16£ DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
net-Abu is sixty-five feet in length, and fifty- 
five in breadth. It is formed by four ranges of 
columns, forty-five feet in height, and seven in 
diameter. The execution of the sculpture is su^ 
perior to that of the Memnonium. The smaller 
hieroglyphics are hollowed in the stone, from the 
depth of one to that of six inches, while the larger 
figures have two inches of relief. The two colos- 
sal statues, generally denominated Shaama and 
Taama, are placed between Memnonium and 
Medinet-Abu. They are about fifty-eight feet in 
height, and in a sitting attitude. Their bases are 
about eleven feet high, but immersed nearly six 
feet in the earth. The southern colossus is en- 
tire, but the northern is mutilated. Its base and 
legs are covered with Greek and Latin inscrip- 
tions, which commemorate the emission of sound 
from the vocal statue of Memnon. The interval 
between Memnonium and Medinet-Abu is occu- 
pied by the continuous ruins of magnificent edi- 
fices and colossal statues, the sculptures of which, 
representing battles and sieges, seem to indicate 
the remains of the tomb of Osymandyas, proba- 
bly the same personage with Memnon. Diodo- 
rus has left us a description of this astonishing 
edifice. The vestibule, of coloured stone, was 
two hundred feet in length, and sixty-eight feet 
in elevation. The peristyle was of a square form^, 
each of its sides was four hundred feet long, sup- 
