Egyptian Architecture

and Sculpture can be studied in the monuments remaining from remotest antiquity to about A. D. 300. Great varieties of style occur, which can be easily attributed to their respective periods by the hieroglyphical inscriptions. The three primitive motives of all Egyptian buildings are the pyramid, caves, and structures of timber; all contemporary with the most ancient relics. In sculpture, the most ancient works of all are also those most remarkable for fidelity to nature. The conventionality introduced afterwards with the canon of proportions is still combined with a close imitation of Nature in the details. The Grecian or Ptolemaic period begins B.C. 322. [See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, Can in a’s Egyptian Architecture; and the works of Brugsch, Marriette, Soldi, Ebers, .]