Volume II Part 1 (2/2)

Since the ti remains, and especially of the inscriptions which they bear, has dissipated that error; egyptologists are now in accord as to the religious character of the great Theban buildings on either bank of the river But while adists who have not been able to clear theirdominant They contend that the royal habitation must have been an annexe to the temple, and both at Karnak and Luxor they seek to find it in those ill-preserved chambers which, and his life must have been passed in the courts and hypostyle halls[2]

[2] DU BARRY DE MERVAL, _etudes sur l'Architecture egyptienne_ (1875), p 271

[Illustration: FIG 4--Part of the plan of a house and its offices, figured in a to all the inscriptions which have been discovered in the chambers in question there is not one which supports such an hypothesis

Neither in the reyptian literature, nor in the works of the Greek historians, is there a passage to be found which tends to show that the king lived in the temple or its dependencies, or that his palace ithin the sacred inclosure at all

There is another argument which is, perhaps, even more conclusive than that fros of such a pleasure-loving and light-hearted race as the ancient Egyptians took up their residence in quarters so dark and so rigidly inclosed Their dispositions cannot have differed very greatly from those of their subjects, and no phrase is more often repeated in the texts than this: _to live a happy day_ The palace , a place of repose; and nothing could be better fitted for such a purpose than the light and spacious edifices which lay outside the city, in the ardens, upon the banks of the Nile itself, or of one of those canals which carried its waters to the borders of the desert Froalleries, or covered terraces, the eye could roa plantations, over the course of the river and the fields which it irrigated, and out to the e, and uished in sos, allowed the chambers to be either thrown open to the breeze or darkened from the noonday sun, as occasion arose That shelter which is so grateful in all hot climates was also to be found outside, in the broad shadows cast by the sycaarnished with the brilliant flowers of the lotus, in the shadows of the spring foliage hanging upon the trellised fruit-trees, or in the open kiosques which were reared here and there upon the banks of the lakes

There, behind the shelter of walls and hedges, and a could taste some of the joys of domesticity In such a retreat a Thothmes or a Ra, and ues of yesterday and the cares of to-yptians would say, he could enjoy his _kief_

In such architecture as this, in which everything was designed to serve the pleasures of the moment, there was no necessity for stone

The solidity and durability of liranite, were required in the to, or for the temples, the homes of the Gods But the palace was no more than a pleasure marquee, it required no material more durable than wood or brick Painters and sculptors were charged to cover its walls with lively colours and ses; it was their business to decorate the stucco of the walls, the planks of acacia, and the slender columns of cedar and palmith the old

The ornah in the latter case it had a yptian sovereigns orthy of their wealth and power, but the cohtness of their materials led to their early disappearance, and no trace of the the whole period of which we have any record, the East has changed but little, in spite of the apparent diversity between the successive races, eions which have prevailed in it

We kno vast an array of servants and followers Oriental royalty or grandeeshi+p involves The _konak_ of the nificant bey or pacha shelters a whole army of servants, each one of whom does as little work as possible The domestics of the Sultan at Constantinople, or of the Shah at Teheran, are to be counted by thousands No one knows the exact nurooms, and sweepers, of _atechdjis_, _cafedjis_, and _tchiboukdjis_, which their seraglios contain Such a domestic establishs of some sort, as well as an extensive accumulation of stores Great storehouses were required where the ifts of the people, the tributes in kind of conquered nations, and the crops produced by the huge estates attached to the Crown, could be warehoused In the vast inclosures whose arranges at Tell-el-Aranaries

They were built round courtyards which were arranged in long succession on all four sides of the principal building in which the sovereign and his fan, the fa became very numerous (Rameses II had a hundred and seventy children, fifty-nine of ere sons), and it became necessary to provide acco, it was easy to encroach upon the surrounding country, and to extend both buildings and gardens at will

Although the great inclosure at Karnak was spacious enough for its purpose, the families of the Pharaohs would hardly have had elbow rooh and impassable barriers insupportable, and the space within them too narrow for their pursuits The palaces of the East have always required wider and eneral aspect we shall find it the saes to those of the Bosphorus The cliave, and still gives, a s; ree in this with the actual condition of the old palaces at Agra, Delhi, and Constantinople They were not cole holance; they in no way resembled the Tuileries or Versailles[3] They consisted of many structures of unequal importance, built at different times and by different princes; their pavilions were separated by gardens and courts; they foruarded by a high wall In that part of the interior nearest the entrance there were richly-decorated halls, in which the sovereign condescended to sit enthroned at stated tin ambassadors Around these chaed individuals, swarmed a whole population of officers, soldiers, and servants of all kinds

This part of the palace was a repetition on a far larger scale of the _sela The _hareuarded In it the king passed his time when he was not occupied ith the chase, or with the affairs of state Between the buildings there was space and air enough to allow of the king's re for months, or years if he chose, within the boundary walls of his palace; he could review his troops in the vast courtyards; he could ride, drive, or walk on foot in the shady gardens; he could bathe in the artificial lakes and bath-houses

Sorounds were included within the outer walls

[3] The contrast between the palaces of the East and Versailles is hardly so strong as M Perrot sees of different ages and styles which for of Louis XIV does not greatly differ in essentials frolio--ED

These facilities and easy pleasures have always been a dangerous teht be for by a display of singular energy and resource, were at last enfeebled and overwhelmed in the pleasures of the palace By those pleasures they became so co descended heir of a line of conquerors was hurled froic history of Sardanapalus, which has inspired so many poets and historians, is a case in point Modern criticism has attacked it ruthlessly; names, dates, and facts have all been placed in doubt; but even if the falsehood of every detail could be demonstrated, it would yet retain that superior kind of truth which springs froeneral applicability--a truth in which the real value of the legend consists

Almost all the royal dynasties of the East ended in a Sardanapalus, for he was nothing more than the victim of the sedentary and luxurious existence passed in an Oriental palace

If we knew ypt, we should doubtless find that such phenoular in that country

The Rammesides yptian palace cannot have differed very greatly from the type we have described, all the characteristic features of which are to be recognised in those edifices which have hitherto been called villas[4] There was the saive a restoration of the ured at Tell-el-Aest the great asses, which, when co 5) By its variety, by its alternation of courts and gardens with buildings surrounded here by stone colonnades, there by lighter wooden verandahs, this palace evidently belongs to the same family as other Oriental palaces of later tin could enjoy all the pleasures of the open country while living either in his capital or in its ihbourhood; he could satisfy all his wishes and desires withoutfrom the spot

[4] NESTOR L'HoTE--a fine connoisseur, who often divined facts which were not finally deypt--also received this impression from his examination of the re e's palaces, the porticos and propylaea by which they were approached, the inner chaardens, and artificial lakes; everything, in fact, which went to ypte_ (in 1838-9; 8vo, 1840); pp 64-65

We have chosen for restoration that part of the royal dwelling which corresponds to what is called, in the East, the selamlik, and in the West, the reception-rooms A structure stands before the entrance the purpose of which cannot readily be decided It ht be a reservoir for the use of the palace inuard-house; the question must be left open Behind this structure there is a door between tith inclined walls, for a kind of pylon There is a narrower doorway near each angle All three of these entrances open upon a vast rectangular court, which is inclosed laterally by ts of chambers and at the back by a repetition of the front wall and three doorways already described This courtyard incloses a smaller one, which is prefaced by a deep colonnaded portico, and incloses an open hall raised considerably above the level of the two courts The steps by which this hall is reached are clearly shown upon the plan

In the middle of it there is a small structure, which may be one of those tribune-like altars which are represented upon soives a sketch of one of these reliefs It shows a s before hi remains of a similar structure at Karnak: it is a quadrilateral block, to which access was obtained by an inclined plane[5]

[5] _Lettres ecrites d'egypte_, p 62 In soiven by Prisse, several of these altars are given upon a larger scale, showing the offerings hich they are heaped One of the up to it

Perhaps the king acco his duties at this point In order to arrive at the altar froates and boundary walls had to be passed, so that the safety of the sovereign ell guarded

Upon the Egyptian plan, which forht of the nest of buildings just described, another of er extent There is no apparent comrove of trees In front of this second asseular structure of doubtful purpose, and the same quasi-pylon that we find before the first Behind the pylon there is a court surrounded on three sides by a double row of apartments, soh an intervening portico Doubtless, this court was the hareed round courts in its rear are storehouses, stables, cattle-stables, and other offices, with gardens again beyond thearden lies is first described, and is shown in our restoration (Fig 5) Here and there rise light pavilions, whose wooden structure htsman Colonnades, under which the crowds of servants and underlings could find shelter at night, pervade the whole building

The doure As to the reception halls (the part of the building which would now be called the _divan_), we find nothing that can be identified with them in any of the plans which we have inspected But it reatly mutilated, and that hitherto they have only been reproduced and published in fragmentary fashi+on