Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/103

 mmci 14. GREEK ARCHITECTURE. " Fair Greece ! sad relic of departed worth ! Immortal, though no more ; though fallen, great I " — Byron. " And downward thence to latest days The heritage of beauty fell ; And Grecian forms and Grecian lays Prolonged their humanising spell. Till when new worlds for man to win The Atlantic riven waves disclose, The wildernesses there begin To blossom with the Grecian rose."— Lord Houghton. I. INFLUENCES. i. Geographical. — A reference to the map of Greece (No. 14) shows a country surrounded on three sides by the sea, possessed of many natural harbours, and convenient for the development of trade. By means of these havens the Phoenician merchants in early times carried on commerce with the country. The influence of the sea in fostering national activity should not be forgotten — an influence to which Great Britain owes her present position. Again, the mountainous character of the country, with scarcely a road until Roman times, was calculated to isolate the inhabitants into small groups, and together with the tempting proximity of a whole multitude of islands, was instrumental in producing a hardy and adventurous people, who might be expected to make good colonists. ii. Geological. — In Greece the principal mineral product was marble, the most monumental building material in existence, and one which favours purity of line and refinement in detail. This material is found in gieat abundance in various parts of Greece, e.g., in the mountains of Hymettus and Pentelicus, a few miles