OMBOS— EDFU. 377 



whole mountain had been disposed in regular blocks, just as the skilful joiner cuts 

 into planks the stem of some valuable tree. 



On the west side the cliffs have been less encroached upon ; but they are 

 richer in sculptures and inscriptions. Amongst the bas-reliefs of a rock temple 

 is an image of the goddess Isis suckling Horus — one of the noblest and most 

 charming pictures left us by ancient Egyptian art.* 



Two colossal pylons annoimce to the traveller from afar the approach to the 

 city of Eclfa, the Teb of the ancients, the ApollinopoJis Magna of the Greeks and 

 Romans. Of all the temples of Egypt that of Edfu has been the best preserved 

 in all its parts, and although dating only from the epoch of the Ptolemies, it 

 presents a purity of lines and a harmony of proportions justifying a comparison 

 with the monuments of the most flourishing periods of Egyptian art ; nowhere 

 else had the traditions of the native builders been better preserved. This marvel- 

 lous structure has been protected from the ravages of time chiefly through the 

 sands of the desert. After removing the ninety-two hovels scattered over the 

 mound and sweeping away the heaps of accumulated sand, Mariette found the 

 edifice in almost as jjerfect a state as on the day of its dedication. Nothing is 

 missing, except perhaps a few stones of the gateways and roof ; even the outer 

 enclosure, which concealed the temple from profane eyes, has been preserved 

 intact. From the entrance of the court we see the perspective of colonnades and 

 chambers stretching for a distance of nearly 430 feet, and throughout this vast 

 space there is not a single recess whose ornaments and inscriptions, all in a state 

 of perfect repair, do not clearly explain its purpose. Each chamber bears a 

 separate name ; thus one is the " house of books " or library, and the catalogue of 

 the contents is here engraved on the walls. 



The whole structure is itself a vast library, containing not only prayers and 

 acts of thanksgiving in honour of the holy trinity, Harhut, Hathor, and Har- 

 pokhrot, but also religious scenes of every description, astronomic tables, histories 

 of campaigns, representations of sieges and battles. The temple thus presents 

 an encyclopœdia of Egyptian records and mythology. But the chief interest of 

 the Edfu monument lies in its seven-and-twenty geographical lists of Egypt and 

 Nubia, enumerating all the provinces, with their products, their cities, and tutelar 

 divinities. Thanks mainly to these nomenclatures, supplemented by fifteen other 

 more or less complete lists found on various monuments along the banks of the 

 Nile, Brugsch has been able to restore the ancient geography of Egypt, t From 

 one of the pylons, which commands the entrance to the temjjle from a height of 

 125 feet, a prospect is afforded of the present town laid out like a chess-board in 

 little cubic blocks of yellow earth, with the cupola and minaret rising in the 

 centre — modest buildings at best compared with the great temple of the Egyptian 

 gods. 



" It may be asserted without any exaggeration that if the priests of Edfu could 

 rise from their graves with all their sacred paraphernalia, once more to do honour 

 to the supplanted gods of the Nile Valley, they would here find every chamber, 



* Mariette, " Itinéraire de la Haute-Egypte." t " Géographie des alten ^gj'pten." 



