and four millions sterling. Diodorus reckoned its popula- | tion at seven millions, and Josephus at seven millions and a half, exclusive of that of Alexandria, which exceeded 300,000. For further particulars on the commerce, resources and policy of antient Egypt, see Heeren's Researches. Champollion le Jeune in his Egypte sous les Pharaons,' has endeavoured to retrace the national names and localities of the antient Egyptian towns, many of which had disappeared long before Strabo's time, or their names had been disfigured by the Greek writers. Egypt was, according to Champollion, divided already under the Pharaohs into 36 nomes or governments, 10 in the Thebais or Upper Egypt, 16 in Middle Egypt, and 10 in Lower Egypt, commonly called the Delta. Each nome was subdivided into districts or toparchies. This was exclusive of the Oases, the dependencies on the side of Nubia, &c. With regard to the principal existing monuments of antient Egypt we refer the reader to the respective heads, such as DENDERAH, EDFU, PYRAMIDS, THEBES, &c., and for the general character of Egyptian architecture to the following article. Modern History. Passing over the ages during which Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire (see Hamilton's Egyptiaca, on the State of Egypt under the Romans, and map of Egypt with the names of the Roman period, by Raoul Rochette), we begin the modern history of Egypt at the Mohammedan conquest. Under the Caliphate of Omar, successor of Abu Bekr, Amer Ebn el As invaded Egypt, A.D. 638, and took Pelusium and Babylon of Egypt, a strong Roman station, which sustained seven months' siege. John Mecaukes, governor of Memphis for the Byzantine emperor, treacherously surrendered his trust, and the Copts agreed to pay tribute or a capitation tax to the Caliph, with the exception of old men, women, and monks. The hatred, not only political but religious, which the Copts bore to the Greeks, facilitated the success of the Moslems. The first mosque on Egyptian ground rose with the new town of Fostat on the site of Roman Babylon. Alexandria made a long and obstinate defence; it fell at last, and was plundered. The Saracen General asked the Caliph what was to be done with the library, and Omar ordered it to be burnt. But the libraries of the Ptolemies had perished before-the Bruchion was destroyed during the siege of Julius Caesar, and that of the Serapion was dispersed by Theophilus the Patriarch, A.D. 390; the library destroyed by Omar's order was therefore a more recent collection. [ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY.] The whole of Egypt as far as Syene was soon reduced to a province of the Caliphate, the capital of which was Fostat. In A.D. 868, Ahmed ebn e' Tooloon, governor of Egypt for the Abbaside Caliphs, usurped the sovereignty of the country and founded the dynasty of the Tooloonides, which lasted till 906, when the Caliphs retook Egypt. But in 912 Abayd Allah el Mahdee after usurping the government of Eastern Africa, invaded Egypt, which he retained till 934, when he was defeated by the forces of the Caliph. In 936 El Akhshed Mohammed ebn Tuglig, a Turkish chief in the service of the Caliph, usurped the government of Egypt, and began a new dynasty which lasted till 970, when the Fatmieh or Fatemides, the successors of Mahdee, who had continued to rule in Africa, took possession of Egypt, El Moez, who styled himself Caliph, built Misr el Kahirah, where he fixed his residence, leaving Yousef Ebn Zeiri his viceroy in Africa. From that time till 1171, the Fatemite Caliphs reigned over Egypt, independent of and rivals to the Abbaside Caliphs of Bagdad. This was the period of the wars of the early Crusades, in which the Fatemides acted a conspicuous part. Egypt retained much of its importance and splendour under their dynasty. (See Etat Arabe de l'Egypte, by Sylvester de Sacy, joined to his translation of Abdallatif.) The Kurd Salah e' deen Yoosef Ebn Eyoob succeeded to the Fatemides, in 1171, and founded the dynasty of the Eyoobites, which lasted till 1250, when El Moez, a Turkoman memlook or slave, after murdering Touran Shah, usurped the throne, and founded the dynasty of the Baharite Sultans, who took possession of Syria also. Baybers, a memlook also, assassinated his master in 1261 or 62, made himself Sultan of Egypt, retook Syria from the Tatars, took Damascus, and put an end to the Caliphate of Asia, and extended his conquests as far as and over part of Armenia. His descendants reigned till 1382, maintained possession of Syria as far as the Euphrates, and encouraged agriculture and the arts. Their dynasty is known by the name of Baharite Memlook Me leks or Sultans. They did not assume the title of Caliphs, but allowed the descendants of the Abbasides to retain that name, and to live in Egypt under their subjection, as a sort of state prisoners. In 1382 Dowlet el Memeleek el Borgéch, a Circassian slave, took possession of the throne and founded the dynasty of the Borgéch, or Circassian Memlooks, which lasted till 1517, when Selim I., the Ottoman sultan, advanced into Egypt, defeated the Memlooks at the battle of Heliopolis, and caused Toman Bey, the last of their kings, to be hanged at Cairo. Selim abolished the dynasty, but not the aristocracy of the Memlooks; he even made conditions with the Memlooks by a regular treaty, in which he acknowledged Egypt as a republic, governed by twentyfour beys tributary to him and his successors, who appointed a pacha, or governor, to reside at Cairo. This pacha, however, was to make no alterations in the system of government without the consent of the beys, who might even suspend him from his functions if he acted arbitrarily, until the pleasure of the Porte should be known. The beys were to elect from among themselves a sheik of Belad to be their head, who was looked upon by the Porte as the chief of the republic. In time of war the republic was to send 12,000 men to join the Ottoman armies. In other respects the republic, that is to say, the Memlook aristocracy, was to enjoy absolute power over the inhabitants of Egypt, levy taxes, keep a military force, raise money, and exercise all the rights of sovereignty. This treaty was signed in the year 887 of the Hegira, A.D. 1517. (Savary, Lettres sur l'Egypte, vol. ii.) Under this form of government Egypt remained nominally subject to the Porte, against whose authority the Memlooks often openly revolted, till the French invasion of 1798, when Bonaparte, under the pretence of delivering Egypt from the yoke of the Memlooks, took possession of the country. The English sent an expedition in 1801 to aid the Porte, which drove away the French, and restored the pacha appointed by the sultan. The Memlooks and the pacha, however, could not agree; scenes of bloodshed and treachery took place, and at last the present pacha, Mehemet, or rather Mohhammed Ali, contrived to collect most of the beys with their principal officers within the citadel of Cairo, under pretence of an entertainment, where he had them all massacred in March, 1811. A few escaped into Upper Egypt, from whence they were driven into Nubia, and being also driven from thence in 1821, the few who survived took refuge in Dar-fur. [DONGOLA.] Thus ended the Memlook power, which had ruled over Egypt for more than four centuries. Savary gives an account of the institutions of that singular body, which were still in full force in his time. Their destruction, although perfidiously contrived, has been undoubtedly a benefit to Egypt, for their government was as tyrannical and oppressive as their moral character was depraved. It was a government of slaves who had become masters, for the body of Memlooks was perpetually recruited from young slaves brought chiefly from Georgia and Circassia. Every bey was a tyrant in his own district. There was not even union among them, as they were frequently at war with each other. Personal bravery or animal courage was their only virtue, if it deserves that name. Egypt suffered more under the Memlooks than during any other period of its history. Present State of Egypt.-This country is commonly divided by geographers into three regions, namely, Bahari, or Maritime, or Lower Egypt; Vostani, or Middle Egypt; and Said, or Upper Egypt. But the administrative division of the country is by provinces, or prefectships, of which there are fifteen in Lower Egypt, and ten in Middle and Upper Egypt together. The provinces are-1. Masr, or Cairo, with the town of that name, the capital of the whole country, and the town of Boolak, the port of Cairo on the Nile, Old Cairo, or Fostat, and Suez, on the Red Sea; 2. Kelioub, north of Cairo, with the towns of Kelioub, Mataryeh, near the ruins of Heliopolis; Artrib, Choubra, where the pacha has a fine country residence, and Abouzabel, where is the new College of medicine and surgery, with 300 pupils, and a large hospital attached to it; 3. Belbeys, east of Kelioub, on the borders of the Desert; 4. Chibeh, north of Belbeys, with the towns or villages of Chibel, and Tell Bastah, and Heydeh; 5. Mit Ghamer, north of Kelioub and near the Damietta branch of the Nile; 6. Mansourah, north of Mit Ghamer, likewise on the east bank of the Damietta branch, with the town of Mansourah, and the village of Tmay el Emdid, which has a monolith of granite; 7. Damietta, with the towns of Damietta and Menzaleh, and the forts of El Arish and Tyneh, on the borders of the Syrian Desert; 8. Mehallet el Kebir, with the town of that name, within the actual Delta, on the left bank of the Damietta branch, and the small towns of Semennout and Abousir; 9. Tantah, south of Mehallet, with the town of Tantah, situated near the middle of the Delta, one of the principal towns of Lower Egypt, remarkable for its fine mosque, and the fair which takes place three times a-year, and is much frequented by pilgrims who come to visit the tomb of Seyd Ahmed el Bedaouy, a celebrated Mohammedan saint; 10. Melig, south of Tantah with the towns of Melig and Chibn el Koum; 11. Menouf, south of Melig, and within the angle formed by the bifurcation of the Nile; 12. Negileh, with the town of that name, on the left or west bank of the Rosetta branch, and the towns of Terraneh and Wardan; 13. Fouah, north-west of Mehallet, with the town of Rashid, or Rosetta, and the towns of Fouah and Deiroot; 14. Damanhour, on the left bank of the Rosetta branch, north of Negileh, with the towns of Damanhour and Rahmanyeh; 15. Alexandria, with the city of that name. On entering the valley of the Nile from the Delta side we find, 1. Jizeh, on the left or west bank of the river, opposite Cairo, a small town, head of the prefectship of that name, near the great pyramids, and not far from the ruins of Memphis, upon which are built three modern villages, Bedreshin, Mit Rahyueh, and Memf; 2. Benisouef, south of Jizeh, on the same side of the Nile, a considerable and industrious town, in one of the most fertile districts of the valley of the Nile, with the towns of Abou Girgeh and Samallout further south; 3. On the opposite or east bank of the Nile is Atfyh, a town and prefectship; 4. West of Benisouef is the district of Faïoum, with the town of Medinet el Faioum; 5. South of Benisouef, but extending on both banks of the Nile, is the district of Minyeh, with the towns of Minyeh, Melaoui, and Eshmounein on the left, and those of Sheyk Abadeh and El Bershel on the right bank; 6. Manfalout, south of Minyeh, with the town of that name on the left bank, and several villages on both banks of the Nile; 7. Siout, with the town of that name, the capital of Upper Egypt, and the residence of a governor. It is situated on the left bank, is a great slave-market, and the entrepôt of the caravan trade with Darf-fur and Sennaar, with a spacious bazaar, and 12,000 inhabitants-Richardson says 20,000; 8. Girgeh, south of Siout, with the towns of Girgeh, 7000 inhabitants, on the left, and Ekhmym, 10,000, on the right bank of the Nile; 9. Kenéh, with the town of that name, on the right bank, which has 5000 inhabitants, and carries on a considerable intercourse with Cosseir and the opposite coast of Arabia, and is known for its manufactory of porous earthen vessels used for keeping water cool. Kous, near the ruins of Coptos, Denderah, on the left bank, and the ruins of Thebes and of Abydus are in the prefectship of Kenéh; 10. Esneh, the most southern province of Egypt, with the town of that name, on the left bank, with about 4000 inhabitants, manufactories of cottons and shawls, and pottery; it is a great market for camels, and the emporium of the Abyssinian trade. The other towns are Edfu, Assouan or Syene, Koum Ombou, with a fine temple, and Selseleh, with its quarries. For the principal towns of Egypt see the respective heads ALEXANDRIA, CAIRO, DAMIETTA, ROSETTA, &c. The population of the smaller towns is very difficult to be ascertained, as there is no census or register kept. The whole of the cultivable land of Egypt, in the valley of the Nile and the Delta, is reckoned at 17,000 square miles. The resident population has been generally stated at two millions and a half, but a recent traveller thinks it does not exceed two millions at the utmost, of whom 1,750,000 are Mohammedan Egyptians, including the fellahs or peasants and the townspeople; 150,000 are Copts or Christian Egyptians; 10,000 are Osmanlees or Turks and Albanians, as yet the ruling race; 5000 Syrians, 5000 Greeks, 5000 Jews, and 2000 Armenians, and about 70,000 are black slaves, Nubians, Moghrebins, &c. (Lane's Modern Egyptians.) In this calculation the nomadic Arabs of the neighbouring deserts, whose number cannot be ascertained, are not included. The language of the natives is Arabic; but Turkish is still the language of the government. For the Copts and Coptic language see those articles. The great bulk of the Mohammedan natives is of Arab stock, but many Copts or aborigines have at different times embraced Mohammedanism, and numerous intermarriages have taken place between the Arab settlers and the Copts, Nubians, &c. The fellalis of Egypt have lost much of their original Arabian character; they are become proverbially tame and servile, and are despised by the neighbouring Beduins, who never give them their daughters in marriage. The townspeople may be considered as having attained as high a degree of civilization as any in the East; and Cairo,' says Mr. Lane, 'must be regarded as the first Arab city of our age. There is no other place in which we can obtain so complete a knowledge of the most civilized class of the Arabs.' The men are generally well proportioned and muscular, their height about five feet eight or five feet nine; the women beautifully formed, and not too fat. Their complexion in Cairo and the northern provinces is clear, though yellowish, and their skin soft; the lower classes are darker and coarser. The people of middle Egypt are of a more tawny colour, and those of the southern provinces are of a deep bronze complexion. Their countenance in general is of a fine oval form; the nose is straight though rather thick, the lips rather full, the eyes black and brilliant, the beard commonly black and curly, but scanty. For the dress and habits of the various orders, see Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. i. The climate of Egypt, during the greater part of the year, is salubrious. The khamseen, or hot south wind, which blows in April and May, is oppressive and unhealthy. The exhalations from the soil after the inundation render the latter part of the autumn less healthy than the summer and winter, and cause ophthalmia and dysentery, and other diseases. The summer heat is seldom very oppressive, being accompanied by a refreshing northerly breeze, and the air being extremely dry. This dryness however causes an excessive quantity of dust, which is very annoying. The thermometer in Lower Egypt in the depth of winter is from 50° to 60° in the afternoon and in the shade; in the hottest season it is from 90° to 100°, and about ten degrees higher in the southern parts of Upper Egypt. The climate of Upper Egypt, though hotter, is more healthy than that of the lower country. The plague seldom ascends far above Cairo. Ophthalmia is also more common in Lower Egypt it generally arises from checked perspiration, but is aggravated by the dust and other causes, and by the neglect and filth of the natives, so that great numbers of Egyptians are blind in one or both eyes. The houses of the wealthier classes in the principal towns are substantially built, roomy, and commodious, but the dwellings of the lower orders, especially of the peasants, are of a very mean description, being mostly built of unbaked brick., cemented with mud. Many of them are mere hovels. Most of the villages of Egypt are situated upon eminences of rubbish, the materials of former buildings, and thus rise a few feet above the reach of the inundation: they are surrounded by palmtrees. The agricultural produce of Egypt consists of the following winter plants, which are sown after the inundation and reaped in about three or four months after: wheat, barley, beans, peas, lentils, vetches, lupins, clover, flax, coleseed, lettuce, hemp, cummin, coriander, poppy, tobacco, watermelons, and cucumbers; and of the following summer plants, which are raised by artificial irrigation by means of water-wheels and other machinery: doorah, Indian corn, onions, millet, henneh, sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, indigo, madder. Rice is sown in the spring and gathered in October, chiefly near Lake Menzaleh. Of the fruit trees, which grow mostly in gardens near the principal towns, the mulberry and Seville orange ripens in January, apricots in May, peaches and plums in June, apples, pears, and caroobs at the end of June, grapes at the beginning of July, figs in July, prickly pears end of July, pomegranates and lemons in August, dates in August, citrus medica in September, oranges in October, sweet lemons and banana in November. The poor fellah or farmer who cultivates the soil derives but little benefit from the prodigality of nature; he is compelled to pay a heavy land-tax, another tax to government for the use of the water-wheels, besides additional taxes and exactions of the local sheikh, the Copt scribe, and the Turkish officers, and then he is obliged to sell a portion or the whole of the produce of his land to the government at a fixed price, and to carry it to the granary at his own expense. The fellah, to supply the bare necessaries of life, is often obliged to steal and convey secretly to his hut as much as he can of the produce of his own labour. He may either himself supply the seed for his land, or obtain it as a loan from the government; but in the latter case he receives hardly three totally distinct is it in its taste from what is termed classical antiquity. Indeed, until of comparatively very late years, hardly any thing was known of the Egyptian style, or the edifices executed in it, with the exception of the pyramids; for previously to the French expedition to Egypt, at the close of the last century, no satisfactory delineations had been taken of the temples and their details; but merely such views as were calculated to convey some general idea of their enormous masses and colossal grandeur. Hence it has been--we may say even still continues to be-regarded as wonderful both for the gigantic vastness of its structures, and the prodigious solidity of the materials and mode of construction employed, but at the same time as utterly devoid of beauty in its forms and proportions,-uncouthly sublime. Yet as the first impression of strangeness wears off-when the eye, so long habituated to Grecian and modern architecture, becomes more accustomed to it, and the first prejudices against it are overcome, it will be found to possess much elegance in some of its forms, together with powerful and legitimate architectural effect. fourths of what he pays for, the remainder being stolen by the subordinate officers. The pacha has dispossessed all the private proprietors throughout his dominions, giving to each, as a partial compensation, a pension for life, so that the farmers are now his own tenants and entirely at his mercy. (Lane, vol. i., c. 4, and Wilkinson's Thebes, pp. 268 and foll.) The government of Mohammed Ali, too extravagantly praised by some, is certainly much more rational, orderly, and humane, than that of the memlooks or that of the old pachas in the other dominions of the Porte. He administers impartial justice to all his subjects, without regard to race or religion; has established regular judicial courts and a good police; has done away with tortures and other barbarous punishments; has encouraged instruction to a certain extent; has removed most of the ignorant prejudices which existed among his subjects against the arts and learning of Europe; and has introduced European manufactures and machinery; he keeps a printing-office and a journal; has formed schools and colleges for the arts and sciences and for military and naval tactics. All this is much more than it may seem at first sight to a person unacquainted with the state of Egypt and other Turkish provinces forty years ago. But the pacha's ambition and the difficulties of his situation have obliged him to resort to two violent expedients, an enormous taxation and an oppressive conscription. The pretended legislative assembly sitting at Cairo is a mere fiction of enthusiastic panegyrists. The government of Egypt is still absolute in the strictest sense of the word, though the present pacha has chosen to govern according to forms and regulations which he has himself established. He has formed a council consisting of his chief officers and of the provincial and local governors and sheikhs, whom he occasionally consults. Many of the subordinate agents of the government in the provinces still exercise occasional acts of capricious tyranny, which seldom reach their master's ears, but whenever they do he is not slow in punishing the offenders and redressing the grievances of the oppressed. Of what Mohammed Ali has really done a good sketch may be found in Planat, Histoire de la Régénération de l'Egypte, 8vo., Paris, 1830, and in a notice of the same work in No. xiv. of the Foreign Quarterly Review, April, 1831. The reforms effected by Mohammed Ali are far more complete and effective than those of Sultan Mahmood in Turkey, and are directed by a keener sagacity and with a steadier pur-ings, on the contrary, the profile of the columns is vertical, pose. Mengin, Histoire de l'Egypte sous le gouvernement de Mohammed Ali, 2 vols. 8vo. with an atlas, Paris, 1823, gives a full account of the career of this extraordinary man. At the end of the atlas there is a 'Tableau du Commerce de l'Egypte avec l'Europe. For the various arts and manufactures of Egypt see Lane's vol. ii. 1. In character, the Egyptian is the very reverse of the Gothic style; for although both are distinguished by grandeur and solemnity, the one aims at ponderous massiveness, and affects low proportions, and great extent of unbroken horizontal lines; while the other affects exactly the contrary-slenderness and loftiness, forms aspiring upwards, and extreme diversity of outlines. Notwithstanding, too, that Egyptian architecture has much in common with that of Greece, it exhibits, together with what stamps the affinity between them, many striking points of difference. While they agree in having columns supporting a horizontal epistylium, or entablature, and in the general proportions resulting from such a disposition, they disagree in almost all their other subordinate particulars. It will, therefore, not only be interesting in itself, but facilitate explanation, to compare the Egyptian style with the Greek, as described in the articles CIVIL ARCHITECTURE and COLUMN. Although, in the massiveness of its proportions, in simplicity and breadth of effect, its character partakes more of that of the earlier Doric-the latter being, in fact, the first remove from it, there is one remarkably striking difference between them; for Egyptian columns are as frequently cylindrical as not; whereas those of the earlier Doric taper very suddenly, owing to the difference between their upper and lower diameter, and the shortness of their shafts. In Egyptian build or nearly so, while that of the walls is sloped; thus producing the same degree of contrast between the two which is observable in the Greek Doric, although the mode adopted in the one case is just the reverse of that pursued in the other. It may further be remarked that in both syles the general outline was nearly the same, it being The present dominions of the ruler of Egypt extend on sloped in each; in the Egyptian, by the walls; in the Doric, one side to Sennaar and Kordofan, and on the other over all by the external peristyle of columns enclosing them'; Syria to Adana, a part of Cilicia at the foot of Mount Tau- whereby, in the latter case, as well as in the former, the rus. He is likewise possessed of the fine island of Candia. base is wider than a horizontal line on the level with the In Arabia he is protector of Mecca and Medina, and lord of upper part of the columns. Or if we take the ground-line the Hedjaz. He is possessed of at least as extensive a tract of formed by the lowest of the steps on which the columns are country as any of his predecessors of the Fatimite, Ptolemaic, placed, we find that it accords very nearly with that of the or Pharaoh dynasties. Whether this empire will survive his cornice, or uppermost line of the building, similarly as in death is a very doubtful question. His power is founded on Egyptian edifices. This will be tolerably well understood a strong military force, which consists of between fifty and from the view, in the next page, of the front of the temple at sixty thousand regular troops, the officers of which are Denderah, which exhibits the sloping or tapering profile we mostly proud Osmanlees, aliens to Egypt, and the soldiers have been describing, and to which we shall have occasion are the sons of the poor, oppressed, despised fellahs. No again to refer in explanation of various other particulars. Arab officer, says Planat, is raised above the rank of lieute. From what has been stated as to Egyptian columns being nant. The Osmanlees fill likewise the principal offices of the cylindrical, it is not to be understood that they were either government. But the native Egyptians are said to be quick invariably or perfectly so, but that such was their general at learning, hardy, frugal and persevering; they make ex- form; because there is occasionally a slight difference between cellent soldiers; they divest themselves of old prejudices more the upper and lower diameter; or else the shaft is cinctured easily than the Turks, and in their intercourse with Eu- at intervals by bands consisting of three or more rings enropeans they exhibit none of the jealousy and pride of the circling it, and thereby increasing the diameter in those latter. Whatever therefore may be the consequence of Mo- parts. In addition to this species of ornament, the shaft hammed Ali's reforms, with regard to the stability of his was variously decorated in other respects, the spaces between dynasty, there is some reason to hope that the impulse which the bands being sometimes sculptured with hieroglyphics; at he has given to the native population will not be lost, and others, reeded, that is, its surface was divided into a series that the seeds of improvement scattered about Egypt will of upright mouldings, or staves, so as to have the appearspread in course of time to other parts of the Arab world, ance of a bundle of smaller pillars bound together, of which of which Egypt forms the central and so important a part. mode, as well as that of encircling the shaft with ring EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. This was not in mouldings, frequent examples occur in Gothic buildings. cluded under the head of CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, for the rea- The kind of striating, or striping, just described, is the son that it is purely monumental or historical, and not at all reverse of that practised in the Doric and other Grecian the object of study to the architect except as belonging to orders, since in the latter it was produced by concave chanthe archaeology of his art, and as matter of curiosity; sonels, or flutings, but in this by convex surfaces. The diverP. C., No, 670. VOL. IX.-2 S sity observable in Egyptian columns is so great that it is impossible to specify here all their varieties, which can be learned only by studying them in engravings; equally impossible is it, too, to reduce them to any kind of system, there being neither any peculiar form of capital, or other distinct characteristic, nor any thing in regard to proportions whereby they can be classified; for we find columns similar in proportions differing materially in all the rest, or else vice-versa. Egyptian columns have rarely any distinct base, seldom more than a circular plinth; but they have frequently an ornamental footing, which differs, however, from a base, in being contracted instead of expanded below. It may be described as shaped like the calyx of a flower, the resemblance to which is increased by its being sculptured into some forms of foliage, so that the shaft appears to be set in and rise out of a plant. Of this description are the bases of the columns of the temple at Latopolis or Esné. By some this has been insisted upon as a defect and as indicative of weakness; consequently, contrary to that law of architecture which prescribes that there should be apparent as well as real strength, more especially where the expression of solidity is naturally looked for. Still it may not unreasonably be urged that, as in all such cases, the judgment comes to the aid of and corrects the eye, what is known to be strong cannot fairly be said to appear weak; and the solidity of columns which have stood the test of some thousands of years cannot possibly be called in question. Were we unacquainted with its properties, even the form of the arch might be thought ill calculated for sustaining pressure; by others pendents likewise from vaulted roofs might be deemed blemishes rather than ornaments, as carrying with them a decided appearance of insecurity. The particular kind of Egyptian base here alluded to is certainly not in accordance with Grecian principles, yet it does not therefore exactly follow that it is faulty in itself. On the contrary, it may be argued that the excess of strength which they gave their structure, and the prodigious solidity and durability of the materials employed, allowed the architects of Egypt to contract the diameter of their columns below, without rendering them at all weak. Perhaps, too, one motive for doing so was thereby to produce a still more effective contrast between the columns and the general outline of the building, which, as already explained, sloped upwards. The most usual form adopted for capitals was bell-shaped, that is, resembling a bell reversed, or rather the bell and petals of a flower, with a rim bending downwards, which was sometimes quite circular, thereby giving the whole somewhat the appearance of a mushroom; at others, jagged, the circumference being divided into a number of convex curves, forming so many distinct petals. The six specimens given in the article COLUMN, vol. vii., page 383, exhibit two of the latter, and three of the first-mentioned variety of the bell-shaped capital. From these it will be seen what variety prevailed in the decorative details, some being cut into distinct leaves, either convex or concave, others embellished with sculpture representing branches and flowers. It will also be per ceived that in their general mass the capitals of this class, far from having anything in common with that of the Grecian Doric, bear some general similarity to that of the Corinthian order; at the same time both the foliage itself and its arrangement are altogether of a different character. Yet even were the resemblance more perfect in these respects, there would still exist an exceedingly wide distinction between them and every variety of either Grecian or Roman capitals, namely, in the abacus being a mere square plinth, considerably smaller than the capital itself. Consequently it bears no similitude whatever to that of the Doric, which overhangs the echinus, and extends beyond the architrave which rests upon it; while it is equally remote from that of the Corinthian, since, besides being enriched with mouldings, the latter has its sides curved so that the angles extend to those of the volutes. The Egyptian abacus, on the contrary, is anything but ornamental in itself, and would be a defect, were it not that in the buildings themselves it can that of a door or window. This will be at once understood by referring to the view of Denderah on the opposite page, by which it will also be seen that the cornice consists of little more than a deep cove, enriched with sculpture; a form peculiarly adapted for effect in a climate like that of Egypt, as it not only casts a bold shadow but receives a strong reflected light. hardly be seen, owing to its smallness, and the projection of the rim of the capital; consequently, unless it happens to be very deep, it serves chiefly to detach the capital from the architrave, and prevent that heaviness of appearance which would otherwise be occasioned. The first figure among the specimens above referred to shows an example of what may be termed the double capital, peculiar to Egyptian architecture, for above the usual shaped capital is a square member, sculptured on each of its sides with an Isis' head, and on this again is placed a small temple, so that instead of a double this may be termed a triple capital. The columns of the temple at Tentyra or Denderah offer another instance of the double capital in some respects similar to, in others greatly differ-ness arising from it, greater latitude was allowed to it ing from the preceding. Here the lower capital consists of four Isis' faces, disposed so as to form a square, larger than the shaft, the folds of the head-dress hanging down and projecting beyond it: above each face is a kind of fluted abacus; and above is a square temple. The shaft also varies considerably from those shown in the preceding examples; for instead of being striated vertically and banded horizontally, this is covered with hieroglyphics disposed in series of rings. Another remarkable circumstance is the great height of the whole capital, it being not less than two-fifths of the shaft. There is another species of capital of very frequent occurrence, which is totally distinct from either of the above two classes; and although its form may, at first sight, be considered uncouth, it is well calculated for effect; neither is it devoid of simplicity. After sweeping out from the shaft, instead of continuing to expand as it proceeds upwards, it slopes back so as to diminish until it is contracted again to the diameter of the shaft itself. The decoration consists in its being subdivided into eight lesser shafts, inscribed with hieroglyphics, as are likewise the faces of the abacus, which member here becomes very pronounced, and occasions a picturesque play of light and shade. Capitals of this kind, as well as other varieties, occur at Luxor. In their proportions Egyptian columns vary no less than in other particulars, their height amounting in some instances to no more than three diameters, in others extending to eight or upwards. Yet such difference is not attended by any regularly corresponding one, either as regards the column itself, or the parts connected with it. Further, it is by no means unusual to meet with square pillars or tetrapleurons, with either a statue, or a caryatid figure standing before, but distinct from it. The Egyptian entablature is so far from displaying any thing like the same variety as the columns, that it is nearly uniformly the same in buildings which differ very much from each other in regard to their columns. Unlike that of the Greeks, it consists of only two divisions, the epistylium or architrave, and the cornice; the height of both being generally one-third of that of the columns. More frequently than not the epistylium was enriched with sculpture in hieroglyphics; which circumstance alone constitutes a great difference between the practice of the Egyptians and that of the Greeks. Another singularity is, that the epistylium was included within the convex moulding or torus carried up at the angles of the building, and then returned horizontally along the front, owing to which the architrave itself (epistylium) appears to be returned downwards, like With the cornice the building terminated, for the roof being a flat terrace, there was no indication of roof; consequently Egyptian architecture is entirely destitute of what are such expressive and highly ornamental features in that of Greece, namely, the pediment, antifixa, and ridge tiles. By way of indemnity for its deficiency in this respect, and the samein others. Not only was there far greater diversity in the forms and ornaments of columns, which do not appear to have been subject to any regulations beyond those prescribed either by symbolic allusions or by national taste; but columns of very different character appear in the same edifice, and even capitals of different design in the same range of columns; wherein again a kindred spirit may be observed between Egyptian and Gothic architecture, notwithstanding that in treatment they are so dissimilar from each other. Another thing peculiar to Egyptian buildings is the frequent use in the external porticoes of temples of intercolumnar walls, or screens, that is, walls built between the columns and carried up half their height; thereby giving to the open part of the intercolumns above them somewhat the appearance of windows. For an example, we again refer to the view of Denderah, in which instance these walls are brought forward so as to encase the shafts of the columns between them, and fling a shadow upon them. Like every other part of the front in the same edifice, these walls are decorated with sculpture and hieroglyphics; for the Egyptians were exceeding lavish of that species of embellishment, not confining it to particular situations, as did the Greeks, namely to the pediment, frieze, and inner frieze behind the columns, along the walls of the cella, but extending it over the entire surface, in compartments forming tier above tier. These architectural sculptures were generally in very low relief, and some of them also occasionally in intaglio, or hollowed into the surface instead of projecting from it. There are even instances of a combination of both modes, the figures being outlined by a groove or incision, so as to give them greater apparent relief; a mode that has been denominated by some intaglio-rilevato. In addition to this species of enrichment may be added that of colours and gilding, especially in the interior and upon beams and ceilings. In this respect, however, the Greeks displayed a similar taste, for it has been recently established beyond all doubt that their temples were decorated with colours and gilding, externally as well as internally, even those of the Doric order, where what have hitherto been considered mere plain mouldings and surfaces, because they were unsculptured, were, in fact, highly ornamented, and frequently with embellishments remarkable for their delicacy. Having thus given some notion of the elementary parts and features of Egyptian temples, we proceed to describe their general plan and distribution, selecting by way of explanatory illustration the ground plan of the temple at Edfu, or Apollinopolis Magna, one of the largest in Egypt. This, it will instantly be seen, was far more varied and complex than the plan adhered to by the Greeks, which, as has been shown in the article CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, consisted merely of a cella, either surrounded entirely with columns, or with columns only in front, or at both ends. Here, on the contrary, the temple is placed within an enclosure, forming a court in front of it, surrounded on three of its sides by colonnades; and the entrance to this court was through a colossal doorway, or propylæum, placed between two enormous pyramidal towers, or moles, covered with colossal figures in sculpture. These vast masses of structure, which rose considerably higher than the temple itself, had the usual cornice, and likewise the torus moulding running up their angles. Other conspicuous objects frequently accompanying such propylæa, were lofty obelisks, as was the case at Luxor, where there still exists one in front of each mole. These moles may almost be said to be solid, for although they contained chambers and staircases, such spaces amounted to no more than voids left in the mass. Within the court the colonnades were pycnostyle, which seems to have been the usual mode of intercolumniation adopted by the Egyptians, the columns being seldom more 2 S 2 |