1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



179 



of the Grecian migration to the south of Italy. Low columns, 

 with a great (liminution of the shaft, bold projecting capitals, a 

 massive entablature, and triglyphs placed at the angles of the 

 zophorus, are strong presumptive proofs of its antiquity." The 

 pseudo-dipteral temple does not belong to a period of such correct 

 taste; indeed, it has been supposed to be of Roman rather than 

 Greek workmanship. The columns have a pecular capital — a row 

 of small leaves encircle the neck, and turn over, as if supporting 

 the lower fillet. These temples are built of a kind of stalactite, of 

 the same nature as the travertine, formed by a calcareous deposit. 

 The Temple of .^gesta, or Segesta, in Sicily, is another ancient 

 example of the Doric; it is, I believe, the only instance in which 

 the columns were unfluted. In several ruins, the columns would 

 appear at first sight to be plain; but the Greeks did not work the 

 flutings till after the column was raised, the channels under the 

 capital, and at the base, being previously marked to serve as a 

 guide to the workmen. In some instances the columns were left 

 unfinished; though the above-mentioned marks may still be de- 

 tected. In the ruins of the Temple of Apollo Didyma?us, near 

 Miletus, there are two fluted columns yet standing, and one plain; 

 but with the channels marked above and below. There is a wide 

 interval of time between the building of the hypcethral temple at 

 Paestum, and that of Jupiter at Agrigentum, which was left 

 unfinished at the time of the destruction of the city by the Car- 

 thaginians, 405 B.C. Nevertheless, no great difference is apparent 

 in the style, only that diversity of proportion and detail which is 

 always seen in Greek architecture. It was said of the Agrigen- 

 tines, that they pursued pleasure as if they had only a day to live; 

 and built as if they were never to die. The gigantic proportions 

 of the Temple of Jupiter brings this saying to mind, the lower 

 diameter of the columns being 12ft. ll-7in., and their height 

 63 ft. 4'6 in. According to Diodorus, a man could stand in each 

 fluting. There were three other considerable temples at Agrigen- 

 tum, and several at Selinunte, another ancient Greek town in 

 Sicily. All these temples were of the Doric order, and yet not 

 two precisely similar; showing that the same design was never 

 repeated even in one city. In the Temple of Neptune at Pa?stuni, 

 the columns are only four diameters in height; those of the old 

 temple at Corinth bear the same proportion. The columns of the 

 Temple of Theseus in Athens, were rather more than 5 diameters 

 high; of the Parthenon, nearly 5^; of Jupiter at Agrigentum, 5 

 diameters; in the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Basss, the 

 columns are rather more than 5^ diameters high; and as we ap- 

 proach a later and less correct age, the proportions are still moi-e 

 slender. In the Portico of Philip at Delos, the columns ai-e Oj 

 diameters in height. 



It does not appear that the entasis was used in the more ancient 

 examples; indeed, it would naturally be one of the last refine- 

 ments of art. The columns of the Temple of Neptune at Paestum, 

 have been proved to be without entasis, though not always so 

 represented. Paestum, since its desertion, has become a perfect 

 marsh; and the damp eating away the stone at the lower part of 

 the column, has given them the effect of swelling in the middle. 

 The column, in the ancient Doric, appearing to diminish too 

 rapidly, would cause some architects to endeavour to remedy this 

 defect. This was done by slightly increasing the diameter to- 

 wards the middle of the column, though always keeping it within 

 the lower diameter. This swelling out, called by the Greeks 

 "entasis," should not be visible, being only intended to give the 

 effect of a gradual diminution. JMr. Cockerell was the first to 

 discover the entasis in the columns of the Pai-thenon. In a de- 

 generate age, this refinement was exaggerated, as in the pseudo- 

 dipteral temple at Paestum; and thus became a defect instead of 

 an additional beauty. 



The number and manner of the flutings in the Doric shaft 

 varied considerably. There is a ruin of a Temple of Apollo 

 Thearius at Troezen, in Argolis, the columns of which have eight 

 plain sides. In the Portico of Philip at Delos, the upper part of 

 the shaft is fluted; while the faces are plain towards the lower dia- 

 meter. In a Doric temple at Orchomenus, in Arcadia, the columns 

 have 18 flutings; in the ancient temple at Corinth, 20; and in the 

 Temple of Neptune, Paestum, 24. The flutings in this order are 

 shallow and meet at an edge, without intervening fillet. 



The custom of fluting the shaft has never been satisfactorily 

 traced to an origin, some supposing it to have arisen from the 

 grooves formed in wooden pillars by the water trickling down; 

 other from the stalks of plants; and others, again, from observing 

 the fluted shell common on the coast of Greece. Probably, the 

 columns were in the first instance polygonal, the channelling being 

 a subsequent improvement. 



The simple abacus of the Doric order is a representation of 

 the primitive square block, placed on the pillar for the better 

 security of the beam. The echinus or ovolo would result from 

 bevelling off the abacus to meet the shaft; such a capital was 

 found in an Etruscan tomb at Bomazzo. The ovolo afterwards 

 became a separate member, and was quirked under the abacus, and 

 moulded into a more elegant form, by increasing taste. 



The profile of the Doric capital varies in each building, the 

 form of the ovolo depending upon its depth and the projection of 

 the abacus, the general proportion of the latter being to the lower 

 diameter, as 1'25 to 1. The ovolo is united to the hypotrachelium, 

 or neck, by several fillets, varying in number from three to five. 

 In some examples they are omitted; but these are rare. The same 

 variety is seen in the number of annulets encircling the neck of 

 the shaft. In the Temple of Neptune there are three; in the Par- 

 thenon one; and in other instances the flutings are continued up 

 to the fillets, without interruption. The intercolumniations in the 

 Doric order are narrow, adding to the general character of grandeur 

 and solidity. One diameter is the general proportion, but in some 

 examples they are 1^; and in an ancient temple in Sicily, less 

 than one diameter. 



The Doric entablature is massive and simple, and divided into 

 few parts, the proportion being nearly two diameters in height. 

 The architrave or epistylium is plain, with the exception of the 

 guttfe. 



In most of the Greek buildings, the architrave, instead of being 

 even with the upper diameter of the shaft, projects so as to be 

 nearly on a line with the lower diameter; but to prevent this 

 superincumbent weight from crushing the projecting part of the 

 abacus, there is a slight space left at the outer edge, which throws 

 the weight on the centre of the capital, and at the same time gives 

 greater distinctness of outline. The frieze is the only part en- 

 riched, though the decoration strictly recalls the primitive type. 

 The woid "frieze" is derived from the Italian /(•«;iV>, ornament, 

 which is taken from the Latin phrygius, embroidery. The Greeks 

 and Romans gave this member the name of zophorus, or figure- 

 bearing. The triglyphs represent the ends of the joists resting 

 upon the beam. It was the custom, anciently, to lay these joists 

 upon the tie-beam, of such a length as to project considerably 

 beyond the external face of the wall, as may be seen in the Etrus- 

 can temples. In later times, to improve the appearance, the ends 

 were cut away even with the beams. It is supposed that the three 

 glyphs or grooves are traditional, and that such notches were cut 

 in the ends of the joists to allow the water to run off; the drops 

 hanging below being represented by the guttae. Others think the 

 triglyph was originally a mere ornament: to conceal the ends 

 of the joists in wooden buildings, we are told the ancients used to 

 cover them with blue wax, by way of decoration. In some 

 examples the triglyphs are not carved on the block of the frieze, 

 but on a separate slab of stone fastened on. The Greeks always 

 placed triglyphs at the angles of the frieze; this was probably 

 done, to present the subjects carved on the metopae in an uninter- 

 rupted series. 



To obviate the difficulty of the end metope being thrown out of 

 pro]>ortion, the end triglyphs were slightly enlarged, or the inter- 

 columniation at the angle naiTowed; an example of this last 

 method is seen the Temple of Theseus at Athens. 



The guttaj were either rectangular or conical; or, as is univer- 

 sally the case in Sicily, cylindrical. They were always six in 

 number. In ancient times the metopse were open spaces between 

 the triglyphs. This is mentioned in a passage of Euripides, ivhere 

 Orestes and Pylades are concerting a plan for carrying off the 

 image from the Temple of Diana. Pylades recommends his friend 

 to creep through the opening between the triglyphs, and so gain 

 access to the interior of the temple. The spaces were afterwards 

 filled-in with slabs; and lastly, the metop;e were enriched with 

 bas-reliefs, the subject being always appropriate to the service of 

 the temple. 



The cornice of the Doric order is bold and simple : its charac- 

 teristic is the mutule, representing the ends of the rafters com- 

 posing the roof. The mutule was decorated with three rows of 

 gutta?, six in each row. The mutules were never repeated along 

 the cornice of the pediment, as in some modern examples: the 

 Greeks had too much taste to represent in sculjiture what could 

 not have existed in reality. 



In the Temple of Neptune at Paestum, and that of Jupiter 

 Panhellenius in JEgina, the upper member of the cornice is a 

 cavetto. In many other temples it is an ovolo. The cyma was 

 not an integral portion of the early Doric; indeed, it is not sup- 

 posed to have become an established part of the order until after 



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