Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/409

 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LYCIAN CIVILIZATION. 393 beams hangs pretty even in the carpentry work of Lycia. Here the wall-plates of the wooden frame stand out boldly at either side, whilst the roof often presents oblique and even curved pieces, which cannot be obtained except in timbers of excellent quality, handled, too, by skilful craftsmen. Again, whether the house covering is flat or a roof with double slope, instead of the small boards, slender fillets, and tenuous rods employed by the Egyptian carpenter, we invariably find large divisions such as stately oaks, many centuries old, and pines of enormous -bulk alone could furnish. Difference in the quality of the materials to hand is the chief cause why methods proceeded on different lines in the two coun- tries. If the woodwork of Lycia is distinguished by ampler and firmer shapes than that of Egypt, this, as already stated, was because it was cut in timbers of superior quality, which enabled the artisan to resolutely divide his surfaces into great divisions, whilst the frank salience of his timbers provided more accentuated effects of light and shade over the facades. The art of the carpenter is more advanced, the types he created are nobler, because they are less minute, and the eye can more readily take in the presiding lines of the construction, the skeleton frame of the structure. Our reason for having insisted on these peculiar monuments is that they naturally lead up to the manifestations of Greece in this domain, where we shall have much to say as to the way her architects constructed their timber frames. Unlike the Lycians, the idea never seems to have dawned upon them of compelling stone to reproduce wooden forms ; and yet they were placed in surroundings that recall those of their Lycian colleagues, since they had, though less plentifully perhaps, the same kinds of woods at their disposal. Consequently, when the time comes for us to reconstruct Hellenic timber- work, we shall turn to that of Lycia for more than a useful hint ; in the mean while it will aid us in re- constituting the wood-piles which upheld the esplanades of Persia.