This is not the case with the architecture of Egypt, however, of which we possess ample remains in the shape of pyramids, temples, sepulchres, obelisks, &c. Egyptian chronology is far from certain, but the greatest of the architectural monuments of the country, the pyramids of Ghizeh, are at least as old as 2800 or 2700 B.C. The Egyptian temples had walls of great thickness and sloping on the outside from bottom to top; the roofs were flat, and composed of blocks of stone reaching from one wall or column to another. The columns were numerous, close, and very thick, generally without bases, and exhibiting great variety in the designs of their capitals. The principle of the arch, though known, was not employed for architectural purposes. Statues of enormous size, sphinxes carved in stone, and on the walls sculptures in outline of deities and animals, with innumerable hieroglyphics, are the decorative objects which belong to this style.
The earliest architectural remains of Greece are of unknown antiquity, and consist of massive walls built of huge blocks of stone. In historic times the Greeks developed an architecture of noble simplicity and dignity. The discoveries in Crete and Argolis have shown that Greek architecture owes much less than was supposed to Egyptian and Chaldæan architecture. It is considered to have attained its greatest perfection in the age of Pericles, or about 460-430 B.C. The great masters of this period were Phidias, Ictinus, Callicrates, &c. All the extant buildings are more or less in ruins. The style is characterized by beauty, harmony, and simplicity in the highest degree. Distinctive of it are what are called the orders of architecture, by which term are understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column and its superimposed entablature. The Greeks had three orders, called respectively the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. (See articles under these names.) Greek buildings were abundantly adorned with sculptures, and painting was extensively used, the details of the structures being enriched by different colours or tints. Lowness of roofs and the absence of arches were distinctive features of Greek architecture, in which, as in that of Egypt, horizontality of line is another characteristic mark. The most remarkable public edifices of the Greeks were temples, of which the most
famous is the Parthenon at Athens. Others exist in various parts of Greece as well as in Sicily, Southern Italy, Asia Minor, &c., where important Greek communities were early settled. Their theatres were semicircular on one side and square on the other, the semicircular part being usually excavated in the side of some convenient hill. This part, the auditorium, was filled with concentric seats, and might be capable of containing 20,000 spectators. A number exist in Greece, Sicily, and Asia Minor, and elsewhere. By the end of the Peloponnesian War (c. 400 B.C.) the best period of Greek architecture was over; a noble simplicity had given place to excess of ornament. After the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) the decline was still more marked.
Among the Romans there was no original development of architecture as among the Greeks, though they early took the foremost place in the construction of such works as aqueducts and sewers, the arch being in early and extensive use among this people. As a fine art, however, Roman architecture had its origin in copies of the Greek models, all the Grecian orders being introduced into Rome, and variously modified. Their number, moreover, was augmented by the addition of two new orders—the Tuscan and the Composite. The Romans became acquainted with the architecture of the Greeks soon after 200 B.C., but it was not till about two centuries later that the architecture of Rome attained (under Augustus) its greatest perfection. Among the great works now erected were temples, aqueducts, amphitheatres, magnificent villas, triumphal arches, monumental pillars, &c. The amphitheatre differed from the theatre in being a completely circular or rather elliptical building, filled on all sides with ascending seats for spectators and leaving only the central space, called the arena, for the combatants and public shows. The Coliseum is a stupendous structure of this kind. The thermæ, or baths, were vast structures in which multitudes of people could bathe at once. Magnificent tombs were often built by the wealthy. Remains of private residences are numerous, and the excavations at Pompeii in particular have thrown great light on the internal arrangements of the Roman dwelling-house. Almost all the successors of Augustus embellished Rome more or less, erected splendid palaces and temples, and adorned, like Hadrian, even the conquered countries with them. But after the period of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) Roman architecture is considered to have been on the decline. The refined and noble style of the Greeks was neglected, and there was an attempt to embellish the beautiful more and more. This decline was all the more rapid at a later time owing to the disturbed state of the Empire and the incursions of the barbarians.
In Constantinople, after its virtual separation from the Western Empire, arose a style of art and architecture which was practised by the Greek Church during the whole of the Middle Ages. This is called the Byzantine style. The church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, built by Justinian (reigned 527-565), offers the most typical specimen of the style, of which the fundamental principle was an application of the Roman arch, the dome being the most striking feature of the building. In the most typical examples the dome or cupola rests on four pendentives.
After the dismemberment of the Roman Empire the beautiful works of ancient architecture were almost entirely destroyed by the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarians in Italy, Greece, Asia, Spain, and Africa; or what was spared by them was ruined by the fanaticism of the Christians. A new style of architecture now arose, two forms of which, the Lombard and the Norman Romanesque, form important phases of art. The Lombard prevailed in North Italy and South Germany from the eighth or ninth to the thirteenth century (though the Lombard rule came to an end in 774); the Norman Romanesque flourished, especially in Normandy and England, from the eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century. The semicircular arch is the most characteristic feature of this style. With the Lombard Romanesque were combined Byzantine features, and buildings in the pure Byzantine style were also erected in Italy, as the church of St. Mark at Venice.
ARCHITECTURE
