they imitated the real and symbolical objects used in their worship. Thas, at the temple of Apollo at Teos, the lyre, tripod, and griffin occur; in the Temple of the Winds at Athens, the winds are personified on the walls; the Choragic monument of Lysicrates exhibits the consequences of a contempt of music; on the temple of Victory, at the entrance of the Acropolis, was recorded, on the very spot, the assault and repulsion of the Amazons; the Lapitha are vanquished again in the temple of Theseus, the founder of the city; and lastly, in the Parthenon is brought before the eye, on a belt round the cell of the temple, the Panathenaic procession, which, issuing from the door of the cell, biennially perambulated the edifice, whilst its pediment perpetuates the contest between Neptune and Minerva for the honour of naming the city, and calls to remembrance the words of Cicero, " De quorum,” (Atheniensium,) " urbis possessione, propter pulchritudinem etiam inter deos certamen fuisse proditum est," &c. In the capitals of the Corinthian examples just noticed the leaves are those of the olive, a tree sacred to the tutelary goddess of Athens, and on that account as well as its beauty of form and simplicity adopted by a people whose consistency in art has never been excelled. 165. Besides the method of supporting an entablature by means of columns, the employment of figures was adopted, as in the temples of Erectheus and Minerva Polias before mentioned (see fig. 102.). They were called Caryatides; and their origin, according to the account of it by Vitruvius (lib. i. c. 1.), was that Carya, a city of Peloponnesus, having assisted the Persians against the Grecian states, the latter, when the country was freed from their invaders, turned their arms against the Caryans, captured their city, put the males to the sword, and led the women into captivity. The architects of the time, to perpetuate the ignominy of the people, substituted statues of these women for columns in their porticoes, faithfully copying their ornaments and drapery. It is, however, certain that the origin of their application for architectural purposes is of far higher antiquity than the invasion of Greece by the Persians, and in the above account Vitruvius is not corroborated by any other writer. Herodotus (Polymnia), indeed, observes that some of the states whom he enumerates sent the required offering of salt and water to Xerxes; but no mention is made of Carya, whose conduct, if punished in such an extraordinary manner, would have been too curious a matter to have been passed over in silence. Whether the use of statues to perform the office of columns travelled into Greece from India or from Egypt, we will not pretend to determine. Both, however, will furnish examples of their application. In the latter country we find them employed in the tomb of King Osymandyas (Diodorus, tom. i. f. 56. Wesseling). Diodorus also, speaking of Psammeticus, says that having obtained the whole kingdom, he built a propylæum on the east side of the temple to the god at Memphis, which temple he encircled with a wall; and in this propylæum, instead of columns, substituted colossal statues (KоλOTTOùs vñoστíσas) twelve cubits in height. 166. The application of statues and representations of animals is a prominent feature in the architecture of Egypt, whereof the temple at Ipsambool is a striking example, though in that the figures do not absolutely carry the entablature (see fig. 71.). In India many instances of this use of statues occur, as in the excavations of the temple near Vellore described by Sir C. Mallet (Asiat. Res. vol. vi.), wherein heads of lions, elephants, and imaginary animals apparently support the roof of the cave of Jugnath Subba; and at Elephanta, where colossal statues are ranged along the sides as high as the underside of the entablature (see fig. 39.). But as the settlement of the claims of either of these countries to the invention is not our object, we shall proceed to consider how they obtained in Greece the name that has been applied to them long before the period of which Vitruvius speaks. 167. Kapúa, the nut tree (Nux juglans), which Plutarch (Sympos. lib. ii.) says received its name from its effect (kápos, sopor) on the senses, was that into which Bacchus, after cohabitation with her, transformed Carya, one of the three daughters of Dion, king of Laconia, by his wife Iphitea. The other daughters, Orphe and Lyco, were turned into stones for having too closely watched their sister's intercourse with the lover. Diana, from whom the Lacedemonians learnt this story, was on that account, as well perhaps as the excellence of the fruit of the tree, therefore worshipped by them under the name of Diana Caryatis. (Servius, note on 8th Ecl. of Virgil, edit. Burman.) Another account, however, not at all affecting the hypothesis, is given of the name of Diana Caryatis in one of the old commentators of Statius (Barthius, lib. iv. v. 225.). It is as follows. Some virgins threatened with danger whilst celebrating the rites of the goddess, took refuge under the branches of a nut tree (kapva), in honour and perpetuation whereof they raised a temple to Diana Caryatis. If this, however, be an allusion to the famous interposition of Aristomenes in protecting some Spartan virgins taken by his soldiers, it is not quite borne out by the words of Diodorus. Salmasius (Exercit. Plinianæ, f. 603. et seq.) says, that Diana was worshipped at Carya, near Sparta, under the name of Diana Caryatis; and that at her temple and statue the Lacedemonian virgins had an anniversary festival, with dancing, according to the custom of the country. 168. But to return more closely to the subject, we will give the words of Pausanias (Luco nics) on the temple to the goddess at Carya. "The third turning to the right leads to Carya, and the sanctuary of Diana; for the neighbourhood of Carya is sacred to that goddess and her nymphs. The statue of Diana Caryatis is in the open air; and in this place the Lace. demonian virgins celebrate an anniversary festival with the old custom of the dance." Kuhnius on the passage in question, after reference to Hesychius, says, "Caryatides etiam dicuntur Lacænæ saltantes, sinistrà ansatæ, uti solebant Caryatides puellæ in honorem Diana." 169. From the circumstances above mentioned, we think it may be fairly concluded that the statues called Caryatides were originally applied to or used about the temples of Diana; and that instead of representing captives or persons in a state of ignominy, they were in fact representations of the virgins engaged in the worship of that goddess. It is probable that after their first introduction other figures, in buildings appropriated to other divinities, were gradually employed; as in the Pandroseum (attached to the temple of Minerva Polias), Fig. 104. Fig. 105. for instance, where they may be representations of the virgins called Canephora, who assisted in the Panathenaic procession. Fig. 104. is a representation of one of those used in the Pandroseum (see also fig. 102.); and fig. 105. is from the Townley collection, now in the British Museum. Piranesi conjectured that this last, with others, supported the entablature of an ancient Roman building restored by him from some fragments found near the spot where they were discovered, which is rather more than a mile beyond the Capo di Bove, near Rome. Four of the statues were found; and on one of the three, purchased by Cardinal Albani, the following inscription was found: :- ΚΡΙΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ EПOIOTN; showing that it was the work of Greek artists. 170. The republican spirit of Greece tended to repress all appearance of luxury in their private dwellings. The people seem to have thrown all their power into the splendour and magnificence of their temples; and it was not till a late period that their houses received much attention. Except in the open courts of them, it is difficult to conceive any application of the orders. It is certain that they frequently consisted of more than one story; but beyond this all is conjecture. In the time of Demosthenes (Orat. adv. Aristocratem) the private houses had begun to be increased in extent; and the description of them by Vitruvius, who knew Athens well, proves that they were then erected on an extent implying vast luxury. 171. Within the last few years discoveries have been made at Athens, which would lead us to the belief that it was the practice of the Greeks to paint in party colours every portion of their temples, and that in violently contrasted colours. This has received the name of polychrome architecture. It is rather strange that no ancient writer has spoken of the practice, and the only way to account for the omission is by supposing it to have been so common that no one thought of mentioning it. From late investigations (Inst. of Brit. Architects, Trans. i., 1836.), it appears that many parts of the Parthenon were painted or gilt. Thus the coffers of the ceiling were painted, and its frieze ornamented with a fret in colours. The whole building, says M. Schaubert, as well as other temples, was thickly painted, in the metopæ, in the pediment, on the drapery of the figures, on the capitals, and on all the mouldings. So that, as he says, with great simplicity, with its mouldings and carvings variously coloured, the simple Doric temple of Theseus was in effect richer than the most gorgeous example of Corinthian; and it would be worth the trouble to restore with accuracy a polychrome temple. From M. Quast (Mittheilungen über Alt und Neu Athen, Berlin, 1834), we learn that the colour was not used in a fluid state merely for the purpose of staining the marble, but in a thick coat, so that the material was completely covered; and that in the temple of Theseus this is more traceable than in any other. Though the colours, that of blue smalt more especially, have left but a grey crust, yet their original tone is still apparent. In this building deep blues and reds are the predominant colours, so as to relieve one another. The corona was deep blue, and the guttæ of a brown red; the foliage of the cymatium was alternately streaked with blue and red, the ground being green, which colour is applied to the small leaves on some of the lesser mouldings. Some of the coffers are coloured of a red inclining to purple, on which the ornament is given; others exhibit a blue ground, with red stars. The architrave of the portico was a bright red; the figures in the frieze were painted in their proper natural colours: traces of the colour show that the walls were green. It was not discovered that in the columns more than the arrises of the flutes were painted, although the echinus was. We do not doubt the accuracy of MM. Semper and Quast, later writers on the same subject, but after all it is possible that all this painting may have been executed at a period much later than that of the buildings themselves. 172. The most ancient theatres of Greece were constructed in a temporary manner; but the little security from accident they afforded to a large concourse of persons soon made the Greeks more cautious for their security, and led to edifices of stone, which, in the end, ex eceded in magnitude all their other buildings. Their form on the plan (see fig. 106.) was rather more than a semicircle, and consisted of two parts; the σknvh, scena, and KoλOP, cuvea The scena was at first merely a partition for the actors reaching quite across the stage, dressed with boughs and leaves, but in after times was very differently and more expensively constructed. It had three principal gates, two on the sides and one in the centre; at which last the principal characters entered. The whole scene was divided into several parts, whereof the most remarkable were-the Bpovredov, brontaum, under the floor, where were deposited vessels full of stones and other materials for imitating the sound of thunder; the IOKÝVLOV, episcenium, a place on the top of the scene, in which were placed the machines for changing the various figures and prospects; the rараσкnviov, parascenium, which served the actors as a dressing room; the Tроσкhvov, proscenium, or stage, on which the performers acted; the opxhorpa, orchestra, was the part in which the performers danced and sang, in the middle whereof was the λογέιον or θυμέλη, pulpitum ; the υποσκήνιον, hyposcenium, was a partition under the pulpitum, where the music was placed; the Koiλov, cavea, was for the reception of the spectators, and consisted of two or three divisions of several seats, each rising above one another, the lowest division being appropriated to persons of rank and magistrates, the middle one to the commonalty, and the upper one to the women. Round the cavea porticoes were erected for shelter in rainy weather, the theatre of the Greeks having no roof or covering. The theatre was always dedicated to Bacchus and Venus, the deities of sports and pleasures; to the former, indeed, it is said they owe their origin: hence, the plays acted in them were called Atovvotaka, Dionysiuca, as belonging to Alovvoos, or Bacchus. Every citizen shared by right in the public diversion and public debate; the theatre was therefore open to the whole community. 173. The Athenian ayopal, or foru, were numerous; but the two most celebrated were the old and new forum. The old forum was in the Ceramicus within the city. The assemblies of the people were held in it, but its principal use was as a market, in which to every trade was assigned a particular portion. 174. The supply of water at Athens was chiefly from wells, aqueducts being scarcely known there before the time of the Romans. Some of these wells were dug at the public expense, others by private persons. 175. The first gymnasia are said to have been erected in Lacedemonia, but were afterwards much improved and extended, and became common throughout Greece. The gymnasium consisted of a number of buildings united in one enclosure, whereto large numbers resorted for different purposes. In it the philosophers, rhetoricians, and professors of all the other sciences, delivered their lectures; in it also the wrestlers and dancers practised and exercised; all which, from its space, they were enabled to do without interfering with one another. The chief parts (fig. 107.), following Vitruvius (lib. v. cap. 11.), are. -A, the Teporvalov, peristylium, which included the o paipiorpiov, sphæristerium, and raλaíorpa, palestra; 1, 2, 3, are the Toal, porticus, with BB, eedpai, exhedra, where probably the scholars used to meet; 4, 4, is the double portico looking to the south; c, ephalov, epkabeum, where the ephebi or youths exercised, or, as some say, where those that designed to exercise met and agreed what kind of exercise they should contend in, and what should be the victor's reward; n, is the coryceum; E, the KoviσThρLov, conisterium, where the dust was kept for sprinkling those that had been anointed; F is the cold bath (frigida lavatio); G, the exaιo Beσiov, elæothesium, or place for anointing those that were about to wrestle; H, the frigidarium, oi cold chamber; 1, passage to the propigneum, or furnace; L, the propigneum; M, the arched sudatio, for sweating; N, the laconicum; o, the hot bath (calida lavatio); 5, 7, the two porticoes described as out of the palastra, of which 7 forms the xystus, and 6 a double portico; a a, the margines, or semite of the xystus, to separate the spectators from the wrestlers; bb, the middle part excavated two steps, cc, down; QQ, gardens; dd, walks; e e, stutiones for seats; R R, Voтa, xysta, sometimes called περίδρομιδες, fur walking or exercises; s, the stadium, with raised seats round it. 176. The roofs of the edifices of Athens vary from 14 to 15 degrees in inclination, a subject which will be hereafter fully considered, when we come to investigate the principles of constructing roofs. In Rome, as will hereafter be seen, the inclination is much more. There is nothing to war. rant us in a belief that the arch was known to the Greeks till after the age of Alexander. Indeed, the want of a name for it in a language so generally copious as the Greek, suffices to show that they were unacquainted with it. It was most probably in much earlier use in Italy. The words Soxos, apis, and yaxis, are not used in a sense that signifies an arch until after the reign of the above-named monarch; nor is any description extant from which may be conceived the construction of an arch on scientific principles. 177. From the time of Pericles to that of Alexander, all the arts, and most especially that of architecture, seem to have attained a high state of perfection. Every moral and physical cause had concurred in so advancing them. But perfection, when once reached in the works of man, is only the commencement of their falling away from it. Liberty, the love of country, ambition in every department of life, had made Athens the focus of the arts and sciences: the defeat of the Persians at Marathon and other celebrated victories had brought peace to the whole of the states of Greece. In the space of time preceding the Peloponnesian war, there seems to have been, as it were, an explosion of every species of talent, and it was at this period that they set about rebuilding the temples and other edifices that the Persians had thrown down, of which a wise policy had preserved the ruins, so that the contemplation of desolation and misfortune afforded them an eloquent reminiscence of the peril in which they continually stood. It was indeed only after the flight of the general of Xerxes, and the victory gained by Themistocles, that a general restoration of their monuments and the rebuilding of Athens were set about. These were the true trophies of the battle of Salamis. About 335 years B. c. Alexander became master of Greece. Fired with every species of glory, and jealous of leaving to posterity monuments that should be unworthy of his greatness and fame, or other than proofs of the refinement of his taste, this prince gave a new impulse to genius by the exclusive choice that he made of the most skilful artists, and by the liberal rewards he bestowed upon them. The sacking of Corinth by the Romans in less than two centuries (about 146 B.C.) was the first disaster that the fine arts encountered in Greece; their overthrow there was soon afterwards completed by the country becoming a Roman province. At the former occurrence Polybius (cited by Stralo) says, that during the plunder the Roman soldiers were seen casting their dice on the celebrated picture of Bacchus by Aristides. Juvenal well describes such a scene (Satire xi. 100.): — Tunc rudis et Graias mirari nescius artes, The well-known story of the consul Mummius shows either that the higher ranks among the Roman citizens were not very much enlightened on the arts, or that he was a singular block head. We have now arrived at the period at which Greece was despoiled and Rome enriched, and must pursue the history of the art among the Romans; incidental to which a short digression will be necessary on Etruscan architecture. SECT. XII. ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE. 178. The inhabitants of Etruria, a country of Italy, now called Tuscany, are supposed to have been a colony from Greece. They certainly may have been a swarm from the original hive (see Druidical, Celtic, 13.; and Cyclopean Architecture, 32.) that passed through Greece in their way to Italy. The few remains of their buildings still existing show, from their construction, that they are coeval with the walls of Tiryns, Mycenæ (figs. 9. and 10.), and other works of a very early age; and it is our own opinion that the wandering from that great central nation, of which we have already so much spoken, was as likely to conduct the Etrurians at once to the spot on which they settled, as to bring them through Greece to the place of their settlement. It is equally our opinion that, so far from the country whereof we now treat having received their arts from the Greeks, it is quite as possible, and even likely, that the Greeks may have received their arts from the Etruscans. The history of Etruria, if we consult the different writers who have mentioned it, is such a mass of contradiction and obscurity, that there is no sure guide for us. It seems to be a moving picture of constant emigration and re-emigration between the inhabitants of Greece and Italy. The only point upon which we can surely rest is, that there were many ancient relations between the two countries, and that in after times the dominion of the Etruscans extended to that part of Italy which, when it became occupied by Grecian colonies, took the name of Magna Græcia. The continual intercourse between the two countries lessens our surprise at the great similarity in their mythology, in their religious tenets, and in their early works of art. We are quite aware that the learned Lanzi was of opinion ( Saggio di Lingua Etrusca), that the Etruscans were not the most ancient people of Italy. We are not about to dispute that point. He draws his conclusion from language; we draw our own from a comparison of the masonry employed in both nations, from the remains whereof we should, if there be a difference, assign the earliest date to that of Hetruria. This, to be sure, leaves open the question whether the country was preoccupied; one which, for our purpose, it is not necessary to settle. We have Winkelman and Guarnacci on our side, who from medals and coins arrived at the belief that among the Etruscans the arts were more advanced at a very early age than among the Greeks; and Dr. Clarke's reasoning tends to prove for them a Phoenician origin. ❝ ve 179. Great solidity of construction is the prominent feature in Etruscan architecture. Their cities were surrounded by walls consisting of enormous blocks of stone, and usually very high. Remains of them are still to be seen at Volterra (fig. 108.), Cortona, Fiesole (fig. 109.), &c. "Monibus," says Alberti (De Re Edific. lib. vii. c. 2.) terum præsertim populi Etruriæ quadratum eumdemque vastissimum lapidem probavêre." In the walls of Cortona some of the stones are upwards of 22 Roman feet in length, and from 5 to 6 ft. high, and in them neither cramps nor cement appear to have been employed. The walls of Volterra are built after the same gigantic fashion. In the earliest specimens of walling, the blocks of stone were of an irregular polygonal form, and so disposed as that all their sides were in close contact with one another. Of this species is the wall at Cora, near Velletri. The gates were very simple, and built of stones of an oblong square form. The gate of Hercules, at Volterra, is an arch consisting of nineteen stones; a Fig. 108. WALL AT VOLTERRA. Fig. 109. WALL AT FIKSOLE |