82 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. had recourse to this contrivance in order to euard ag-ainst the effects of earthquakes. He shows clearly that a wall built in such a fashion would offer a much more solid resistance to their attacks than one with foundations com- posed of horizontal courses.^ If we are to take it as estab- lished that the vault or arch was among the primitive methods of Egyptian construction, we have no reason to believe that off-set arches were older, in Egypt at least, than true arches. We have described this form of arch elsewhere, and explained the contrivance by which the superficial appearance of a vault was obtained.- The process could obviously Fig. 49.— Elliptical vavJt ; Thebes. Fig. 50. — Foundations with inverted segmental arches ; compiled from Prisse. only be carried out in stone. We shall here content ourselves with giving two examples of its employment. The first dates from the eighteenth dynasty, and occurs in the temple of Dayr-el-Bahari.^ Our Fig, 51 gives a transverse is not the only place where it is to be found. The bounding wall of the temple of Osiris at Abydos affords another instance of it. It should also be noticed that the problem offered to us by such a mode of building is complicated by the fact that, in the quay at Esneh and in some parts of the temple of Philce, it is combined with the use of very large sandstone blocks." ^ ViOLLET-i.E-Duc, Histoh-e de V Hahitatioti Jmmaine, pp. 85-88. Alberti and other Renaissance architects recommended this method of construction for building upon a soft surface. {L'Archtkttura di Leon Batista Alherti^ tradotta in lingua fiorentina da Cosivw Barioli, Venice, 1565, 4to, p. 70.)
- See p. no, Vol. I., and Figs. 74, 75, 76. ^ ggg p_ jjj ^ y^i^ i_^ etseg.
