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QBJJCIAX ARCHITECTURE. 



GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



IN 



quarr. or nearly BO, UK! are distinguished by the name of mtioptt 

 daTo*mii : i. t. openings or intervals. They are in fact o many small 

 panels, and were generally filled with sculpture in b*s-rrlief, although 

 there i* hardly an inatanoa of the kind in any of the numerous 

 modern imitationa of the Qreek Doric. Beneath each triglyph is a 

 erica of amall oitffcr, or cylindrical .Iropa, attached to a fillet, just 

 under the moulding of the architrave, to which division of the 

 entablature they may be Bid to belong, although evidently a con- 

 tinuation of the ornamenta on the frieae. Some suppose them to have 

 been intended to repreaent nails, othen drops of water running down 

 the channel* of the triglypha and aettling beneath them ; be that 

 a* it may, they certainly contribute in no amall degree to architectonic 

 and effect, maamuch oa they break the monotony of line, 



by extending aome omaraeiit to the architrave bring it into 

 harmony with the frieze. The space between one triglyph and another 

 being regulated by the height of the frieze, ainee each interval or 

 metope forma a square, thia circumstance alao regulates the ititmolum- 

 xiatiim, or diataacea at which the column* are placed ; because aa 

 there must be a triglyph over every column, there cannot be more 

 than one triglyph over each intercolumn, unless the latter be increased 

 to the extent of another triglyph and metope ; that is, mode half as 

 wide again. Consequently there are hardly any instances of more 

 than mvHotriylyp/iif intercolumniation (that is, with more than a single 

 triglyph over each intercolumn) in Grecian buildings, except when the 

 centre intercolumn is made wider than the others, aa in the PropyUca 

 at Athetis, where a ditriglyphio arrangement is employed. 



Like every other part of the order, the Doric cornice is composed of 

 few ami 1...M parts; it consists of little more than a corona (the pro- 

 jecting and principal member in every cornice), finished above by one 

 or two simple mouldings, and having attached to its soffit a series of 

 shallow plates or tablets, studded with guttte. These are t.-m,. ,1 

 Kxtulei, and are the peculiar distinctive marks of the Doric cornice, in 

 like manner as dentils are of the Ionic, and modillions of the Corin- 

 thian. They may be considered as being to the cornice what tin- 

 triglyphs are to the frieze, and there is one corresponding to each 

 metope as well aa each triglyph ; which produces a beautiful gradation 

 of parts, for as there is an additional triglyph between every column, 

 so la there an additional mutule between every triglyph; whereas, 

 were there no more triglyphs than columns, and no more uiutitles than 

 triglyphs, the effect would be both monotonous and poor, and these 

 different features would be confined to distinc-t line- from top to 

 bottom. The average height of the entablature is about two diameters, 

 or one-fourth of the whole order, taking the height of the column at 

 six diameters. 



The sloping or rating eorttica of the pediment resemble the hori- 

 zontal one, except that there the mutules are omitted. In order, 

 however, to give increased depth and importance to the pediment, as 

 the finish of the whole structure, its cornices have an additional 

 member, termed by some the epitMedai, consisting of an ovolo, or 

 convex moulding, or a cymatium; sometimes deeper, sometimes 

 shallower. This epiiithatai was continued a little way at the angles, 

 where it usually terminated against a block, carved with a lion's head, 

 or some other ornament. The face of the pediment itself, termed the 

 tympanum (called by the Oreeks Iur6s, ac'rujua), was almost always 

 filled with sculpture. The pediment was invariably of a low pitch, 

 ))ut not always of the same pitch ; on the contrary, whatever the span 

 might be, its height continued nearly the same, it being more- or less 

 acute, in proportion as the portico was narrow or broad : its average 



rnmt KUvitlon of the TtmpU of XfiM, ai restored. 



height was equal to that of the entablature, and either a little 

 diminished or increased according to circumstances, but hardly ever 

 so much as to render the tympanum deeper than the entablature 

 The accompanying cut showing the portico of the Doric temple of 

 Athene at -itgin* as restored, will illustrate many of the leading cha- 

 racteristica of the Doric style as here pointed out. 



A lint of the priuui|>al Doric temples is given under COLUMN ; as 

 .lent practical examples of this order, where the reader may 

 iis character, and learn to distinguish, in actual buildings, the 

 various members and particulars here pointed out, not, be it re- 

 membered, as faithful illustration* of thejcothetic principles of Grecian 

 Doric we refer to the portico entrance to the North- Western Railway 

 Terminus, Huston Square, and the Com Market, Mark Lane, in which 

 latter the frieze i* decorated with wreaths instead of triglyph* * in 

 the monument of Thrasyllua at Athens and consequently the space* 

 between them cannot be called metopes. 



In the Ionic Ordtr the column differs widely from that of the Doric, 

 not only in the form of H* capital, and in having a base, but in the 

 contour of its shaft and the mode of fluting, it being more slender and 

 not tapering so suddenly. The base is generally that termed the Attic- 

 ban, composed of two tori, or convex ring*, with a concave moulding, 

 the acotia, between them ; for as the Doric character demand* plan* 

 surface* and lines, so does the Ionic require curved moulding* and 

 contour*, aa harmonising with the curved form* of the volute* of the 

 capitals. To prevent the harshness which would result, if the i 

 ings forming the base jutted out abruptly from the lower end l ih<- 

 shaft, the latter \t made to spread itsel! out immediately abov.- tin- 

 base in a sweeping curve, termed the pophyge. The number of 

 the flu tings of the shaft is increased from twenty to twenty -four; 

 besides which there are space* left between them (fillets) ; for the mere 

 irises or sharp edge*, peculiar to the Doric or earliest mode of fluting, 

 would be utterly at variance with the rounded contours of the baas 

 and capital. The channels themselves: being thus multiplied and set 

 apart from each other, are consequently much narrower tliau those of 

 the other order, and considerably deeper in pi.>p,,iti,,n to their 

 breadth; and instead of terminating in fiattish curves, their c.v 

 ties are made the half of a circle, or an ellipse : all which circumstances 

 contribute to uniform delicacy of expression. It should be observed, 

 too, that the upper torus of the base was generally fluted horizontally, 

 thereby producing uniformity of decoration between that an 

 shaft, with contrast as to the mode of applying it When not so fluted, 

 that torus was sometimes enriched with a ytiiUoeke, a beautiful sort of 

 chain-like ornament sculptured on its surface : see example in the cut 

 of the base of an Ionic column from the KrccUtheiuui under COI.I.M.N. 



The capital may be described generally as consisting of two faces, 

 about as wide, measured across the volutes, as the base that 

 diameter and a half, or 90 minutes; which breadth is divided into 

 three equal parts (more or less), 30 minutes being allowed f< 

 volute. These volutes are composed of spiral mouldings, which make 

 several revolutions, and gradually become narrower as they approach 

 what i* termed the eye or cathetus ; in the richer capitals of this class 

 there are intermediate spirals, following the course of the other: the 

 space* or interspirals, forming slightly concave surfaces (see diagram 

 under COMJJIN). In all the Athenian examples there is also a flowing 

 or festoon hem forming the lower edge of the face between the volutes, 

 whose curve harmonises most beautifully with the outline of the 

 volutes themselves ; whereas, in the capital of the Asiatic Ionic, as well 

 as the Roman and modern Italian, the volutes are here connected by a 

 straight line. Immediately beneath this part of the capital is a carved 

 convex moulding, to which succeeds the echinus or ovolo (so called 

 because cut into the form of eggs), and lesser moulding*. The idea of 

 on Ionic capital therefore seems to have been that of introducing an 

 ornamental mass between the echinus and abacus of the earlier shaped 

 capital, and rolling up its deep projecting extremities into volutes. 

 Besides the capital (properly so speaking, where additional richness, 

 was required, and also increased height for the column, without mm h 

 increasing that of the shaft), a necking, enriched with sculpture, and 

 separated from the shaft by a carved convex moulding, was introduced. 

 The abacus is square in plan, and its sides form a cyma re versa, or ogee 

 moulding, either carved or plain, according as the capital itself is more 

 or leas enriched. But the capital itself, at least that portion <>> it 

 occupied by the volutes, is not so deep on its sides as on the two faces; 

 the reason for which is obvious, because either those faces must have 

 been much narrower, or if this part formed a perfectly square mass of 

 a diameter and a half, it would overhang the upper part* of the nhaft, 

 and project beyond the architrave in a most unsightly manner. The 

 baluster side* of the volutes, as they are termed, are, for the sake of 

 elegance and lightness, hollowed out so as to assume something of the 

 appearance of two tubes or horns, whose broader extremities or mouths 

 come against the bock of the volutes. The capitals at the angles of a 

 portico are frequently differently arranged, since, in order to obtain a 

 face on the return similar to that in front, the outer volute is i 

 diagonally, so as to serve for both faces; a mode adopted for all tl,,- 

 capitals, without distinction, by many Italian architect*. The archi- 

 trave is divided into three nearly equal facia;, projecting very nightly 

 one over the other, and crowned by a cyma recta moulding, can . . I . ', 

 plain, as the rest happens to be more or less enriched. The caryatid 

 figures, which in some buildings of this order supply the place, of 

 columns, ore noticed tinder CAHYATIDK*. 



The cornice in Athenian examples is exceedingly simple, consisting 

 only of two mouldings beneath the corona, the uppermost being 

 within the hollowed soffit of that member; nor do dentils, which are 

 generally reckoned the distinguishing marks of the Ionic i 

 appear to have been uwxl, except by the Asiatic Greeks. Consequently, 



