Note 306 — Chapter IV

The word πυλών strictly means the place before the door (like θυρών), or rather great door (upon the augmentative force of the suffix ών, ῶνος, see Ad. Regnier, Traité de la Formation des Mots dans la Langue Grecque, § 184). Several passages in Polybius (Thesaurus, s. v.) show that in the military language of his time the term was employed to signify a fortified doorway with its flanking towers and other defences. We may therefore understand why Diodorus (i. 47) made use of it in his description of the so-called tomb of Osymandias. Strabo (xvii. 1, 28) preferred to use the word πρόπυλων. Modern usage has restricted the word propylœum to Greek buildings, and pylon to the great doorways which form one of the most striking features of Egyptian architecture.