Wilkinson, John Gardner: The Architecture Of Ancient Egypt: In Which The Columns Are Arranged In Orders, And The Temples Classified; With Remarks On The Early Progress Of Architecture, Etc.; With A Large Volume Of Plates Ilustrative Of The Subject, And Containing The Various Columns And details, From Actual Measurement (Text) (London, 1850)

PART II. PERIPTERAL SANCTUARY. 79

priest, or the King, alone had access. The heat
of the climate also required that protection should
be afforded to those who attended on the occasion;
and the cool shade of the colonnades, in the courts,
or areas, was peculiarly suited for the purpose.
This was probably one of the reasons for their not
continuing the peripteral style,* and for not apply-
ing it to their large temples; though a stronger
one is found in its incapacity for defence, when the
sacred edifices had assumed the character of fort-
resses, and the ancient custom of surrounding a city
with walls had been abandoned. Peripteral build-
ings were therefore seldom employed, after the
middle of the 18th dynasty ; except within a teme-
nos, or court, belonging to a larger edifice ; they
were no longer the principal sanctuaries of a city;
and that style was confined to the Mammeisi, at-
tached to the great temples; as at Dendera, Philse,
and other places.f

The old peripteral sanctuary consisted of a
simple cella, surrounded by a colonnade of square
pillars, with two round columns before the door ;
and at the back also, when the cella had two
entrances; it stood on a raised stone basement,
having a flight of steps in front; and the approach
to it was through the usual pylon, and the dromos.|
And here, I wish again to draw attention to the
fact, that, in this style of building, as well as in the

* It has been supposed that the back part of the Temple at Esne
was peripteral; the portico having been added afterwards. The original
part, I believe, was of Thothmes III.

t Plato i, fig. 29. % Plate i, figs. 30, 31 «, 31 b.