Saturday, November 26, 2016

The Great Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu .. Historical and architecture Notes .. Part ( 3 )

Before us there now lies the Great Temple of Ramses III, which, alone of the great temples of the New Empire, the native period of Egypt's glory, survives in a state of reasonable preservation .
There are, of course, other temples, such as Dendera and Edfu, which are in even better condition than Medinet Habu ; but they are of a much later period, while the temple of Ramses III is a genuine survival of the glorious period of the Empire .



Accordingly it has become almost customary to regard Medinet Habu as the typical temple of the Empire, and this idea has produced disastrous results upon the estimate which is held with regard to Egyptian architecture generally . It seems almost impossible to dispossess some art-critics minds of the idea that the Egyptian architect must always be judged by Medinet Habu, which is actually a building, not of the Empire's prime, but of its full decadence ; and its heavy columns, which have lost all resemblance to the clustered papyrus stems and buds in which they had their origin, and are more like swollen sausages than anything so light and graceful as the papyrus, are continually reproduced as the type form of an Egyptian column . It would, of course, be quite as just to accept the bulging muscles of the Farnese Hercules as typical of Greek sculpture of the great period .


From this point of view Breasted's comment is undoubtedly justified . " The Medinet Habu temple ", he says, " is unique, and we must intensely regret that it was a Twentieth rather than an Eighteenth Dynasty temple which survived " . Indeed, the visitor should go to Medinet Habu prepared for the fact that what is to be seen there is typical, not of Egyptian art at its summit, but of the same art when it was already far down the hill on the way to its inevitable death . It is still impressive, after its own fashion ; but the impression is one of more bulk and weight, and owes nothing to real artistic skill .


In point of plan, the temple is quite a satisfactory piece of regular Egyptian practice ; indeed it is almost an exact copy of the Ramesseum in its details, and this, doubtless, with intent, as Ramses III consciously set himself to imitate Ramses II in everything, even to the details of his cartouche . But the clearness of its plan is the only merit that the building can claim . " The lines ", says Breasted, " are heavy and indolent, the colonnades have none of the old-time soaring vigour, springing from the pavement, and carrying the beholder's eye involuntarily aloft ; but they visibly labour under the burden imposed upon them and clearly express the sluggish spirit of the decadent architect who designed them . The work also is careless and slovenly in execution . The reliefs which cover the vast surfaces of the Medinet Habu temple are with few exceptions but weak imitations of the fine sculptures of Seti I at Karnak, badly drawn and executed without feeling " .


If, however, on the other hand, the visitor will be content to regard Medinet Habu, not as the architectural type which it never was, but as one of the most interesting historical records in Egypt, he will be amply repaid for his trouble in visiting it . For the temple, whatever its artistic faults, is simply the great illustrated page which tells the not unworthy story of how Egypt, fallen into the descending vale of years, yet roused herself, under a really great Pharaoh, from her senile slumbers, and shook oft, for a time, the buzzing clouds of enemies who had presumed on her decay . The awakening, it is true, did not last ; but all the same Medinet Habu has a fine story to tell, though it must be admitted that she tells it with less energy than her creator had displayed in its acting .




Part ( 4 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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