CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



573 



PART III. PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE. 



Tapering 

 wall* 

 Huge pil- 

 Ur. 

 Fine und- 



Practice ^ N treat ' n g ^ the practice of architecture, we shall, as 

 y_,- t _'- nearly as circumstances admit, pursue the same track 



which we have followed in its history. 



General re- In what regards the ancient works of Egypt, India, 

 marks. and Persia, no certain account of the modes adopted in 

 constructing them having reached modern times, we are 

 only enabled to give some account of the general forms 

 and constituent parts of public edifices which now exist, 

 or have been described ; leaving the reader, from these 

 data, and the circumstances connected with their situa- 

 tion and history, to draw his own conclusions. What re- 

 lates to Chinese, Greek, and Roman edifices, is more abun- 

 dant ; and that of the more recent and present ages, as 

 it is to us the most important, will likewise be found the 

 most ample. 



EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTUHE. 



In the practice of architecture, Upper Egypt appears 

 to have borrowed nothing from any other nation : it is 

 the result of a powerful people attaining their objects by 

 the simplest means. Their most ancient buildings are 

 composed merely of tapering walla, with pillars of huge 

 dimensions placed in the intermediate spaces, to support 

 a roof constructed with large flat stones, all of the kind 

 of stone found in the immediate neighbourhood ; that is 

 to say, in a few instances of calcareous, but chiefly of 

 fine sandstone ; for, as we have formerly remarked, it 

 was not until after the translation of the empire to Thebes, 

 that granite was employed, excepting in obelisks and 

 colossal statues. The workmanship of Karnac and others 

 of the ancient buildings, has al.so a rudeness which be- 

 speaks an infancy of the arts. Yet even in this earliest 

 stage, the columns are representations of bundles of the 

 lotus (or lily of the Nile) : and the sculptured hierogly- 

 phics are wholly taken from Egyptian mythology, astro- 

 nomy, historical events, and agriculture; they have evi- 

 dently arisen from the peculiar situation and circumstan- 

 ces of that particular people ; and so far were the Egyp- 

 tians from being influenced by the practice of the neigh- 

 bouring nations, that the outlines of the facades and 

 sculptures found in their apparently oldest temples were, 

 with some improvement in the workmanship, preserved 

 nearly the same, till the destructive inroad of Camby- 



BCS. 



In our historical sketch, the principal circumstances 

 relating to Karnac, Luxor, and the Mcmnonium, were 

 briefly described : These, from the nature of the sculp- 

 tures and distribution of the apartments, have bv some 

 been supposed to have been royal edifices. At all other 

 placet, the ancient buildings are considered as having 

 been appropriated to religious purposes. But, from the 

 accounts handed down respecting the nature of the au- 

 thority exercised by the Egyptian priesthood, it is pro- 

 bable that even at Thebes the palace and temple were 

 united. We shall therefore proceed to mention the prin- 

 cipal dimensions and features of the most noted of these 

 ancient buildings, and introduce such observations as, 

 with the aid of the annexed Plates, will enable the reader 

 to form a tolerably distinct idea of their mode of con- 

 struction and appropriation. 



Mmecal. 

 careoiu; 

 eldom 

 granite. 



Column* 

 bundle* of 

 lota*. 



Egyptian* 

 did not co. 

 py others. 



Modified. 



Thtbe*. 



Palace and 



temple uni- 



TEVTYRA, (see Plate CXLVIII.) which contained Practice. 

 the most perfectly executed of the Egyptian temples, is 2~"" Y """"'' 

 situated upon the Lybian shore of the Nile, at the dis- p*"?/* 1 

 tance of about half a league from the river. The prin- cXLVIII. 

 cipal temple was consecrated to Isis. The facade is 11 

 paces in breadth, 145 in depth, and 70 feet in height. "j , he 

 A doorway, of elegant form and workmanship, conducts tem pi c O f 

 into a portico 60 paces by 30, supported by 24: columns, i s i s . 

 seven feet diameter, and 55 in height. This portico 

 has zodiacs painted on the ceiling. The hall, which Zodiac, 

 succeeds the portico, is 1^ paces square. It is support- 

 ed by six columns, whose capitals are each composed of 

 four figures of the head of Isis with the ears of a Capitals 

 cat (See Plate CL. Fig. 1.) ; the second hall is 'iA heads of 

 paces by 10 ; the third is of the same dimensions. p"^ 1 , 

 The apartment which succeeds the last hall is 24 pa- p^/a, 

 ces by 6, and is insulated by a space on each side of 

 it ; this is probably the sanctuary. In the before Sanctuary.' 

 mentioned second hall, there are two staircases, which Sta i rcase . 

 lead to the terrace or roof ; the steps are each 20 inches 

 broad, and 1 inches high ; upon this terrace there is a 

 small apartment 9 feet square, having a very full and per- 

 fect zodiac painted on the ceiling. In one of the interi- 



Zodiac on 



or courts of the temple, there is a zodiac which occupies terrace or 

 one half of the ceiling of the last mentioned hall, which ro *' 

 seems entirely devoted to astronomy ; the zodiac is di- 

 vided from another astronomical picture by the figure 

 of a woman. Behind this great temple is a small one, 

 also consecrated to Isis ; it is about 17 paces square. 

 To the right of the door of the great temple, is a perip- 

 tere temple about 34- paces square, dedicated to Typhon : 

 Fifty paces from the north door is another periptere Apl 

 tcmple, which appears never to have been finished. 



In the temple at APOLLINOPOLIS (or Edfou), which, Descrip* 

 next to Thebes, is the largest edifice in Upper Egypt, the tlon> 

 two moles at the entrance are nearly in contact ; the door- 

 way is higher than in any other temple ; it opens into a vast 

 court, surrounded by columns, in form of a peristyle ; the 

 lodging for the priests were behind the peristyle. The 

 portico is formed of six columns in front, and three 

 deep ; some of the capitals have three rows of leaves 

 approaching- to the Corinthian. The interior distribu- 

 tion is similar to Tentyra. This edifice is 500 feet in Length, 

 length, and is constructed of fine sandstone. 



The entrance to Latopolis, as will be seen, (Plate P" 

 CXLVIII.), is exceedingly fine. It consists of 24 ele- CXLVIir. 

 gant columns, whose capitals vary as to decoration, but 

 are each of masterly execution ; being an evidence of 

 the improved state of sculpture ; and that, if unfettered 

 by monastic regulations, the artists would have risen 

 to superior excellence. It is also worthy of remark, 

 that in a small temple on the right bank of the Nile, a 

 gallery passes round it in the thickness of the wall ; a 

 circumstance, which points out an origin or coincidence 

 with sacred edifices of more modern times, in the wes- 

 tern -vorld. 



At HERMOPOLIS, there still exists a magnificent por- Hermopo- 

 tico, consisting of 12 columns in two rows, each eight lii. 

 feet diameter, and standing at the distance of one dia- p ort i co , 

 meter from each other, excepting in the middle, which 

 is more. The length of this portico is 120 fcetj and tho- 



