'>'l HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. Uook I.

fore, "'lion all its institutions tended to preserve social order as establis!ied,and to rjiscoura<re
j.'iid fill hi. i ;ill innovation, the duration oi' a style was doomed to become eternal. Religion,
however, alone, was ca])ahle of eflijcting tlie same object, and of restraining within certain
bounds the imitative faculty, by the preservation of types and primitive conventional signs
for the liierogly|)hic language, which, from the sacred purposes for which it was employed,
soon ac<|uired an authority from which no individual would dare to deviate by an improve-
ment of tiie forms under wiiich it had apjjcared. Plato observes, that no change took
plat'c in painting among the ]'2gy))tians
; but that it was tlie'same, neither better nor worse,
than it had been ages before his time. 'S.kottoov
5'
evpijaeis avrodi ra ixupioarov iros
y^ypafj.-
fjLiva, r) TeTVTTCc/j.fi'a
{ovx cus eTroj enrfii/ fivpiorrrov, aW' ovtous) raiv vvv S57]/j.wvpyT]/j.ei'wv ovre
TJ KaAAiora, ovt' ai(T^iai, rrjv avTrjv 5e rex^V
oi.irfipyaafJ.eua. De Lec/ibiLS, lib. ii.
69. Uniformity of plan cliaracterises all their works ; they never deviated from the right
line and square.
"
Les Egy])tiens," observes INI. Caylus," ne nous ont laisse aucun monu-
ment public dont I'tlevation ait etL' circulaire." The uniformity of their elevations is still
more striking. Neither division of parts, contrast, nor ettect is visible. All this necessarily
resulted from the political and religious institutions whereof we have been speaking.
70. II. In analysing the architecture of Egy])t, three ]5oints otter themselves for consider-
ation, construction, form, and decoration. In constuuction, if solidity be a merit, no
nation has equalled them. Notwithstanding the continued effect of time ujion the edilices
(if the country, they still seem calculated for a duration ecjually long as that of the globe
Itself. The materials em|)loyed upon them were well adapted to insure a defiance of all
that age could ettect against them. Tiie most abundant material is what the ancients
called the I'hebaic granite. Large quarries of it were seated near the Nile in U])])er
]'>gy|)t, between the Krst cataract and the town of Assouan, now Syene. The whole of the
country to the east, the islands, and the bed of the Nile itself, are of this red granite,
whereof were formed the obelisks, colossal statues, and columns of their temjjles. Blocks
of dimensions surprisingly large were obtained from these quarries. IJasalt, marble, free-
stone, and alabaster were foiuul hevond all limit comjiared with the purj)oses for which they
were wanted.
71. We have already observed, that Egypt was deficient in timber, and especially that sort
proper for building. There are some forests of ))alm trees on the Lybian side, near
Dendera (Tentyra) ;
but the soil is little suited to the growth of timber. Next in (piantity
to the palm is the acacia; the olive is rare. With the exception of the palm tree, there is
none suited for architectural use. The oak is not to be found
; and that, as well as the fir
which the present inhabitants use, is imported from Arabia. Diodorus says, that the early
inhabitants used canes and reeds interwoven and jilastered with mud for their huts ; but he
confines this practice to the country away from towns, in which, from fragments that have
been found, we may infer that l)rick was the material in inost common use.
72. IJricks dried in the sun were employed even on large monmnents ; but it is probable
that these were originally faced either with stone or granite. The ])yramids descril)ed by
Pococke, called Ktoube el Meuschich, are comjioscd of bricks, some of which are l:5iin. long,
6t
ill. wide, and 4 in. tliick
; others 15 in. long, 7 in. wide, and 4 A in. thick. They are not
united t)y cement, but in some instinces cements of a bituminous natuie were emploved
and in others a mortar composed of lime or plaster and sand, of which it would seem that
this second was exneidinglv powerful a^^ well as durable.
7.3. The Egyptians arrived at the highest degree of skill in quarrying and working
st:)ne, as well as in afterwards giving it th.e most perfect polish. In their masonry they
placed no reliance on the use of cramps, but rather on the nice adjustment of the stones
to one an.ither, on the avoidance of all false l)earings, and the nice balance of all over-
hanging weight. Of their mechanical skill the reader will form some idea by reference
to volume iii. p.
32S. of Wilkinson's Manners mid Customs
of
the Ancient Eyrjjitiiuis, from
a representation in a grotto at El Hersheh. A colossus on a sledge is therein pulled along
bv 172 men, but none of the mechanical powers seem to be called in to their assistance.
'
The obelisks," says iNIr. Wilkinson,
"
transported from the quarries of Syene to Thebes
and Ileliopolis, vary in size from 70 to 93 ft. in length. They are of one single stone
; and
the largest in Egypt, which is that at the great temjjle at Carnac, I calculate to weigh
about 297 tons. This was brought about 138 miles from the quarry to where it now
stands ; and those taken to Heliopolis passed over a space of 800 miles." Two colossi
(one of them is the vocal Memnon), each of a single block 47 ft. in height, and contain-
ing 11,500 cubic feet, are carved from stone not known within several days' journey of the
place ; and at the INIemnonium is a colossal statue, which, when entire, weighed 887
tons. We consider, however, the raising of the obelisks a far greater test of mechanical
skill than the transport of these prodigious weights ; but into the mode they adopted we
have no insight from any representations yet discovered. We can .scarcely suppose that
in the handling of the weights whereof we have spoken, they were unassisted hv the me-
chanical ])owers, although, as we have observed, no rei)resentations to warrant the 'onjecture
have been broujrht to lii;ht.