DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0083
66 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
space would permit, round an open court; in the centre of
which was a fountain or a small garden ; or with the rooms of
the ground-floor opening on a court, or a covered corridor; and
large houses had a porch of two or more columns, occasionally
with a flight of steps, before the street-door. Above, or on
the lintel of this, was painted the name of the owner, or a
sentence of good omen,* which was doubtless put up at the
dedication of the house,—a ceremony adopted also by the Jews.
The door was in the centre, or at one corner of the front, and
the windows of the upper floors were often irregularly placed,,
with the usual studied avoidance of symmetry; and the whole
was surmounted by a row of columns, supporting an awning
over the terrace on the flat roof. In one part a tower often
rose above the rest of the building, and it was on the top of
this, or on the terrace, that they slept during the hot weather^
to enjoy the cool air of an Egyptian night at that season, and
to escape the attacks of musquitos, generally numerous
enough, but particularly troublesome in autumn during the
inundation.f The doors turned on bronze or wooden pins
and were of one or two valves; the windows were closed with
shutters on the same principle ; and both, like the walls of the
rooms, and the exterior of the house, were painted with
numerous devices, among which the favourite lotus and a
variety of patterns were conspicuous. Sometimes the windows
were ornamented with one or more columns, dividing them
into several lights; some had simple stone mullions, occasion-
ally with transoms, and the same kind of window, with stone
pillars, or mullions, was used in the large avenues, and side
chambers of the temples (see woodcuts 48 and 110).
Lkht was also admitted into the chambers and corridors of
* See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 7 (woodcut).
+ See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 9 (woodcut).
space would permit, round an open court; in the centre of
which was a fountain or a small garden ; or with the rooms of
the ground-floor opening on a court, or a covered corridor; and
large houses had a porch of two or more columns, occasionally
with a flight of steps, before the street-door. Above, or on
the lintel of this, was painted the name of the owner, or a
sentence of good omen,* which was doubtless put up at the
dedication of the house,—a ceremony adopted also by the Jews.
The door was in the centre, or at one corner of the front, and
the windows of the upper floors were often irregularly placed,,
with the usual studied avoidance of symmetry; and the whole
was surmounted by a row of columns, supporting an awning
over the terrace on the flat roof. In one part a tower often
rose above the rest of the building, and it was on the top of
this, or on the terrace, that they slept during the hot weather^
to enjoy the cool air of an Egyptian night at that season, and
to escape the attacks of musquitos, generally numerous
enough, but particularly troublesome in autumn during the
inundation.f The doors turned on bronze or wooden pins
and were of one or two valves; the windows were closed with
shutters on the same principle ; and both, like the walls of the
rooms, and the exterior of the house, were painted with
numerous devices, among which the favourite lotus and a
variety of patterns were conspicuous. Sometimes the windows
were ornamented with one or more columns, dividing them
into several lights; some had simple stone mullions, occasion-
ally with transoms, and the same kind of window, with stone
pillars, or mullions, was used in the large avenues, and side
chambers of the temples (see woodcuts 48 and 110).
Lkht was also admitted into the chambers and corridors of
* See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 7 (woodcut).
+ See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 9 (woodcut).