Page:EB1911 - Volume 09.djvu/91

 scum. A broken lump would then be heated to softness in the furnace; rolled out under a bar of metal, held diagonally across the roll; and when reduced to a rod of a quarter of an inch thick, it was heated and pulled out into even rods about an eighth of an inch thick. These were used to wind round glass vases, to form lips, handles, &c.; and to twist together for spiral patterns. Glass tube was similarly drawn out. Beads were made by winding thin threads of glass on copper wires, and the greater contraction of the copper freed the bead when cold. The coiling of beads can always be detected by (1) the little tails left at the ends, (2) the streaks, (3) the bubbles, seen with a magnifier. Roman glass beads are always drawn out, and nicked off hot, with striation lengthways; except the large opaque variegated beads which are coiled. Modern Venetian beads are similarly coiled. In the XXIIIrd Dynasty beads of a rich transparent Prussian blue glass were made, until the XXVIth. About the same time the eyed beads, with white and brown eyes in a blue mass, also came in (P.A. 25-27, Plate XIII.).

Pottery (see fig. 112).—The earliest style of pottery is entirely hand made, without any rotary motion; the form being built up with a flat stick inside and the hand outside, and finally scraped and burnished in a vertical direction. The necks of vases were the first part finished with rotation, at the middle and close of the prehistoric age. Fully turned forms occur in the Ist Dynasty; but as late as the XIIth Dynasty the lower part of small vases is usually trimmed with a knife. In the earlier part of the prehistoric age there was a soft brown ware with haematite facing, highly burnished. This was burnt mouth-down in the oven, and the ashes on the ground reduced the red haematite to black magnetic oxide of iron; some traces of carbonyl in the ash helped to rearrange the magnetite as a brilliant mirror-like surface of intense black. The lower range of jars in the oven had then black tops, while the upper ranges were entirely red. A favourite decoration was by lines of white clay slip, in crossing patterns, figures of animals, and, rarely, men. This is exactly of the modern Kabyle style in Algeria, and entirely disappeared from Egypt very early in the prehistoric age. Being entirely hand made, various oval, doubled and even square forms were readily shaped.

The later prehistoric age is marked by entirely different pottery, of a hard pink-brown ware, often with white specks in it, without any applied facing beyond an occasional pink wash, and no polishing. It is decorated with designs in red line, imitating cordage and marbling, and drawings of plants, ostriches and ships. The older red polished ware still survived in a coarse and degraded character, and both kinds together were carried on into the next age (P.D.P.).

The early dynastic pottery not only shows the decadent end of the earlier forms, but also new styles, such as grand jars of 2 or 3 ft. high which were slung in cordage, and which have imitation lines of cordage marked on them. Large ring-stands also were brought in, to support jars, so that the damp surfaces should not touch the dusty ground. The pyramid times show the great jars reduced to short rough pots, while a variety of forms of bowls are the most usual types (P.R.T.; P.D.; P. Desh.)

In the XIIth Dynasty a hard thin drab ware was common, like the modern qulleh water flasks. Drop-shaped jars with spherical bases are typical, and scrabbled patterns of incised lines. Large jars of light brown pottery were made for storing liquids and grain, with narrow necks which just admit the hand (P.K.).

The XVIIIth Dynasty used a rather softer ware, decorated at first with a red edge or band around the top, and under Tethmosis (Tahutmes) III. black and red lines were usual. Under Amenophis III. blue frit paint was freely used, in lines and bands around vases; it spread to large surfaces under Amenophis IV., and continued in a poor style into the Ramesside age. In the latter part of the XVIIIth and the XIXth Dynasties a thick hard light pottery, with white specks and a polished drab-white facing, was generally used for all fine purposes. The XIXth and XXth Dynasties only show a degradation of the types of the XVIIIth; and even through to the XXVth Dynasty there is no new movement (P.K.; P.I.; P.A.; P.S.T.).

The XXVIth Dynasty was largely influenced by Greek amphorae imported with wine and oil. The native pottery is of a very fine paste, smooth and thin, but poor in forms. Cylindrical cups, and jars with cylindrical necks and no brim, are typical. The small necks and trivial handles begin now, and are very common in Ptolemaic times (P.T. ii.).

The great period of Roman pottery is marked by the ribbing on the outsides. The amphorae began to be ribbed about 150, and then ribbing extended to all the forms. The ware is generally rather rough, thick and brown for the amphorae, thin and red for smaller vessels. At the Constantine age a new style begins, of hard pink ware, neatly made, and often with “start-patterns” made by a vibrating tool while the vessel rotated: this was mainly used for bowls and cups (P.E.). Of the later pottery of Arab times we have no precise knowledge.

(W. M. F. P.) Monuments.—The principal monuments that are yet remaining to illustrate the art and history of Egypt may be best taken in historical order. Of the prehistoric age there are many rock carvings, associated with others of later periods: they principally remain on the sandstone rocks about Silsila, and their age is shown by the figures of ostriches which were extinct in later times. One painted tomb was found at Nekhen (Hieraconpolis), now in the Cairo Museum; the brick walls were colour-washed and covered with irregular groups of men, animals and ships, painted with red, black and green. The cemeteries otherwise only contain graves, cut in gravel or brick lined, and formerly roofed with poles and brushwood. The Ist to IIIrd Dynasties have left at Abydos large forts of brickwork, remains of two successive temples, and the royal tombs (see ). Elsewhere are but few other monuments; at Wadi Maghāra in Sinai is a rock sculpture of Semerkhet of the Ist Dynasty in perfect state, at Gīza is a group of tombs of a prince and retinue of the Ist Dynasty, and at Gīza and Bēt Khallaf are two large brick mastabas with extensive passages closed by trap-doors, of kings of the IIIrd Dynasty. The main structure of this age is the step-pyramid of Sakkara, which is a mastaba tomb with eleven successive coats of masonry, enlarging it to about 350 by 390 ft. and 200 ft. high. In the interior is sunk in the rock a chamber 24 × 23 ft. and 77 ft. high, with a granite sepulchre built in the floor of it, and various passages and chambers branching from it. The doorway of one room (now in Berlin Museum) was decorated with polychrome glazed tiles with the name of King Neterkhet. The complex original work and various alterations of it need thorough study, but it is now closed and research is forbidden.

The IVth to VIth Dynasties are best known by the series of pyramids (see ) in the region of Memphis. Beyond these tombs, and the temples attached to them, there are very few fixed monuments; of Cheops and Pepi I. there are temple foundations at (q.v.), and a few blocks on other sites; of Neuserre (Raenuser) there is a sun temple at Abusīr; and of several kings there were tablets in Sinai, now in the Cairo Museum. A few tablets of the IXth Dynasty have been found at Sakkāra, and a tomb of a prince at Assiūt. Of the XIth Dynasty is the