ARCHITECTURE. 23. 
and the openings between the perpendiculars were closed with a mixture 
of earth and loam (pl. 7, fig. 2). Such a building was not impervious to 
water. In order to obviate the leaks in the roof, a triangular frame was 
constructed, to which the boards of the ceiling were attached (fig. 3 a). A 
structure of the above description, notwithstanding its rudeness in a scientific 
point of view, contains all the different parts of a modern building, viz. a 
roof composed of rafters, a tier of beams, and posts or supports underneath. 
Partly in order to protect the lower portion of the posts from the effects of 
rain, &c., partly from a taste for ornament, the idea was conceived of sur- 
rounding the lower part with a few extra boards, or else of setting the post 
on a support prepared for the purpose, instead of fixing it in the ground; 
and thus the base of the column originated. On the other hand, top pieces 
were laid upon the posts for the better support of the top cross-beams (the 
architrave of later buildings), and these top pieces were the germs of the 
abacus, or the blocks surmounting the capitals of columns. To protect the 
ends of the beams against the rain a board was fastened to them, in which 
little gutters were cut to allow the water to run off; thus arose the trzglyphs. 
The spaces between the different beams were also filled up, and hence 
originated the frzeze. Finally, to carry the water running from the roof 
clear of the beams, the rafters were made to project beyond the uprights, 
and a board was fastened to them, which formed that portion of an entabla- 
ture aiterwards called the cornice. Pl. 7, jig. 3 b, exhibits a skeleton of such 
a building. 
The above-described mixture of earth and loam used to fill up the intervals 
between the different uprights, was soon found to be too frail to protect 
the inhabitants from the weather, or from the attacks of wild beasts, much 
less from the assaults of their human foes. They were therefore obliged to 
seek some other material, and they very early began to make use of stones, 
which were found almost everywhere in large quantities. The use of this 
new material being once commenced, in a remarkably short time people 
' began to employ it not only for their dwellings, but also for marking the 
divisions of lands ; and not only did they manage stones that were easily 
portable, but large blocks of extraordinary dimensions. Their walls, which 
were put together without any cement whatever, are known as Cyclopean 
constructions, and to this day they command our admiration and surprise. 
Almost all the earliest strongholds were surrounded by such walls, the 
strength and durability of which are evidenced at Tiryns, and several other 
places. Ata later period the interstices between the larger blocks were 
filled up with smaller stones, and gradually the stones were hewn square, 
and good workman-like walls, like those at Messene, were constructed. The 
entrances at this period were mostly pyramidiform, and in some we can 
trace rudiments of towers of defence. This form of construction passed 
through various phases of development into the regular bound masonry, 
or construction with rectangular blocks of stone; but for the substructure 
polygonal blocks, or rectangular ones with bevelled edges, were retained 
through almost all periods. The bound masonry was in time superseded by 
brick-work. We find, then, in ancient times the following manners of con- 
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