mason or
bricklayer.

What the plans of Greek palaces might have exhibited, did any remains
exist, is merely matter for inference and conjecture, and it is not
proposed in this volume to pass far beyond ascertained and observed
facts. There can be, however, little doubt that the palaces of the
West Asiatic style must have at least contributed suggestions as to
internal disposition of the later and more magnificent Greek mansions.
The ordinary dwelling-houses of citizens, as described by ancient
writers, resembled those now visible in the disinterred cities of
Pompeii and Herculaneum, which will be referred to under Roman
Architecture.[16] The chief characteristic of the plan of these is
that they retain the disposition which in the temples was discarded;
that is to say, all the doors and windows looked into an inner court,
and the house was as far as possible secluded within an encircling
wall. The contrast between the openness of the public life led by the
men in Greek cities, and the seclusion of the women and the families
when at home, is remarkably illustrated by this difference between the
public and private buildings.

The plan of the triple building called the Erechtheium (Fig. 72)
deserves special mention, as an example of an exceptional arrangement
which appears to set the ordinary laws of symmetry at defiance, and
which is calculated to produce a result into which the picturesque
enters at least as much as the beautiful. Though the central temple is
symmetrical, the two attached porticoes are not so, and do not, in
position, dimensions, or treatment, balance one another. The result is
a charming group, and we cannot doubt that other examples of freedom
of planning would have been found, had more remains of the
architecture of the great cities of Greece come down to our own day.

In public buildings other than temples--such as the theatre, the
agora, and the basilica--the Greek architects seem to have had great
scope for their genius; the planning of the theatres shows skilful and
thoroughly complete provisions to meet the requirements of the case. A
circular disposition was here introduced--not, it is true, for the
first time, since it is rendered probable by the representations on
sculptured slabs that some circular buildings existed in Assyria, and
circular buildings remain in the archaic works at Mycenae; but it was
now elaborated with remarkable completeness, beauty, and mastery over
all the difficult