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HISTORY OF ENGINEERING.
Rook I.
the ceremonies of the lectisternium, so frequently mentioned by Livy the historian. Fromthe peculiar form of this monument, and its being the only one at Rome of the kind, we
should almost fancy that it had been derived fromsome of those in Nubia , with which it so ex-actly corresponds in arrangement and dimension.Had Caius Cestius held office under the Romangeneral Petronius , in his expedition againstQueen Candace, when he penetrated into Ethiopia ,and took the towns of Pselchis, Premmis, andNapata, about twenty years before the birth ofChrist, we should have supposed that he had beenstruck with the respect paid to the dead in someof their necropoli, and selected the same form forhis own place of sepulture. In the interesting
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travels of G. A. Hoskins into Ethiopia , is the description of an elliptical brick arch (Jig. 46.),which he discovered in a tomb at Thebes , situated near the valley of the sepulchre of thequeens. The roof or ceiling was painted upon a plaster ground, and along the centrewas a line of hieroglyphics, which contained the name of Amunoph I., which proves theexistence of the arch in that part of Egypt fifteen centuries and a half before the Christianera. Its span is 8 feet 6, and its rise 3 feet 4 inches.
Another brick arch is also described on the road from the Memnonium to the valley ofthe Hassaseef, in a small tomb, which is also vaulted. *
This has a lower arch of brick resting on a shelf cut on each side of the native rock: theaccess to this tomb is through a hole in the ceiling from the floor of another tomb above it,where the construction of the arch is seen. The whole is covered with plaster, and k onthe jambs of the recess are inscribed the titles and pramomen of Thothmes III., Sun, Esta-blisher of the World, fifth king of the eighteenth dynasty, who reigned fifteen centuriesbefore Chris*,
In the pyramid at Gibel el Berkel is a semicircular arch, the key-stone of which is1 foot 9 inches in length.
The only stone arch said by Mr. Hoskins to be met with in Egypt is at North Der, atThebes . The vaulted tomb at Memphis is of the time of Psammeticus, who reigned im-mediately after the Ethiopian dynasty ; and it is inferred that the Egyptians learned theuse of the arch from the Ethiopians .
Alexandria . — This ancient port was improved by Alexander the Great , after his successagainst Tyre, and, according to the historian Gibbon, the undertaking was as noble asany ever executed by the son of Philip. Having journeyed through Egypt , and observedthe highly productive state of the country, and that it was watered by one of the largestrivers of the world, which discharged itself by seven mouths into the Mediterranean Sea , heimagined that its only want was a convenient haven. Pelusium, at the eastern mouth ofthe Nile , was not capable of improvement. Canopus, on the eastern side of the westernmouth, was still more inconvenient, although it had a landing-place for ships.
Alexander , who was liberal and magnificent, found among his countrymen engineersqualified to second his bold ideas, and he had, what is a rare quality among princes, thetalent to select the best fitted to execute them. On this occasion he appointed Dinocrates his architect and engineer, who had already acquired great celebrity in the constructionof the temple at Ephesus , dedicated to Diana.