Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/494

 398 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. the plain, while the steps in front gave meaning and accent to its elevation. The wide spacing of the columns in front allowed the richly decorated doorway to be seen in effective grouping with the long perspectives of the side galleries. The piers on the flanks were more closely spaced than the columns of the facade, and the contrast was heightened by the simplicity of their form. The dignity of the entablature and the bold projection of the cornice added to the effect of the whole, and emphasized the well-balanced nature of the composition. The Egyptian architects never pro- duced a building better calculated to please modern tastes. Its symmetry and just proportion appeal directly to those whose artistic ideas are founded upon the creations of the Greeks and Romans. ID H '7 'J 1 ic. 231. — Longitudinal section of the Temple of Elephantine (from the Description, i. 35). This sympathy was conspicuously felt by those who discovered the little monument. " The arrangement," says Jomard, " is a model of simplicity and purity. . . . The Temple of Ele- phantine is pleasing as a whole, and commands our attention." But the purity and harmony of its lines are not its only claims to our admiration. The pleasure which it causes us to feel is partly the result of its resemblance to a well-known and much admired type, that of the Greek temple. In all essentials the arrangements are the same, a cella raised upon an important base and surrounded by a colonnade. The general arrangement of the Elephantine structure has even its name in the technical language of the Greek architects, they would call it a pei'ipteral temple, because the colonnade goes completely round it. Nowhere else do we find such a striking resemblance between Greece and Egypt. But for the mouldings,