DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.572#0125
PART 11. BRTCK WALLS. i>7
rounding them, the gateways of which were of
stone. In some of these walls, the bricks were
placed in waving layers, alternately convex, and
concave, strengthened at intervals with logs of
wood, that served as binders; or with layers of
reeds, or matting, between some of the courses of
bricks, for the same purpose.* Brick walls were
also, occasionally, built in what Vitruvius (speak-
ing of masonry) calls Greek eprXeKroc; the bricks,
in every other course, being arranged lengthways,
in the direction of the wall, and in the others
placed at right angles with those above and below
them ;f a style of building, which was very com-
monly adopted by the early Christians in Egypt.
In walls of great extent, the monotonous appear-
ance of a long blank surface was occasionally re-
lieved by panels, and grooved lines, placed alter-
nately throughout its whole extent; the summit
being crowned by a projecting cornice, or a row of
spikes in imitation of spear heads, or some fancy
ornament;% the whole stuccoed and painted ; but
this mode of decorating brick walls was mostly
confined to villas, and the enclosures of tombs;
and the wall of the temenos had usually only a
cornice, a simple coping, or a row of round-headed
battlements. .
All the walls, and other parts, of the temples,
* Vide Plate iv, fig. 24. Similar buildings are also found of stone;
as at Wadee Tayfee (Taphis) in Nuliia, where, in a length of 50 feet, the
depression of a. concave course is 1 foot 3 inches. The latter are of Roman
time, and the doors have Greek mouldings. Vide Plate iv, fig. 26.
t Vitruv. lib. ii, c. 8, p. 77. Like the warp and woof in weaving,
whence the name. Vide Plate iv, fig. 25.
X Vide Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii, pp. 130, 131.
H
rounding them, the gateways of which were of
stone. In some of these walls, the bricks were
placed in waving layers, alternately convex, and
concave, strengthened at intervals with logs of
wood, that served as binders; or with layers of
reeds, or matting, between some of the courses of
bricks, for the same purpose.* Brick walls were
also, occasionally, built in what Vitruvius (speak-
ing of masonry) calls Greek eprXeKroc; the bricks,
in every other course, being arranged lengthways,
in the direction of the wall, and in the others
placed at right angles with those above and below
them ;f a style of building, which was very com-
monly adopted by the early Christians in Egypt.
In walls of great extent, the monotonous appear-
ance of a long blank surface was occasionally re-
lieved by panels, and grooved lines, placed alter-
nately throughout its whole extent; the summit
being crowned by a projecting cornice, or a row of
spikes in imitation of spear heads, or some fancy
ornament;% the whole stuccoed and painted ; but
this mode of decorating brick walls was mostly
confined to villas, and the enclosures of tombs;
and the wall of the temenos had usually only a
cornice, a simple coping, or a row of round-headed
battlements. .
All the walls, and other parts, of the temples,
* Vide Plate iv, fig. 24. Similar buildings are also found of stone;
as at Wadee Tayfee (Taphis) in Nuliia, where, in a length of 50 feet, the
depression of a. concave course is 1 foot 3 inches. The latter are of Roman
time, and the doors have Greek mouldings. Vide Plate iv, fig. 26.
t Vitruv. lib. ii, c. 8, p. 77. Like the warp and woof in weaving,
whence the name. Vide Plate iv, fig. 25.
X Vide Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii, pp. 130, 131.
H