The villas of the Egyptians were of great extent, and contained spacious gardens watered by canals communicating with the Nile. The house itself was sometimes ornamented with propylsea and obelisks, like, the temples; it is even possible that part of the building may have been consecrated to religious pur- poses, as the chapels of other countries, since we find (in ancient paintings of them) a priest engaged in presenting offerings at the door of the inner cham- bers ; and, indeed, were it not for the presence of the women, the form of the garden, and the style of the porch, we should feel disposed to consider it a temple rather than a place of abode. The entrance.; of large villas were generally through folding gates, standing between lofty towers, as at the courts of temples, with a small door at each side ; and others had merely folding gates, with the jambs su-mount- ed by a cornice. One general wall of circuit extend- ed round the premises, but the courts of the house,
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ARCHITECTURE
Exterior View of an ancient Egyptian Villa, restored.
the garden, the offices, and all the other parts of the villa had each their separate enclosure. The walls were usually built of crude brick, and when in damp places, or within reach of the inundation, the low- er part was strengthened by a basement of stone. They were sometimes ornamented with panels and grooved lines, generally stuccoed, and the summit was crowned either with Egyptian battlements, the usual cornice, a row of spikes in imitation of spear-heads, or with some fancy ornament. The plans of the villas varied according to circumstances, but their general arrangement is sufficiently explained by the paintings. They were surrounded by a high wall, about the mid- dle of which was the main or front entrance, with one central and two side gates, leading to an open walk shaded by rows of trees. Here were spacious tanks of water, facing the doors of the right and left wings of the house, between which an avenue led from the main entrance to what may be called the centre of the mansion. After passing the outer door of the right wing, you entered an open court, with trees, extend- ing quite round a nucleus of inner apartments, and having a back entrance communicating with the gar- den. On the right and left of this court were six or more store-rooms, a small receiving or waiting room at two of the comers, and at the other end the stair- cases which led to the upper story. Both of the inner facades were furnished with a corridor, supported on columns, with similar towers and gateways. The in- terior of this wing consisted of twelve rooms, two out- er and one centre court, communicating by folding gates ; and on either side of this last was the main en- trance to the rooms on the ground floor, and to the staircases leading to the upper story. At the back were three long rooms, and a gateway opening on the garden, which, besides flowers, contained a variety of tree a summer-house, and a large tank of water. The arrangement of the left wing was different. The front gate led to an open court, extending the whole breadth of the facade of the building, and backed by the wall of the inner part. Central and lateral doors thence communicated with another court, surrounded on three sides by a set of rooms, and behind it was a corridor, upon which several other chambers opened. This wing had no back entrance, and, standing isolated, the outer court extended entirely round it; and a succes- sion 1.1' doorways communicated from the court with different sections of the centre of the house, where the rooms, disposed, like those already described, around
passages and corridors, served partly as sitting apart- ments and partly as store-rooms. (See Wilkinson's Aur. Eg. abridgm. i, 24 sq.) Sec Building.
2. The remains of Persian and Assyrian palaces are important, as suggesting what may have been the pre- dominant features of the palaces of David, and espe- cially Solomon, although this style was doubtless some- what modified by the Syrian method of architecture, which was probably more lofty, with several stories,
quadrangular, and with flat roofs. In Mr. Fergusson's work (The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, Lond. 1851) may be found the latest and most ingen- ious theory on this subject, with plans and elevations giving a tangible form to his conclusions. The scar- city of wood in the East must have had great effect in architectural style ; but stone being abundant in Pal- estine, there was no occasion for the immense piles and thick walls of sunburnt brick which formed so distinguishing a feature in Assyrian structures. Ac- cording to Mr. Fergusson, the ground story alone was faced with stone, the upper story being formed upon a system of beams supported by pillars, and enclosed by a high mud wall (see the Jour, of Sac. Lit. Jan. 1852, p. 422-433). On the numerous points of resemblance between the Assyrian and Jewish palaces, see Lay- ard's Nineveh, 2d ser. p. C41 sq. See Assyria.
3. The specimens of the Indian stjdes are of doubt- ful date, yet the most remarkable were probably erect ed about one thousand years B.C. They are exclu- sively Brahminical and Buddhist temples and pagodas. Some of the Brahminical temples are excavations in the rocks, but not closed like the Egyptians, and have columns cut out of the rock without rules or uniformi- ty (e. g. the temple of Ellora and Elephanta) ; others are provided with cells, with cupolas or pyramidal ceilings, and supported by figures of animals (Kailassa of Ellora). The Buddhist temples are also under- ground, but closed, and in the shape of a long parallel- ogram ; they have a double row of pillars, a vault re- sembling the interior of a hollow cylinder, and end in a semicircular recess containing the divinity in the form of a soap-bubble (Pagoss), as in the temple of Wiswakanna at Ellora. The pagodas are built above- ground, generally pyramidal, and terminated by a cu- pola (e. g. Madura, Brambana of Java). The Indian architecture approaches closely to the Persian and the Assyrian, as exemplified in Persepolis, Nineveh, and Babylon ; and also, at a later time, to the Chinese, which adopted the pagoda style in their turrets, but replaced the cupola by a projecting angular roof or- namented with bells (e. g. the porcelain tower at Nan- kin"). But it is with the Egyptian style that the Is- raelite is connected, as exemplified in Solomon's Tem- ple (see article). (See Sleeman's Rambles in India Pond. 1811.)