746 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the hinder portions of the temple were lodgings of the priests and 

 storerooms for the offerings of the faithful ; the courts and 

 columned halls were merely developments of the palisaded in- 

 closure. The flagstaffs actually remained till the latest times 

 erect on each side of the single entrance to the temple, though the 

 idea of them was still further carried out in monumental fashion 

 by the rearing of two vast, almost completely solid masses of 

 masonry of tower-like form, called pylons, that flanked the gate- 

 way and gave the desired imposing aspect to the approach toward 

 the shrine." The writer goes on to show that a similar account 

 might be given of " the most important monument in the whole 

 history of architecture — the temple of the Greeks." 



The manner in which sculpture contributed to the festival is 

 also obvious. In the mimetic representations which formed a 

 part of all the primeval religious ceremonies (and all early festi- 

 vals were in some sense religious) the mask was an important 

 factor. Much curious and suggestive lore regarding masks in all 

 ages is to be found in a work previously referred to on Masks, 

 Heads, and Faces. The earliest disguise was effected by the use 

 of lees of wine mixed with black earth. This, applied directly to 

 the face, served as a mask. Then vegetable shells and wood, later 

 baked earth and stone, and finally metals, served a better purpose. 

 The object was to impersonate the absent, usually a hero or a god, 

 or the animal in which the deity was fond of appearing. "Cer- 

 tain lines were traced upon the masks used in ceremonial dances, 

 and in the protection of the face of the dead, whose meaning can 

 be understood only by a knowledge of the customs, traditions, and 

 superstitions of the people among whom they were used. These 

 lines are not only found on the wooden masks 3 but on the terra 

 cotta and plaster, and also upon cocoanut and gourd masks. 

 There is reason to believe that, in the case of the terra cotta, the 

 devices were fac-simile to the tattoo-marks on the face of the de- 

 ceased, the mask in this case being intended to insure preserva- 

 tion of the cherished lineaments, and also affording means of 

 identification. . . . The custom of the use of portrait-masks sur- 

 vived in Roman burial service, when the lineaments were made 

 in wax, and worn by his representative with a costume of the 

 dead dignitary. From this ceremonial arose a more extensive 

 fashion of carving the features in marble." But the same tend- 

 ency had earlier shown itself in Egypt and Assyria, and pre- 

 eminently in Greece. Not only real but also mythic beings, first 

 impersonated in the festival, were carved in marble for its future 

 ornament. " The solemn representations of the gods in the 

 circling dance about the archaic altar admitted of no irreverent 

 hilarity. Thus were presented the movements of the sun and 

 moon, accompanied each by a retinue of lesser gods ; for to the 



