File:A history of art in ancient Egypt (1883) (14770323374).jpg

Identifier: historyofartinan01perruoft (find matches)
Title: A history of art in ancient Egypt
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914 Chipiez, Charles, 1835-1901 Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918
Subjects: Art -- Egypt History Egypt -- Antiquities
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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beenspeaking. We can hardly tell, therefore, where to look for the truepronaos at Luxor. In that part of the ground plan where itis generally found there is nothing but an open portico, which isconsiderably lower than the highest parts of the building. Thegreat colonnade, again, is separated from the naos by an opencourt, so that it ought, perhaps, to be classified as what theGreeks called a propylseum ; but yet it is a hall, inclosed andcovered, of great size and height, and richly decorated, like thehypostyle halls which we have already described and others whichwe have yet to notice.^ In presence of this double range of superb columns one is tempted to lookupon them as the beginning of a hypostyle hall which was never finished, to supposethat a great central nave was constructed, and that, by force of circumstancesunknown, the aisles were never begun, and that the builders contented themselvesby inclosing and preserving their work as far as it had gone. • fill It ^iji # ■V V«
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o h-1 13 C The Temple under the New Empire. 375 Another peculiarity of Luxor is its change of axis. The firstpylon, that of Rameses, is not parallel with the two built byAmenophis ; the angle at which they stand Is a very perceptibleone. Neither is the doorway of this pylon in alignment with theother doorways on the major axis of the building. No justificationor even explanation of this irregularity, which is unique among theTheban temples, has been discovered. If we cross the Nile and land upon the plain which stretchesbetween the river and the Libvan hills, we find ourselves in thepresence of those temples, the Ramesseum, Medinet-Abou, andGournah, whose funerary destination we have already noticed.These are royal chapels erected in connection with the royaltombs in their neighbourhood, they are cenotaphs filled with thememories of the great Theban princes, and with representationsof their exploits. Consequently we do not find In them thosecomplications which, in the great temples of

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