74. In the construction of the pyramids it is manifest they would serve as their own scaffolds. The oldest monuments of Egypt are the pyramids at Geezeh, to the north of Memphis, of which we give a view (fig. 46.), with a section of the largest of them built by Suphis I., the Cheops of the Greeks (fig. 45.). Sir G. Wilkinson supposes them to have been erected 2120 years B.C., Lepsius 3426 B. C.; but the former admits that, previous to the reign of Osirtasen, 1740 B.C., little certainty exists as to dates. These pyramids (fig. 46.), known by the names of Cheops, Chepheren, and Mycerinus, are extraordinary for their size and the consequent labour bestowed upon them; but as works of the art they are of no further importance than being a link in the chain of its history. They are constructed of stone from the neighbouring mountains, and are in steps, of which in Fig. 45. SECTION OF PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. the largest there are two hundred and three, varying in height from 3 ft. to about 4 and even 5 ft., decreasing in height as they rise towards the summit. Their width diminishes in the same proportion, so that a line drawn from the base to the summit touches the edge of each step. So great a difference exists in the measures given in the descriptions by the several travellers, that we here subjoin those given of the pyramid of Cheops, whilst believing that the careful admeasurements taken by Mr. Perring are those to be relied upon : Mr Perring, a recent traveller, in respect of the proportions of the great pyramid, has endeavoured to prove that the unit of Egyptian measurement is an ell equal to 1.713 English feet, and that it is expressed a certain number of times without remainder in a correct measurement of the pyramids of Geezeh. Thus, he says, the perpendicular height of the great pyramid is exactly 280 of such ells, the base 448; and that base: perpendicular height: slant height: base. Upon the top thereof is a platform 32 ft. square, consisting of nine large stones, each about a ton in weight, though inferior in that respect to others in the edifice, which vary from 5 ft. to 30 ft. in length, and from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height. From this platform Dr. Clarke saw the pyramids of Sakkarah to the south, and on the east of them smaller monuments of the same kind nearer to the Nile. He remarked, moreover, an appearance of ruins which might be traced the whole way from the pyramids of Gizeh to those of Saccara, as if the whole had once constituted one great city. The stones of the platform are soft limestone, a little harder and more compact than what in England is called clunch. The pyramids are built with common mortar externally, but no appearance of mortar can be discerned in the more perfect parts of the masonry. The faces of the pyramid are directed to the four cardinal points. The entrance is in the north front, and the passage to the central chamber is shown on the preceding section. That in the pyramid of Chepheren (fig. 47.) is thus described by Belzoni:-The first passage is built of granite, the rest are cut out of the natural sandstone rock which rises above the level of the basis of the pyramid. This passage is 104 ft. long, 4 ft. high, and 3 ft. 6 in. wide; descending at an angle of 26 degrees: at the bottom is a portcullis, beyond which is a horizontal passage Fig. 47. ENTRANCE TO THE SECOND PYRAMID. D of the same height as the first, and at the distance of 22 ft. it descends in a different direction, leading to some passages below. Hence it re-ascends towards the centre of the pyramid by a gallery 84 ft. long, 6 ft. high, and 3 ft. 6 in. wide, leading to a chamber also cut out of the solid rock. The chamber is 46 ft. in length, 16 feet wide, and 23 ft. 6. in. in height, and contained a sarcophagus of granite 8 ft. long, 3 ft. 6. in. wide, and 2 ft. 3 in. deep in the inside. Returning from the chamber to the bottom of the gallery a passage descends at an angle of 26 degrees to the extent of 48 ft. 6 in., when it takes a horizontal direction for a length of 55 ft.; it then again ascends at the same angle and proceeds to the base of the pyramid, where another entrance is formed from the outside. About the middle of the horizontal passage there is a descent into another chamber, which is 32 ft. long, 10 ft. wide, and 8 ft. 6 in. high. The dimensions of this pyramid, as given by Perring, are a base of 707 ft. and a height of 454 ft. Those of the pyramid of Mycerinus are a base of 354 ft., and a height of 218 ft. The pyramids of Sakkarah, which are as many as twenty in number, vary in form, dimensions, and construction. They extend five miles to the north and south of the village of Sakkarah. Some of them are rounded at the top, and resemble hillocks cased with stone. One pyramid is constructed with steps like that of Cheops; there are six steps, each 25 ft. high, and 11 ft. wide. The height of one in the group is 150 ft.; another, built also in steps, is supposed to be as high as that of Cheops. The stones used are much decayed, and more crumbling than those of Gizeh; hence they are considered older. One of them is formed of unburnt bricks, containing shells, gravel, and chopped straw, and is in a very mouldering state. About 300 paces from the second pyramid stands the extraordinary gigantic statue of the Sphinx (fig. 48.), whose length from the fore-part to the tail has been found to be 150 ft. Belzoni cleared away the sand, and found a temple held between the legs and another in one of its paws. According to Denon, the antiquity of the Egyptian temples may be comparatively determined from their size; the larger ones being posterior to the smaller. Since, however, the wonderful insight we have obtained into the meaning of the hieroglyphics, more accurate information than we before possessed may be gained on that point by reference to Mr. (now Sir Gardiner) Wilkinson's works on Egypt and Thebes. A spirit of simplicity, grandeur, and solidity reigns through the whole of them, and every precaution seems to have been taken to render them eternal. The walls by which they are enclosed are found sometimes 26 ft. in thickness, and those of the entrance gate of a temple at Thebes are as much as 53 ft. thick at their base, and are composed of blocks of enormous size. The masonry employed is that called by the Greeks emplectum (EμTλEKTOV), all filling in of an inferior or rubble work being discarded. They are masses of nicely squared and fitted stones, and are built externally with a slope like the walls of a modern fortification. The columns are absolutely necessary for the support of the ceilings, which consist of large blocks of stone, and are therefore of few diameters in height. Sometimes they are in a single piece, as at Thebes and Tentyra. The stones of which the ceilings are composed are usually, according to Pococke, 14 ft. long, and 5 ft. in breadth, but some run much larger. Fig. 48. THE SPHINX. 75. Before adverting to the form and disposition of the Egyptian temple, we think it here necessary to notice the recent discovery of an arch in a tomb at Sakkarah, said to be of the time of Psammeticus II., and of one also at Thebes in the remains of a crude brick pyramid. (See Wilkinson's Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 263. 321.) That exhibited in the tomb of Saccara, from the vignette given, is clearly nothing but a lining of the rock, and is, if truly represented in the plate, incapable of bearing weight, which is the office of an arch. That, however, at Thebes, to which Mr. W. assigns the date of 1500 E.C., with every respect for his great information on the subject, and with much deference to his judgment, not having ourselves seen it, we cannot easily believe to be of such antiquity. Its appearance is so truly Roman, that we must be permitted to doubt the truth of his conjecture. We are, moreover, fortified in the opinion we entertain by the principles on which the style of Egyptian architecture is founded, which are totally at variance with the use of the arch. We have ventured to transfer this (fig. 49.) to our pages, that the reader may form a judgment on the subject, as well as ourselves. We will only add, that the reasons assigned by Mr. W. for the Egyptians not preferring such a mode of construction as the arch, because of the difficulty of repairing it when injured, and the consequences attending the decay of a single block, are not of any weight with us, because, practically, there is an easy mode of accomplishing such repair. And, again, the argu ment that the superincumbent weight applied to an arch in such a case as that before TH CHAP. IL EGYPTIAN. 35 serve the opening without any arch at all. 76. THE FORM AND DISPOSITION of the to have been The only Egyptian temple seem founded on immutable rules. points wherein they differ from one another are in the number of their subdivisions and their extent, as the city for which they served was more or less rich. Unlike the temples of the Greeks and Romans, whose parts were governed by the adoption of one of the orders, and whose whole, taken in at a single glance, could be measured from any one of its parts, those of Egypt were an assemblage of porticoes, courts, vestibules, galleries, apartments, communicating with each other, and surrounded with walls. Strabo, in his 17th book, thus describes the temples in question. "At the entrance of the consecrated spot the ground is paved to the width of 100 ft. (Ae@pov) or less, and in length three or four times its width, and in some places even more. This is called the court (pouos, course); thus Callimachus uses the words us will not hold good, inasmuch as the balance on the back of each course would almost pre Fig. 49. ARCH AT THEBES. Ο δρόμος ἱερος οὗτος Ανουβιδος. Throughout the whole length beyond this on each side of the width are placed sphinxes of Beyond a wing (Tepa); these consist of two walls as high as 77. This edifice, seated near Edfoo, about twenty At the further end of the quadrangle (which rises by corded steps) opposite to the entrance, is a portico extending the whole breadth of the quadrangle, and 45 ft. in depth. It has three ranks of columns, containing six in each rank, is covered by a flat roof, and is enclosed by walls on three sides, the fourth, or that opposite the entrance, D 2 being open. This is, however, closed breast high by a species of pedestals half inserted in the columns, and in the central intercolumniation a doorway is constructed with piers, over which are a lintel and cornice cut through. From this portico a doorway leads to an inner vestibule, in which are three ranks of four columns each, smaller than those first described, but distributed in the same way. Beyond this, in Cousin's plan, are sundry apartments, with staircases and passages, whereof the smaller central one was doubtless the cell. Fig. 51. is a longitudinal section. Fig 52. is the elevation. We may here add, that there is so little difference between the earlier and later specimens of Egyptian architecture, that though, as we have hinted, this is of the latter, it will convey a pretty correct knowledge of all. The general appearance of the temple is given in fig. 53., and a view of the interior in fig. 54. The plan of the Egyptian temple is always uniform, symmetrical, and rectangular. Its most brilliant feature is the great number of columns employed, in which is displayed a prodigality unapproached by any other nation. This, however, was induced by the necessity for employing blocks of stone for the ceilings or roofs. The greatest irregularity occurring in any of the plans known, is in that at the island of Philæ (see fig. 55.), and it is very evident that the cause was the shape of the ground on which it is placed. The in Fig. 55. tercolumniations were very small, rarely exceeding a diameter, or one diameter and a half of the column. We know of no specimens of peripteral temples similar to those of Greece, that is, those in which the cell is surrounded by columns. In the elevations of those of Egypt, the spirit and character of their architecture is more particularly developed. But they are monotonous. The repetition of the same forms is carried to the utmost pitch of tolerance. The pyramidal form prevails in all the combinations, whether in walls, doors, general masses, or details. In considering the principal parts of the elevations, the first feature that presents itself is the column, which we will notice without its attendant base and capital. If it were possible to establish a system relative to their invention and subsequent perfection, we might easily arrange them in distinct classes, principally as respects their decoration; but as far as regards general form, the Egyptian column may be reduced to two varieties, the circular and polygonal. The first are of two sorts. are found quite plain or smooth, but ornamented with hieroglyphies (see fig. 56.). Some Some composed with ranges of horizontal circles, and look like an assemblage of bundles ས་ོ . of rods tied together at intervals. The only difference among those columns which are circular and plain is in their having hieroglyphics, or not. Of the second sort there are many varieties, of which we here present three specimens (fig. 57.). They have the appearance of being bound together by hoops, like barrels. These are usually in three rows with four or five divisions in each; but these arrangements seem to have been subject to no certain laws. The species of columns in question is certainly curious, and appears based upon the imitation of stems of trees bound together, so as out of a number to form one strong post. It seems scarcely possible that they could have had their origin in mere whim or caprice. Many polygonal columns are to be found in Egypt. Some square specimens are to be seen in the grottos at Thebes cut out of the rock itself. Simiexamples occur at the entrance of the sanctuary of a temple in the same city. Hexa 56. COLUMNS ig. 67. BILAFTS. gonal ones are described by Norden, and Pococke mentions one of a form triangular on the plan. We do not at present remember any fluted specimen, except in the tombs of Beni-Hassan, of which a representation will be given in the section on Grecian architecture. Their character is shortness and thickness. They vary from three to eleven feet in diameter. the last dimension being the largest diameter that Pococke observed, as in height the tallest was forty feet. Such ere some of those he measured at Carnak and Luxor, but this he gives only as an aproximation from the circumstance of so much of them being buried in the earth. 78. Pilasters, properly so called, are not found in Egyptian architecture. he column, when it appears, is extremely simple in its form. Among the representations n Denon's work is one in which the base is in the shape of an inverted ogee. It belongs o a column of one of the buildings at Tentyra. The base of 79. In their capitals, the Egyptians exhibited great variety of form. They may, however, be reduced to three species, the square, the vase-formed, and the swelled. The first (fig. 58.) is nothing more than a simple abacus, merely placed on the top of the shaft of the column, to which it is not joined by the intervention of any moulding. This abacus is, however, sometimes high enough to admit of a head being sculptured thereon, as in the annexed block. It does not appear, as in Grecian architecture, that in that of Egypt differently proportioned and formed columns had different capitals assigned to them. The notion of imparting expression to architecture by a choice of forms of different nature, and more or less complicated according to the character of an order, was unknown in Egypt. It was an architectural language which the people knew not. The vase-shaped capital (fig. 59.) Fig. 58. CAPITAL is variously modified: sometimes it occurs quite plain; in other cases it is differently decorated, of which we here give two examples. It certainly has all the appear ance of having afforded the first hint for the bell of the Corinthian capital. The third or swelled capital is also found in many varieties; but if the form be not founded on that of the bud of a tree, we scarcely know wherein its original type is to be sought. Two examples of it are here appended. 80. The entablature, for such (however unlike it be to the same thing in the architecture The of Greece) we suppose we must call the massive loading placed on the walls and columns of ancient Egypt, is very little subdivided. upper part of it, which we may call the cornice, projects considerably, having a large concave member, in some cases consisting of ornaments representing a series of reeds parallel to each other from top to bottom; in other cases in groups of three or six in a group, the intervals between them being sculptured with winged globes, as on the portico of the temple at Tentyra, given in fig. 60. Sculptures of animals, winged globes, and scarabæi, are the almost constant decorations placed on what may be called the architrave of the Egyptian temple. Of the winged globe, usually found on the centre of it, as also of the great concave cornice, fig. 61. is a representation. Fig. 60. We close our observations on the cornices of the Egyptian temple by requesting the reader, if he have the smallest doubt on the common origin of the archi |