28-12.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



47 



astonisbing temple and palace of Karnac. It is clear, from history 

 and pxt.int relic?, that the same analogy is assignable to the almost 

 obliterated palace built by the celebrated Memiion. 



Let us glance at the most authentic accounts of the modern ruins of 

 the Memnonium, in order to carry out our example. The two seated 

 and broken statues, both ascribed to Memnon, but one identified with 

 Lis vocal statue by the inscriptions on the leg, now the niostcunspicu- 

 ous objects on the great plain of Thebes, preceded the gatevpny. 

 They may have been preceded by an aveuue of spbynxes, and suc- 

 ceeded by obelisks. They are at a considerable distance from the 

 first gateway, and front the Nile, but they are in perfect line with the 

 entire direction of the remaining ruins. " Within the tirst court, close 

 to the pyramidal gateway, is a large colossal statue," says Pocock, 

 " broken off about the middle of the trunk." The head of this statue 

 was brought, after much labour, to England by Belzoni, and is now in 

 the British Museum. Here it has obtained the name, though f»lla- 

 laciously, of the younger Memnon. "In the second court," says the 

 same author, continuing his description, "are the remains of two 

 colossal statues sitting, of black granite, the head of one of which is 

 three feet five inches long." This second court of caryatide columns, 

 a 1/iird court follows, in which are the remaiiu of two seated colossi of 

 black marble, one of which is also in the British Museum. A fourth 

 court succeeded, which is not characterised by any remarkable re- 

 roairs. This court was probably, in its integral state, surrounded by 

 a colonnade, as that portion of it which fronts the entrance, and which 

 formed the portico, remains. The portico is primitively simple but 

 sublimely impressive in its character. It consists of pillars of the 

 oldest *tyle of architecture, resembling those of Elephanta, in India, 

 having large gourd-shaped capitals instead of cushions, which, iu the 

 latter case, appear compressed by the encumbent architrave. This 

 leads into the pronaos, roofed and supported by gigantic columns, 

 much loftier than the preceding, and having bell-shaped capitals. 

 Another portico, -.vith similar capitals and columns, follows, and most 

 likely, like the preceding, formed one side of another quadrangular 

 court, being the fifth, and at this the ruins end. It is probable that 

 a considerable number of courts, porticos, ukoi, may have occupied 

 the irrtervening space between this part of ,the ruins and the exca- 

 vated tombs of the kings. Judging from the line of direction which 

 the series of ruins take, and from the analogy of the sepulchral 

 Palace of Osymandes, this would seem to be the case. Let us now 

 see whether there be any probabiiity in the supposition that Diodorus 

 Siculus, in describing from Hecateus the sepulchral Palace of Ismendes, 

 described in fact the Memnonium. Norden and Pocock show them- 

 selves to be decidedly against this opinion, by searching for the re- 

 mains of the temple of Osymandes at Luxore, on the eastern bank of 

 the Nile ; for Diodorus Siculus gives the account from Hecateus, after 

 describing the ether sepulchres of the Theban kings, which are noto- 

 riously on the western bank, and not far from the Memnonium. It is 

 tnie that they discover paintings in Luxore similar to those which 

 Diodorus Siculus describes as being in the palace of Osymandes. But 

 it \i not probable that the pictorial narrative of such exploits should 

 be confined to one locality. Indeed, similar representations are found 

 at Ipsambul. The real fact is, Cand considering the vicinity of the 

 royal tombs, it goes far to establish the identity of the Memnonium 

 with the lepvdchral palace of Osymandes,) that the very pictorial 

 sculptures referred to by the historian, are seen at this day in the 

 Memnonium. The modern ruins, too, correspond with the description 

 of Diodorus. First there are entrance courts, after passing the usual 

 entrance g;ife between two towers (truncated pyramids^. After this 

 there was a colonnaded quadrangle, supported by "animals after the 

 antique manner," says the historian, and as, indeed, is obseri-able in the 

 temples of India and Japan to this day. The roof of this quadrangle 

 was " spangled with stars on a sky-coloured ground," as in " BeUoni's 

 tomb," as at Dendereh, and other extant palaces and temples. Another 

 unadorned court followed. In this were three statues, all of one 

 stone, erected by or for " Memnon the Syenite." One of these was 

 the largest in Egypt, and was in a sitting posture. The first exceeded 

 seven cubits in length. The other two, which were not to large, were 



placed at his knees, one on the right, and the other on the left. This 

 was the famous statue of Osymandes, on which the boastful iuscrip« 

 tion, "I am Osyraaudes, King of Kings," was written. This lias beea 

 supposed to have been the vocal statue of Memnon, the word Ismen* 

 des meaning to girt a touiid. That this, however, is not the broken 

 column of the plain is quite clear. It is accompanied by another, and 

 neither are so large as the one described. There can scarcely be a 

 doubt, however, that this is the statue described by Norden as broken 

 in the inidille, and lying in the entrance of the second court of the 

 Memnonium. The size precisely agrees. It w;is 42 cubits or 03 feet 

 high, and the foot described as 7 cubits in length lies there at this 

 day, ami was seen successively by Belzoni, Capt. Light, Leigh and 

 other travellers. It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, th.it the sepul- 

 chral palace of Osymandes was the Memnonium. After this court 

 there followed another colonnaded quadrangle, "of more note than the 

 first." In this was pourtrayed all the King's wars against the Bac- 

 trians." Upon the first wall the King was represented storming the 

 wall of a city surrounded by a river, and fighting in the front of the 

 battle against his enemies, with a lion by his side, and making terrible 

 slaughter." This battlepiece, perfectly concurring in every particular 

 with the historian's description, has been copied by Cbampollion. 

 "On the second wall the King was represented leading his captives," 

 This was also copieil by Champollion. "The captives were engraved 

 without hands, to indicate their unmanly character." This represen- 

 tation is also given by Rossellini and by Champollion, the King being 

 seated in a car, a pile of hands before him, and the captives (Bac- 

 trians, probably, by their costume, with plaited locks, beards, and 

 striped tunics open in front) waiting the operation of the executioner. 

 "The third wall represented the King offering sacrifices and celebrat- 

 ing his triumph." This historical picture, in all its elaborate details, 

 is copied by Rosellini and Champollion. The procf, therefore, may 

 be regarded as curiously established, that the Memnonium was the 

 sepulchral palace of Osymandes. "On the fourth wall, says the his- 

 torian, two statues were placed sitting, each 27 cubits in length." 

 These are clearly the same as those described by Norden in the 

 second court, that which follows the caryatide court. " Two sitting 

 colossal statues of black granite, the head of one of them 3 feet 

 5 inches long. 



" Near to these," says Diodorus, "three passages led out of the 

 colonnade into a hall supported by pillars into a musical theatre. 

 This agrees with the Covered Hall (the Hypostyle Hall at Karnac is 

 built in the same manner) supported by columns which still remain, 

 and which was faced on both sides by a colonnaded court, the pillars 

 of which are lower, and of different capitals from those which support 

 the hall. This appears to have been the judgment hall or court of the 

 40 nomarchs or judges, where they held their sessions, and where 

 the thirty days general assemblies of the people were also in 

 all probability convened. Norden, speaking of its decorations, say», 

 that " they surpass in strength and beauty every thing he had saen in 

 al fresco or mosaic work ;" and that "the gold, ultranuirine, and other 

 colours employed hail preserved their lustre unimpaired." 



The chief variety in the forms of the columns has been described. 

 Were the five orders known to the Egj'ptian architects? The nega- 

 tive must be admitted. The Doric alone can be claimed by the Egj'p- 

 tian architects, as borrowed by their Greek colonists and pupils. 

 Rosellini settles this point by exhibiting the Doric column and entabl.1- 

 ture in the portico of the tomb (containing the tableau of Joseph ami 

 his brethren) at Beni Hassan. However, the elements of the capitals 

 of the four remaining 01 ders may be detected among the colonnades 

 and porticos of the Egyptian temples. The germ of the Ionian volute 

 and capitid (both derived from a female face and its ornaments) m,iy 

 be seen at Dendirch and Philir. 



It has been remarked that the pillars of the Hypostyle Hall at Kar- 

 nac are Saxon in their waved ornament, bell-shaped capital, ami sturdy 

 cylindric shaft. Many of the capital! employed by the monastic ar- 

 chitects (see the multiform capitals in the "Temple Church," by 

 Robert Billings) are strikingly like the exuberant variety of graceful 

 I'ornis, derived from trees, (lowers, tendrils, or creeping plants adopted 



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