ARCHITECTURE. 
a building as a basement. In the buildings 
of the Greeks pedestals never obtained : 
the columns of their temples generally stood 
on the uppermost of three steps ; indeed 
there is no existing example with any other 
number than three, except the temple of 
Theseus at Athens, which had only two, 
and was supposed to have been erected to 
an interior deity : whatever innovations 
took place, were after Greece lost its inde- 
pendence. The Romans in many of their 
temples and other edifices, raised the floors 
so veiy high, that they were under the ne- 
cessity of discontinuing the front stairs, 
which otherwise would have been found 
inconvenient, in occupying too much ground 
around the edifice ; and of adopting a pe- 
destal, or podium, as a basement ; which 
was raised as high as the stair, and pro- 
jected to the front of the steps which pro- 
filed on the sides of the pedestal. 
It is remarkable that Vitruvius, in treat- 
ing of the Doric, Corinthian, and Tuscan 
orders, never mentions a pedestal ; and in 
treating of the Ionic, he only speaks of it 
as a necessary part of the construction, and 
not as part of the order : several modern 
writers are also of this opinion. 
It must be confessed, wherever pedestals 
are introduced, the grandeur of the order 
is diminished, as ail the parts are propor- 
tionably less ; however there are some si- 
tuations in which they are indispensably 
necessary, as in the interior of churches, 
where, if they were omitted, the beauty of 
the columns would be entirely lost, as so 
great a portion of them would be concealed 
by the pews. The proportions of pedestals 
in the ancient Roman buildings are very 
variable ; modern authors however, have 
thought proper to bring them to a standard 
ratio, which Vignola makes one third of the 
height of the column ; but as this propor- 
tion oppeared to make them too high, Sir 
William Chambers reduced it to three- 
tenths ; these ratios, however, might vary as 
particular circumstances might require. The 
parts of pedestals may be thus propor- 
tioned : divide the height into nine equal 
parts, give one to the cornice, two to the 
base, and six to the die. The plan of the 
die is the same as that of the plinth of the 
column ; the projection of the cornice may 
be equal to its height: the base may be 
divided into three parts, giving two to the 
plinth, and one to the mouldings ; which in 
most cases may project equal to their height. 
These proportions are common to all pe- 
destals. It is sometimes customary to 
adorn file dies of pedestals with sunk pan- 
nels, surrounded with mouldings : the pan- 
nels are frequently charged with has reliefs 
or inscriptions. Projecting tablets should 
never be admitted, as they are not only 
clumsy, but confuse the contour. The dies 
of the pedestals of the arches of Septimius 
Severus and Constantine have straight- 
headed niches with statues. Pedestals 
should never be insulated, though the co- 
lumns which stand upon them were insulat- 
ed. In file theatres and amphitheatres of 
the ancients pedestals were used in all the 
superior orders, while the inferior order 
stood upon steps. They were employed 
for the purpose of forming a parapet for the 
spectators to lean over, and for raising the 
base of the superior order so high, as to be 
seen upon a near approach to the building. 
In these situations the pedestals were made 
uo higher than to prevent accidents. When 
pedestals are continued with breaks under 
the columns, or pilasters in ancient build- 
ings ; the breaks were called stylohgta:; 
and file recess between every two styloba- 
te, the podium, which had the same parts 
disposed at the same levels as the stylo- 
bat®. 
Arcades. An arcade is an aperture in a 
wall with an arched head ; which term is 
also sometimes applied in the plural num- 
ber to a range of apertures with arched 
heads. When an aperture is so large that it 
cannot be lintelled, it then becomes neces- 
sary to arch it over. Arcades are not so 
magnificent as colonades, but they are 
stronger, more solid, and less expensive. 
In arcades the utmost care should be taken 
of the piers, that they be sufficiently strong 
to resist the pressure of the arches, particu- 
larly those at the extremes. The Romans 
employed them in their triumphal arches, 
and many other buildings. Arcades may- 
be used with propriety in the gates of cities, 
of palaces, of gardens, and of parks ; they 
are much employed in the piazzas, or squares 
of Italian cities ; and in general are of great 
use, in affording both shade and shelter in 
hot and rainy climates ; but, on the con- 
trary, they are a great nuisance to the in- 
habitants, as they darken their apartments, 
and serve to harbour idle and noisy vaga- 
bonds. Lofty arcades may be employed 
with great propriety in the courts of pa- 
laces, and noblemen’s houses. There are 
various ways of decorating the piers of ar- 
cades, as with rustics, columns, pilasters, 
caryatides, persians, or terms surmounted 
with appropriate entablatures ; and some- 
