PORTICO OF THE TEMPLE OF KALABSHE, NUBIA. 
The ruins of this Temple are beautifully situated, amidst sterile rocks and groves 
of palms and acacias, on the western bank of the Nile, and surrounded by one of 
the largest villages between Philm and Derr. Its supposed identity with ancient Talmis 
is confirmed by the ruins on the opposite bank of Contra-Talmis: traces of its ancient 
extent are still found above a mile and a half on the border of the river. The Temple 
must have had a grand and imposing appearance from the Nile, which flows in considerable 
width in front of it, amidst rocks and islands. Its ruins extend from the base of the 
hill, which backs the village, to the river, where a large quay, formed of great squared 
stone, enable visitors to the Temple during the inundation of the Nile to land, and 
whence a paved terrace, about one hundred and fifty feet long, led up to a higher 
platform in front of the propylon. This platform, which is thirty-six feet wide, has 
a parapet nearly two hundred feet long, which is connected with the walls of the 
outer inclosure of the Temple, for there are two. A flight of low steps leads across 
this platform to the entrance. The propylon is simple and grand, without any enrichment 
from sculpture or painting. On entering the portico the beautiful front of the pronaos, 
shown in the drawing, is presented. One column only remains standing of those 
which formerly extended as a colonnade on each side of the portico, or, rather, hypsethral 
court, between the propylon and the pronaos; the other columns and the massive 
stones which surmounted them now lie in heaps on the ground. Over the entrance of 
the pronaos is the winged globe, and of the four beautiful columns of the facade 
enough of the capitals remains to show their truly Egyptian character, derived from 
the lotus. The low walls, which on either side of the entrance intercolumniate to 
about half the height of the shafts of the columns, are made to contribute to the 
beauty of the faqade by the bold and separated cornices of each portion. On each 
side of the portico, and communicating with it, is a narrow, dark passage, with a 
door opening into the area, that immediately surrounds the Temple, opposite a large 
gateway formed in the wall of the outer or general inclosure. Within the pronaos, 
two columns only of those which formerly supported the roof are standing; it has 
fallen, together with its props, in confused ruin. 
The front of the cella projects into the pronaos, forming a very narrow, insulated 
chamber; over the entrance, and again over another door within the adytum, the 
winged globe spreads its sacred influence. The description by Burckhardt of these 
ruins singularly verifies the accuracy of the Artist. The inner inclosure is the loftiest, 
and surrounds the sacred part of the edifice: it is a prolongation of the walls of the 
portico, which extend from the propylon to where they join a transverse wall behind 
the adytum; whilst the outer boundary, connected with the parapet of the platform 
before the propylon, completes the inclosure, the end wall being formed by the cutting 
away of the rock of the hill behind, which slopes to the site of the Temple, In the 
walls of a chamber within the adytum are several cells or recesses, each large enough 
to hold a single person; they are closed by a stone, and, Burckhardt conjectures, 
were places of probation to the neophytes or of punishment to the refractory priests: 
