LITERATURE OF THE ARABS 97 



progress, and decay. From the end of the thirteenth 

 century, the era of its dechne in Spain, it exhibited 

 a mixture of styles borrowed from the revival of the 

 arts in Italy. The origin of what is called Gothic 

 architecture, we know, has been much disputed ; but 

 among the different hypotheses, that of Sir Chris- 

 topher Wren, which derives it from the Arabs, is 

 certainly the most probable. The crescent arch, 

 said to be the symbol of a celebrated goddess whose 

 worship among the ancients was universal, was first 

 adopted by the Arabs of Syria, and invariably used 

 in the edifices erected by them during the reigns of 

 the Ommiades. After their dethronement the Ab- 

 bassides, disdaining to imitate their rivals, introduced 

 at Bagdad an arch resembhng the section of an oval 

 taken below the transverse diameter. A similar 

 form was adopted by the sovereigns of Granada ; but 

 it is worthy of remark, that so long as the house of 

 Moawiyah ruled in Spain, the arch of their Syrian 

 ancestors prevailed from the Atlantic to the Pyre- 

 nees. 



The Mohammedan religion was unfriendly to what 

 we usually denominate the fine arts. To the first 

 Moslems painting and sculpture were considered 

 odious, as leading to idolatry and a breach of their 

 Divine law. Subsequently, however, these scruples 

 decreased as literature and the arts were introduced ; 

 and the caliphs, both of the East and the West, 

 evaded or violated with impunity the prohibitions 

 of the Koran. At first, as a substitute for pictorial 

 delineation, the orthodox artists patiently traced 

 those Hneal ornaments of Mosaic and network which 

 covered the interior of their mosques and palaces. It 

 was the same religious feelings that gave birth to that 

 peculiar style of embellishment, which from the 

 Arabs has been denominated the Arabesque^ and 

 which rejects human or animal figures ; the subjects, 

 whether painted or sculptured, consisting wholly of 

 imaginary plants, flowers, or foliage. In later times 



Vol. II.— I 



