Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/192

 io6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. The employment of these different materials gave birth to what we may call '*' dressed construction," that is, construction the elements of which are squared upon each face and put into close juxtaposition one with another. Concrete or pise, compressed, as in the pylons, between moulds or caissons of woodwork, was also made use of by the Egyptians. This material gave rise to what we may call com.pact construction. Again, although trees, except the palm, were rare enough in the valley of the Nile, the Egyptians built also in wood, by which a third kind of construction, called construction by assemblage, in which the elementary units were held together by being introduced one into another, was obtained. In a few buildings of the latter class metal seems to have been employed, sometimes in the construction, sometimes for lining, and sometimes for outward decoration. § 4. — Dressed Constritction. The constructive elements which enter into the composition of this first class of buildings are stone and brick. In the first place, these elements are horizontal or vertical. The horizontal elements constitute the planes, as they cover the voids by horizontal superposition. They consist of courses and architraves. The courses form the walls. They are arranged in horizontal bands, with vertical and sometimes sloping joints. The separate stones are often bound together upon their horizontal surfaces by dovetails or tenons of wood. The blocks made use of in this form of construction are usually of large dimensions, but the Egyptians also made use of small stones or rubble, lined on the exterior by large flat ones which concealed the meanness of the material behind them.^ (Fig- /O-) Various peculiarities of construction wdiich are comparatively seldom met with will be noticed when we come to describe the monuments in which they are to be found. Architraves were stone beams used to bridge over the voids and &' ^ We find this construction in the so-called Temple of the Spliinx, near the Great Pvramid.