Meander: * see EndNote<A>

Greek, a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated motif.

 

Doric column (not used):

the use of the Doric order in the Renaissance was relatively uncommon & when used often decorated with thin layers of moulding or other ornament, as well as employing un-fluted plain columns.  More commonly the Tuscan order as used.  While clearly influenced by the Doric, the Tuscan used un-fluted columns with a simpler entablature & without triglyphs or guttae.  Only in the 18th Century, during the Greek Revival (England), does the Doric remerge.

 

Magian dome: * see EndNote<B>

Mosques feature one or more domes, symbolic representation of the vault of heaven; interior decoration emphasizes this symbolism with intricate geometric, stellate, or vegetal motifs to create patterns meant to awe & inspire.  Domes are not limited to Islam.  One of the most distinctive features of the Byzantine church architecture was its domed roof.  These commonly rest above a square base, using either the squinch (an arch in each of the corners of a square base that transforms it into an octagon) or the pendentive.

and see Chapter VI, page 200, 211, 215

 

Russian roof-cupola: * see EndNote<C>

Russian roofs rather than using the strong vertical as characterized by the dome, employ a horizontal line which lessons the vertical feeling. 

and see Chapter VI, page 201

 

Chinese landscape architecture (devious path):

Both Chinese garden design & landscape painting employ a wandering path which travels forward but without apparent direction; the visitor wanders thru the gardens along a twisting pathway, each view point planned & specific in its intent; likewise Chinese landscapes painting employ a path, often indistinct, blending into the surrounding landscape, travelled by a small figure, both path & figure dwarfed by the encroaching mountains.

And see Chapter V, page 171, Chapter VI page 190 and Chapter VIII page 295

 

Gothic cathedral-tower: * see Endnote<D>

Spengler saw the Gothic cathedral as the architectural embodiment of the Faustian Prime symbol, endless space; this was expressed in the soaring interior of the naves as nave as well as on the exterior with its towers, soaring into the sky.

 

a priori:

Latin, first; deduction from a general law to a particular instance; valid independently of observation;

 

Kant (a priori):

  Kant described categories of thought (existing a priori) as concepts that enable us to understand the phenomenal world.  The mind shapes the phenomenal world, the categories make experience possible.  These categories existed in the mind prior to & independent of experience, as a faculty or character trait.

 

datum:

a single piece of information, a fact, statistic, or code; an item of data; in Philosophy any fact assumed to be a matter of direct observation or any propositionfrom which conclusions may be drawn.

 

predication:

Logic, that which is affirmed or denied concerning the subject of a proposition.

 

confutation:

to prove to be false, invalid, or defective; disprove

 

begotten:

especially of a male parent, to procreate or generate offspring

 

Renaissance (Southernized Gothic):

Spengler denies that this period actually was a revival of Apollonian art, instead he sees it as a negation, unsuccessful, of Gothic art.  It was the South’s treatment of the Gothic spirit.