Egypt Exploration Society

Review
Author(s): H. R. Hall
Review by: H. R. Hall
Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 12, No. 1/2 (Apr., 1926), p. 138
Published by: Egypt Exploration Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3854193
Accessed: 04-01-2016 04:42 UTC

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 138 NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Thebes: la gloire d'un grand passe. By JEANCAPARTwith the collaborationof MARCELLE WERBROUCK.
Fondation egyptologique Reine flisabeth. Brussels, Vromant. 1925.
M. Capart,with the collaboration of Mile Werbrouck,has published a very fine ouvragede luxe in this
volume, which is published as the firstfruits and in the interest of the "Fondation Reine Elisabeth,"
which he has created at Brussels. In noble format, splendid typographyand a reproductionof photographs
hors concours,the book challenges comparisonwith the great works of the kind produced elsewhere. There
are no fewer than 257 illustrations, for which M. Capart has chosen the finest photographs he could find,
illustrating practically everything of interest at Thebes-temples, tombs and landscapes. And in his 352
pages of text he has written a description of the monuments of the great city of the past as we see them
Inowin the light of modern Egyptological knowledge, that very completely covers the whole ground.
Those who turn over its pages to refresh their memory or to explore previously unknown ground cannot
fail to derive interest and pleasure from the perusal, while the student who desires to acquire additional
knowledgewill not be disappointed. Like others of its kind, its size and the heavily leaded paper necessary
for the satisfactory printing of the half-tone blocks makes weight unavoidable; but it can be said that for
one of its type the book is surprisingly light. Still, the tome (for it is nothing less) can only be read at the
table or at a stand-up desk: it is too heavy for armchair reading, and the absence of binding makes it
impossible to use without care lest it should fall to pieces of its own weight. This defect, and an additional
one in the absence of an index, are regrettable, especially the latter. But these are the only two faults we
have to find in a very fine book, well worthy of acquisition by those who like a fine book on a most
interesting subject. It is difficult to say more of a volume of this kind: good wine of so popular a vintage
needs no bush.
H. R. HALL.

Manuel d'archeologieegyptienne. I. Les elementsde I'architecture,par G. JEQUIER.Paris: Auguste Picard.

1924.
The volume under review is, to judge from the title, the first part of a complete manual of Egyptian
archaeology. Whether the author intends to provide himself and his readers with illustrations on the grand
scale of his L'architectureet la decorationdans l'Ancienne1gypte for the volumes to come we have yet to
see; at any rate his decision on that point will materially affect the value of the work, for in this first part
he depends very largely on that fine selection of photographs to illustrate his points, this notwithstanding
a generous supply of line drawings and a number of reductions from the L'architecture,etc. in the text.
MI.Jequier obeys his title very conscientiously. Elementsfor him are no more than the individual members
which go to make up the body of a building. These he traces from the ground upwards. Beginning with
the materials themselves-wood, earth (including bricks) and stone-he proceeds to describe in detail the
development of foundatiols, walls, pylons, gateways, windows, stairs, columns and pillars, architraves,
roofs and arches. To complete the building there are six more chapters on the accessories,namely the naos,
sarcophagus-whose raison d'etre in a book strictly devoted to architecture is based not so much on a
comparison of its features with those of other architectural forms, as on the fact that its function is to be
"une veritable maison" (p. 327) for the dead-altar, obelisk, stele and certain statues. The inclusion
of these objects, however necessary to the completed building, seems sufficient justification for reproach
when we find that in four hundredpages the author has not included a single complete plan of an Egyptian
temple. But perhaps it were better not to complain till we have seen the second volume. In the discussion
of the details themselves at any rate there is very little scope for additional remarks except when recent
excavations have produced entirely new material. Such of course is the case as a result of the discovery of
the shrine of King Zoser, and of the colonnade and mastabas by his pyramid. Even the minutely worked
out chapters on the columns which form the most important thesis in the book now require revision in
order to take the fluted column as far back as the Third Dynasty. M. Jequier has given us for the first
time a complete classification of the Egyptian orders, and it is difficult to believe that his classification can
ever be further elaborated. Ile distinguishes ten differenttypes of column,the last of which, the "composite
column," is itself subdivided by twenty-seven varieties of capital. In regard to pillars, of which three types
are noted, an important point is made by emphasizingthe divorce between the Osirideand Caryatidforms:
in the Osiride, though the figure is often of one piece with the pillar, it stands clear from the architrave
and therefore serves no architectonic function, in contradistinction to the Caryatid which acts as a true
support.

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