Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/522

 426 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. foreiofn influence was to be traced in its arranorements. " Are we to consider it an accident, asks Ebers, that the stepped building at Dayr-el-Bahari was built shortly after an Egyptian army had, under Thothmes, trodden the soil of Mesopotamia for the first time, and found monumental buildings constructed in terraces in its great cities ? Why did the Egyptians, who as a rule were so fond of repeating themselves that they became almost incapable of inventing new forms, never imitate the arrangements of this imposing building elsewhere, unless it was because its forms reminded them of their foreign enemies and therefore seemed to be worthy of condemnation ? " ^ We are content with asking the question and with calling attention to its interest. The materials are wanting- for a definite answer but the suggestion of Professor Ebers is probable enough. Twelve or thirteen centuries later the Persians, after their conquest of Egypt, carried back with them the notion of those hypostyle halls which gave to the buildings of Persepolis so different an aspect from those of Assyria, although the decorative details were all borrowed from the latter country. So too the Egyptians, in spite of the pride which they felt in their ancient civilization, may have been unable to control their admiration when they found themselves, in the wide plains of Persia, before those lofty towers with their successive terraces, to which access was obtained by majestic flights of steps. It seems by no means unlikely that one of their architects should have attempted to acclimatize an artistic conception which was so well calculated to impress the imaginations of the people ; and none of the sovereigns of Egypt was better fitted to preside over such an attempt than the high spirited and enterprising Hatasu, the queen who reared two obelisks in the temple of Karnak, one of them beinsf the highest that has remained erect ; who made the first recorded attempt at acclimatization ; - and who was the first to launch a fleet upon the waters of the Red Sea. ^ Ebers, ^gypten, p. 285. ^ Maspkro, Histoire A/icienne, pp. 202, 203. The bas-reliefs at Dayr-el-Bahari represent the booty brought back by Hatasu from the expedition into Fount. Among this booty thirty-two perfume shrubs, in baskets, may be distinguished ; these shrubs were planted by the orders of Hatasu in the gardens of Thebes. On the subject of Hatasu and her expedition, see Maspero's paper entitled : De quelques Navigations des Egyptietis sur les Cotes de la Mer Erythree (in the Reinie Historique, 1878).