Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/62

 PART I. — ♦ — THE HISTORICAL STYLES. General Introduction. " Deal worthily with the History oj Architectttrc and it is worthy to take its place with the History of Law and of Language." — Fkeeman. IN introducing this Comparative treatment of Historical Archi- tecture, a general outline sketch is given of the course which the art has taken up to the present time in Europe, and also in those countries, such as Egypt and Assyria, which have influenced that developinent. Architecture may be said to include every building or structure raised by human hands, and is here defined as construction with an artistic motive : the more the latter is developed, the greater being the value of the result. The first habitations of man were undoubtedly those that nature afforded, such as caves (No. 2 h) or grottoes, which demanded little labour on his part to convert into shelters against the fury of the elements, and attacks from his fellows or wild animals. As soon as man rose above the state of rude nature, he naturally began to build more commodious habitations for him- self, and some form of temple for his god. Such early forms are given under the heading of Prehistoric Architecture. To pass, however, at once into Historic times, there prevailed in Egypt a system of architecture which consisted of a massive construction of walls and columns, in which the latter — closely spaced, short, and massive — carried lintels, which in their turn supported the flat beamed roof. In Babylonia, the develop- ment of brick construction with the consecjuent evolution of the arch and vault was due to the absence of more permanent building materials. The influence of Egyptian and Assyrian architecture on that of Greece is apparent in many directions.