DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0097
THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE. 65
spasmodic resistance. The last and most effective blow to Egyptian life was
received with the conquest under Alexander. From that time independence
and national vigor seem to have slowly vanished; and Egypt became a sub-
missive servant, first of the Ptolemies, and finally of the Romans.
During the Sai'tic period, as during that of Thebes which preceded it,
temple and tomb seem to have been the sculptor's principal field of activity.
Both king and subject still desired the preservation of the mummy and its
tomb, as well as the perpetuation of the funeral services in the chapel; but
the nature of the land of the Delta required other modes of procedure than
those practised on other sites. On the alluvial plains of Lower Egypt, subject
to the annual overflow, security against moisture could only be attained by
the erection of vast structures, whose foundations would resist the flowing
waters. That this was the course pursued, is evident from a few ruins and the
testimony of ancient writers.
The kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, as we are told by Herodotos, found
their last resting-place in the midst of the temple at Sal's, sacred to Neith,
described by the Greek historian as of great magnitude. No ruins of these
royal tombs are preserved, to throw light on their structure and decora-
tion.
Private Egyptians of this time seem to have deposited their dead in exten-
sive structures of brick built for this purpose, the adjoining chambers serving
as chapels. Two such mountains of brick were discovered by Champollion,
still containing the funereal figurines and vases.96 But these masses with their
cells between, washed every year by the Nile, have absorbed, like a sponge,
the moisture of the river, and become, for the most part, hopeless ruins.
But, while Sal's itself has rendered very little, the monuments of this age
at Thebes and Memphis still exist. These consist mostly of tombs, which are
found to contain statues and figurines, as well as reliefs, showing great fond-
ness for elegance and costliness of material, and a more elaborate taste than
that of the times gone before. Wood, formerly so much used, and so easily
worked, is rarely found; but bronze, Oriental alabaster, green and black basalt,
porphyry, and serpentine, are very frequently employed. Far greater costli-
ness of material is likewise noticeable in the sliabti, as well as the statuettes
strewn in the sand for purification, and in the large figures. In bronze an
elaborate finish adds to the elegance ax\A finesse of the figures, well illustrated
by those belonging to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and found by Mariette at
Medeenet-Aboo. On raising a stone, there were brought to light nearly a
thousand bronzes, all representing Osiris. In these the diversity of color in
the details is obtained by layers of lapis lazuli and brilliant red paste intro-
duced into the bronze, as well as by threads of gold filling up furrows cut into
the metal.
But, besides this tendency to employ more costly material, there is also a
spasmodic resistance. The last and most effective blow to Egyptian life was
received with the conquest under Alexander. From that time independence
and national vigor seem to have slowly vanished; and Egypt became a sub-
missive servant, first of the Ptolemies, and finally of the Romans.
During the Sai'tic period, as during that of Thebes which preceded it,
temple and tomb seem to have been the sculptor's principal field of activity.
Both king and subject still desired the preservation of the mummy and its
tomb, as well as the perpetuation of the funeral services in the chapel; but
the nature of the land of the Delta required other modes of procedure than
those practised on other sites. On the alluvial plains of Lower Egypt, subject
to the annual overflow, security against moisture could only be attained by
the erection of vast structures, whose foundations would resist the flowing
waters. That this was the course pursued, is evident from a few ruins and the
testimony of ancient writers.
The kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, as we are told by Herodotos, found
their last resting-place in the midst of the temple at Sal's, sacred to Neith,
described by the Greek historian as of great magnitude. No ruins of these
royal tombs are preserved, to throw light on their structure and decora-
tion.
Private Egyptians of this time seem to have deposited their dead in exten-
sive structures of brick built for this purpose, the adjoining chambers serving
as chapels. Two such mountains of brick were discovered by Champollion,
still containing the funereal figurines and vases.96 But these masses with their
cells between, washed every year by the Nile, have absorbed, like a sponge,
the moisture of the river, and become, for the most part, hopeless ruins.
But, while Sal's itself has rendered very little, the monuments of this age
at Thebes and Memphis still exist. These consist mostly of tombs, which are
found to contain statues and figurines, as well as reliefs, showing great fond-
ness for elegance and costliness of material, and a more elaborate taste than
that of the times gone before. Wood, formerly so much used, and so easily
worked, is rarely found; but bronze, Oriental alabaster, green and black basalt,
porphyry, and serpentine, are very frequently employed. Far greater costli-
ness of material is likewise noticeable in the sliabti, as well as the statuettes
strewn in the sand for purification, and in the large figures. In bronze an
elaborate finish adds to the elegance ax\A finesse of the figures, well illustrated
by those belonging to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and found by Mariette at
Medeenet-Aboo. On raising a stone, there were brought to light nearly a
thousand bronzes, all representing Osiris. In these the diversity of color in
the details is obtained by layers of lapis lazuli and brilliant red paste intro-
duced into the bronze, as well as by threads of gold filling up furrows cut into
the metal.
But, besides this tendency to employ more costly material, there is also a