Volume I Part 32 (2/2)
They were erected within, and in the neighbourhood of, those cities whose ireat monumental works as the teht call them chapels, raised either to the honour of the local deities, or for the purpose of co prince and the hoe paid by him to the deity to whom he looked for protection and victory
[343] We may cite as a peripteral te at Edfou, called, in the _Description_, the _Little Temple_ (_Antiquites_, vol i plates 62-65) It differs fro square piers only at the angles, the rest of the portico being supported by columns
In these chapels there are neither internal peristyles nor hypostyles; there are none of those subsidiary cha which it is so but a rectangular chamber and a portico about it, and, inof a few pairs of sphinxes, lent dignity to the approach
The best proportioned and perhaps theof this class is the little sandstone temple built by Aypt It was discovered at the end of the last century by the draughtsmen of the French Expedition, and named by theer exists It was destroyed in 1822 by the Turkish Governor of assouan, who had a s, which we reproduce, seereat care
[344] _Description de l'egypte, Antiquites_, vol i plates 34-38
[Illustration: FIG 229--Plan of the Teypte_, i 35)]
The total area of the temple, at the floor level of the cella, was 40 feet by 31 It was raised upon a well-built rectangular base of alh to the pavement of the portico From the earth level to the top of the cornice the teht of steps, enclosed between talls of the saht as the stylobate, led up to the portico The portico itself was composed of square piers and round columns Two of the latter were introduced in the centre of each of the salleries were enclosed by seven square piers, inclusive of those at the angles A dall about three feet in height bounded the gallery on the outside, and afforded a base for the piers; the circular columns on each side of the entrance alone stood directly upon the paveher by about three feet than either the piers or the colu chamber enclosed by this portico had two entrances, one at the top of the steps, the other at the back[346] The first na by the slight salience of its jambs and lintel, by the increased size of the coluard to the steps
[345] This base contained a crypt, no doubt for the sake of econo the material There seems to have been no means of access to it, either from without or within
[346] Our plan, etc shows the temple as itto the authors of the _Description de l'egypte_ Jo 1) has i it behind the large hall as a sort of _opisthodomos_; but he bids us remark that it was constructed of different materials, and in a different _bond_, from the rest of the temple It showed no trace of the sculptured decoration which covered all the rest of the temple
This chamber was therefore a later addition, and one only obtained at the expense of the continuous portico, the back part of which was enclosed with a wall in which the colu to Jomard, this alteration dates from the Roman period, but however that ard an addition which appears to have been so aardly ed
One more peculiarity must be noticed Neither in piers nor in walls do we find that inward slope which is alyptian exteriors The lines are vertical and horizontal This is not the effect of caprice; the architect had a good reason for neglecting the traditions of his profession By avoiding the usual inclination towards the centre, he gave to his snity which it would otherwise have ree, concealed its diminutive size
[Illustration: FIG 230--View in perspective of the Teypte_, i 35)]
In spite of its modest dirandeur Its stylobate raised it well above the plain, while the steps in front gaveof the columns in front allowed the richly decorated doorway to be seen in effective grouping with the long perspectives of the side galleries The piers on the flanks were more closely spaced than the coluhtened by the sinity of the entablature and the bold projection of the cornice added to the effect of the whole, and eyptian architects never produced a building better calculated to please modern tastes Its symmetry and just proportion appeal directly to those whose artistic ideas are founded upon the creations of the Greeks and Roitudinal section of the Temple of Elephantine (from the _Description_, i 35)]
This sympathy was conspicuously felt by those who discovered the little ement,” says Jomard, ”is a model of si as a whole, and commands our attention” But the purity and harmony of its lines are not its only claims to our admiration The pleasure which it causes us to feel is partly the result of its resemblance to a well-known and much admired type, that of the Greek teements are the same, a cella raised upon an ieneral arrangement of the Elephantine structure has even its nae of the Greek architects, they would call it a _peripteral_ teoes completely round it
Nowhere else do we find such a striking reses, the sculptured decorations, and the inscribed texts, we should be te of the Ptolemaic period, Greek in conception and plan, but decorated in the Egyptian taste Such a mistake would, however, be impossible in these days, and even at the end of the last century The French _savants_ knew enough to prevent the into such an error They were unable to read the hieroglyphics, but the general physiogno told the to this conclusion they were right, but they should have stopped there instead of atte to establish a direct connection, as cause and effect, between the Egyptian building and the temples of Greece We shall not here discuss the delicate question of the indebtedness of Greek artists to those of Egypt, but we may allow ourselves to make two observations In the first place, the temples built upon this plan were very small, and ers dazzled by the wonders of Sais, Mereat cities did not offer the peculiar characteristics which, we are asked to believe, inspired the early Greek architects In the second place, if there had been any direct iyptian model, we should have found in the copy at least so trace of those square piers which were so continually and successfully used by the Egyptian architects; but in the Greek peripteral temples the external colonnades are always made up exclusively of circular columns The Greek architect hardly ever made use of the square pier, except in the forth to the extremities of a wall
Would it not be much simpler to admit that we have here one of those coincidences which are so frequent in the history of the arts? Human nature is pretty much the same all over the world When human skill has been employed at different ti si almost identical problems, it has been led to results which vary only in the minor details These variations areto race characteristics or s When examined closely the circued from one period or one race to another, but a superficial reseh to ensure that their artistic creations shall have many important points in common In no pursuit does the human mind turn in a narrower circle than in architecture The purpose of the building on the one hand, and the qualities of the reat influence upon fors are erected are very few, neither are the materials at the command of the architect very many The possible combinations are therefore far from numerous Take two races placed in conditions of clious; put the saive theramme to carry out; is it not almost certain that they would produce works with e of each other's work? From this point of view only, as it seearded
If the temple at Elephantine had possessed no other interest but that belonging to it as an exaht have omitted all mention of it, or at least devoted but a feords to it And yet such types are scarce The French explorers found a second temple of the same class not far fros[347] A third has been discovered in Nubia, which ly; we mean the temple constructed by Thothh it has suffered greatly, traces of a portico are to be found about the cella, and it has been ascertained that this portico consisted both of square piers and coluypt, there is a temple constructed upon the sa only two circular columns, those upon the facade; all the rest of the peristyle consists of square piers[349] The oldest part of the temple built by Thothmes II and Thothement The sanctuary is there surrounded on three sides by a portico of square piers (Fig 222)
[347] In the _Description de l'egypte_ it is called _The Northern Tes 2 and 3) The only difference noted by Jomard was in the ornamentation of the capitals
[348] LEPSIUS _Denkmaeler_, part i pl 113
[349] _Description, Antiquites_, vol i pl 71, Figs 1, 2, 3, 4; letterpress, vol i ch vi This teh
There is nothing to forbid the supposition that these temples were once much more numerous in the valley of the Nile, but it appears certain that they were always of small dimensions If like those of Sais and Memphis, the teht have been led to believe that soyptians had been in this form; but we have Luxor and Karnak, Medinet-Abou and the Ramesseum, Gournah and Abydos; we have several iyptian conquerors, and others erected by the Ethiopian sovereigns in iyptian architecture[350] When we compare these remains with one another and call to mind the words of Strabo and of other ancient travellers as to the eneral conclusion, that it ithin the high external walls of their buildings, around courts open to the sky or as supports for wide and lofty halls, that the Egyptians loved to group their hty piers and columns When the portico was outside it was so placed because there was no roole narrow chamber, so small that there was no room for columns and that the walls could support the roof without help, the colonnade was relegated to the exterior, where it served to give importance to the cella, and to clothe and beautify it
[350] See LEPSIUS for plans of these buildings; _Denkmaeler_, part i plates 125, 127, and 128