Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/450

 360 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. pylon, in the temple of Khons, comes the portico which surrounds the courtyard. Next come in their order the columns of the hypostyle hall, the roof of the sanctuary, the roof of the chamber with four columns, and the roof of the last small apartment which rests upon the inclosing wall. Between the large hypostyle hall and the smaller one there is a difference in height amountinor to a quarter of the whole height of the former. In the most important temples, such as those of Karnak, Luxor, and the Ramesseum, the same law of constajit diminution in height from front to rear holds good, with the exception that in their cases it is the hypostyle hall which is the highest point in the building after the pylons. In this hall their architects have raised the loftiest columns, and it is after these that the pro- gressive diminution begins. The longitudinal section of the temple of Luxor (Fig. 213) and the general view of Karnak (plate iv.) illustrate this statement. As the roofs of the temple chambers are gradually lowered, their carefully paved floors are raised, but not to an equal degree. In the temple Khons four steps lead up from the court to the hypostyle hall, and one step from the hall to the sanctuary. Similar arrangements are found elsewhere. At Karnak a con- siderable flight is interposed between the courtyard and the vestibule of the hypostyle hall. At Luxor the level of the second court is higher than that of the first. In the Ramesseum there are three flights of steps between the first and second hypostyle hall. All these buildings are provided with staircases by which their flat roofs may be reached. These roofs seem to have been freely opened to the people. The interiors of the temples were only to be visited by the priests, except on a few stated days and in a fashion prescribed by the Egyptian ritual ; but the general public were allowed to mount to the roofs, just as with us they are allowed to ascend domes and belfries for the sake of the view over the surrounding buildings and country. The numerous ^'r*^;^//, some in the hieroglyphic, others in the demotic character, which are still to be seen upon the roof of the temple of Khons, attest this fact. We thus find the characteristic features of Egyptian architecture united in a single building in this temple of Khons ; but, even at Thebes, no such similarity between one building and another is to be found as in the great temples of Greece. In passing from