Tower

TOWER, the term given to a lofty building originally de signed for defence, hence, any structure whose height is its most important dimension, whether isolated or forming part of another building. The two earliest uses of lofty buildings were military and religious; in the one case constructed to give a raised plat form from which a defending force could advantageously dis charge missiles upon an attacking force, at the same time remain ing protected from it ; in the other case, always in connection with sun, moon or star worship, apparently in the effort to raise the worshipper or the priest as near heaven as possible.

Military.

The Mesopotamian peoples seem to have built the first highly developed masonry towered fortifications. Thus on a tablet in the lap of the famous statue of Gudea, the king of Lagash (c. 2700 B.C.), now in the Louvre, there is a representa tion of a fort with towers and gates. The Egyptians used towers less frequently, but certain remains exist in which the Asian type appears and the palace pavilion of Amenhotep at Medinet Abu has projecting towers of Assyrian type. The Greek world made a less definite use of towers. In Roman times, however, towers formed an integral part of every developed fortification, and were especially important on the city walls, as can be seen in many examples, especially at Pompeii and in the wall of Aurelian at Rome. In Constantinople successive emperors merely followed Roman tradition and the existing ruins of the walls originally built by Theodosius reveal many analogies to similar Roman work, with their boldly projecting, square, battlemented towers. Towers with curved fronts are also occasionally found, especially in connection with gates (q.v.).

In the mediaeval period, from the i3th century on, the military tower received its greatest development, which found expression in such city walls as those of Aigues Mortes and Carcassonne, both dating largely from the latter part of the 13th century; and in such châteaux as Coucy (13th century) or Pierrefonds (15th century). The greatest development of the defensive tower was through its use as the keep (q.v.) or donjon (q.v.), such as the mediaeval White Tower of the Tower of London (11th century) or the famous round tower of Coucy. It is probably from this use of the tower as a keep that the word occurs often in house names in England, such as Houghton Tower. Meanwhile, in many important towns in mediaeval Italy noble families each tried to have its own tower as a place of refuge in time of fac tional strife. These towers were extremely high and often isolated, with only a small entrance and a few small openings.

In the Near East, the great towers of the fortifications built on either side of the Bosporus at Rumeli Hissar and Anatol Hissar, during the siege of the city (middle 15th century) are still landmarks. In China great masonry towers crown each gate of a city wall, topped with garrison buildings that give much addi tional height ; towers of a simpler and strangely European type form the most conspicuous features of the famous Great Wall of China.

With the appearance of firearms, and particularly of large cannon, the use of towers as fortifications practically vanished. (See FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT.) Religious.—Towers built for religious purposes appear in an early developed form in the Chaldean ziggurats (q.v.)—the great stepped pyramids, with stairs or inclined planes connecting the levels, and an open terrace with an altar or a shrine at the top, which were attached to nearly every Chaldean and Assyrian tem ple. Similar high buildings, the so-called pyramids, were fre quently associated with temples in ancient Mexico and Central America. The early Persians seem also to have used raised plat forms on small towers in connection with their fire worship. In the classic world towers do not appear as important religious buildings, and it was not until the 8th century, and probably with the wide introduction of bells that they came to be associated with churches. (See CAMPANILE.) By the end of the 11th century the use of church towers was almost universal. In France the earliest examples are placed at the crossing of nave and transepts, often taking the form of a lantern in several stages or levels, with a pyramidal top. In England, on the other hand, a position at the west end of the nave had become common during the Saxon period, as at Earl's Barton and Barnack. In the Norman period central towers became usual as well as towers flanking the main entrance. Particularly pic turesque were the grouped towers common in the Rhineland as in the 12th century churches of Mainz and Speyer. Romanesque tower design was generally simple. Shallow corner buttresses were occasionally found, but the main effect was gained by a succession of storeys of arcaded windows; arcaded cornices or corbelled (bracketed) cornices were much used. Interesting ex amples of Romanesque towers are: S. Front, Perigueux; Loches; S. Pierre, Vienne; S. Paul, Issoire; the cathedral at Le Puy en Velay; and S. Germain des Pres, Paris, all of the 12th century, in France. In England, the west towers of Durham cathedral (lower part 1128, upper part 1220) ; the central tower at Tewkes bury (c. 1125) and the 12th century church at Castor are note worthy.