AND LOWER EGYPT. 165 



and hands bent dovvn'.vard, its head-dress, are 

 an assemblage of singularities, of which no other 

 Egyptian monument presents the example. You 

 see this figure, truly curious, at the extremity of 

 the temple of Dendera, in a funereal apartment, 

 nearly square, and the sides of which are more 

 than ten feet in length. It is carved in relievo, 

 and occupies the edge of three sides of the ceiling 

 of the apartment of which it would form the cor- 

 nice, if it were upon the top of the walls, instead 

 of making the round of the ceiling only. In the 

 middle are several other smaller figures, likewise 

 in relief, and which the large one encircles. 



It was not in their architecture alone that the 

 Egyptians displayed that affection for posterity, 

 that love of immortality, which presides in all 

 their works ; they wished also that the painting 

 they employed should be equally durable. The 

 colours of which thev made use, the two-ed^ed 

 tool serving to incorporate them closely and for 

 ever with bodies as hard and as solid as stone, are 

 so many proofs of their profound knowledge in 

 the arts, and so many secrets, which our re- 

 searches have not yet been able to discover. The 

 ceiling of the temple of Dendera is painted in 

 fresco, of the brilliant colour of azure blue, with 

 which the vault of the firmament shines in fine 

 weather : the figures in relief strewed along its 

 bottom, are painted of a beautiful yellow : and 



M 3 these 



