Volume I Part 27 (2/2)
To argue froyptians were not yet created, and consequently that there were no teratuitous assertion which may at any tiave us, twenty years ago, the statue of Chephren now in the Boulak Museuht siies only commenced with the first Theban Ey which, in the opinion of all conteists, dates froreat Sphinx at Gizeh (Fig 157) We learn fro the body of a crouching lion with the head of aSun,' corresponding to the Har to the stele above quoted, it was carved, long before the time of Cheops, out of a natural rock which reared its head above the sand in this part of the necropolis; here and there the desired form was made out by additions in ht of the Sphinx is 66 feet; the ear is 6 feet 4 inches high; the nose is 6 feet, the reatest width of the face across the cheeks is 14 feet 2 inches If cleared entirely of sand the Sphinx would thus be higher than a five-storied house For the history of the Sphinx, the different restorations which it has undergone, and the aspect which it has presented at different epochs, see MARIETTE, _Questions relatives aux nouvelles Fouilles_ Our plan (Fig 204) shows the wide flight of steps which was constructed in the ti constructed immediately in front of the fore-paws
Between these paws a little temple was contrived, where the steles consecrated by several of the Theban kings in honour of the Sphinx were arranged Caviglia was the first to bring all these ht, in 1817, but the _ensemble_, as it now exists, only dates back to the Roman epoch It is curious that neither Herodotus, nor Diodorus, nor Strabo, mention the Sphinx
Pliny speaks of it (N H xxxvi 17); some of the information which he obtained was valuable and authentic, but it was mixed with errors; it was said to be, he tells us, _the toure was painted red The _Denkives three sections and a plan of the little temple between the paws The sareat stele of Thothmes relative to the restoration of the Sphinx
As priypt had Gods she must have had temples Few traces of them are to be found, however, and their al to causes which an to erect stone buildings, the early Egyptians es Various bas-reliefs and paintings prove that this latter material was never entirely abandoned, but after stone and brick caeneral use it was reserved for special purposes; it was usually ehter and more ephemeral edifices in which rapidity of construction was the chief point required When, in the remains of the early dynasties, we see the characteristics of wooden constructions so closely imitated in stone, we are constrained to believe that wood then played a much more important part than under the Theban princes Either brick or stone was absolutely necessary for a tomb, because they alone had sufficient durability, but it is quite possible that most of the temples were of wood With the help of colour and metal, wood could be easily made to fulfil all the conditions of a temple The shrine which enclosed either a statue or some symbolic object, the portico which surrounded the inner court, the furniture, the doors, the high palisade which enclosed the sacred precinct, ht all have been of wood When destroyed by accident or daed by time, such a structure could be quickly and easily restored
We may admit, however, that from the epoch of the Pyramids onwards, such cities as Thinis, Abydos, Memphis, and others, constructed their temples of stone, which, in the then state of architectural skill, they could have done without any serious difficulty The chief cause of the disappearance of the early temples was the construction of those that caed with the centuries, and the time came when the comparative simplicity of the pri of the people for nificence and splendour New temples, more vast and sumptuous than the old, were constructed, and the substance of their predecessors was, as a matter of course, ementary inscription or a piece of sculpture betrays the restoration; and, here and there, inscriptions on the later building go so far as to preserve the name of the architect of the first An instance of this occurs at Denderah
Champollion discovered that the Ptole froreat Theban or Sait dynasties
The island of Philae, however, affords an exception to this rule[288]
These temples he calls ”second editions” But in some cases they were third or even fourth editions
[288] CHAMPOLLION, _Lettres d'egypte et de Nubie_, pp 125, 143, and 166 Under both the te of the ti occurred at Edfou and at Esneh We except Philae, because there is good reason to believe that in the time of the Ancient Empire that island did not exist, and that the cataract was then at Silsilis
But in spite of all these rearranges of the early period were still in existence during the Roman occupation of the country, and were then shown as curiosities This wedescribed, with s which are easily recognized as temples built under the princes of the New Empire, he adds: ”At Heliopolis, however, there is a certain building with several ranges of coluereat size of the colu rows, there is nothing graceful in the building, nothing that shows any power of artistic design; effort, and i characteristic”[289] Lucian, too, was thinking of the sa in his treatise upon the Syrian Goddess, when he said that the Egyptians had, in ancient times, temples without sculptured decorations[290]
[289] STRABO, xvii 128: ??d?? ??e? ?a??e? ??d? ??af????, etc
[290] LUCIAN, -- 3: ??????? ????, etc
One of these 'barbarous' temples, as Strabo calls the disinterred by Mariette in 1853, at about 50 yards distance froht foot of the Sphinx in a south-easterly direction Mariette cleared the whole of the interior, and by ht of steps well protected from the sand, he provided easy access to it But he left the external walls buried as he found them, and so they still re and 7 wide, which runs alh the massive masonry which constitutes the external wall About alleries branch off; that on the right leads to a s access to the terrace above At the end of the passage we find ourselves at one of the angles of a hall, running north and south, and about 83 feet long by 23 wide The roof is supported by six quadrangular piers These are h and 3 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 8 inches in section Several of their architraves are still in place
These are stones about 10 feet in length[291] Froles This second hall is about 57 feet long and 30 wide, and its roof was supported by ten columns similar to those we have already mentioned
[291] The piers are not quite equidistant; their spacing varies by some centimetres Exact symths of the stones which formed the architrave
[Illustration: FIG 202--The Temple of the Sphinx (from an unpublished plan by Mariette)]
Frole of the first hall there is a short corridor which leads to six deep niches in the ed in pairs one above the other, and apparently intended for the reception of mummies
In the e chae which leads to a third and last hall, parallel to the one with six colu pillars, but there is, in the centre of the floor, a deep hich Mariette cleared from the sand hich it was filled There had been water in it, because it was sunk below the level of the Nile At the bottom nine broken statues of Chephren were found; they were not copies, one fro at different periods of his life Several stone cynocephali were also found
At each end of this hall there is a s with it by short corridors One of these, that in the northern angle of the temple, seeular opening in the masonry
[Illustration: FIG 203--Interior of the Temple of the Sphinx (from a sketch by M Ernest Desjardins)]
The ranite and alabaster The supporting piers are of granite, the lining slabs of the walls and the ceiling, alabaster Both these e, but in no part of the te or at any other sort of ornaular monoliths; the walls are without either bas-reliefs or paintings, and there is not a trace of any inscription on any part of the building The external walls are constructed of the largest liypt In these days none of their outward faces are visible, but according to Mariette, who, doubtless, had inspected the is to be seen but ”s vertical and horizontal grooves skilfully interlaced; in one corner there is a door, the only one, and that very small”[292]