Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/268

 236 GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. Part I. form of building miglit be carried. When backed by earth, as these were, it is evident, from the mode of construction, that they cannot be destroyed by any equable pressure exerted from the exterior. The only danger to be feared is, what is technically called a rising of the haunches ; and to avoid this it might be necessary, where large domes were attempted, to adopt a form more nearly conical than that used at Mycenai. This might be a less pleasing architectural feature, but it is constructively a better one than the form of the radiating domes we generally employ. It is certainly to be regretted that more of the decorative features of this early style have not been discovered. They differ so entirely from anything else in Greece, and are so purely Asiatic in form, that it would be exceedingly interesting to be able to restore a complete decoration of any sort. In all the parts hitherto brought to light, an Ionic-like scroll is repeated in every part and over every detail, rather rudely executed, but probably originally heightened by color. Its counterparts are found in Assyria and at Persepolis, but nowhere else in Greece. i The Pelasgic races soon learnt to adopt for their doorways the more pleasing curvilinear form with which they were already familiar from their interiors. The annexed illustration (Woodcut No. 124) from a gateway at Thoricus, in Attica, serves to show its sim- plest and earliest form ; and the illustration (Woodcut No. 127) from Assos, in Asia Minoi-, of a far more modern date, shows the most complicated form it took in ancient times. In this last instance it is merely a discharging arch, and so little fitted for the purpose to which it is ajiplied, that we can only supj)Ose that its ado]>tion arose from a strong predilection for this shajte. Another illustration of Pelasgic masonry is found at Delos (Wood- cut No. 125), consisting of a roof formed by two arch stones, at a certain angle to one another, similar to the ])lan adopted in Egypt, and is further interesting as being associated with capitals of pillars formed of the front part of bulls, as in Assyria, pointing again to the intimate connection that existed between Greece and Asia at this early period of the former's history. 124 Gateway at Thoricus. (From Dod- weU's " Greece.") ' The same scroll exists at New j near Malta, and generally wherever Grange in Ireland, in the island of Gozo | chambered tumuli are found.