of Thebes in Egypt. 405 
been started of this fact, founded partly on the quality and co- 
lours of the stone*, partly on a passage of Strabo, in which it 
is said that in his time the stone was broken in the middle, 
which is confirmed by the description of Pausanias. It is added 
also, that it is unknown at what period the colossus must have 
been repaired. All these doubts, however, cannot have much 
weight. * The stone is in fact, according to the representation 
of the French authors, a free-stone blackened by the influence 
of the air: and because we are ignorant who repaired the statue, 
we cannot reject the evidence that it has been so repaired. If 
we might hazard an hypothesis, might we not suppose that the 
reign of Septimus Severus, who made so many reparations of 
monuments in\Egypt, was the era? 
Some distance from thence, to the N.W., we are struck with 
two immense moles of stones loaded with hieroglyphics ; they 
have probably served as pedestals for two other colossi. More 
to the northward, beside a triple row of columns we find a con- 
siderable fragment of a colossus in the attitude of walking, 
thirty feet high ;—a little further on there is the trunk of a 
statue seated, of black granite. To the north are the remains 
of a column of yellow marble, marching ;—further on are the 
ruins of two others of red granite, seated ;—two others succeed, 
forty feet high each, marching. In general, if it is now proved 
that since the commencement of our era the soil has been raised 
from 15 to 20 feet on this point, how many broken or over- 
thrown statues may be still concealed under ground ! 
How came this quantity of colossi to be heaped up in this 
apparent disorder? This is the first question which occurs. 
The appearance of the place, the ruins of the columns scattered 
here and there, give reason to suppose that there was an im- 
mense building formerly there, the whole length of which, with 
the pylones, the courts, the galleries and apartments, could not 
be less than 1500 feet. It is apparently before the pylones and 
before the entrances of the courts and porticos that these colossi 
were placed: we see this at least in the Palace of Osymandyas, 
and others. In general it was not customary in Egypt to place 
* Pococke and Norden differ in opinion respecting the statue of Mem- 
non. Pococke, yol. ii. p. 101, considers it to be-the colossus which we 
have described. Norden, t. ii. p. 128, (edition of M. Langles) seeks for 
it in a colossus which is to be found in front of the Temple of Osymandyas, 
and which is broken in the middle. Count Veltheim has defended the 
opinion of Norden in his Antiquarische Aufsaetze, t. ii. p. 69; but his rea- 
sons are not very plausible. ‘Lhe inscriptions on the colossus of Pococke 
‘seth prove that at the period when they were made this colossus was 
regarded as that of Memnon. Is it probable that without some reason 
the tradition has been transferred from one statue to another? ‘The opi- 
nion of Nordén is supported also by that of M. Langles. 
Cc3 colossi 
