Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt by Gaston Maspero (popular books of all time txt) 📖

Notwithstanding the fact that Egyptology is now recognised as a science, an exact and communicable knowledge of whose existence and scope it behoves all modern culture to take cognisance, this work of M. Maspero still remains the Handbook of Egyptian Archaeology. But Egyptology is as yet in its infancy; whatever their age, Egyptologists will long die young. Every year, almost every month, fresh material for the study is found, fresh light is thrown upon it by the progress of excavation, exploration, and research. Hence it follows that, in the course of a few years, the standard text-books require considerable addition and modification if they are to be of the greatest value to students, who must always start from the foremost vantage-ground.

The increasing demand for the Egyptian Archaeology by English and American tourists, as well as students, decided the English publishers to issue a new edition in as light and portable a form as possible. This edition is carefully corrected, and contains the enlarged letterpress and many fresh illustrations necessary for incorporating within the book adequate accounts of the main archaeological results of recent Egyptian excavations. M. Maspero has himself revised the work, indicated all the numerous additions, and qualified the expression of any views which he has seen reason to modify in the course of his researches during the past eight years. By the headings of the pages, the descriptive titles of the illustrations, and a minute revision of the index, much has been done to facilitate the use of the volume as a book of reference. In that capacity it will be needed by the student long after he first makes acquaintance with its instructive and abundant illustrations and its luminous condensation of the archaeological facts and conclusions which have been elucidated by Egyptology through the devotion of many an arduous lifetime during the present century, and, not least, by the unremitting labours of M. Maspero.

April, 1895.

To put this book into English, and thus to hand it on to thousands who might not otherwise have enjoyed it, has been to me a very congenial and interesting task. It would be difficult, I imagine, to point to any work of its scope and character which is better calculated to give lasting delight to all classes of readers. For the skilled archaeologist, its pages contain not only new facts, but new views and new interpretations; while to those who know little, or perhaps nothing, of the subjects under discussion, it will open a fresh and fascinating field of study. It is not enough to say that a handbook of Egyptian Archaeology was much needed, and that Professor Maspero has given us exactly what we required. He has done much more than this. He has given us a picturesque, vivacious, and highly original volume, as delightful as if it were not learned, and as instructive as if it were dull.

As regards the practical side of Archaeology, it ought to be unnecessary to point out that its usefulness is strictly parallel with the usefulness of public museums. To collect and exhibit objects of ancient art and industry is worse than idle if we do not also endeavour to disseminate some knowledge of the history of those arts and industries, and of the processes employed by the artists and craftsmen of the past. Archaeology, no less than love, "adds a precious seeing to the eye"; and without that gain of mental sight, the treasures of our public collections are regarded by the general visitor as mere "curiosities"--flat and stale for the most part, and wholly unprofitable.

I am much indebted to Mr. W.M. Flinders Petrie, author of The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, for kindly translating the section on "Pyramids," which is entirely from his pen. I have also to thank him for many valuable notes on subjects dealt with in the first three chapters. To avoid confusion, I have numbered these notes, and placed them at the end of the volume.

My acknowledgments are likewise due to Professor Maspero for the care with which he has read the proof-sheets of this version of his work. In departing from his system of orthography (and that of Mr. Petrie) I have been solely guided by the necessities of English readers. I foresee that Egyptian Archaeology will henceforth be the inseparable companion of all English-speaking travellers who visit the Valley of the Nile; hence I have for the most part adopted the spelling of Egyptian proper names as given by the author of "Murray's Handbook for Egypt."

Touching my own share in the present volume, I will only say that I have tried to present Professor Maspero's inimitable French in the form of readable English, rather than in a strictly word-for-word translation; and that with the hope of still further extending the usefulness of the book, I have added some foot-note references.

AMELIA B. EDWARDS.

WESTBURY-ON-TRYM,

August, 1887.

CHAPTER I.

ARCHITECTURE--CIVIL AND MILITARY.

§ 1. HOUSES: Bricks and Brickmaking, Foundations, Materials, Towns, Plans, Decoration

§ 2. FORTRESSES: Walls, Plans, Migdols, etc.

§ 3. PUBLIC WORKS: Roads, Bridges, Storehouses, Canals, Lake Moeris, Dams, Reservoirs, Quarries

CHAPTER II.

RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE.

§ 1. MATERIALS; PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTION: Materials of Temples, Foundations of Temples, Sizes of Blocks, Mortars, Mode of hoisting Blocks, Defective Masonry, Walls, Pavements, Vaultings, Supports, Pillars and Columns, Capitals, Campaniform Capitals, Lotus-bud Capitals, Hathor-headed Capitals

§ 2. TEMPLES: Temples of the Sphinx, Temples of Elephantine, Temple at El Kab, Temple of Khonsû, Arrangement of Temples, Levels, Crypts, Temple of Karnak, Temple of Luxor, Philae, The Speos, or Rock-cut Temple, Speos of Horemheb, Rock-cut Temples of Abû Simbel, Temple of Deir el Baharî, Temple of Abydos, Sphinxes, Crio-sphinxes

§ 3. DECORATION: Principles of Decoration, The Temple a Symbolic Representation of the World, Decoration of Parts nearest the Ground, Dadoes, Bases of Columns, Decoration of Ceilings, Decoration of Architraves, Decoration of Wall-surfaces, Magic Virtues of Decoration, Decoration of Pylons, Statues, Obelisks, Libation-tables, Altars, Shrines, Sacred Boats, Moving Statues of Deities

CHAPTER III.

TOMBS.

§ 1. MASTABAS: Construction of the Mastaba, The Door of the Living, and the Door of the Dead, The Chapel, Wall Decorations, The Double and his Needs, The Serdab, Ka Statues, The Sepulchral Chamber

§ 2. PYRAMIDS: Plan of the Pyramid comprises three leading features of the Mastaba, Materials of Pyramids, Orientation, Pyramid of Khûfû, Pyramids of Khafra and Menkara, Step Pyramid of Sakkarah, Pyramid of Ûnas, Decoration of Pyramid of Ûnas, Group of Dashûr, Pyramid of Medum

§ 3. TOMBS OF THE THEBAN EMPIRE; THE ROCK-CUT TOMBS: Pyramid-mastabas of Abydos, Pyramid-mastabas of Drah Abû'l Neggah, Rock-cut Tombs of Beni Hasan and Syene, Rock-cut Tombs of Siût, Wall-decoration of Theban Catacombs, Tombs of the Kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty at Thebes, Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, Royal Catacombs, Tomb of Seti I., Wall-decorations of Royal Catacombs, Funerary Furniture of Catacombs, Ûshabtiû, Amulets, Common Graves of the Poor

CHAPTER IV.

PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.

§ 1. DRAWING AND COMPOSITION: Supposed Canon of Proportion, Drawing Materials, Sketches, Illustrations to the Book of the Dead, Conventional Treatment of Animal and Human Figures, Naturalistic Treatment, Composition, Grouping, Wall-paintings of Tombs, A Funerary Feast, A Domestic Scene, Military Subjects, Perspective, Parallel between a Wall-painting in a Tomb at Sakkarah and the Mosaic of Palestrina

§ 2. TECHNICAL PROCESSES: The Preparation of Surfaces, Outline, Sculptors' Tools, Iron and Bronze Tools, Impurity of Iron, Methods of Instruction in Sculpture, Models, Methods of cutting Various Stones, Polish, Painted Sculptures, Pigments, Conventional Scale of Colour, Relation of Painting to Sculpture in Ancient Egypt

§ 3. SCULPTURE: The Great Sphinx, Art of the Memphite School, Wood-panels of Hesi, Funerary Statues, The Portrait-statue and the Double , Chefs d'oeuvre of the Memphite School, The Cross-legged Scribe, Diorite Statue of Khafra, Rahotep and Nefert, The Sheikh el Beled, The Kneeling Scribe, The Dwarf Nemhotep, Royal Statues of the Twelfth Dynasty, Hyksos Sphinxes of Tanis, Theban School of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Colossi of Amenhotep III., New School of Tel el Amarna, Its Superior Grace and Truth, Works of Horemheb, School of the Nineteenth Dynasty, Colossi of Rameses II., Decadence of Art begins with Merenptah, Ethiopian Renaissance, Saïte Renaissance, The Attitudes of Statues, Saïte Innovations, Greek Influence upon Egyptian Art, The Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, The School of Meroë, Extinction of Egyptian Art

CHAPTER V.

THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

§ 1. STONE, CLAY, AND GLASS: Precious Stones, Lapidary Art, Beads and Amulets, Scarabaei, Statuettes, Libation Tables, Perfume Vases, Kohl-pots, Pottery, Clay, Glazes, Red and Painted Wares, Ûshabtiû, Funerary Cones, Painted Vases, "Canopic" Vases, Clay Sarcophagi, Glass, Its Chemical Constituents, Clear Glass, Coloured Glass, Imitations of Precious Stones in Glass, Glass Mosaics, Miniature Objects in Coloured Glass, Glass Amulets, Coloured Glass Vases, Enamels, The Theban Blue, The Enamels of Tell el Amarna, Enamelled Ûshabtiû of Amen Ptahmes, Enamelled Tiles of the Step Pyramid at Sakkarah, Enamelled Tiles of Tell el Yahûdeh

§ 2. WOOD, IVORY, LEATHER; TEXTILE FABRICS: Bone and Ivory, Elephant Tusks, Dyed Ivory, Egyptian Woods, Wooden Statuettes, Statuette of Hori, Statuette of Naï, Wooden Toilet Ornaments, Perfume and Unguent Spoons, Furniture, Chests and Coffers, Mummy-cases, Wooden Effigies on Mummy Cases, Huge Outer Cases of Ahmesnefertari and Aahhotep, Funerary Furniture, Beds, Canopies, Sledges, Chairs, Stools, Thrones, Textiles, Methods of Weaving, Leather, Breast-bands of Mummies, Patchwork Canopy in Coloured Leather of Princess Isiemkheb, Embroideries, Muslins, Celebrated Textiles of Alexandria

§ 3. METALS: Iron, Lead, Bronze, Constituents of Egyptian Bronze, Domestic Utensils in Bronze, Mirrors, Scissors, Bronze Statuettes, The Stroganoff Bronze, The Posno Bronzes, The Lion of Apries, Gilding, Gold-plating, Gold-leaf, Statues and Statuettes of Precious Metals , The Silver and Golden Cups of General Tahûti, The Silver Vases of Thmûis, Silver Plate, Goldsmith's Work, Richness of Patterns, Jewellery, Funerary Jewellery, Rings, Seal-rings, Chains, The Jewels of Queen Aahhotep, The Ring of Rameses II., The Ear-rings of Rameses IX., The Bracelet of Prince Psar, Conclusion

NOTES

INDEX

FIGURE

1. Brickmaking, tomb of Rekhmara, Eighteenth Dynasty

2. House with vaulted floors, Medinet Habû

3. Plan of the town of Kahûn, Twelfth Dynasty

4. Plan of house, Medinet Habû, Twentieth Dynasty

5. Plan of house, Medinet Habû, Twentieth Dynasty

6. Façade of house of Second Theban Period

7. Plan of house of Second Theban Period

8. Restoration of hall in Twelfth Dynasty house, Kahûn

9. Box representing a house

10. Wall-painting in Twelfth Dynasty house, Kahûn

11. View of mansion, tomb of Anna, Eighteenth Dynasty

12. Porch of mansion of Second Theban Period

13. Porch of mansion of Second Theban Period

14. Plan of Theban house