Thursday, June 29, 2017

El-Amarna - The public buildings .. The Great Temple .. Part ( 5 )

Before we begin to discuss the various types of buildings it would be advisable to say a word about the building methods and materials . Tell el-Amarna is a city of mud brick . Only in very exceptional circumstances was stone used .
 The brick is merely sun-dried, and owing to the fact that quantities of small stones were allowed to remain in the mud the disintegration of the latter in the course of time has caused the extraordinarily pebbly appearance of the unexcavated parts of the site . The bricks are large ; 33-37 centimetres long by 15-16 broad by 9-10 high are the measurements of the usual brick, although those used in the walls of the small temple of Hat-Aten were as much as 38 by 16 by 16 . These bricks are used for everything, paving included . The Chief of Police alone had specially made flooring slabs which measured 30 by 30 by 5 centimetres .



In a country where rain is exceedingly rare mud brick will last for ever, the only destructive influence being the action of wind-swept sand . To avoid this the face of the wall was plastered with mud which could be renewed . The bricks were laid with a small amount of mortar between each course and none between the bricks of the same course, whose only coherence is the mud plastering which has happened to force its way into the interstices from the surface wash . No regular system of bonding was in force though a straight joint for more than two courses was avoided . Even corners are frequently left unbonded and later walls were built directly up against ones already there .



Now there is one danger with mud brick, and that is its habit of drying unevenly, shrinking, and so causing the wall to warp . To obviate this the builder often resorted to a system of hollow walls . He would build a wall of a thickness of two bricks, for example . The lowest course would be two rows of headers . The next course would be stretchers, but instead of there being four rows, he would lay only three rows, leaving free space for the air to circulate . This space would be bridged over in the next course and so on . But this meant the risk of weakening the walls and was always avoided where a wall had to carry any great weight or go up to any great height . In the case of pylon towers or very big walls, therefore, balks of timber were substituted which not only served to tie the bricks but also had a certain amount of elasticity which minimized the dangers of warping . A similar practice, though for a different reason, is found in Minoan Crete, where a noticeable feature of the buildings is the amount of timbering . Here the reason was the desire to minimize the effects of the earthquakes to which Crete in particularly liable . Wood, however, was nearly as expensive in Egypt as stone, and it is only in the great official buildings that we find it incorporated in the walls . But it was cheaper and easier to transport and to work . It is, again, only in public buildings, therefore, that stone columns are employed . The private individual, and indeed the King in his private residence, was content to have wooden columns resting on a stone base . These bases have usually rather more than twice the diameter of the columns which they support . This is clear from the careful marking out and centering of the base . They must have acted as extra seats in houses where furniture was scanty, but they must equally have been a frequent source of annoyance and falls . One good householder indeed evidently got so infuriated at continually tripping up and stubbing his toe that he raised the level of his floor until the top of the column base was flush with it .



The preliminary setting out of everything was done with a string . When, for example, they wished to mark out the position of the offering tables on the plaster floor of the temple, a string dipped in black paint was stretched taut and then allowed to touch the plaster and leave its mark . In some cases the string was gently pressed down into the plaster before it had quite set, leaving a shallow groove . In the same way any wall surface that was to be decorated was first of all squared up before the artist began his work . Sometimes these marks have been left, as in those tombs which are unfinished . Even in this age of artistic revolt the Egyptian was unconsciously bound by the tradition of centuries . His columns conform to the old palm-frond or to the papyrus type which had been in vogue since the Old Kingdom . The cavetto of his cornices was still painted with upright leaves and the torus roll was still painted or carved with the cords which thousands of years before had tied the roll of plaited reeds, itself strengthening the heads of the palm-fronds which projected up and, nodding forward with their own weight, became the origin of the cavetto .



Such novelties as we see in the architecture of Amarna are in plan, not in methods of building, and even in considering the plans we must remember how very little we know of Egyptian domestic architecture in other parts of the country . We must also remember the frantic haste with which everything was done . Akhenaten was a forerunner of the modern Oriental in his desire to see a thing finished quickly and the verdict, I fear, on much of the building and decoration must be " cheap and nasty " .



In considering the spacious lay-out of the buildings and the absence of regular upper stories we must remember that Akhenaten had a virgin site on which to build . Tell el-Amarna is thus in contrast to Thebes, where we know there were two-storied buildings, and in great contrast to the almost contemporary cities of Minoan Crete where four and five stories are the rule . In the two latter cases, all possible available space had to be used, particularly in Crete, where the only sites on which buildings can be constructed are frequently the only sites suitable for cultivation . Under such conditions houses and palaces had to run to height rather than to acreage . But at Amarna the cultivable area was negligible and therefore all the essential rooms of the house were concentrated on the ground-floor, leaving a flat roof, which no doubt played as large a part in the life of ancient Egypt as it does to-day, with a light loggia at one side for really burning days .



The Great Temple of the Sun's Disk lies in the middle of the site on the main thoroughfare . This " House of the Aten my father which I will build in Akhetaten in this place " was to be the crowning achievement of the whole venture . It was to be the centre of the worship of the new god all over the world . To this Temple the eyes of the Nubian and of the Asiatic were to turn for inspiration for their local sun temples at Jerusalem . It lies in a huge temenos or enclosure nearly half a mile long by over three hundred yards broad, a space which it may have been Akhenaten's intention to fill completely with buildings .



Before, however, even the boundary wall was built some dedication ceremony must have taken place . The foundations of a ceremonial gateway, later razed to the ground, were discovered just within the main entrance . In front of this were a number of plaster receptacles, sunk on the main axis, for liquid offerings, while a mud paving was laid all over the area . From here an avenue of sphinxes led eastwards, to be replaced by trees after some hundred yards . The pits in which these trees were planted have been found – some with the roots still in them – actually underlying the walls of the Sanctuary, while an inner avenue underlies the actual floor . The point to which this approach led was a small shrine of mud brick hurriedly run up for the occasion but later incorporated in the final scheme .



Next came the construction of the temenos wall, the main entrance of which did not for some reason coincide with the old gateway but rather clumsily enclosed it, so that to enter the enclosure you walked up a ramp between the pylon towers and immediately descended to pass under the temporary ceremonial entrance which was still apparently allowed to stand . When the wall had been completed, or probably while work on it was still in progress, the Sanctuary was built at the East end of the enclosure . Finally, after some years the King decided to renew his building activities and the buildings known as Per-hai, " The House of Rejoicing ", and Gem-Aten, " The Finding of the Aten ", were set in hand quite close to the main entrance . This made things very awkward, for the old plaster receptacles were on the main axis and prevented an easy approach, for the West wall of Per-hai actually cuts through one of them . A new plan was therefore resorted to . The ceremonial gate was pulled down and the space between the main entrance and the entrance to Per-hai was filled in up to the height of the ramp from without, thus forming a raised causeway . This causeway is only about three feet above the old level and it is gradually sloped down on either side so as to be practically unnoticeable . Fresh plaster receptacles were sunk at this higher level but were carefully put on either side of the main axis so as not to interfere with the approach .



This was the final state of the Temple both in the representations of it in the tombs and in the actual remains found on the spot . We have to rely very largely for our restored plan on these tomb reliefs . Certainly little enough of the original is left . Apart from the temenos wall and one or two minor structures the walls were of rubble faced with stone, and the causeways and platforms, to which we shall return, were composed merely of sand rammed down within a stone facing and paved over .



When the fall of Atenism came the Temple was taken as a symbol of all that Egypt hated and the destruction of it was complete . Practically not a single block of stone remains in situ . The columns and statues were smashed to pieces and the fragments thrown down into the empty trenches where the walls had been . All that remains is the cement floor, the compressed sand filling of causeways and platform and the cement bedding in which the foundations were laid with the marks of stone still upon it . And even the last has often been ripped up together with the stones, so that we have to go by the varying levels of the virgin sand which show the depth to which the foundations were sunk . We are indeed lucky to have so much to guide us, for it is largely the destroyers themselves who have preserved it . We have seen how their hatred went so far as to fill in the whole area with clean sand and to run a thick layer of cement over the top to seal in the accursed spot . To this is due the fact that the platforms and causeway, now consisting merely of ridges of sand paved over, have been supported to their original height and have suffered no weathering . Thus it comes about that just enough is left to enable us to reconstruct a plan and even an elevation which corresponds in very detail with the scenes in the tombs .



Now we will proceed as if we were of the Royal Party entering the Temple to worship . The party has dismounted from the chariots, to which the grooms are attending . They enter between the tall pylon towers . On their left is a columned pavilion, its massive concrete foundations sunk to a depth of over three feet, since all this approach is " made earth " . They pass on to the entrance to Per-hai, the House of Rejoicing . Here again are tall pylon towers of mud brick faced with stone and fronted each by five tall flagstaffs with fluttering pennons . The doorway has no lintel, for that would block the passage of the sun . Per-hai consists of two colonnades flanking the central passage, which is open to the sky . There are two rows of four columns on each side whose position has been determined by the marks left on the vast platforms of concrete on which they are set . Each colonnade has an altar of fine limestone at the East end, carved with the usual representation of the King and Queen making offerings . Behind the altars a short flight of steps descends into chambers in the thickness of the pylon towers which flank the entrance into the next division of the Temple, Gem-Aten – the Finding of the Aten . Here we enter something quite new in the way of temple architecture .



The ordinary Egyptian Temple shows a transition from the bright sunlight of the open court, through the twilight of the colonnade and hypostyle hall to the pitch-black of the Sanctuary, the air of mystery and awe being deepened by the oppressive sense of being gradually shut in as the level of the floor rises and the roof gets lower .



The Temple at Amarna was a true sanctuary of the sun with airy courts open to the sky succeeding one another as far as the High Altar . As you pass between the pylon towers of the entrance you come out on to a landing and look down into an open court surrounded by platforms some five feet high . On the platforms are little booths probably made of wood where perhaps you can buy the offerings you wish to make . A flight of steps descends from the entrance down into the court where lies the first great altar with its steps and balustrade . Here are heaped the fruits of the earth and the meat of many cattle, for the Aten, like Pharaoh, seems a good trencherman ! . Behind the altar a short flight of steps leads you up to a causeway which runs down the centre of the whole building on a level with the platforms which surround each court . On either side of the causeway, completely filling the courts, are square offering tables of stone ( that this is the purpose of these blocks is evident from the tomb pictures ) while outside the building in the temenos on either side are forty rows of twenty offering tables each, made of mud brick . Perhaps these were for the commoners who had not an entrée into the Temple or possibly for each town in the Empire . In any case an attempt was made to give everyone a personal interest in the worship . It was indeed a striving after a universal god .



As court succeeds court, each separated by elaborate gateways and pylon towers, the plaster floors rise in a series of low steps to conform with the lie of the ground . The platforms and causeway thus get correspondingly lower and lower until they come to the court of the High Altar . Just before this, funds seem to have run rather low and we find whitewashed brick taking the place of the stone facing .



The break between the system of platforms and causeway and the altar court is emphasized by an irregular colonnade . Passing through this you arrive at the High Altar, set amongst offering tables in the midst of a court which is itself surrounded by a series of chambers, open to the sky, each one containing one or more offering tables or altars .



This part of the Temple ends abruptly with a blank wall and there is no trace either in the existing remains or in the representations of it of any door leading East . Probably therefore this part of the Temple was used for specific occasions when the Sanctuary was not needed . For if the Royal progress was to include the Sanctuary it would mean an entirely unnecessary return to the entrance of Per-hai .



The final Sanctuary lies some 350 yards to the East . In the pictures it is shown as being practically next door, but that is for reasons of space .



Between it and the part already described lie four oblong troughs, probably plaster receptacles of the type already mentioned . These, however, can never be found since the modern cemetery of El-Till spreads out at this point and covers much of the ground . A certain amount indeed of Gem-Aten is occupied by this cemetery ; stray graves have had to be walled in and a large stretch of the North side left unexcavated .But thanks to the courtesy of the inhabitants we have been allowed to approach as near the limit as may be .



The Sanctuary itself shows the essential features of a temple of the Aten in its simplest form – so simple apparently that it was soon considered old-fashioned, and although it is always represented in the tomb pictures, yet we never see it in actual use as the scene of any ceremony performed by the King . It occupies a large area some hundred yards long . First come the usual series of pylon towers, leading to an open court, at the South end of which lie three small houses, obviously those of the priests on duty . A second pylon leads to the Sanctuary proper . In this again we begin with a causeway, stepping down on each side into a court well stocked with offering tables and having rooms to North and South . To the East the causeway passes between two large colonnades . Between the columns of these stand colossal statues of Akhenaten, two on each side, wearing the Crown of the North and the Crown of the South . These colonnades back up against pylon towers . At this point the causeway steps down to the level of the altar court to which the worshipper is led round by two turns, since screen walls are built out to block the view of the Holy of Holies . This last court resembles in every way the Eastern court of Gem-Aten with the herd of offering tables surrounding the high altar and the series of chambers open to the sky surrounding the whole court . At the back of the Sanctuary, but approached only from outside, are a series of rooms and passages apparently constructed for sentimental reasons so as to incorporate the original shrine which had been the scene of the dedication ceremony, while beyond this there are no buildings until the small gate in the East wall of the temenos is reached .



Of the decoration of any of these buildings we know little . So much destroyed, and what remains usually consists of tantalizing fragments or wearisome repetitions of the Royal and Divine Names .



Close by lies a large square building which can be identified as the slaughterers' yard, where the meat offerings were prepared . Between this and the Sanctuary lie the foundations of the great stele and the colossal statue of the King which we see in all the tomb pictures . Fragments of the stele have been found and merely give a list of offerings or of the property of the god .



But quite a different type of temple was the " Sun-Shade " which Akhenaten built for his mother Tiy, when she came to visit him at Amarna in the twelfth year of his reign . We have seen how she brought with her ideas from the outside world, and from the picture in the tomb of Huya it would seem that her ideas in architecture did not conform to those in vogue at Amarna . Professor Jean Capart sees in this picture a representation of a temple differing but little from the normal Theban type . This will, of course, be confirmed or contradicted when the remains of the building itself are discovered, but from what we can make out in the picture it certainly seems as if he is right . The first court is surrounded by a colonnade . Between the columns statues are grouped in pairs, those of Tiy and Amenhotep III alternating with those of Tiy and Akhenaten . The Sanctuary proper, though evidently open to the sky, resembles the Theban temples by reason of the grouping of a number of chambers round a central Holy of Holies, the whole apparently being approached through a hypostyle hall .





Part ( 6 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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