ke the sixteenth
century in Europe, when the world of geography was quickly opening
out, and views and sentiments were also widening. Worship could not
fail to share in the upward movement of such a period, and it is here
that we find the appearance of the ideas in religious art which have
made Greece the envy of the world. Architecture received a new
impulse from Egypt and Babylon; dwellings were built, not for human
rulers, as in the Mycenaean period, but for the gods. In country
districts or small towns the wooden shed might still suffice to
shelter the rude image, but in large towns, where the higher
conception of the gods and the artistic impulse were both present in
many minds, temples of more durable material were built. This came to
be a universal practice; among the first tasks of a new colony was
always that of erecting on a commanding site in the rising town,
splendid temples to the gods of the mother city. The Greek temple is
not a place to accommodate a large body of worshippers, but a
dwelling for the god. It is of oblong shape, and is placed on a
raised platform which is ascended by steps. It is generally
surrounded by pillars, is roofed, and has a low gable at each end.
The most important chamber in it is that containing the image of the
god. From his dim chamber the god looks out to the east through the
doorway facing him, which opens on the pillared portico in front.
Here the worshipper stands when praying, his face turned westward to
the god. As it was essential that the smoke of the sacrifice should
ascend freely to heaven, the god's real dwelling, the altar stood
outside. In some cases the roof was partly open, and the altar could
stand under the sky in the _cella_ of the god.

In the building and adornment of the temples Greek art found its
highest exercise. The architecture of those specimens which can still
be seen or described is of a dignity and beauty never before
attained; the beings must have been lofty and reverend indeed for
whom such dwellings were formed. The gable spaces and the flat
surfaces between the tops of the pillars and the roof gave
opportunity for sculpture; and the archaeologist traces on these
metopes (spaces between the beam-ends under the roof) and friezes,
the progress of Greek sculpture from a rude stage to that in which
the sculptor has gained complete mastery over his material, and can
give an imposing representation of a myth, or place on the marble a
complete relig