108. 2 Chronicles xx. 5.
109. Hecateus of Abdera, in ‘Müller’s Fragments,’ ii. 394.
110. Josephus, Ant. xi. 4, § 2.
111. Josephus, B. J. v. 5, § 4.
112. Dawkins and Wood, ‘The Ruins of Palmyra,’ Lond. 1753.
113. Texier, ‘Arménie et la Perse,’ vol. i. pl. 62 and 68.
114. Texier, ‘Asie Mineure,’ pl. 10 to 21.
115. Herodotus, i. 93.
116. Lydischen Königsgräber, I. F. M. Olfers, Berlin, 1859.
117. “Toward the centre of the monument two large stones were found leaning at an angle the one against the other, and forming a sort of tent, like in Woodcut 124, under which was presently discovered a small statue of Minerva seated on a chariot with four horses, and an urn of metal filled with ashes, charcoal, and burnt bones. This urn, which is now in the possession of the Comte de Choiseul, is enriched in sculpture with a vine branch, from which is suspended bunches of grapes done with exquisite art.”—‘Description of the Plain of Troy,’ translated by Dalzel, Edin. 1791, p. 149.
If this is so, this is no doubt the vessel mentioned, ‘Iliad,’ xvi. 221, xxiii. 92; ‘Od.,’ xxiv. 71, and elsewhere. But where is it now? and why has not the fact of its existence been more insisted upon?
118. One of the most interesting facts brought to light in Dr. Schliemann’s excavations is that between the age of the “Ilium Vetus” of Homer, rich in metals and in arts, and the “Ilium Novum” of Strabo, a people ignorant of use of the metals, and using only bone and stone implements, inhabited the mound at Hissarlik which covered both these cities. This discovery is sufficient to upset the once fashionable Danish theory of the three ages—Stone, Bronze, and Iron—but, unfortunately, adds nothing to our knowledge of architecture. These people, whoever they were, built nothing, and must consequently be content to remain in the “longa nocte” of those who neglect the Master Art.
119. Fergusson’s ‘History of Indian and Eastern Architecture.’ John Murray, London 1876, page 108 et seq.
120. This tomb is considered by M. Renan (Mission de Phœnicie, Paris 1864) to be of Phœnician origin, who remarks generally on their work: “Phœnician tombs are generally excavated in the solid rock; their architecture is the carved rock without columns; they obtained all they could out of the solid rock, leaving it as they found it, with more or less attempt to make it graceful; the fact that it was worked before being transported suggests that as it left the quarry so it remained, no sound of hammer or saw being heard during its erection.” There is another tomb at Marathos also attributed to the Phœnicians, which is partly cut out of the rock and partially built in large blocks of masonry.
121. In reality the monument stands exactly over the centre of the rock-cut sepulchre. The section-line must, therefore, be understood to be carried back about 10 feet from the face of the monument.
122. Josephus, Ant. xvi. 7, § 1.
123. Beule’s excavations have proved that the outer gate of the Acropolis was in front, not at the side, as here shown. ‘Acropole d’Athènes.’ Paris, vol. i. pl. i. and ii.
124. For details of this see Bötticher, ‘Baumkultus der Hellenen.’ Berlin, 1856.
125. Pausanias, ix. 38.
126. It appears that on the back of the stones laid in horizontal courses were others of great size piled on the top.
127. The same scroll exists at New Grange in Ireland, in the Island of Gozo near Malta, and generally wherever chambered tumuli are found.
128. A cast of these is to be found in the South Kensington Museum.
129. These antæ (parastades) or responds were destined in the first case to protect the angles of the wall, and in the second case to support the beams carried by them and the columns between, the sun-dried brick wall being not to be relied on; in the later Greek temples the walls were built in stone and marble, and the parastades became therefore no longer constructional necessities, being retained only as decorative features, of which so many others are found in the style.
130. Pausanias, vi. 19.
131. The dimensions are 94 feet by 45, covering consequently only 4230 feet.
132. This refers only to the columns and antæ; the lower portion of the walls, 3 feet 6 inches high, were in stone; above this clay bricks were employed in building the walls, and it was to the disintegration of these that we owe the preservation of the Hermes of Praxiteles, which was found embedded in a thick layer of clay. At first it was thought that this clay had been washed down from the neighbouring slopes of the hill of Kronos.
133. M. J. Thacher Clarke, who directed the American expedition in 1881, is now occupied with a monograph on the subject, and a report by him was published in 1882. Boston and London. J. Trübner.
134. A proto-Ionic capital of early date was found in 1882 on the summit of Mount Chigri, in the Troad, by Mr. J. Thacher Clarke, and is described in the American Journal of Archæology, Baltimore. 1886. Another example ascribed to Phœnician artists was found at Trapeza in Cyprus, and is now in the Louvre; both are of the same type as that which is represented in the ivory carvings from the north-western palace of Nimroud, now in the British Museum, so that the Asiatic origin of the order is thus confirmed.
135. Pausanias, viii. 45.
136. Bohn.
137. [The earliest example in stone at Benihasan is of less diameter than the columns at Kalabscheh, so that it is difficult to draw this distinction; we have already shown also (p. 115 note) that wooden shafts of the twelfth dynasty have been found at Kahun, and this and the existence of the base proves their wooden origin. If therefore the Greek Doric column was derived originally from Egypt, as Mr. Fergusson believed, then its earlier wooden parentage must be accepted. Further evidence on this subject however has been afforded by the discoveries at Olympia, and the references in consequence made to Greek authors; all these show without doubt that the columns of the temple of Hera were originally in wood, and were gradually replaced by stone. The theory that the pillars in Egypt or early Greece were built in brickwork or rubble masonry is not borne out by the discoveries at Tiryns, for the walls of the palace there, in rubble and clay mortar, were of such weak construction that posts of timber were required to carry the epistyle or beam, either isolated as columns or built up against the wall as antæ.
Mr. Fergusson’s theory that a pillar, originally copied from the wooden post, is slenderer at first, and gradually departs from the wood form as the style advances, is borne out by the evidence of the Egypt lotus column; this, as found in the rock-cut tombs of Benihasan, is of very small diameter, and quite unequal to carry the weight of any stone superstructure; whereas afterwards in the temples at Thebes it assumes a proportion nearer that of the earliest Greek Doric example at Corinth.—Ed.]
138. These facts have all been fully elucidated by Mr. Penrose in his beautiful work containing the results of his researches on the Parthenon and other temples of Greece, published by the Dilettanti Society.
139. For measurements we depend on Penrose, ‘Principles of Athenian Architecture,’ &c., fol.; and Cockerell, ‘The Temples of Egina and Bassæ,’ Lond. 1860. The details of the system were first publicly announced by Watkiss Lloyd, in a paper read to the Institute of British Architects in 1859; afterwards in an appendix to Mr. Cockerell’s work, and in several minor publications.
140. The pyramid-building kings of Lower Egypt seem to have had some distinct ideas of a system of definite proportions in architectural building, and to have put it into practice in the pyramid, and possibly elsewhere, but it has not yet been sought for in the other buildings of that age.
At times I cannot help suspecting more affinity to have existed between the inhabitants of Lower Egypt and those of Greece than is at first sight apparent.
141. It was called Zoophorus (life or figure bearer).
142. [The reasons which induced the late Mr. Fergusson to suggest an “opaion,” or clerestory, were fully set forth in the ‘True Principles of Beauty in Art,’ in 1849. A paper on the same subject was communicated by him to the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1861, and published in their “Transactions” for that year. Since his death, however, Mr. Penrose’s discovery that the Temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens was really octastyle has thrown a new light on the question of hypæthral temples; and, as Dr. Dorpfield remarks in his essay on the “Hypæthral Temple” (communicated to the R. I. B. A. on Dec. 19): “The words of Vitruvius have now received quite another interpretation, through the excavation of the Olympieion at Athens, to that which they have had up to the present. The most important proof of the hypæthral lighting of the temples of antiquity has now turned into a proof against the same;” and he concludes his arguments by stating: “After it has been shown by the excavations that the Olympieion at Athens is the sole example of a great hypæthral temple mentioned by Vitruvius, we can answer this much-vexed question of the lighting of the temples of antiquity in this way—that a few great dipteral hypæthral temples existed, but that the Greek and Roman temples had as a rule no light from above, and were only lighted from the door.”—Ed.]
144. Vitruvius, lib. i. ch. 1.
145. Boeckh, Corpus Inscript. Græc. No. 109.
146. Attica, xxvi.
147. Historia, viii, 41.
148. Among the many attempts made to restore the interior of this temple, the last and most elaborate is that by the late E. Beulé, ‘Acropole d’Athènes,’ 1854, vol. ii. pl. ii.; but it is also one of the worst. Indeed it is quite painful to see how the author twists his authorities to meet a preconceived theory. Without going into it, there is one objection which seems fatal to the whole.
Like most antiquaries when in difficulties for lighting Greek temples, he takes off the roof and makes the Temple of Pandrosus an open courtyard, in which he plants the olive. This is so opposed to the whole spirit of Greek art as to be inadmissible on general grounds, but in this instance it introduces the further absurdity that the Greeks opened three windows in the west wall of the temple to light this courtyard which was already open to the sky! The mode of lighting a temple by vertical windows is so exceptional that it would not have been introduced here had any other means existed of lighting the interior, and consequently the combination shown by M. Beulé seems simply impossible.
149. “Universo Templo longitudo est ccccxxv. pedum, latitudo ccxx. Columnæ centum viginti septem a singulis regibus factæ, lx. pedum altitudine: ex iis xxxvi. cælatæ, una a Scopa.”—H. N. xxxvi. 14.
150. [Mr. Wood places two in the pronaos and two in the posticum, thus reducing the depth of the opisthodomus; beyond the pronaos he places a vestibule and omits the staircases as shown on plan 159. In 1883, Mr. Fergusson returned to the subject again, and published in the Transactions of the Institute (session 1882-83) a revised plan, to which we refer our readers.—Ed.]
151. The finial ornament is triangular in plan, and there are three scrolls on the roof with mortices in them, showing that something must have stood on them to support the projecting angles. Dolphins and various other objects have been suggested. My own conviction is that they were winged genii, most probably in bronze, and gilt like the neckings of the capitals.
152. [Dr. Dorpfield is of opinion that in the Greek theatres of the best period there was no proscenium, or raised stage, and that the actors played their parts in the orchestra on the same level as the chorus. Professor Middleton also points out that in the earliest Greek theatres built in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. the orchestra was a complete circle, the space being gradually diminished by the bringing forward of the stage.—Ed.]
153. It will not be necessary to enter here into all the details of this restoration. They will be found in a separate work published by me on the subject, to which the reader is referred. [The student should also refer to the restoration suggested by M. Pullan in the work published by him and Sir Charles Newton (‘Discoveries at Halicarnassus, 1862’). In the arrangement and design of the podium it accords better with other examples of Greek tombs than Mr. Fergusson’s. The three columns as shown at the angle of Mr. Fergusson’s peristyle would be quite repugnant to any student of Greek architecture.—Ed.]
154. Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 5.
155. The figures given in the text are all Greek feet: the difference between them and English feet, being only 11⁄4 per cent., is hardly perceptible in these dimensions, without descending to minute fractions, and disturbing the comparison with Pliny’s text.
156. The circumstance of Asoka, the Buddhist king of India B.C. 250, having formed an alliance with Megas of Cyrene for the succour of his co-religionists in the dominions of the latter, points to such a conclusion even if nothing else did.—‘Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vii. p. 261; J. R. A. S. xii. p. 223 et seq.
157. Beechy’s ‘Journey to Cyrene,’ p. 444; see also Smith and Porcher, pl. 37.
158. Vitruvius, iv. 7.
159. Dionysius, iv. 61.
160. For more detail, see ‘The True Principles of Beauty in Art,’ p. 446 et. seq.
161. The Etruscan and Roman origin of the circular temple is now known to be erroneous, as remains of large circular temples have been discovered at Epidaurus and Olympia.
162. Even in more modern times I know of no building showing a trace of these forms except the tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna. This, however, is Etruscan both in form and detail, as will be seen farther on.
163. Plin. ‘Hist.’ xxxvi. 13.
164. A diagram is given in ‘The True Principles of Beauty in Art’ p. 459, which shows at least that there is no difficulty in designing a monument in perfect accordance with the text. Whether the latter is to be depended upon or not is another matter.
165. These dimensions, with all those that follow, unless otherwise specified, are taken from Taylor and Cresy’s ‘Architectural Antiquities of Rome,’ London, 1821. They seem more to be depended upon than any others I am acquainted with.
166. These two temples, like almost all the others of Rome, have recently been renamed by the Roman or rather German antiquaries. The Jupiter Tonans is now the Temple of Saturn, and the Jupiter Stator is decreed to have been the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The names by which they are currently known has been adhered to, as the architecture is of more importance here than the archæology.
167. Laborde, ‘Monumens de la France,’ vol. i. pls. xxix. xxx. p. 68.
168. IMP. CÆS. M. AVRELIVS ANTONINVS PIVS FELIX AVG. TRIB. POTEST V. COS. PROCOS. PANTHEVM VETVSTATE CORRVPTVM CVM OMNI CVLTV RESTITVERVNT. Isabelle, ‘Édifices Circulaires,’ p. 37, pl. xii.
169. When the first edition of this work was written I believed the rotunda to have been added to the portico by Severus; and if this were so it would get over many of the difficulties arising from its size and the character of its brickwork. My personal examination, however, has forced me very unwillingly to give up this hypothesis. It certainly is, however, very astonishing that such a vault should have been attempted at so early an age.
[There seems to be some probability that Mr. Fergusson’s first belief was correct, and that the Rotunda was built by Hadrian, bricks with the stamp of his period having been found in the casing and in the bond courses in the solid concrete both of the drum and in the dome. The discovery is due to M. Chedanne, one of the “Grand Prix” students in the Villa Medici, who had selected the subject for his “Envoi de Rome,” and was allowed to superintend certain repairs and restorations which were required in the Pantheon. It would seem that the portico erected by Agrippa preceded a temple with cella of the ordinary form, the pavement of which has been found nearly seven feet below the floor of the present church. From this it follows that when the Rotunda was erected in the first half of the second century, the portico, which is undoubtedly of Agrippa’s time, must have been taken down and rebuilt on to it, and this explains Mr. Fergusson’s reasons for insisting that the portico was built on to the Rotunda. The theory as to the Pantheon forming part of Agrippa’s bath is thus disposed of. Independently of that, however, Prof. Middleton has pointed out that the discoveries made in 1882, by the removal of the block of houses at the back, showed that there was no connection whatever between the two buildings. Traces exist of the original marble lining, and of cornices which were continued round the dome, showing that originally the complete circuit was exposed to view. “Moreover,” Prof. Middleton states, “if further proof were wanting to contradict the theory that the Pantheon was over the Calidarum or Laconicum of the bath, this is supplied by the fact that there is no trace of any hypocaust under the floor, but merely an ancient drain to carry away the rain-water that fell through the opening in the dome. The Pantheon, too, is on the north side of the Thermæ—a very improbable position for the Laconicum, or hot room, which was usually placed on the sunny side of the buildings.”—Ed.]
170. The bronze plates which were removed by Pope Urban VIII. in 1626 to make cannon, and also for the great Baldachino in St. Peter’s, were taken from the portico; the coffers of the interior of the dome were decorated, according to Prof. Middleton, with mouldings in stucco painted and gilt.
171. This building is commonly called a temple, though it is not known to what deity it was dedicated. My own impression is that it was a tomb, or at least a funereal monument of some sort.
172. Owing to a misreading of Vitruvius’s statement respecting the temple it had always been classed as decastyle. See Mr. Penrose’s researches published in the ‘Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects,’ vol. iv. New Series. 1888.
173. See ‘The True Principles of Beauty in Art,’ where the reasons for this arrangement will be found stated at length. [See note on page 272.—Ed.]
174. Canina, in his restoration, shows a flat roof with coffers, so there is probably no exact authority for its form, though it seems to be generally agreed that the centre was not hypæthral.
175. This basilica is generally represented as having an apse at either end; but there is no authority whatever for this, and general analogy would lead us rather to infer that it was not the case. Prof. Middleton, however, is of opinion that an apse existed at both ends, and shows the same in his restoration of the plan of Trajan’s form.—‘The Remains of Ancient Rome,’ by J. H. Middleton, Fig. 52, vol. ii.
176. One of the pillars of this basilica remained in situ till the year 1614, when it was removed by Carlo Maderno, by order of Paul V., and re-erected in the piazza of St. M. Maggiore, where it now stands as a monumental column, supporting a statue of the Virgin. The column, with its base and capital, is as nearly as may be 60 ft. in height; the whole monument, as it now stands, 140 ft.
177. As it was sunk slightly below the pavement of the peristyle, and drains leading from it were traced by Mr. Ashpitel, it was probably hypæthral.
178. The theatres of Curio and Scaurus were in timber, except the proscenium of the latter, which was partly decorated with marble and mosaics. The Theatre of Pompey, B.C. 54, was in stone, and parts of it still exist (Prof. Middleton). The Theatre of Marcellus was begun by Julius Cæsar, but not completed till 13 B.C., when it was opened by Augustus. It was subsequently restored after a fire by Vespasian, but the purity and simplicity of the architecture, and the refinement of the details, in comparison with those of the Colosseum, 70-80 A.D., are in favour of the earlier date assigned to it. Prof. Middleton quotes another theatre, that of Cornelius Balbus (13 B.C.), built to the north-west of the Theatre of Marcellus.
179. According to Prof. Middleton the Amphitheatre of Sutrium is of Roman origin, and but little earlier than the Colosseum at Rome. “There is really no evidence,” he says (p. 76), “that amphitheatres were built by the Etruscans; and there can be little doubt that they were purely Roman inventions.”
180. At the Crystal Palace it has always been found necessary to allow 6 sq. ft. to each person.
181. Considerable difference of opinion seems to exist as to the extent of the velaria which sheltered the arena; this was supported by masts fixed outside the upper part of the walls, resting on brackets, 14 ft. below the cornice, which was cut away to allow the mast to fit close against the wall. M. Gérôme suggests, in his well-known picture of the Roman gladiators, that the velaria extended over a portion of the arena only. Prof. Middleton states, “The awning did not, as has been sometimes supposed, cover the whole amphitheatre, a thing which would have been practically impossible, owing to the enormous strain of so long a bearing, far beyond what any ropes could bear. It simply sloped down over the spectators in the cavea, leaving the whole central arena uncovered.” In case of rain, however, this might have been inconvenient, and it would not have protected the spectators from the sun, supposing that the performances lasted the whole day. Besides, there is no reason why the masts should have been carried so high above the wall, as shown in the restoration in Prof. Middleton’s book, p. 70. Mr. Alma Tadema is of opinion that the velarium extended over the whole arena, and was suspended on a principle similar to that of a suspension bridge, the ridge, or highest portion lying between the foci of the ellipse. This accounts in a much more satisfactory way for the height of the masts, and would afford facilities for the draining off of the rain on to the top of the gallery round.
182. Maffei, ‘Verona Illustrata,’ vol. vii. p. 84 et seq.
184. These baths have been carefully measured by M. Blouet, who has also published a restoration of them. This is, on the whole, certainly the best account we have of any of these establishments.
185. According to Prof. Middleton this magnificent hall appears to have been what Spartianus calls the cella soliaris, the ceiling of which he says was formed of interlaced bars of gilt bronze. When the excavations in this hall were being made, many tons of fragments of iron girders were found. These were (according to Prof. Aitchison) compound girders, formed of two T bars riveted together, and then cased in bronze. A sort of lattice-work ceiling had been formed with these bronze-cased girders, the panels being probably filled in with concrete made of light pumice-stone, worked with fine stucco reliefs, painted and gilt. Prof. Middleton is of opinion that the central part over the swimming-bath was left open for the admission of light. In the upper part of the walls deep sinkings to receive the ends of the great girders which supported the ceiling are clearly visible.
186. St. George’s Hall at Liverpool is the most exact copy in modern times of a part of these baths. The Hall itself is a reproduction both in scale and design of the central hall of Caracalla’s baths, but improved in detail and design, having five bays instead of only three. With the two courts at each end, it makes up a suite of apartments very similar to those found in the Roman examples. The whole building, however, is less than one-fourth of the size of the central mass of a Roman bath, and therefore gives but little idea of the magnificence of the whole.
187. The left-hand wing of this arch has since been restored by M. Viollet-le-Duc, and the right-hand wing cleared of the square building in front of it.
189. Professor Middleton states: “This building appears to be a nymphæum, or a part of some baths of about the time of Gallienus (263-268 A.D.).” It was known in the Middle Ages as the “Terme de Gallucio.” The site of the real Temple of Minerva Medica was discovered in 1887 (according to the same authority) between the new Via Macchiavelli and the Via Buonarroti, about 7 ft. below the present ground-level.
191. M. de Saulcy has recently attempted to prove that these tombs are those of the kings of Judah from David downwards. Their architecture is undoubtedly as late as the Christian era, and the cover of the sarcophagus which is now in the Louvre under the title of that of David is probably of the same date as these tombs, or if anything more modern.
192. ‘Voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrénaique, &c.’ Didot, Paris, 1827-29.
193. Though the dates of all these tombs at Cyrene are so uncertain, there seems little doubt that if any one thoroughly versed in the style were to visit the place, he could fix the age of all of them with approximate correctness. The one difficulty is, that a chronometric scale taken from the buildings at Rome, or even in Syria, will not suffice. Local peculiarities must be taken into account and allowed for, and this requires both time and judgment.
194. ‘Le Tombeau de la Chrétienne,’ par A. Berbrugger, Alger. 1867, from which the above particulars are taken.
195. It is understood that it too has been explored, but no account of the result has yet reached this country, and such rumours as have reached are too vague to be quoted. Even its dimensions are not known.
196. ‘De Situ Orbis,’ I. vi. p. 38. edit. Leyden, 1748.
197. For plan of same, see Prof. Middleton’s ‘Ancient Rome,’ 1891.
198. By an oversight this difference is not expressed in the woodcut.
200. These are well epitomised by Gibbon, Book xlvi. vol. v. p. 528.
201. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, ix. pl. 9. p. 476.
202. The sixth great Oriental monarchy; or the geography, history and antiquities of Parthia, &c., 1873.
203. These inscriptions were all copied by Consul Taylor, and brought home to this country. I never could learn, however, that they were translated. I feel certain they were never published, and cannot find out what has become of them.
204. These are expedients for filling up the corners of square lower storeys on which it is intended to place a circular superstructure. They somewhat resemble very large brackets or great coves placed in an angle. Examples of them are shown on page 434 when speaking of Byzantine architecture, and others will be found in the chapter on Mahomedan Architecture in India, in vol. iii.
205. These three buildings probably date as near as may be one century from each other, thus—
| Serbistan | A.D. 350 |
| Firouzabad | 450 |
| Ctesiphon | 550 |
| To which we may now add | |
| Mashita | 620 |
A bare skeleton, which it will require much time and labour to clothe with flesh and restore to life.
206. ‘The Land of Moab,’ by H. B. Tristram, M. A., &c. Murray, 1873. As all the information respecting the palace is contained in that book, pp. 195 to 215, all the illustrations here used are taken from it, it will not be necessary to refer to it again. For further information on the subject the reader is referred to that work.
207. Rich, ‘Residence in Koordistan,’ ii. 251 et seq.
208. The plan made by Dr. Tristram’s party, which is all we yet have, was only a hurried sketch, and cannot be depended upon for minute details.
209. Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pls. 214, 215.