In the group of ruins which surrounds the back parts of the Ramesseum (see p. [379], vol. i.) there are vaults of various kinds. A few verge slightly towards the pointed form (see Fig. [47]), others are elliptic (Fig. [48]). The latter are composed of four courses, and their inner surfaces show a curious arrangement of the bricks; their vertical joints are not parallel to either axis of the vault. The ends of the courses are slightly set off from its face (see Fig. [48]).
Fig. 46.—Arch in El-Assassif, restored from the plans and elevations of Lepsius.[82]
A tomb near the Valley of the Queens, at Thebes, has a strongly marked elliptical vault (Fig. [49]).[83]
Finally, the inverted segmental arch is not unknown. It is found employed in a fashion which, as described by Prisse, made a great impression upon Viollet-le-Duc. "The foundations of certain boundary walls," says the former, "are built of baked bricks to a height of one-and-a-half metres (about four feet ten inches) above the ground. The bricks are thirty-one centimetres (about twelve-and-a-quarter inches) long, and the courses are arranged in a long succession of inverted segmental arches."[84]
Fig. 47.—Vaults in the Ramesseum.
Fig. 48.—Vault in the Ramesseum; compiled from the data of Lepsius.
Our figure has been compiled from the plans and elevations of Prisse with a view to making the arrangement easily understood (Fig. [50]); it represents the lower part of one of the walls in question. According to M. Viollet-le-Duc, the Egyptian architects had recourse to this contrivance in order to guard against the effects of earthquakes. He shows clearly that a wall built in such a fashion would offer a much more solid resistance to their attacks than one with foundations composed of horizontal courses.[85]