Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/269

 Bk. III. Ch. I. PELASGIC ART. 237 ^*^^ In all these instances it does not seem to have been so much want of knowledge that led these early builders to adopt the horizontal in preference to the radi- -^ ^.-j^^ ating principle, as a _ ^J;^' :^*rr=^ conviction of its great- er durability, as well, ])erhaps, as a certain predilection for an ancient mode. In the construction of their walls they ad- hered, as a mere matter of taste, to forms which they must have known to be inferior to others. In the example, for in- stance of a wall in the ^"^* ArchatDelos. (From S^tuart's "Athens.") Peloponnesus (Woodcut No, 1-6), we find the polygonal masoni-y of an earlier age actually placed upon as perfect a specimen built in regular courses, or what is technically called ashlar work, as any to be found in Greece ; and on the other side of the o-atewav at Assos (Woodcut No. 127) there exists a semicircular arch, shown by the dotted lines, which is constructed horizon- tally, and could only have been copied from a radiating arch. Their city walls are chiefly remarkable for the size of the blocks of stone used, and for the beauty with which their irregular joints and courses are fitted into one another. Like most fortifications, they are generallv devoid of ornament, the only architectural features being the openings. These are interesting, as showing the steps by which a peculiar form of masonry was perfected, and which, in after ages, led to important architectural results. One of the most primitive of these buildings is a nameless ruin existing near Missolonghi (Woodcut No. 128). In it the sides of the opening are straight for the whole height, and, though making a very stable form of opening, it is one to which it is extremely diflicult to fit doors, or to close by any known means. It was this difl[iculty that led to the next expedient adopted of inserting a lintel at a certain height, and making the jambs more perpendicular below, and more sloping above. This method is already exemplified in the tomb of Atreus 126. Wall in Peloponnesus. (From Blouet's " Voyage en Grfece.")