ATTIC

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) In Architecture, a low order of architecture, commonly used over a principal order, never with columns in it, but always antse, or pilasters. It is employed to decorate the facade of a floor of small height, terminating the upper part of a building, and is doubtle called attic from its resemblance in proportional height and concealed roof to some of the buildings of Greece. Pliny describes it, after speaking of the oiher orders, thus: •• Pra?ter has sunt quae vocantur attics columnar quaternis angulis par i laterum intervallo." We, however, find no examples of square pillars in the remains of ancient art, though almost all the triumphal arches exhibit specimens of pilastral attics, having no capitals save the cornice breaking round them. In modern architecture the proportions of the attic order have never been subject to fixed rules, and their good effect is entirely dependent on the taste of the architect. [s. 118]