. f > ' 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



These appear to be the general diuinguishing features 

 of Gn*k irchitrcturei and, without excluding that peo- 

 ple from the preceding labours of their neighbours in K-i- 

 trr point*, it is evident that many essential parts are pccu- 

 baHy their own j and scarcely had they attempted build- 

 imgt of any considerable magnitude, when their judg 

 cut. ill. and taste, were displayed to a degree which 

 placed the architecture of Egypt, Persia, and India, in 

 be infancy of the arts. It was certainly greatly in fa- 

 vour of Greece, that, in process of time, fine marbles 

 were employed ; but, independent of the excellence of 

 this material, there was more expression of mind in the 

 formation of one statue by an eminent Greek sculptor, 

 than in myriads of Egyptian hieroglyphics. 



Of the Doric Order. 



Daiit or- The first distinct character of the architecture of the 

 ** states of Greece, has been denominated Doric, from the 



country in which it was invented. In the earliest speci- 

 mens, the diameter of the pillars, in proportion to their 

 height, bears a strong resemblance to those used in some 

 of the Egyptian temples ; but the triglyphs, metopes, 

 and mutuTes, represent the disposition of wooden beams, 

 and the ends of the rafters which compose the sloping 

 roof. 



If we admit that the people amongst whom the Doric 

 order took its rise, were colonies from Egypt or Phoe- 

 nicia, dispossessing their mure barbarous predecessors, 

 and settling in a country abounding with forests, it is 

 natural to expect, that, being at the time of their set- 

 l -8e . no-i j tleraent possessed of a tolerable degree of information 

 mo*d for and skill, habitations similar to American log-houses 

 would be constructed. This would at once furnish a 

 correct model of the Doric order: and, if this was the case 

 in private dwellings, a public building required only to be 

 of increased dimensions, with some degree of decoration 

 upontbe essential pjrts; (see PlateCLVII.andCLVIII.) 



the Doric. 





mm re- 



r 1 Vji|~ f r which, as we have already obervcd, the Egyptian 

 and Persian architecture furnished abundant hints. It 

 may, however, be objected, that no trace of Egyptian 

 mythology is to be found upon any work in Greece. In 

 answer to this, it may be observed, that there are ri'.ne 

 upon the Egyptian pyramids ; and besides, that, with re- 

 spect to the cause* of those emigrations to Greece, it 

 caanot be reckoned an improbable conjecture, that the 

 continued tyranny of the Egyptian priesthood, or kings, 

 at last roused some bold innovator, who, rather than be 

 controuled, removed, with a colony of similar characters, 

 to Greece. If this is admitted as probable, we need 

 not be surprised that the mythology and habits of the 

 mother country were in a great measure changed ; and, 

 by comparing emigrants of this description, with those 

 of a similar character in modern times, combining with 

 these the local circumstances of those detached and in- 

 tersected countries, and granting, (which history autho- 

 rises), that various colonies, at separate times, settled 

 ID and formed the several states of Greece, we may easi- 

 ly conceive how such independent and turbulent charac- 

 ter! were originally formed. But whether these specu- 

 lations are admitted or denied, it is evident, that a build- 

 ing rrseabling a log-house has been the model of the 

 Doric order ; and it seems quite unnecessary to attempt 

 to trace the art of building previous to that stage, since 

 the habitations of all savages, even after they have ob- 

 tained some degree of fixed residence, are uniformly 

 found to be the cavern or the hut, according as their lo- 

 cal situation is in a rocky or a wooded country. 



The district of Argolis first received colonies who m- 

 trodnced. civilization into Greece. It lot been reckoned 



Hiitory. 



Doric or- 

 der t-'t. 

 blithed ,<r 

 Argoi, 



and adopt- 

 ed in mujr 

 temple*. 

 PLITI 

 CLVII. 



ftttt 



the cradle of the Greeki, the theatre of the events which 

 distinguished their earliest annals, and the country which 

 produced their first her H-S and artists. It was, accord- 

 ingly, in the temple of Juno at Argos, where the Do- 

 ric order rose first to a marked eminence, and became 

 the model for the magnificent edifices afterwards erected 

 in the other cities, states, and islands. (Vitruv. h. iv. 

 c. i. p. 68. ) After the Doric order had been establish- 

 ed in the temple of Juno at Argos, it was employed in 

 the temple of Jupiter Nemeus, between Argos and Co- 

 rinth ; Jupiter Olympius, at Olympia in Elis ; in a splendid 

 triple portico in the city of Elis ; and also in three temples 

 in the same city, to Juno, Minerva, and Dindymene ; at 

 Eleusis, in the great temple to Ceres ; in that of Minerva, 

 at Sunium ; and, abov* all, in the temple of Minerva Par- 

 thenon, (see Plate CLVII.) ; in the entrance to the 

 Acropolis, and other public edifices, of great magni- 

 tude and splendour, at Athens. In many of the islands 

 there were also temples of the Doric model : that of 

 Apollo in the isle of Delos ; Juno in Samos ; Jupiter, 

 Panellenius, jEgina, and Silenus, in Sicily; and innu- 

 merable in places of inferior note. Even in Ionia, it 

 was employed in the temple of Apollo Panionius. Many 

 of these edifices were of great magnitude. The tem- 

 ples of the Greeks were universally of an oblong foim; 

 in some, the porticos were at the ends only ; in others, 

 they were extended quite around the cell, some in sin- 

 gle, others in double ranges ; some were covered with 

 roofs, others were left partly uncovered ; and some 

 of them were divided by ranges of pillars along the 

 middle uf the cell. The supen>tructure was placed upon 

 a platform composed of three steps, which surrounded 

 the whole cdilice, and upon which the columns were all 

 placed without bases. The number of columns were 

 either 6 along the ends, and 13 along the sided, or 8 along 

 the ends and 17 along the sides. ( I'itruv. Anachartis, 

 Stuart'? Antiq. Athens, Ionian Antiq.) When formed 

 upon lurge a scale, and the ranges of columns so dis- 

 tinctly insulated, the essential parts of the Doric <<rder 

 produced effects not to be exceeded for simplicity and 

 majesty ; even the imperfect fragments now remaining, 

 appear to have far surpassed the expectations of persons 

 well qualified to appreciate their merits. They were the 

 chief embellishments of their cities ; and their magnifi- 

 cent colonnades, by excluding the sun and rain, became 

 the resort of the wealthy and idle, who associated for 

 the purposes of business or pleasure ; and also of those 

 who delighted to engage in discussing the subjects of 

 politics and philosophy. 



In the earliest specimens, the diameters of the Doric 

 columns were very great in proportion to their height ; 

 that of the temple of Silenus, in Sicily, being only five 

 diameters in height ; but, in process of time, these rela- 

 tive dimensions were changed, and a considerably great- 

 er portion of delicacy introduced : The finest marbles 

 were employed, and artists of the first talents not only 

 formed the models of the edifice, and directed its exe- 

 cution, but also, under the strongest influence of rival- 

 ship and thirst of glory, they, with thtir own hands, 

 clothed those edifices with sculptures, and enriched them 

 with statues, expressive of more than mortal excellence. 



This chaste and severe Doric style was, with very 

 few exceptions, the only one employed in Greece or its 

 European colonies in Sicily and Italy, until alter the 

 Macedonian conquest. (Ionian Anliq. vol. ii. Preface, 

 p.l.) 



Of the Ionic Order. 



The Greek colonies which were planted in a part of ' on '<: or- 



3 dtr ' 



ditposi- 



lioni of tkt 

 columns; 



its majesty 



iti dimcn- 

 iions be- 

 came more 

 slender. 



