Volume I Part 31 (1/2)
It is true that the proper character of the _naos_ is better marked at Luxor than elsewhere The sanctuary ular chae square hall; it is the only charanite has been used; it has two doors, one in each end, exactly upon theThe hall in which it is placed is preceded by a vestibule, and surrounded by those small chambers which are always found in this part of a te to e is in conformity with the principles which have been laid down
[Illustration: FIG 217--Plan of the Teins e look round us for the _pronaos_, and examine the hypostyle halls Here, as elsewhere, there is a hall of modest dimensions beyond the sanctuary It is supported by twelve columns There is another, much wider and deeper, in front of the naos; it has thirty-two of those lofty colun, situation, and the spacing of its columns, it reminds us of the hypostyle hall of Karnak It differs fro open, without any external wall towards the court; so that it es of coluain unlike the Karnak hall, it is by no reatest elevation and theproportions, so far as the interior of the building is concerned, are to be found in the great gallery which leads from the first to the second court, froallery is in effect a hypostyle hall, but it differs profoundly from the superb edifice which bears that na and narrow and looks more like a er crowd could find elbow-room
The place occupied by this hall in the whole coular It has been ascertained that the first pylon and the peristylar courtyard behind it date fro, from what is at present the second pylon inwards, was built by Amenophis III The doorway in the second pylon leads i, of which we have been speaking
We can hardly tell, therefore, where to look for the true pronaos at Luxor In that part of the ground plan where it is generally found there is nothing but an open portico, which is considerably lower than the highest parts of the building The great colonnade, again, is separated froht, perhaps, to be classified as what the Greeks called a propylaeureat size and height, and richly decorated, like the hypostyle halls which we have already described and others which we have yet to notice[329]
[329] In presence of this double range of superb colu of a hypostyle hall which was never finished, to suppose that a great central nave was constructed, and that, by force of circuun, and that the builders contented the their work as far as it had gone
[Illustration: FIG 218--Bird's-eye view of Luxor, as restored by M
Ch Chipiez]
Another peculiarity of Luxor is its change of axis The first pylon, that of Rameses, is not parallel with the two built by Ale at which they stand is a very perceptible one Neither is the doorway of this pylon in align No justification or even explanation of this irregularity, which is unique a the Theban temples, has been discovered
If we cross the Nile and land upon the plain which stretches between the river and the Libyan hills, we find ourselves in the presence of those temples, the Ramesseum, Medinet-Abou, and Gournah, whose funerary destination we have already noticed These are royal chapels erected in connection with the royal tohbourhood, they are cenotaphs filled with the reat Theban princes, and with representations of their exploits Consequently we do not find in theht bank, mark the successive dynasties to which their final foreneral appearance is not great; there is however, one distinction which, as it goes far to prove the peculiar character of these buildings, should be carefully noticed In no one of thee from plans which have been made, has any chamber or structure been found which corresponds to the sanctuary or s????, of the teht easily be explained by our supposition that these buildings were funerary chapels; as such they would require no depository for those mysterious symbols of this or that deity which the temples proper contained: they were the lineal descendants of the upper cha is to be found On the other hand, we have reason to believe that the great Theban divinities were associated in the worshi+p paid to deceased kings If that were so these funerary teht bank The inner portions of the Ramesseum and of Medinet-Abou are so ruinous that the question cannot be settled by the examination of their remains
The Ramesseum certainly appears to have been the monument described by Diodorus as the _Tomb of Osymandias_, a name which has never been satisfactorily explained[330] It is also called by the _Institut d'egypte_, the Palace of Memnon and the Memnonium, upon the faith of Strabo's identification of Ismandes and Me owes the restoration of its true title, under which it is now generally known
[330] DIODORUS, i 47-49
[331] STRABO, xvii i 42 In another passage (xvii i 46) he seems to place the Memnonium close to the two famous colossi He would, therefore, seem rather to have had in view an ”Amenophium,” the rehbourhood of the two colossi The French _savants_ suspected this to be the case, but they often defer to the opinions of their iyptian travellers (_Description generale de Thebes_, section iii)
Without being so colossal as Karnak, the size of the Raypt When it was coe as Luxor before the additions of Raer The first pylon was 226 feet wide; the whole of its upper part is destroyed[332] Immediately behind this pylon comes a vast peristylar court, almost square on plan (186 feet by 173) On the left the remains of a double colonnade exist, whichat least two sides of the quadrangle At the further end of this court and directly facing the back of the pylon, was a colossal statue of Rah; its fragrand doorway, pierced through the centre of the wall upon which the defeat of the Khetas is painted, leads to a second court, a little less extensive than the first Right and left there are porticos, each with a double range of columns On the side of the entrance and on that opposite to it there are single ranges of Osiride figures Many of these figures are still standing; they are 31 feet high
[332] This pylon stands in the foreground of our view (Fig
220) The face which is here shoas fore from the parts which reht not have to actually invent scenes of combat for our restoration, we have borrowed the ornamentation of the first pylon of the Temple of Khons The scale of our cut is too shts of steps lead up from this court into a vestibule ornamented with two colossal busts of Rameses and with a row of columns From this vestibule the hypostyle hall is reached by three doorways of black granite It measures 136 feet wide and 103 deep Its roof is supported by forty-eight colu fro and still afford support to a part of the ceiling This latter is painted with golden stars upon a blue ground, in imitation of the vault of heaven The side walls have entirely disappeared[333]
[333] LEPSIUS, _Denkineers of the _Institut d'egypte_ fell into an error in speaking of this hall They failed to notice that it was save it sixty coluenerale de Thebes_, vol i p 132)
[Illustration: Gerome del Ale Guillaumot pere so THEBES]
[Illustration: FIG 219--Plan of the Ramesseum (from Lepsius)]
This hall reseeneral appearance The ee down the centre, supported by coluher than the rest, frouished by the nobility of their bell-shaped capitals
At Karnak the hall was begun by Rameses I and Seti; Rameses II did no more than carry on the work of his predecessors He heard the chorus of ad must have been hailed, and we can easily understand that he was thereby incited to reproduce its happy arrangereat te in his own honour on the left bank of the river
Aive the colossal direat temple of Amen to as, after all, no reat hall at Karnak required three reigns, two of the ones, for its completion
In the Ramesseum an attempt was made to compensate for inferior size by extra care in the details and by the beauty of the workmanshi+p The tall coluh, including base and capital, the others were only twenty-five feet; but they surpassed the pillars at Karnak by the elegance of their proportions
The adled with astonishment, almost with stupefaction, but at the Rah we are less surprised We see that, when coer share than its rival of that beauty into which merely colossal diypten_, vol ii pp 309 _et seq_
Beyond the hall there are wide cha, and each with its roof supported by eight coluain there is a fourth and smaller chamber which has only four coluathered; they are all in a very frag like a _secos_ has been found On the other hand, the bas-reliefs in one of the larger rooms seem to confirm the assertion of Diodorus, in his description of the _Tomb of Osymandias_, that the library was placed in this part of the building[335]