Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/127

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION. 107 Building proper was only turned to in the last extremity, when there was no rocky site available. But by its very nature rock could only be used for the substructures of buildings ; it broke off short at the level of the soil, while its irregular and capricious forms put great difficulties in the way of those who tried to make excessive use of it. The idea of finishing the work by means of cut blocks must soon have occurred to the builders. At first it was a mere question of adding a little here and there to the rock-cut walls, and the larger the applied masses the better were those early FIG. 42. Substructure of one of the temples at Baalbek. From Lortet. constructors pleased with their work. Their point of departure was what has been called monolithism? and from it Syrian and Phoenician builders never entirely shook themselves free ; traces of it may even be found in the Roman period, in the substructures of the temples at Baalbek (Fig. 42). 2 1 REN AN, Mission de Phenicie, p. 315. 2 Our readers will remember the famous trilithon of Baalbek, the three stones which crown the platform of the Temple of the Sun ; they are respectively 63 feet 8 inches, 60 feet 3 inches, and 64 feet 2 inches long. On the northern face, the face shown in our woodcut, six blocks of hardly less astonishing size form by themselves