uite a little from
them. Impregnated with Hellenism, Asia produced an astonishing number of
original works of art in the kingdoms of the Diadochs. The old processes,
the discovery of which dates back to the Chaldeans, the Hittites or the
subjects of the Pharaohs, were first utilized by the conquerors of
Alexander's empire who conceived a rich variety of new types, and created
an original style. But if during the three centuries preceding our era,
sovereign Greece played the part of the demiurge who creates living beings
out of preexisting matter, during the three following centuries her
productive power became exhausted, her faculty of invention weakened, the
ancient local traditions revolted against her empire and with the help of
Christianity overcame it. Transferred to Byzantium they expanded in a new
efflorescence and spread over Europe where they paved the way for the
formation of the Romanesque art of the early Middle Ages.[10]

Rome, then, far from having established her suzerainty, was tributary to
the Orient in this respect. The Orient was her superior in the extent and
precision of its technical knowledge as well as in the inventive genius and
ability of its workmen. The Caesars were great builders but frequently
employed foreign help. Trajan's principal architect, a magnificent builder,
was a Syrian, Apollodorus of Damascus.[11] {9}

Her Levantine subjects not only taught Italy the artistic solution of
architectonic problems like the erection of a cupola on a rectangular or
octagonal edifice, but also compelled her to accept their taste, and they
saturated her with their genius. They imparted to her their love of
luxuriant decoration, and of violent polychromy, and they gave religious
sculpture and painting the complicated symbolism that pleased their
abstruse and subtle minds.

In those times art was closely connected with industry, which was entirely
manual and individual. They learned from each other, they improved and
declined together, in short they were inseparable. Shall we call the
painters that decorated the architecturally fantastic and airy walls of
Pompeii in Alexandrian or perhaps Syrian taste artisans or artists? And how
shall we classify the goldsmiths, Alexandrians also, who carved those
delicate leaves, those picturesque animals, those harmoniously elegant or
cunningly animated groups that cover the phials and goblets of Bosco Reale?
And descending from the productions of the industrial arts