DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0161
141
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
supporting an entablature, composed of the usual architrave
and cornice, andfrequently decorated with a row of asps along the
1 summit (fig. 11, and woodcut 110).
The columns were united by stone
screens, reaching half-way up the
3 shaft, which were by no means a late
introduction, having been used in
the reigns of the second and third
Remeses; and as it stood on a raised
6 platform—one or sometimes several
7 steps—led up to the doorways placed
at each end. It was the place of meet-
ing, whence the priests marched in
procession to the temple, bearing the
sacred ark, with various banners and
holy emblems, on the days of grand
ceremony. (See Frontispiece Popular
Account of the Ancient Egyptians.)
Passing through the sacred en-
closure, and entering the first pylon
between the front towers, you came to a large open court,
about 140 feet by 170 (woodcut 109, fig. 7), having on each
side a covered corridor formed by one row of columns, sup-
porting a flat roof, painted as usual with white, or gold, stars
on an azure ground, representing the heavens; and so brilliant
was the blue they used, and so clear the Egyptian sky, that
little difference could be distinguished between the colour of
the two, when the light struck on the ceiling.
The next was about the same size as the outer court; and
the height of both, which depended on the dimensions of the
building, was about thirty feet from the ground to the top of
the cornice, or roof, of the corridor. The entrance to this, as
C3
10
li
(W. 109.)
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
supporting an entablature, composed of the usual architrave
and cornice, andfrequently decorated with a row of asps along the
1 summit (fig. 11, and woodcut 110).
The columns were united by stone
screens, reaching half-way up the
3 shaft, which were by no means a late
introduction, having been used in
the reigns of the second and third
Remeses; and as it stood on a raised
6 platform—one or sometimes several
7 steps—led up to the doorways placed
at each end. It was the place of meet-
ing, whence the priests marched in
procession to the temple, bearing the
sacred ark, with various banners and
holy emblems, on the days of grand
ceremony. (See Frontispiece Popular
Account of the Ancient Egyptians.)
Passing through the sacred en-
closure, and entering the first pylon
between the front towers, you came to a large open court,
about 140 feet by 170 (woodcut 109, fig. 7), having on each
side a covered corridor formed by one row of columns, sup-
porting a flat roof, painted as usual with white, or gold, stars
on an azure ground, representing the heavens; and so brilliant
was the blue they used, and so clear the Egyptian sky, that
little difference could be distinguished between the colour of
the two, when the light struck on the ceiling.
The next was about the same size as the outer court; and
the height of both, which depended on the dimensions of the
building, was about thirty feet from the ground to the top of
the cornice, or roof, of the corridor. The entrance to this, as
C3
10
li
(W. 109.)