870 



EGYPT. 



removed as llie materials for other 

 edifices. The Sphynx, which is 

 near the pyramids, is almost buried 

 ill sand ; the head and neck only 

 appear. Caviglia, however, caused 

 it to be excavated and measured. 

 The form is that of a woman's head 

 and breast, on tiie body of a lion, 

 in a recumbent posture ; the paws 

 stretched out 50 feet in advance of 

 the body. The whole, except the 

 paws, which are of masonry, was 

 cut from the solid rock. The fea- 

 tures have the Nubian cast, and a 

 very [ilacid expression. The head 

 and neck, all that is above ground, 

 are 27 feet high. The breast was 

 found to be 33 feet wide, and the entire length of the Sphynx about 130. The back is now 

 covered with sand. 



The site of Memphis has been disputed, for Egypt has so many ruins, that the question 

 might easily arise. It has, however, been decided, by finding the remains of one of the Co- 

 lossi described by Herodotus ; that is, a wrist, which shows that the entire statue must have 

 been 45 feet high. Dendera, the ancient Tenlyra, has some magnificent remains, particularly 

 the gateway leading to the temple of Isis, and the temple itself. The edifice is nearly entire. 

 T'he portico has 24 columns in three rows, each 32 feet high, and more than 22 feet in cir- 

 cumference. The sculptures have much 

 expression in them, and are executed with 

 great skill. All travelers unite in extol- 

 ing this temple. At Thebes, " the hun- 

 dred gated," there is a vast extent of 

 ruins. Thebes is now to be traced in 

 four small hamlets, for the inhabitants 

 have built their villages among the ruins 

 of temples. These villages are Karnac, 

 Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gornou. No 

 description, or painting, can convey an 

 idea of the piofusion of pillars standing 

 prostrate, or reclining against each other, 

 at Karnac. These pillars are covered 

 with scul|)tures, not unnatural and gro- 

 tesque, but, though much larger than life, 

 t^iey are full of beauty and grace. The temple here has no parallel for magnitude and beauty. 

 The masses are prodigious. There are 12 principal entrances, each of which is composed 

 of several propyla and colossal gateways, in themselves larger than most other temples. The 

 sioes of some are larger than the bases of the greater number of the pyramids of Middle 

 Egypt. On each side of many of these are colossal statues of granite, and basalt, from 20 to 

 30 feel high. Of the avenues of sphynxes that lead to the temple, across the plain, one ex- 

 tends 2 miles nearly to the temple at Luxor. There are other columns before the traveler 

 reaches the body of the temple, after which are 4 beautiful obelisks, marking the entrance to 

 the adytum. The sanctuary has 3 apartments of granite. The roof of the central room, 

 which is 20 feet long, and 16 wide, is composed of 3 blocks of granite, for the arch was 

 unknown to the Egyptians. The imagination can hardly embrace the magnitude of this tem- 

 ple. Of the hundreds of columns, the smallest is 7h feet in diameter. The field of ruins is a 

 mile in diameter, and the temple itself, grand as it is, sinks into insignificance, when compared 

 with the number and size of the surrounding monuments, gateways, subordinate teiriples, and 

 rows of sphynxes. In approaching the temples of Luxor from the north, the observer comes 

 first upon a stately gateway 200 feet long, and 57 feet above the present level of the soil. In 

 front are two of the most perfect obelislcs in the world, each of a single block of red granite. 



The Sphyjix. 



Ruins of Thebes. 



