Fig. 162.—The Temple of Amada.
Fig. 163.—Claustra, from a painting.
Palaces and private houses were, as we have said, better lighted than the temples. The illustrations in the preceding chapter show private houses with their windows. Some of those houses had windows formed of stone claustra. The window copied by Champollion[142] from the walls of a small chamber in the Temple of Thothmes at Medinet-Abou (Fig. [163]), shows this, as well as an opening in the house illustrated in Fig. [19], which we here reproduce upon a larger scale (Fig. [164]). We do the same for a window belonging to the building shown in Fig. [1]. It is closed by a mat which was raised, no doubt, by means of a roller and cords (Fig. [165]).
Fig. 164.—Window of a house in the form of claustra.
Fig. 165.—Window closed by a mat.
§ 10. The Obelisks.
We cannot bring our analysis of the forms and motives of Egyptian architecture to an end without mentioning a monumental type which is peculiar to Egypt, that of the obelisks. These are granite monoliths[143] of great height, square on plan, dressed on all four faces, and slightly tapering from base to summit. They usually terminate in a small pyramid, whose rapidly sloping sides contrast strongly with the gentle inclination of the main block beneath. This small pyramid is called the pyramidion.