DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7416#0131
121
plant were llicn added to it, and varied in different capitals, accord-
ing to the different meanings intended to be signified by these acces-
sary symbols. 1 The Greeks decorated it in the same manner, with
the foliage of various plants, sometimes of" the acanthus, and some-
times of the aquatic kind;? which are, however, generally so trans-
formed by their excessive attention to elegance, that it is difficult to
ascertain them. The most usual seems to be the ^Egyptian acacia,
which was probably adopted as a mystic symbol for the same
reasons as the olive ; it being equally remarkable for its powers of
reproduction.3 Theophrastus mentions a large wood of it in the
Thebais; where die olive will not grow;4 so that we may reasonably
suppose it to have been employed by the iEgyplians in the same
symbolical sense. From them the Greeks seem to have borrowed
it about the time of the Macedonian conquest; it not occurring in
any of their buildings of a much earlier date: and as for the story of
the Corinthian architect, who is said to have invented this kind of
capital from observing a thorn growing round a basket, it deserves
no credit, being fully contradicted by the buildings still remaining in
Upper /Egypt.5
tsffjoh I'k.oftO.Uf '.iio'il i'^icjo'j nyttu wmi 'ji jug ;jj>nj f.u. 03.uf.>au-ti>r>r
lo-i. The Doric column, which appears to have been the only
one known to the very ancient Greeks, was equally derived from
the nelumbo ; its capital being the same seed-vessel pressed flat,
as it appears when withered and dry; the only state, probably, in
which it had been seen in Europe. The flutes in the shaft were
1 Denon, pi. lix.and lx.
1 Sec ib. pi. lix. 1. 2. and 3. and lx. 1. 1. 3., &c.; where the originals from
which the Greeks took their Corinthian capitals plainly appear. It might
have been more properly called the /Egyptian order, as far at least as re-
lates to the form and decoration of the capitals.
3 Martin in Virg. Georg. ii. na.
5 If the choragic monument of Lysicrates was really erected in the time
of the Lysicrates to whom it is attributed, it must be of about the hundred
and eleventh Olympiad, or three hundred and thirty years before the Chris-
tian Era;; which is earlier than any oilier specimen of Corinthian architecture
known.
plant were llicn added to it, and varied in different capitals, accord-
ing to the different meanings intended to be signified by these acces-
sary symbols. 1 The Greeks decorated it in the same manner, with
the foliage of various plants, sometimes of" the acanthus, and some-
times of the aquatic kind;? which are, however, generally so trans-
formed by their excessive attention to elegance, that it is difficult to
ascertain them. The most usual seems to be the ^Egyptian acacia,
which was probably adopted as a mystic symbol for the same
reasons as the olive ; it being equally remarkable for its powers of
reproduction.3 Theophrastus mentions a large wood of it in the
Thebais; where die olive will not grow;4 so that we may reasonably
suppose it to have been employed by the iEgyplians in the same
symbolical sense. From them the Greeks seem to have borrowed
it about the time of the Macedonian conquest; it not occurring in
any of their buildings of a much earlier date: and as for the story of
the Corinthian architect, who is said to have invented this kind of
capital from observing a thorn growing round a basket, it deserves
no credit, being fully contradicted by the buildings still remaining in
Upper /Egypt.5
tsffjoh I'k.oftO.Uf '.iio'il i'^icjo'j nyttu wmi 'ji jug ;jj>nj f.u. 03.uf.>au-ti>r>r
lo-i. The Doric column, which appears to have been the only
one known to the very ancient Greeks, was equally derived from
the nelumbo ; its capital being the same seed-vessel pressed flat,
as it appears when withered and dry; the only state, probably, in
which it had been seen in Europe. The flutes in the shaft were
1 Denon, pi. lix.and lx.
1 Sec ib. pi. lix. 1. 2. and 3. and lx. 1. 1. 3., &c.; where the originals from
which the Greeks took their Corinthian capitals plainly appear. It might
have been more properly called the /Egyptian order, as far at least as re-
lates to the form and decoration of the capitals.
3 Martin in Virg. Georg. ii. na.
5 If the choragic monument of Lysicrates was really erected in the time
of the Lysicrates to whom it is attributed, it must be of about the hundred
and eleventh Olympiad, or three hundred and thirty years before the Chris-
tian Era;; which is earlier than any oilier specimen of Corinthian architecture
known.