330 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Greek and Egyptian forms in question may have arrived at the simi- 

 larity that they exhibit from entirely different starting-jjoints ; how it 

 is probable, both from the general tendencies of architecture in the 

 two countries and from the divergences of the forms themselves, that 

 this difference of origin is real ; and how this conclusion renders it 

 altogether probable tbat the Greek order is not an imitation or deriv- 

 ative of the Egyptian, — I have attained my object. 



II. A Classification of Egyptian Columns. 



§ 1. Introductory. 



In the following essay I propose to present as complete a Classifi- 

 cation and description of Egyptian columns as the materials within 

 my reach will permit. I was led to this line of investigation, and then 

 to this formulation of results, by the difficulty I experienced in finding 

 reliable digests of the phenomena of Egyptian architecture. Origi- 

 nally, then, I undertook this study simply to define and systemize my 

 own knowledge. But subsequently I became convinced that several 

 interesting conclusions about the early workings of the artistic instinct 

 might be extracted from the accumulating treasuries of information 

 which Lepsius, Champollion, and others have so carefully begun ; and 

 since such conclusions are necessarily conditioned upon a precise ac- 

 quaintance with the actual forms, an additional motive was presented 

 to continue the work already begun. 



For a research of this nature two classes of material are at hand : 

 first, hundreds of drawings and photographs collected by various royal 

 and private expeditions into Egypt since the beginning of the present 

 century ; and, second, descriptions of the monuments in histories and 

 books of travel. The assertions made in the sequel are almost entirely 

 based upon the authority of plates and photographs. Of plates, the 

 gigantic publications of the French and Prussian governments are 

 much superior to all others. Of photographs, those taken by Rouge 

 and by Dtimichen are the best I have seen. To these is to be added a 

 long list of books of variable merit and trustworthiness, each of which, 

 however, more or less illumines some branch of the subject.* On the 



* The following list contains the most important : — 



C. R. Lepsius : Denkmaler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien. 900 plates in 6 

 Abth. (12 vols.). Berlin, 1849-1873. 



M. Joinanl, edit. : Description de l'Egypte. 26 vols, of text ; 925 plates in 

 12 vols. Paris, 1820-1880. 



