E G ^ 
in honour of one of them, who fortified and improved it. 
The original name of this place was Accho, mentioned in 
the book of Judges, i, 31. 
Three miles lower down on the right bank of the liver, 
are the remains of Chemmis or Panopolis, now called 
Achmin : there dill is to be feen a building buried up to 
the very roof, which, no doubt, is the temple formerly 
dedicated to Pan, and confecrated to proditution : a 
number of almees and women of the town dill fnbfid 
there, as at Metubis ; if not under the fpecial protection, 
yet at lead acknowledged and'tolerated by the govern¬ 
ment. It is faid that on a particular day in every week, 
they a (Terrible in a mcfque near the tomb of the fheik 
Harridi, where, mingling the facred and profane, they 
commit all kinds oEindeeencies. Achmin is large and 
well fituated on a tongue of land projecting into the Nile, 
and (houldered up by the chain of the Mokatam moun¬ 
tains, which, bending found in this place, forms a deep 
and difficult pafs. 
Siut is the modern town built on the feite of the an¬ 
cient Lycopolis, or City of the Wolves. No antiquities are 
now to be found in Siut j but the Lybian chain, at the 
foot of which it dands, exhibits fuch a vad number of 
tombs, that without doubt it mud have been a very an* 
cient and flonridiing city. The Lybian chain of moun¬ 
tains appears like an immenfe ruin of nature, formed of 
horizontal and regular drata of calcareous dones more or 
lefs crumbling, and of different (hades of whitenefs, di¬ 
vided at intervals with large mammillated and concen¬ 
tric dints, which appear to be the nuclei, or, as it were, 
the bones, of this vad chain, and feepi to prevent its to¬ 
tal annihilation. Yet its decompofition is daily happen¬ 
ing by the imprefiion -of the fait air, which penetrates 
every part of the calcareous furfuce, decompofes it, and 
makes it, as it were, didolve down in dreams of fand, 
which at fird collect in heaps at the foot of the rock, 
and are then carried away by the winds, and, encroaching 
gradually on the cultivated plain and the villages below, 
change them into barrennefs and defolation. The rocks 
are excavated by a vad number of tombs of diderent di- 
menfions, and decorated with more or lefs magnificence. 
If one of thefe excavations was a fingle operation, as the 
uniform regularity of the plan of each would feem to in¬ 
dicate, it mud be an immenfe labour to condrudt a tomb; 
but we may fuppofe that fuch a one, when once finilhed, 
would ferve for ever for the fepulture of a whole family, 
or even race, and that fome religious wordiip was regu¬ 
larly-paid to the dead; elfe where would have been the 
ufe of fuch finilhed ornaments of inferiptions never read, 
and of a ruinous, fecret, and buried, fplendour? At dif. 
ferent periods or annual fedivals, or when fome new in¬ 
habitant was added to the tombs, funereal rites were 
doubtlefs performed, in which the pomp of ceremony 
might vie with the magnificence of the place; which is 
the more probable, as the richnefs of decoration in the 
interior part forms a mod driking contrad with the outer 
walls, which are only the rough native unembelliihed 
rock. Further on to the fouth, are remains of large 
quarries-, the cavities of which are fupported by pilaf- 
ters : fome of thefe quarries have been the abode of the 
cenobites, who, among thefe vad retreats, united the au- 
liere afpedf of an inhabitant of the delert to the gentle 
majedy of one who partakes of the bounties bedowed by 
a river, which difp-enfes to its banks plenty and fertility. 
This was the emblem of their life ; before their retreat, 
cares, wealth, agitation; afterwards, calm and contem¬ 
plative enjoyments ; the dlence of nature, too, imitated 
the referve’to which they were compelled: in thefe re¬ 
gions, the unchanging and augud fplendour of the dey 
forcibly impels to condant but chadened admiration ; the 
dawn of day is not enlivened by the cries of joy, or the 
bounding of animals; the long of no bird proclaims the 
return of morn ; even the lark, which in our climates en¬ 
livens and animates our fields, in thefe burning regions 
only calls to his mate, but never chants his happinefs; 
P T. , 35f) 
the grave dignity of nature Teems to infpire with the 
deep fenfe of humble acknowledgment, fo that the grotto 
of the cenobite Teems to have been placed here by the 
order'and choice of the Deity himfelf; and every ani¬ 
mated being partakes with hiria in his grave and filent 
meditation. 
Hermopolis Magna is feated on the fame fide of the 
Nile as Siut, confiderably below Beneadi. In approach¬ 
ing the eminence on which the portico of the great tem¬ 
ple w-as built, we are druck with its outline in the hori¬ 
zon, and its gigantic features. A peafant who diould 
be drawn out from his cottage, and placed before fuch a 
building as this, would believe that there mud exid a 
wide difference between himfelf and the beings who were 
able to condrudt it; and, without having any idea of ar¬ 
chitecture, he would fay, “ This is the work of a god, a 
man Could not dare to inhabit it.” If a drawing can fome- 
times give an air of greatnefs to little things, it always 
diminilhes the effects of great objects : fo, in this in¬ 
dance, the capitals, which appear too heavy in propor¬ 
tion to the bafes, have, in reality, fomething in their 
maffivenefs which drikes with wonder, and difarms cri- 
ticifm : but what is truly admirable, is, the beauty of 
the principal outlines, the perfection in the general con- 
druction, and in the ufe of ornaments, which are fuffi- 
cient to give a rich edeCt without injuring the noble fim- 
plicity of the whole. The immenfe number of hiero¬ 
glyphics which cover every part of this edifice, not only 
have no relief, but entrench upon no part of the outline, 
fo that they difappear at twenty paces didance, and leave 
the building all its uniformity. Among the hillocks, 
within three or four hundred yards of the portico, enor¬ 
mous blocks of done may be feen half buried in fand, 
and regular architecture beneath them, which appear to 
form an edifice containing columns of granite, juft riling 
above the prefent level of the foil. Further on, but (tilL 
connected with the fcattered fragments of the great tem¬ 
ple of Hermopolis, is built a molque, in which are a num¬ 
ber of columns of cipoline marble, retouched by the 
Arabs; then comes the large village of Achmunin, peo¬ 
pled by about five thoufand inhabitants. 
On the oppofite fide of the river, beyond Malui, are 
feen, on the cadern bank, near the village of Shek-Abade, 
the ruins of Antinoe, built by Adrian, in honour of his 
favourite Antinous, who facrificed his own life in Egypt 
to fave that of his fovereign. It is unfortunate that fuch 
fublime heroifm diould be found in alliance with infa¬ 
mous morals, fo as to authorize a great man, under the 
facred title of gratitude, to publilh his regrets, which 
have been long ago configned by nature to mydery and 
ihame. It is not eafy to imagine what could have de¬ 
cided the choice of a fituation for the town of Antinoe, 
at the foot of the melancholy Mokatam, in a drait be¬ 
tween two deferts; except that Befa, a more ancient 
town than Antinoe, and upon the ruins of which this 
latter had been built, w-as the place where the emperor 
was dopped by the diforder that menaced his life ; and 
the prieds of this city, at that time in high repute, de¬ 
clared, upon being confulted, that the patient would die, 
except fome one devoted himfelf in his place! By the 
fide of the river appears one of the city gates, refembling 
a triumphal arch. It is decorated with eight Corinthian 
pillars, between which are three arches fpringing from a 
buttrefs, ornamented with piladers : this group of ruins 
is the mod confiderable of all that now remain at Anti¬ 
noe. From this point there feerns to have been a dreet 
pading in a draight line acrofs the town to the oppofite 
gate : both (ides of this dreet appear to have been adorn¬ 
ed with a colonade of Doric pillars, under which one 
might walk in the diade. There are dill vilible fome of 
the lhafts, and a few capitals, very much worn, on ac¬ 
count of the friable nature of the lime-done ufed in their 
condrucfion. The houfes were built of brick. The cir¬ 
cuit of Antinoe was very great, if the ruins of Befa, by 
being mixed with its own, have not increafed its extent. 
