Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

After Alexander

Once formulated, Egyptian traditions tended to have very long lives,

in architecture as in the other arts—even after Alexander the Great

established Greek rule in the land of the Nile.

TEMPLE OF HORUS, EDFU The temple of Horus at Edfu

(FIG. 3-38), built during the third, second, and first centuries BCE,af-

ter Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt, still follows the basic py-

lon temple scheme architects worked out more than a thousand years

before (compare the temple of Amen-Re at Karnak,FIG. 3-24). The

great entrance pylon at Edfu is especially impressive. The broad sur-

face of its massive facade, with its sloping walls, is broken only by the

doorway with its overshadowing moldingsat the top and sides, deep

channels to hold great flagstaffs, and sunken reliefs. The reliefs depict

Horus and Hathor witnessing an oversized King Ptolemy XIII (r.

51–47 BCE) smiting undersized enemies. It is a striking monument to

the persistence of Egyptian architectural and sculptural types.

Indeed, the exceptional longevity of formal traditions in Egypt

is one of the marvels of the history of art. It testifies to the invention

of an artistic style so satisfactory that it endured in Egypt for millen-

nia. Everywhere else in the ancient Mediterranean world, stylistic

change was the only common denominator.

78 Chapter 3 EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS

3-38Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt, ca. 237–47 bce.
The pylon temple at Edfu is more than a thousand years later than that at Karnak (FIG. 3-24), but it adheres to the same basic architectural scheme.
Egyptian artistic forms tended to have very long lives.