OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 62 1 



III., 3338-3124 b. c, according to Lepsius), is enormous. A graded 

 lifil of known pier forms can be made out without difficulty, that shall 

 include nearly every important theoretical variety of this quarry- 

 derived member. The outlines of such a list have been incidentally 

 given in the first part of this essay. 



At the same time, it must be freely admitted that these primitive 

 buildings, especially in the first great period of the Egyptian empire, 

 that of the Pyramid-builders, while offering many beautiful instances 

 of the growth of the pier idea, usually bear curious marks of predilec- 

 tions on the part of their architects for the methods and materials of 

 the carpenter.* In panel-work, | and in projecting eaves and rafters,! 

 though not in upright supports, we are confronted by an unconscious 

 reversion of forms to a different architectural type from that suggested 

 by the material actually employed. The only adequate explanation 

 of this fact seems to be that the Egyptian race migrated into Egypt 

 from a much better timbered region, bringing with them the traditions 

 of wooden construction ; that after their arrival in the Nile valley 

 they found stone so much more convenient, magnificent and durable 

 that they adopted it for their public edifices ; that the pier was first 

 developed after the migration ; that the earlier construction remained 

 only in the impress it put upon the later ; and hence that at Beni- 

 hassan we have a marvellous, and, at first, perplexing conjunction of 

 the two. 



The Greeks, on the other hand, very rarely used, the pier in the 

 works of their best periods. Penetrate as far as we may into the 

 history of Greek architecture, the column still appears as a frequent 

 member.§ Both history and its own characteristics declare its deriva- 

 tion from wood. The historical references are well known and need 

 not be rehearsed here,|| but the traces of wooden construction in the 

 column itself are perhaps worthy of mention now. Besides the 

 echinus, the astragal, — whether groove or moulding, — the plinth, 

 and the projecting abacus, which are so difficult of explanation on any 

 other supposition, the following characteristics add something to the 



* Fergusson, i. 91, 99. 



t Lepsius, i. 23, 24, 25, &c. 



| Particularly at Benihassan. Mr. Fergusson allows that the panels in the 

 tombs at Gizeh and elsewhere indicate a previous use of wood, but thinks that 

 the construction of the Benihassan tombs points to the use of brick ! (i. 99.) 



§ Midler, Anc. Art, trans., p. 25. The word kIidv, though not found in the 

 Iliad, occurs twelve times in the Odyssey. 



ii Ibid., p. 25; YVilkius, Athens, p. lb. 



