8: ARCHITECTURE; 
large inscriptions cut in the rock, and set in a frame of hieroglyphics, repre- 
senting the different labors of agriculture, fishing, hunting, the vintage, 
and cattle breeding, and therefore of some interest for the study of Egyptian 
manners and habits (See History: Plates, Division N, pl. 1, jigs. 2-10). 
One of the grottoes is 24 feet long by 124 feet wide, with an arched ceiling. 
There is another group of temples at Latopolis (Esneh). PU. 4, fig. 5b, shows 
half the elevation of the pronaos of that temple which is in the best preser- 
vation. The pronaos is a hall with 24 columns ; those in the first row, up to 
about half their height, are connected by walls. A somewhat narrower temple 
situated behind this hall, is surrounded by acolonnade of 29 columns, with 
massive pillars in the corners. The lintels are 21 to 25 feet long by 6 feet 
wide. All the walls, the ceilings, and the columns are decorated with sculp-. 
tures relating chiefly to Osiris. A little more to the north is another temple, 
but in a rather bad condition. According to the representation of the zodiac 
on the ruins, the temples at Latopolis must have been erected 2600 years 
before Christ. 
_ Opposite Latopolis, at Contralatopolis, is a temple, the columns of which 
are 19 feet high by three feet in diameter. Near Hermonthis (Ermeut) are 
the ruins of a temple which was erected about 2000 years before Christ, of 
materials previously used in another temple, a fact proved by the appear- 
ance of the ashlars, which contain fragments of hieroglyphic inscriptions, 
having been cut down from larger blocks of stone. 
_ The city: of Thebes, the ancient Diospolis Magna, was situated upon both 
banks of the Nile, and surrounded by a wall 60 feet thick, furnished with 
100 gates. Here are found a large number of edifices important for 
the study of architecture. In giving a description of the most celebrated of 
them, we first notice the ruins of a very large racecourse (hippodromus) 
which extended 75,000 feet in length by 8000 feet in width, and was 
surrounded by a brick wall. It covered about 6,250,000 square fathoms, 
and therefore was about seven times as large as the Champ de Mars at 
Paris. There was a second racecourse of 5232 feet by 3234 on the op- 
posite bank, the right bank of the Nile. The ruins of the palace of 
Sesostris, and of several temples and other buildings, are situated on the 
left bank of the river. 
_ In the palace of Sesostris, erected about 1700 years before Christ, are three 
large courts, two of them surrounded by colonnades. The first propyleum 
is 192 feet long, 27 feet deep, and 66 feet high, and contains several rooms. 
Its vast entrance leads to an extensive court, bounded on two sides by galle- 
ries, and on the others by the first and second propylea. The northern gal- 
Jery, which is roofed over, is composed of seven square pillars, six feet thick, 
with statues of Osiris before them 23 feet high; the southern gallery also 
has a ceiling, and is formed by eight round columns. The second propyleum 
leads to the second court-yard, which is furnished with galleries on three sides. 
-On the eastern side are eight columns, and opposite each column stands a 
square pillar with a statue of Osiris in front of it. Behind the gallery is a door 
communicating with the third court, which is separated from the preceding by 
.awall. The third court-yard, which was probably surrounded by the dwelling 
8 
