April 1, 1891.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



69 



lands of the different sciences are apt to be somewhat 

 neglected, but often yield a fruitful harvest to an investi- 

 gator properly equipped for his work. 



EXCAVATIONS AT LUXOR. 



By Canon Isaac Taylor. 



LUXOR is one of four or five \-iIlages occupying 

 portions of the site of Thebes, at one time the 

 greatest city in the vi'orld. These villages, mere 

 collections of mud huts, were built in the cham- 

 bers and against the walls of temples and palaces, 

 which were grouped in certain parts of the area of the 

 ancient city. The word Luxor is merely a corruption of 

 the Arabic name El-Kusur, which means " the palaces," 

 and was applied to a range of connected temples extending 

 for nearly a quarter of a mile along the eastern bank of 

 the Nile. These temples were, tUl recently, buried under 

 a vast mound of ilehris, some twenty or thirty feet in 

 height, consisting of broken pots, the refuse of habitations, 

 and the crumbled mud bricks of successive huts and 

 houses of unburnt brick which had accumulated during 

 the last 1,400 years. The sections of these refuse-heaps 

 show in some places fifteen to eighteen strata, the strata 

 representing successive houses, each built on the ruins of 

 a house which had formerly occupied the site. By the 

 means of the new tourist tax — a tax of £1 now levied on 

 each visitor who ascends the NQe — these temples are 

 rapidly being cleared from the rubbish which is piled up 

 in their courts and colonnades, and the sculptured scenes 

 which cover the walls are being daily exposed to \'iew. 



During the present season, 1890-91, the great temple 

 of Eameses II., the Pharaoh of the Oppression, has been 

 nearly cleared. Outside the northern portal, which fronts 

 the Nile, are two colossal statues of Eameses, monoliths 

 of red granite in a standing position ; while tlie more im- 

 portant entrances, those to the east and the west, are each 

 guarded by two seated statues of the same king, mono- 

 liths of black granite. The scale is rather more than six 

 times the size of life, and as each statue is surmounted by 

 the lofty crown of Upper Egypt, they would, if in an erect 

 position, have represented figures nearly forty feet in 

 height. Unfortunately most of them have been defaced 

 by iconoclastic zeal, the faces especiaUy being mutilated. 

 In one case, however, the destroyers, instead of mutilating 

 the features, succeeded, with the aid of wooden wedges 

 inserted into holes bored behind the neck, in detaching 

 the whole of the head. In its fall the head broke in two 

 pieces, the crown breaking off at the forehead. In the 

 tirst week in January this gigantic crown, about 

 four feet in height, was discovered by the ex- 

 cavators, and a few days later they came upon 

 the head itself, the face being absolutely unin- 

 jured, and wearing the placid smile of amused 

 contempt with which the features of Rameses 

 were commonly represented by the sculptors of 

 his court. The picture to the right hand is from 

 a photograph taicon a day or two after the head was 

 uncovered. The Arab seated beside the head is a tall 

 man, not far from six feet in height. 



Two days before this discovery was made, the workmen 

 uncovered a portion of the inner wall of the temple, on 

 which is sculptured a most interesting representation of 

 the dedication of the completed temple to Anmn-Ha. On 

 a portion of tlio wall, about six feet by four, we find in 

 shallow intaglio a picture of the temple as seen from out- 

 side the western pylons, a picture which disposes of sundry 



conjectural restorations of Egyptian temples, and shows 

 how the pylons, obelisks, and flag-masts were arranged. 



The picture engi'aved upon the wall is on a scale of about 

 1 to 22. It shows the two gigantic pylons, which have 

 suffered Uttle injury, and between them is the lofty portal,. 



This Sketch is the same as the Intaglio Pictdke of the 

 Fkont of the Temple in the Photograph. 



which has now entirely disappeared. In front of each of 

 these pylons stood an obelisk of red granite. That to the 

 left is still standing, though buried for about a third of its 

 height in rubbish. The fellow obelisk to the right is now 

 in the Place de la Concorde,* at Paris. Two gigantic 

 masts, bearing flags, stood in front of each pylon. The 

 stone attachments for these masts can still be traced. To 

 judge by the scale, the masts must have been more than 

 seventy feet in height, and the flags must have floated 

 fi-om them at about the height of the pylons. The pylons 

 were guarded by six colossal statues of Rameses — two in. 

 a sitting posture, and foiu' erect. The seated figures are 

 now nearly buried in rubbish, leaving the heads only 

 above ground. Of the standing statues the one farthest 

 to the right has been dug out, and is in fair preservation, 

 the accumulation of soO having reached above the head. 

 Of the next standing statue nothing remains. Of the two 

 standing colossi to the extreme left in the picture nothing 

 can be seen ; but, as the soil is undistui'bed, they may 

 possibly be foimd, either in fragments or in xitu, when the 

 excavators have reached that portion of their task. 



The picture has decided another interesting point. 

 From other temples it is known that the pylons were 

 provided with internal staircases by which tlieir summits 

 could be reached. Within the last fortnightf the excava- 

 tors have discovered the internal staircase leading to the 

 summit of the great temple of Eameses UI. at Medinet 

 Haboo. Now it will be observed in the drawing that near 

 the foot of each of the obelisks three steps are indicated, 

 and these must be the lowest steps of the staircases which 

 led to the summits of the pylons. AVe know, therefoi-e, 

 that by the removal of some twenty feet of rubbish the 

 excavators will come upon tlie entrance to the staircase, 

 which, it may be hoped, will prove so far uninjured as to 

 make the ascent practicable. 



It may be mentioned that the western faces of the 



* The actual height of the obelisk in Paris is S2 feet, while the 

 representation of it in the wall picture is 45 inches high, giving 1 to 

 22 as the scale. The masts must have been something like SO feet 

 high. Where did Uameses obtain such timber ? 



t The article was -.vritten by Canon Taylor at Luxor, and posted 

 20th January Ib'.IO. — A. C. 1\anvaki>. 



