Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/44

 14 Egyptian Architecture. original one, and in some cases this seems to have been done more than once. In almost every instance the in- ternal walls, the ceilings, the pillars, as well as the outside of the building, are all profusely decorated with coloured symbolic carvings, which add greatly to the majestic ap- pearance of the structure. The ruins of Thebes, the " City of a Hundred Gates," grand and imposing even in its decay, are the most extensive in Egypt, and are scattered on both sides of the Nile, which — runs through the ancient town. Those yQ of the Temple of Karnac are the largest "^^ and most remarkable. The Sanctu- ary of Karnac was built by Osortasen I., and the rest of the building was added by later monarchs. The great hypostyle * hall covers more than 88,000 square feet, and contains a central avenue of twelve columns, 60 feet high and 12 feet in diameter, and 122 of lesser dimensions. Nearly all the larger Egyptian temples contain hypostyle halls, which derive their name from their having an upper row of columns, through which the li^ht was admitted to the central hall. The temple of Luxor, on the same side of the Nile as that of Karnac, was connected with the latter by an avenue of sphinxes. Columns are largely employed in the architecture of Egyptian temples. They are of various forms. One of the oldest is represented in Fig. 6. The shaft, supported on a round base, somewhat resembles a bundle of reed-stems, Fig. 8. — Egyptian Pillar and Beam.
 * The literal meaning of the word hypostyle is "raised on columns."