A defcription of Thebes, from Diodorus Siculus and Strabo. State of that city under the Perfians, Roman, and Turkish Emperors. The porticos, Sphinx-avenues, edifices, and ruins of the great temple, near Carnac, in the eastern part of Thebes, which building and ruins are half a league in circumference. The plain of Carnac, leading to Luxor, which formerly was covered with houfes, cultivated at prefent. The remains of the temple of Luxor, and the magnificent obelisks, which are the most beautiful in Egypt, or the whole world, defcribed: Extracted from the tranflation of Monf. Savary's Letters on Egypt, Vol. II.

Grand Cairo.

OING from Cous towards

of Nequada on the right. The Mahometans have feveral mofques, and a Coptic bishop refides there. The island of Matara is very near it, and two leagues further we discover the ruins of Thebes, the magnificence of which poets and hiftorians have alike been eager to defcribe. Citations from the ancients, who faw this city, will give you, Sir, an idea of what it formerly was; and an exact account of the monuments

* Lib. I.

ftill in being, will enable you to judge what degree of credit those recitals deferve. The dotted line in the map, paffing by Carnac, Luxor, Medinet-Abou, and Gournou, will indicate what the extent was of this once famous city.

"The great Diofpolis," fays Diodorus Siculus*, which the Greeks have named Thebes, was fix leagues in circumference. Bufiris, who founded it, adorned it with magnificent edifices and prefents. The fame of its power and wealth, celebrated by Homer, has filled the world. Its gates, and the numerous veftibules of its temples, occafioned this poet to give it the name of Hecatompylis. Never was there a city that received fo many offerings, in filver, gold,

each cut from a fingle ftone. Four principal temples are especially admired there, the most ancient of which was furprisingly grand and fumptuous. It was thirteen ftadia in circumference +, and furrounded by walls twenty-four feet in thickness, and forty-five cubits high. The riches and workmanship of its ornaments were correfpondent to the majesty of the building, which many kings contributed to embel

lish. The temple ftill is ftanding, but it was stripped of its filver, gold, ivory, and precious ftones, when Cambyfes fet fire to all the temples of Egypt."

I have only quoted the principal facts which that hiftorian writes concerning the flourishing ftate of Thebes, they being fufficient to convey an idea of its beauty; what I fhall cite from Strabo will give a picture of its decline, fuch as it was eighteen centuries ago.

"Thebes, or Diofpolis, prefents only remains of its former grandeur, difperfed over a space eighty ftadia in length. Here are found a great number of temples, in part destroyed by Cambyfes : its inhabitants have retired to small towns, eaft of the Nile, where the prefent city is built; and to the western fhore, near Memnonium*, at which place we admire two coloffal ftone figures, ftanding on each fide; the one entire, the other in part thrown down, it has been faid, by an earthquake †. There is a popular opinion, that the remaining part of this ftatue, towards the bafe, utters a found once a day. Curiofity leading me to examine the fact, I went thither with Elius Gallus, who was companied by his numerous friends, and an escort of foldiers. I heard I heard a found, about fix o'clock in the morning, but dare not affirm whether it proceeded from the bafe, from the coloffus, or had been produced by fome perfon prefent; for one is rather inclined to fuppofe a thousand different caufes, than that it fhould be the effect of a certain

ac

affemblage of ftones. Beyond Memnonium are the tombs of the kings, hewn out of the rock. There are about forty, made after a marvellous manner, and worthy the attention of travellers; near them are obelisks, bearing various infcriptions, defcriptive of the wealth, power, and extenfive empire of thofe fovereigns, who reigned over Scythia, Bactriana, India, and what is now called Ionia. They alfo

recount the various tributes those kings had exacted, and the number of their troops, which amounted to a million of men."

Before I tell you, Sir, how many of the monuments described by these hiftorians ftill exift, it is neceffary to inform you of the diftribution of the ornaments, veftibules, courts, and edifices of the Egyptian temples, left we fhould lofe ourselves amidft their ruins.

"In front of each of the temples of Egypt is a paved avenue, a hundred feet wide, and three or four hundred in length. Two rows of fphinxes, twenty cubits or more diftant from each other, adorned the fides of these avenues, at the end of which porticos were built, but not in any fixed number. These porticos lead to a magnificent open fpace, which fronts the temple. Beyond is the fanctuary, which is fmaller, and in which no human figures are ever fculptured, and very feldom thofe of animals.→ Walls, of an equal height with the temple, form the fides of this open fpace. Thefe walls run in diverging lines, and are wideft at the end

fartheft

fartheft from the temple by fifty or fixty cubits. They abound in fculptured figures, after the manner of the ancient Greek and Etrufcan works. There is ufually a fpacious edifice, fupported by a prodigious number of columns, befide thefe temples*." Having nothing to confult but monuments mutilated by men or by time, I hope the above description will fupply the imperfection of mine. Thus guided, let us advance to the fouth of Carmac, where we find the remains of one of the four principal temples mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. Here are eight entrances, three of which have each a sphinx of enormous fize ftanding in front; with two coloffal ftatues, on each fide the fphinx, which are each cut from a fingle block of marble, in the antique tafte. Croffing these majestic avenues, we come to four porticos, each thirty feet wide, fifty-two in height, and one hundred and fifty in length. The entrance to these is through pyramidal gates, and the ceiling is formed of stones of an aftonishing fize, fupported by the two walls.

The firft of these porticos is entirely of red granite, perfectly polifhed. Without are four rows of hieroglyphics, within only three. On each of the latter, I remarked two human figures, larger than life, and sculptured with great art. Coloffal figures, rifing fifteen feet above the bottom of the door, decorate its fides; without are two ftatues, thirty-three feet high, the one of red granite, the other spotted with black and grey; and within is another, of a fingle block of marble, wanting the head, each bearing a kind of crofs in its hand,

that is to fay, a phallus, which, among the Egyptians, was the fymbol of fertility.

The fecond portico is half deftroyed; the gate has only two rows. of hieroglyphics, of gigantic fize, one towards the fouth, the other towards the north. Each front of the third portico is covered with hieroglyphics of coloffal figures, and at the entrance of the gate are the remains of a ftatue of white marble, the trunk of which is fifteen feet in circumference, and wearing a helmet, round which a ferpent is twined. The fourth portico is little more than walls, almost entirely deftroyed, and heaps of rubbish, among which are parts of a coloffus, of red granite, the body of which is thirty feet round.

Beyond thefe porticos the high walls, which form the firft court of the temple, began. The people entered at twelve gates; feveral are deftroyed, and others very ruinous.

That which has fuffered leaft from time, and the outrages of barbarians, faces the weft. Before it is a long sphinx-avenue. The dimenfions of this gate are forty feet in width, fixty high, and forty-eight thick at the foundation. In the front are two rows of fmall windows, and the remains of fteps in its fides, leading to its fummit. This gate, fo maffy as to appear indestructible, is in the ruftic ftile, without hieroglyphics, and magnificent in fimplicity. Through this we enter the great court, on two of the fides of which are terraces, eighty feet in width, and raised fix feet above the ground. Along thefe run two beautiful colonnades. Beyond is the fecond court, which leads to the temple, and, by its

extent,

extent, equals the majefty of the building. It is likewife embellifhed by a double colonnade; each column is above fifty feet high, and eighteen in circumference at the base. Their capitals are in the form of a vafe, over which a square ftone is laid, which probably ferved as a pedestal for ftatues. Two prodigious coloffal figures, mutilated by violence, terminate these colonnades. Standing at this place, the aftonished eye furveys the temple, the height of which is moft furprifing, in all its immenfity. Its walls of marble appear everlasting. Its roof, which rifes in the centre, is fuftained by eighteen rows of columns. Thofe ftanding under the most lofty part are thirty feet in circumference, and eighty in height; the others are one third lefs. The world does not contain a building the character and grandeur of which more forcibly imprefs awe and majefty it feems adequate to the high idea the Egyptians had formed of the Supreme Being; nor can it be entered or beheld but with reverence. Its fides, both within and without, are loaded with hiero glyphics, and extraordinary figures. On the northern wall are reprefentations of battles, with horfes and chariots, one of which is drawn by flags. On the fouthern are two barks, with canopies, at the end of which the fun appears; the mariners guide them with poles; two men, feated at the ftern, feem to direct their proceedings, and re

These are

ceive their homage. allegoric defigns. In the poetic language of the Greeks, the fun was painted in a car, drawn by horfes, guided by Apollo. The Egyptians reprefent it on board a fhip, conducted by Ofris, and feven mariners, who reprefent the planets *.

The entrance, which fronted the temple of Luxor, is greatly decayed; but, if we may judge by the obelisks that remain, it must have been moft fumptuous. There are two of fixty feet high, and twentyone in circumference at the bafe; and, a little farther, two others, of feventy-two feet in height, and thirty in circumference. Each of these fuperb monuments is formed from a fingle block of red granite, and does honour to the genius and fcience of the antient Egyptians. There are hieroglyphics, in various divifions, engraved on thefe obelisks, three of which remain ftanding, and the other is thrown down.

Proceeding eastward from the great temple, after croffing heaps of rubbish, we come to a building called by Strabo the fanctuary, which is small. The gate is ornamented with columns, three of which are grouped and united under one fole capital. Within are various apartments of granite. Here the virgin confecrated to Jupiter. was kept, and who offered herself in facrifice after a very extraordinary manner +.

I have only defcribed those parts

of

of the temple, Sir, which are in best preservation. Within its vaft limits are feveral edifices, almoft destroyed, which, no doubt, appertained to the priests and facred animals. Near the ruins is a large expanfe of water; and we meet at every step with remains of columns, fphinxes, ftatues, coloffal figures, and ruins, fo magnificent that the imagination is kept in continual admiration, and amazement. Were the ground occupied by the various entrances, porticos, and courts, appertaining to the temple measured, we should find the whole was at least half a league in circumference; and that Diodorus Siculus was not deceived when he allowed it that

extent.

'The plain lying between Carnac and Luxor is not less than a league in length, and was once covered with the houses of the Egyptians, who lived in that eaftern part of Thebes. Though, according to Diodorus Siculus *, they were five ftories high, and folidly built, they have not been able to refift the ravages of time and conquerors, but are totally destroyed +. The ground is at prefent much raised by the annual floodings of the river, which has covered it with feveral feet of mud, and the ruins are below the furface. Corn, flax, and vegetables, grow in the very places where, three thousand years ago, public fquares, palaces, and numerous edifices, were the admiration of the enlightened people who inhabited them. At the farther end of this plain is the village of Luxor, near which are the

*Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1.

avenues and remains of another temple, ftill more ruinous than the first. Its extent is spacious, and so are its courts, which are entered under porticos fupported by columns forty feet high, without eftimating the bafe, buried under the fand. Pyramidal majeftic gates, abounding in hieroglypics; the remains of walls built with flags of granite, and which the barbarity of men only could overturn; rows of coloffal marble figures, forty feet high, one third buried in the ground; all declare what the magnificence of the principal edifice, the fcite of which is known by a hill of ruins, must have been. But nothing can give a more fublime idea of its grandeur than the two obelifks by which it was embellished, and which feem to have been placed there by giants, or the genii of fable. They are each a folid block of granite, feventy-two feet high above the furface, and thirty-two in circumference; but, being funk deep in the fand and mud, they may well be fuppofed ninety feet from the bafe to the fummit. The one is fplit towards the middle; the other perfectly preserved. The hieroglyphics they contain, divided into columns, and cut in bas-relief projecting an inch and a half, do honour to the fculptor; the hardness of the ftone has preferved them from being injured by the air. Nothing can be more majeftic than thefe obelifks. Egypt is the fole country in the world where men have performed works like thefe; yet there is not a city on the face of the globe