EGYPTIAN ART. The art of Egypt is, next to that of Babylonia. the earliest in the world's history. Its origins have been investigated during the last live years with better success than ever before, especially by English a mine ologists, such as Petrie, and French explorers, as de Morgan. The proofs of Egyptian civiliza tion which they have found, belonging to the First and the Second dynasties, come into the domain of arelueology rather than art, consisting of the contents of small tombs—arms, ornaments, and utensils. Relics of the stage of prehistoric an tiquities of the Stone Age have also been found, though it has not been proved apparently that the relics actually antedated the historic dynas ties, rather than that they belong to another less advanced race, perhaps contemporaneous with the first kings mentioned by Manetho.
The four or five thousand years of Egyptian art, from the First Dynasty to the time of the Roman Empire, fall for all practical purposes into four main period:: (1) Old. Empire (e.4000-3000) ; (2) Middle Empire (c.3000 2100) : (3) _New Empire (c.2100-324); (4) Greeo-lloman revival (n.c. 324-c.300 A.D.). The Christian art that follows, whether Coptic or Byzantine, is les; Egyptian than cosmopolitan. During these more than four millenniums art retained great unity of style as soon as it had reached—probably during the Third Dynasty— a mastery of the technique of the various branches of art; although (Trial!' forms, such as temple architecture, were not developed until as late as the Eleventh Dynasty.
AncniTEcTum. The monuments of the Old Empire (First to Sixth dynasties of Manetho) belong rather to engineering than to architec ture, but, with all their simplicity, possess great material grandeur. There is as yet no temple architecture. A temple found by l'etrie at Mei dinn is apparently an exception; otherwise the shrines are merely parts of the pyramids. (See PYnAmins.) These gigantie tombs, over a hun dred in number, were erected for the burial of members of royal and noble families, and each one contains a burial-ehamher and a number of passages. The earliest dated pyramid is the
stepped structure at Sakknrah, PIO feet high in six stories. built of brick. There are similar structures at Abusir and Meidinn. These possibly a knowledge on the part of the Egyp tians of the stepped temple pyramids of Baby lonia, also of brick. But stone soon ea me to be the material used for the Egyptian pyramids. This is illustrated by the three famous examples at Ghizeh, all belonging to kings of the Fourth Dynasty ; Khafra . fen ka ura , and Khufu (Cheops), that of the last-named the greatest of all, b•Mg 3'12 feet high. For persons not of royal blood the tomb took the form of a reetangn lar structure. (See MvsTAn.t.) The best-pre served shrine of this period is the so-called Temple of the Sphinx (q.v.), of extremely primi tive architecture, consisting of a hall in the form of a T roofed. with plain stone lintels on sixteen perfectly plain square stone piers. There is an entire lack, during this first period, of any archi tectural memberment or decoration. No style has yet been formed. The Middle Empire shows a considerable change. Architectural orders are originated; columns and shafts of many profiles; capitals of many designs. The lintel was made the basis of design, and the vault relegated to engineering works. The careful execution that had before been confined to the industrial arts was applied to the decoration of buildings; color and relief sculpture embellished architecture. It is true that the pyramids of this period are smaller than those of the earlier dynasties, generally inferior in execution, and built of brick. But the rock-cut and free-standing tombs gave a chance to design facades, porticoes, and columnar interiors. At Abydos is the group of tombs historically most interesting, as this was from the beginning of Egyptian history the most sacred burial-plaee. Here the usual type is free-standing. I If rock-eut tombs the most famous group is at Beni-Hassan.