DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.572#0073
PART II. BANDS, AND DORIC ANNULI. 45
used in the temples of Upper Egypt, even under
the rule of the Romans; and though that people
preferred shafts of single pieces of granite, or of
porphyry, in their own towns, the columns of
Egyptian temples, in the Thebaid, continued to be
composed of the usual semicircular blocks of sand-
stone.*
All the varieties of this order are of early date;
and like the others, and indeed like every part of
an Egyptian building, they were ornamented with
various coloured devices, figures, or hieroglyphics.
There is every reason to believe that the five
bands/)- round the neck of Egyptian columns, were
the origin of the annuli, and channels, round that
of the Doric shaft: there was certainly nothing to
bind in a Greek column; and the astragal round
the neck of the Roman Doric, and that of the Ionic
and Corinthian shafts, were also indirectly derived
from the same idea of a band; though this is not
so clearly shown as in the early Greek Doric. The
Doric capital may also be traced to that of the third
Egyptian order; where, by removing the upper
part, and bringing down the abacus to the curve of
* Winckelmann is wrong in supposing (in opposition to the assertion
of Pliny, and others), that porphyry was not found in Egypt, lib. ii, c. 4,
411. The extensive quarries are at Gehel Dokhan, in the Eastern
Desert; which being called the " Arabian' side of the Nile, by writers of
antiquity, led him to the conclusion that Aristides considered it a pro-
duction of Arabia. The stone, however, was not used, in early times, by
the Egyptians, either for columns, or statues. Some think it was not
employed for statues by the Romans before the reign of Claudius. The
quarries were principally worked under Trajan and Adrian. Pyropceiilon
of Pliny is not porphyry, but syenite.
t There are instances of columns with four bands; but they are very
rare. Vide Plate vi, fig. 3.
used in the temples of Upper Egypt, even under
the rule of the Romans; and though that people
preferred shafts of single pieces of granite, or of
porphyry, in their own towns, the columns of
Egyptian temples, in the Thebaid, continued to be
composed of the usual semicircular blocks of sand-
stone.*
All the varieties of this order are of early date;
and like the others, and indeed like every part of
an Egyptian building, they were ornamented with
various coloured devices, figures, or hieroglyphics.
There is every reason to believe that the five
bands/)- round the neck of Egyptian columns, were
the origin of the annuli, and channels, round that
of the Doric shaft: there was certainly nothing to
bind in a Greek column; and the astragal round
the neck of the Roman Doric, and that of the Ionic
and Corinthian shafts, were also indirectly derived
from the same idea of a band; though this is not
so clearly shown as in the early Greek Doric. The
Doric capital may also be traced to that of the third
Egyptian order; where, by removing the upper
part, and bringing down the abacus to the curve of
* Winckelmann is wrong in supposing (in opposition to the assertion
of Pliny, and others), that porphyry was not found in Egypt, lib. ii, c. 4,
411. The extensive quarries are at Gehel Dokhan, in the Eastern
Desert; which being called the " Arabian' side of the Nile, by writers of
antiquity, led him to the conclusion that Aristides considered it a pro-
duction of Arabia. The stone, however, was not used, in early times, by
the Egyptians, either for columns, or statues. Some think it was not
employed for statues by the Romans before the reign of Claudius. The
quarries were principally worked under Trajan and Adrian. Pyropceiilon
of Pliny is not porphyry, but syenite.
t There are instances of columns with four bands; but they are very
rare. Vide Plate vi, fig. 3.