Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

ARC
Archin us pantomime, who sometimes at funeral processions repre-
II sented the character of the deceased, by imitating his voice
Architect ancj gestures. Suet. Vesp. 19.
ARCHINUS of Ccele in Attica, an eminent statesman
who assisted Thrasybulus and Anytus in expelling the thirty
tyrants from Athens, in b.c. 403. It was by his advice that
the Cadmean or Ionic alphabet was introduced into all pub¬
lic documents in the same year. From an allusion in Plato,
Dionysius of Halicarnassus and others have fallen into the
mistake of attributing to Archinus a funeral oration.—See
Plato, Menex. p. 403; Dion. Hal. De adm. vi dicend. in
Demosth. p. 178.
ARCHIPELAGO, called by the Turks Ak degniz, the
white sea, to distinguish it from Cara degniz, the black
sea, is generally applied to that part of the Mediterranean
extending from European T urkey and Greece on the west,
to Asia Minor on the east, and stretching southward to the
island of Candia.
The name Archipelago was unknown to the ancients,
and is generally supposed to be a corruption of Atyatov ttc-
Aayos, by which name, the derivation of which is uncertain,
it was known to the Greeks. (See TEgean Sea.) The
ancients divided it into (1.) Mare Thracium, the northern
part, extending southward to the northern coast of Euboea;
(2.) Mare Myrtoum, the south-western part, washing the
shores of Attica and Argolis; (3.) Mare Icarium, the
south-eastern part, extending along the coasts of Caria
and Ionia.
The navigation of this sea is rendered difficult by the
many islands and rocks with which it abounds, and by the
frequent occurrence of sudden squalls, especially about the
equinoxes; but it has a great number of safe and commo¬
dious gulfs and bays. Besides the Cyclades and Sporades,
which are the two principal groups of smaller islands, it
contains Euboea, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, Lemnos, Imbros,
Samothrace, &c. All these islands are mountainous, and
many of them are of volcanic formation ; while others are
almost entirely composed of pure white marble, for which
Paros, one of the Cyclades, in particular, is so celebrated.
The larger islands have some very fertile and well-watered
valleys and plains. The principal productions are wheat,
wine, oil, mastic, figs, raisins, honey, wax, cotton, and silk.
The inhabitants are much engaged in fishing; and the co¬
ral and sponge fishery are actively prosecuted among the
Sporades. Manufactures are at a very low ebb ; almost the
only branch carried on being that of cotton-weaving. The
climate is mild and salubrious; the heats of summer being
tempered by the sea breezes, while the winters are less
severe than on the neighbouring mainland. The men
are hardy, well-built, and handsome; and the women are
noted for their beauty. The islands of the archipelago
are considered to belong partly to Europe and partly to
Asia. At present the Cyclades form a portion of the Greek
kingdom, while most of the other islands are subject to
Turkey.
The name Archipelago, which was primarily given to the
./Egean Sea, is now applied to various other seas which con¬
tain numerous islands, as the Eastern Archipelago, Carib¬
bean Archipelago, &c.
ARCHISYNAGOGUS, the chief of the synagogue, the
title of an officer among the Jews, who presided in their
synagogues and assemblies. The number of these officers
was not fixed, nor the same in all places, there being 70 in
some, and in others only one.
ARCHITECT (Latin Architectus, Greek ’Ap^treKrwv
arc 431
from the primitive words a/p^, the beginning, origin, or cam?. Architect.
and revxo), to contrive, construct, build), an originator, a con- . '
triver of structures; one who designs and executes works of
architecture. An architect is either civil, naval, or military.
To a avil architect the term is applied simply, without the
qualifying adjective, and to the others with the distinctive ad-
jective prefixed. Architecture requires of its professor that
he be both a man of science and an artist. He has to study
it as a useful science and as a decorative art; the former
requiring a more than ordinary knowledge of all that natu¬
ral philosophy teaches, together with a technical acquaint¬
ance with the mechanical arts used in building; and the
latter a fine perception of what is competent to produce
pleasing effects, and in what manner they may be combined
to produce grandeur and beauty. It often happens, and
particularly on the Continent, where indeed they do not
generally profess to be otherwise, that architects are totally
devoid of all technical knowledge of the details of their pro¬
fession, in which case a surveyor or supervisor is required to
carry the architect’s designs into execution. Such architects
are little better than mere draughtsmen. In this country
there is a large class of persons called surveyors, most of
whom are in fact mere measurers. They too assume the
office and distinction of architects, and are frequently em¬
ployed as such. Country builders, again, who are for the
most part simply carpenters, masons, or plasterers, are not
unfrequently allowed to execute their own designs, the re¬
sult of which passes with the vulgar for architecture, and
their authors are also called architects. Vitruvius, who,
whatever may be his merits as an historian of architecture,
certainly well understood what an architect should be, re¬
quires him to be versed in almost every branch of science
and art that was taught at the time he wrote.
Very few names of the architects cf antiquity most de¬
serving of celebrity have descended to us through authentic
channels. Vitruvius was himself so obscure as not to be
mentioned, or in any way referred to, by any ancient author
whose works remain to the present time. Of the authors of
the splendid architectural monuments of Egypt and India
we know absolutely nothing. It is indeed but with diffi¬
culty and uncertainty that we can indicate the architects of
the middle ages, the inventors and perfecters of that mag¬
nificent and beautiful style which, in the absence of a better
generic name, has been called Gothic. They were mostly
ecclesiastics,—frequently bishops and abbots.
When learning began to extend itself beyond the cloister,
and science and the liberal arts were allowed to shed their
influence on the minds of men, their application to useful
and agreeable purposes became the occupation or profession
of distinct classes. 1 hese had, of course, to derive reason¬
able emolument from their respective professions, and it was
generally made in the shape of fees. Fees, however, could
not be well determined in some professions, and among them
in that of architecture. At first the architect was paid so
much for a design, and a salary as supervisor or surveyor
of its execution ; but the established custom in this country
now is, that the architect shall be paid a commission of five
per cent, on the cost of the structure he is engaged to de¬
sign and execute. For this he makes the design ; an esti¬
mate of the expense, if required; a specification of every¬
thing required to be done by the builder, by contract or
otherwise ; with working drawings, and drawings of details.
He superintends the execution of the structure, and mea¬
sures and values the whole of the work if necessary, when
completed, to check the builder’s accounts, (w. h—G.)