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«« Biban-cl-Molfik," Icadintj up the mount.iin ; at the ex- 

 tremity of which pudago, iii the lidcs of the rock, are the 

 celebrated caverns known as the fepulchres of the ancient 

 kings. Thefr fepiilclires, which have lately been difcovered, 

 are particularly defcribod by Mr. Browne. In the cells or 

 recclTes of the pafTage of the largell of thefe, appear the 

 chief paintings, reprefenting the iiiyfteries, which, as well 

 as the hieroglyphics covering all the walls, are very frefh. 

 Our traveller particularly obferved the two harpers defcribed 

 by Bruce, but his engraved figures, he fuggefts, feem to be 

 from memory. Although Pococke and many others are of 

 opinion that Thebes was never furrounded by a \vall, 

 Mr. Browne inclines to a contrary opinion, from feme faint 

 remains which are it ill vifible. 



We are principally indebted to Denon (Travels in Upper 

 and Lower Egypt, in 3 vols. 8vo. tranflatcd by Aikin), 

 for an interfiling account of the magnificent ruins of Thebes, 

 as well as of other places in Egypt, illuftrated by beautiful 

 engravings. Four large hamlets (fays Denon) divide 

 amongft them the remains of the ancient monuTnents of 

 Thebes, whilft the river, by the finuofity of its courfe, 

 feems ftill proud of flowing among its ruins. In croffing 

 the ground occupied by tlie ancient Thebes, Denon found 

 nothing but temples ; not a veftigeof the 100 gates fo cele- 

 brated in hillory ; no walls, quays, bridges, baths, or 

 theatres ; not a fingle edifice of public utility or conve- 

 nience. Temples indeed were numerous, and walls covered 

 with obfcure emblems and hieroglyphics, which attefted the 

 afcendancy of the priefthood, who ftill feemed to reign over 

 thefe mighty ruins. The fpace occupied by this incom- 

 prehenfible town now enfolds four villages and as many 

 hamlets, thinly fcattered over immenfe fields. Faffing 

 through the ten-itory of Thebes on another occafion, Denon 

 faw at the diitance of three-fourths of a league from the 

 Nile, the ruins of a large temple not before noticed by any 

 traveller, which may give an idea of the immenfity of that 

 city, fince, if we fuppofe that it was the laft; edifice on the 

 eaftern fide, it is more than 2-| leagues dlftant from Medinet- 

 Abu, where the mofl weilern temple is Ctuated. The 

 temple, on the fcite of which the village of Karnac has been 

 built, is of fuch a circumference, that it would require half an 

 hour to walk round it. Herodotus has given us a more 

 correft idea of its grandeur and magnificence. Diodorus 

 and Strabo, who examined it in its ruinous fl;ate, appear to 

 have furnifhed a defcription of its prefent condition, but 

 none of the travellers who have copied the accounts of thefe 

 writers haTe prefumed (fays Denon) to prefer to this 

 temple that of Apollinopolis at Etfu, that of Tentyra, and 

 the fimple portico at Efneh. It is probable (fays this 

 writer) that the temples of Karnac and Luxor were built 

 in the time of Sefoftris, when the flourifhing condition of 

 the Egyptians gave birth to the arts among them, and when 

 thefe arts were difplayed to the world for the firll time. 

 Of the 100 columns of the portico of the temple of Karnac 

 or Cariiac (which fee), the fmallcft are yi feet in diameter, 

 and the largeft 12. The fpace occupied by its circum- 

 vallation contains lakes and mountains. This edifice is now 

 in a degraded ftate. Tlie fphinxes have been wantonly 

 mutilated ; and the avenue that leads from Karnac to Luxor, 

 nearly half a league in extent, contains a fucceffion of chime- 

 rical figures to the right and left, with fragments of ftone 

 walls, of fmall columns, and of ftatues. 



Luxor (which fee), the fincft village in thefe environs, is 

 alfo built on the fcite of the ruins of a temple, not fo large as 

 that of Karnac, but in a better {late of prefervation, the 

 maffes not having as yet fallen through time, and by the 

 prelTure of their own weight. The mofl; coloffal parts con- 



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fift of fourteen columns of nearly eleven feet in diameter, 

 and of two flatues in granite, at the outer gate, buried up 

 to the middle of the arms, and having in front of them the 

 two largeft and bell preferved obcliflis known. 



A peculiarity belonging to the temple of Luxor, is, that 

 a quay, provided with an epaulement, fecured the caflern 

 part, which was near the river, from the damages the inun- 

 dations might othcrwife have occafioned. The epaulement, 

 which fince its original ftrufture has been repaired and aug- 

 mented in brick-work, proves that the river has not changed 

 its bed; and its prefervation is an evidence that the Nile has 

 never been banked by other quays, fince no traces of fimilar 

 conftruftions are elfew'here to be met with. 



Nothing can be more grand, and at the fame time more 

 fimple, than the fmall nimiber of objefts of which thts en- 

 trance is compofcd. No city whatever makes fo proud a 

 difplay at its approach as this wretched village, the popula- 

 tion of which confifts of two or three thouiand fouls, who 

 have taken up their abodes on the roofs and beneath the 

 galleries of this temple, which has, neverthelefs, the air ot 

 being in a manner uninhabited. 



Denon has particularly defcribed the tombs above-nien- 

 tioned, in the village of Kurnu, the ancient Necropolis of 

 Thebes ; and he concludes with remarking, that the myf- 

 tery and magnificence obfervable within thefe excavations, 

 and the number of flaves by which they aix' protcdled, in- 

 dicate, that the religious worfliip which had fcooped out 

 and decorated thefe grottoes, was the faivie as that which 

 had raifed the pyramids; but our limits forbid a farther 

 detail. 



THEBET, in Chronology. See Tebet. 

 THEBIT Ben Corah, or Thabet Ebn Korra, in 

 Biography, an Arabian teacher of philofophy and mathe- 

 matics, was a native of Harran, and belonged to the feft 

 of the Sabscans, and on this account was furnamed " Al- 

 Sabi-Al-Harrani." The time in which he flourilhed is un- 

 certain. Some fay that he was born in the 22lflyear of 

 the Hegira, or A.D. 835 ; others refer him to the loth 

 century ; and others again have placed him in the 1 2th or 

 13th century. He was fecretary to the caliph Mothaded; 

 and was , diftinguilhed by his il<ill in the mathematics, and 

 by his knowledge of aftronomy. He is faid to have ob- 

 ferved the dccUnation of the echptic, which he fixed at 

 23" -33' 30": and from this circumfl;ance it has been con- 

 cluded, that he lived in the 12th or 13th century, or that 

 he was contemporary with Almeon and Profalius, who 

 about that period afligned to the echptic the fame declina- 

 tion. To Thebit has been afcribed the origin of the aftrc- 

 noniical fedl, which maintained the trepidation of the fixed 

 ftars. It was his opinion, founded on fome erroneous ob- 

 fervations, that the fixed ftars moved for fome time accord - 

 ing to the order of the figns ; that they afterwards pro- 

 ceeded in a retrograde direftion and returned to their former 

 places, after which they affumed a direft motion ; and that 

 then they had an irregular motion, which was rapid for a 

 certain period, then became (lower, and at laft infenfible. 

 According to Tliebit, the obUquity of the ecliptic was 

 variable, and fubjcft to fimilar periods of increafe and dc- 

 creafe. His opinions prevailed for a coufiderable time, not 

 only among the aftronomers of his own nation, but among 

 fome Chriftians. Moatucla Hift. de Math. Pococke, p. 377. 

 Fabr. Bib. Graec. v. ii. p. 35'^.. 



THECA, Sheath, in Anatomy, hollow organs, ferving 

 to contain others. The thecs of the fingers are ftrong 

 (heaths binding down the flexor tendons. The theca vcrte- 

 bralis is the fheath of dura mater lining the vertebral canal, 

 and containing the medulla fpinalis. 



Tkeca, 



