The Corinthian Order; Or, The Three Grand Pillars.

the body of a Lion and the head of a Ram ) in front of the great temple of Karnack . One of the Ram ' s heads may be seen in the British Museum , which also possesses two granite statues of King Horns , " P . Smith ) .

Sir Gardner Wilkinson objects to the idea of ihe Volutes being derived from Rams' horns , and says " the Water Plant of Southern Egypt is the parent of the Volute , " which may apply to the origin of the Egyptian Spirals , but will it serve

equally as the pacent of the Assyrian Volute ? Mr . Owen Jones says " that in Egyptian tombs are examples of an ornament representing the unwinding of a pile of rope , which may have giveu the first suggestion of the Volute . "

Since Doctors differ , who will settle it . From the above , therefore , I feel justified in finding no reason to dispute the existence of the Ionic , or Horned , or Voluted Pillar , 1 , 000 years B . C . From its associations it appears to me to be the Symbolic Pillar of Wisdom . *

The origin of the Corinthian , or flowery , or leafy Pillar , may be traced to a very ancient date . Mr . Ferguson says " the Corinthian Order is as essentially borrowed from the bell-shaped capitals of the Egyptians , as the Doric is from their oldest

pillars ; it is , in fact , *)* a composite order made up of the bell-shaped Capitals of the Egyptians , and the Spiral of the Assyrians . " In the papyrus ( or bell-shaped ) columns of the Rameseum ( or Memnonium ) built by Rameses the

Great , ( about B . C . 1 , 300 ) , we have the parent of the Corinthian Order , unless indeed , even at that early age , the Assyrians or Asiatics may not have already produced a nearer approach to it . Sir Gardner Wilkinson says " Jomard and

Canrinathink with great reason , that this ( papyrus ) capital gave rise to the basket of the Corinthian Order , which was only varied by acanthus leaves , instead of the Egyptian devices ; the origin of it given by Vitruvius is as fanciful as that of the Ionic Order . "

Referring to an Egyptian legend of the destruction of Sennacherib ' s army , on account of a multitude of field-mice said to have devoured all their quivers , bowstrings , and shield thongs , J Mr Philip Smith says , "Doubtless , according to the

general order of such legends , the story of the field-mice arose out of the emblem in the statue ' s hand . " As I stated at Page 251 , it is likely the basket story of Callimachus arose long after the

Corinthian was in use . According to Julius Sling ' s " Catalogus Arfcificum ., " Callimachus Kararri ^ rexT'a- flourished about the 90 th Olympiad ( B . C . 420 ) . He also says " We read that Scopas erected a temple to

Minerva , at Tegea , decorated with Corinthian pillars in Olymp . 96 , ( u . c . 396 . ) Although Callimachus did not originate the Corinthian , it is possible that he may have done something to it—he may have " invented" or

applied a more elaborate or ornate style of treating it , perhaps he may have been the first to introduce the union of the Volutes with the acanthus leaves , however settle firstly the exact time when Callimachus lived , that we may be able to see what can be known of the style of the Corinthian Capital shortly before and after him .

Callimachus it is said " was studious of elegance and refinement , even to excess , " and may therefore have received the title or cognomen of K . n . Ta . Trt ' iTsx'yoo- one who weakens and effeminates an art /*

A belief in Callimachus having had something to do with the Corinthian , * may have caused Mr . Philip Smith to say " that as an Order of Greek architecture the beautiful Corinthian dates from the latter part of the 5 th century , B . o . "

It is probable there were more buildings in the Corinthian style in Greece before the Persian war than we are now aware of—which , during that war , may have been destroyed , or , as Mr . Ferguson says , " as happened in France and

England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries , the old temples were thought unworthy of the national greatness , and those remaining after the war were almost all pulled down or rebuilt . " The Greeks also may have had a dislike to the

use ot it in their temples , although , as Mr . Fergusson says , " It most probably was used in the more ornate specimens of domestic architecture , long before any of those examples of it were executed which we now find in Greece . " He also says , "Judging , however , from some fragments found among the Ionic temples of Asia Minor , it