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Article CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—XXV. ← Page 3 of 3 Article ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. Page 1 of 2 →
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Classical Theology.—Xxv.
reason , and naturall y insensible to the miseries and requirements of their condition . And here it may be noticed that because violent and ambitious men , in the time of their power , obstructed the progress of Freemasonry , as they did afterwards that of Christianity—this by no means disjn-oves the
fact that there is Freemasonry in Christianity , and Christianity in Freemasonry . It may be taken to show rather that they have both the self-same ori gin , that is ¦ the secret knowledge of the Jews as imparted to Adam , and as possessed by Christ .
Architecture Of Different Nations.
ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGRAND . MONUMENTS OP PALMYRA . Magnificent Tomb , the Ruins of ivhich are seen near the great Gallery of Palmyra . THERE are two of these tombs almost alikeexcept that
, one has pilasters and the other is decorated with columns . The one UOAV to be described is situated at the extremit y of the gallery . The elevated and pyramidal forms of the tomb shooting majestically up to heaven , contrast in an incomparable manner ivith those long horizontal files of the gallery of AA'hich we have alreadspoken . The
y richness of the statues and the sarcophagi in the tombs at different heights , leave a doubt whether the artist who composed and erected masses so imposing and so thoroughly comprehended , was desirous of making the apotheosis of sculpture or of architecture ; or rather they prove ineontestablthat in order to subdue mortals and
y triumph OA * er them , these tAvo sisters ought to be united and blended together in one and the same monument . We shall haA'e occasion to cause it to be observed elsewhere that painting , that lovely sister of the others , should join her charms to theirs . Before describing the tomb at the entrance of the
valley of Palmyra , I shall make some general observations on the tombs of Palmyra , and on the ancient usages of those nations , whose descendants have preserved several religious practices amongst them , prescribed by the religion of Mahomet , which is adopted in those countries . The tombs of the Turks , a people who hold to barbarism in so many respects , present , on the contrary , the most cheerful and the most consoling ideas , ancl are indicative of sensitive and affectionate souls .
They place in vast plots of ground consecrated to burial a plateau elevated b y a few steps , marble tombs , which are for the most part remnants of ancient monuments . They fill them with vegetable earth , ancl sow them with the seeds of flowers , which they cultivate with great care . At one of the ends of the burial lace in
p the form of a sarcophagus they erect a column of a small height , or a flat stone , on which an inscri ption is engraved bearing the attributes or marks of dignity which distinguished the deceased , it being generally a turban , the form of ivhich indicates the civil or military grade of the head of the family . If it is a boy , they consecrate it
with the representation ofthe toys of which he was most fond during life ; if it is a girl , they cover the top of the column with the veil of chastity , thus giving additional charm to its beauty . But in order to prolong , in some sort of way , beyond the term of life kindness and beneficence towards all animated creatures—and
unlimited beneficence is one of their favourite virtuesthey often raise in the midst of the burying place a plateau surmounted by a cup , also of marble ; they fill that cup with water , and every day they religiously go and carry seed as food for the birds . The latter
gather together from all parts ; they flutter about the neighbouring trees , and seem as if desirous of alleviating by their warblings the grief of the friends ancl children , who come in the name of a father or a friend to discharge this noble-hearted duty .
It cannot certainly be denied that there is in this practice and in these usages a tender and delicate sentiment ; and that they are a simple and touching homage paid to the Author of Nature in doing honour to His most agreeable productions . These cheerful ideas dispel the sad and mournful images with which they consider that otherwise the dead and their tombs should ' be
accompanied ; they replace them by the more consoling ideas of that change in what it can have in conformity to the perpetual progress , ivhich nature incessantly offers to the scrutiny of the observer . What can be more
natural than to see a rosebush , violets , a superb lily , a young myrtle , or a tender anemone , bedewed repeatedly by the tears of filial piety , love , friendship , or maternal , tenderness , put forth in due season flowers which sentiment compares to the lamented object , and which seem to us to have something in them of the existence that
has passed away . Let us no longer call those barbarians who show us such touching lessons . What attention can be purer than these acts of kindness to sweet and innocent birds ? The rustling of their wings alone or the melodies of their plaintive voices arise to interrupt the silence of these places consecrated to prayer and to the pious toil of such gardening ; and when they
suddenly disappear in the air , they seem as if they were again tracing . the path which a virtuous soul took in escaping from its mortal frame to join' itself to Divinity . Many of the tombs at Palmyra , as like as jiossible in form to that just described as standing at the end of the
gallery , are perfectly entire ; a great number are destroyed , ancl their immense ruins strew the valley : others were placed from preference halfway up the sides , and on the summit of the mountains .
From descriptions we have been enabled to distinguish those of the family of Elabelus , and the family of Jamricus . Their form is nearly alike ; they differ only in ' size , detail , and richness of ornament . Thus , in the same way as the sepulchres of Egj-pt were pyramids more or less lofty , on bases of an extent proportionate to
the height , the tombs of Palmyra were towers , square in their plan , and of a height most ordinarily twice the breadth . They were placed on a foundation composed of " three or four layers of stone elevated ancl retiring . One of the sides was perforated with a decorated door , and towards the middle of the height of the tower there was
most often placed a sarcophagus supported by consoles ' . A figure was reclining on rich cushions : it represented the father or head of the family ; behind were one or several children of different ages , standing up respectfully . The coffin of the sarcophagus was ornamented with five figuresalso standing upwith candelabra or
, , kind of jambs turned at the extremities ; all the rest was perfectly smooth , and this simplicity was noble and majestic . The interior was often decorated with Corinthian pilasters with square chests in the intervals between them , sets of drawers in which to p lace mummies ; marble tables , covered AA'ith inscriptions enclosed the
opening to them , and sometimes busts were placed upon them , and transmitted the features of the personage with his name and eulogy . There were also in the interior of these tombs several stories separated by marble ceilings ; but the ground floor was always the most ornamented . Perhaps the upper stories were set apart for the servants and the people who were dependent on the family . The
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Classical Theology.—Xxv.
reason , and naturall y insensible to the miseries and requirements of their condition . And here it may be noticed that because violent and ambitious men , in the time of their power , obstructed the progress of Freemasonry , as they did afterwards that of Christianity—this by no means disjn-oves the
fact that there is Freemasonry in Christianity , and Christianity in Freemasonry . It may be taken to show rather that they have both the self-same ori gin , that is ¦ the secret knowledge of the Jews as imparted to Adam , and as possessed by Christ .
Architecture Of Different Nations.
ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT NATIONS .
BY J . G . LEGRAND . MONUMENTS OP PALMYRA . Magnificent Tomb , the Ruins of ivhich are seen near the great Gallery of Palmyra . THERE are two of these tombs almost alikeexcept that
, one has pilasters and the other is decorated with columns . The one UOAV to be described is situated at the extremit y of the gallery . The elevated and pyramidal forms of the tomb shooting majestically up to heaven , contrast in an incomparable manner ivith those long horizontal files of the gallery of AA'hich we have alreadspoken . The
y richness of the statues and the sarcophagi in the tombs at different heights , leave a doubt whether the artist who composed and erected masses so imposing and so thoroughly comprehended , was desirous of making the apotheosis of sculpture or of architecture ; or rather they prove ineontestablthat in order to subdue mortals and
y triumph OA * er them , these tAvo sisters ought to be united and blended together in one and the same monument . We shall haA'e occasion to cause it to be observed elsewhere that painting , that lovely sister of the others , should join her charms to theirs . Before describing the tomb at the entrance of the
valley of Palmyra , I shall make some general observations on the tombs of Palmyra , and on the ancient usages of those nations , whose descendants have preserved several religious practices amongst them , prescribed by the religion of Mahomet , which is adopted in those countries . The tombs of the Turks , a people who hold to barbarism in so many respects , present , on the contrary , the most cheerful and the most consoling ideas , ancl are indicative of sensitive and affectionate souls .
They place in vast plots of ground consecrated to burial a plateau elevated b y a few steps , marble tombs , which are for the most part remnants of ancient monuments . They fill them with vegetable earth , ancl sow them with the seeds of flowers , which they cultivate with great care . At one of the ends of the burial lace in
p the form of a sarcophagus they erect a column of a small height , or a flat stone , on which an inscri ption is engraved bearing the attributes or marks of dignity which distinguished the deceased , it being generally a turban , the form of ivhich indicates the civil or military grade of the head of the family . If it is a boy , they consecrate it
with the representation ofthe toys of which he was most fond during life ; if it is a girl , they cover the top of the column with the veil of chastity , thus giving additional charm to its beauty . But in order to prolong , in some sort of way , beyond the term of life kindness and beneficence towards all animated creatures—and
unlimited beneficence is one of their favourite virtuesthey often raise in the midst of the burying place a plateau surmounted by a cup , also of marble ; they fill that cup with water , and every day they religiously go and carry seed as food for the birds . The latter
gather together from all parts ; they flutter about the neighbouring trees , and seem as if desirous of alleviating by their warblings the grief of the friends ancl children , who come in the name of a father or a friend to discharge this noble-hearted duty .
It cannot certainly be denied that there is in this practice and in these usages a tender and delicate sentiment ; and that they are a simple and touching homage paid to the Author of Nature in doing honour to His most agreeable productions . These cheerful ideas dispel the sad and mournful images with which they consider that otherwise the dead and their tombs should ' be
accompanied ; they replace them by the more consoling ideas of that change in what it can have in conformity to the perpetual progress , ivhich nature incessantly offers to the scrutiny of the observer . What can be more
natural than to see a rosebush , violets , a superb lily , a young myrtle , or a tender anemone , bedewed repeatedly by the tears of filial piety , love , friendship , or maternal , tenderness , put forth in due season flowers which sentiment compares to the lamented object , and which seem to us to have something in them of the existence that
has passed away . Let us no longer call those barbarians who show us such touching lessons . What attention can be purer than these acts of kindness to sweet and innocent birds ? The rustling of their wings alone or the melodies of their plaintive voices arise to interrupt the silence of these places consecrated to prayer and to the pious toil of such gardening ; and when they
suddenly disappear in the air , they seem as if they were again tracing . the path which a virtuous soul took in escaping from its mortal frame to join' itself to Divinity . Many of the tombs at Palmyra , as like as jiossible in form to that just described as standing at the end of the
gallery , are perfectly entire ; a great number are destroyed , ancl their immense ruins strew the valley : others were placed from preference halfway up the sides , and on the summit of the mountains .
From descriptions we have been enabled to distinguish those of the family of Elabelus , and the family of Jamricus . Their form is nearly alike ; they differ only in ' size , detail , and richness of ornament . Thus , in the same way as the sepulchres of Egj-pt were pyramids more or less lofty , on bases of an extent proportionate to
the height , the tombs of Palmyra were towers , square in their plan , and of a height most ordinarily twice the breadth . They were placed on a foundation composed of " three or four layers of stone elevated ancl retiring . One of the sides was perforated with a decorated door , and towards the middle of the height of the tower there was
most often placed a sarcophagus supported by consoles ' . A figure was reclining on rich cushions : it represented the father or head of the family ; behind were one or several children of different ages , standing up respectfully . The coffin of the sarcophagus was ornamented with five figuresalso standing upwith candelabra or
, , kind of jambs turned at the extremities ; all the rest was perfectly smooth , and this simplicity was noble and majestic . The interior was often decorated with Corinthian pilasters with square chests in the intervals between them , sets of drawers in which to p lace mummies ; marble tables , covered AA'ith inscriptions enclosed the
opening to them , and sometimes busts were placed upon them , and transmitted the features of the personage with his name and eulogy . There were also in the interior of these tombs several stories separated by marble ceilings ; but the ground floor was always the most ornamented . Perhaps the upper stories were set apart for the servants and the people who were dependent on the family . The