12 ARCHITECTURE. 
each 18 feet in length. The third propyleum opened into a court with a 
double peristyle of 44 columns in four rows, connected with a portico of 32 
columns, to which the side building is attached. The several courts do not lie 
in a line, the first forming with the large gallery an angle of 3° 9’, which cir- 
cumstance would indicate that the different parts of the building were origi- 
nally separate, and afterwards connected by the above mentioned colonnade 
of 14 columns. This palace, according to Diodorus Siculus, was built by 
king Busiris about 3100 years before Christ. 
The village of Carnak, to the north-east of Luxor, contains the most — 
extensive and magnificent ruins in the Thebaid, and even in the whole of 
Egypt. Of these, the palace of Carnak, the plan of which is represented 
on pl. 5, fig. 7, is the most extensive. P1.4, jig. 4, gives a view of the first 
court with the second propyleum ; pl. 6, fig. 7, the large hall. This palace, 
which was situated about 2400 feet from the Nile, was surrounded by a 
wall 7052 feet long and 30 feet thick, one half of which still exists; the 
dimensions of the bricks are 12, 6, and 5 inches. From the first propyleum, 
or from that side of the palace that faced the Nile, there were two rows of 
sphinxes forming an avenue to the river. Two of the sphinxes are still in 
‘existence; they have the body of a lion and the head of a ram, and a sym- 
bolical cover enveloping the chest and back. They are placed upon a plinth 
12 feet by 34 feet, and 7 inches high, which rests upon a base 10 feet high, 
and finished with a cima recta. The front, or the propyleum of the palace, 
is 847 feet 104 inches long, and 154 feet high. The sculptures upon it are 
unfinished, and mere rough sketches. In each wing of the propyleum are 
eight windows in two rows, which correspond with four perpendicular recesses 
to receive the triumphal poles, like those at the temple on the island of 
Philz. In front of the ruins of the entrance are the remains of two colossi 
in a sitting position, similar to those at the palace of Luxor. The entrance, 
20 feet wide, was 60 feet in the clear, and 80 feet high to the top of the 
cornice, and was closed by bronze folding doors. In the interior of the 
propyleum staircases led to the different stories, which contained several 
rooms. This colossal propyleeum leads to the fore yard (pl. 5, fig. 7 f°), 315 
feet 5 inches by 252 feet, with a row of columns on the south and north 
sides. The latter row, consisting of 18 columns, is in comparatively good 
preservation, and in connexion with the wall behind it, forms a colonnade 
covered with stone slabs. The entablature rests upon cubes, which are 
placed upon the capitals. These columns, represented in pl. 4, fig. 4, on 
the left, are 6 feet, 1 inch, and 103 lines in diameter, and 27 feet, 8 inches, 
52 lines in height. The distance between them is somewhat less than the 
diameter. No bas-reliefs have been found, and the colonnade appears to 
have been left in an unfinished state. The southern colonnade, eight feet 
wide, is divided by a building (pl. 5, jig. 7, g) which was probably a temple, 
a view of which is given in pl. 4, fig. 4, to the right. The frieze of this 
gallery contains two rows of hieroglyphics. In the centre of this court there 
were two rows of colossal columns, each consisting of six. These have all 
been prostrated, except the last but one in the southern row, but the shafts 
are not broken. The rows were 42 feet apart. The columns, the most 
12 
