Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/151

 Bk. I. Ch. IV. KINGDOM OF THE PHARAOHS. 119 Egypt. The liall is 140 ft. long by 55 in width internally, the roof is supported by two rows of massive square columns, and two of circular ])illars of most exceptional form, the capitals of which are reversed, and somewhat resembling the form usually found in Assyria, but nowhere else in Egypt. Like almost all Egyptian halls, it was lighted from the roof in the manner shown in the section. With all these additions, the temple was a complete wdiole, 540 ft. in length l)y 280 in width, at the time when the Sun- worshippers broke in upon the regular succession of the great 18th dynasty. 21. Section of Palace of Tliotlinies 111., Thebes. When the original line was resumed, Manephthah commenced the building of the great hall, Avhich he nearly completed. Rhamses, the first king of the 19th dynasty, built the small temple in front ; and the so-called Bubastite kings of the 22nd dynasty added the great court in front, completing the building to the extent we now find it. We have thus, as in some of our mediaeval cathedrals, in this one temple, a complete history of the style during the whole of its most flourishing period ; and, either for interest or for beauty, it forms such a series as no other country, and no Other age can produce. Besides those buildings mentioned above, there are other temples to the north, to the east, and more especially to the south, and pylons connecting these, and avenues of sphinxes extending for miles, and enclosing- walls, and tanks, and embankments — making up such a group as no city ever possessed before or since. St. Peter's, with its colonnades, and the Vatican, make up an immense mass, but as insignificant in extent as in style when compared with this glory of ancient Thebes and its surrounding temples. The culminating point and climax of all this group of building is the hypostyle hall of Manephthah. The plan and section of its central ])ortion on the next page, both to the usual scale, will explain its general arrangement; but no language can convey an idea of its beauty, and no artist has yet been able to reproduce its form so as to convey to those who have not seen it an idea of its grandeur. The mass of its central ])iers, illumined by a Hood of light from the clerestory, and