Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 2.djvu/35

The Palace. 15 amplitude of lateral development. We have not space to give a restoration of the most important of the " villas" figured at Tell- el-Amarna in its entirety ; but we give enough (Fig. 4) to suggest the great assemblage of buildings, which, when complete, must have covered a vast space of ground (Fig. 5). By its variety, by its alternation of courts and gardens with buildings surrounded here by stone colonnades, there by lighter wooden verandahs, this palace evidently belongs to the same family as other Oriental palaces of later times. Within its wide ciicioite the sovereign could enjoy all the pleasures of the open country while living either in his capital or in its immediate neighbourhood ; he could satisfy all his wishes and desires without moving from the spot. We have chosen for restoration that part of the royal dwelling which corresponds to what is called, in the East, the selamlik. and in the West, the reception-rooms. A structure stands before the entrance the purpose of which cannot readily be decided. It might be a reservoir for the use of the palace inmates, or it might be a guard-house ; the question must be left open. Behind this structure there is a door between two towers with inclined walls, forming a kind of pylon. There is a narrower doorway near each angle. All three of these entrances open upon a vast rectangular court, which is inclosed laterally by two rows of chambers and at the back by a repetition of the front wall and three doorways already described. This courtyard incloses a smaller one, which is prefaced by a deep colonnaded portico, and incloses an open hall raised considerably above the level of the two courts. The steps by which this hall is reached are clearly shown upon the plan. In the middle of it there is a small structure, which may be one of those tribune-like altars which are represented upon some of the bas-reliefs. Nestor L'Hote grives a sketch of one of these reliefs. It shows a man standing upon a dais with a pile of offerinsi^s betore him. The same writer describes some existinof remains of a similar structure at Karnak : it is a quadrilateral block, to which access was obtained by an inclined plane.^ store-houses and offices, the courts, gardens, and artificial lakes ; ever)thing. in fact, which went to make up the royal dwelling-place. Ltttres ccrites d' Ei^pie (in 1838-9; 8vo, 1S40) : pp. 64-65. ^ Lettres krites d Egypte, p. 62. In some other plans from Tell-el-Amarna, given by Prisse, several of these altars are given upon a larger scale, showing the offerings with which they are heaped. One of them has a flight of steps leading up to it.