DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0168
132
EGYPTIAN ARCHITEOTURE.
Part I.
Mammeisi.
In acldition to the temples aboA’e described, which are all more or
less complex in plan, ancl all macle up of various inclependent parts,
there exists in Egypt a class of temples called mammeisi, cledicated to
the mysterious accouchement of the mother of the gods. Small temples
of this form are common to all ages, ancl belong as well to the 18th
dynasty as to the time of the Ptolemys. One of them, built by
Amenhotep III. at Elephantine, is rej)resented in plan ancl elevation
in the annexed cut. It is of a simple
l^eristylar form, with columns in front and
rear, the latter being now built into a
wall, ancl seven square piers on each flank.
These temples are all sruall, ancl, like the
Typhonia, which somewhat resemble them,
were used as cletachea chapels or cells,
dejrenclent on the larger temples. What
renclers them more than usually interesting
to us is the fact that they were uncloubtedly
the originals of the Greek peristylar forms,
that people having borrowecl nearly every
peculiarity of their architecture from the
banks of the Nile. We possess tangible
eviclence of peristylar temples ancl Proto-
Doric pillars erectecl in Egypt centuries
before the olclest known specimen in Greece.
We neecl therefore harclly hesitate to awarcl the palm of invention of
these things to the Egyptians, as we shoulcl j)i’obably be forced to clo
for most of the arts ancl sciences of the Greeks if we hacl only know-
ledge sufficient to enable us to trace the connecting links which once
joinecl thern together, but which are now in most instances lost, or at
least clifficult to fincl.
Tombs.
Of the flrst 10 dynasties of Egyptian kings little now remains but
their tombs—the everlasting pyramids—ancl of the people they governed,
only the structures ancl rock-cut excavations which they prejDared for
their final resting-places.
The Theban kings and their subjects erected no pyramids, ancl
none of their tombs are structural—all are excavated from the living
rock ; ancl from Beni-Hasan to the Cataract the plain of the dSTile is
EGYPTIAN ARCHITEOTURE.
Part I.
Mammeisi.
In acldition to the temples aboA’e described, which are all more or
less complex in plan, ancl all macle up of various inclependent parts,
there exists in Egypt a class of temples called mammeisi, cledicated to
the mysterious accouchement of the mother of the gods. Small temples
of this form are common to all ages, ancl belong as well to the 18th
dynasty as to the time of the Ptolemys. One of them, built by
Amenhotep III. at Elephantine, is rej)resented in plan ancl elevation
in the annexed cut. It is of a simple
l^eristylar form, with columns in front and
rear, the latter being now built into a
wall, ancl seven square piers on each flank.
These temples are all sruall, ancl, like the
Typhonia, which somewhat resemble them,
were used as cletachea chapels or cells,
dejrenclent on the larger temples. What
renclers them more than usually interesting
to us is the fact that they were uncloubtedly
the originals of the Greek peristylar forms,
that people having borrowecl nearly every
peculiarity of their architecture from the
banks of the Nile. We possess tangible
eviclence of peristylar temples ancl Proto-
Doric pillars erectecl in Egypt centuries
before the olclest known specimen in Greece.
We neecl therefore harclly hesitate to awarcl the palm of invention of
these things to the Egyptians, as we shoulcl j)i’obably be forced to clo
for most of the arts ancl sciences of the Greeks if we hacl only know-
ledge sufficient to enable us to trace the connecting links which once
joinecl thern together, but which are now in most instances lost, or at
least clifficult to fincl.
Tombs.
Of the flrst 10 dynasties of Egyptian kings little now remains but
their tombs—the everlasting pyramids—ancl of the people they governed,
only the structures ancl rock-cut excavations which they prejDared for
their final resting-places.
The Theban kings and their subjects erected no pyramids, ancl
none of their tombs are structural—all are excavated from the living
rock ; ancl from Beni-Hasan to the Cataract the plain of the dSTile is