DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0121
105
and baskets, or that of the massy colossal pillar of Egyptian ar-
chitecture from the stalk of the lotus; hypotheses which certainly
have acquired greater credit than, if rationally considered, they
can deserve. The frail flowers have their proper place as the or-
naments, not as the supports of a building: and are therefore
very properly introduced as such, in the architecture of Greece
and Egypt. It is not uninteresting likewise to add, that the
peasants of Egypt give to these columns and to the palm-tree
the same name of Naqrl.
The same character of capitals is to be observed on all the
columns of the portico of the great Temple of Latopolis now
to be seen in the midst of the town of Esne. This portico is so
encumbered with rubbish that you enter into it in a line with
the cornice of the door-way, which is very nearly the height of
the columns. It 13 accordingly extremely dark within, and the
obscurity is still increased by the effect of the smoke with which
the walls are covered, from a manufacture of salt-petrc, which is
produced in great quantities, from the dirt and rubbish of many
of the Egyptian towns.
It may be said as truly of the Temple of Latopolis as of any
other in Egypt, that though built to be the pride of nations, and
the glory of the great, they are now, according to the prophecy
of Isaiah, become the hiding-places of moles and of bats.
The interior of the temple is entirely concealed and inaccessi-
ble; but there is a great variety in the sculptures of the portico;
and we were led to attribute to them a very remote antiquity
from viewing the style in which they are executed; not indeed
that they fail to preserve the characters intended to be given to
them, but from the inaccuracy and clumsiness of their propor-
tions.
Itis not probable that Latopolis was the original name of Esne;
p both
and baskets, or that of the massy colossal pillar of Egyptian ar-
chitecture from the stalk of the lotus; hypotheses which certainly
have acquired greater credit than, if rationally considered, they
can deserve. The frail flowers have their proper place as the or-
naments, not as the supports of a building: and are therefore
very properly introduced as such, in the architecture of Greece
and Egypt. It is not uninteresting likewise to add, that the
peasants of Egypt give to these columns and to the palm-tree
the same name of Naqrl.
The same character of capitals is to be observed on all the
columns of the portico of the great Temple of Latopolis now
to be seen in the midst of the town of Esne. This portico is so
encumbered with rubbish that you enter into it in a line with
the cornice of the door-way, which is very nearly the height of
the columns. It 13 accordingly extremely dark within, and the
obscurity is still increased by the effect of the smoke with which
the walls are covered, from a manufacture of salt-petrc, which is
produced in great quantities, from the dirt and rubbish of many
of the Egyptian towns.
It may be said as truly of the Temple of Latopolis as of any
other in Egypt, that though built to be the pride of nations, and
the glory of the great, they are now, according to the prophecy
of Isaiah, become the hiding-places of moles and of bats.
The interior of the temple is entirely concealed and inaccessi-
ble; but there is a great variety in the sculptures of the portico;
and we were led to attribute to them a very remote antiquity
from viewing the style in which they are executed; not indeed
that they fail to preserve the characters intended to be given to
them, but from the inaccuracy and clumsiness of their propor-
tions.
Itis not probable that Latopolis was the original name of Esne;
p both