DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.572#0032
4 ARCHITECTURE OF EGYPT. PART 1.
it in the regions of Italy, inhabited by the Tyrrheni;
as well as in Sicily, which boasted some of the
oldest edifices. And a remarkable confirmation
of the resemblance, between Greek and Egyptian
sculpture, is derived from Strabo ;* who says that
" on the walls of the oldest temples of Egypt were
large figures, similar to those of the Tyrrheni, and
to the most archaic works of Greece."
: Round buildings, common in some other coun-
tries, were never used in the Valley of the Nile;
and the rectangular oblong shape of their temples
was that adopted by all who copied the Egyptians,
as the Phoenicians, Jews, Ethiopians, and other neigh-
bouring people; and if the Greeks sometimes fol-
lowed a custom prevalent in parts of Asia Minor,f
of building circular tombs, the form given to their
temples was that derived from Egypt; which,
though a distant country, exercised great influence
on their taste.
Egyptian architecture evidently derived much,
from the imitation of different natural productions,
as palm trees, and various plants of the country;
but it may be doubted, if Egyptian columns were
borrowed from the wooden supports of the earliest
buildings. Columns were, certainly, not introduced
into the interior of Egyptian houses, until archi-
tecture had made great progress; the small original
* Strabo, lib. xvii.
t The tomb of Halyattes (b. o. 562) described by Herodotus, and
that still existing at Sipylum, in Moeonia, were round, like the built
sepulchres of Etruria, and the tomb of Menecrates, at Corfu. The
summit of the so-called Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenoe, was probably
covered with a circular wall of masonry, and a conical tumulus. Vicle
infra, part ii, on the tombs.
it in the regions of Italy, inhabited by the Tyrrheni;
as well as in Sicily, which boasted some of the
oldest edifices. And a remarkable confirmation
of the resemblance, between Greek and Egyptian
sculpture, is derived from Strabo ;* who says that
" on the walls of the oldest temples of Egypt were
large figures, similar to those of the Tyrrheni, and
to the most archaic works of Greece."
: Round buildings, common in some other coun-
tries, were never used in the Valley of the Nile;
and the rectangular oblong shape of their temples
was that adopted by all who copied the Egyptians,
as the Phoenicians, Jews, Ethiopians, and other neigh-
bouring people; and if the Greeks sometimes fol-
lowed a custom prevalent in parts of Asia Minor,f
of building circular tombs, the form given to their
temples was that derived from Egypt; which,
though a distant country, exercised great influence
on their taste.
Egyptian architecture evidently derived much,
from the imitation of different natural productions,
as palm trees, and various plants of the country;
but it may be doubted, if Egyptian columns were
borrowed from the wooden supports of the earliest
buildings. Columns were, certainly, not introduced
into the interior of Egyptian houses, until archi-
tecture had made great progress; the small original
* Strabo, lib. xvii.
t The tomb of Halyattes (b. o. 562) described by Herodotus, and
that still existing at Sipylum, in Moeonia, were round, like the built
sepulchres of Etruria, and the tomb of Menecrates, at Corfu. The
summit of the so-called Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenoe, was probably
covered with a circular wall of masonry, and a conical tumulus. Vicle
infra, part ii, on the tombs.