Chap. 19.] LABYEINTHS. 341 



divided into regions and prsefectures, which are styled nomes,*^ 

 thirty in number, with a vast palace assigned to each. In 

 addition to these, it should contain temples of all the gods of 

 Egypt, and forty statues of JSTemesis*' in as many sacred 

 shrines ; besides numerous pyramids, forty ells*^ in height, and 

 covering six arurae'^ at the base. Fatigued with wandering 

 to and fro, the visitor is sure to arrive at some inextricable 

 crossing or other of the galleries. And then, too, there are 

 banquetting rooms situate at the summit of steep ascents; 

 porticos from which we descend by flights of ninety steps ; 

 columns in the interior, made of porphyrites ;^ figures of gods ; 

 statues of kings ; and effigies of hideous monsters. Some of 

 the palaces are so peculiarly constructed, that the moment the 

 doors are opened a dreadful sound like that of thunder rever- 

 berates within : the greater part, too, of these edifices have to be 

 traversed in total darkness. Then again, without the walls of 

 the Labyrinth, there rises another mass of buildings known as 

 the "Pteron;"'*^ beneath which there are passages excavated 

 leading to other subterranean palaces. One person, and only 

 one, has made some slight repairs to the Labyrinth ; Ch^re- 

 mon," an eunuch of King N'ecthebis, who lived five hundred 

 years before the time of Alexander the Great. It is asserted, 

 also, that while the arched roofs of squared stone were being 

 raised, he had them supported by beams of thorn" boiled 

 in oil. 



As for the Cretan Labyrinth, what I have already stated 

 must suffice for that. The Labyrinth of Lemnos" is simi- 

 lar to it, only that it is rendered more imposing by its 

 hundred and fifty columns ; the shafts of which, when in the 

 stone-yard, were so nicely balanced, that a child was able to 

 manage the wheel of the lathe in turning them. The archi- 



*^ As to the meaning of this word, see B. v. c. 9. 



*^ See Chapter 5 of this Book. ' 



" " Ulna;." See Introduction to Vol. III. 



*^ The dpovpa was a Greek square measure, containing 2500 square 

 feet. 50 See Chapter 11 of this Book. 



*^ As to the meaning of this word, see Chapter 4 of this Book, page 317, 

 and Note 77. ^^ " Circummon" is a more common reading. 



^3 Or acacia. See B. xxiv. c. 65. 



5* Welcker remarks that it is uncertain whether this Labyrinth was 

 erected as a temple of the Cabiri, or whether it had any connection with 

 the art of miuins:. 



