that the dwellers on the Nile had been early civilized. When Abraham entered Egypt, two thousand years before Christ, he found a country long possessed of the arts. Religion had demanded TEMPLE OF EDFOU.-See second engraving on page 105. temples, sovereigns had perpetuated their glory in vast edifices, and while the common people had their habitations, not the least remarkable element in the social condition of the country was the regard that was paid to the under-ground, or rather hillexcavated cities of the dead. It is held by many that the culture and religion of the Egyptians were developed in the region of Meroe, and that, following the course of the Nile, they spread northward over Lower Egypt. At Memphis and Thebes the magnificence of this early civilization was displayed in the vast structures which were erected in these capitals, the remains of which at the present day fill the minds of travellers with admiration and wonder at their magnitude and regret at the ruin which has overtaken them. Some Egyptologists have carried back the origin of these edifices to a very remote antiquity. Taking into consideration the yearly average rise of the soil, caused by the inundation of the Nile, it would seem that the present elevation of the surface above the level on which the monuments of Thebes were built, would establish the conclusion that these great structures must have been erected about 4760 ant influence in modifying the forms of the great years before the commencement of the present the Nile. Temples which gradually rose on the banks of century. the darkness of distant ages, but the Bible and the with the Mosaic and Old Testament chronology. The primeval history of Egypt is shrouded in any historic proof, and it is altogether at variance literature of Greece and Rome combine to show It has also been held that, as at Thebes, fragments Such a conclusion, however, does not rest on have been found of stone which have been wrought on the reverse or inner side before they were placed on the walls of the present ruins, and CONSTRUCTION OF A PYRAMID. it is held that this demonstrates the fact that a former civilization had existed in Egypt before the monuments of Thebes had been commenced. The brilliant period of Egyptian art menced in the middle of the twelfth century before Christ, in the time of Sesostris or Rameses, and continued for the space of five hundred years. Then came the rule of the Persians, which gave place to that of Alexander, and in time Egypt fell under the sway of Rome. The grandest displays of this golden age of Egyptian magnificence are those which date from the age of Sesostris, and which still attest the splendor of Homer's hundred-gated Thebes, the metropolis of ancient Egypt. This great city extended two geographical miles in all directions from a centre, and its ruins may now be seen in the several villages which occupy its site, around. the temples and palaces of Luxor and Karnak, the splendor of which may be conceived of by the traveller who rambles along an avenue of colossal sphinxes six hundred feet long, and who wonders at the extent of the sepulchres and the vast proportions of the palace at Medinet Abu, or who meditates on the wonder of the Rock-Tombs, or "graves of the Kings," and the solemn grandeur of the Temple of Denderah, below Thebes. The great monuments of Egypt consist of the pyramids, the tombs of the Kings, their palaces, and the temples. The pyramids form a class by themselves, and they are unlike other edifices. Their form was a simple mass usually resting on a square base, the sides facing the points of the compass, and sloping upwards towards a central point or apex. This angle of inclination is not always the same, and hence the proportion of the base to the height is found to vary. Evidently they were built in platforms, and covered or reveted with a coating of granite. In the interior there are halls and passages which served as the burial chambers of the monarchs who raised them; and a good deal of skill is displayed in the construction of the roofs of these chambers to prevent the weight of the superincumbent mass from crushing them in. Architecturally, the pyramids are not masterpieces of science; but owing to their enormous size, their great simplicity, their age, and the obvious cost and expenditure of human toil in their erection, they never fail to impress the mind as being justly reckoned among the wonders of the world. The largest is at lower than this great altitude, and as the reveting | tarch has observed, the sphinxes with which the or outside casing is gone, there is no doubt but entrances of their temples were decorated signithat in its perfect state it was as lofty as the spire fied that Egyptian Mythology was mysterious and THE GREAT SPHYNX. of Strasburg, and when the quantity of material emblematic. This idea was carried out in the used in their construction is considered, these arrangement of the different parts of their temenormous masses of stone that tier above tier rise in a small apartment usually dark and separated nothing compared to the ples, as the inmost shrine was at the farthest end tapering spires are as in the pyramids of Gizeh. from the entrance by courts and passages of vast and kept from the sight of all but the priestly guardian. extent, and here the sacred object was preserved it is evident that they had made great progress also in the department of construction, for many of the blocks which they used were of enormous dimensions, and that they were lavish in their use of material is shown by the fact that the walls of some of their temples are of the almost incredible Owing to the climate of Egypt, it has never been a woodland country. Palm trees are found about the deserts of Lybia, and near Denderah timber of all kinds is scarce, as the soil is not suited to the growth of trees. The acacia and the palm do grow, but the oak does not, and fir has to be imported from Arabia; and thus for solid structures of great magnitude the old builders of Egypt were shut up to the use of stone, which abounds in profusion, and in the use of which the Egyptians were great proficients, as may be seen both in the rock-temples which were excavated and adorned with sculpture, and in the temples which were erected in the open air. While the sculptures and the hieroglyphic figures which adorn their palaces and temples attest the progress of their workmen in the art of the hewer of stone, thickness of twenty-four feet. At Thebes, the walls of the principal entrance gate are at the base no less than fifty feet thick. Then again the stones instead of being dressed as in modern masonry on one side, are cut inside as well as outside, and the whole mass is solidly jointed together, thus tending to secure the durability of their monuments. In these great structures no arch is ever introduced. The columns stand at such short distances that great stones can reach from capital to capital, and thus the roof is formed of huge blocks laid on horizontally and forming a solid bed. In almost every respect the Egyptian temple differed from the Greek. Both inside and outside the Greek temple might be seen at one view, but the Egyptian was made up of an assemblage of vestibules, courts, passages, and apartments of different sizes connected together, and all united making a great edifice surrounded by an inclosing wall. Usually the design included the temple itself with its vestibules and side buildings in which the priests resided. Around this part of the temple was a court which formed an enclosure, and before it was placed a peculiarly shaped entrance gate or passage way of enormous size called a pylon. In many cases a second, and even a third fore-court was erected and a pylon was placed before them. These pylous were approached by avenues, in many instances six thousand feet long, having colossal sphinxes on either side, and these avenues were entered through smaller gates or pylons resembling the great masses of this form which guarded the entrance to the temple proper. TEMPLE OF DANDOUR. There seems to be The pylon was of stupendous size, massive in the walls and so lofty that it overlooked all the parts of the structure that lay beyond. In direct opposition to modern ideas of architectural beauty the pylon was low in the middle and elevated at either end as the spectator approached the temple. The central part was merely a wide elevated gateway, and over the horizontal roof, and in their interior were dark apartments, entablature or lintel a sym- the use of which is not known. bolical egg or globe with no doubt but that these great masses were placed wings outstretched on either at the entrances of the temples to excite the side was engraved. On either feeling of wonder and awe, and the effect on the side of this gateway the minds of all who approached them would be inflanking towers of the pylon creased by the long rows of colossal statues and On rose, the long side faced the obelisks through which they had to pass. entrance front, and the shorter passing through the entrance gate into the foreends stood on the outside and court, columns were arranged in rows around it, right and left of the gateway. and from the tops of the columns to the enclosing The walls sloped gently in- walls blocks of stone were laid, thus forming wards, and thus the appear-shaded cloisters or walks. From column to column, ance of these masses was as in the entrance gateway, was an entablature pyramidal in form. Their with a cornice terminating in a cavetto, thus flat wall-like surfaces were carrying out the style of the age and country. As covered with colored sculp no arch is ever found in these structures, the PILLAR IN TEMPLE OF ture, and on the top was an columns stand so close to each other that the entablature formed of a fillet space between them is usually about one and a DENDERAH. |