DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4656#0017
MM
THE TEMENOS.
II
24. The walls of the temple are built without
any mortar, and the stones are not regularly bonded.
The main East wall is 3*65 m. thick, and built of
courses three stones thick; these stones are simply
laid side by side, and one on the top of the other.
Any spaces were filled up with loose rubble. In the
case of narrower walls, only two parallel walls of
stone were used, and the space between them varied
with the thickness of the wall and the size of the
stones. The outside faces were smooth finished, the
inner sides left rough, and the top and bottom sur-
faces and the ends were carefully dressed. In the
main E. wall, the blocks on the E. side of the wall
are smaller in height than the blocks on the W. or
temple side ; there are nine courses on the W. side
under the architraves, but fourteen on the E. side
up to the same level. When an architrave did not
happen to come at the joint at the end of a wall
block, the builders cut away the block and made an
enormous mortice for the architrave end to rest in.
In the same way they did not build the corners of
their rooms ; they cut the corner out of a solid block.
Where one wall crosses another, or meets it at
right angles, the courses are carefully bonded : the
cross wall sticking into the main wall, and the main
wall blocks projecting into the cross wall, alternately.
25. The bases of the columns are generally in one
block with the first drum of the column, and the
height of this first block varies considerably. So
long as the original block was wide enough to make
the base, they did not seem to mind how thick it was,
or how much stone they had to chip away to form
the lower end of the column. The top drum of the
column is often made in the same way, one block
being chipped out to form both the square capital
and the head of the shaft. In the second Hypostyle
Hall the bases of the columns on the raised floor in
front of the chapels have been cut out by the Copts,
as if walls or long beams had been fitted along them.
Sometimes the whole side of a base is cut away to
within 10 cm. of the floor ; sometimes only a right-
angled segment has been taken out. The edges of
the columns on either side of the middle passage are
worn, as if the columns had been used as pulleys to
pull some heavy weight up the central passage. The
architraves that carry the roof round the corners of
the South-East court, forming a portico, are carefully
fitted in triangular form.
26. All the principal walls and beams were tied
together with dovetailed ties of granite or ebony, and
are invariably tied longitudinally, never transversely.
In a course three blocks thick, each stone would be
tied to the end of the next stone in the same line, but
no attempt was made to tie any stone to its neigh-
bour in the next parallel line on either side of it.
In the case of doorways, the jambs of the door or
the doorposts are often cut from the solid block.
There are very few instances where the door-posts
are built of separate stones.
It seems throughout as if labour was a drug in
the market; if a block was too big for a particular
purpose, they cut it down to the required size instead
of looking for a smaller one.
27. Steps are always cut three or four at a time
out of one big block ; so long as the block was wide
enough, they did not mind how thick it was. There
is one large block that formed part of the stairway
leading up to the roof; the steps are not small,
but they look like shallow grooves compared to the
block.
The roof stones are carefully fitted, and the longer
edges of each stone are ploughed out, so that a square-
shaped groove was formed, running all along between
the parallel lines of blocks. Whether the present
grey sandstone roof had a top casing originally there
is nothing to show ; but it is pretty certain that a
strip of stone was let into the groove just named, so
as to close the joint by a cover.
The upper sides of the present blocks are marked
with many rough tracings of pairs of feet. The
people seem to have traced the outlines of their feet,
or sometimes only a single foot, and then to have
cut in the outline with a chisel. These outlines are
scattered pretty evenly all over the roof; they do not
all point the same way, and some are cut more deeply
than others. But there are no marks of anything but
feet, and nothing else animate or inanimate is repre-
sented. The feet are mostly small; but the modern
Arab small boy prefers hawking forged antiquities,
to carving his extremities on the works of his
ancestors.
CHAPTER II.
THE TEMENOS.
28. The Temenos of the Temple of Sety at
Abydos (see PL. XXIII) encloses an irregular space
about 214 m. X 105 m; the walls are roughly parallel
C 2
THE TEMENOS.
II
24. The walls of the temple are built without
any mortar, and the stones are not regularly bonded.
The main East wall is 3*65 m. thick, and built of
courses three stones thick; these stones are simply
laid side by side, and one on the top of the other.
Any spaces were filled up with loose rubble. In the
case of narrower walls, only two parallel walls of
stone were used, and the space between them varied
with the thickness of the wall and the size of the
stones. The outside faces were smooth finished, the
inner sides left rough, and the top and bottom sur-
faces and the ends were carefully dressed. In the
main E. wall, the blocks on the E. side of the wall
are smaller in height than the blocks on the W. or
temple side ; there are nine courses on the W. side
under the architraves, but fourteen on the E. side
up to the same level. When an architrave did not
happen to come at the joint at the end of a wall
block, the builders cut away the block and made an
enormous mortice for the architrave end to rest in.
In the same way they did not build the corners of
their rooms ; they cut the corner out of a solid block.
Where one wall crosses another, or meets it at
right angles, the courses are carefully bonded : the
cross wall sticking into the main wall, and the main
wall blocks projecting into the cross wall, alternately.
25. The bases of the columns are generally in one
block with the first drum of the column, and the
height of this first block varies considerably. So
long as the original block was wide enough to make
the base, they did not seem to mind how thick it was,
or how much stone they had to chip away to form
the lower end of the column. The top drum of the
column is often made in the same way, one block
being chipped out to form both the square capital
and the head of the shaft. In the second Hypostyle
Hall the bases of the columns on the raised floor in
front of the chapels have been cut out by the Copts,
as if walls or long beams had been fitted along them.
Sometimes the whole side of a base is cut away to
within 10 cm. of the floor ; sometimes only a right-
angled segment has been taken out. The edges of
the columns on either side of the middle passage are
worn, as if the columns had been used as pulleys to
pull some heavy weight up the central passage. The
architraves that carry the roof round the corners of
the South-East court, forming a portico, are carefully
fitted in triangular form.
26. All the principal walls and beams were tied
together with dovetailed ties of granite or ebony, and
are invariably tied longitudinally, never transversely.
In a course three blocks thick, each stone would be
tied to the end of the next stone in the same line, but
no attempt was made to tie any stone to its neigh-
bour in the next parallel line on either side of it.
In the case of doorways, the jambs of the door or
the doorposts are often cut from the solid block.
There are very few instances where the door-posts
are built of separate stones.
It seems throughout as if labour was a drug in
the market; if a block was too big for a particular
purpose, they cut it down to the required size instead
of looking for a smaller one.
27. Steps are always cut three or four at a time
out of one big block ; so long as the block was wide
enough, they did not mind how thick it was. There
is one large block that formed part of the stairway
leading up to the roof; the steps are not small,
but they look like shallow grooves compared to the
block.
The roof stones are carefully fitted, and the longer
edges of each stone are ploughed out, so that a square-
shaped groove was formed, running all along between
the parallel lines of blocks. Whether the present
grey sandstone roof had a top casing originally there
is nothing to show ; but it is pretty certain that a
strip of stone was let into the groove just named, so
as to close the joint by a cover.
The upper sides of the present blocks are marked
with many rough tracings of pairs of feet. The
people seem to have traced the outlines of their feet,
or sometimes only a single foot, and then to have
cut in the outline with a chisel. These outlines are
scattered pretty evenly all over the roof; they do not
all point the same way, and some are cut more deeply
than others. But there are no marks of anything but
feet, and nothing else animate or inanimate is repre-
sented. The feet are mostly small; but the modern
Arab small boy prefers hawking forged antiquities,
to carving his extremities on the works of his
ancestors.
CHAPTER II.
THE TEMENOS.
28. The Temenos of the Temple of Sety at
Abydos (see PL. XXIII) encloses an irregular space
about 214 m. X 105 m; the walls are roughly parallel
C 2