DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9188#0080
6o
A rchitecture
Nile appears to have been founded at about the same time as
Naukratis, in both cases with the sanction and encouragement
of the Egyptian king. The earliest Doric temples in Greece,
Sicily, and Magna Graecia date from the end of the seventh
century and early part of the sixth century. The nearness of
date makes it probable that the shaft of the Doric order had
its origin in the Egyptian column seen by some quick-witted
Greek when trading in Egypt. When we come to the capital
of the column, the roles seem to be reversed, for we find
nothing in Egyptian architecture to suggest the echinus
moulding under the square abacus of the Doric column; whereas
the Mycenaean column had a rudimentary capital which may
have suggested the idea of the Doric capital. But the notable
thing about it is that when we first come across the Doric
capital in Sicily and Greece, it is already far in advance of
anything that had gone before it in Greece, and it is quite
different from the columns of Egypt. In the Doric temple
of Corinth (650-600 b.c.) the columns have already reached
the type form, the tapered shaft with its entasis or slight
convex curvature in outline, its massive solidity (the ratio is
one of diameter to four and a quarter of height), and the
bold parabolic curve of the echinus moulding under the abacus
of its cap. In this form, the Doric column was an absolutely
fresh note in architecture. Archaic though they were, these
columns at Corinth show that the Greeks were already on the
track of those refinements of form, those optical corrections
and compensations, which differentiate Greek architecture
from that of any other race. The exaggeration in the entasis
of the archaic column disappears, its tapering was diminished,
its height increased, and the overhang of the capitals reduced,
till in the Theseion (465 b.c.) and the Parthenon (450-438
b.c.) we reach the final inimitable type. The column, which
at Paestum was not much over four times the height of its
correct diameter, is now over five times, the great over-
A rchitecture
Nile appears to have been founded at about the same time as
Naukratis, in both cases with the sanction and encouragement
of the Egyptian king. The earliest Doric temples in Greece,
Sicily, and Magna Graecia date from the end of the seventh
century and early part of the sixth century. The nearness of
date makes it probable that the shaft of the Doric order had
its origin in the Egyptian column seen by some quick-witted
Greek when trading in Egypt. When we come to the capital
of the column, the roles seem to be reversed, for we find
nothing in Egyptian architecture to suggest the echinus
moulding under the square abacus of the Doric column; whereas
the Mycenaean column had a rudimentary capital which may
have suggested the idea of the Doric capital. But the notable
thing about it is that when we first come across the Doric
capital in Sicily and Greece, it is already far in advance of
anything that had gone before it in Greece, and it is quite
different from the columns of Egypt. In the Doric temple
of Corinth (650-600 b.c.) the columns have already reached
the type form, the tapered shaft with its entasis or slight
convex curvature in outline, its massive solidity (the ratio is
one of diameter to four and a quarter of height), and the
bold parabolic curve of the echinus moulding under the abacus
of its cap. In this form, the Doric column was an absolutely
fresh note in architecture. Archaic though they were, these
columns at Corinth show that the Greeks were already on the
track of those refinements of form, those optical corrections
and compensations, which differentiate Greek architecture
from that of any other race. The exaggeration in the entasis
of the archaic column disappears, its tapering was diminished,
its height increased, and the overhang of the capitals reduced,
till in the Theseion (465 b.c.) and the Parthenon (450-438
b.c.) we reach the final inimitable type. The column, which
at Paestum was not much over four times the height of its
correct diameter, is now over five times, the great over-