=Syrian Examples.=--Syria has disclosed to explorers--of whom the late Marquis of Vogüé and Dr. H. C. Butler of the American Archæological Expedition have been the foremost--a number of interesting monuments, both civic and religious, erected between the third and eighth centuries. While details of moulding and ornament appear to have been copied from those of Roman remains, the methods of construction were worked out by the builders themselves. They seem to have retained the Phœnician preference for using the largest stones that could be quarried, transported, and put in place. Thus, arches were frequently carved out of a single stone, and when voussoirs were used, they were either few in number or, if numerous, of great height and depth. Large slabs of stone were also employed for roofing, especially in houses. In imitating antique details the architects appear to have had little if any feeling for their constructional origin or meaning; the capital and half the shaft of a column, for example, being carved out of one piece of stone, while the remainder of the shaft and the base were cut out of another. On the other hand, they developed for themselves certain fine features of construction, as for instance, in the arcading of their basilican churches, in which the columns were sometimes replaced by large rectangular piers, carrying arches of great width. An example of this impressive method is found in the interior of the =Church of Kalb-Lauzeh=. This corresponds with the larger =Church of Turmanin=, the western façade of which shows a very independent spirit of design. It has a broad arched entrance, flanked by two square towers, connected over the doorway by an open gallery, constructed with columns. A corresponding inventiveness marked their use of the basilican plan. A fine example is the large =Church of S. Simeon Stylites= at =Kalat-Seman=. The nucleus of the plan is an octagonal court, open to the sky, in the centre of which stood the pillar on which the saint spent thirty years of his life. This court forms the intersection or crossing of four rectangular wings, arranged in shape of a cross, each one of which has a basilican form, the nave and aisles of the eastern one terminating in apses.