DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17#0183
THE TERRACE TEMPLE OF QUEEN HATASU.
163
she ruled the land, which she practically did for twenty years and more, it was
in a state of peaceful prosperity. She had large armies, but there were no
battles or need of foreign conquest under her reign. She devoted ali her great
abilities to peaceful commerce and geographical expeditions to distant lands.
She seems to have perfected Egyptian architecture in inventing the rock temple
and the columnar arcades and cornices which long afterwards developed into the
graceful buildings of the Greeks. Yet Hatasu's temple is earlier by nearly 1,000
years than the oldest Greek temple. The pure Doric style had its origin here.
Wonderful to relate, the name of the architect of the building (if such a tempie,
in most part rock-hewn, can be so called) is well known. The queen allowed
him to build himself a tomb, overlooking his masterpiece. His name was
Senmut, and the
story of his life and
. his works is fully
told in the inscrip-
tions on his monu-
ment, which is in
the Museum at
Berlin.
The beautiful
white temple lay at
the foot of the ver-
tical cliff. The view
from this point was
lovely ; the desert
alternating with
green plains directly
beneath us, the Nile shining like burnished
gold beyond. Arrived at the end of the
steep path we entered the temple of the great
queen, which rises in three terraces, cut out of and against the perpendicular
limestone cliffs which we have just descended. Colonnades of fluted pillars, pure
in style as a Doric temple, are cut out of the rock, or built so as to veil the flat
walls. Others are covered with pictorial representations, beautifully sculptured in
low relief, and coloured with exquisite taste. In some cases the pigments are
gone, and here and there they are as fresh as when executed. They tell the
story of this great queen's scientific and commercial expeditions to the Land of
Punt. We see the ships being fitted out for some long voyage. Then the explorers
arrive at foreign ports; they fight their way with some, and make treaties with
- --.,
COLONNADE,
QUEEN HATASU'S TEMPLE,
DEIR-EL-BAHARI.
'-^15%
163
she ruled the land, which she practically did for twenty years and more, it was
in a state of peaceful prosperity. She had large armies, but there were no
battles or need of foreign conquest under her reign. She devoted ali her great
abilities to peaceful commerce and geographical expeditions to distant lands.
She seems to have perfected Egyptian architecture in inventing the rock temple
and the columnar arcades and cornices which long afterwards developed into the
graceful buildings of the Greeks. Yet Hatasu's temple is earlier by nearly 1,000
years than the oldest Greek temple. The pure Doric style had its origin here.
Wonderful to relate, the name of the architect of the building (if such a tempie,
in most part rock-hewn, can be so called) is well known. The queen allowed
him to build himself a tomb, overlooking his masterpiece. His name was
Senmut, and the
story of his life and
. his works is fully
told in the inscrip-
tions on his monu-
ment, which is in
the Museum at
Berlin.
The beautiful
white temple lay at
the foot of the ver-
tical cliff. The view
from this point was
lovely ; the desert
alternating with
green plains directly
beneath us, the Nile shining like burnished
gold beyond. Arrived at the end of the
steep path we entered the temple of the great
queen, which rises in three terraces, cut out of and against the perpendicular
limestone cliffs which we have just descended. Colonnades of fluted pillars, pure
in style as a Doric temple, are cut out of the rock, or built so as to veil the flat
walls. Others are covered with pictorial representations, beautifully sculptured in
low relief, and coloured with exquisite taste. In some cases the pigments are
gone, and here and there they are as fresh as when executed. They tell the
story of this great queen's scientific and commercial expeditions to the Land of
Punt. We see the ships being fitted out for some long voyage. Then the explorers
arrive at foreign ports; they fight their way with some, and make treaties with
- --.,
COLONNADE,
QUEEN HATASU'S TEMPLE,
DEIR-EL-BAHARI.
'-^15%