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EGYPTIAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 372 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EGYPTIAN See also:

ARCHITECTURE Although structures discovered in See also:Chaldaea, at Tello and See also:Nippur, seeming to date back to the fifth See also:millennium B.C., suggest that the earlier settlements of mankind were in the valley of the See also:Tigris and See also:Euphrates, See also:north of the See also:Persian Gulf, it is to See also:Egypt that we must turn for the most See also:ancient records of monumental architecture (see also EGYPT: See also:Art and See also:Archaeology). The proximity of the ranges of hills (the Arabian and Libyan chains) to the See also:Nile, and the facilities which that See also:river afforded for the transport of the material quarried in them, enabled the Egyptians at a very See also:early See also:period to reproduce in See also:stone those structures in unburnt See also:brick to which we have already referred. Although the See also:great founder of the first Egyptian See also:monarchy is reputed to be See also:Menes, the Thinite who traditionally founded the See also:capital at See also:Memphis, he was preceded, according to See also:Flinders See also:Petrie, by an earlier invading See also:race coming from the See also:south, who established a monarchy at This near See also:Abydos, having entered the See also:country by the Kosseir road from the Red See also:Sea; and this may See also:account for the early tradition that it was the Ethiopians who founded the earliest dynastic race, " Ethiopians " being a wide See also:term which may embrace several races. Egyptian architecture is usually described under the See also:principal periods in which it was See also:developed. They are as follows ':—(A) the Memphite See also:kingdom, whose capital was at Memphis, south-See also:west of See also:Cairo, the Royal Domain extending south some 30 to 40 m.; (B) the first Theban kingdom with See also:Thebes as the capital ; this covers three dynasties. Then follows an See also:interregnum of five dynasties, when the invasion of the See also:Hyksos took See also:place ; this was architecturally unproductive. On the See also:expulsion of the Hyksos there followed (C) the second Theban kingdom, consisting of three dynasties, under whose reign the finest temples were erected throughout the country. After 1102 followed six dynasties (1102—525 B.C.), with capitals at See also:Sais, Tanis and See also:Bubastis, when the decadence of art and See also:power took place. Then followed the Persian invasion, 525–331 B.C., which was destructive instead of being reproductive. On the defeat of the Persians by See also:Alexander the Great, and after his See also:death in 323 B.C., was founded (D) the Ptolemaic kingdom, with See also:Alexandria as the capital. A great revival of art then took place, which to a certain extent was carried on under the See also:Roman occupation from 27 B.C., and lasted about 300 years. With the exception of a small See also:temple, found by Petrie in front of the. temple of Medum, and the so-called " Temple of the See also:Sphinx," the only monuments remaining of the Memphite kingdom are the Pyramids, which were built by the See also:kings as their tombs, and the mastabas, in which the members of the royal See also:family and of the priests and chiefs were buried.

The See also:

mastaba (Arabic for " See also:bench ") was a See also:tomb, oblong in See also:plan, with battering See also:side and a See also:flat roof, containing various See also:chambers, of which the. principal were (1) the See also:Chapel for offerings, (2) the Serdab, in which the Ka or See also:double of the deceased was deposited, and (3) the well, always excavated in the See also:rock, in which the See also:mummy was placed. The three best-known pyramids are those situated about 7 M. south-west of Cairo, which were built by the second, third and See also:fourth kings of the fourth See also:dynasty,—Khufu (c. 3969–3908 B.C.), Khafra (c. 3908–3845 B.C.), and Menkaura (c. 3845–3784 B.C.), who are better known as See also:Cheops, Cephren and Mycerinus. The first of these is the largest and most remarkable in its construction and setting out. The See also:pyramid of Cephren was slightly smaller, and that of Mycerinus still more so, compensated for by a casing in See also:granite. The dimensions and other details are given in the See also:article PYRAMIDS. From the purely architectural point of view they are the least impressive of masses, and their immense See also:size is not realized until on a See also:close approach. The temple of the Sphinx, attributed to Cephren, is T-shaped in plan, with two rows of square piers down the See also:vertical and one See also:row down the See also:cross portion. These carried a flat roof of stone. The temple is remarkable for the splendid finish given to the granite piers, and to the See also:alabaster slabs which cased the rock in which it had .been partially excavated (but see EGYPT: See also:History, I.).

The Serapeum at Sakkara, in which the sacred bulls were embalmed and buried, the tomb of Ti (a fifth dynasty courtier), and the tombs of the kings and queens of Thebes, have no See also:

special architectural features which See also:call for description here. We pass on to the first Theban kingdom, the eighth See also:king of which, Nebhepre Menthotp III., built the temple lately discovered on the south side of the temple at See also:Deir-el-Bahri, of which it is the prototype. It was a sepulchial temple, and being built on rising ground was approached by flights of steps. In the centre was a solid See also:mass of See also:masonry which, it is thought by some authorities, was crowned by a pyramid. This was surrounded by a double See also:portico with square piers in the See also:outer range, and octagonal piers in the inner range, there being a See also:wall between the two ranges. The earliest tombs in which the See also:column (q.v.) appears, as an architectural feature, are those at Beni See also:Hasan, attributed to the period of Senwosri (formerly read Usertesen) I., the second king of the twelfth dynasty. These are carved in"the solid rock. There are two i For the various See also:chronological systems proposed see EGYPT: See also:Chronology. tyypes, the Polygonal column, sometimes in See also:error called the Protodoric, which was cut in t'Ze rock in See also:imitation of a wooden column, and a second variety known as the See also:Lotus column, which is employed inside, supporting the rock-cut roof, but having such slender See also:pro-portions as to suggest that it was copied from the posts of a See also:porch, See also:round which the Lotus plant had been tied. The culminating period of the Egyptian See also:style begins with the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, their principal capital being Thebes, described by See also:Herodotus as the " See also:City with the See also:Hundred See also:Gates "; and although the See also:execution of the masonry is inferior to that of the older dynasties, the grandeur of the conception of their temples, and the See also:wealth displayed in their realization entitle Thebes to the most important position in the history of the Egyptian style, especially as the temples there grouped on both sides of the river exceed in number and dimensions the whole of the other temples throughout Egypt. This to a certain extent may possibly be due to the distance of Thebes from the Mediterranean, which has contributed to their preservation from invaders. We have already referred to the probable origin of the See also:peculiar See also:batter or raking side given to the walls of the pylons and temples, with the See also:Torus moulding surrounding the same and crowned with the See also:cavetto See also:cornice.

What, however, is more remarkable is the fact that, once accepted as an important and characteristic feature, it should never have been departed from, and that down to and during the Roman occupation the same batter is found in all the temples, though constructively there was no See also:

necessity for it. The strict adherence to tradition may possibly account for this, but it has resulted in a magnificent repose possessed by these structures, which seem built to last till eternity.'' An See also:avenue with sphinxes on both sides forms the approach to the temple. These avenues were sometimes of considerable length, as in the See also:case of that reaching from See also:Karnak to See also:Luxor, which is 11- m. See also:long. The leading features of the temple (see fig. 1) were:—(A) The pylon, consisting of two pyramidal masses of masonry crowned with a cavetto cornice, See also:united in the centre by an immense See also:doorway, in front of which on either side were seated figures of the king and obelisks. (B) A great open See also:court surrounded by peristyles on two or three sides. (C) A great See also:hall with a range of columns down the centre on either side, forming what in See also:European architecture would be known as See also:nave and aisles, with additional aisles on each side; these had columns of less height than those first mentioned, so as to allow of a See also:clerestory, See also:lighting the central avenue. (D) Smaller halls with their flat See also:roofs carried by columns. And finally (E) the See also:sanctuary, with passage round giving See also:access to the halls occupied by the See also:priest. Broadly speaking, the temples See also:bear considerable resemblance to one another (see TEMPLE), except O a 0 in dimensions. There is one See also:im- portant distinction, however, to be O O See also:drawn between the Theban temples D FIG.

I.—Planofthe O and those built under the Ptolemaic Templeof See also:

Chons. See also:rule. In these latter-the halls are C7 - not enclosed between pylons, but A, Pylon, See also:left open on the side of the entrance B, Great court. " court with screens in between the C, Hall of columns, columns, the hall being lighted from D, Priest's hall. above the screens. The temples of E, Sanctuary. See also:Edfu, See also:Esna and See also:Dendera are thus arranged. The great temple of Karnak (fig. 2) differs from the type just described, in that it was the See also:work of many successive monarchs. Thus.the sanctuary, built in granite, and the surrounding chambers, were erected by Senwosri (Usertesen) I. of the twelfth dynasty. In front of this, on the west side, pylons were added by Tethmosis (Thothmes, Tahutmes) I. (1541–1516), enclosing a hall, in the walls of which were Osirid figures. In front of this a third pylon was added, which Seti (Sethos) I. utilized as one of the enclosures of the great hall of columns (fig. 3), measuring 170 ft. deep by 329 ft. wide, having added a fourth pylon on the other side to enclose it.

Again in front of this was the great open court with porticoes on two sides, and a great pylon, forming the entrance. In the See also:

rear of all these buildings, and some distance beyond the sanctuary, Tethmosis III. (1503–1449) built a great colonnaded hall with other halls round, considered to have been a See also:palace. All these structures See also:form a See also:part only of the great temple, on the right and left of which (i.e. to the north-See also:east and south-west) were other temples preceded by pylons and connected one with the other by avenues df sphinxes. Though of small size comparatively, one of the best preserved is the temple of Chons, built by See also:Rameses III. It was from this temple that anavenue of sphinxes led to the temple of Luxor, which was begun by Amenophis III. (1414–1379 B.C.), and completed by Rameses II. (1300–1234). On the opposite or west See also:bank of the Nile are the temple of Medinet See also:Abu, the Ramesseum, the temples of Kurna and of Deir-el-Bahri; the last being a sepulchral temple, which, built on rising ground, had flights of steps leading to the higher level (fig. 4), and porticoes with square piers at the See also:foot of each See also:terrace. In the rear on the right-See also:hand side was found an See also:altar, the only example of its See also:kind known in A. first P opyton. B.

Great Court with Colonnades in centre. C. Second Propylon. D. Hall of Columns. E. Third Propylon. F. Fourth Propylon. G. Hall with Osirid figures. H.

Granite Sanctuary and adjoining chambers. I. Open See also:

Area K. Columnar Edifice of Tethmosis III (XVIIIth. Dynasty). L. Temple of Rameses See also:Ill. (XXth. Dynasty/. M.Temple of Sethos II. (XIXfh. Dynasty).

a. Sculptures of Sethos I. (XIXth. Dynasty). b. Sculptures of Sheshonk (XXI/ad. Dynasty). C. Sculptures of itamcoea /I. (XIXth. Dynasty d. Small Obelisks.

e. Large Obelisks„ f. Pillars of &meow/ I. (XIlth. Dynasty. .g., See also:

Hail of Ancestors.

End of Article: EGYPTIAN

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