Ci.Ar. II, EGYPTIAN.

37
I
arc composed with ranges of horizontal circles, and look like an .isseniblage of bundles
of rods tied together at intervals. The only difTerence among thos'i
columns which are circular and plain is in their having hierogly-
pliics, or not. Of the second sort there are many varieties, of which
we here present three specimens
{fy.
57.). They have the appear-
ance of being bound together by hooi)s, like barrels. These are usually
ill three rows witli four or five divisions in each
;
but these arrange-
ments seem to have been subject to no certain laws. The species ol
cclumns in question is certainly curious, and appears based upon the
imitation of stems of trees bound together, so as out of a number to
form one strong post. It seems scarcely possible that tliey could
liave had their origin in mere whim or caprice. Many polygonal
columns are to be found in Egypt. Some S(|uare specimens are to
*'"'"' t'jiuw'^s.
be seen in the grottos at Thebes cut out of the rock itself. Simi-
lar examples occur at tlie entrance of the sanctuary of a tenijjle in the saine city. Hexa-
gonal ones are described by Norden, and I'ocookfc mentions one of a
form triangular on the plan. We do not at present rememi)er any
fluted s])ecimen, except in the tombs of IJeni- Hassan, of which a
rojjresentation will be given in the section on Grecian architecture.
Their character is shortness and tliickness. They vary from three to
eleven feet in diameter, the last dimension being the largest diameter
ig. ji. ^"^^'^
^1^,^^ fococke oijserved, as in height the tallest was forty feet. Such
were some of those he measured at Carnak and I^uxor, but this he gives only as an ap-
proximation from the circumstance of so much of them being buried in the earth.
78. Piliisters, properly so called, are not found in Egyjitian architectin-e. The base of
the column, when it ajjpears, is extremely sini])le in its form. Among the representations
in Denon's work is one in which the base is in the shajjc of an inverted ogee. It l)elong
to a column of one of the buildings at Tentyra.
7f). In tlieir capitals, the Egyptians exhibited great variety of form. They may, how-
ever, be reduced to three species, the s(]uare, the vase-formed, and the
swelled. The first
{Jig.
58.) is nothing more than a simple abacus, merely
aced on the to)) of the shaft of the column, to which it is not joined by the
intervention of any moulding. This abacus is, however, sometimes higli
enough to admit of a head being sculptured thereon, as in the annexed
)ck. It does not appear, as in Grecian architecture, that in that of Egypt
dlderently jiroportioned and formed columns had different capitals assigned
to tliem. The notion of imparting expression to architecture iiy a choice of
forms of ditftfrent nature, and more or less complicated according to the
cliaracter of an order, was unknown in Egy])t. It was an architectural
language which the people knew not. The vase-shaped cajjital
(_//^. 59.
)
Pig. OS. cAPirAi..
ig variously modified : sometimes it occurs quite plain
; in other cases it is
difTerer.tly decorated, of which we here give two examples. It certainly has all the ajjpear-
ance of having afforded tiie first hint for tlie
hell of the Corinthian capital. The third
or swelled capital is also found in many
varieties
; but if the form be not founded
on that of the bud of a tree, we scarcelv
know wherein its original type is to be
sought. Two examples of it are here appended.
80. The entablature, for such (however unlike it be to the same thing in the architecture
^^_^pi,
of Greece) we suppose we must call the massive
loading placed on the walls and columns of
mcient Egypt, is very little subdivided. The
\{,i^
upper jiart of it, which we may call the cornice,
|)rojects considerably, having a large concave
member, in some cases consisting of ornaments
lepresenting a series of reeds jjarallel to each
1 'K
'" KNTABi.ATuBE.
otlicr from top to bottom
;
in other cases in
in<)\ips of tin-ee or six in a grouj), the mtervals between them being sculptured with winged
"lobes, as on the portico of the temple at Tentyra, given in
fig.
60. Scul])tures of
animals, winged globes, and scarabiei, are the almost constant decorations placed on what
may be called the architrave of the Egyptian temple. Of the winged globe, usually
found on the centre of it, as also of the great concave cornice,
X'7-
61. is a representation.
We close our observations on the cor-
nices of the Egyptian temple by rcquest-
S^^^^^^^^^
'"o
tlic reader, if he have the smallest
Kig. 61.
i.N,,tu oioHB. doubt on the common origin of the archi-
ii^iT^rsaiM^