Full text: Vitruvius: The civil architecture of Vitruvius

XXXIX 
Homer extols the skill of the Trojan architects: a sufficient 
proof of the superior advances made by the Asiatics in the 
art; and yet it is remarkable, that neither in the palace of 
Priam, nor in that of Paris, said to be raised by the most 
able workmen, is there any thing which indicates the 
appearance of ornament, excepting the mention of polished 
stone'. This, indeed, seems to have composed the main 
beauty of the Homeric buildings. In imaginary edifices the 
materials are sometimes changed, and we find a profusion of 
the precious metals employed in their construction; but this, 
as I have before observed, is an additional proof of the 
poverty of the architectural decoration. From the frequent 
mention of hewn and polished stone in the most costly and 
magnificent mansions, it would appear that the general 
practice in the time of Homer himself was confined to the 
employment of those irregular masses still to be seen in the 
walls of Tiryns. In the Odyssey, however, amongst the 
details of the palace of Ulysses,the marks of an age somewhat 
later are discoverable. 
It is not certain that the author of the Iliad had any 
knowledge of houses formed in regular divisions of stories. 
Two passages evidently alluding to such buildings are of 
doubtful antiquity? ; and the true meaning of a third has, I 
think, been forcibly bent to this interpretation'. In the 
Odyssey, mention of the upper chambers, especially as the 
residence of women, frequently occurs. 
The use of columns was not unknown to the author of 
Il. vi. 248. 
Il. ii. 514. xvi. 184. 
Il. vi. 315.
	        
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