#'(LAMBDA NIL NIL)

At one point, anything Egyptian was seen as seen as symbolic of empire, antiquity, splendor, etc. This followed trends towards seeing the same thing in Hellenistic or Roman architecture/sculpture/etc. the same way. Some people regard things associated with Victorian Britain that way now, and perhaps someday things American will be snactched upon and turned into an "American Imperial Revival" style. :-)*shudder*