DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4640#0053
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LmdonJahliahBibyf &)fc«.! )IJir»adn«£dleS! Marok VTSV.
AT 2L"
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The beautiful subject of this Vignette, taken frorii that extremity of the Temple which is the
nearest to the Nile, is almost the only part of it which is free from the foul accompaniment of
the mud habitations of the Fellahs, who have built their village in and around these magnificent
ruins. "The Arab village of Luqsor," says Wathen, "has kennelled itself in the midst of the
lordly halls of the Pharaohs, and vile mud-huts contrast with the ' cunning work' of gigantic
capitals." Here the ground is so raised by the ruins of the Temple, or of former habitations, that
not more than half the length of the shaft of the column is visible. " The capitals," says Roberts,
" are supposed to have had their forms suggested by the budding lotus;" but Wathen describes
this sort of column of the Pharaonic architects as consisting " of a massive cylindrical shaft, modelled
upon a primitive pillar, formed of a cluster of reeds, such as may have been in use in the
earliest times. And this confirms the statement of Diodorus, that the first Egyptian buildings
were constructed of reeds. In the early examples, as at the Temple of Luqsor, the reeds, or
stems, are distinctly represented, bound together at successive heights; a ring or cincture appears
to unite or secure them near the top, and the supposed bulging of the pliant reeds under the
superincumbent architrave produces the singular contour of the capital; the whole is crowned with
a square block or abacus." Resting on these are the vast masses of stone which formed the
entablature and often the ponderous roofs of these extraordinary structures. This portion of the
south-western extremity of the Temple of Luxor is strikingly picturesque.
Roberts's Journal.
Wathcn's Arts and Antiquities of Egypt.
LmdonJahliahBibyf &)fc«.! )IJir»adn«£dleS! Marok VTSV.
AT 2L"
irnniBiii
The beautiful subject of this Vignette, taken frorii that extremity of the Temple which is the
nearest to the Nile, is almost the only part of it which is free from the foul accompaniment of
the mud habitations of the Fellahs, who have built their village in and around these magnificent
ruins. "The Arab village of Luqsor," says Wathen, "has kennelled itself in the midst of the
lordly halls of the Pharaohs, and vile mud-huts contrast with the ' cunning work' of gigantic
capitals." Here the ground is so raised by the ruins of the Temple, or of former habitations, that
not more than half the length of the shaft of the column is visible. " The capitals," says Roberts,
" are supposed to have had their forms suggested by the budding lotus;" but Wathen describes
this sort of column of the Pharaonic architects as consisting " of a massive cylindrical shaft, modelled
upon a primitive pillar, formed of a cluster of reeds, such as may have been in use in the
earliest times. And this confirms the statement of Diodorus, that the first Egyptian buildings
were constructed of reeds. In the early examples, as at the Temple of Luqsor, the reeds, or
stems, are distinctly represented, bound together at successive heights; a ring or cincture appears
to unite or secure them near the top, and the supposed bulging of the pliant reeds under the
superincumbent architrave produces the singular contour of the capital; the whole is crowned with
a square block or abacus." Resting on these are the vast masses of stone which formed the
entablature and often the ponderous roofs of these extraordinary structures. This portion of the
south-western extremity of the Temple of Luxor is strikingly picturesque.
Roberts's Journal.
Wathcn's Arts and Antiquities of Egypt.