that the Assyrians were the first to realise and develop the possibilities of brick, both structurally and decoratively. Such portions of their important buildings as were conspicuously exposed were faced with glazed bricks of gorgeous and beautiful colours, or with tiles, often forming elaborate and highly decorative representations of legendary deities, monsters and heroes.

Subsequent architecture borrowed little from the Assyrians-certainly that of Greece had nothing in common with it. The Assyrians borrowed but little from Egypt, by reason of the differing characteristics of the two countries, racially and socially, as well as in the nature of building materials available.

Architecturally, however, the Assyrians were, without dispute, the pioneers in demonstrating the possibilities of brick as a building material—a material which, ever since, has been a distinct factor in architectural evolution and expression of other races in other lands.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF GREECE

Most architectural histories are enlivened by the disputes of archæological authorities on questions of origin. Although many of these disputes are of great interest, the present outline sketch of architectural evolution will not allow of such digressions. The study of Greek architecture, however, usually begins with the two great conflicting theories regarding the origin of its form. One contention is that the Greeks borrowed their column and lintel construction, as well as the form of their first Doric column, from Egypt. The other contention is that the Greeks, advancing in skill and ambition, simply translated into stone the forms of their own earlier wooden buildings. There is much to

support both theories. Undoubtedly there is a similarity between early Greek architectural forms and Egyptian, but with no less doubt there is a distinct analogy in the Greek temple to what we may imagine was a similar and primitive Greek building of wood.

For the present it is more important to crystallise a clear impression of what, in the main, constituted Greek architecture, than to inquire into its origin.

An understanding of Greek architecture is the first really important step in acquiring a practical understanding of the architecture of the present day, as well as of many earlier periods. To understand Greek architecture is to understand the real meaning of the several manifestations of the "Classic Revival," and the frequent architectural allusion to the "Classic Ideal."

The importance of Greek architecture in subsequent evolution cannot be over-stated. Greek architecture is, fundamentally, the basis of all modern architecture, in that from it sprang the architecture of Rome, and from that later, the architecture of the Renaissance, which permanently supplanted the Gothic idea.

In Greek architecture, furthermore, it is possible, for the first time, to perceive the origin of a multitude of architectural forms with which we are daily surrounded to-day-mouldings, ornamented motifs and the immortal "Greek orders" themselves-forms which have come down to the present day, while those of ancient Egypt and Assyria did not live beyond the confines of their lands, or after the downfall of their empires.

The Greeks evolved the "Classic Ideal" in architecture, an ideal of such purity and nobility and perfection that it has constituted the standard through the ages,

AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF THE GREEK DORIC TEMPLE (UNFINISHED) The columns here are heavy and spaced closely together. The flutings of the columns, as well as mouldings of pediment and cornice, would have been carved "in place," had the work been completed (Temple at Segesta, Sicily)

By permission of Brann & Co., New York and Paris

GREEK CARYATID FIGURES, A DETAIL OF AN IONIC TEMPLE Classic architecture, with the development of the Ionic order, began to take forms of permanent and eternal beauty

(The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum, Athens)

By permission of Braun & Co., New York and Paris

A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF ROMAN ARCHITECTURE The use of column and arch, the employment of sculpture and inscription as an adjunct to architecture-the entire composition as a whole is essentially Roman

(The Arch of Constantine, Rome)

and is to-day the fundamental of architectural design. Greek architecture, elementally, is a column-andlintel architecture, highly developed as time went on from the severest Doric orders to the most ornate Corinthian orders.

The three orders, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, are readily recognisable and easily to be distinguished (see “Architectural Terminology, Illustrated').

Regardless of the forms assumed by Greek architectural elements in later times, it is important to remember their origin. Greek forms reappeared in the period of the Renaissance, and again in the period of the Classic Revival in the Eighteenth Century, and the same forms constitute to-day the most important part of our architectural details. To possess a clear vision of Greek forms is to simplify the study of architecture and to pave the way for a subsequent recognition of other forms and other architectural ideals which came into being during later periods and in other lands.

The most notable type of Greek building was the temple, although the private dwellings of wealthy individuals claimed far more of the attention of architects and sculptors than was the case in Egypt.

Greek architecture was essentially an architecture of stone, and its character, subsequently to the Doric style, was marked by the refined application of graceful carving and co-relation of monumental statuary.

Much of the eternal excellence of Greek architecture lies in the perfection of its proportions, as well as in the refinement of its detail, which, to date, have not been improved upon.

It is important to remember that Greek architecture forms the inspiration and often the direct source of the