starting-point was the timber structure. But an ideal conception cannot find expression in a material so easily destroyed by fire, and a glance at Egypt, whose monuments bid defiance alike to time and to the influence of the elements, must have induced the Greeks to erect the symbol of their state-existence, the temple of the pro tecting Deity, of more durable materials.
The Greeks had derived from the Pelasgi the independent existence of the individual cities as distinct states, but the necessity of opposing union against greater foreign powers compelled them to encourage the spirit of federation, and common sanctuaries at once gave expression to this requirement and cemented the federated bodies. But this federation sprang always from their regard for independence and freedom. Rivalry must have been an important incentive, and to it and to the force of the sentiment of race-independence we owe the parallel developments of two distinct cycles of forms.
Pausanias relates that he saw at Olympia structures of wood which said to be the remains of an older temple of the same material. In the market of the city of Elis he also saw a temple-like building the ceil ing of which was borne by oaken columns, and was reputed to be the tomb of the chief Oxylos, who lcd the Dorians into the Peloponnesus. The Sanctuary of Poseidon Hippios was of oak, and the Emperor Ha drian erected a monumental temple around it. Pliny tells of an ancient Temple of Hera at Metapontutn, in Lower Italy, the columns of which were of vine-wood.
reaches also into high antiquity. We will omi, description of remarkable remains which perhaps belong to the Pelasgic period, as the columns which were found in the Sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia on the Acropolis of Athens, the octangular columns of the Temple of Apollo Thearios at Trcezen, and the columns of the Sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis near the village of Bolimnos, between Laconia and Messenia, because the time of their execution is unknown. We will also omit the pyramids which were erected in Greece, and which may be cited as testimony of the influence of Egyptian art over that of ancient Greece, as such works give no clue to the origin of details, and belong more prob ably to the flourishing period of Pelasgian art than to the era of the devel opment of Hellenic architecture.
Doric oldest Doric temple is said to be that of Hera at Olympia. This had a peristyle, and also, besides the cella itself, an antechamber and a rear hall, which again opened between two columns into the peristyle; one of the two columns of the rear hall was of wood. Though built soon after the Doric immigration, this yet exhibits the com plete perfection of the Doric temple in its arrangement, which, as it is not based on Pelasgian models, was probably that which was applied to temples by the Doriaus in their ancient home, and was by them brought to Greece.
The temple-façade upon the vase of Klitias and Ergotimos, preserved at Florence (t/. 6, fig. 14), may be considered the oldest Grecian mon ument extant; but we must not forget that the painter probably did not intend to give a correct representation in our modern sense. To a sim ilarly early age belongs the temple at Assos, and also that of Corinth, of which seven columns and a portion of the architrave are still preserved, and reveal to us the severe-proportions of the Doric cycle of forms per fectly developed.
Before we follow the history of Greek architecture further it is essen tial to present the characteristics of the temple in general and those of the two form-cycles in detail.
Characteristics of is entirely enclosed by a wall. The temple itself stands upon a substructure of three or more stages, each of which is too high for a step; so that they are ascended by a flight of steps both in the front and in the rear. Upon this substructure rises the rectangular temple, the transverse breadth of which equals the half of the length, while both ends or the entire circuit are furnished with a row of columns which support the massive blocks that form the entablatures. The roof of the colonnade itself was borne by stone lintels, which rested on one side on the entablature of the colonnade, on the other on the walls of the cella, and between these lintels the roof was formed of thin slabs. The cella, or sanctuary, had no windows, and obtained light either through the opened door only or through an aper ture in the roof. In front of the cella was an antechamber, or promos, and behind it usually a rear hall, or posEicum. The roof at both extrem ities ended in a gable. Some temples which have an entrance-hall with two columns, but no surrounding colonnade (p/. 6, figs. 1o, 14), are called cedes in antis. Those surrounded by a colonnade (figs. 3, 5, 6, 7) were called peripteros; if there were two rows of columns, they were called cliperos. When a single row of columns occupied a double width, so that the plan was similar to that of the dipteros, the arrangement was called pselidothperos. When a portion of the cella was parted off at the rear (fig. this separated part was called the The cella con tained the image of the god, which, together with a small sacrificial altar and the sacred gifts, was elevated upon a throne at its rear extremity. In the proiiaos stood a shell with holy water, with which each worshipper, as he entered bearing an offering or a sacrifice, sprinkled himself as a sign of the inward purification. The postieum was the receptacle for the golden ornaments and precious objects of the public treasure, as well as for the sacred utensils reserved for great festivals.