18J0.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



109 



LECTURES ON ARCHITECTURE, 



By Samuel Clego, Jun., Esq. ; 



Delivered at the College for General Practical Science, Putney, Surrey. 



(president, his grace the DDES OP BUCCLEUGH, KG.) « 



Lecture IV. — Pel.\soic remains in Greece, Italy, Asia Minor. 

 Architecture of the Jews. 



It is sing^ul.ir, that in those countrips where Art advanced the most 

 rapidly towards perfection, we should be able to ascertain the least 

 respecting its orio^in and proirress. The history of the earliest 

 races inhabiting these favoured regions is so enveloped in myth 

 and mystery, tliat even the fact of their having really existed 

 might be doubted, did not so many giant ruins remain to attest the 

 work of their hands. These remains, whether found in Asia 

 Minor, Greece, or Italy, are generally known by the name of 

 "Cyclopean" or "Pelasgic." It is not necessary to our purpose, 

 to enter upon the complicated question as to the what, or whence, 

 of these great builders of the olden time. This is not the place 

 to determine whether the Cyclopes (believed to be one-eyed, from 

 the circumstance of their wearing helmets with one aperture) were 

 a tribe of Celtae from Asia, or from Sicily, or whether their name 

 was applied indiscriminately to any unknown race of great strength. 

 It is enough to know, that among the ancients the name "Cyclo- 

 pean" was given to any work requiring more than ordinary power. 

 As for the Pelasgians, the learned Niebulir deckires their very 

 name cannot be pronounced by the historian, without a feeling of 

 distrust, on account of the want of evidence as to their origin and 

 the derivation of tlieir n.anie, and the many conflicting opinions 

 concerning them. ^V'herever their native country may have been, 

 they certainly soon spread themselves over a wide extent of terri- 

 tory; for we find these mysterious wanderers preceding the Hel- 

 lenists in the Peloponnesus, and, together with the Etruscans, 

 Umbrians, and jEnotrians, sharing the Tyrrhenian name in Italy. 



For the sake of classification, it is convenient to call the walls 

 formed by rough blocks of unhewn stone, piled ratlier than fitted 

 on to each other, by the name of "Cyclopean;" while the walls 

 constructed with accurately-fitted, uneemented polygonal or quad- 

 rangular blocks may be distinguished as "Pelasgian." The first 

 kind, or Cyclopean masonry, which may have been adopted by any 

 race of builders in a rude age, was composed of blocks of great 

 size, irregularly shaped, and rough as they were taken from the 

 quarry, the interstices being filled-in with small stones. The 

 second kind, or Pelasgian, belongs to a more advanced state of 

 society. The use of polygonal blocks, no doubt, originated in the 

 natural cleavage of the stone. The blocks were carefully dressed, 

 and frequently even polished, to insure their being accurately fitted. 

 Quadrangular stones were, of course, substituted when the cleav- 

 age assumed that form; but tliey were not hewn to a size, nor laid 

 in regular courses — a style of masonry belonging to a still more 

 civilised age, and no doubt originating with a brick-making people. 

 Remains of polygonal masonry, of he.autiful workmanship, are to 

 be found at Pterium or Tavium, in Asia Minor, at Cosa in Italy, 

 and in various other places in both countries. Mr. Dennis speaks 

 of the pcdygonal blocks forming the walls of Cosa as being so 

 exquisitely fitted, "that the joints are mere lines," and says that 

 not even "a penknife" could be inserted between them, the outside 

 surface being as smooth as a "billiard-table." 



According to Strabo, the position of cities may he cited as an 

 accurate test of civilisation and social security: judging by tliis 

 rule, the Pelasgians must liave been a wild race, for they chose the 

 steep rocks rising abruptly from tlie plain, on which to found their 

 eyrie; and here they built those huge walls, 



" Pilerl hy tlie hiinris of giants, 

 Fill gorMike kings of old," 



—walls which have defied the power of time, as once they defied 

 human adversaries. 



In most of these ancient fortifications, the walls were guarded 

 by square towers at intervals, where sentinels were posted to give 

 notice of impending danger. Alarm was given by means of fire; 

 hence they were called torch or beacon towers. The gates were in 

 all cases defended by towers, even where the walls were plain. 

 Gates seem to have been considered as necessary evils, or were as 

 few in number as possible; many of these old cities only possessing 

 two. The multiplication of gateways was considered as the great- 

 est proof of the strength .and valour of the community; and thus 

 cities were celebrated by the number of their gates, I'ike Thebes. 



No. 151.— Vol. XUI.— April, 1850. 



The gates were small in size, and were at first made of wood, and 

 secured by wooden bars; as the arts progressed, tlie wooden doors 

 were strengthened by plates of brass or iron, and liad bars ot 

 metal. No city, defended by these Pelasgian fortifications, could 

 be overcome by the engines' then in use, and were never taken 

 e.xcept hy stratagem or treachery: thus Troy owed its fall to the 

 wooden horse, and the Boeotian Thebes was voluntarily abandoned 

 by its citizens, under a warning from the gods. 



It is well for human progress that the first settlers hail rendered 

 their rocky fortresses thus impregnable, that those who had begun 

 to acquire the arts of civilised life should be able to protect their 

 strongholds against the ruder and poorer; and should retain their 

 position until political organisation and discipline was sufticiently 

 matured in rival states to allow them, in their turn, to achieve and 

 maintain the superiority. In cour^^e of time, as the population 

 became too dense to occupy the summit of the hill, tliey spre:id 

 thems dves over the plain below; the original city was then dis- 

 tinguished by the name of "Acropolis," or upper town, and not 

 only formed the citadel, but was considered as consecrated ground 

 — wliere the shrine of the tutelary deity was erected, and the trea- 

 sures and archives deposited. At first, probably, the lower town 

 consisted only of wooden huts, which are supposed to have fur- 

 nished the model for future erections in stone; such huts as form 

 the dwellings of the peasantry of Asia Minor at the present day. 



The Homeric poems present us with a picture of some degree of 

 civilisation, as having existed in Greece at that early time — walled 

 towns, fixed abodes, individual and hereditary landed property, 

 carefully-cultivated vineyards, altars to the gods, and palaces for 

 the chiefs. In the earliest ages we have no mention of temples, or 

 statues of the divinities; but the sacrifices appear to have been 

 offered on an altar in the court of the i)alace, where the king or 

 chief officiated. In the time of Homer, the shrine at Delphi was 

 merely a small wooden structure, covered in with laurel branches. 

 The little we know of the palaces of tlie ancient Greek kings is 

 derived from the pages of Homer. The following description of 

 the house of Alcinoiis gives an idea of splendour and luxury, 

 though displayed in somewhat barbaric taste. 



"The walls wltp mas^y br;i35: thf cornice high 

 Bine mel.Tls crowned, iu colour of the sky ; 

 Rich plates of gold, the f<»ldintr doors iucaae ; 

 The pilliirs silvei, on a hrazen base; 

 Sil?er the lintels deep projecting o'sr, 

 And gold, the ringlets that surronnd the door. 

 'J'vvo rows of stately dogs, on either hand, 

 In sculptured gold, and iibourM silver stanti. 

 These Vulcan lormed with art divine, to wait 

 Immortal guardians at AlcinijUs' t;Hte. 



****** 

 Fair thrones within from sp.ice to space were rais'd. 

 Where various carpets with embioideiy blazed. 

 The work of matrons." 



Od : Fope*s Homer. 



We are reminded by the rows of guardian dogs, at the door of 

 the house of Alcinoiis, of the dromos of sphinxes leading to tlie 

 palace of the Egyptian kings. From the Homeric poems we may 

 also obtain a glimpse of the interior arrangement of these ancient 

 dwellings, as the bard no doubt described the palace of Ulysses 

 after the general plan of houses of tliat age. They appear to have 

 been built in three divisions: first, tlie aula, or open court, sur- 

 rounded by apartments. This court had a peristyle, or colonnade, 

 round it, covered with a jient, or roof; beneath this was spread the 

 couches fin- the men. Telemachus and Pisistratus are described as 

 sleeping beneath this colonnade, in the palace of Nestor. In the 

 centre of the aula, stood the altar: in the palace of Ulysses it was 

 dedicated to Jupiter. 



' With timorous awe. 



From the dire scene th' exempted two withdraw; 

 Scarce sure of li^e, look round, and trembling move 

 To the bright altar of protecting Jove." 



Odyssey. 



The aula was entered by g;ites from the street; and opposite the 

 entrance was a portico or vestibule, leading to the secontl division, 

 which included the great banqueting-hall; this appears to have 

 been a splendid ami spacious apartment, the roof supported by 

 columns, and the walls hung with tapestry. When Minerva visits 

 Telemachus, the suitors are sitting on hides or skins, in the vesti- 

 bule, feasting and playing at chess. Telemachus leads Minerva 

 into the great hall, and receiving the spear from her hand, places 

 it against a column. We are not acquainted with the third divi- 

 sion, the gynfficeuin, or women's apartments; it is evident th.at they 

 inhabited an upper story, for the females are invariably described 

 as descending when they make their appearance in the other part 

 of the house. The gynipceum seems to have cttmmunicated with 



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