DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0143
Bk. I. Ch. II.
ANCIENT EGYPTJEAX ABT.
107
sometimes, but rarely, with an abacus, ancl generally without any
carved work, though it is more than probable they were originally
painted with some device, upon which they depended for their orna-
ment. In most instances they look more like fragments of a wall, of
which the intervening spaces had been cut away, than pillars in the
sense in which we usually understand the word ; and in every case in
the early ages they must be looked upon more as utilitarian expedients
than as parts of an ornamental style of architecture.
Tejiples.
Till recently no temples had been discovered which could with
certainty be ascribed to the age of the pyramid builders ; one, however,
was excavated in 1853, from the sand close beside the great Sphinx,
with which it was thought at one tirne to have been connected.
Mr. Petrie, however, found the remains of a causeway 15 ft. wide
and over a quarter of a mile long, leading to a second temple in front
of the pyramid of Khafra; as also the traces of other temples in front
of the Great Pyramid and of that of Menkaura. Purther temples have
been discovered at Abouseer, Dahshur and other pyramids, so that, as
Mr. Petrie says, p. 209, £C to understand the purpose of the erection of
the Pyramids it should be observed that each has a temple on the
eastern side of it. Of the temples of the second ancl third Pyramids
the ruins still remain; and of the temple of the Great Pyramid the
basalt pavement and numerous blocks of granite show its site.” “ The
worship of the deified king was carried on in the temple, looking
toward the Pyramid which stood on the west of it; just as private
individuals worshipped their ancestors in
the family tombs ” (already referred to)
“ looking towards the false doors 1 which
are placed in the west side of the tomb, and
which represent the entrances to the hidden
sepulchres.”
The temple of the Sphinx,2 (or, as it is
now called, the granite tenrple,) though at
present almost buried, was apparently a
free-standing building, a mass of masonry, „
& J J 13. Plan of Temple near tne Spninx.
the outer surfaces of which were built in
limestone, and carved with long grooves, horizontal and vertical, skil-
fully crossed, resembling therefore the carved fronts of many tombs
1 Tke false door is a nicke in tke side tom. iii. p. 451, alludes to tke fact of tke
of tke mastaka, tke back of wkick is : old temples of tlie Egyptians kaving no
carved in imitation of a wooden door. 1 images.
2 Lueian, ‘ De Syria Dea,’ ed. Rcetzin,
ANCIENT EGYPTJEAX ABT.
107
sometimes, but rarely, with an abacus, ancl generally without any
carved work, though it is more than probable they were originally
painted with some device, upon which they depended for their orna-
ment. In most instances they look more like fragments of a wall, of
which the intervening spaces had been cut away, than pillars in the
sense in which we usually understand the word ; and in every case in
the early ages they must be looked upon more as utilitarian expedients
than as parts of an ornamental style of architecture.
Tejiples.
Till recently no temples had been discovered which could with
certainty be ascribed to the age of the pyramid builders ; one, however,
was excavated in 1853, from the sand close beside the great Sphinx,
with which it was thought at one tirne to have been connected.
Mr. Petrie, however, found the remains of a causeway 15 ft. wide
and over a quarter of a mile long, leading to a second temple in front
of the pyramid of Khafra; as also the traces of other temples in front
of the Great Pyramid and of that of Menkaura. Purther temples have
been discovered at Abouseer, Dahshur and other pyramids, so that, as
Mr. Petrie says, p. 209, £C to understand the purpose of the erection of
the Pyramids it should be observed that each has a temple on the
eastern side of it. Of the temples of the second ancl third Pyramids
the ruins still remain; and of the temple of the Great Pyramid the
basalt pavement and numerous blocks of granite show its site.” “ The
worship of the deified king was carried on in the temple, looking
toward the Pyramid which stood on the west of it; just as private
individuals worshipped their ancestors in
the family tombs ” (already referred to)
“ looking towards the false doors 1 which
are placed in the west side of the tomb, and
which represent the entrances to the hidden
sepulchres.”
The temple of the Sphinx,2 (or, as it is
now called, the granite tenrple,) though at
present almost buried, was apparently a
free-standing building, a mass of masonry, „
& J J 13. Plan of Temple near tne Spninx.
the outer surfaces of which were built in
limestone, and carved with long grooves, horizontal and vertical, skil-
fully crossed, resembling therefore the carved fronts of many tombs
1 Tke false door is a nicke in tke side tom. iii. p. 451, alludes to tke fact of tke
of tke mastaka, tke back of wkick is : old temples of tlie Egyptians kaving no
carved in imitation of a wooden door. 1 images.
2 Lueian, ‘ De Syria Dea,’ ed. Rcetzin,