GREEK HORIZONTAL CURVES IN MAISON CARREE AT NIMES. 585 



at an angle of 45 degrees a curve of 5 inches in plan, when not perceived 

 by the eye, will produce an effect of 5 inches curve in elevation. From 

 all points of view further removed the effect will be less, but the build- 

 ers of the Maison Carree and of the second court of lATedinet Habou 

 seem to have purposed to make this good by making the curves corre- 

 spondingly heavier to begin with. 



In the Parthenon the curve is under 4 inches in 228 feet. At Medi- 

 net Hab(m the heaviest curve is 8 inches in less than 100 feet, and at 

 Nimes it is nearly 5 inches in about 100 feet. 



To the above points we must now add the general revision in the atti- 

 tude of archaeology to the question of curves in ancient architecture, 

 which is probably involved m my observations for curves in plan in the 

 courts at Karnak, at Luxor and at Edfou. The conservatism and habits 

 of repetition in Egyptian art would under any circumstances make it 



Fig. 2. 



DIAGRAM SHOWING AN OPTICAL EFFECT OF INEQUALITY OF STRAIGHT LINES WHICH ARE. IN FACT, OF EQUAL 



LENGTH. 

 ( By .lohn \V. McKecknie. perspective expert. ) 



highly improbable that the curves in Egyptian architecture were con- 

 fined to the one temple of Medinet Habou, but we have seen that, 

 owing to the late announcement by Pennethorne (1878) and the general 

 oversight by Egyptologists of this announcement, their existence even 

 here is still generally unknown to science. A few words, then, as to 

 my own observations in Egypt. My trip here was made in the interest 

 of other studies and the subject of lotus ornament and its influence on 

 Greek patterns. My measurements and observations were consequently 

 hurried and imperfect. Still, here are the facts. Although the great 

 court at Karnak is so filled with rubbish that one can climb in several 

 places to the top of the architraves, I am able to announce, as far as 

 these architraves are concerned, that curves convex to the court are 

 visible. At Luxor the cohimns of the largest court on two sides have 

 leaned forward so far as to threaten downfall and have been shored up 



