Entirely independent of foreign sources, yet resem- bling the Indo-Chinese styles in its forms, is the Mex- ican style, especially in ils temples (Theoealles), whose form is pyramidal, and of which remarkable remains are yet to be found in Testchuakan, Papantla, Eholu- la, etc.
4. Grecian and Roman.— Greek architecture lacks the size, the majestic grandeur, the long vistas, and the symbolism of the Egyptian, but excels it in free- dom of treatment, and in perfection of proportion and execution of detail. It received nearly all its ele- ments from Egypt and Assyria, but moulded them
ARCHITECTURE
375
ARCHITECTURE
into an original and native style, and influenced pow- erfully the architecture of the Roman and all subse- quent styles. It is marked unequally by two great periods, the heroic and the historic. The heroic period extends from the first immigration of the Greek branch of the Greco-Italic division of the Indo-Germanic fam- ily into Greece and Asia Minor, to about the fall of Troy (1100 B.C.). The works of this period were mostly fortifications or palaces. The walls were built at first of massive, irregular, untrimmed stones (as at Tiryns, Fig. 1), or of irregular but trimmed stones (as at Argos, Fig. 2), and later of stones laid in broken
Early Grecian Walla. 1. At Tiryns. 2. Citadel of Argos.
ranges, as in the treasure-house of Atreus at Mycenae. The stones were laid (as was the case till the latest period of Grecian architecture) without mortar, and these massive walls are often termed Cyclopean. In the historic period appeared at first two distinct styles among the two great branches of the Greek people, the Doric and the Ionic. The Doric elements were most- ly derived from Egypt, and the Ionic from Assyria.
The Doric order is the most ancient, and is marked by the characteristics of the people from whom it de- rives its name. It is simple, massive, and majestic. The column is characterized by the absence of a base, by the thickness and rapid diminution of the shaft,
and b}' the simplicity and massiveness of the capital. In the entablature, the architrave is in one surface and quite plain. The frieze is ornamented by tri- glyphs, so called from the three flat bands into which they are divided lrv the intervening channels ; while the metopes, or the vacant spaces between the tri- glyphs, are also adorned with sculptures in high re- lief. The cornice projects far, and on its under side arc cut several sets of drops, called mutules. Its prin- cipal specimens are the temples at Corinth (Greece), Girgenti (in Sicily), Paestum (in Italy), at .Kgina (Greece), and the Theseum, Parthenon, and Propylffl- um (at Athens).
The Ionic order is distinguished by simple grace- fulness, and by a far richer style of ornament than the
ARCHITECTURE
376
ARCHITECTURE
Doric. The shaft of the column is much more slender, and rests upon a base, while the capital is adorned by spiral volutes. The architrave is in three faces, each slightly projecting beyond the lower ; there is a small cornice between the architrave and the frieze, and all three members of the entablature are more or less or- namented with mouldings. The Ionic order was used mostly in temples and theatres. Its finest example is the Erechtheum in the Acropolis.
The Corinthian order is only a later form of the Ionic, and belongs to a period subsequent to that of the pure Grecian style. It is especially characterized by its beautiful capital, which is said to have been sug- gested to the mind of the celebrated sculptor Callima- chus by the sight of a basket, covered by a tile, and overgrown by the leaves of an acanthus, on which it had accidentally been placed. The earliest known example of its use throughout a building is in the monument of Lysicrates, commonly called the Lantern of Demosthenes, which was built in B.C. 335.
In Italy we find at first the Etruscan or Tuscan style partaking of the Greek style of the Heroic period, but inclining afterward to the Doric. The temples were built on a quadrangle, the columns Doric, but weak, smooth, with a plinth below the basis, and stand- ing wide apart. The framework was mostly of wood. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus at Rome was built in that style, of which no specimens now remain, with the exception of a few tombs, such as the Cucumella of Volsci, the so-called tomb of the Horatii near Rome, that of Porsenna near Chiusi, etc. Roman architec- ture brought forth temples and palaces worthy of a nation which claimed the dominion of the world ; among them the most celebrated were the Forum, Basilica, Curias, etc. ; and the triumphal arches (e. g. of Titus, Septimius Severus, Constantine, at Rome ; Augustus, at Rimini; Trajan, at Ancona and Bene- vento, etc.), together with amphitheatres, circuses, and baths. These monuments were mostly in the Co- rinthian style, but on a gigantic scale. Their chief characteristic, however, was the union of the horizon-
'aliife.
tal, or Greek style of building, with the Etruscan arch, the result of which was cylindrical vaults, cupo- las, and semi-cupolas, This style was introduced by tl>>' Romans in all their European and Asiatic posses- sions ; but in the 3d century it fell into a, state of tawdry
splendor (as in the temples of Palmyra and Baalltek), losing its characteristic features, as well as its original beauty and elegance. See Baalbek ; Tadmor.