CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



575 



Practice. 



Alexan- 

 dria and 

 Cairo. 



General ob- 



itrvatien*. 



Climate fa- 



vourable. 



Plutarch. 



Modern 

 travellers. 



Shade 

 wanted. 



Although Alexandria and Cairo have occupied dis- 

 tinguished places in the annals of Egypt, yet possessing 

 little that is connected with its ancient architecture as a 

 distinct school, and that little having been pillaged from 

 the treasures of the Thebaid, it would be quite improper 

 here to enter into any details respecting these splendid 

 cities. 



The works connected with the navigation of the Nile, 

 their extensive canals and reservoirs, will be treated of 

 under Inland Navigation and Ports. 



But previous to our dismissing the subject of Egyptian 

 architecture, it may not be improper to introduce the 

 following general observations. Although we have not 

 any direct account of the manner in which the immense 

 masses of stone which composed the antient edifices 

 were raised from the quarries, carried to, and placed in 

 their respective situations ; yet it is evident, from the 

 Yestiges of the communications made from the Nile into 

 the extensive quarries on its banks, as at Apollinopo- 

 lis, Elephantina, Philee, and other places, that advan- 

 tage had been taken of the annual rise of that river, to 

 raise and float the great blocks which they employed. 

 In all that regards the operations which afterwards took 

 place, in removing them from the water to the building, 

 preparing them for, and placing them in their several 

 positions, such as raising obelisks and columns of great 

 magnitude, and covering the latter with platforms which 

 composed their terraces and roofs, we are left wholly to 

 conjecture. In the course of such continued and ex- 

 tensive experience, it is natural to conclude, that whatever 

 was the mode they had adopted, they had arrived at a 

 great degree of perfection ; but for the last two thou- 

 sand year", the oppressed and enslaved natives have been 

 at little qualified to explain in what manner the entrance 

 to Luxor was constructed, as, at this day, the Greeks 

 of Attica are respecting the buildings in the Acropolis 

 of Athene. If descriptions, or intelligence of any kind, 

 were ever committed to writing, they must have been de- 

 stroyed by Cambyses, the Romans, or Amrou. What the 

 Greeks drew from thence is very indistinctly acknow- 

 ledge d ; for that vain people, as they had a just claim 

 to much, endeavoured to arrogate original n erit to 

 them tlves in all that regards architecture. Although 

 the size and quahty of the materials, and the principles 

 of construction, are calculated to ensure durability, yet 

 it mutt be confessed, that the climate is also equally fa- 

 vourable ; for even Egyptian structures could not have 

 withstood the effects of our frequent and severe changes 

 of atmosphere during 3000 years. 



Plutarch, wl>o travelled to Egypt with the view of 

 invest ijf a; in j( all that the priests taught respecting Osi- 

 ris and Isis, describes their temples as having long wings, 

 aud extensive open avenues; and also as having secret and 

 dark vestries, resembling the adyta of the Thebans. The 

 result of the researches by modern scientific travellers a- 

 mounts to nearly the same. Indeed, the local circum- 

 stances of the country and people, led unavoidably t the 

 tylc which was adopted ; there being no rain, it was 

 chi fly on account of shade that the covering parts were 

 nq-iirtd; their total ignorance of the principles of an 

 irt ficul arch forced them to use large flat stones ; their 

 quarries afforded materials of any magnitude, and they 

 had probably previously inhabited, or at least worship- 

 ped in caverns, first natural, and perhaps afterwards ar- 

 tificial ; and thtsc circumstances, witli the applications 

 of wealth ar.d power in the hands of a numerous priest- 

 hood, with cloistered habits, and, for many succeeding 

 ag:s, pursuing incessantly the same objects, seem to af- 



ford a sufficiently satisfactory explanation of the rise and Practice, 

 progress of Egyptian architecture. , > ~""Y"~"*' 



Montfaucon is of opinion, that Cambyses established 

 the Mithratic worship in Egypt about 500 B. C. 

 What seems to have chiefly suggested this idea, is the Mithratic 

 discovery of a curious representation of a sacrifice to worship, 

 the sun, in an artificial cavern near the ruins of Babain 

 in Upper Egypt. It is hewn out of a rock in the singular 

 middle of the mountain ; it is about 50 feet wide, and cavern. 

 as much in height, and between five and six feet in 

 depth. The sun appears encompassed with rays, form- 

 ing a circle 15 or 20 feet in diameter. Two priests, of a 

 natural stature, their heads covered with long caps, ter- 

 minating in points, stretch their hands towards the sun, 

 the ends of their fingers touch the rays ; two little boys, 

 clothed like the priests, stand by their sides, and reach 

 to them two great goblets ; below the sun there art- 

 lambs killed, and extended on piles consisting each of 

 ten pieces of wood ; and below the piles are seven jars or 

 diotas. On the other side of the sun there are two 

 women and two girls, in full relief, joined to the rock by 

 parts of their backs and feet only ; behind and above 

 these and the boys are several hieroglyphics. The tiara 

 on the head of the priests very much resembles those of 

 the Persians in a procession' in the bas reliefs, found at 

 Chilminac near Persepolis. The hawk and Ibis are pure- 

 ly Egyptian. This is a very curious monument, and 

 is well deserving of attention. The whole is certain- 

 ly very different from the other excavations in Upper 



Egypt- 



INDIAN ARCHITECTURE. 



' In regard to the practice of architecture in India, we- 

 must refer to the Historical Part for particulars respect- 

 ing the cities of Oude, Canouge, Delhi, and Lahdrej 

 and shall here only make an addition to the description 

 of Agra. 



It was built in the form of a crescent along the banks 

 of the Jumna ; its walls were constructed with stones 

 of great size, hard, and of a reddish colour resem- 

 bling jasper. It was four miles in extent, and consisted 

 of three courts, with many stately porticos, galleries, and 

 turrets, all richly painted and gilt, and some overlaid 

 with plates of gold. The first court was built round 

 with arches which afforded shade ; the second was for 

 the great Omrahs and ministers of state, who had here 

 their apartments for transacting public business ; and the 

 third court, within which was the seraglio, consisted en- 

 tirely of state apartments of the emperor, hung round 

 with the richest silks of Persia. Behind these were the 

 royal gardens. In front of the palace towards the river, 

 a large area was left for the exercise of the royal ele- 

 phants, and for battles of the wild beasts; and in a square 

 which separated the palace from the city, a numerous ar- 

 my lay constantly encamped. Mandesto, who visited Agra 

 in 1638, then in the zenith of its glory, says, it was sur- 

 rounded by a wall of freestone and a broad ditch, with a 

 draw-bridge at each of its gates. He states, that at the 

 further end of the third court, under a piazza, were a row 

 of silver pillars ; that beyond this was the presence- 

 chamber, with golden pillars ; that within a balustrade 

 was the royal throne of massy gold, almost incrust- 

 ed with diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones ; 

 that above this throne was a gallery where the Mogul 

 appeared every day at a certain hour, to hear and redress 

 the complaints of tiis subjects ; and that no person but 

 the king's sons were admitted behind these golden pil- 

 lars. He mentions also an apartment remarkable for ite \ 



India, 

 Cities. 



Agra built 

 in the 

 form of 

 a crescent* 



Courti, 

 porticos, 



galleries. 



State a. 

 partmentfc. 



Pillart of 

 silver and 

 gold. 



