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flowers and leaves, ranged row above row, and painted in the brightest
colours (fig. 67.) At Edfû, Ombos, and Philae one would fancy that the
designer had vowed never to repeat the same pattern in the same portico.
[Illustration: Fig. 67.--Ornate capitals, Ptolemaic.]
[Illustration: Fig. 68.--Lotus-bud column, Beni Hasan.]
[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Lotus-bud column, processional hall, Thothmes
III., Karnak.]
[Illustration: Fig. 70.--Column in the aisles of the hypostyle hall |
202 | at
Karnak.]
II. _Columns with Lotus-bud Capitals_.--Originally these may perhaps have
represented a bunch of lotus plants, the buds being bound together at the
neck to form the capital. The columns of Beni Hasan consist of four rounded
stems (fig. 68). Those of the Labyrinth, of the processional hall of
Thothmes III., and of Medamot, consist of eight stems, each presenting a
sharp edge on the outer side (fig. 69). The bottom of the column is
bulbous, and set round with triangular |
203 | leaves. The top is surrounded by
three or five bands. A moulding composed of groups of three vertical
stripes hangs like a fringe from the lowest band in the space between
every two stems. So varied a surface does not admit of hieroglyphic
decoration; therefore the projections were by degrees suppressed, and the
whole shaft was made smooth. In the hypostyle hall at Gûrneh, the shaft is
divided in three parts, the middle one being smooth and covered with
sculptures, while the upper an |
204 | d lower divisions are formed of clustered
stems. In the temple of Khonsû, in the aisles of the hypostyle hall of
Karnak, and in the portico of Medinet Habû, the shaft is quite smooth, the
fringe alone being retained below the top bands, while a slight ridge
between each of the three bands recalls the original stems (fig. 70). The
capital underwent a like process of degradation. At Beni Hasan, it is
finely clustered throughout its height. In the processional hall of
Thothmes III., at L |
205 | uxor, and at Medamot, a circle of small pointed leaves
and channellings around the base lessens the effect, and reduces it to a
mere grooved and truncated cone. In the hypostyle hall of Karnak, at
Abydos, at the Ramesseum, and at Medinet Habû, various other ornaments, as
triangular leaves, hieroglyphic inscriptions, or bands of cartouches
flanked by uraei, fill the space thus unfortunately obtained. Neither is
the abacus hidden as in the campaniform capital, but stands out boldly, and
|
206 |
displays the cartouche of the royal founder.
[Illustration: Fig. 71.--Hathor-head capital, Ptolemaic.]
III. _Columns with Hathor-head Capitals_.--We find examples of the Hathor-
headed column dating from ancient times, as at Deir el Baharî; but this
order is best known in buildings of the Ptolemaic period, as at Contra
Latopolis, Philae, and Denderah. The shaft and the base present no special
characteristics. They resemble those of the campaniform columns. The
capital is in two |
207 | divisions. Below we have a square block, bearing on each
face a woman's head in high relief and crowned with a naos. The woman has
the ears of a heifer. Her hair, confined over the brow by three vertical
bands, falls behind the ears, and hangs long on the shoulders. Each head
supports a fluted cornice, on which stands a naos framed between two
volutes, and crowned by a slender abacus (fig. 71). Thus each column has
for its capital four heads of Hathor. Seen from a distance, it at once |
208 |
recalls the form of the sistrum, so frequently represented in the bas-
reliefs as held in the hands of queens and goddesses. It is in fact a
sistrum, in which the regular proportions of the parts are disregarded. The
handle is gigantic, while the upper part of the instrument is unduly
reduced. This notion so pleased the Egyptian fancy that architects did not
hesitate to combine the sistrum design with elements borrowed from other
orders. The four heads of Hathor placed above a campan |
209 | iform capital,
furnished Nectenebo with a composite type for his pavilion at Philae (fig.
72). I cannot say that the compound is very satisfactory, but the column is
in reality less ugly than it appears in engravings.
[Illustration: Fig. 72.--Campaniform and Hathor-headed capital, Philae.]
[Illustration: Fig. 73.--Section of the hypostyle hall at Karnak to show
the
arrangement of the two varieties: campaniform and lotus-bud columns.]
Shafts of columns were regulated by no fixed |
210 | rules of proportion or
arrangement. The architect might, if he chose, make use of equal heights
with very different diameters, and, regardless of any considerations apart
from those of general harmony, might design the various parts according to
whatever scale best suited him. The dimensions of the capital had no
invariable connection with those of the shaft, nor was the height of the
shaft dependent on the diameter of the column. At Karnak, the campaniform
columns of the hypostyle h |
211 | all measure 10 feet high in the capital, and 55
feet high in the shaft, with a lower diameter of 11 feet 8 inches. At
Luxor, the capital measures 11-1/2 feet, the shaft 49 feet, and the
diameter at the spring of the base 11-1/4 feet. At the Ramesseum, the shaft
and capital measure 35 feet, and the spring diameter is 6-1/2 feet. The
lotus-bud or clustered column gives similar results. At Karnak, in the
aisles of the hypostyle hall, the capital is 10 feet high, the shaft 33
feet, and th |
212 | e base diameter 6-3/4 feet. At the Ramesseum, the capital is 5-
1/2 feet high, the shaft 24-1/2 feet, and the base diameter 5 feet 10
inches. We find the same irregularity as to architraves. Their height is
determined only by the taste of the architect or the necessities of the
building. So also with the spacing of columns. Not only does the inter-
columnar space vary considerably between temple and temple, or chamber and
chamber, but sometimes--as in the first court at Medinet Habû--t |
213 | hey vary in
the same portico. We have thus far treated separately of each type; but
when various types were associated in a single building, no fixed relative
proportions were observed. In the hypostyle hall at Karnak, the campaniform
columns support the nave, while the lotus-bud variety is relegated to the
aisles (fig. 73). There are halls in the temple of Khonsû where the lotus-
bud column is the loftiest, and others where the campaniform dominates the
rest. In what remains of the M |
214 | edamot structure, campaniform and lotus-bud
columns are of equal height. Egypt had no definite orders like those of
Greece, but tried every combination to which the elements of the column
could be made to lend themselves; hence, we can never determine the
dimensions of an Egyptian column from those of one of its parts.
[12] For an account of the excavations at Bubastis, see Eighth and Tenth
Memoirs of the Egypt Exploration Fund, by M.E. Naville.
[13] French "Promenoir"; this |
215 | is perhaps best expressed by "Processional
Hall," in accordance with the description of its purpose on p. 67.
--A.B.E.
2. THE TEMPLE.
[Illustration: Fig. 74.--Plan of temple of the Sphinx.]
Most of the famous sanctuaries--Denderah, Edfû, Abydos--were founded before
Men a by the _Servants of Hor_.[14] Becoming dilapidated or ruined in the
course of ages, they have been restored, rebuilt, remodelled, one after the
other, till nothing remains of the primitive design |
216 | to show us what the
first Egyptian architecture was like. The funerary temples built by the
kings of the Fourth Dynasty have left some traces.[15] That of the second
pyramid of Gizeh was so far preserved at the beginning of the last century,
that Maillet saw four large pillars standing. It is now almost entirely
destroyed; but this loss has been more than compensated by the discovery,
in 1853, of a temple situate about fifty yards to the southward of the
sphinx (fig. 74). The façade |
217 | is still hidden by the sand, and the inside is
but partly uncovered. The core masonry is of fine Tûrah limestone. The
casing, pillars, architraves, and roof were constructed with immense blocks
of alabaster or red granite (Note 9). The plan is most simple: In the
middle (A) is a great hall in shape of the letter T, adorned with sixteen
square pillars 16 feet in height; at the north-west corner of this hall is
a narrow passage on an inclined plane (B), by which the building is now
ente |
218 | red;[16] at the south-west corner is a recess (C) which contains six
niches, in pairs one over the other. A long gallery opening at each end
into a square chamber, now filled with rubbish (E), completes the plan.
Without any main door, without windows, and entered through a passage too
long to admit the light of day, the building can only have received light
and air through slanting air-slits in the roofing, of which traces are yet
visible on the tops of the walls (_e, e_) on each side |
219 | of the main hall
(Note 10). Inscriptions, bas-reliefs, paintings, such as we are accustomed
to find everywhere in Egypt, are all wanting; and yet these bare walls
produce as great an impression upon the spectator as the most richly
decorated temples of Thebes. Not only grandeur but sublimity has been
achieved in the mere juxtaposition of blocks of granite and alabaster, by
means of purity of line and exactness of proportion.
Some few scattered ruins in Nubia, the Fayûm, and Sinai, |
220 | do not suffice to
prove whether the temples of the Twelfth Dynasty merited the praises
lavished on them in contemporary inscriptions or not. Those of the Theban
kings, of the Ptolemies, and of the Caesars which are yet standing are in
some cases nearly perfect, while almost all are easy of restoration to
those who conscientiously study them upon the spot. At first sight, they
seem to present an infinite variety as to arrangement; but on a closer view
they are found to conform to a sin |
221 | gle type. We will begin with the
sanctuary. This is a low, small, obscure, rectangular chamber, inaccessible
to all save Pharaoh and the priests. As a rule it contained neither statue
nor emblem, but only the sacred bark, or a tabernacle of painted wood
placed upon a pedestal. A niche in the wall, or an isolated shrine formed
of a single block of stone, received on certain days the statue, or
inanimate symbol of the local god, or the living animal, or the image of
the animal, sacred t |
222 | o that god. A temple must necessarily contain this one
chamber; and if it contained but this one chamber, it would be no less a
temple than the most complex buildings. Very rarely, however, especially in
large towns, was the service of the gods thus limited to the strictly
necessary. Around the sanctuary, or "divine house," was grouped a series of
chambers in which sacrificial and ceremonial objects were stored, as
flowers, perfumes, stuffs, and precious vessels. In advance of this blo |
223 | ck
of buildings were next built one or more halls supported on columns; and in
advance of these came a courtyard, where the priests and devotees
assembled. This courtyard was surrounded by a colonnade to which the public
had access, and was entered through a gateway flanked by two towers, in
front of which were placed statues, or obelisks; the whole being surrounded
by an enclosure wall of brickwork, and approached through an avenue of
sphinxes. Every Pharaoh was free to erect a hall |
224 | still more sumptuous in
front of those which his predecessors had built; and what he did, others
might do after him. Thus, successive series of chambers and courts, of
pylons and porticoes, were added reign after reign to the original nucleus;
and--vanity or piety prompting the work--the temple continued to increase
in every direction, till space or means had failed.
[Illustration: Fig. 75.--South Temple of Amenhotep III. at Elephantine.]
[Illustration: Fig. 76.--Plan of temple of |
225 | Amenhotep III., at El Kab.]
The most simple temples were sometimes the most beautiful. This was the
case as regards the sanctuaries erected by Amenhotep III. in the island of
Elephantine, which were figured by the members of the French expedition at
the end of the last century, and destroyed by the Turkish governor of Asûan
in 1822. The best preserved, namely, the south temple (fig. 75), consisted
of but a single chamber of sandstone, 14 feet high, 31 feet wide, and 39
feet long. T |
226 | he walls, which were straight, and crowned with the usual
cornice, rested on a platform of masonry some 8 feet above the ground. This
platform was surrounded by a parapet wall, breast high. All around the
temple ran a colonnade, the sides each consisting of seven square pillars,
without capital or base, and the two façades, front and back, being
supported by two columns with the lotus-bud capital. Both pillars and
columns rose direct from the parapet; except on the east front, where a
|
227 |
flight of ten or twelve steps, enclosed between two walls of the same
height as the platform, led up to the _cella_. The two columns at the head
of the steps were wider apart than those of the opposite face, and through
the space thus opened was seen a richly-decorated door. A second door
opened at the other end, beneath the portico. Later, in Roman times, this
feature was utilised in altering the building. The inter-columnar space at
the end was filled up, and thus was obtained a sec |
228 | ond hall, rough and bare,
but useful for the purposes of the temple service. These Elephantine
sanctuaries bring to mind the peripteral temples of the Greeks, and this
resemblance to one of the most familiar forms of classical architecture
explains perhaps the boundless admiration with which they were regarded by
the French savants. Those of Mesheikh, of El Kab, and of Sharonah are
somewhat more elaborate. The building at El Kab is in three divisions (fig.
76); first, a hall of four c |
229 | olumns (A); next, a chamber (B) supported by
four Hathor-headed pillars; and in the end wall, opposite the door, a niche
(C), approached by four steps. Of these small oratories the most complete
model now remaining belongs to the Ptolemaic period; namely, the temple of
Hathor at Deir el Medineh (fig. 77). Its length is just double its breadth.
The walls are built with a batter inclining inwards,[17] and are externally
bare, save at the door, which is framed in a projecting border cover |
230 | ed with
finely-sculptured scenes. The interior is in three parts: A portico (B),
supported by two lotus flower columns; a pronaos (C), reached by a flight
of four steps, and separated from the portico by a wall which connects the
two lotus flower columns with two Hathor-headed pilasters _in antis_;
lastly, the sanctuary (D), flanked by two small chambers (E, E), which are
lighted by square openings cut in the ceiling. The ascent to the terrace is
by way of a staircase, very ingeniousl |
231 | y placed in the south corner of the
portico, and furnished with a beautiful open window (F). This is merely a
temple in miniature; but the parts, though small, are so well proportioned
that it would be impossible to conceive anything more delicate or graceful.
[Illustration: Fig. 77.--Plan of temple of Hathor, Deir el Medineh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 78.--Plan of temple of Khonsû, Karnak.]
[Illustration: Fig. 79.--Pylon, with masts, from a bas-relief in the temple
of Khonsû at Karn |
232 | ak.]
[Illustration: Fig. 80.--The Ramesseum restored, to show the rising of the
ground.]
[Illustration: Fig. 81.--Crypts in the thickness of the walls, round the
sanctuary at Denderah.]
[Illustration: Fig. 82.--The pronaos of Edfû, as seen from the top of the
eastern pylon.]
We cannot say as much for the temple which the Pharaohs of the Twentieth
Dynasty erected to the south of Karnak, in honour of the god Khonsû (fig.
78); but if the style is not irreproachable, the plan is |
233 | nevertheless so
clear, that one is tempted to accept it as the type of an Egyptian temple,
in preference to others more elegant or majestic. On analysis, it resolves
itself into two parts separated by a thick wall (A, A). In the centre of
the lesser division is the Holy of Holies (B), open at both ends and
isolated from the rest of the building by a surrounding passage (C) 10
feet in width. To the right and left of this sanctuary are small dark
chambers (D, D), and behind it is a hal |
234 | l of four columns (E), from which
open seven other chambers (F, F). Such was the house of the god, having no
communication with the adjoining parts, except by two doors (G) in the
southern wall (A, A). These opened into a wide and shallow hypostyle hall
(H), divided into nave and aisles. The nave is supported by four lotus-
flower columns, 23 feet in height; the aisles each contain two lotus-bud
columns 18 feet high. The roof of the nave is, therefore, 5 feet higher
than that of the s |
235 | ides. This elevation was made use of for lighting
purposes, the clerestory being fitted with stone gratings, which admitted
the daylight. The court (I) was square, and surrounded by a double
colonnade entered by way of four side-gates and a great central gateway
flanked by two quadrangular towers with sloping fronts. This pylon (K)
measures 105 feet in length, 33 feet in width, and 60 feet in height. It
contains no chambers, but only a narrow staircase, which leads to the top
of the g |
236 | ate, and thence up to the towers. Four long grooves in the façade,
reaching to a third of its height, correspond to four quadrangular openings
cut through. the whole thickness of the masonry. Here were fixed four
great wooden masts, formed of joined beams and held in place by a wooden
framework fixed in the four openings above mentioned. From these masts
floated long streamers of various colours (fig. 79). Such was the temple of
Khonsû, and such, in their main features, were the majori |
237 | ty of the greater
temples of Theban and Ptolemaic times, as Luxor, the Ramesseum, Medinet
Habû, Edfû, and Denderah. Though for the most part half in ruins, they
affect one with a strange and disquieting sense of oppression. As mystery
was a favourite attribute of the Egyptian gods, even so the plan of their
temples is in such wise devised as to lead gradually from the full sunshine
of the outer world to the obscurity of their retreats. At the entrance we
find large open spaces, where |
238 | air and light stream freely in. The hypostyle
hall is pervaded by a sober twilight; the sanctuary is more than half lost
in a vague darkness; and at the end of the building, in the farthest of the
chambers, night all but reigns completely. The effect of distance which was
produced by this gradual diminution of light, was still further heightened
by various structural artifices. The parts, for instance, are not on the
same level. The ground rises from the entrance (fig. 80), and there a |
239 | re
always a few steps to mount in passing from one part to another. In the
temple of Khonsû the difference of level is not more than 5-1/4 feet, but
it is combined with a lowering of the roof, which in most cases is very
strongly marked. From the pylon to the wall at the farther end, the height
decreases continuously. The peristyle is loftier than the hypostyle hall,
and the hypostyle hall is loftier than the sanctuary. The last hall of
columns and the farthest chamber are lower and l |
240 | ower still. The architects
of Ptolemaic times changed certain details of arrangement. They erected
chapels and oratories on the terraced roofs, and reserved space for the
construction of secret passages and crypts in the thickness of the walls,
wherein to hide the treasure of the god (fig. 81). They, however,
introduced only two important modifications of the original plan. The
sanctuary was formerly entered by two opposite doors; they left but one.
Also the colonnade, which was origi |
241 | nally continued round the upper end of
the court, or, where there was no court, along the façade of the temple,
became now the pronaos, so forming an additional chamber. The columns of
the outer row are retained, but built into a wall reaching to about half
their height. This connecting wall is surmounted by a cornice, which thus
forms a screen, and so prevented the outer throng from seeing what took
place within (fig. 82). The pronaos is supported by two, three, or even
four rows of |
242 | columns, according to the size of the edifice. For the rest,
it is useful to compare the plan of the temple of Edfû (fig. 83) with that
of the temple of Khonsû, observing how little they differ the one from the
other.
[Illustration: Fig. 83.--Plan of temple, Edfû.]
[Illustration: Fig. 84.--Plan of the temple of Karnak in the reign of
Amenhotep III.]
[Illustration: Fig. 85.--Plan of Hypostyle Hall, Karnak.]
[Illustration: Fig. 86.--Plan of great temple, Luxor.]
[Illustratio |
243 | n: Fig. 87.--Plan of the Isle of Philae.]
Thus designed, the building sufficed for all the needs of worship. If
enlargement was needed, the sanctuary and surrounding chambers were
generally left untouched, and only the ceremonial parts of the building, as
the hypostyle halls, the courts, or pylons, were attacked. The procedure of
the Egyptians under these circumstances is best illustrated by the history
of the great temple of Karnak. Founded by Ûsertesen I., probably on the
site of |
244 | a still earlier temple, it was but a small building, constructed of
limestone and sandstone, with granite doorways. The inside was decorated
with sixteen-sided pillars. The second and third Amenemhats added some work
to it, and the princes of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties adorned
it with statues and tables of offerings. It was still unaltered when, in
the eighteenth century B.C., Thothmes I., enriched with booty of war,
resolved to enlarge it. In advance of what already stood |
245 | there, he erected
two chambers, preceded by a court and flanked by two isolated chapels. In
advance of these again, he erected three successive pylons, one behind the
other. The whole presented the appearance of a vast rectangle placed
crosswise at the end of another rectangle. Thothmes II. and Hatshepsût[18]
covered the walls erected by their father with bas-relief sculptures, but
added no more buildings. Hatshepsût, however, in order to bring in her
obelisks between the pylons of T |
246 | hothmes I., opened a breach in the south
wall, and overthrew sixteen of the columns which stood in that spot.
Thothmes III., probably finding certain parts of the structure unworthy of
the god, rebuilt the first pylon, and also the double sanctuary, which he
renewed in the red granite of Syene. To the eastward, he rebuilt some old
chambers, the most important among them being the processional hall, used
for the starting-point and halting-place of ceremonial processions, and
these he s |
247 | urrounded with a stone wall. He also made the lake whereon the
sacred boats were launched on festival days; and, with a sharp change of
axis, he built two pylons facing towards the south, thus violating the true
relative proportion which had till then subsisted between the body and the
front of the general mass of the building. The outer enclosure was now too
large for the earlier pylons, and did not properly accord with the later
ones. Amenhotep III. corrected this defect. He erected |
248 | a sixth and yet more
massive pylon, which was, therefore, better suited for the façade. As it
now stood (fig. 84), the temple surpassed even the boldest architectural
enterprises hitherto attempted; but the Pharaohs of the Nineteenth Dynasty
succeeded in achieving still more. They added only a hypostyle hall (fig.
85) and a pylon; but the hypostyle hall measured 170 feet in length by 329
feet in breadth. Down the centre they carried a main avenue of twelve
columns, with lotus-flower c |
249 | apitals, being the loftiest ever erected in the
interior of a building; while in the aisles, ranged in seven rows on either
side, they planted 122 columns with lotus-bud capitals. The roof of the
great nave rose to a height of 75 feet above the level of the ground, and
the pylon stood some fifty feet higher still. During a whole century, three
kings laboured to perfect this hypostyle hall. Rameses I. conceived the
idea; Seti I. finished the bulk of the work, and Rameses II. wrought nea |
250 | rly
the whole of the decoration. The Pharaohs of the next following dynasties
vied with each other for such blank spaces as might be found, wherein to
engrave their names upon the columns, and so to share the glory of the
three founders; but farther they did not venture. Left thus, however, the
monument was still incomplete. It still needed one last pylon and a
colonnaded court. Nearly three centuries elapsed before the task was again
taken in hand. At last the Bubastite kings decided |
251 | to begin the colonnades,
but their work was as feeble as their, resources were limited. Taharkah,
the Ethiopian, imagined for a moment that he was capable of rivalling the
great Theban Pharaohs, and planned a hypostyle hall even larger than the
first; but he made a false start. The columns of the great nave, which were
all that he had time to erect, were placed too wide apart to admit of being
roofed over; so they never supported anything, but remained as memorials of
his failure. Fi |
252 | nally, the Ptolemies, faithful to the traditions of the
native monarchy, threw themselves into the work; but their labours were
interrupted by revolts at Thebes, and the earthquake of the year 27 B.C.
destroyed part of the temple, so that the pylon remained for ever
unfinished. The history of Karnak is identical with that of all the great
Egyptian temples. When closely studied, the reason why they are for the
most part so irregular becomes evident. The general plan is practically the
|
253 | same, and the progress of the building was carried forward in the same
way; but the architects could not always foresee the future importance of
their work, and the site was not always favourable to the development of
the building. At Luxor (fig. 86), the progress went on methodically enough
under Amenhotep III. and Seti I., but when Rameses II. desired to add to
the work of his predecessors, a bend in the river compelled him to turn
eastwards. His pylon is not parallel to that of Amen |
254 | hotep III., and his
colonnades make a distinct angle with the general axis of the earlier work.
At Philae (fig. 87) the deviation is still greater. Not only is the larger
pylon out of alignment with the smaller, but the two colonnades are not
parallel with each other. Neither are they attached to the pylon with a due
regard to symmetry. This arises neither from negligence nor wilfulness, as
is popularly supposed. The first plan was as regular as the most
symmetrically-minded designer |
255 | could wish; but it became necessary to adapt
it to the requirements of the site, and the architects were thenceforth
chiefly concerned to make the best of the irregularities to which they were
condemned by the configuration of the ground. Such difficulties were, in
fact, a frequent source of inspiration; and Philae shows with what skill
the Egyptians extracted every element of beauty and picturesqueness from
enforced disorder.
[Illustration: Fig. 88.--Plan of Speos, Kalaat Addah, Nu |
256 | bia.]
[Illustration: Fig, 89.--Plan of Speos, Gebel Silsileh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 90.--Plan of the Great Speos, Abû Simbel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 91.--Speos of Hathor, Abû Simbel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 92.--Plan of the upper portion of the temple of Deir el
Baharî, showing the state of the excavations, the Speos of Hathor (A); the
rock-cut sanctuary (B); the rock-cut funerary chapel of Thothmes I. (C);
the Speos of Anubis (D); and the excavated niches of the northern
colonnade |
257 | . Reproduced from Plate III. of the _Archaeological Report of the
Egypt Exploration Fund_ for 1893-4.]
[Illustration: Fig. 93.--Plan of temple of Seti I., at Abydos.]
The idea of the rock-cut temple must have occurred to the Egyptians at an
early period. They carved the houses of the dead in the mountain side; why,
therefore, should they not in like manner carve the houses of the gods? Yet
the earliest known Speos-sanctuaries date from only the beginning of the
Eighteenth Dynasty. |
258 | They are generally found in those parts of the valley
where the cultivable land is narrowest, as near Beni Hasan, at Gebel
Silsileh, and in Nubia. All varieties of the constructed temple are found
in the rock-cut temple, though more or less modified by local conditions.
The Speos Artemidos is approached by a pillared portico, but contains only
a square chamber with a niche at the end for the statue of the goddess
Pakhet. At Kalaat Addah (fig. 88), a flat narrow façade (A) faces the
r |
259 | iver, and is reached by a steep flight of steps; next comes a hypostyle
hall (B), flanked by two dark chambers (C), and lastly a sanctuary in two
storeys, one above the other (D). The chapel of Horemheb (fig. 89), at
Gebel Silsileh, is formed of a gallery parallel to the river (A), supported
by four massive pillars left in the rock. From this gallery, the sanctuary
chamber opens at right angles. At Abû Simbel, the two temples are excavated
entirely in the cliff. The front of the great |
260 | speos (fig. 90) imitates a
sloping pylon crowned with a cornice, and guarded as usual by four seated
colossi flanked by smaller statues. These colossi are sixty-six feet high.
The doorway passed, there comes a first hall measuring 130 feet in length
by 60 feet in width, which corresponds to the usual peristyle. Eight
Osiride statues backed by as many square pillars, seem to bear the
mountain on their heads. Beyond this come (1) a hypostyle hall; (2) a
transverse gallery, isolating the |
261 | sanctuary, and (3) the sanctuary itself,
between two smaller chambers. Eight crypts, sunk at a somewhat lower level
than that of the main excavation, are unequally distributed to right and
left of the peristyle. The whole excavation measures 180 feet from the
doorway to the end of the sanctuary. The small speos of Hathor, about a
hundred paces to the northward, is of smaller dimensions. The façade is
adorned with six standing colossi, four representing Rameses II., and two
his wife, |
262 | Nefertari. The peristyle and the crypts are lacking (fig. 91),
and the small chambers are placed at either end of the transverse passage,
instead of being parallel with the sanctuary. The hypostyle hall, however,
is supported by six Hathor-headed pillars. Where space permitted, the rock-
cut temple was but partly excavated in the cliff, the forepart being
constructed outside with blocks cut and dressed, and becoming half grotto,
half building. In the hemi-speos at Derr, the peristyle i |
263 | s external to the
cliff; at Beit el Wally, the pylon and court are built; at Gerf Husein and
Wady Sabûah, pylon, court, and hypostyle hall are all outside the mountain,
The most celebrated and original hemi-speos is that built by Queen
Hatshepsût, at Deir el Baharî, in the Theban necropolis (fig. 92),[19] The
sanctuary and chapels which, as usual, accompany it, were cut about 100 ft.
above the level of the valley. In order to arrive at that height, slopes
were made and terraces laid o |
264 | ut according to a plan which was not
understood until the site was thoroughly excavated.
Between the hemi-speos and the isolated temple, the Egyptians created yet
another variety, namely, the built temple backed by, but not carried into,
the cliff. The temple of the sphinx at Gizeh, and the temple of Seti I. at
Abydos, may be cited as two good examples. I have already described the
former; the area of the latter (fig. 93) was cleared in a narrow and
shallow belt of sand, which here |
265 | divides the plain from the desert. It was
sunk up to the roof, the tops of the walls but just showing above the level
of the ground. The staircase which led up to the terraced roof led also to
the top of the hill. The front, which stood completely out, seemed in
nowise extraordinary. It was approached by two pylons, two courts, and a
shallow portico supported on square pillars. The unusual part of the
building only began beyond this point. First, there were two hypostyle
halls instead |
266 | of one. These are separated by a wall with seven doorways.
There is no nave, and the sanctuary opens direct from the second hall.
This, as usual, consists of an oblong chamber with a door at each end; but
the rooms by which it is usually surrounded are here placed side by side in
a line, two to the right and four to the left; further, they are covered by
"corbelled" vaults, and are lighted only from the doors. Behind the
sanctuary are further novelties. Another hypostyle hall (K) abut |
267 | s on the
end wall, and its dependencies are unequally distributed to right and left.
As if this were not enough, the architect also constructed, to the left of
the main building, a court, five chambers of columns, various passages and
dark chambers--in short, an entire wing branching off at right angles to
the axis of the temple proper, with no counterbalancing structures on the
other side. These irregularities become intelligible when the site is
examined. The cliff is shallow at thi |
268 | s part, and the smaller hypostyle hall
is backed by only a thin partition of rock. If the usual plan had been
followed, it would have been necessary to cut the cliff entirely away, and
the structure would have forfeited its special characteristic--that of a
temple backed by a cliff--as desired by the founder. The architect,
therefore, distributed in width those portions of the edifice which he
could not carry out in length; and he even threw out a wing. Some years
later, when Rameses |
269 | II. constructed a monument to his own memory, about a
hundred yards to the northward of the older building, he was careful not to
follow in his father's footsteps. Built on the top of an elevation, his
temple had sufficient space for development, and the conventional plan was
followed in all its strictness.
[Illustration: Fig. 94.--Crio-sphinx from Wady Es Sabûah.]
[Illustration: Fig. 95.--Couchant ram, with statuette of royal founder,
restored from the Avenue of Sphinxes at Karna |
270 | k.]
Most temples, even the smallest, should be surrounded by a square
enclosure or temenos.[20] At Medinet Habu, this enclosure wall is of
sandstone--low, and embattled. The innovation is due to a whim of Rameses
III., who, in giving to his monument the outward appearance of a fortress,
sought to commemorate his Syrian victories. Elsewhere, the doorways are of
stone, and the walls are built in irregular courses of crude bricks. The
great enclosure wall was not, as frequently stated, |
271 | intended to isolate the
temple and screen the priestly ceremonies from eyes profane. It marked the
limits of the divine dwelling, and served, when needful, to resist the
attacks of enemies whose cupidity might be excited by the accumulated
riches of the sanctuary. As at Karnak, avenues of sphinxes and series of
pylons led up to the various gates, and formed triumphal approaches. The
rest of the ground was in part occupied by stables, cellarage, granaries,
and private houses. Just as |
272 | in Europe during the Middle Ages the population
crowded most densely round about the churches and abbeys, so in Egypt they
swarmed around the temples, profiting by that security which the terror of
his name and the solidity of his ramparts ensured to the local deity. A
clear space was at first reserved round the pylons and the walls; but in
course of time the houses encroached upon this ground, and were even built
up against the boundary wall. Destroyed and rebuilt century after centur |
273 | y
upon the self-same spot, the _débris_ of these surrounding dwellings so
raised the level of the soil, that the temples ended for the most part by
being gradually buried in a hollow formed by the artificial elevation of
the surrounding city. Herodotus noticed this at Bubastis, and on
examination it is seen to have been the same in many other localities. At
Ombos, at Edfû, at Denderah, the whole city nestled inside the precincts of
the divine dwelling. At El Kab, where the temple teme |
274 | nos formed a separate
enclosure within the boundary of the city walls, it served as a sort of
donjon, or keep, in which the garrison could seek a last refuge. At Memphis
and at Thebes, there were as many keeps as there were great temples, and
these sacred fortresses, each at first standing alone in the midst of
houses, were, from the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty, connected each with
each by avenues of sphinxes. These were commonly andro-sphinxes, combining
the head of a man and the |
275 | body of a lion; but we also find crio-sphinxes,
which united a ram's head with a lion's body (fig. 94). Elsewhere, in
places where the local worship admitted of such substitution, a couchant
ram, holding a statuette of the royal founder between his bent forelegs,
takes the place of the conventional sphinx (fig. 95). The avenue leading
from Luxor to Karnak was composed of these diverse elements. It was one
mile and a quarter in length, and there were many bends in it; but this
fact aff |
276 | ords no fresh proof of Egyptian "symmetrophobia." The enclosures of
the two temples were not oriented alike, and the avenues which started
squarely from the fronts of each could never have met had they not deviated
from their first course. Finally, it may be said that the inhabitants of
Thebes saw about as much of their temples as we see at the present day. The
sanctuary and its immediate surroundings were closed against them; but they
had access to the façades, the courts, and even th |
277 | e hypostyle halls, and
might admire the masterpieces of their architects as freely as we admire
them now.
[14] _Hor-shesû_, "followers," or "servants of Horus," are mentioned
in the Turin papyrus as the predecessors of Mena, and are referred to
in monumental inscriptions as representing the pre-historic people of
Egypt. It is to the Hor-shesû that Professors Maspero and Mariette
attribute the making of the Great Sphinx.--A.B.E.
[15] For a full description of the |
278 | oldest funerary chapel known, that of
King Sneferû, see W.M.F. Petrie's _Medum_.
[16] Conf. Mr. Petrie's plan of this temple in _Pyramids and Temples of
Gizeh_, Plate VI.--A.B.E.
[17] That is to say, the wall is vertical on the inside; but is
built much thicker at the bottom than at the top, so that on the
outside it presents a sloping surface, retiring with the height of
the wall.--A.B.E.
[18] "Hatshepsût," more commonly known as "Hatasû;" the new reading |
279 | is,
however, more correct. Professor Maspero thinks that it was pronounced
"Hatshopsitû."--A.B.E.
[19] For full illustrated account of the complete excavation of this
temple, see the _Deir el Baharî_ publications of the Egypt
Exploration Fund.
[20] Temenos, _i.e._, the enclosure wall of the Temple, within which
all was holy ground.--A.B.E.
3.--DECORATION.
[Illustration: Figs. 96 to 101.--DECORATIVE DESIGNS, FROM DENDERAH.]
[Illustration: Fig. 96. |
280 | ]
[Illustration: Fig. 97.]
[Illustration: Fig. 98.]
[Illustration: Fig. 99.]
[Illustration: Fig. 100.]
[Illustration: Fig. 101.]
[Illustration: Fig. 102.--Two Nile-gods, bearing lotus flowers and libation
vases.]
[Illustration: Fig. 103.--Dado decoration, hall of Thothmes III., Karnak.]
[Illustration: Fig. 104.--Ceiling decoration, from tomb of Bakenrenf
(Bocchoris), Sakkarah, Twenty-sixth Dynasty.]
Ancient tradition affirmed that the earliest Egyptian temples |
281 | contained
neither sculptured images, inscriptions, nor symbols; and in point of fact,
the Temple of the Sphinx is bare. But this is a unique example. The
fragments of architraves and masonry bearing the name of Khafra, which were
used for building material in the northern pyramid of Lisht, show that this
primitive simplicity had already been abandoned by the time of the Fourth
Dynasty. During the Theban period, all smooth surfaces, all pylons, wall-
faces, and shafts of columns, were |
282 | covered with figure-groups and
inscriptions. Under the Ptolemies and the Caesars, figures and hieroglyphs
became so crowded that the stone on which they are sculptured seems to be
lost under the masses of ornament with which it is charged. We recognise at
a glance that these scenes are not placed at random. They follow in
sequence, are interlinked, and form as it were a great mystic book in which
the official relations between gods and men, as well as between men and
gods, are clearly |
283 | set forth for such as are skilled to read them. The
temple was built in the likeness of the world, as the world was known to
the Egyptians. The earth, as they believed, was a flat and shallow plane,
longer than its width. The sky, according to some, extended overhead like
an immense iron ceiling, and according to others, like a huge shallow
vault. As it could not remain suspended in space without some support, they
imagined it to be held in place by four immense props or pillars. The |
284 | floor
of the temple naturally represented the earth. The columns, and if needful
the four corners of the chambers, stood for the pillars. The roof, vaulted
at Abydos, flat elsewhere, corresponded exactly with the Egyptian idea of
the sky. Each of these parts was, therefore, decorated in consonance with
its meaning. Those next to the ground were clothed with vegetation. The
bases of the columns were surrounded by leaves, and the lower parts of the
walls were adorned with long stems of |
285 | lotus or papyrus (fig. 96), in the
midst of which animals were occasionally depicted. Bouquets of water-plants
emerging from the water (fig. 97), enlivened the bottom of the wall-space
in certain chambers. Elsewhere, we find full-blown flowers interspersed
with buds (fig. 98), or tied together with cords (fig. 99); or those
emblematic plants which symbolise the union of Upper and Lower Egypt under
the rule of a single Pharaoh (fig. 100); or birds with human hands and
arms, perched in |
286 | an attitude of adoration on the sign which represents a
solemn festival; or kneeling prisoners tied to the stake in couples, each
couple consisting of an Asiatic and a negro (fig. 101). Male and female
Niles (fig. 102), laden with flowers and fruits, either kneel, or advance
in majestic procession, along the ground level. These are the nomes, lakes,
and districts of Egypt, bringing offerings of their products to the god.
In one instance, at Karnak, Thothmes III. caused the fruits, flow |
287 | ers, and
animals indigenous to the foreign lands which he had conquered, to be
sculptured on the lower courses of his walls (fig. 103). The ceilings were
painted blue, and sprinkled with five-pointed stars painted yellow,
occasionally interspersed with the cartouches of the royal founder. The
monotony of this Egyptian heaven was also relieved by long bands of
hieroglyphic inscriptions. The vultures of Nekheb and Ûati, the goddesses
of the south and north, crowned and armed with divine |
288 | emblems (fig. 104),
hovered above the nave of the hypostyle halls, and on the under side of the
lintels of the great doors, above the head of the king as he passed through
on his way to the sanctuary. At the Ramesseum, at Edfû, at Philae, at
Denderah, at Ombos, at Esneh, the depths of the firmament seemed to open to
the eyes of the faithful, revealing the dwellers therein. There the
celestial ocean poured forth its floods navigated by the sun and moon with
their attendant escort of p |
289 | lanets, constellations, and decani; and there
also the genii of the months and days marched in long procession. In the
Ptolemaic age, zodiacs fashioned after Greek models were sculptured side by
side with astronomical tables of purely native origin (fig. 105). The
decoration of the architraves which supported the massive roofing slabs was
entirely independent of that of the ceiling itself. On these were wrought
nothing save boldly cut inscriptions, in which the beauty of the temple,
t |
290 | he names of the builder-kings who had erected it, and the glory of the
gods to whom it was consecrated, are emphatically celebrated. Finally, the
decoration of the lowest part of the walls and of the ceiling was
restricted to a small number of subjects, which were always similar: the
most important and varied scenes being suspended, as it were, between earth
and heaven, on the sides of the chambers and the pylons.
[Illustration: Fig. 105.--Zodiacal circle of Denderah.]
These scene |
291 | s illustrate the official relations which subsisted between
Egypt and the gods. The people had no right of direct intercourse with the
deities. They needed a mediator, who, partaking of both human and divine
nature, was qualified to communicate with both. The king alone, Son of the
Sun, was of sufficiently high descent to contemplate the god in his temple,
to serve him, and to speak with him face to face. Sacrifices could be
offered only by him, or through him, and in his name. Even th |
292 | e customary
offerings to the dead were supposed to pass through his hands, and the
family availed themselves of his name in the formula _sûten ta hotep_ to
forward them to the other world. The king is seen, therefore, in all parts
of the temple, standing, seated, kneeling, slaying the victim, presenting
the parts, pouring out the wine, the milk, and the oil, and burning the
incense. All humankind acts through him, and through him performs its duty
towards the gods. When the ceremonies |
293 | to be performed required the
assistance of many persons, then alone did mortal subordinates (consisting,
as much as possible, of his own family) appear by his side. The queen,
standing behind him like Isis behind Osiris, uplifts her hand to protect
him, shakes the sistrum, beats the tambourine to dispel evil spirits, or
holds the libation vase or bouquet. The eldest son carries the net or
lassoes the bull, and recites the prayer while his father successively
presents to the god each |
294 | object prescribed by the ritual. A priest may
occasionally act as substitute for the prince, but other men perform only
the most menial offices. They are slaughterers or servants, or they bear
the boat or canopy of the god. The god, for his part, is not always alone.
He has his wife and his son by his side; next after them the gods of the
neighbouring homes, and, in a general way, all the gods of Egypt. From the
moment that the temple is regarded as representing the world, it must, lik |
295 | e
the world, contain all gods, both great and small. They are most frequently
ranged behind the principal god, seated or standing; and with him they
share in the homage paid by the king. Sometimes, however, they take an
active part in the ceremonies. The spirits of On and Khonû[21] kneel before
the sun, and proclaim his praise. Hor, Set, or Thoth conducts Pharaoh into
the presence of his father Amen Ra, or performs the functions elsewhere
assigned to the prince or the priest. They hel |
296 | p him to overthrow the victim
or to snare birds for the sacrifice; and in order to wash away his
impurities, they pour upon his head the waters of youth and life. The
position and functions of these co-operating gods were strictly defined in
the theology. The sun, travelling from east to west, divided the universe
into two worlds, the world of the north and the world of the south. The
temple, like the universe, was double, and an imaginary line passing
through the axis of the sanctuar |
297 | y divided it into two temples--the temple
of the south on the right hand, and the temple of the north on the left.
The gods and their various manifestations were divided between these two
temples, according as they belonged to the northern or southern hemisphere.
This fiction of duality was carried yet further. Each chamber was divided,
in imitation of the temple, into two halves, the right half belonging to
the south, and the left half to the north. The royal homage, to be
complete, |
298 | must be rendered in the temples of the south and of the north,
and to the gods of the south and of the north, and with the products of the
south and of the north. Each sculptured tableau must, therefore, be
repeated at least twice in each temple--on a right wall and on a left wall.
Amen, on the right, receives the corn, the wine, the liquids of the south;
while on the left he receives the corn, the wine, and the liquids of the
north. As with Amen, so with Maut, Khonsû, Mentû, and many |
299 | other gods. Want
of space frequently frustrated the due execution of this scheme, and we
often meet with a tableau in which the products of north and south together
are placed before an Amen who represents both Amen of the south and Amen of
the north. These departures from decorative usage are, however,
exceptional, and the dual symmetry is always observed where space permits.
[Illustration: Fig. 106.--Frieze of uraei and cartouches.]
In Pharaonic times, the tableaux were not over |
300 | -crowded. The wall-surface
intended to be covered was marked off below by a line carried just above
the ground level decoration, and was bounded above by the usual cornice, or
by a frieze. This frieze might be composed of uraei, or of bunches of
lotus; or of royal cartouches (fig. 106) supported on either side by divine
symbols; or of emblems borrowed from the local cult (by heads of Hathor,
for instance, in a temple dedicated to Hathor); or of a horizontal line of
dedicatory inscript |
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