Egyptian Temples.—In the architectural sense the earliest
temples in Egypt probably consisted only of a small cella, or
sanctuary, with a portico, such as are represented in the models
of soul-houses found in 1907 by Flinders Petrie at Rifeh; in
front of these various additions were made, so that eventually
the temple assumed far greater importance than was at first
contemplated. This custom is at variance with that which
takes place in the development of other architectural styles,
Fig. 5.—Plan
of Mammeisi
Temple, Philae.
where the older buildings are constantly taken
down and rebuilt in accordance with the
increased knowledge acquired in construction and
design. It follows from this that although the
Egyptian temples vary in their dimensions and
extent, as a rule they present the same
disposition of plan. The principal exceptions to
this rule are the sepulchral temples, such as
those of Deir el Bahri, and the more ancient
example adjoining it, discovered in 1906, in
which there are no enclosed halls of columns
or sanctuary, and the Mammeisi temples
(fig. 5), which in plan resemble the Greek
peristylar temples and might have been
suggested by them, had not the example at
Elephantine (destroyed in 1822) been of much earlier date,
having been built by Amenophis III. (1414-1379).
The earliest example of which remains have been found is the temple built by Cephren in front of his pyramid at Memphis, and this consisted only of a sanctuary of small size without any architectural pretensions. The next in date would be the sepulchral temple built by Mentuhotep (2832-2796) adjoining Deir el Bahri at Thebes; then follows the sanctuary of Karnak, built by Senwosri (Usertesen) I. (2758-2714), which formed the nucleus of that immense temple, which covered an area of 400,000 sq. ft. This temple may be taken as an extreme type of the accumulation which is found in nearly all the Egyptian temples, owing to the additions made to the original structure by successive monarchs, instead of rebuilding, as was the general custom in all other styles. To a certain extent the same conservative principle seems to have governed the design of all other temples, and even the temple at Edfû, which was set out on a plan conceived from the first, has the appearance of having been added to at various periods, the fronts of the inner halls showing inside those built in front. It is not only in the plan that the close resemblance of one building to another is shown; the architectural design is repeated in the earliest and latest temples; the raking sides of the pylons and walls with the torus-moulding of the quoins and the cavetto cornice are identical, so that it is only by the inscriptions that one is able to ascribe the buildings to the kings of the 18th or following dynasties and distinguish them from those erected by the Ptolemies, or even under Roman rule. The only differences are those exhibited in the great halls of columns, which, in the earlier temples, were built in between the pylons and side walls, receiving their light through clerestory windows, as at Karnak (fig. 6), the other temples in its vicinity and the Ramesseum; whereas in the later temples on one side of the walls a screen was built between the columns, over which the interior was lighted. The second change was that made in the capitals of the columns, which are of wonderful diversity of design, even in the same hall, including every variety of river plant, in addition to the papyrus and lotus flowers; in the later temples also the columns are more slender in their proportions and not set so closely one to the other.
Fig. 6.—Hall of Columns, Karnak.
Although generally the temples are built symmetrically on a central axis, with walls at right angles to one another, there are some special exceptions; thus the axial line of the great entrance court of the temple at Luxor is at an angle of about 15° with that of the temple in its rear, and in the island of Philae no two buildings are on the same axis or are parallel to or at right angles to one another, thus conforming to the irregular site on which they were built.
Assyrian.—The temple in Chaldaea or Assyria (known as a ziggurat) was of an entirely different class, and took the form of a many-storeyed structure, of which the typical example is the Birs Nimrud. This originally consisted of six storeys, each one set behind the other, so as to admit of a terrace round each, the upper storey being crowned by a shrine.
Access to the several storeys was obtained by flights of steps, either lying parallel with the front or in one continuous flight in centre of same, or again as at Khorsabad by a ramp winding round the tower; the architectural design consisted of sunk panels on the various storeys with battlement parapets, and, like the Birs Nimrud, the several storeys were dedicated to the seven planets, the walls being enriched with the colours sacred to each.
Fig. 7.—The Heraeum.
From Curtius and Adler's Olympia, by permission of Behrend & Co.
Greek and Roman.—In Greece the earliest example of a temple is that of the Heraeum at Olympia, ascribed by Dr Dörpfeld to the 10th century B.C. The Heraeum (fig. 7) consisted of a central naos or sanctuary with pronaos in front and opisthodomus in the rear, the whole enclosed by a peristyle, thus presenting the characteristics of the fully developed temple of the 5th century. As, however, the description of the several types would be rendered clearer if they were taken from the simplest plan to the more elaborate, adopting to a certain extent the definitions given by Vitruvius, they are as follows:—
