DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0077
48
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
The interiors of the temples have been plastered and
painted; and as the same battle is recorded here and
at Thebes, Kalabsha, Sabooa, Derr, and in several other
places, it must have been an event of paramount im-
portance ; and, from the resemblance of the different
representations, it is evident that they were executed by
the same persons, or, at least, according to conventional
forms. There appears a propriety in describing the wars
and exploits of the king in the largest apartments, and
the sacred offerings, the ark and the symbolical repre-
sentations near the adytum, where the hero is represented
been covered, and that yet adhering to the pavement of the cella
and to many other parts of the temple at Egina, particularly the red,
which is the colour of porphyry: and, as painted stucco may yet be
seen on the Parthenon, it is to be concluded that the whole of these
beautiful edifices were plastered and painted, notwithstanding the fine
material and exquisite sculpture with which they were adorned. It
cannot be supposed that a people of so refined a taste as the Greeks
undoubtedly were, would have adopted this practice, had they not,
together with other arts, originally received it from those who may have
used it on account of the inferior materials with which they built, for
it is not possible, according to modern opinion, that any colouring,
much less a covering of stucco, could add to the exquisite beauty of
Grecian sculpture. It would seem that the Greeks followed the
example of the Egyptians in this instance, as, I think, it will after-
wards be proved they did in some others, especially in regard to the
Doric order ; and it is, therefore, the more extraordinary, that the arch
(which was constructed in Egypt 800 years before Christ) should have
been unknown to them. These considerations make it probable that the
rough surfaces of the temples, at Passtum, and at Selinus, were either
covered with plaster, or intended to be so ; for, notwithstanding the
imposing grandeur of these noble structures, particularly of the former,
they by no means equal the magnificent and finished appearance of
several of the Egyptian temples, particularly that of Karnac.
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
The interiors of the temples have been plastered and
painted; and as the same battle is recorded here and
at Thebes, Kalabsha, Sabooa, Derr, and in several other
places, it must have been an event of paramount im-
portance ; and, from the resemblance of the different
representations, it is evident that they were executed by
the same persons, or, at least, according to conventional
forms. There appears a propriety in describing the wars
and exploits of the king in the largest apartments, and
the sacred offerings, the ark and the symbolical repre-
sentations near the adytum, where the hero is represented
been covered, and that yet adhering to the pavement of the cella
and to many other parts of the temple at Egina, particularly the red,
which is the colour of porphyry: and, as painted stucco may yet be
seen on the Parthenon, it is to be concluded that the whole of these
beautiful edifices were plastered and painted, notwithstanding the fine
material and exquisite sculpture with which they were adorned. It
cannot be supposed that a people of so refined a taste as the Greeks
undoubtedly were, would have adopted this practice, had they not,
together with other arts, originally received it from those who may have
used it on account of the inferior materials with which they built, for
it is not possible, according to modern opinion, that any colouring,
much less a covering of stucco, could add to the exquisite beauty of
Grecian sculpture. It would seem that the Greeks followed the
example of the Egyptians in this instance, as, I think, it will after-
wards be proved they did in some others, especially in regard to the
Doric order ; and it is, therefore, the more extraordinary, that the arch
(which was constructed in Egypt 800 years before Christ) should have
been unknown to them. These considerations make it probable that the
rough surfaces of the temples, at Passtum, and at Selinus, were either
covered with plaster, or intended to be so ; for, notwithstanding the
imposing grandeur of these noble structures, particularly of the former,
they by no means equal the magnificent and finished appearance of
several of the Egyptian temples, particularly that of Karnac.