DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.572#0044
Hi ARCHITECTURE OF EGYPT. PART I.
date, for the most part, after the decline of Egyptian
sculpture, in the twelfth century before our era.*
Among the proofs of a communication of archi-
tectural taste, and knowledge, in early times, are
the pent-shaped roof, formed by the application of
two sets of stones, inclined towards each other, at
an angle of about 100°; and the mode of covering
a large space, with slabs of much smaller dimensions
than its breadth; in which last, the walls being of
horizontal masonry, each course projects beyond
the one below, until the uppermost ones approach
each other, near enough for the remaining space
to be covered by a single stone.f These two
methods, used contemporaneously in Egypt, were
both employed by the early Greeks ■,% and they
may be considered as the first steps towards the
want, and the invention, of the arch. The largest,
and most remarkable, instance of the first is found
over the entrance passage §, the queen's chamber,
and the uppermost room, of the great pyramid;
and from its being there employed to bearso great
a superincumbent weight, it is evident that it was
already well known, and had been adopted by the
* The commencement of the decline, indeed, dates from the reign of
Remeses III, a century earlier. The taking of Troy happened, accord-
ing to the Anindelian marbles, in 1184, and scarcely any Greek sculp-
ture pretends to be prior to that event, except the Lions over the gate of
Mycenae.
"t Vide Plate 4, fig. 12.
% As in a ruin on Mount Ocha, near Carystus, in Euboea. The so-
called tunnel of Pythagoras, at Cortona, is built in the same manner,
of horizontal courses of stones, approaching each other; and almost
seems as if it had been made by people who had seen, but were ignorant
of the principle of, a true arch.
§ Vide Plate 4, fig. 11.
date, for the most part, after the decline of Egyptian
sculpture, in the twelfth century before our era.*
Among the proofs of a communication of archi-
tectural taste, and knowledge, in early times, are
the pent-shaped roof, formed by the application of
two sets of stones, inclined towards each other, at
an angle of about 100°; and the mode of covering
a large space, with slabs of much smaller dimensions
than its breadth; in which last, the walls being of
horizontal masonry, each course projects beyond
the one below, until the uppermost ones approach
each other, near enough for the remaining space
to be covered by a single stone.f These two
methods, used contemporaneously in Egypt, were
both employed by the early Greeks ■,% and they
may be considered as the first steps towards the
want, and the invention, of the arch. The largest,
and most remarkable, instance of the first is found
over the entrance passage §, the queen's chamber,
and the uppermost room, of the great pyramid;
and from its being there employed to bearso great
a superincumbent weight, it is evident that it was
already well known, and had been adopted by the
* The commencement of the decline, indeed, dates from the reign of
Remeses III, a century earlier. The taking of Troy happened, accord-
ing to the Anindelian marbles, in 1184, and scarcely any Greek sculp-
ture pretends to be prior to that event, except the Lions over the gate of
Mycenae.
"t Vide Plate 4, fig. 12.
% As in a ruin on Mount Ocha, near Carystus, in Euboea. The so-
called tunnel of Pythagoras, at Cortona, is built in the same manner,
of horizontal courses of stones, approaching each other; and almost
seems as if it had been made by people who had seen, but were ignorant
of the principle of, a true arch.
§ Vide Plate 4, fig. 11.