ARCHITECTURE. 57 
by the Romans, and as late as 260 a. p. it is mentioned as an important city. 
It is therefore very probable that the monuments at Palmyra belong to the 
second and third centuries B. c. 
Baalbec was also founded by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18), and called 
Baalath. In the year 59 a. p. when Crassus plundered the Temple of the 
Sun it was a renowned building, and Baalbec existed still in its full splendor 
under Augustus, when it was called Julia Augusta. Herodotus mentions 
the columns at Baalbec as surpassing all other known columns in height, 
and since the buildings still standing are of a more recent date, it is probable 
that he refers to the building of which we suppose the single Tuscan 
column to be a remnant. The magnificent structures of Baalbec must, 
however, have existed for centuries before the incursions of the Romans, 
for if they had built them their historians would have chronicled the fact. 
But the proof that the monuments in Syria were built by native architects, 
and that their style was original and not copied from Roman patterns, can 
be furnished architectonically as well as historically, and in our account of 
the Roman Monuments we shall moreover prove that the Romans never 
had any original style of architecture of their own. Our arguments for the 
originality of the Syriac monuments are the following: 1. All temples of the 
Greeks and Romans had the entrance on the shorter side; the Temple of the 
Sun at Palmyra had it on the long side. 2. All Roman temples are but slightly 
longer than broad; those at Palmyra and Baalbec had a length of more than 
double their breadth. 3. The ornaments on the friezes, &c., in Syria are so 
peculiar as to vary materially from the Roman, and contain mystic emblems 
belonging to an ante-Roman period; for instance, the personification of 
Baal and winged genii, which do not occur on any Grecian or Roman 
building of that period. 4. The abaci of all the Corinthian capitals of 
Palmyra have truncated corners, whilst in all the buildings erected during 
the reign of Hadrian we find sharp-pointed corners on the abacus ; after the 
conquest of Syria by Pompey Roman buildings show also the truncated 
abacus, which must therefore have been introduced from Syria. 5. The 
same may be said with regard to the modillions in the cornice, which do 
not occur in Roman buildings until after the conquest of Syria. 6. The 
Syriac columns are generally higher than the Grecian or Roman. 7. The 
grandeur of the Syriac monuments so far surpasses that of the Roman that 
the 846 columns of Baalbee and the 2000 and more of Palmyra (of from 
492-70 feet in height) would have sufficed to furnish all the known public 
buildings of ancient Rome. How insignificant does not the largest Roman tem- 
ple appear in comparison with the smaller temple of Baalbec? Can it be 
supposed that the Romans should have erected such edifices in a foreign 
country in preference to their own capital? 8. The rich ornaments on the 
windew-frames, door-jambs and lintels, and the small round or triangular 
gables over windows and doors, do not occur in Roman buildings until after 
the conquest of Syria, where they had then existed for centuries in the 
wealthy city of Tyre. And finally, the placing of statues on consoles 
attached to the shafts of columns was not introduced either in Greece or in 
Rome until after that period. 
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