The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt / by . just described. Through this there was a passage into thesecond court, having, on two sides, the rows of the Osiridecolumns, and the two remaining ones of circular columns, partof which corridor is seen in the annexed view. The entireeffect of this second court must have been imposing in theextreme. Three flights of steps led up from its open area intothe northern corridor of Osiride pillars ; on each side of thecentre one was a black granite statue of Rameses II. With hisspirit awed by this display of magnificence, the spectat
The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt / by . just described. Through this there was a passage into thesecond court, having, on two sides, the rows of the Osiridecolumns, and the two remaining ones of circular columns, partof which corridor is seen in the annexed view. The entireeffect of this second court must have been imposing in theextreme. Three flights of steps led up from its open area intothe northern corridor of Osiride pillars ; on each side of thecentre one was a black granite statue of Rameses II. With hisspirit awed by this display of magnificence, the spectator nextadvanced from this corridor into the Grand Hall, the azure. roof of which rose above his head, studded with golden stars, andwas supported upon a central colonnade of twelve massive yet HALL OF MEMNON1UM. 177 elegant columns. It will be seen that the architecture is imita-tive of the vegetable life of the country, the capital being copiedfrom the graceful bell-shaped flower of the papyrus. Theadornments also are designed from the stalks and flowers ofdifferent plants, painted in blue and green, and they arc oftenexquisitely beautiful. The more chaste and classical buildingsof the Eamesscan period, as in the present instance, have theirranges of columns and capitals uniform, while, as will be seenin the drawing of Edfou, those of the Ptolemaic period arestudiously different, all of them too being combinations ofvegetable forms, which, varied and graceful as they are, yetby that very variety detract, in a symmetrical architecture likethat of the Egyptian temple, from simplicity of general effect. Taking into account the grave, yet elegant simpli
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectegyptdescriptionandt
