1. 
582 Some Account of the Monuments 
Gottingen library, we received that of Sir William Hamilton © 
also, whom I had the honour to reckon among my auditors 4 
during a course of lectures which I gave on the antiquities of — 
Egypt. The English traveller has dedicated the first part of © 
his work to the monuments of this country, and particularly to | 
those of Upper Egypt and of Thebes. It is true that we find | 
here a sketch of several of the drawings of the great French | 
work, and every person must be aware of the advantage which | 
results from the comparison of the descriptions and criticisms, , 
and even of the drawings of observers of two different nations, — 
who furnish us with means of comparison so useful and im- — 
portant. 
It is from those two sources, but chiefly the former, that _ 
I have drawn my materials. I shall endeavour, in the first place, — 
to give a general idea of the monuments of Thebes, and to de- — 
scribe them afterwards in detail. 
The French have measured the ground of ancient Thebes, ; 
and have given it in the Plan General with an exactitude which — 
leaves almost nothing to be desired. The valley of the Nile did — 
not present in all Upper Egypt any place more convenient for the | 
establishment of a great capital. ‘The chains of mouhtains of 
the two shores of the river, those of Libya on the west and _ 
the Arabic on the east, are far enough distant to leave on the” » 
two banks a spacious plain from. three leagues to three and a_ 
half broad from west to east, and nearly of the same length. To 
the north this plain is very contr acted, by.the closeness of the 
mountains whieh skirt the banks ; 3 but towards the south, where 
the western chain leaves the river, it is open on one side. | 
Nature had therefore put bounds to the space which Thebes oc= | 
eupied, but stil ll there was space enough to make it one of the 
first cities of the earth. Did the ancient Thebes cover the whole 
of this plain? This is a question which it is dificult to decide, | 
after all the private residences have disappeared; but as on the 
western side the external monuments extend to the foot of the | 
mountains of Libya (where the Hypogea or subterranean monu-— H 
ments commence), the circumstance does not appear doubtful in | 
this part: as to the western side, where the great monuments” 
are immediately close to the river, it cannot be determined to 
what extent this yast plain was covered with habitations. His- 
tory teaches us to think that it was entirely so, from the extent 
of its population. 
Thebes extended therefore over both banks of the Nile; but, | 
so far as we know, the two parts of the city were never joinec 7 
by a bridge. A nation which was not acquainted with the art 
of making arches, could scarcely throw a bridge over a rive 
which is from 7 to 800 fathoms in breadth. oa PY 
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