Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/158

 12H EGYPTIAiSr ARCHITECTURE. Part I. exawo-eration which is generally a characteristic of colossal works of this sort. The smaller temple at the same place has six standing figures of deities countersunk in the rock, and is carved with exceeding richness. It is of the same age with the large temple, but will not admit of comparison with it owing to the inferiority of the design. Besides these, there is a very beautiful though small example at Kalabschc, likewise belonging to the age of Rhamses II., and remark- able for the beauty of its sculptural bas-reliefs, as well as for the bold proto-Doric columns which adorn its vestibule. There are also smaller ones at Derri and Balagne, at the upper end of the valley. At Essabua, Girsheh, and Dandour, the cells of the temple have been excavated from the rock, but their courts and propylons are structural buildino-s added in front — a combination never found in Egyi)t, and very rare anywhere else, although meeting the difficulties of the case l)etter than any other arrangement, inasmuch as the sanctuary has thus all the imperishability and mystery of a cave, and the temple at the same time has the space and external appearance of a building standing in the open air. This last arrangement is found also as a characteristic of the temples of Gibel Barkal, in the kingdom of Meroe, showing how far the rock-cutting practice prevailed in the Upper Valley of the Nile. As all these temples are contemporary with the great structures in Esypt, it seems strange that the eternity of a rock-cut example did not recommend this form of temple to the attention of the Egyptians themselves. Bixt with the exception of a small grotto, called the Speos Artemidos, near Beni Hassan, and two small caves at Silsilis, near the cataract, the Egyptians seem never to have attempted it, trusting apparently to the solidity of their masonic structures for that eternity of duration they aspired to. Mammeisi. In addition to the temples above de- scribed, which are all more or less complex in plan, and all made up of various inde- pendent parts, there exists in Egypt a class of temples called mammeisi, dedicated to the mysterious accouchement of the mother of the go Is. Small temples of this form are common to all ages, and belong as well to the 18th dynasty as to the time of the Ptolemys. One of them, built by Amenophis III. at Elephantine, is represented in plan and elevation •a -s n uff iJ.) -jrji 29. Mammeisi at Eleplaautiiie.