DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0344
308
KOMAN ARCHITECTUKE.
Paet I.
not been that the Ptomans unsuccessfully applied to them those orders
ancl details o£ architecture which were intended only to be applied to
temples by other natiojis. In the time o£ Constantine these orders
had nearly died out, and were only subordinately used for decorative
purposes. In a little while they would have died out altogether, and
the lloman would have become a new and complete style • but, as
before remarked, this did not take place, and the most ancient orclers
therefore still remain an essential part of Eoman art. We fincl the
old orders predominating in the age of Augustus, and see them
gradually die out as we approach that o£ Constantine.
Doric.
Adopting the usual classification, the first of the Roman orders is
the Doric, which, like everything else in this style, takes a place
about half-way between the Tuscan
wooclen posts and the nobly simple orcler
of the Greeks. It no doubt was a
great improvement on the former, but
for monumental purposes infinitely
inferior to the latter. It was, however,
more manageable; ancl for forums or
courtyards, or as a three-quarter column
between arcacles, it was better adapted
than the severer Greek style, which,
when so employed, not only loses almost
all its beauty, but becomes more un-
meaning than the Roman. This fact
was apparently recognised; for there is
not, so far as is known, a single Doric
temple throughout the Roman worlcl.
It woulcl in consequence be most unfair
to institute a comparison between a
mere utilitarian prop usecl only in civil buildings ancl an orcler which
the most refined artists in the worlcl spent all their ingenuity in
renclering the most perfect, because it was devoted to the highest
religious purposes.
The adclition of an independent base macle the orcler much more
generally useful, and its adoption brought it much more into harmony
with the other two existing orders, which woulcl appear to have been
the principal object of its introcluction. The keynote of Roman
architecture was the Corinthian orcler ; and as, from the necessities of
their tall, many-storeyed buildings, the Romans were forcecl to use the
three orders together, often one over the other, it was indispensable
KOMAN ARCHITECTUKE.
Paet I.
not been that the Ptomans unsuccessfully applied to them those orders
ancl details o£ architecture which were intended only to be applied to
temples by other natiojis. In the time o£ Constantine these orders
had nearly died out, and were only subordinately used for decorative
purposes. In a little while they would have died out altogether, and
the lloman would have become a new and complete style • but, as
before remarked, this did not take place, and the most ancient orclers
therefore still remain an essential part of Eoman art. We fincl the
old orders predominating in the age of Augustus, and see them
gradually die out as we approach that o£ Constantine.
Doric.
Adopting the usual classification, the first of the Roman orders is
the Doric, which, like everything else in this style, takes a place
about half-way between the Tuscan
wooclen posts and the nobly simple orcler
of the Greeks. It no doubt was a
great improvement on the former, but
for monumental purposes infinitely
inferior to the latter. It was, however,
more manageable; ancl for forums or
courtyards, or as a three-quarter column
between arcacles, it was better adapted
than the severer Greek style, which,
when so employed, not only loses almost
all its beauty, but becomes more un-
meaning than the Roman. This fact
was apparently recognised; for there is
not, so far as is known, a single Doric
temple throughout the Roman worlcl.
It woulcl in consequence be most unfair
to institute a comparison between a
mere utilitarian prop usecl only in civil buildings ancl an orcler which
the most refined artists in the worlcl spent all their ingenuity in
renclering the most perfect, because it was devoted to the highest
religious purposes.
The adclition of an independent base macle the orcler much more
generally useful, and its adoption brought it much more into harmony
with the other two existing orders, which woulcl appear to have been
the principal object of its introcluction. The keynote of Roman
architecture was the Corinthian orcler ; and as, from the necessities of
their tall, many-storeyed buildings, the Romans were forcecl to use the
three orders together, often one over the other, it was indispensable