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HISTORY

OF

ANCIENT ART

BY
DR. FRANZ VON REBER

DIRECTOR OF THE BAVARIAN ROYAL AND STATE GALLERIES OF PAINTINGS
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY AND POLYTECHNIC OF MUNICH

Revised by the Author

_TRANSLATED AND AUGMENTED_

BY

JOSEPH THACHER CLARKE

WITH 310 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS

NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

_All rights reserved._


The application of the historic method to the study of the Fine Arts,
begun with imperfect means by Winckelmann one hundred and twenty years
ago, has been productive of the best results in our own days. It has
introduced order into a subject previously confused, disclosing the
natural progress of the arts, and the relations of the arts of the
different races by whom they have been successively practised. It has
also had the more important result of securing to the fine arts their
due place in the history of mankind as the chief record of various
stages of civilization, and as the most trustworthy expression of the
faith, the sentiments, and the emotions of past ages, and often even of
their institutions and modes of life. The recognition of the
significance of the fine arts in these respects is, indeed, as yet but
partial, and the historical study of art does not hold the place in the
scheme of liberal education which it is certain before long to attain.
One reason of this fact lies in the circumstance that few of the general
historical treatises on the fine arts that have been produced during the
last fifty years have been works of sufficient learning or judgment to
give them authority as satisfactory sources of instruction. Errors of
statement and vague speculations have abounded in them. The subject,
moreover, has been confused, especially in Germany, by the intrusion of
metaphysics into its domain, in the guise of a professed but spurious
science of aesthetics.

Under these conditions, a history of the fine arts that should state
correctly what is known concerning their works, and should treat their
various manifestations with intelligence and in just proportion, would
be of great value to the student. Such, within its limits as a manual
and for the period which it covers, is Dr. Reber's _History of Ancient
Art_. So far as I am aware, there is no compend of information on the
subject in any language so trustworthy and so judicious as this. It
serves equally well as an introduction to the study and as a treatise to
which the advanced student may refer with advantage to refresh his
knowledge of the outlines of any part of the field.

The work was originally published in 1871; but so rapid has been the
progress of discovery during the last ten years that, in order to bring
the book up to the requirements of the present time, a thorough revision
of it was needed, together with the addition of much new matter and many
new illustrations. This labor of revision and addition has been jointly
performed by the author and the translator, the latter having had the
advantage of doing the greater part of his work with the immediate
assistance of Dr. Reber himself, and of bringing to it fresh resources
of his own, the result of original study and investigation. The
translator having been absent from the country, engaged in archaeological
research, during the printing of the volume, the last revision and the
correction of the text have been in the hands of Professor William R.
Ware, of the School of Mines of Columbia College.

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, _May_, 1882.


In view of the great confusion which results from an irregular
orthography of Greek proper names, a return to the original spelling of
words not fully Anglicized may need an explanation, but no apology: it
is only adopting a system already followed by scholars of the highest
standing. The Romans, until the advent of that second classical revival
in which the present century is still engaged, served as mediums for all
acquaintance with Hellenic civilization. They employed Greek names, with
certain alterations agreeable to the Latin tongue, blunting and
coarsening the delicate sounds of Greek speech, much in the same manner
as they debased the artistic forms of Greek architecture by a mechanical
system of design. The clear [Greek: on] became _um_, [Greek: os]
was changed to _us_, [Greek: ei] to _e_ or _i_, etc. This Latinized
nomenclature, like the Roman triglyph and Tuscan capital, was
exclusively adopted by the early Renaissance, until, with the increasing
knowledge of Greek lands and works of art, names were introduced which
do not happen to occur in the writings of Roman authors. These were
either changed in accordance with the more or less variable standard in
use during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, or were adopted in
their Greek form without change, the latter method being more and more
generally employed. This has gradually led to a partial revision of
Greek names and their spelling. Zeus and Hermes, Artemis and Athene,
have resumed, as Greek deities, their original titles;--Suni_um_ and
Ass_us_ have been changed to Sunion and Assos; while other names have
only been reformed in part, as in the case of the unfortunate
Polycleitos, who at times appears as Polycl_e_tos, and at times as
Polycleit_u_s. Confusion and misunderstanding cannot but result from
this unreasonable triple system of Latinized, Anglicized, and Greek
orthography. Peirithoos may be sought in alphabetically classified works
of reference under Per and Pir as well as under Peir. [Greek: Pergamon],
Pergamon, is written Pergamum, Pergamus, and Pergamos, in the
two latter forms being naturally confused with the Cretan [Greek:
Pergamos], Pergamos, which, in its turn, is Latinized to
Pergamus. In the present book the Greek spelling of Greek names has been
adopted in all those cases where the word has not been fully Anglicized;
that is to say, changed in _pronunciation_, when it would sound pedantic
to employ its original form, as, for instance, to speak of the
well-known Paestum and Lucian as Poseidonia and Loukianos. The English
alphabet provides, however, two letters for the Greek [Greek: kappa],
and the more familiar _c_ has been employed, as in Corinth,
acropolis, etc., except in cases where the true sound is not thereby
conveyed,--namely, before _e_, _i_, and _y_,--when the _k_ is
substituted. Moreover, the final [Greek: ai] is transformed to _ae_,
according to the universal usage of our tongue.

JOSEPH THACHER CLARKE.




CONTENTS.


EGYPT.
                                                 PAGE

The Delta. The Oldest Monuments, if
not the most Ancient Civilization of
the World                                        1, 2

Changeless Continuity of Life and
Art                                                 2

ARCHITECTURE.

The Age, Purpose, and Architectural
Significance of the Pyramids                      3-5

The Pyramids of Gizeh                             5-7

Variety of Pyramidal Forms                       8, 9

The Pyramids of Saccara, Meydoun,
Dashour, Abousere, and Illahoun                  9-12

Table of Dimensions                                12

The Younger Pyramids of Nubia. Truncated
Pyramids                                           12

Rock-cut Tombs                                     13

Development of Column from Pier                    14

The Tombs at Beni-hassan                       14, 15

Development of the Lotos-column                16, 17

The Invasion of the Hycsos. Restriction
of the Prismatic Shaft. Extended
Application of the Floral Column
in the New Theban Empire                       18, 19

The Calyx Capital                              20, 21

Piers with Figures of Osiris and Typhon.
Entablature                                        21

Cavern Sepulchres                                  22

Temple Plan, Obelisks                              23

Peristyle Court                                    25

Hypostyle Hall                                 26, 27

The Dwellings of Kings and Priests                 28

Peripteral Temples                                 29

Rock-cut Temples                                   30

The Monuments at Abou-Simbel                   31, 32

Palatial and Domestic Architecture                 33

Interiors                                          34

The Labyrinth                                      35

Unimportant Character of Secular Architecture      36

SCULPTURE.

Fundamental and Changeless Peculiarities           36

Conventional Types                                 37

The Formation of the Head                          38

Head-dresses. Conjunction of Human
Trunks and Animal Heads                            39

The Body. Lack of Progressiveness
and of History                                     40

Animal Forms                                       41

Materials                                          42

Reliefs                                            43

Coilanaglyphics                                    44

The Variety and Interest of the Subjects
Illustrated                                        45

PAINTING.

Intimate Relation to Sculpture. Hieroglyphics      46

Painting as an Architectural Decoration.
Retrospect                                         47


CHALDAEA, BABYLONIA, AND ASSYRIA.

The Traditional Age. The Land and
People                                             48

Building Materials. Clay and Bitumen               49

Perishable Character of the Monuments.
Hills of Rubbish Recognized as
Cities                                             50


ARCHITECTURE.

_Chaldaea._

The Ruins of Mugheir, or Ur                        50

Warka and Abou-Sharein                             51

The Principle of the Arch                          52

Political History                                  53

_Babylon._

The Fabulous Account of Herodotos                  54

The Temple Pyramid at Borsippa                     56

Palace Structures. The Hanging Gardens
of Semiramis                                       57

Private Dwellings. Works of Engineering            58

_Assyria._

Nineveh                                            59

The Discoveries of Layard and Botta                60

The Hills of Coyundjic and Nebbi-Jonas             61

Royal Dwellings                                    62

The Palace at Kisr-Sargon                       63-65

Terrace Pyramids                                   66

Lighting and Roofing                           66, 67

The Restriction of Columnar Architecture           68

The Forms of Small Columns                      69-71

Vaulted Construction                               71

The Pointed Arch                                   72

The General Appearance of the Palaces              73

Sacred Architecture                                74

Terrace Pyramids                                   75

The Cella                                          76

The Dwellings of the Priests                       77

Altars and Obelisks                                78

Domestic Architecture                          79, 80

SCULPTURE.

Little Represented in Chaldaea                      81

Babylonian Seals and Gems                          82

Enamelled Tiles                                    83

Statues                                            85

Conventional Types                             85