E G 
pliclty, merely through the opulence and fuperfluity by 
which they were accompanied, From a projecting fpot bn 
tire fide of the contiguous mountain, we all at once difco- 
ver the life of this ancient metropolis in its whole extent: 
the famous city which Homer has characterized by the 
Jingle expreffion of,— -with a hundred gates', alike cele¬ 
brated for the number of its kings whofe vvifdom raifed 
them to the rank of denri-gods ; for laws which have 
been ever revered without being ‘promulgated ; by fci- 
ence, involved in pompous hieroglyphical infcriptions, 
the firft monuments of ancient learning, which are (till 
fpared by the hand of time ; this once facred and re¬ 
nowned city, now furrounded with barbarifm, and made 
common again with the defert, from which, in part, it 
had been firft drawn forth ; enveloped in the veil of myf- 
tery, and the obfcurity of ages, whereby even its own 
eoloflal monuments are magnified to the imagination, and 
(till imprefs the mind with fuch gigantic phantoms, that 
the French army, fuddenly and with one accord, (food in 
amazement at the fight of its fcattered ruins, and clapped 
their hands with delight, as if tlie end and object of 
their march, and the complete conqueft of Egypt* were 
accomplifticd and fecured by taking poffellion of the 
fplendid remains of this ancient metropolis. 
The (cite and fituationcf the city of Thebes, the great 
Diofpolis, is as fine as can well be imagined ; and the 
jmmenfe extent of its ruins convinces the aftoniftted fpefta- 
tor that fame has not at all magnified its fize ; for the dia¬ 
meter of the vale of Egypt not being fufficient to contain 
it on both fidesof the Nile, its monuments reft upon the 
two chains of mountains which are its oppofite bounda¬ 
ries ; whilft its tombs occupy the vallies towards the 
weft, far on into the defert. 
Browne, who vifited this defolated country in 1792, 
obferves that “ancient Thebes, the capital of Egypt, 
the city of Jove, the city with a hundred gates, mutt infpire 
every intelligent fpedtator with awe and^admiration. 
DifFufed in an extent of nine miles on each fide the Nile, 
which is here three hundred yards wide, and reaching to 
the mountains on theeaftand weft, its circumference mull 
have been at leaft twenty-feven miles.” Wifhing to ex¬ 
amine the Necropolis, or city of the dead, he applied to 
Mohammed Bey Elfi at Cairo for an authority fo to do ; 
but Elfi Bey informed him it would require a guard of 
twenty men to protect him from the wild Arabs, who in¬ 
habit thofe fubterrar.ean abodes in common with the dead. 
“They are indeed a ferocious clan, (fays this author,) 
differing in perfon from other Egyptians. They (land 
at the mouth of thefe tombs or dens, with fpears twelve 
orffourteen feet in length, which are deadly weapons in 
their hands.” Denon, affilted by a detachment of French 
troops, ferioufly invaded thefe dark and difmal caves, 
making large fulphureous fires within the mouths of the 
tombs to force out the fugitives, or fuffocate them on 
the fpot. 
“That the palfage in Homer (fays Mr. Browne) re¬ 
ferred not to the gates of the city, muft readily be al¬ 
lowed ; yet it appears to me'that Thebes was walled. 
From the (ituation of remains evidently of this nature, 
feen with a telefcope at great diftances in the directions of 
weft and north, and another of equal diftance to the fouth, 
occupying exactly thofe three cardinal points, led me to 
believe that thefe may have been three gates.” Volney, 
in his Ruins of Empires, accounts (till more reafonably 
for the appellation of Homer. He calls the city, “ Thebes 
with its hundred palaces-” and adds the following note. 
“ The idea of a city with a hundred gates, in the common 
acceptation of the word, isfo abfurd, that I am aftoniftted 
the equivoque has not been before felt. It has ever been 
the cuftom of the Eaft to call palaces and Ironies of the 
great by the name of gates, bccaufe rite principal luxury 
of thefe buildings confifts in the fingulargate leading from 
the ftreet into the court, at the fartheft extremity of 
which the palace is fituated ; under the veftibule of this 
gate, converfation is held with paffengers^ and a fort of 
Y P T- 547 
audience and hofpitality given. All this was doubtlefs 
known to Homer ; but poets make no commentaries, and 
readers love the marvellous. 
The fpaceoccupied by the ruinsofthisincomprehenfible 
town, now infolds eight large villagesor hamlets ; namely, 
Luxor, Karnak, Tlteba, and Guedime, on the right of the 
Nile; and Hermontes, Medinet-Abu, Memnonium, and 
Kernu, on theleft bank ; befidesthe ancient Necropolis,or 
repofitory of the dead ; fo that the river, by the finuofity of 
its courfe, feems Hill proud of flowing through its cen¬ 
ter. Luxor, the principal village in thefe environs, is 
formed on the feite of the ruins of a temple of prodigious 
magnitude, and in a tolerable ftate of prefervation, the 
maffes not having as yet fallen through time. The raoft 
coloffal parts confift of fourteen columns of nearly eleven 
feet in diameter, and of two ftatues in granite, at the 
outer gate, buried up to the middle of the arms, and 
having in front of them the two largeft and beft-preferved 
obelifks in the world. It is, without doubt, flattering 
to the pomp of'Thebes, that the richeft and molt pow¬ 
erful republic in the world (hould have deemed its means* 
infufficient to hew out thefe two monuments, which are 
no more than a fragment of only one of the numerous edi-, 
fices of that aftonifhing city. This gate was the grand 
entrance into the city, which is now become the common 
road into the village of Luxor. Nothing can be more 
grand, and at the fame time more Ample, than the num¬ 
ber of fmall objects of which this entrance is compofed. 
No city now exifting makes fo proud a difplay at its en¬ 
trance as this oblcure village, which contains about three 
thoufand fouls, who have taken up their abodes on the 
roofs and beneath the galleries of this temple, which has 
neverthelefs the air of being uninhabited. 
A peculiarity belonging to the temple of Luxor, is,, 
that a quay, provided with an epaulment, fecured the 
eaftern part, which was near the river, from the damages 
the inundations might otherwife have occalioned. The 
epaulment, which lince its original ftrudture has been re¬ 
paired and augmented in brick-work, proves that the 
river has not changed its bed ; and its prefervation is an 
evidence that the Nile has never been banked by other 
quays, fince no traces of fimilar conftrudtions are elfe- 
where to be met with. “ The entrance (fays Denon) of 
the village of Luxor, affords a ftriking mixture of beg¬ 
gary and magnificence. What a gradation of ages in 
Egypt is offered by this Angle feene ! What grandeur 
and fimplicity in the bare infpection of this one ruin ! It 
appears to me to be at the fame time the mod: fSidtu- 
refqiie group, and the mod fpeaking reprefentation of 
the hiftory of thofe times : never were my eyes and my 
imagination fo forcibly ftruck as by the fight of this mo¬ 
nument. I often came to meditate on this fpot, to en¬ 
joy the paft and the „prefent, to compare the fucceflive 
generations of inhabitants by their refpedlive works which 
were before my eye, and to (tore in mind volumes of ma¬ 
terials for future meditations. One day the ftieik of the 
village accofted me, and afked if it was the French or 
the Englifh who had erected thefe monuments; and this 
queftion completed my reflections.” Here were found 
(ome fine medals of Auguftus, Adrian, and Trajan, with 
a crocodile on the reverfe, ftruck in Egypt in fine bronze 
with Greek infcriptions ; and a great number of medals 
of Conftantine. 
The two obelifks are of rofe-coloured granite, and are 
Hill feventy feet above the ground ; and to judge by the 
depth to which the figures feem to be covered, we may 
reckon about thirty feet more concealed from the eye, 
making in all one hundred feet for the height of thefe 
monuments. Their prefervation is perfeff, the hiero¬ 
glyphics with which they are covered are cut deep, and 
in relief at the bottom, and fhew the bold hand of a maf¬ 
ter, and a beautiful finifh : what an admirable temper 
muft the gravers be that could touch fuch hard mate¬ 
rials ! what time required for the labour! What machines 
to drag fuch enormous blocks out of the quarries, to 
tran ('port' 
