most frequently stood in the midst of a garden, or of an enclosed court
planted with trees; and, like the commoner houses, they turned a blank
front to the street, consisting of bare walls, battlemented like those of a
fortress (fig. 11). Thus, home-life was strictly secluded, and the pleasure
of seeing was sacrificed for the advantages of not being seen. The door was
approached by a flight of two or three steps, or by a porch supported on
columns (fig. 12) and adorned with statues (fig. 13), which gave it a
monumental appearance, and indicated the social importance of the family.

[Illustration: WALL-PAINTINGS, EL AMARNA.
Fig. 12.--Porch of mansion, second Theban period,
Fig. 13.--Porch of mansion, second Theban period.]

Sometimes this was preceded by a pylon-gateway, such as usually heralded
the approach to a temple. Inside the enclosure it was like a small town,
divided into quarters by irregular walls. The dwelling-house stood at the
farther end; the granaries, stabling, and open spaces being distributed in
different parts of the grounds, according to some system to which we as yet
possess no clue. These arrangements, however, were infinitely varied. If I
would convey some idea of the residence of an Egyptian noble,--a residence
half palace, half villa,--I cannot do better than reproduce two out of the
many pictorial plans which have come down to us among the tomb-paintings
of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The first (figs. 14, 15) represent a Theban
house. The enclosure is square, and surrounded by an embattled wall. The
main gate opens upon a road bordered with trees, which runs beside a canal,
or perhaps an arm of the Nile. Low stone walls divide the garden into
symmetrical compartments, like those which are seen to this day in the
great gardens of Ekhmîm or Girgeh.

[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Plan of a Theban house with garden, from