through three different large courts, filled w lumns of great dimensions, the traveller r the sanctuary, surrounded by spacious hal ported by columns, and exhibiting the mos tiful mass of sculpture in the best style of tion.

ever cor

"It is absolutely impossible," again Belzoni," to imagine the scene displayed, seeing it. The most sublime ideas that formed from the most magnificent specin our present architecture, would give a ver rect picture of these ruins. It appeared like entering a city of giants, who, after conflict, were all destroyed, leaving ruins various temples, as the only proofs of theibes

T

Lige, rises the

1

at

f

existence. The temple of Louqsor," palace, of "presents to the traveller at once one of Greeks have splendid groups of Egyptian grandeur.

In the

my

tensive propylæon, with the two obelisks, greatest co.. lossal statues in the front; the thick gwas the s enormous columns, the variety of apartm Behind it

the sanctuary it contains; the beautiful or second co which adorn every part of the walls and d by 50 oth

cause in the astonished traveller an obliv several

that he has seen before."

port.

arrived at the c

So far Belzoni: and in this he is born which was a

Champollion, who speaks of Thebes in which was, "

equal admiration. "All that I had seer

I had admired on the left bank," says themmonium li Frenchman, "appeared miserable in cage, the mo with the gigantic conceptions by which that it was at

ach,

h, or at least

INTRODUCTORY.

de

Lac. I shall take care not to isbe any thing; for either my d not express the thousandth part to be said, or, if I drew a faint Tould be taken for an enthusiast, or, ira madman. It will suffice to add, espie, either ancient or modern, ever conart of architecture on so sublime and a scale as the ancient Egyptians. Their ns were those of one a hundred feet high; magination which, in Europe, rises far -porticos, sinks abashed at the foot of umns of the Hypostyle hall at Karnac." d grand building of Thebes was the ; that is, the tomb, or palace, of the mandias, whom the Greeks have supthe same as Memnon. In the middle ourt there was the greatest colossus the Egyptians. It was the statue of ias, 75 feet high. Behind it there was hich led into a second court, surticos, supported by 50 other coloster crossing several porticos and ents, one arrived at the celebrated entrance of which was an inscripication of which was, "The medi

a of the Memnonium lies Medineh-
sbian village, the monuments of
prove that it was at one time the
Pharaoh, or at least of some great

can we divest ourselves of the painful sensation arising from the consideration that all these magnificent ruins, from which much information might be collected, remain in a spot now so desolate and uncivilized?

Such was mighty Thebes, the first, the most ancient capital of the Egyptian empire. And though many of these splendid buildings were raised or restored under the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty, yet most of them derived their origin during the time of the hieratic government; that is, when the priesthood held the supreme authority, both religious and civil. But this sort of government lasted only for a time; and with the change of government began the desertion and the decay of Thebes. An individual, called Menes, wrested from the hands of the priests the temporal power; and, to get out of the way of their influence and authority, he went to reside in Lower Egypt. In that part of the country there was a beautiful vale, at the foot of what is called the Lybian chain of mountains, which the Nile divided into two very unequal portions. To improve the strength and salubrity of this charming spot, Menes caused a new canal to be dug, into which he forced the waters of the Nile; and in the old bed of the river he laid the foundation of a new city, the celebrated Memphis, to which the Egyptians gave the name of Mafi, or Mefi, and occasionally even Menouf.

To prevent the possibility of an inundation,

which might carry the river into the old bed, and endanger the safety of the town, Menes ordered a strong dyke to be erected, extending itself four leagues southward: and not far off from this embankment he made an immense lake, into which were forced the superabundant waters of the Nile. His son and successor, Athotis I., followed the plan and policy of his father; and, after having built a large palace, came with the whole of his court to reside in this new capital of the Egyptian empire. The noblemen soon imitated the example of their sovereign, and in this manner Memphis, in a very short time, became the rival of Thebes, both in extent and splendour; because the immediate successors of Athotis, animated by the same policy as their predecessors, very seldom or never visited Thebes, in order to avoid the influence of the priesthood, chiefly resident there, to whom the new form of government was particularly obnoxious. Of the extent and magnificence of Memphis, historians speak in terms of admiration. At the time of Cambyses, it was not less than nine leagues in circumference, and abounded with magnificent buildings, which have been recorded as such by all the ancients, and many of the moderns. Among these latter I will quote a passage from Abd-Allah, an Arabian historian, who visited these venerable ruins in the 13th century.

"Notwithstanding the immense extent of this town, and notwithstanding its high antiquity,— notwithstanding all the vicissitudes attending the

various governments by which it has been conquered, and the efforts of many nations to annihilate even its ruins, by carrying away the stones and materials of the venerable buildings, and mutilating and otherwise destroying the figures which adorned them; and notwithstanding all the effects which the course of four thousand years must have necessarily added to so many causes of destruction, the ruins of this ancient, and formerly splendid city, offer still to the eye of the beholder a combination of wonders, which astonish the mind, and prevent the possibility of describing them. The more we consider them, the more we feel our admiration increase; and each look one given at these ruins, is a new cause of amazement and wonder; and when a man thinks to have acquired a perfect knowledge of the whole, he must be convinced that this pretended knowledge is much beneath the reality of truth."

"Among the number of these wonders, a chamber is still to be admired, which is called the green chamber. It was cut out of a single stone, and was nine cubits (that is, thirteen feet and a half) high, twelve feet long, and eleven broad; and filled all round with characters, and basso as well as alto relievos, representing men and beasts in different attitudes. It was destroyed in the year 1449, and formerly belonged to the celebrated temple of the god Phtha, under whose protection Memphis had been placed. It was in this temple that, in progress of time, the Pharaoh Sethosis Rameses had placed