light — however you contemplate Carnak,— appears the very aspect in which it shows 
to most advantage. And when this was all perfect, when its avenues opened in vista 
upon the noble temples and palaces of Sesostris, upon Gournou, Medinet Abou, and 
Luxor: when its courts were paced by gorgeous priestly pageants, and busy life swarmed 
on a river flowing between banks of palaces, like those of Venice magnified a hundred¬ 
fold; when all this was in its prime, no wonder that its fame spread even over the 
barbarian world, and found immortality in Homer’s song.” 
The Crescent and the Cross. 
VIEW FROM UNDER THE PORTICO OF DAYR-EL-MEDEENEH, 
THEBES. 
This small but very beautiful Temple, which measures only sixty feet by thirty- 
three feet, is situated in a secluded valley, immediately behind the palace-temple of 
Medinet-Abou, and, as its name implies, has been used as a Christian church. The 
portico is supported by two lotus-headed columns, and at the extremities by two 
square columns attached to the wall: these are surmounted by the heads of Isis, 
or Athor. The walls are rent, and the stones, in many places, disjointed, in con¬ 
sequence of the ground on which it stands having been disturbed by digging deep 
pits in front in search of mummies; and it is probably undermined to a great extent: 
the sculptures, however, everywhere retain as much sharpness and colour as when 
they were first executed. Here the mode, in use among the ancient Egyptians, of 
connecting the stones by wooden dovetails, or cramps, of sycamore, has been extensively 
adopted. The Temple is inclosed by a wall, of which the bricks are built alternately 
in concave and convex courses. 
The Temple is Ptolemaic, having been begun by Ptolemy Philopater; it was 
completed by Physcon, or Euergetes II., who added the sculpture to the interior walls, 
and part of the architectural details of the portico. The pylon in front bears the 
name of Dionysius, and at the back of the adytum is found the name of Augustus, 
“Autocrator Cmsar.” 
On the walls within are several enchorial and Coptic inscriptions. A staircase 
once led to the roof. The back part of the naos consists of three parallel chambers, 
of which the adytum is the centre, and upon the walls of these chambers numerous 
figures are sculptured, emblematical of the mythology with which the founders have 
sought to identify themselves. 
Roberts’s Journal. 
Wilkinson’s Egypt. 
