A Guide to the Egyptian Collections in the British Museum by Unknown

ARCHITECTURE, PAINTING, SCULPTURE, ETC.

= Architecture. = -The history of the earliest form of Egyptian architecture cannot be written because, with the exception of the ruined tombs of the Archaïc Period, all the remains of the earliest temples have been destroyed or have perished. The oldest form of the = house = was, no doubt, a hut built of reeds, the roof of which was supported by a pole, _i.e._, a tree trunk, or poles; its shape was round or oblong. The cold winds of winter prompted the Egyptian to make the walls of his abode of Nile mud; this he mixed with water until it acquired the consistence of stiff paste, and then piled it up with his hands until the walls were as thick and high as he wanted them to be. All the walls inclined inwards, and so each helped to support the other; the roof was made of a layer of mud which rested on a number of pieces of palm trunks or small trees. The door probably faced the south, and an aperture, which served as a window, was cut high up in the north wall. (See the model of an early house, No. 174, North-West Staircase Landing.) Before the house was a small yard enclosed by thick walls made of mud, which inclined inwards, and a flight of solid mud steps led up to the roof. (See the = models of early houses = in Wall-cases Nos. 105-108 in the Third Egyptian Room.) Walls made of mud in this way are unsatisfactory, for they sag or bulge, and soon fall down. The invention of the = brick = marked a great improvement in the stability of buildings; and its use in the construction of houses, granaries, government buildings, forts, etc., became universal. A theory has been recently put forward that brickmaking was introduced into Egypt from Mesopotamia, but there is no reason why, in a land where all the soil is mud, which when well sun-dried becomes exceedingly hard, the idea of making bricks should not have been indigenous. Few things in the East last as long as a well-made brick, especially if it has been carefully baked; and buildings, even when made of crude bricks, last for several hundreds of years, unless they are destroyed by the hand of man. The invention of the brick permitted the Egyptians to build the elliptical = arch = , which is frequently found in brick-built buildings; the knowledge of the arch is of ancient standing in Egypt. The early mud or brick house of the man of means was provided with a = portico = (the modern _rakûbah_), which was supported on palm trunks; this portico suggested the colonnade of later days, and the palm trunks the stone pillars with palm-leaf capitals.