called "hypæthral" (from two Greek words, meaning "under the air"). This courtyard was surrounded by a double colonnade on three sides, and led up to the hypostyle hall, in which the light was admitted by means of a clerestory above, formed by the different height of the columns (No. 4 B). "The mass of the central piers, illumined by a flood of light from the clerestory, and the smaller pillars of the wings gradually fading into obscurity, are so arranged and lighted as to give an idea of infinite space. Moreover, the beauty and massiveness of the forms, and the brilliancy of their coloured decorations, all combine to stamp such halls as the greatest of man's architectural works" (Fergusson). In later times the hall was lighted (No. 7) over low screen walls placed between the columns. Beyond this is the cell, surrounded by a passage, and at the rear is a smaller hall. These last chambers must have all been dark or imperfectly lighted.

The whole collection of buildings forming the temple was surrounded by a tall blank wall, as high as the buildings themselves.

The gateway in this example, at the commencement of the avenue of sphinxes, was erected by the Ptolemys, and, like many Egyptian buildings, differs in axis of plan from the direction of the main building.

(a.) At Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties (B.C. 1700-1200), are some of the most important remains, occupying an area 21 miles north to south, and 3 miles east to west.

Among these are:

The Temples at Karnac, on the site of ancient Thebes, and Luxor, on the Eastern bank.

The Temple of Medinet-Habou and the Rhamession (B.C. 1500), on the Western bank.

The Temple at Karnac is the grandest; it extends over an area 1,200 feet in length by 360 feet in width, and is connected with the Temple at Luxor by an avenue of sphinxes.

The general disposition of plan follows what has already been described, but in particular the grand hypostyle hall (No. 4 A) of 130 columns, which covers the same area as Notre Dame at Paris, is notable. The central avenue is 85 feet high, as compared to 147 feet at Amiens, and the columns are 12 feet in diameter. The smaller columns on either side are 42 feet in height and 9 feet in diameter.

The clerestory over the central columns is an early form of lighting more fully developed in the Gothic period.

The central columns have lotus capitals in blossom (No. 9, K L)

to admit the light more easily; the side columns have lotus-bud capitals, on which the light would fall (No. 9 м).

(b.) During the Greek and Roman period many temples were erected. Of these the temple at Edfou (B.c. 180-160) (No. 7) is one of the most important.

OBELISKS

are monumental pillars, employed as an appendix to a temple. All were monoliths, i.e., in one stone, square on plan, and tapering gently, with a pyramidal summit. The height was usually about nine to ten times as great as the diameter, the four faces were slightly rounded, and cut with hieroglyphics. The capping was of metal, for the groove into which it was fitted is in some cases still visible.

In Egypt obelisks were placed in pairs in front of the façade of the temple (No. 4 E, F). The quarrying and transport of such a mass of stone without the power of a steam-engine was an engineering feat of considerable skill.

Many obelisks were removed to Rome by the emperors, and at least twelve are in that city. That in the centre of the Piazza of St. John Lateran is the largest in existence, and is of red granite from Syene. It is 104 feet high, or with the pedestal 153 feet, weighs about 600 tons, is 9 feet square at the base, and 6 feet 2 inches square at the top.

Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment is an example. It is 68 feet 6 inches high, 8 feet square at the base, and weighs

180 tons.

DWELLINGS.

All these have disappeared, being only built of wood or of sun-dried bricks. Houses are shown on paintings and sculptures which have come down to us, from which they appear to have had one, two, or three storeys.

In the absence of any authentic remains, an illustration of the Egyptian House is given (No. 8), conjecturally restored, and erected at the Paris Exhibition, 1889, by M. Charles Garnier. The design was founded on an ancient painting, and had a garden in front, laid out in a formal style, with fish-ponds. The house was divided by a corridor in the centre, giving access to the rooms. The staircase at the back led to a verandah, and also to a flat roof, extending over the whole length of the building. The upper part of the house was painted a bright yellow, and the long external wooden columns blue; the whole building being treated with colour.