CiiAi'. II.

PRINCIPLES OF PROPOllTION.
g^
Corinth sent out numerous colonies from Lecha?um in the Cresce.in Gu'f, which founded
Syracuse about 760 years before Christ ; Molycrion, Chalcis, towns of MoVm
;
Salicum in
Acarnania ; Amhracia and Anactoriiun in Epirus
;
Leucadia, now the island of St.
Maura, which was formerly joined to the continent by a narrosv istlimus
;
Corcyra, on the
coast of Epirus; Epidamnus in Macedonia; ApoUonia Potidcea, with several others.
Issa, an island in the Adriatic, was peopled from Syracuse. Megara, situated between
Corinth and Athens on the Sinus Saronicu.s after it became a part of the territory of llie
HeraclidiB, sent colonies to Astaciis in Bithynia and Chalcedou, another city in that pro-
vince opposite to Byzantium, Selymbria in Thrace, and Heraclja in Pontus, celebrated
lor its naval power.
Megara also colonised Hybla in Sicily, famous for its wild thyme and honey, which
people founded Selinus. Sparta founded Tarentum iibout 700 years before Christ, whicn
at one time comprised thirteen tributary cities witiiin its
g
)vernment, and could muster
100,000 foot and :5000 horse.
From Gela, which was colonised from Lindus in the Island of Rhodes, originated
Agrigentum, a place of considerable importance at the time the Cretan Phalaris obtained
the sovereignty
;
indeed Crete and Rhodes jointly may be said to be the founders of
Agrigentum.
In following the progress of the Heraclidje along the shores of the Mediterranean to the
Pillars of Hercules, we find wherever they settled those beautiful examples of construction
in masonry which we can never be weary of admiring and studying. The temples in the
Doric style in Sicily are of great beauty, and they may be some years anterior to those now
remaining in Greece, but the difference cannot be very great : those at Syracuse and
Agrigentum were constructed from the spoils ol)tained when Iliero defeated the Carthaginian
general Hamilcar at Himera, and those at Atliens were not built till some time after the
defeat of Xerxes; but by some of the historians it is said that both battles were fought on the
same day, that whilst Hiero was obtaining his independence, the Persians were overthrown
at Salamis. Some time, however, elapsed after these victories before the Athenians and other
states of Greece which had been engaged in the war recovered their i)rosperous condition
;
and it was not until the time of Pericles, which is nearly 50 yeais after the building of the
temples at Agrigentum and Syracuse, that the restoration of the Parthenon and other
public buildings throughout Greece was undertaken. The teni])les at Selinus are said to
iiave been built when the city was founded, G'20 years before Christ, and it is asserted they
were entirely destroyed when the inhabitants deserted the city 'J50 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 years
afterwards, when Pericles governed, Ictinus com])leted the Parthenon, and probably the
temjile of Theseus. The temples at Surnum and Phygalia were also the work of that
renowned architect, and are deservedly ranked for their proportions and execution among
the most graceful productions of Greek architecture. The temple of Jupiter Panhellenius
in the Island of Egina was founded by Eaciis before the Trojan war, but the ruins we
now 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 careful
observation of the proportions of the masses, which will almost irresistibly convince us that in
temples 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 found
to 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, archit.cts, and engineers were
called forth to vie with each other in their several branches, and worknit'n of skill and in-
genuity were found to embody the suggestions of their imagination
;
and the results would
lead us to suppose that the acme of perfection was attained, for since that period none of
the productions either in sculpture or arcliitecture have equalled those of the Greeks in the
simple elegance of their design, or the excellence of their execution.
Titrastyle Porticoes with four columns exhibit the sim])lest, and perhaps the earliest,
ai)plication of the Doric order; the entire fagade is comprised within a square, the height
being divided into three portions, the upper constituting the entablature, and the
other two-thirds being divided eqtialiy between the supports and their three intercolumnia-
tions, making the latter a little more than a diameter. \Ve may imagine the square diviiied
in its height and width by 8, making altogether 64 compartments of eijual area ; the upper
8 devoted to the pediment will have, when the inclined sides are set out, a diminution of one-
iialf their area, four whole squares being rejected in those parts above the pediment, the
area of the tymi)aiium being oidy equal to four. The entire mass is thus reduced to the
area of 60 of these s()uares, which are thus dis|)osfd of; 20 are given to the supports,
or 5 cubes to each coluinn, 20 are divided between the three intercolunmiations,
and the remaining 20 constitute the load supported
;
thi- columns are 5 diameters in
beight, aJid bear no more tiian their own weight, a due liaiinony being obtained through-