Bk. Vlll. Ch. VIII. POPULATION OF SICILY. 397 CHAPTER Vm. SICILY. CONTENTS. Population of Sicily — The Saracens — Buildings at Palermo — Cathedral of Monreale, Cefalu — The Pointed Arch. THERE are few chapters of architectural history — at least among the sliorter ones — more interesting, in various ways, than that which treats of the introduction of the pointed-arched style into Sicily, and its peculiar development there. The whole history is so easily under- stood, the style itself so distinct from any other, and at the same time so intrinsically beautiful, that it is of all the divisions of the subject the one best suited for a monograph, and so it seems to have been considered by many — Hittorff and Zanth,^ the Duke of Serra di Falco,^ and our own Gaily Knight,^ having chosen it for special illustration, so that in fact there are few European styles of which we have more complete infoi-mation. Many of the points of its history are nevertheless still subjects of controversy, }iot from any in- herent obscurity in the subject, but because it has been attempted to apply to it the rules and theories derived from the history of Korthern art. The map of Sicily tells its whole history ; its position and form reveal nearly all that is required to be known of the races that inhabited it, and of their fate. Situated in the centre of the Mediter- ranean Sea, of a nearly regular triangular form, and presenting one side to Greece, another to Africa, and a third to Italy, the length of these coasts, and their relative distance from the opposite sliores, are nearly correct indexes of the influence each has had on the civilization of the island. In a former chapter* it was shown how strong was the influence of Dorian Greece in Sicily, Almost all the ancient architectural remains belong to that people. The Carthaginians, who succeeded the Greeks, left but slight traces of humanizing influence ; and the rule of the Romans was that of conquerors, oppressive and destructive 1 " Architecture Moderne de la Sicile," fol. Paris, 1826-30. - " Del Duomo di Monreale e di Altre Chiese Siculo-Normaue," fol. Palermo, 1838. 3 "Normans in Sicily," 8vo. text, fol. plates. London, 1838.
- Part I. Bk. Ill, ch. 2.
