s HISTORY OF AKCTIITECTURE. Book I.

tecturos of Kgy|)t. aiui I'crscpoli.s, to refer to

f;/.
26., where lie will find a precisely
similar use of the great cavetto which crowned the buildings of both countries. The
writer who, in the Description Ahri'r/te des Mouiimans de la H<nite Egi/pt, has foinid that
this great curve is borrowed from the bending leaves of the palm tree, has mistaken the
elements of decoration for substantial constructive art, and has forgotten that the first object
follows long after tlie latter. But we doubt if he really meant what bis words imjjort. The
ceilings of Kgypt are invariably monotonous. The non-use of the arch, whereon we have
touched in a preceding page, and the blocks of stone which the country afforded, allowed
little scope for display of varied form. In the colonnades of the country, architraves of stone
rest on the columns (see
Jig. 54.), on which transversely are placed those which actually
form the ceilings, just like the floor boards of a modern economical English building. On
them are often found some of the most interesting rejjresentations that are in existence :
"e allude to those of the zodiacal constellations disposed circularly about the centre of the
ap.irtments in wiiiih they are placed. Ihougli notlnng has been deduced from these Vi
satisfy us on the date of their continent buildings, they are not the less wortiiy of further
investigation, which, however, it is not our province livre to pnrviu^
SI. 'J'he gates and portals of the Egyptian temples were either placed, as at Carrak
and Luxor {,fi(/s. G'i. and 6:5.), in
masses of masonry, or between
columns, as already' noticed, in-
clined upwards, having generally
a reed moulding round them, and
the whole crowned with a large
cavetto. They were plentifully co-
vered will'. hieroglyi)hics ;
fre-
(|uently fronted by a pair of obe-
lisks; and on their sides were |)laced
staircases of verv simple construc-
tion, leading to platforms on their
summits. It is now difficult to
account for the extraordinary la-
bour bestowed on these masses of
masonry. More than pictorial ef-
fect must have been the motive.
The reader will, by turning back
t)
fi(/.
5'-2
, be e(|ually surju-ised
with ourselves when he contem-
plates, in the gateway at the Tem-
ple of Apollinopolis iNlagna, such
The masses in these are always
py-
ramidal, an I bear great resemblance to the
gates of inidern fortifications. Sometimes
tliey are extremely simple, and do not rise so
;h as the adjacent buildings which flank
tliem. Their thickness is enormous, some
of them extending to the extraordinary de])tli
of fifty feet.
82. Windows were not frequently used.
When they occur they are long small paral-
lelograms, rarely ornamented, but s])layed
inside. INIany of" the apartments were with-
out windows at all.
83. W^e have, in a previous page, alluded to
the Pyramids
;
to which we here add, that,
whatever might have been their ])urpose, it is
certain that the form adopted in them one
that, among other people, was devoted to the ]nirposes of sepulturewas of all architectural
forms that calculated to ensure durability, and
was, moreover, well suited to the views of a
nation which took extraordinary means to preserve the body after life, and expended large
sums on their tombs.
84. Ornament or Decoration may be considered under two heads, that which con-
sists in objects foreign to the forms of the edifices themselves, such as statues, obelisks,
&c.
;
and that which is actually affixed to them, such as the carving on the friezes, bas-
reliefs, &c.
85. The former of these are remarkable for the size and beauty of the materials whereof
they are composed. First for notice are their statues of colossal dimensions, which are mostly,
if not always, in a sitting attitude. The two here gnen
(fff.
64.) are from the Memnonium.
Fig. 63,