Arsinoe of the Ptolemaic age, and the Crocodilopolis of earlier history. Large mounds and fragments of granite columns lie scattered in all directions. In its immediate neighbourhood is the pyramid of Howaree, which indicates the site of the Labyrinth; it is, however, so entirely ruined that neither its extent nor its plan can be satisfactorily made out, though much has been done for its investigation by Dr. Lepsius and the Prussian expedition in 1842. Beyond Al-Fýúm are the ruins of Ashmouneia (Hermopolis Magna), and Ensené (Antinoe), on the East side of the river, and in its neighbourhood the grottos of Beni-Hassan (Speos Artemidos), the painted walls of which afford excellent representations of the arts and domestic life of the ancient inhabitants. A little south of Siout is the commencement of the Third division, or Upper Egypt; and near that town are some magnificent tombs. Gau-al-Kabír (Antæopolis), a town on the East bank, till lately preserved a very perfect ancient temple, but a high flood in 1819 destroyed nearly the whole place. At Ekhmim (Panopolis, or Chemmis) and Arabat (Abydus), a few miles further on, are extensive remains, and at Denderá (Tentyra) still stands a very perfect temple. The remains of Denderá cover a great extent of ground, and are enclosed, with the exception of one building, by a square wall, one side of which is a thousand feet in length. About twenty miles south of Denderá, the traveller arrives at the plain of Thebes (Hecatompylos), which contains the most wonderful assemblage of ruins on the face of the earth. The Ancient city of Thebes occupied both sides of the river, and is now represented by four villages, each preserving its separate collection of Antiquities. The villages are named, Luxor and Karnak on the Eastern side, Gourneh and Madinat-Háboo on the Western. Luxor is chiefly remarkable for its temple, which is covered with sculptures representing the triumph of Rameses II. over an Asiatic enemy, a subject repeated on other monuments at Thebes, and on the great Nubian temples at Ipsambul. Karnak, a mile and a quarter lower down the river, presents an irregular avenue of Sphinxes considerably more than a mile in length; and contains the ruins of the Temple of Ammon, described by Diodorus, some portion of which has been constructed out of the materials of still earlier buildings, blocks of stone being occasionally found with the Hieroglyphics inverted. Gourneh, on the West bank, has a small Temple and Palace dedicated to Amen, the Theban Zeus, by Sethos I., the father of Rameses II. (the Greek Sesostris),' with many sculptures of great interest; and, at a short distance from this Temple, the ruined Palace of Rameses II., commonly, though erroneously, called the Memnonium, within the area of which are the fragments of a statue of that King, the largest probably ever executed. Some idea may be formed of its stupendous size when we state, that its feet are eleven feet long and nearly five in breadth. The sculptures in the so-called Memnonium afford valuable illustrations of the wars of the ancient Egyptians. Beyond the Memnonium are two colossal statues, the easternmost of which is the celebrated Vocal Memnon. Madinat Háboo probably occupies the site of the fourth of the temples mentioned by Diodorus. Its still remaining ruins are of various ages, some works of the later Egyptian and Roman period being intermixed with the early sculptures of Thothmes II. and III., and of Rameses III. (the Rhampsinitus of Herodotus). The most important ruin is that of the Palace or Temple of Rameses III., which is covered with valuable historical sculptures. Behind Madinat Háboo is a valley, in which are excavations called the Tombs of the Queens, which have, however, suffered so much from the action of fire, that but little can be traced of their sculptures. Still further on, behind a low range of rocks, are the Bibán al Muluk (the Gates of the Kings), the still more celebrated Royal sepulchres, one of which (that of Sethos I.) Belzoni opened, and has minutely described. The names of the Monarchs recorded, though not necessarily buried, in these Tombs, are those of Rameses I., Sethos II., Rameses II., III., IV., V., VIII., and X., while many of them contain memorials in Greek of persons who visited them in ancient times. One other smaller sepulchre is mentioned by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, and bears the name of Amenoph III. Such are some of the wonders of that extraordinary group of ruins, known generally by the name of Thebes. Between Thebes and the cataracts of Assouan (Syene) are several remarkable ruins, the principal of which are those of Erments (Hermonthis), Esneh (Latopolis), the grottoes of Al-Kab (Eileithuias), the painted chambers of which afford admirable representa 1 Wilk, vol. i. p. 138. tions of the domestic life and rural economy of the Egyptians, and near which is the last pyramid within the limits of Egypt Southwards the Temple of Edfou (Apollinopolis Magna), and the remains of Ombi, with a Temple still nearly perfect. Lastly, in the extreme limits of Egypt adjoining Nubia, are the ruins of Elephantina and the island of Philæa, containing a wonderful collection of monuments, grouped together within a very limited space. Passing Philæ, the traveller enters the province of Nubia, divided into Upper and Lower Nubia, and hardly less distinguished than Egypt itself for the magnificence and grandeur of its ruined temples. It has, indeed, been suspected that Egyptian arts and civilization descended the Nile from Nubia, and there are not wanting indications confirmatory of this supposition in the peculiar character of the Nubian monuments, many of which are gigantic carvings upon the face of the rock itself, pointing to a very remote antiquity for their execution. The principal ruins in Lower Nubia are those of Wady Sivah (the Oasis of Ammon), the rock-cut temples of Ipsambul, Derri, and Girscheh, and the singularly perfect and uninjured. temple of Dandour. Of these the colossal works at Ipsambul may be considered to vie in magnificence with the grandest works at Karnak and Luxor. Upper Nubia commences at the Second cataract of the Nile, in Lat. 21° 50', at a place called Wady Halfa, and contains many remains of the highest interest. Of these the principal are those at Semneh, Amara, Soleb, Sesche, or Sasef, on the island of Tumbus, and at Mount Barkal. Mount Barkal is perhaps the most remarkable, from its peculiar isolated character and the number of monuments grouped upon it. It was in its immediate neighbourhood that Lord Prudhoe (now the Duke of Northumberland) procured the colossal granite lions in the Museum,' which belong to a very early period of Egyptian art. Beyond Mount Barkal are several small pyramids, and at a place called Nourri there is a considerable group of them; and in the Desert, about six leagues East of the Nile, are the ruins of Naga, containing some curious sculptured remains. Lastly, and also in the Desert, nine leagues South of Shendy, is Al-Meçaourah, with its vast collection of ruins, consisting of eight small Temples 1 Egyptian Saloon, Nos. 1 and 34. connected by galleries and terraces with a great number of chambers, probably the site of the ancient Ammonium, the original seat of the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, from which the Religious colonies, which carried civilization, arts, and religion from Æthiopia to the Delta, are believed to have issued. Al-Meçaourah itself probably represents the position of Meroe, the ancient capital of Æthiopia. EGYPTIAN SALOON. www WITH this brief introduction, we proceed to the Egyptian Saloon, as containing the most important records of ancient Egyptian Art. For convenience of reference and description we group the various objects in this room under the following heads : : 1. STATUES AND FRAGMents of KingS. 4. SARCOPHAGI. 5. OBELISKS. 6. INSCRIBED SLABS. 7. SEPULCHRAL TABLETS. 1. STATUES AND FRAGMENTS of Kings. On entering the Egyptian Saloon, the spectator will observe a row of colossal subjects on each side of the central passage, of which the first which claims especial attention is No. 19, commonly called the HEAD OF MEMNON, the most celebrated monument of Egyptian art in any European collection, whether we consider its history, its colossal proportions, or the style of its sculpture. It is carved in a piece of fine granite, the lower portion of a dark, the upper of a salmon colour, and when complete represented the monarch seated on a throne, with his hand upon his knees. He wears on his head a modius, decorated with a disk and uræi, and has a collar round his neck. His right arm has a hole drilled in it, apparently for blasting, and his left appears to have been blown off by the same process, probably to render it lighter for transportation. On his back are perpendicular lines of Hieroglyphics, the upper portions of which are tolerably well preserved, and record the gifts of power and dominion, length of years, &c. by the God Amen-Ra, to the King Rameses II. It appears, on close examination, that this colossal fragment has been coloured, probably in early times, traces of red paint existing on the face and modius, and of other colours upon the claft. |
