16 ARCHITECTURE. 
that of a sparrow-hawk, or of a falcon. On the inside of these pillars are 
figures 15 feet high; and from each side-wall of the temple project the heads 
and half the length of the bodies of three lions. The wall between the front 
columns is ornamented with bas-reliefs representing offerings to Isis. In 
one of the rooms are sculptures relating to the death and resurrection of 
Osiris, probably a symbolical allegory of the decay of vegetation in the dry 
season, and its renewal after the inundation of the Nile. 
Upon the terrace of the main temple stands another smaller temple, a 
circumstance unique in Egypt; its columns are copies on a smaller scale of 
those of the main temple. 
_ The southern temple of Tentyra presents nothing of particular interest. 
Judging from the zodiac, the monuments of Tentyra were built about 2500 
years before Christ. 
Two colonnades, which are scarcely accessible, mark the site of the ruins ~ 
of Abydos, where Memnon had a palace, and Osiris a temple. They are 
ornamented with sculptures, and the ceilings are painted with yellow stars” 
upon an azure ground. Further down the river we find the ruins of Ante- 
opolis, composed of a large temple, with its inclosure, and on the west a 
temple with a quay-wall towards the Nile. Pl. 4, fig.1, represents the ruins 
of the large temple of Antzopolis. The portico of 18 columns, ranged in 
three rows, was 135 feet long and 45 feet high. The ruins, which are in a 
very dilapidated state, are situated in a date grove; and the capitals of the 
columns are ornamented with date leaves. One hundred and eighty feet 
distant from the portico is a monolith temple of limestone, 154 feet high. 
According to a Greek inscription upon the architrave, the temple was rebuilt 
by Antoninus and Verus. 
On the ruins of the ancient Besa the emperor Trajan erected a city, which 
in honor of his friend Antinous he called Antinopolis or Antinoe; and the 
ruins of this city being therefore of a more recent date, present some of the 
characteristics of Grecian and Roman architecture. The remains of the 
theatre contain Corinthian columns (pl. 4, jig. 2). Below Antinoe, near 
Sandah and Beni Hassan, are rock-cut tombs, one of them containing fluted 
columns, 33 feet thick and 7 diameters in height, with 15 flutings, 
undoubtedly of ancient Egyptian origin. , 
The catacombs of Alexandria (pl. 5, fig. 13 a plan, and jig. 14 a section 
of the catacombs) contain eight Doric columns, which support the arched 
ceiling of the centre room, to which the four mausolea are attached. 
The pyramids deserve the name of eternal abodes of the deceased as well 
as the rock-cuttombs. These structures are of Egyptian origin, although they 
are met with in India and in Nubia, for instance near Assur (pil. 6, jig. 4), 
and even in Egypt they have only been erected in the district of Fayum, 
and in the tract of the Libyan mountains, which is at present occupied by 
the villages of Gizeh, Sakkarah, Dashour, Megduneh, and El Metanjeh, 
near the ancient Memphis and Busiris. Of late it has been surmised that 
they were intended for astronomical purposes, as the direction of the differ- 
ent passages in the interior has been observed to correspond with certain 
astronomical lines. 
16 
