Society and its mouthpiece, the philosophical transactions, to remedy the situation by circulating Bernhard's news. 389 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:30,300 The publication of this revelation had a number of immediately consequences. The first of which seems to have been hooked. 390 00:37:30,300 --> 00:37:34,420 Got rid of his copy of KIA. It was not present in the sale catalogue of his library. 391 00:37:34,420 --> 00:37:39,810 It was compiled after his death. Secondly, it's likely to remove the removal of the illustration of hayrides. 392 00:37:39,810 --> 00:37:47,310 Atticus from the English translation of E.A. came about as the result of Vernons exposer and this translation of pad as the letter arrives in London. 393 00:37:47,310 --> 00:37:54,740 I wonder whether it would have ever even taken place. Had it not had the letter arrived earlier. 394 00:37:54,740 --> 00:38:02,210 This translation did not include the illustration, nor did it mention in any way. 395 00:38:02,210 --> 00:38:09,540 The third consequence was the spot. And Wheeler, when they returned from their travels later in sixteen seventy six, went to ten on the French text. 396 00:38:09,540 --> 00:38:13,120 In doing so, they both invoked Vernon and his letter. 397 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:22,210 Spon, for example, repentant reprinted Van's letter as part of a whole publication dedicated to salvaging Gay's claims, which I shot him he like. 398 00:38:22,210 --> 00:38:28,920 Wheeler likewise cited his fellow English traveller in the numerous reputations of Gégé that can be found in his journey to Greece. 399 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:37,110 This relentless and sustained attack left, left, left gidday and his account forever discredited for the remainder of this paper. 400 00:38:37,110 --> 00:38:42,870 I want to turn to Vallens unpublished travel journal and look at it sort of a little more closely. 401 00:38:42,870 --> 00:38:48,780 It's a remarkable document, but one that up until now is entirely escaped scholarly attention. 402 00:38:48,780 --> 00:38:51,060 The general provides evidence of how venom, I think, 403 00:38:51,060 --> 00:38:56,220 went about interpreting the architecture of Athens and how he might have presented that information in published form. 404 00:38:56,220 --> 00:39:03,990 Upon his return as of the latter. There is a sense of belonging, of an encounter with the unknown in the document. 405 00:39:03,990 --> 00:39:07,830 Take, for example, his description of the Colins of the Parthenon, 406 00:39:07,830 --> 00:39:13,020 which he noted with genuine surprise with quotes of Doric order but have no base at all. 407 00:39:13,020 --> 00:39:17,970 The fusty rises immediately out of the pavement as if it grew by fusty Amys. 408 00:39:17,970 --> 00:39:26,820 The shaft. The almost childlike naivete of these words, which is contrasted by Vernons very sophisticated use of architectural terminology, 409 00:39:26,820 --> 00:39:35,340 reveals that this was an architectural observer who was largely, if not completely ignorant of Basner baseless Doric columns. 410 00:39:35,340 --> 00:39:40,950 Such features of ancient Greek temple architecture, but largely unknown in England at the time. 411 00:39:40,950 --> 00:39:43,230 Indeed, there is little reason why Varnum would know this fact. 412 00:39:43,230 --> 00:39:48,540 Given it is not mentioned by any of the ancient sources on Greek architecture that he took with him. 413 00:39:48,540 --> 00:39:51,210 This brings us to another important feature of his travel journal, 414 00:39:51,210 --> 00:39:57,030 the repeated references to the various texts that he read whilst he was viewing the ruins in Athens. 415 00:39:57,030 --> 00:40:05,010 These, of course, include a KIA, but also pinney's, natural history, stray geographical spiciness as a kind of Greece, 416 00:40:05,010 --> 00:40:10,010 although the latter represented the most comprehensive ancient description of Athens. As as I mentioned earlier, 417 00:40:10,010 --> 00:40:16,530 it actually contained very little architectural material and tended to concentrate on the contents of temples rather than their appearance. 418 00:40:16,530 --> 00:40:22,050 Instead, the one ancient text that one and made the greatest use of during his time in Athens was Vitruvius, 419 00:40:22,050 --> 00:40:27,480 which, though not directly related to Greek buildings, became Vernons Guide to the Ruins. 420 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:36,570 And by the way, I'm always 100 percent sure that the addition, the specific additions that Vernin owned was the 15 56 Daniel Barbro Italian edition. 421 00:40:36,570 --> 00:40:40,380 For reasons a bit boring, I won't go into that. 422 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:46,200 That's Berlin had come to Athens with a small library designed to facilitate his understanding of the ancient architecture. 423 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:51,580 He would see once that his reading was carefully planned and far from indiscriminate. 424 00:40:51,580 --> 00:40:58,560 It is apparent that his Junn inform his journal that indicated his reading of classical texts around specific ruins. 425 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:02,070 For instance, on the morning of 4th, the 4th of November 16th. Seventy five. 426 00:41:02,070 --> 00:41:08,730 He read the fourth book of Vitruvius, which includes the account of the Doric order and then spent the afternoon fearing the sasy on the Agora, 427 00:41:08,730 --> 00:41:13,050 which of course is the Dark Temple on the 6th of November then and recorded that he had 428 00:41:13,050 --> 00:41:18,060 read Vitruvius his fifth book on theatres and then went out to see the theatre Baccus. 429 00:41:18,060 --> 00:41:26,220 He had evidently jettisoned Geezer's account by them in favour of the Roman authors more generic discussion of ancient theatre architecture. 430 00:41:26,220 --> 00:41:30,090 Furthermore, he occasionally considered passages of Vitruvius whilst on site. 431 00:41:30,090 --> 00:41:37,890 Thus, on the 10th of November, he wrote in his journal Politicus High Pithos during a viewing viewing of the Parthenon that he was engaged in. 432 00:41:37,890 --> 00:41:45,420 This is a reference to a section in Vitruvius on Hypothyroid Temple Porticos that in which the Roman also discussed Opta style temples as well, 433 00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:52,710 such as the Parthenon. It's the only moment of truth when when he when the Roman author talks about the style temples. 434 00:41:52,710 --> 00:41:56,370 Various reasons for this seem to stem from his interest in identifying moments 435 00:41:56,370 --> 00:42:00,010 where the architecture of the buildings he was viewing differed from the account. 436 00:42:00,010 --> 00:42:08,230 And Vitruvius, his account of the past known, represents the best evidence of this in his description of the temples and tablature, he noted. 437 00:42:08,230 --> 00:42:13,380 Now there's quote, a passage from Valin that won't really make much sense, but then I'll explain afterwards. 438 00:42:13,380 --> 00:42:15,650 Shivering So this is Vernons take on these tablature. 439 00:42:15,650 --> 00:42:22,790 He says that over the command team of the trade, Griffy should come the suffit of the cornice playing but 18 Jocke Jolie Griffin graven on it. 440 00:42:22,790 --> 00:42:26,540 But here these JOP Jolie are done on planes, habit's some three inches deep, 441 00:42:26,540 --> 00:42:30,340 which she ties under the sole feature of the cornice after the manner of Madelyn's. 442 00:42:30,340 --> 00:42:36,080 What Vernon is basically saying here is that done the mutuals of the of the entirety of these lumps. 443 00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:40,700 Here are arrays that come out from from the soffit. 444 00:42:40,700 --> 00:42:47,540 This is the illustration in the Bobrow Vitruvius, which instead is drawn by the architect Andre Palladio and which they're not present. 445 00:42:47,540 --> 00:42:53,750 These these things are sized up into the soffit as opposed to in the Parthenon. 446 00:42:53,750 --> 00:42:59,000 Although this may seem like a fairly minor point to us as sort of a bit nerdy that I'm interested in. 447 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:04,580 This was an age in which my new Chesire Vitruvian architectural theory was taken very seriously indeed. 448 00:43:04,580 --> 00:43:08,680 It also provides evidence of Vernons conception of a norm in ancient architectural knowledge. 449 00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:12,510 That was the measure by which any newly discovered ancient building was judged. 450 00:43:12,510 --> 00:43:16,870 Discrepencies from that normal crucial needs to be noted down because they had to pretend they had the 451 00:43:16,870 --> 00:43:22,480 potential to develop the community's knowledge of the subjects beyond the now familiar textual sources. 452 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:30,230 And as another example of this here, which I'm not going to read out, but one basically compares the capitals of the Pathum to Vitruvius, 453 00:43:30,230 --> 00:43:36,770 his description of the Doric capital and says that this should be here. But in the Parthenon, it's not showrooming. 454 00:43:36,770 --> 00:43:40,820 These observations demonstrate Venz our addition when it came to architectural analysis. 455 00:43:40,820 --> 00:43:44,940 And then in this respect, his writings again fall in line with other roles societies, pub, 456 00:43:44,940 --> 00:43:53,130 plasticised publications and the kind of written by the physician antiquarian Martin Lyster of the Roman mould Angular Tarran York, 457 00:43:53,130 --> 00:43:59,660 that was published in the transactions in sixty eighty three. A similar level of erudition can be observed in this text. 458 00:43:59,660 --> 00:44:04,610 Lister uses his measurements of the ruin to open up an informed discussion of the size of Roman bricks. 459 00:44:04,610 --> 00:44:11,180 In particular, he identified a discrepancy between the Bobrow edition of Vitruvius and the kinds of bricks and plannings natural history. 460 00:44:11,180 --> 00:44:16,530 He was then able to use the YAWP ruins to successfully argued that the Bobrow tax contained an error. 461 00:44:16,530 --> 00:44:20,030 French and English intellectuals in his paid the viewing of ancient buildings could 462 00:44:20,030 --> 00:44:24,350 often be a catalyst for debate about the boundaries of architectural knowledge. 463 00:44:24,350 --> 00:44:29,330 This could combination of pseudo archaeological recordings and textual analysis largely drove. 464 00:44:29,330 --> 00:44:36,340 The development of the community of Knowledge is so and largely drove the development of the community's knowledge of ancient architecture. 465 00:44:36,340 --> 00:44:43,300 And it is clear that one intended the content of his journal to contribute to that process upon his return. 466 00:44:43,300 --> 00:44:49,390 The document is also notable for combining this textured, informed analysis with measurements and sketches of the major buildings burn. 467 00:44:49,390 --> 00:44:54,740 And so most of these take the form of sketch plans. And in this respect, they differ from Spon and Wheeler. 468 00:44:54,740 --> 00:44:59,900 These published images of Greek buildings where nearly all inspective drawings. I'll show you them in a minute. 469 00:44:59,900 --> 00:45:09,410 However, given his subsequent admonition of Kia, the most important question with the to these sketches must be just how accurate? 470 00:45:09,410 --> 00:45:13,700 Well, the answer has to be unafraid. Not very. Or at least not by our standards. 471 00:45:13,700 --> 00:45:18,980 Indeed, the modern observer, some of them seem to be so starkly startlingly inaccurate. 472 00:45:18,980 --> 00:45:24,140 It is hard to believe that they came from the hand of VUN and the original sense of gidday. 473 00:45:24,140 --> 00:45:30,290 This can best be seen in Vernons illustration of this building architectural oddity on the Acropolis. 474 00:45:30,290 --> 00:45:38,050 You're saying I should Vernons plan of the Eurex sound here next to a modern archaeological plan of the temple. 475 00:45:38,050 --> 00:45:42,830 Obviously this is a modern draw when compared to this. 476 00:45:42,830 --> 00:45:46,340 Verna's drawing of the IREX down is wilfully inaccurate, 477 00:45:46,340 --> 00:45:53,100 showing as it does two identical porches to the north and south of the cellar rather than the unequal post porches, 478 00:45:53,100 --> 00:45:56,630 the site being the famous Caryatid porch with such a feature of the building today. 479 00:45:56,630 --> 00:46:02,240 So here is Vernons, two identical porches. The building itself you have is much, much, much smaller. 480 00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:11,520 Putit porch step back from the main entrance portico and that is the famous Caryatid. 481 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:16,020 Why would an author who so emphatically stressed the accuracy of his recordings do this? 482 00:46:16,020 --> 00:46:19,350 And this is not the only inaccurate plan. She's not alone in it. 483 00:46:19,350 --> 00:46:24,810 The answer must lie, I think, in the way in which accuracy was defined in pre archaeological scholarship, 484 00:46:24,810 --> 00:46:33,120 as we've seen, volume was not alone in proclaiming his precision as a recorder. And Oldenburg just Alan spon all praises exactness. 485 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:36,510 Given that volume, was Dean so accurate by the standards of the 17th century? 486 00:46:36,510 --> 00:46:44,280 Perhaps we need to evaluate these plans and this plan and others he produced from a more culturally relative position. 487 00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:48,660 So how might this this illustration be accurate by the standards of the day? 488 00:46:48,660 --> 00:46:56,170 Firstly, I believe that Vernon actually ignored these smaller Caryatid Porche in his plan because he almost certainly never saw it in the first place. 489 00:46:56,170 --> 00:47:00,540 And as a company notes and measurements of the temple, he made no reference to the structure. 490 00:47:00,540 --> 00:47:06,500 No, the despond, nor Wheeler in their accounts of the building, which is surprising given its fame today. 491 00:47:06,500 --> 00:47:12,820 Perhaps the Caryatid port and the south wall of the temple were inaccessible at the time due to the actions of the Ottoman garrison. 492 00:47:12,820 --> 00:47:19,260 And given that it's a fairly small structure, was probably obscured by nice building work in the vicinity of the temple. 493 00:47:19,260 --> 00:47:23,810 Unfortunately, that building has been cleared away in the 19th and 20th centuries. 494 00:47:23,810 --> 00:47:28,710 Possibly, if I was an archaeologist, I may be able to reconstruct what the Ottoman buildings were on the site. 495 00:47:28,710 --> 00:47:37,590 But I know maybe someone might one day. But from from from Vernons accounts and from other accounts in the period, it seems that this was not visible. 496 00:47:37,590 --> 00:47:44,870 The only one of eight Vernons ancient authors to discuss this temple was passiveness, whose account of the building was completely garbled. 497 00:47:44,870 --> 00:47:54,870 And he may make he makes no reference to the has a port. So what I think Vernon saw was that which is I think I'm fairly sure about the. 498 00:47:54,870 --> 00:48:02,380 But this does not explain the inclusion of a symmetrical porch in place of the absent KARIUS porch on Boehner's plan. 499 00:48:02,380 --> 00:48:10,600 This portion until the when it must be, I think, hypothetical. And B, based on his prior knowledge of Roman architectural principles, Roman mockery. 500 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:16,620 Indeed, Vitruvius makes reference to temples in Rome that had to symmetrical porches either side of an entrance portico, 501 00:48:16,620 --> 00:48:21,340 the now lost temple of Karlstrom Pollak's in the circus four minutes in Rome was for Vitruvius. 502 00:48:21,340 --> 00:48:26,830 The best example of this type, Vitruvius also claimed that the temple with such an arrangement existed on the 503 00:48:26,830 --> 00:48:30,640 Athenian Acropolis that the Romanoff's wording here is vague and anecdotal, 504 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:39,160 to say the least, regardless in its symmetry. Vernons plan of the Iraq On follows the general principles of Vitruvian architectural theory. 505 00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:45,980 It was an accurate reconstruction based on the norm that guided much of thens analysis of Greek architecture. 506 00:48:45,980 --> 00:48:50,380 These essentially matches Vitruvius description of these types of temples with two 507 00:48:50,380 --> 00:48:55,690 identical porches that the temple may have at one point lost its other symmetrical. 508 00:48:55,690 --> 00:49:00,180 Porche would have made sense for them because it hasn't always had a porch there. 509 00:49:00,180 --> 00:49:06,040 But he didn't, Nayla. But it would've made sense to him because he was aware that the temple had suffered since antiquity, 510 00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:12,290 and he recorded in his journal that it had been quite ruined by fire in the intervening years. 511 00:49:12,290 --> 00:49:17,260 And this was back. Vernons plan was typical for late 17th century antiquarian images of ancient architecture. 512 00:49:17,260 --> 00:49:22,900 In this period, a certain amount of doctoring to remove more modern interventions and tidy up ruined structures 513 00:49:22,900 --> 00:49:28,390 was expected in architectural representations and in no way jeopardise their perceived accuracy. 514 00:49:28,390 --> 00:49:33,790 Here, respondent, Wheeler's illustrations and the Parthenon, for example, which completely tidy up everything. 515 00:49:33,790 --> 00:49:37,330 They get rid of the minarets and they get rid of those windows that have been punched in the side of it. 516 00:49:37,330 --> 00:49:45,760 They restore the roof, they remove the and the culmination. There's no question of the accuracy of these images being questioned. 517 00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:52,420 Vernon did likewise with his plan of the pioneer in which he left out the mediaeval fortifications that had subsumed the original temple. 518 00:49:52,420 --> 00:50:01,930 If this plan was accurate by the standards of our day, the Frankish town would set abutting the entrance steps, have fun and doesn't show. 519 00:50:01,930 --> 00:50:04,350 Here's another example from that Martin Lyster kinds of York. 520 00:50:04,350 --> 00:50:11,050 I was showing his Lissa's illustration of the Roman walls of York, which appear to have been airbrushed. 521 00:50:11,050 --> 00:50:14,920 And this, I think, is sort of fairly common in antiquarian imagery of the time. 522 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:19,330 At no point was the accuracy of any of these image question in English sources. 523 00:50:19,330 --> 00:50:23,290 Such tidying up even apply to Vernons drawing of the idea of Haggerty's attack. 524 00:50:23,290 --> 00:50:31,390 That one building that creates a fence laid up in his sketch of the exterior elevation, which is, as you can see, very rough. 525 00:50:31,390 --> 00:50:38,190 I'm afraid he seems to have taken the surviving fragment with its two storey Alcaide and extended the length of the facade. 526 00:50:38,190 --> 00:50:41,680 Here is a I should say that there's no point in really comparing this to the 527 00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:44,740 existing building because it's been so heavily restored in the 20th century. 528 00:50:44,740 --> 00:50:51,700 But if you compare it to an 18th century later, 18th century drawing of the things, you can kind of see what those doing here is taking. 529 00:50:51,700 --> 00:50:56,110 He's noticed a couple of arches on top of the other. So he's sort of beginning to out them. 530 00:50:56,110 --> 00:51:03,280 I think he sort of restoring me where he thinks the original elevation is doing. 531 00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:07,480 In conclusion, this drawing on the other plans are not Miten, 532 00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:12,430 are not what we might want from Vernon, given his contempt for gays illustration of the Odean. 533 00:51:12,430 --> 00:51:16,840 I think that we can at least make sense of it based on the antiquarian conventions of the day. 534 00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:23,680 These were accurate within the band boundaries of existing textual knowledge and were designed to show ancient architecture in its entirety, 535 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:28,270 unspoilt by subsequent interventions of damage as well. 536 00:51:28,270 --> 00:51:32,290 A never made it back. He never got to repair any of these plans for publication. 537 00:51:32,290 --> 00:51:38,320 And in general, although his letter was the first thing, the kinds of the city. It was very brief compared to what he had been planning to publish. 538 00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:46,190 Had he survived. Indeed, his journal provides ample evidence that Vernon was had more than enough material for a single publication in Athens. 539 00:51:46,190 --> 00:51:50,180 And although it would have been less ambitious than later 18th century volumes on the subject, 540 00:51:50,180 --> 00:51:55,780 it would have certainly been more detailed in the accounts published by Spon and Wheeler in the years after Vernon's death. 541 00:51:55,780 --> 00:52:00,100 Neither of these authors included any plans of the buildings in Athens and the illustrations in Wheelus. 542 00:52:00,100 --> 00:52:04,650 Text in particular are rudimentary. I just think of St. 543 00:52:04,650 --> 00:52:08,590 But Venice General remained unpublished and we are left to wonder how differently the course of 544 00:52:08,590 --> 00:52:12,820 British architecture might have been if this diligent recorder of ancient Greek buildings had 545 00:52:12,820 --> 00:52:18,580 returned and produced a relatively accurate and detailed account of the Athenian ruins over a 546 00:52:18,580 --> 00:52:25,030 century before the Greek revival became the dominant mode in architectural design in this country. 547 00:52:25,030 --> 00:52:28,810 Instead, it was Vernons exposure of gear that would become his legacy. 548 00:52:28,810 --> 00:52:33,760 His signing of the alarm over the fabrication fabrications of the French text ensued and showed that 549 00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:39,550 subsequent literature on the subject of ancient architecture would be much more rigorously scrutinised. 550 00:52:39,550 --> 00:52:45,340 Initially, this manifested itself in spon and as critical morning of the questions of authenticity, 551 00:52:45,340 --> 00:52:52,000 would continue to dog the recording of ancient architecture throughout the 18th century. 552 00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:56,360 This can best be seen in the work. The most famous British scholars to follow in Vernon's footsteps. 553 00:52:56,360 --> 00:53:02,450 James Stewart and Nicholas Roberts, whose antiquities of Athens published between 60 and 70 to 1794, 554 00:53:02,450 --> 00:53:07,640 would become the detailed English text on Athens that Vernon had originally envisaged. 555 00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:13,340 Stuart and the third volume again lauded Vernon as the most honest and diligent, diligent Inquirer. 556 00:53:13,340 --> 00:53:19,230 During his short residence in the city and once again republished Vernon's letter, 557 00:53:19,230 --> 00:53:22,700 should Revit generally tend to sort of be very rude about Spohn and Wheeler? 558 00:53:22,700 --> 00:53:29,210 But they praise them and think he think they could. They considered one of the most accurate of their predecessors. 559 00:53:29,210 --> 00:53:33,620 But then his legacy manifested itself elsewhere in Stuart and Robert's text. 560 00:53:33,620 --> 00:53:40,070 The famous illustrations in the antiquity of Athens occasionally contained portraits of either the author's showing, 561 00:53:40,070 --> 00:53:47,000 one of them drawing the ruins, as other scholars have noted. These these cameos often serve as an important purpose in the text. 562 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:55,280 They demonstrate that. And Robert, like Van Spon Wheeler. Though unlike Gégé and his fictional brother had actually seen the ruins in person. 563 00:53:55,280 --> 00:54:03,230 Predictably enough, one such illustration was the force of the idea of hayrides Atticus Stelle, masquerading as the saviour of Bacchus. 564 00:54:03,230 --> 00:54:06,860 In this image, which was originally painted by Stewart and Gurche, 565 00:54:06,860 --> 00:54:13,100 Reva's is shown clad in contemporary Greek dress, sketching a theatre from the shade of nearby ruins. 566 00:54:13,100 --> 00:54:17,390 It is hard to see this inclusion of Rabbit in his illustration as anything other than a reference 567 00:54:17,390 --> 00:54:22,100 to that small but intellectually significant moment that had taken place 100 years earlier, 568 00:54:22,100 --> 00:54:28,130 namely the denouncements of Geezer's fabrication, fabricated image of the theatre, the Vernons first hand account. 569 00:54:28,130 --> 00:54:33,200 Here, there was a little memorial hidden in the principal textbook of the Greek revival to the early Royal 570 00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:45,661 Society and to Letha of France's of the first English recorder of the architecture of Athens.