The chief feature of Egyptian architecture is its colossal, massive
grandeur, from the use of enormous blocks of masonry, and from the
vast extent of the buildings, which produce in the beholder an
unequalled impression of sublimity and awe. The approaches to the
palaces and temples were paved roads, lined with obelisks and
sphinxes; and the temples and the palaces themselves surpassed in
size, and in elaborate ornament of sculpture and of painting, all
other works of man.
=The Pyramids.=--Of about forty pyramids now left standing in Middle
Egypt, the most remarkable are the group of nine at Gizeh, near the site
of ancient Memphis. The removal of the vast blocks of stone from distant
quarries, and their elevation to heights, which have sorely puzzled
modern engineers, were effected, not by the ingenuity of mechanical
contrivance, but by the lavish use of human labor. Thousands of men were
employed for months in moving single stones.
=The Temple Columns.=--Egyptian columns were formed by their architects
on the model of the palm-tree, whose feathery crown of foliage was ever
before their eyes, or of the full-blown or budding papyrus. We find
constantly in the mural decorations the figure of the famous
lotus-plant, or lily of the Nile, beheld by the Egyptians with
veneration, and used in sculpture and in painting as no mere ornament,
but as a religious symbol. This water-lily of Egypt was consecrated to
Isis and Osiris, and typified the creation of the world from water. It
also symbolized the rise of the Nile and the return of the sun in his
full power.