Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/180

 96 A History op^ Art in Ancient Egypt. difficulty will be an embarras de richesse, a difficulty of choice among the vast number of remains still existing of ancient Egypt from the time of Menes to that of the Persian conquest. In order to avoid repetition and to put before the reader ideas which he w^ill have no difficulty in assimilating, we shall push our work of analysis and generalization farther still. Before we embark upon the study of any special class of buildings we shall endeavour to define the general and unchanging characteristics of Egyptian architecture as a whole ; characteristics which were fixed by the idiosyncracy of the race, by its beliefs and social customs, by the nature of the climate, and of the materials of which the architect could dispose. We shall do the same for Assyria and Chaldaea, for Persia and Phcenicia, for each, indeed, of the nationalities which are to be considered in our history. These theoretical chapters will be illustrated in the same fashion as the others, except that the illustrations will partake of the generalized and abstract character of the text which they accom- pany. In most cases they will be simple diagrams composed for the express purpose of illustrating the definitions or descriptions to which they belong. They will each refer to some essential element in the national architecture, to some element which is not peculiar to any one edifice more than another, but is to be found in all those which have similar aims and are constructed of the same materials. Such elements are above and outside such accidental variations as may be found in details of plan or ornament ; they form part of the substantial inner constitution of the arts of Egypt and Chaldaea, and make their originality indisputable. § 2. — General Principles of Form. The external forms of Egyptian edifices are pyramidoid ; in other words, the outward surfaces of their walls affect the form of a trapezium. Thus if we prolong these surfaces vertically we find that they unite at last in a point, in the case of square buildings (Fig. 58), and in a ridge in those which are oblong in plan (Fig. 59).-^ A square building will sometimes end in a ridge, or 1 Lois generales de V Itidinaison des Coloimes datis la Constniciion des Temples grecs de rA?itiquite, dedicated to his Majesty, Otho I., by Charles Villeroi, engineer. Athens, 1842, 8vo.