.V21 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



PlATI 



CXL1X. 



UjprrE 



and Al- 



fXitl. 



neral hwtorkil sketch, we cannot avoid mentioning, that, 

 from the peculiar notions the Egyptians held respecting 

 the importance of pretcrving their bodies after death, 

 they appear to have devoted much time and labour upon 

 their sepulchres and tombt. In the whole of Upper 

 Egypt, adjacent to each city, numerous tombs are al- 

 ways found excavated in the neighbouring mountains ; 

 the most rxteniive and highly ornamented arc nearest to 

 the bate j thote of smaller dimeniions and less decorated 

 occupy the middle ; and the most rude and simple are 

 utuatcd in the upper parts. Those adjacent to Thebes, 

 reckoned the tomb* of the kings, are composed of ex- 

 tenwve ralleriet, 12 feet broad and 20 high, with many 

 lateral chamber*. They are ornamented with pilasters, 

 tculpturet, stucco, and paintings ; both ceilings and walls 

 are covered with emblems of war, agriculture, and mu- 

 lic ; and, in tome instances, with shapes of very elegant 

 domestic utensils ; and always representing offerings of 

 bread, fruit, and liquors. The colours upon the ceilings 

 are blue, and the figures yellow. We have, in Plate 

 CXLIX. represented the entrance to those at Silsilis, si- 

 tuated between Edfou and Ombus. 



From thh sketch it will be evident, that the whole of 

 Upper Egypt has been crowded with structures, compo- 

 sed in a style of architecture the most sublime and impo- 

 sing which the world has ever beheld. It has already been 

 mentioned, that Cambyses, from political jealousy or fa- 

 natical zeal, terminated his conquest of this country with 

 a destruction bordering on frenzy ; and also that Alex- 

 ander, though a more liberal conqueror, after having, 

 in a fit of intoxication, destroyed the Pcrscpolitaa Pa- 

 lace, contributed to the further dilapidation of the struc- 

 tures of the Thebaid, by using their materials in con- 

 Alexandria, structing the city of Alexandria. This city is one of 

 the few instances, we distinctly know, where, under the 

 direction of experience and intelligence, an entirely new 

 situation has been chosen, and all the parts conducted 

 according to a regular plan. Here the prince was the 

 ton of Philip and the pupil of Aristotle, and the archi- 

 tect (Dinocratee) was an enterprising Greek. The mate- 

 rials and mode of conveyance had all the perfection which 

 the experienceof 1000 years could afford ; and the wealth 

 and exertions not only of Egypt, but of all Asia, could be 

 rendered subservient to this favourite project. The plan 

 was extensive and magnificent ;' and a succession of wise 

 and good princes rendered it, by means of Egyptian 

 materials and Greek taste, the richest and most perfect 

 city the world has beheld. Its chief features were two 

 street! of great breadth, which crossed each other at 

 right anglei, and having all the smaller ones parallel to 

 these. Besides all the private buildings, constructed 

 with marble and porphyry, there was an admirable tern- 

 f.le to Serapia, and another to Neptune ; also a theatre, 

 amphitheatre, gymnasium, and circus. The palace occu- 

 pied one quarter of the city ; but within its precincts 

 were a museum for learned men, extensive groves, and a 

 temple containing the sepulchre of Alexander. A mole 

 of a mile in length extended from the Continent to the 

 hie of Pharos, where the famous lighthouse was con- 

 itructed. Tliis magnificent city maintained its import- 

 ance for about 1000 years, under the Greek and Ro. 

 man emperon. In the time of Augustus, it contained 

 100,000 free people, probably in all about 900,000} 

 but, in the yar 638, it was taken by the Saracen Ge- 

 neral Amrou, and, in 857, itt wallt were demolished. 

 Old Cairo. The foundation of Postal, or Old Cairo, were laid by 

 Amrou, where he pitched his tent previous to laying 

 Wire to Alexandria. Modern Cairo rote upon its ruins, 

 and hat been enriched with the spoilt of Alexandria ; 

 from whence, it is said, 40,000 columnt of grauite, por- 



phyry, and marble, have been brought, and erected in Hi.tory. 

 the mosques and private dwellings. * ~V~"' 



OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



Although what relates to India was anciently but ve- Indian ar. 

 ry imperfectly known to the western world, yet such it cheiecture. 

 trie change in human affaire, and the eagerness with 

 which every matter relating to India has of late been inves- 

 tigated, that we are now furnished with accounts fully at 

 ample at those relating to Egypt or Persia. In the fol- 

 lowing brief relations we shall be guided by some excel- 

 lent papers, by Sir William Jones and others, in the A- 

 sialic Researches; Robertson's Disquisitions respecting 

 Ancient India ; the learned and laborious work of Mau- 

 rice on Indian Antiquities ; and the several other autho- 

 rities quoted for particular descriptions. 



In India, the cities and palaces were on a scale with citiei and 

 its great wealth and population. They were generally paUer*. 

 indebted for their origin to the favour of powerful prin- 

 ces, and successively became the centre of the riches 

 and traffic of the East. In the historical poem, called 

 the Mahabbarit, (or History of the Great War,) trans- 

 lated by Abul Fa/cl, the secretary or minister of the 

 great Akbar, it is said, that Oude, the capital of a pro- Oude. 

 vince of that name, to the north east of Bengal, was 

 the first regular imperial city of Hindustan, and that it 

 was built in the reign of Krishen, one of the most an- 

 cient rajahs. The Ayeen Akbery (vol. ii. p. 41.) re- 

 presents Oude to have anciently been 14-8 coss (or about 

 259 miles) in length, and 36 coss (or about 53 miles) 

 in breadth ; but this bears more a resemblance to a pro- 

 vince than a city. This city, says' Sir W. Jones, " ex- 

 tended, if we may believe the Bramins, over a line of 

 ten yojans, (or 4-0 miles.) It is supposed to have been 

 the birth-place of Rama." According to the Mahab- 

 barit, Oude continued the imperial city 1500 years, un- 

 til about the year 1000 before the Christian sera, when 

 a prince of the dynasty of the Surajas, who boasted 

 their descent from the Sun, erected Canouge upon the Cauouje. 

 banks of the Ganges, and made the circumference of it* 

 walls 50 coss, or about 87 miles. Strabo, from Me- 

 gasthenes, who had seen Canouge, says it was situated 

 as the confluence of another stream with the Ganges ; 

 that its form was quadrangular, the length 80 stadia, 

 breadth 15, or, taking tfce mean stadium of the ancients, 

 about 8 miles by 1 $ ; that it had wooden fortifications, 

 with turrets for archers to shoot from, and was surround- 

 ed by a vast ditch, (Strabo, lib. xv. p. 667. ) Arrian calls 

 it the greatest city amongst the Indians ; he says, that it 

 was situated at the junction of the Erannaboa with the 

 Ganges : he gives the same dimensions as Strabo ; and 

 says, that there were 570 towers on the walls, and 65 

 gates. Diodorus Siculns, lib. xvii. p. 678, says, that when 

 Alexander passed the Hyphasis, he was informed, that, 

 on the banks of the Ganges, he would meet the most 

 formidable sovereign of India, called Xambranes, king 

 of the Gangandes, at the head of 20,000 horse, 200,000 

 foot, 2000 war chariots, and 4000 fighting elephants. 

 The Mahabbarit states, that Smkol, a native of Ca- 

 nouge, brought into the field, against Affrasiah, king 

 of Persia, 4000 elephants, 100,000 horse, and 400,000 

 foot. But that after Delu had founded Delhi, and es- " r ^j r 

 tablishcd his court there, Canouge declined, and was JJc'ii!,. U 

 involved in civil discord ; still we learn from the same 

 authority, that Sinsarchand, or Sandrocottus, the suc- 

 cessor of Porua, restored Canouge to it ancient splen- canougc 

 dour ; and that here, about the year 300 before Christ, tenured. 

 he entertained the ambassador! from Seleucus, the suc- 

 cessor of Alexander, and that Megasthenes was amongst 

 the number. In the beginning of the 5th century, Rarr.- 



