μετόπιον

Grammatical information: f.

Meaning: `metope', field between the triglyphs on the frieze of Dorian temples (Vitr.; codd. methope, -a like triumphus, sephulcrum a. o., cf. Leumann Lat. Gr. 131); also μεθόπια n.pl. (Delph. IV^a, H.; μ[..] οπια Att. inscr. IV^a); on θ beside τ cf. ἐφόπτης beside ἐπόπτης a.o. (Schwyzer 220).

Other forms: (accent not given).

Origin: GR [a formation built with Greek elements]

Etymology: With μετόπιον agree exactly other technical terms like μετακιόνιον, μεταστύλιον `space between the columns' (Att. a. hell. inscr.), μεθόριος, - ον `what lies between boundaries, borderland between two countries' (Th., X.). It must then indicate a space between the ὀπαι. Acc. to Vitr. 4, 2, 4 the ὀπαί = tignorum cubicula et asserum, i. e. openings or indentations in the beams, in which the heads of the crossbeams were fitted in; these heads wre covered with special planks, the soc. triglyphs. Acc. to another view, rejected by Vitr., the ὀπαί were orig. light-openings, what fits certainly beter to the meaning of ὀπή. In favour of this view with extensive argumentation Demangel BCH 55, 117ff.; he sees in the triglyphs a grille, before which later the ὀπαί were put. -- The clearly secondary form μετόπη was adapted to the simplex, perhaps because the metopes themselves could seem "openings-between"; μετόπη `opening between (the triglyphs)' would have been taken like περί-κηπος `garden around (the house)' (hell. a. late pap.; Risch IF 59, 252) or nearly understood like μεσ-αύλη (s. μέταυλος). Cf. Johnson ClassPhil. 30, 260f. (in details wrong).

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