The Corinthian Order; Or, The Three Grand Pillars.

I do not object to the use of the Three Grand Pillars or their being called Doric , Iouic and Corinthian , because under whatever name originally known , their origin or their types can be traced long anterior to the era of Solomon , ( about B . C .

1000 ) and although they may not have reached perfection until long after Solomon ' s time they existed , although in perhaps a ruder form before that . The boy is father to the man , so was the early Egyptian and Assyrian or Asiatic architecture

to the Grecian . The Greeks copying altered more or less in accordance with their own ideal genius . Mr . Ferguson says , "Any one acquainted with

the artistic forms of Egypt and Assyria ,, will not find it difficult to discover the origin of almost every idea , and of every architectural feature that was afterwards found in Greece . The Doric must be allowed to be copied from

structures , such as , or similar to the rock cut tombs of Beni Hassan , ( 12 th dynasty , about 2000 B . C . ) or from built fabrics coeval therewith ; while Beni Hassan on its part is copied from built fabrics which preceded it . Sir Gardner Wilkinson

says , " and when in after times large tombs and temples were excavated in the rock they borrowed from constructed monuments . " " The Doric was the Order which the Greeks

especially loved and cultivated . In the Doric we have the power to support viz .: Strength . The use of the Ionic or horned pillar with its elegant ; spirals or volutes is also very ancient ,

although its origin may be more difficult to trace than the Doric . Sir Gardner Wilkinson says , " The volutes were a very early invention in Egypt , and were used there for ornament in some of the

oldest monuments it was a favourite device of the Phoenicians , and appended to the figures of deities , particularly at the feet of Astarte . " This Astarte is the Astaroth of the bible as alluded to , Judges Chap . ii . V . 13 , ( about B . C . 1420 ) . * also in Kings i .

Chap . 11 , V . iv ., " Solomon went after Ashtoreth the Goddess of the Zidonians . " Astarte was known as the " Queen of Heaven " ancl also under the figure of the Moon . What a contrast do we find a few short years to have made in Solomon . At the dedication of

the temple we find him giving expression to one of the noblest and most sublime of prayers and address to the G . A . O . T . U ., and now we have the wisdom of Solomon bowing down to this exemplification of the wisdom , or Godhead of the

Zidonians . I say it with all reverence , what a fall from the sublime to the ridiculous . Mr . Ferguson says , " The recent discoveries in Assyria have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Ionic was even more essentially an

introduction from Asia than the Doric from Egyp t , the only question is , when was it brought into Greece . My own impression is that it existed in Greece in one form or another from the earliest

ages , but owing to its slenderer proportions , and the greater quantity of wood used in its construction the examples may have perished . Mr . Philip Smith says , " The graceful Ionic had its origin in Asia ; and it is most interesting to

find its characteristic ornament the capital with its double volute , several times repeated among the Assyrian monuments . Like the Doric it was perfected at Athens in the time of Pericles * The chief early example of the style in Ionia itself was

the immense temple of Artemis at Ephesus , begun , about B . C . 600 , and reckoned one of the Wonders of the World . "

Mr . Ferguson says , the architectural history of Assyria commences about the middle of the 14 th century B . C . ; also " The Assyrian is an entirely new chapter added to our history of architecture since 1843 , it is the sister style to that of Egypt , and

the parent of all the Ionic forms we afterwards , find so currently and so beautifully blended with the architecture of Greece . " In the frontispiece to Layard ' s "Nineveh and Babylon" viz .: view of Sennacherib's Palace—will be seen specimens of

the Ionic dating about the end of the Sth century B . C . Mr . Owen Jones in his " Grammar of Ornament " says , " Rich as has been the harvest

gathered by Botta and Layard from the ruins of Assyrian Palaces ., the monuments which they have made known to us , do not appear to carry us back to any remote period of Assyrian art , those hitherto discovered belong to a period of decline . "

The origin of the Ionic volute has not as yetso far as I am aware—been satisfactoril y discovered . Whether the head of a horned Ram was fixedao-ainst D the top of the door post for ornament or to keep away evil spirits , or some particular idea of

veneration or symbolism attached to the Ram , which , would cause it , I do not know . " Hor-em-heb or Horus King of Egypt ( about B . C . 1-330 ?) erected an avenue of colossal crio-sphinxes f ( figures with .