صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

HEXASTYLE—having a front range of six columns: the Parthenon is ectastyle-i. e. with eight columns in front.

HYPETHRAL without a roof, and open to the sky, as part of the cella of a temple sometimes was.

METOPE-the interval between the Doric triglyphs.

OPISTHODOMOS, or POSTICUM-the chamber behind the cella, often used as a treasury.

ORCHESTRA-a circular level space, corresponding somewhat in position to the pit of a modern theatre; but anciently set apart for the chorus.

PEDIMENT, OF FASTIGIUM-the triangular termination of the roof of a temple, resting upon the entablature which surrounds the building, and enclosing the tympanum.

PEBIBOLUS-the wall or colonnade surrounding the temenos, or close, in which a temple usually stood.

PERIPTERAL-having columns all round the cella.

PERISTYLE-the walk round the outside of the edifice between the columns and the wall.

PILASTER-a square engaged pillar; i. e. attached to a wall.

PORTICO (σTod)-the covered space in front of the cella. The term portico was sometimes applied to any walk covered with a roof and supported by columns, whether attached to a temple or not.

POSTICUM-the inner porch within the peristyle of a temple, before the door of the Opisthodomus, usually placed towards the west.

PRECINCTIONES-the landings, or gangways, which separated and gave access to the ranges of seats in theatres.

PRONAOS-the porch at the entrance of the Naós, opposite the Posticum. SOFFIT a wrought surface that can be seen from below.

STYLOBATE-The basis or substructure on which a colonnade is placed. TETRASTYLE-having a front range of four columns.

TRIGLYPH (piyλupos)—the distinguishing ornament of the Doric entablature, being a tablet fluted with upright grooves.

TYMPANUM-the surface framed within the pediment; so called by the Latins from its analogy to the skin in the frame of a drum; and aerós by the Greeks, probably because the tympanum of the earliest temples dedieated to Jupiter was usually ornamented by an eagle in relief.

VOLUTE the Ionic scroll; a characteristic of the Ionic, as the Triglyph is of the Doric order.

VOMITORIA-passages facilitating egress from a theatre (a Latin term). The three orders of Grecian architecture are, as we have seen,

1. The Doric, the eldest, the most simple, and the most dignified of all. A shaft of massive proportions, without a base, crowned with the simplest of capitals and the heaviest of abaci, supports an entablature massive like itself, and composed of a very few bold members. The great characteristic the triglyphs, originally the ends of the cross-beams appearing through the entablature. The grave simplicity and Eschylean majesty of a Drie temple admirably expresses the mind of the race among whom it riginated. "The Doric character," as Müller observes, "created the Doric architecture."

2. The Ionic order retains the impress of the refinement and delicacy of the Jonians among whom it arose. It is the flowing liquid dialect of Herodotus, as compared with the broad strength of a Spartan inscription. The great characteristic of the Ionic pillar is the volutes, or spiral project at each angle of the capital; said to have been suggested by the erling down of bark at the top of the wooden column of primitive ages. The pillar is furnished with a base in both the Ionic and the Corinthian

orders. Colonel Leake has made the important observation, that of the two early forms of Grecian architecture, the Ionic was usually employed for buildings on a level surrounded with hills; whereas the massive and majestic Doric was best displayed on a lofty rock. The columns of the Doric temple at Nemea, situated in a narrow plain, have proportions not less slender than some examples of the Ionic. It was, in fact, situation that determined the Greeks in all the varieties of their architecture. "So far," says Leake, "from being the slaves of rule, there are no two examples of the Doric, much less of the Ionic, that perfectly resemble each other either in proportion, construction, or ornament."

3. The Corinthian, the third and last of the Grecian orders, with its tall slender columns, its elaborate cornice, and, above all, with its chief characteristic-its highly-wrought capitals-is the direct opposite of the original Doric. "Here," says Mr. Freeman, "the utmost lightness of proportion and the most florid gorgeousness of detail have utterly banished the sterner graces of the elder architecture; so completely had commerce, and the wealth and luxury which attended it, changed the spirit of the famous city whose name it bears, since the days when her two harbours were first added to the conquests of the invading Dorian."

According to Vitruvius, the inventor of the Corinthian order was Callimachus, who was accidentally struck by seeing some leaves entwining round a basket, and embodied the idea in the exquisite capitals "with many a woven acanthus-leaf divine"-a legend too graceful to be omitted. "We must remember," again to quote Mr. Freeman (History of Architecture;' London, 1849), "that the Grecian orders do not, like the styles of Gothic architecture, each represent the exclusive architecture of a single period. The invention of new forms did not exclude the use of the elder ones; and the three orders were employed simultaneously. Consequently there were many cases in which the architect who adopted the stern grandeur of the Doric order chose it in actual preference to the elegant Tonic and florid Corinthian, which were in contemporary use."

[ocr errors]

With regard to this part of our subject, we cannot do better than refer the reader to Mr. Fergusson's excellent Handbook of Architecture;' the chapters in Mr. Freeman's work which relate to Grecian architecture; and to the dissertation on the history of Greek Art by Mr. Scharf, junior, prefixed to the last edition of Dr. Wordsworth's 'Greece.' Respecting the vexed question as to whether the true principle of the arch was known or not to the ancient Greeks, Mr. Scharf decides in the affirmative; and we shall have occasion to mention some examples of its use in the course of the following pages.

III. A full and yet concise account of the arrangements and component parts of the Greek Temple, Theatre, &c., will be found under the proper heads in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.' The traveller will do well to refresh his memory by an attentive perusal of these articles before leaving England. Greece is pre-eminently the country to justify Dr. Johnson's famous remark, that if a man wishes to bring back knowledge from his travels, he must take a good deal of knowledge with him when he sets out. The alphabetical list of technical terms given above will supply the most requisite practical information.

The Temple is of course the most important and characteristic form of Hellenic architecture. "Other Grecian remains, however interesting as matters of archaeology, throw but little light upon architecture. The magnificent propylæa of Athens are simply a Doric portico, differing in no essential respect from those forming the fronts of the temples. The vast theatres, whether constructed or hewn in the rock, teach us no new lesson,

and can hardly be called works of architecture in the strictest sense.

Still

less can we look for domestic architecture among the Greeks; it was an art not likely to be cultivated among a people who looked with envy on any individual display of magnificence as betokening designs against their liberties."-Freeman.

There is a wide, and, as yet, comparatively unexplored, field of study in Greece for the professional or amateur architect, in the examination of the monuments of the Byzantine style. Mr. Fergusson (Handbook of Architecture,' book x. chap. i.) shows that the term Byzantine is properly restricted to the architecture of the Greek Church as it arose under Justinian, and continued, down to the 16th or 17th century, to be practised in all the Christian countries of the East. It may be briefly described as the domical or vaulted style of Asia engrafted on the Roman architecture. For the divisions, &c., of Byzantine Churches, see below, m.

1. OUTLINE OF GREEK HISTORY.

A short Sketch of the Modern History of Greece - Latin Princes - Turkish Conquest - Mode of Government by the Turks- the Klephts - Armatoles - Popular Poetry-Insurrection of 1770-Progress of Education Rhigas-Coray — Capodistria—the Hetairia-Ali Pasha - War of Independence - Battle of Navarino - General Reflections.

Though frequent reference will be made, under their separate heads, to the annals of her more famous cities and localities, it would, of course, be foreign to the plan of this work to give a systematic account of the ancient History of Greece. A brief outline of her modern History is, however, requisite, as far less familiar to the general reader or traveller, but still indispensable to a right understanding of the present condition of the ecuntry and people.

During the three centuries which preceded the reign of Alexander the Great, Greece exhibited one of the most splendid and active scenes of social and political existence which the world has ever witnessed. Legislation, military science, and diplomacy are, in a great measure, indebted for their origin to this golden age of Hellas; while at the same period all the arts which embellish the life and adorn the mind of man attained a degree of perfection which has never since been surpassed. Two centuries succeeded, during which the energy which had so long animated the rival states gradually died away, for the independence of Greece was controlled by the Macedonian kings. The year 146 B.C. witnessed the last faint struggle of Grorian freedom against the still mightier power of Rome. Reduced to the condition of a province, Greece followed the fortunes of her conqueror-she became the theatre of the contests with Antiochus and Mithridates, and of Le fierce strife of the civil wars; and then fell upon her that devastation of her cities and depopulation of her territory from which she has never yet recovered. The tranquillity of the first two centuries of the empire was clared by Greece along with the rest of the Roman world; but in the succeeding ages she was deluged with successive streams of Slavonians, Albanians, and other invaders from the north. These barbarians have left deep traces of their presence in the names of places, as well as in the language and blood of the Greeks.

In the partition of the Roman world by Constantine, Greece fell to the thare of the Eastern empire. When, in A.D. 1204, the decrepitude of the Cesars sank prostrate before the fleet of Dandolo, and a small army of Latin crusaders, a portion of the sea-coasts, and nearly all the islands, were seized upon by Venice; while Northern Greece and the Peloponnesus [Greece.]

с

were shared out among adventurers from Western Europe. Hellas now heard of Lords of Argos and Corinth, Dukes of Athens, and other titles, strange to classic ears, but some of which have been rendered familiar to Englishmen by the genius of Shakspeare. Castles, churches, and other edifices as well as various names of places-still remain to attest the conquests in Greece of these nobles of the West. Though the Latin empire in Constantinople lasted only fifty-seven years, the Latin princes generally retained their principalities, as vassals of the restored Byzantine Emperors, until the whole of Greece was finally reduced under the sway of the Ottomans about the middle of the fifteenth century. Venice still retained her hold on Crete, on some other of the islands, and on various portions of the coast, and bore during several ages the chief brunt of the Moslem arms. Towards the end of the seventeenth century she lost Crete, and gained, for a short time, the Peloponnesus; but, after the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718 A.D., her flag floated on the Ionian Islands alone, save on the following isolated posts on the neighbouring mainland, Butrinto, Gomenitza, Parga, Prevesa, and Vonitza. (See Introduction to Section I.)

Using the rights of conquest after the fashion of the Normans in England, the Turks had everywhere, except in the Cyclades, in which they did not settle, seized on the greater part of the most fertile lands. Under the title of Agas, a word corresponding to country gentlemen, they formed the landlord class of Greece; while the Rayahs, as the Turks style their nonMussulman subjects, usually farmed the territories of their proud masters on what is called the Metayer system. A poll-tax, named Kharatch (i.e. salvation), was paid annually by each Christian for permission to live and to practise his religion; “death or tribute from unbelievers" being the glad tidings of the prophet. Corvées, frequent extortions, and the rapacity of the Turkish Governors, kept them in a state of misery; the justice administered by the Mahommedan Cadis, or judges, was often venal and partial; the personal, the domestic, and the national honour of Greeks were daily exposed to outrage from the fanatical Turks. The mainland of Greece, like the rest of the Ottoman empire, was divided into separate governments, each presided over by a Pasha. With the exception of Crete, in which the Mahommedans formed about a third of the whole population, and which was always administered in the same way as the Continent-the Islands, generally, were left to their own local administrations: the Capitanpasha, or High Admiral, was their Governor-General, and periodically sailed round to collect the taxes, and to procure a regular supply of seamen for the Imperial navy.

The Greeks, however, were not wholly devoid of landed property; for the Church, whose hierarchy was sometimes, from motives of policy, rather courted than persecuted by the conquerors, retained a part of its ancient possessions, as did also the descendants of certain Christian families; these latter, with those who had raised themselves to wealth by commercial enterprise, formed the native gentry. Under Turkish supervision and control, all influence was in their hands and in those of the higher clergy; they, like the head men of villages in India, regulated the local affairs of the districts in which they resided. By the Turks, they were styled Khoja-bashis (literally, old heads), and by the Greeks, Archons ("Apxovtes), or Primates (ПpocoTo). Themselves the slaves of their Ottoman masters, the characters of these men too often exhibited as well the vices generated by servitude as those by the exercise of despotic power; they adopted many Turkish customs; and the oppression which they exercised over their own countrymen was sometimes little less galling than that of the Turkish functionaries. The mountaineers on the continent, and the Agean islanders of all classes, being less exposed than their brethren to the hateful influence of tyranny

and slavery, were, in general, of a character superior to that of their less favoured countrymen. For an account of the Phanariots, or Constantihopolitan Greeks, we refer to the Handbook for Constantinople.

The mountain-ridges which occupy so large a portion of the surface of Hellas have been in all ages the seat of a wild and rude independence. The Mainotes, as the clans inhabiting the fastnesses of Taygetus in the Peloponnesus are named, were never completely reduced under the Turkish yoke; the same was the case with the dwellers on the precipitous ranges of Ossa, Olympus, and Pindus. Like the Scotch Highlanders of old, these mountaineers infested the inhabitants of the neighbouring plains and valleys by their constant depredations; and the appropriate appellation given to them was that of Klephts (Kλéprai, corrupted from KATTα), or Robbers, But it is to be remembered, that to be a Klepht in Greece under the old Turkish régime was no more considered a disgrace than to be a pirate in the days of Homer, to be an outlaw in the time of Robin Hood, or a "gentleman-cateran" in the Highlands of Scotland a hundred and seventy Jars ago. On the contrary, the Klephtic chieftains were looked upon with favour and admiration by the mass of their Christian fellow-countrymen, as their only avengers on their Mahommedan oppressors, or, at worst, as merely spoilers of the Egyptians. They were the popular heroes,— Hercules and Theseus of modern Greece: in the worst of times they kept alive some sparks of the old Greek spirit; and their exploits formed the chief subject of the national ballads which were sung through the country by the wandering minstrels, the descendants of the bards and rhapsodists of ancient Hellas. (See Fauriel's Chants populaires de la Grece.) "So," it has been observed, "the English peasants sympathized entirely seven hundred years ago, and still do partly sympathize, with those gallant outlaws who retired from Norman tyranny to the depths of the forests, where they found 'no enemy but winter and rough weather.' A captain of Greek Klephts used to reason like Roderick Dhu, in the Lady of the Lake,

'Pent in this fortress of the North,
Think'st thou we will not sally forth
To spoil the spoiler as we may,

And from the robber rend the prey?""

These robbers of Greece were no vulgar or indiscriminate plunderers. The Turkish Agas were the chief objects of their assaults, though their necessities obliged them at times to levy contributions also on their own empatriots. In the passes of Pindus, at the beginning of the present century, there flourished a Robin Hood, with a Greek priest-a Friar Tuck -in his band. This ecclesiastic used to take up a position in an old hollow ak, and his comrades, on catching a prisoner, were wont to bring him before this Dodona, when a dialogue to the following purport ensued:— Robber-Captain.-"O holy oak, what shall we do with this captive of our bow and spear?"

Oracle.

--

"Is he a Christian believer, or an infidel dog?" Robber-Captain.-"O holy tree, he is a Christian believer."

Oracle. Then bid our brother pass on his way, after exchanging the kiss of love, and dedicating his purse to relieve the wants of his poorer brethren."

But if the captive were a Mussulman, the answer of the Oracle was decisive: "Hang the unbeliever to my sacred branches, and confiscate all that he hath to the service of the true Church and her faithful children."

It is a proof of the estimation in which the Klephts were held by their Countrymen, that the patriotic or national, in contradistinction from the

« السابقةمتابعة »