Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in EgyptMaspero, G. (Gaston)
History
Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Art -- Egypt; Egypt -- Antiquities
court-yards, which narrow as they recede, and are connected at the lower
end by a kind of gate-house, consisting of one massive gateway surmounted
by two storeys of chambers. The eastward faces of the towers rise above an
inclined basement, which slopes to a height of from fifteen to sixteen feet
from the ground. This answered two purposes. It increased the strength of
the wall at the part exposed to sappers; it also caused the rebound of
projectiles thrown from above, and so helped to keep assailants at a
distance. The whole height is about seventy-two feet, and the width of each
tower is thirty-two feet. The buildings situate at the back, to right and
left of the gate, were destroyed in ancient times. The details of the
decoration are partly religious, partly triumphal, as befits the character
of the structure. It is unlikely, however, that actual fortresses were
adorned with brackets and bas-relief sculptures, such as we here see on
either side of the fore-court. Such as it is, the so-called "pavilion" of
Medinet Habu offers an unique example of the high degree of perfection to
which the victorious Pharaohs of this period had carried their military
architecture.
Material evidence fails us almost entirely, after the reign of Rameses III.
Towards the close of the eleventh century B.C., the high-priests of Amen
repaired the walls of Thebes, of Gebeleyn, and of El Hibeh opposite Feshn.
The territorial subdivision of the country, which took place under the
successors of Sheshonk, compelled the provincial princes to multiply their
strongholds. The campaign of Piankhi on the banks of the Nile is a series
of successful sieges. Nothing, however, leads us to suppose that the art of
fortification had at that time made any distinct progress; and when the
Greek rulers succeeded the native Pharaohs, they most probably found it at
much the same stage as it was left by the engineers of the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Dynasties.
[3] At Medinet Habû.
3.--PUBLIC WORKS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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