1580

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ENGINEERING.

Book II.

Corinth sent out numerous colonies from Lechamm in the Creseean Gulf, which foundedSyracuse about 760 years before Christ; Molycrion, Chalcis , towns of JEolia ; Salicum inAcarnania; Ambracia and Anactorium in .Epirus ; Leucadia, now the island of St.Maura, which was formerly joined to the continent by a narrow isthmus ; Corcyra, on thecoast of Epirus ; Epidamnus in Macedonia; Apollonia Potidasa, with several others.

Issa, an island in the Adriatic, was peopled from Syracuse. Megara , situated betweenCorinth and Athens on the Sinus Saronicus, after it became a part of the territory of theHeraclidse, sent colonies to Astacus in Bithynia and Chalcedon , another city in that pro-vince opposite to Byzantium, Selymbria in Thrace , and Heraclea in Pontus, celebratedfor its naval power.

Megara also colonised Hybla in Sicily , famous for its wild thyme and honey, whichpeople founded Selnus. Sparta founded Tarentum about 700 years before Christ, whichat one time comprised thirteen tributary cities within its government, and could muster100,000 foot and 3000 horse.

From Gela, which was colonised from Lindus in the Island of Rhodes , originatedAgrigentum , a place of considerable importance at the time the Cretan Phalaris obtainedthe sovereignty; indeed Crete and Rhodes jointly may be said to be the founders ofAgrigentum .

In following the progress of the Heraclidas along the shores of the Mediterranean to thePillars of Hercules, we find wherever they settled those beautiful examples of constructionin masonry which we can never be weary of admiring and studying. The temples in theDoric style in Sicily are of great beauty, and they may be some years anterior to those nowremaining in Greece, but the difference cannot be very great: those at Syracuse andAgrigentum were constructed from the spoils obtained when Hiero defeated the Carthaginiangeneral Hamilcar at Himera, and those at Athens were not built till some time after thedefeat of Xerxes ; but by some of the historians it is said that both battles were fought on thesame day, that whilst Hiero was obtaining his independence, the Persians were overthrownat Salamis. Some time, however, elapsed after these victories before the Athenians and otherstates of Greece which had been engaged in the war recovered their prosperous condition ;and it was not until the time of Pericles , which is nearly 50 years after the building of thetemples at Agrigentum and Syracuse, that the restoration of the Parthenon and otherpublic buildings throughout Greece was undertaken. The temples at Selinus are said tohave been built when the city was founded, 620 years before Christ, and it is asserted theywere entirely destroyed when the inhabitants deserted the city 250 years after its foun-dation : could this be proved, they would rank among the first erected.

The Propylea at Athens was built by Mnesicles in the 85th Olympiad; and a few yearsafterwards, when Pericles governed, Ictinus completed the Parthenon , and probably thetemple of Theseus . The temples at Sunium and Phygalia were also the work of thatrenowned architect, and are deservedly ranked for their proportions and execution amongthe most graceful productions of Greek architecture. The temple of Jupiter Panhelleniusin the Island of Egina was founded by Eacus before the Trojan war , but the ruins wenow admire no doubt may be referred to the time of Pericles .

The source of those beautiful effects which have received the almost instinctive admi-ration of every age and country can only be traced by correct measurement, and a carefulobservation of the proportions of the masses, which will almost irresistibly convince us that intemples and fronts of porticoes one general law prevailed, and was applied to all tetrastyle,hexastyle, and octastyle arrangements, based upon the proportion of a cube. This is foundto govern most of the designs executed from the time of Pericles to the death of Alex-ander, the golden age of Greek art, when sculptors, painters, architects, and engineers werecalled forth to vie with each other in their several branches, and workmen of skill and in-genuity were found to embody the suggestions of their imagination; and the results wouldlead us to suppose that the acme of perfection was attained, for since that period none ofthe productions either in sculpture or architecture have equalled those of the Greeks in thesimple elegance of their design, or the excellence of their execution.

Tetrastyle Porticoes with four columns exhibit the simplest, and perhaps the earliest,application of the Doric order; the entire fa$ade is comprised within a square, the heightbeing divided into three portions, the upper constituting the entablature, and theother two-thirds being divided equally between the supports and their three intercolumnia-tions, making the latter a little more than a diameter. We may imagine the square dividedin its height and width by 8, making altogether 64 compartments of equal area; the upper8 devoted to the pediment will have, when the inclined sides are set out, a diminution of one-half their area, four whole squares being rejected in those parts above the pediment, thearea of the tympanum being only equal to four. The entire mass is thus reduced to thearea of 60 of these squares, which are thus disposed of; 20 are given to the supports,or 5 cubes to each column, 20 are divided between the three intercolumniations,and the remaining 20 constitute the load supported; the columns are 5 diameters inheight, and bear no more than their own weight, a due harmony being obtained through-