Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/178

 J 54 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. lower part of a sarcophagus, A curious variation of the same ornament exists in one of the royal tombs at Thebes (Fig. 140), in which each panel is separated from its neighbours by the figures of headless men with their hands tied behind their backs. They represent, no doubt, prisoners of war who have been Fio. 139. — l-'rajJiiient of a sarcophagus. Desoiption, v. 47. beheaded, and the decorator has wished, by the use of a some- what barbarous though graceful motive, to suggest the exploits of him for whom the sepulchre was destined. Not much variety was to be obtained from the use of these grooves, but yet they disguised the nudity of great wall spaces, they prevented monotony from becoming too monotonous, while Vie. 140. — Fragment of decoration from a royal tomb at Thebes. Descripticn, ii. 86. they afforded linear combinations which had some power to please the eye. The Assyrians made use of hardly any other mode of breaking up the uniformity of their brick walls. It has been asserted that the first signs of that egg-moulding which played so great a part in Greek architecture are to be