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Article FREEMASONRY AMONG THE ANCIENTS. Page 1 of 3 →
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Freemasonry Among The Ancients.
FREEMASONRY AMONG TTTF . ANCIENTS
THE DIONYSIAN ARTIFICERS . TUB coincidences between these ancient artists and Freemasons are so curious , and the points of resemblance so numerous and striking , that the fact of their having been Masons does not admit of a moment ' s hesitation . It is easy to perceive that the nature of the subject , aud the mystery m which the matter must have been necessarily involved , totally preclude the possibility of strict
a logical demonstration , in the unavoidable absence of which , recourse must be had to analogy , ivhich in the present instance is so complete and exact , as to satisfy the mind of every calm and dispassionate inquirer , and the force of which has been so great , as to compel even the uncandid and disingenuous Robison to acknowledge that Freemasonry has sprang from the Dionysian artists- " . Little do the traveller and virtuoso thinkwhile they contemplate with
, wonder and deli ght the splendid and venerable ruins of those ma-mificent _ structures in which ancient Ionia abounds , that those unrivalled specimens of elegance and taste owe their origin to the ingenuity and skill of obscure , reviled , and persecuted Freemasons . Startling though
tne assertion may appear , slow to believe , and unvvilling to acknowledge it , though the classical scholar and the man of taste maybe , yet the fact is unquestionable that the chaste and elegant architecture of ancient Greece , the Doric and Ionic orders , together ivith the art of sculpture in marble , are traceable to the same source . The elegant and ingenious author of the History of Ancient Greece expressly ascribes the origin of Grecian architecture to the Dionysian artistst , and if we can satisfy the minds of readers of
our our identity with these , the above position is fully borne out . In order to show this , it ivill be necessary to enter briefly into the history of these artists . The imuaiamt -r-x . virai , as they are called by Aulus Gellius-j : , were a body of architects and engineers who were employed m the erection of temples , theatres , and stadia , and after the Ionic mi gration exclusively possessed this privilege in Asia Mmor § . This celebrated migration took lace about 1000 B at
p . C , a time when the Greeks had already attained a hi gh degree of perfection , and made a very considerable progress in the arts and sciences . These , together with their sacred mysteries , the emigrants carried with them into Asia , where , after some years , the arts flourished with a prosperity unequalled , and an elegance of conception and execution that far surpassed the productions of the mother country II . They supplied Ionia
anu tne countries as far as the Hellespont ivith theatrical apparatus by contract , and built the magnificent temple of Bacchus at Zeos , the remains of which were engraved at the expense of the society of Dilletanti , and published with its history in the Ionian AntiquitiesIT They were very numerous , according to Strabo , in Asia Minor , Syria , Persia , and India , and it is highly probable that they were employed with the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry Among The Ancients.
FREEMASONRY AMONG TTTF . ANCIENTS
THE DIONYSIAN ARTIFICERS . TUB coincidences between these ancient artists and Freemasons are so curious , and the points of resemblance so numerous and striking , that the fact of their having been Masons does not admit of a moment ' s hesitation . It is easy to perceive that the nature of the subject , aud the mystery m which the matter must have been necessarily involved , totally preclude the possibility of strict
a logical demonstration , in the unavoidable absence of which , recourse must be had to analogy , ivhich in the present instance is so complete and exact , as to satisfy the mind of every calm and dispassionate inquirer , and the force of which has been so great , as to compel even the uncandid and disingenuous Robison to acknowledge that Freemasonry has sprang from the Dionysian artists- " . Little do the traveller and virtuoso thinkwhile they contemplate with
, wonder and deli ght the splendid and venerable ruins of those ma-mificent _ structures in which ancient Ionia abounds , that those unrivalled specimens of elegance and taste owe their origin to the ingenuity and skill of obscure , reviled , and persecuted Freemasons . Startling though
tne assertion may appear , slow to believe , and unvvilling to acknowledge it , though the classical scholar and the man of taste maybe , yet the fact is unquestionable that the chaste and elegant architecture of ancient Greece , the Doric and Ionic orders , together ivith the art of sculpture in marble , are traceable to the same source . The elegant and ingenious author of the History of Ancient Greece expressly ascribes the origin of Grecian architecture to the Dionysian artistst , and if we can satisfy the minds of readers of
our our identity with these , the above position is fully borne out . In order to show this , it ivill be necessary to enter briefly into the history of these artists . The imuaiamt -r-x . virai , as they are called by Aulus Gellius-j : , were a body of architects and engineers who were employed m the erection of temples , theatres , and stadia , and after the Ionic mi gration exclusively possessed this privilege in Asia Mmor § . This celebrated migration took lace about 1000 B at
p . C , a time when the Greeks had already attained a hi gh degree of perfection , and made a very considerable progress in the arts and sciences . These , together with their sacred mysteries , the emigrants carried with them into Asia , where , after some years , the arts flourished with a prosperity unequalled , and an elegance of conception and execution that far surpassed the productions of the mother country II . They supplied Ionia
anu tne countries as far as the Hellespont ivith theatrical apparatus by contract , and built the magnificent temple of Bacchus at Zeos , the remains of which were engraved at the expense of the society of Dilletanti , and published with its history in the Ionian AntiquitiesIT They were very numerous , according to Strabo , in Asia Minor , Syria , Persia , and India , and it is highly probable that they were employed with the