Ih50.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



of nearly 4,000 years before the invasion of the Shepherd Kings. 

 During this time, the arts and sciences had made greater progress 

 than in any other country. The soil and climate also had gi-eat 

 influence in forming the character of the people. The continual 

 struggle to ]ireserve the valley of the Nile from the incroachment 

 of the desert — or, as they expressed it, the perpetual conflict he- 

 tween the god Osiris (who annually arose fnmi his bed in Philiie, 

 to scatter blessings over the land)and tlie evil spirit Typhon — called 

 forth all the energies of the peo]>le, and long preserved them from 

 that enervating spirit of luxury and sloth, to which the downfall 

 of so many nations may be traced. The peculiarities of tlieir 

 country, no doubt, also tended to make them the serious, devout 

 people Herodotus describes. He says, "they are very religious, 

 and surpass all men in the worship they render to the gods." 

 They savv their laud fertilised every year by the hand of Provi- 

 dence — the waters rushing down from an unknown source, and 

 again, in due time, receding; they beheld the sun sinking, night 

 after night, behind the unexplored and silent tracts of the great 

 Lybian desert; and there arose within them an awful sense of the 

 divine and mysterious, a haunting consciousness of the impotency 

 of man compared witli the unmentioMihle One* to whom supreme 

 homage was paid. The Nile was the great source of the prosperity 

 of the country in another way; it was the longest inland navigation 

 known to the ancients, and became the route by which the wealth 

 of India was exchanged for that of Europe; thus pouring a con- 

 tinual stream of riches through the land of Egypt. So early were 

 the advantages of the Nile luivigation appreciated, that villages 

 were thickly scattered over its valley, while the neighbouring 

 countries of Arabia and Syria were only scantily peopled by a few 

 herdsmen. The population of Egypt went on rapidly increasing 

 under these favourable circumstances, and in the reign of Amasis 

 II. (5(jfi B.C.), it amounted to seven millions of inhabitants. 



We do not possess many legends or traditions respecting ancient 

 Egypt; — other nations boast of their poets and historians; but here 

 they carved the names and deeds of their kings and heroes in 

 stone, and painted the history of their private life on the walls of 

 their tombs: so that if we have less of poetic fiction, we have a 

 more certain basis of reality. 



The name of Tliis occurs as the first Egyptian city; then we 

 have the names of numerous kings of Thebes and Memphis: of 

 these we have no certain data; we only know that they carry us far 

 up the stream of time; and when Abraham visited Egypt (about 

 16(10 B.C.), he must have found the country already in a high state 

 of civilisation. Next reigned the abhoired Hyesos, the Shepherd 

 Kings — those "men of an ignoble race," as jManetho calls them; 

 after their expulsion, a succession of native sovereigns extends 

 over a period of 500 years. During this time, Thebes was the 

 chief city, and Egypt surpassed every country in the known world 

 in riches and power. 1400 b.c. Upper and Lower Egypt were 

 united under Thothmosis II., and Queen Nitocris; and in'the reign 

 of Amnopth II. (1300 B.C.), Moses was educated in all the learning 

 of the Egyptians. In the following century (1200 b.c), we arrive 

 at the era of Rameses the Great, the Augustan age of Egyptian 

 history; the age in which native arts and architecture was brought 

 to the greatest perfection. The following 500 years, from the time 

 of Shishak, the conqueror of Rehoboam, the Thebaid sunk to the 

 rank of a province, and Memphis once more became a capital city. 

 The wealth and population of the people continued to increase, 

 ' — but patriotism and virtue had declined. Instead of adding to the 

 magnificent monuments of their predecessors, the nionarchs now 

 bestowed their riches in hiring Greek mercenaries to support their 

 throne. It was in this period that the Greeks began to seek infor- 

 mation from the learned Egyptians; and the illustrious names of 

 Thales, Solon, and Pythagoras, occur amongst those of the travel- 

 lers of that age. Mercenary aid can do little when native valour 

 fails; and Egypt fell, under Cambyses (523 b.c), never to rise again 

 in her pristine glory and independence. The country passed suc- 

 cessively under the yoke of Persians, Greeks, and Romans, though 

 nominally still governed by independent princes. As long as native 

 sovereigns remained to her, however (though only in name), the 

 style of architecture altered but little: but soon after the reign of 

 Cleopatra, it was merged, together with the kingdom, in that of 

 all-conquering Rome. 



In the general forms of their architecture, the Egyptians seem 

 to have imitated the angularity of the bare rocks and drifted sand- 

 heaps, and the long horizontal lines of the desert plain. Their 

 building materials consisted almost entirely of brick and stone; the 

 indigenous trees being principally palm, sycamore, and acacia (the 



* It was cOQsidered impious by the EgypiiaDs to name the Supreme Being. 



former, deficient in strength and durability — the latter, too scarce 

 to be used to any great extent in their buildings), served for house- 

 hold furniture, mummy-cases, &c. Wood was so highly prized 

 by them, that cedar, ebony, and other rare woods, formed part of 

 the tribute imposed on conquered nations; and East Indian ma- 

 hogany was imported amongst the most valuable productions of 

 that country. 



Brick seems to have been the first material used, probably before 

 the art of quarrying stone was known ; it was afterwards employed 

 in constructing walls of inclosure, and in buildings where cheap- 

 ness and expedition were greater considerations than durability. 

 Egyptian bricks were generally crude, mixed w itb straw and dried 

 in the sun ; kiln-burnt bricks were occasionally used in found, itions, 

 quays, the raised terraces on which the towns were built, or in any 

 situation where they would be exposed to frequent contact with 

 water. The crude bricks were about 15 inches in length, 7 inches 

 in breadth, and a little more than 5 inches in thickness: this sim- 

 ple material was found to be peculiarly suitable to that dry, hot 

 climate, where rain scarcely ever falls ; and were further recom- 

 mended by the ease and rapidity with which they could be made. 

 The bi'ick-fields aff'orded abundant occui>ation for numerous la- 

 bourers ; and the demand was so great, and the trade so profitable, 

 that the Egyptian government took it into their own hands, and 

 considerably increased the revenue by this monopoly. In order to 

 prevent unauthorised persons from engaging in this manufacture, 

 a seal, containing the name of the king or some other privileged 

 person, was stamped upon the bricks before they were dried : nu- 

 merous bricks, thus stamped, have been found at Thebes and else- 

 where. According to Vitruvius, crude bricks should only be 

 manufactured in spring or autumn, in order that they may dry 

 slowly; those which are made in the heat of summer speedily dry 

 outside, while the inside remains moist : the brick thus becomes 

 defective, and easily gives nay. He further observes, that bricks 

 ought to have been dried five years before they can be considered 

 fit for use, and that their having been so should be certified by a 

 magistrate. If these rules originated with the ancient Egyptians, 

 it is probable that the stamp before mentioned may also have been 

 a warrant of the solidity of the bricks. 



The boundary rocks on each side of the valley of the Nile, 

 afl^orded abundance of stone for every purpose. Basalt, syenite, 

 and porphyry for obelisks and statues, and limestone and sandstone 

 for building, is found from one enil of Egypt to the other. 



An ancient Egyptian city must have presented a very difl'erent 

 appearance from those of any contemporary nation, from the 

 absence of the surrounding walls, that form so striking a feature 

 in Asiatic and ancient Greek towns, — the isolated position of the 

 country precluding the necessity of this mode of protection. In 

 order to check the incursions of the Arabs, a boundary wall of 

 crude brick extended from Pelusium along the edge of the desert 

 by Heliopolis as far as the Ethiopian frontier at Syene, a distance 

 of about 187 Roman miles: many vestiges of this great work are 

 still remaining. Walls of inclosure surrounded the temples; but 

 these walls, though sometimes as much as 24 feet in thickness, 

 appear to have been less for the purpose of defence than of mark- 

 ing the boundary of the sacred inclosure. 



The monuments of Egypt may be divided into six kinds : — 

 1st, Pyramids; 2nd, Those enormous piles adapted to the threefold 

 purpose of temple, palace, and fortification; 3rd, Structural tem- 

 ples, fortified and unfortified ; 4th, Temples, partly excavated, 

 partly structural; 5th, Monolithic and excavated temples; and, 

 6th, Tombs. 



The pyramids of Cochome are not only the most ancient monu- 

 ments of Egypt, but probably the oldest in the world. Manetbo 

 ascribes them to Venepbres, king of This, in the 1st dynasty. 

 The great pyramids of Geezeh were built by Supbis, or Cheops, 

 and his successor, Sensuphis, as it is supposed, about 1600 b.c 

 These enormous structures occupy each a square plot of about 

 eleven acres : the largest is 728 feet on each side of the base, and 

 about 500 feet in height. The pyramidal form seems to have 

 obtained favour amongst all the nations of antiquity. ^Ve find 

 pyramids in Assyria, in India, and among the remains of Central 

 America. It has been suggested that the form may have originated 

 from the old Mithratic worshij), and have been symbolical of the rays 

 of the sun. The pyramid may, however, have presented itself as 

 the most enduring form, as well as the simplest in construction, 

 enabling this ancient people to raise monuments on that gigantic 

 scale after which they aspired; nor if we allow that whatever 

 tends to create ideas of superior force and energy contains the 

 elements of the sublime, can we deny this attribute to the pyra- 

 mids and other marvellous works of the ancient Egyptians. Ile- 



2* 



