A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volume 1, 3rd ed. / From the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by James Fergusson

The palace at Luxor is further remarkable as a striking instance of how regardless the Egyptians were of regularity and symmetry in their plans. Not only is there a considerable angle in the direction of the axis of the building, but the angles of the courtyards are in scarcely any instance right angles; the pillars are variously spaced, and pains seem to have been gratuitously taken to make it as irregular as possible in nearly every respect. All the portion at the southern end was erected by Amenhotep III., the northern part completed by Rameses the Great, the same who built the Rameseum already described as situated on the other bank of the Nile.

Besides these there stood on the western side of the Nile the Memnonium, or great temple of Amenhotep III., now almost entirely ruined. It was placed on the alluvial plain, within the limits of the inundation, which has tended on the one hand to bury it, and on the other to facilitate the removal of its materials. Nearly the only remains of it now apparent are the two great seated colossi of its founder, one of which, when broken, became in Greek, or rather Roman times, the vocal Memnon, whose plaintive wail to the rising sun, over its own and its country’s desolation, forms so prominent an incident in the Roman accounts of Thebes.[^[56]]

25. South Temple of Karnac. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

26. Section through Hall of Columns, South Temple of Karnac. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

Not far from this stands the great temple known as that of Medeenet-Habû, built by the first king of the 19th dynasty. Its dimensions are only slightly inferior to those of the Rameseum, being 520 ft. from front to rear, and its propylon 107 ft. wide. Its two great courts are, however, inferior in size to those of that building. The inner one is adorned by a series of Caryatide figures (Woodcut No. [24]), which are inferior both in conception and execution to those of the previous reigns; and indeed throughout the whole building there is an absence of style, and an exaggeration of detail, which shows only too clearly that the great age was passing away when it was erected. The roof of its hypostyle hall, and of the chambers beyond it, is occupied by an Arab village, which would require to be cleared away before it could be excavated; much as this might be desired, the details of its courts would not lead us to expect anything either very beautiful or new from its disinterment. Further down the river, as already mentioned, stood another temple, that of Koorneh, built by the same Meneptah who erected the great hall of Karnac. It is, however, only a fragment, or what may be called the residential part of a temple. The hypostyle hall never was erected, and only the foundations of two successive pylons can be traced in front of it. In its present condition, therefore, it is one of the least interesting of the temples of Thebes, though elsewhere it would no doubt be regarded with wonder.

Another building of this age, attached to the southern side of the great temple of Karnac, deserves especial attention as being a perfectly regular building, erected at one time, and according to the original design, and strictly a temple, without anything about it that could justify the supposition of its being a palace.

It was erected by the first king of the 19th dynasty, and consists of two pylons, approached through an avenue of sphinxes. Within this is an hypæthral court, and beyond that a small hypostyle hall, lighted from above, as shown in the section (Woodcut No. [26]). Within this is the cell, surrounded by a passage, and with a smaller hall beyond, all apparently dark, or very imperfectly lighted. The gateway in front of the avenue was erected by the Ptolemys, and, like many Egyptian buildings, is placed at a different angle to the direction of the building itself. Besides its intrinsic beauty, this temple is interesting as being far more like the temples erected afterwards under the Greek and Roman domination than anything else belonging to that early age.

At Tanis, or Zoan, near the mouth of the Nile, the remains of a temple and of 13 obelisks can still be traced. At Soleb, on the borders of Nubia, a temple now stands of the Third Amenhotep, scarcely inferior in beauty or magnificence to those of the capital.