05 



ARCHITRAVE. 



A'RCHON. 



C06 



erected for the sake of ornament. Architecture consists of construc- 

 tion and ornament. But ornament must not be a thing extraneous 

 to the construction, a something added to it merely to please the eye. 

 True ornament is the expression of the idea of a building. Equally 

 with the building itself the ornament must possess unity, proportion, 

 congruity ; be a well considered whole, to which every part conduces, 

 and of which every part is a part. 



The history of the several great styles of architecture will be given 

 and their distinctive characteristics be pointed out, under the names of 

 the countries in which they flourished, or the terms by which they are 

 best known, as EGYPTIAN, GRECIAN, ROMAN ARCHITECTURE, &c. ; or 

 BYZANTINE, GOTHIC, RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE, &c. The great 

 architectural features will be found under their respective heads, as 

 ARCH, ARCHITRAVE, COLUMN, Ac. Some of the more important 

 classes of buildings will also be separately described, as AMPHI- 

 THEATRE, Triumphal Arch [ARCH, TRIUMPHAL], CHURCH, TEMPLE, 

 THEATRE. Constructive architecture will likewise be found fully 

 treated of in a distinct series of articles. [ARCH; HOUSE; ROOF, &c.] 



ARCHITRAVE, from a Greek word and a Latin one, meaning, when 

 put together, the principal beam, is the lower part of any structure 

 supported by pillars, or the lower beam which rests upon the columns 



Part of the Wet front of St. Paul's Cathedral. 



and joins them together, on which the whole entablature (or ornamental 

 part which comes immediately above the columns) rests. It wag also 

 called by the Greeks and Romans epittylion, or that which it tm the 

 column*. Thus, when pillars support an arch, the voussoirs, or wedge- 

 shaped stones which form the arch [ARCH], supply the place of an 

 architrave, by which name they are sometimes called. In the same 

 way the flat beam, or row of stones coming immediately above a door 

 or window, is called the architrave. The architrave may have only one 

 face or two, that is, may appear as one beam, resting on and joining 

 thp contiguous columns (as in the temple of Psestum), or as two beams, 

 the upper of which projects a little in front of the lower, as at a in the 

 preceding cut. [COLUMN.] 



ARCHIVE, or ARCHIVES, a chamber or apartment where the 

 public papers or records of a state or community are deposited : some- 

 times, by a common figure, applied to the papers themselves. 



By some the word archive is supposed to have been derived from the 

 Greek 'Apx<u> (archeia), a term used by Josephus in the sense of public 

 registers, and considered to have been transmitted to us through the 

 Latin of the middle ages. The Greek arckeion seems, in its primary 

 signification, to mean "a council-house or state-house,' or ' a body of 

 public functionaries,' as the Ephori at Sparta. (See Aristot. ' Polit.' 

 book ii. ; and Pausan. Ui. 11.) Others derive it from area, ' a chest ; ' 

 such being, in early times, a usual depository for records. So Isidorus, 

 ' Orig.' lib. xx. c. 9" Archa dicta, quod arceat visum atque prohibeat. 

 Hinc et archivum, hinc et arcanum, id est secretum, unde cseteri 

 arcentur." " It is called Arena, because it doee not allow (arc-eat) us 



to see what is in it. Hence also Archivum and Arcanum, that is, a 

 thing kept secret, from which people are excluded (arc-entur)." 



The Temple of Saturn, built in the time of the Republic, was the 

 chief repository of the archives as well as of the public treasure of 

 ancient Rome. In England the archives are kept in various and too 

 often inconvenient places, but a Record Office has been partly com- 

 pleted in Fetter Lane, London, where some have been transferred. 

 Some pains have also been taken to classify them, and make them 

 more generally useful. Under the direction of the Record Commis- 

 sioners, with the active assistance of Sir J. Romilly, the Master of the 

 Rolls, several volumes of detailed catalogues of these papers have been 

 published, and more are in preparation. The building was intended 

 for the reception of all the archives, but the portion at present erected 

 will contain only a very small part, and the work has for a considerable 

 time been discontinued. The national archives of France are preserved 

 in the H6tel Soubise at Paris ; those of the Courts of Justice, in La 

 Salute Chapelle at the Palais de Justice. 



ARCHIVOLT, or ARCHIVAULT, means, literally, the principal 

 turning, or arch, and is applied to any ornamented band or moulding 

 which runs round the lower part of all the voussoirs of an arch. When 

 this part of the arch is plain, with square edges, as in arches of the 

 Romanesque style, it is called a siifit. 



ARCH-LUTE, a large lute, or double-stringed theorbo (THEORBO), 

 formerly used by the Italians for the base parts, and for accompanying 

 the voice. In the early editions of Corelli's ' Sonatas/ the principal 



base staff is assigned to the violone (double-base) or arciletUo. Accord- 

 ing to Kircher (' Musurgia,' lib. vi.), this instrument had fourteen 

 notes, the highest whereof was A, the fifth line in the base, the lowest 

 the double G below ; and possessed considerable power. It was about 

 five feet in extreme length, and proportionally large in the body. At 

 the commencement of the last century this instrument (invented, as is 

 supposed, in the 16th century) was much in use ; Handel employed it 

 in many of his early operas. The office of Lutenist still continues as 

 part of the establishment of the Chapel-royal, though the place has 

 been a sinecure for nearly a century. 



A'RCHON, a Greek word written in Roman characters, signified 

 originally one who had rule or command, either civil or military. In 

 modern usage it is known only as the title of certain magistrates of the 

 Athenians, of whom we propose to give some account in this article. 



On the abolition of regal government at Athens, on the death of 

 Codrus, the chief power was still intrusted to a single magistrate, or 

 archon, without the title of king (j3a<riA.(), which was more directly 

 associated with the idea of arbitrary rule. The new office was heredi- 

 tary ; at least it is said to have been enjoyed successively by lineal 

 descendants of Medon, the first archon, who was himself a sou of 



