pagan Marna-temple (Gaza):

aka The Marneion; a temple sacred to Zeus Marnas, the local Hellenistic incarnation of Dagon, the patron of agriculture, worshipped in the Levant since the 3rd millennium BC.  It had been rebuilt under the direction of Hadrian (117-138) when he visited Gaza & is represented on the Gaza coins of Hadrian.  To one of Hadrian's visits, also, we may assign the foundation of the great temple of the god Marnas.  Gaza was the last city on the Levantine coast to submit to Christianity; 63 years after Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Empire, the city’s merchant elite were still worshipping the Hellenistic god Marna in a famous domed temple, one of 8 about the city.

 

Megapolitans:

inhabitants of a very large city or urban complex; a metropolis.  For Spengler these were the cities of the Civilization phase of the lifecycle, urban sophisticated, shading all earlier urban areas (Athens); Rome & Alexandria would have been credited as such cities.

 

Appolodorus:

see page 208 above- Parthenon (master mason) and Imperial Fora (master mason)   

 

temple of Venus & Rome (vaulting): * see Endonte <A>

the largest temple in Rome (145 m X 100 m), set on the Velian Hill, between the eastern edge of the Forum Romanum & the Colosseum, dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix ("Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune") & Roma Aeterna ("Eternal Rome").  Hadrian was the architect; construction began in 121 AD, finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius.  Damaged by fire in 307, restored with alterations by emperor Maxentius.

 

Baths of Caracalla (domed chamber): * see Endnote <B>

Rome’s second largest public baths built AD 212-216 AD during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla.; completion  required installing over 2,000 tons of material every day for six years in order to complete; referred to as 1 of the 7 wonders of Rome; heated by a hypocaust, a system of burning coal and wood underneath the ground to heat water was provided by a dedicated aqueduct; free and open to the public; capacity (maximum number of simultaneous visitors) was 1,600, with daily capacity 6,000 to 8,000 bathers;  fully functional in the 5th century but in 537 during the Gothic War, Vitiges of the Ostrogoths laid siege to Rome and severed the city's water supply. Shortly thereafter the baths were abandoned.

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Temple of Minerva Medica: * see Endnote <C>

a ruined nymphaeum of Imperial Rome, between the via Labicana & Aurelian Walls. Nymphaeum were  buildings devoted to the nymphs & often connected to the water supply, that dates to the 4th century. The decagonal structure in opus latericium is relatively well preserved, the full dome having collapsed only in 1828. It is surrounded on three sides with other chambers added at a later date. There is no mention of it in ancient literature or inscriptions.  The structure represents a transition in Roman secular architecture between the octagonal dining room of the Domus Aurea and the dome of the Pantheon, in particular, and the architecture of nearby Byzantine churches. The diameter of the hall is about 24 metres, and the height was 33. In the interior are 9 niches, besides the entrance; and above these are 10 corresponding round-arched windows; walls (interior & exterior) once covered with marble.

 

Gallienus:

Roman Emperor (joint rule with father Valerian 253- 260, alone until 268); ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 AD); won a number of military victories but unable to prevent the secession of important provinces (namely Gaul & Palmyra).  He was the first to commission cavalry units (the Comitatenses) that could be dispatched anywhere in the Empire in short order.  He also forbade senators from becoming military commanders, an act which undermined senatorial power & allowed the rise of more reliable equestrian commanders.  These military reforms and the decline in senatorial influence helped salvage the Empire, but also make Gallienus one of the emperors most responsible for the creation of the Dominate, the despotic later phase of imperial government, following the earlier period known as the "Principate".  It emerged following the Third Century Crisis in 284 AD (Diocletian) & ended in the West in 476 AD.  It was more authoritarian, less collegiate, more bureaucratic than the Principate.

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Pantheon (of Hadrian):

temple of all the gods, former Roman temple, now church, Rome.  Following victory at Actium (31 BC), Marcus Agrippa (companion & friend of Augustus)  started a building program: the Pantheon was a part of this built on his lands in the Campus Martius (29–19 BC).  His project included the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune & the Pantheon. In 80 AD the Parthenon burned down.  Hadrian completed a new Parthenon in 126 AD but retained the inscription of Agrippa's older temple (making its exact date of construction hard to fix).  And see page 208 above

 

Nestorian Christianity:

see page 209 above

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Manichean (architecture of):

a religion founded by Mani in 3rd century AD spread east & west from Babylon.  In the Roman Empire it was the chief competitor to Christianity (Augustine was heavily influenced by Manicheanism in Hippo).  It was preached in Alexandria and followed the Silk Road into China.  Today the only extant Manichean temple s found in China at Cao'an.  While Manichean scripts & texts have survived alone with artefacts and some sculpture, almost no Manichean architecture survived short of this temple China, which resembles a Buddhist temple.

and see page 183 above and Chapter II page 72

 

Mazdaists (architecture of):

see Zoroastrian Fire temples pages 209 and 210 above

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domed basilica of Byzantium:

The Nika Revolt (532 AD) destroyed much of Constantinople including old Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom").  Emperor Justinian reconstructed many of the ruined churches including Hagia Sophia, rebuilt as a domed basilicas but on a much grander scale.  Built 532-37 by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus.  Their design were innovative & without precedent, using an octagonal plan covering a basilica with a central dome & smaller side domes.  Subsequent earthquakes (558, 989, 1346) led to partial collapses making it hard to determine the original shape.  The dome visible today is made up of portions dating from the 6th century (north & south) with portions from the 10th and 14th centuries (west & east). There are irregularities where these sectors meet.  The central dome, above the pendentives, is 30“ thick, 105 feet wide, contains 40 radial ribs that spring from between the 40 windows at its base.  Iron cramps between the marble blocks of its cornice reduced outward thrusts at the base and limited cracking, like the wooden tension rings used in other Byzantine brick domes. The dome & pendentives are supported by 4 large arches springing from 4 piers. Additionally, 2 huge semi-domes of similar proportion are placed on opposite sides of the central dome & they themselves contain smaller semi-domes between an additional 4 piers.

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domed basilica of Ravenna:

reference to the Basilica of San Vitale (526-47), Ravenna, Italy, employs an octagonal plan, combines Roman elements (the dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers) with Byzantine (: polygonal apse, capitals, narrow bricks, early flying buttresses).

see page 200 above

 

domed basilica (Russia): * see <D>

An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion, often larger in diameter than the drum upon which they sit, their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly to a point.  Some scholars postulate that onion domes were borrowed by Russians from Muslim countries - probably from the Khanate of Kazan, whose conquest Ivan the Terrible commemorated by erecting St. Basil's Cathedral. Eight of the nine domes featured on St. Basil's Cathedral represent each attack on Kazan. The ninth dome was constructed 36 years after the siege of Kazan as a tomb for Basil. The ornate finishes of these domes are bright in color and bold in shape as they are adorned with pyramids and stripes, and many other patterns seen on other cathedrals than Basil's. Some believe that onion domes first appeared in Russian wooden architecture above tent-like churches. According to this theory, onion domes were strictly utilitarian, as they prevented snow from piling on the roof.

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Monophysite:

in Christianity, a belief that Jesus Christ’s nature remains altogether divine & not human even though he has taken on an earthly & human body with its cycle of birth, life & death.  This Christological position asserted that in Jesus Christ there was only 1, divine nature rather than 2 natures, divine AND human.  This latter idea was asserted at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

 

Hagia Sophia (as mosque):

Built in 537 AD, served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople until 1453 when it was converted into an Ottoman mosque (until 1931).  Sultan Mehmed II (whose Ottoman armies conquered the city) ordered the buildings conversion & renovation.  He attended the first Friday prayer in the mosque on 1 June 1453; it became the first imperial mosque of Istanbul.  Before 1481 a small minaret was erected on the SW corner of the building, above the stair tower. A subsequent sultan, Bayezid II (1481–1512), built another minaret at the NW corner.  One of these collapsed after the earthquake of 1509.  In the middle of the 16th century they were both replaced by two diagonally opposite minarets built at the east and west corners of the edifice.

and see page 200 above and Chapter III, page 108

 

Shan-tung: * see Endnote <E>

aka Shandong; a coastal province in E. China; located at the intersection of north–south and east–west trading routes established it as an economic centre.  It would play a major role in Chinese history from the start of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River & served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism & Confucianism.   Its Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism & has a long history of continuous religious worship. Its Buddhist temples were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China.  The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius & became a centre for Confucianism.

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East Aramean Persian style: * see Endnote <F>

refers to Mesopotamia, Babylon & the east (a distinctive region of the Aramean language); its origins are in Assyria Babylonia, an area in the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) and ruled by the last nobility of Akkad.  It was a military protectorate state of Persia under the rule of Cyrus the Great.  Sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept meaning a country & its people, with no administrative implication.  Their language was Aramaic but of a distinctive dialect.

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West Aramean Syrian style:

refers to Judah, Syria & the west (a region of the Aramean language); the Aramean people emerged from the region known as Aram (modern Syria) between the 11th & 8th centuries BC; a patchwork of independent Aramaic kingdoms were established in the Levant & Mesopotamia.  No unified state formed but rather a series of small independent kingdoms spread across parts of the Near East, (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, NW Arabian peninsula, central Turkey).  Their political influence was confined to small states such as Aram Damascus, Hamath, Palmyra, Aleppo.  Their language was Aramaic.

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Venice (St Marks & Byzantium influence): * see Endnote<G>

aka Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, most famous of the city's churches, begun in 1063, sited at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace (originally the chapel of the Doge), a cathedral only since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice.  Famous as an example of Italo-Byzantine architecture & for its opulent design, gold ground mosaics.  From 1204 (conquest of Constantinople, led By Venice) to 14th century the church was a repository for elements such as mosaics, columns, capitals & friezes, spoil from ancient or Byzantine buildings.

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Norman-Hohenstaufen (rule in Palermo):* see Endote <H>

The Arab-Norman Kingdom of Sicily (1071-1194) was one of the most culturally advanced courts in the richest country of the Mediterranean world.  Sicilia’s Byzantine culture ended with invasion by Arabs from North Africa in 876.  They brought economic & demographic growth as they introduced more sophisticated government & better farming doubling the population.  With the coming of the Normans in 1071 a new polity emerged.  The Normans, few in number, relied on Muslim administrators & came to appreciate their culture.  Political reality dictated tolerance & the adoption of some Muslim attributes (dress, language, literature).  The court of Roger II became the most luminous center of culture in the Mediterranean, attracting scholars, scientists, poets, artists and artisans of all kinds.  In Arab-Norman Sicily laws were issued in the vernacular & rule of law was applied; justice prevailed not despotism.  The Muslims, Jews, Byzantine Greeks & Latin Normans worked together & built extraordinary buildings.  For a brief century Arab-Norman Sicily was the most civilized place in the western world (far more so then Jerusalem, also ruled by Normans).  Roger dreamed of a larger empire where tolerance encouraged advancement but he ran out of time.  His successors (seduced by the luxury of their own successes) lacked the vigour to realize the dream.  With the coming of the Hohenstaufen a policy of genocide against the Muslims & Jews began, the moment of high culture passed.

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Moorish buildings (Spain/ East Aramean Persian style):* see<I>

Characteristic elements of Moorish architecture include muqarnas, horseshoe arches, voussoirs, domes, crenelated arches, lancet arches, ogee arches, courtyards, and decorative tile work or zellij.  It is exemplified by mosques, fortifications & other edifices such as the Mezquita in Córdoba (784–987, in 4 phases) & the Alhambra (mainly 1338–1390).

 

Muqarnas is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture; it involves the "geometric subdivision of a squinch, or cupola, or corbel, into a large number of miniature squinches, producing a sort of cellular structure" (aka "honeycomb" vault).  They developed in the 10th and 11th centuries, in Iran and Mesopotamia.  In Persian architecture they were used for domes & especially half-domes in entrances, iwans and apses.  A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.  An ogee is a curve (often used in moulding), shaped somewhat like an S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are parallel. It is a kind of sigmoid curve.  They were introduced to European cities from the Middle East.  Zellij is mosaic tilework made from individually chiselled geometric tiles set into a plaster base.  It is characteristics of Moroccan architecture.   These geometrically patterned mosaics are used to ornament walls, ceilings, fountains, floors, pools and tables.