ARCHITECTURE. It was formerly common to claim for the Hebrews the invention of scien tific architecture ; and to allege that classical anti quity was indebted to the Temple of Solomon for the principles and many of the details of the art. A statement so strange, and even preposterous, would scarcely seem to demand attention at the present day ; but as it is still occasionally repro duced, and as some respectable old authorities can be cited in its favour, it cannot be passed alto gether in silence. The question belongs properly, however, to another head. [TEMPLE.] It may here suffice to remark that temples previously existed in Egypt, Babylon, Syria, and Phoenicia, from which the classical ancients were far more likely to borrow the ideas which they embodied in new and beautiful combinations of their own.
There has never in fact been any people for whom a peculiar style of architecture could with less pro bability be claimed than for the Israelites. On leaving Egypt they could only be acquainted with Egyptian art. On entering Canaan they necessaril y occupied the buildings of which they had dispos sessed the previous inhabitants ; and the succeeding generations would naturally erect such buildings as the country previously contained. The architecture of Palestine, and as such, eventually that of the Jews, had doubtless its own characteristics, by which it was suited to the climate and condition of the country; and in the course of time many im provements would no doubt arise from the causes which usually operate in producing change in any practical art. From the want of historical data and from the total absence of architectural remains, the degree in which these causes operated in im parting a peculiar character to the Jewish architec ture cannot now be determined; for the oldest ruins in the country do not ascend beyond the period of the Roman domination. It does, how
ever, seem probable that among the Hebrews architecture was always kept within the limits of a mechanical craft, and never rose to the rank of a fine art. Their usual dwelling-houses differed little from those of other Eastern nations, and we no where find anything indicative of exterior embellish ment. Splendid edifices, such as the palace of David and the Temple of Solomon, were completed by the assistance of Phoenician artists (2 Sam. v.
; 1 Kings v. 6, 18 ; 1 Chron. xiv. i). After the Babylonish exile, the assistance of such foreigners was likewise resorted to for the restora tion of the Temple (Ezra iii. 7). From the time of the Maccabman dynasty, the Greek taste began to gain ground, especially under the Herodian princes (who seem to have been possessed with a sort of mania for building), and was shewn in the structut e and embellishment of many towns, baths, colonnades, theatres and castles ( Joseph, Antiq. xv. 8, I • xv. 19, 4; xv. to, 3 ; De Bell. yud. i. 13, 8). The Phoenician style, which seems to have had some affinity with the Egyptian, was not, however, superseded by the Grecian ; and even as late as the Mishna (Bova Bathra, iii. 6), we read of Tyrian windows, Tyrian porches, etc. [HousE.] With regard to the instruments used by builders —besides the more common, such as the axe, saw, etc., we find incidental mention of the ruIrm or compass, the 11,JN or plumb-line (Amos vii. 7). the 1p or measuring-line (see the several words), Winer'sBiblischesReal-wortenbuck,art.`Baukunst ;' Stieglitz's Geschichte der Baukunst der Alten, 1792 ; Hirt's Gesch. des Bank. bei der Allen; SchmidesBibl. Bellermann's Hand buds, etc., Ewald, Gesch. iii. 1. p. 27. —J. K.