Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/801

777 THEBES.] EGYPT 777 city was on the eastern bank, where is the great temple, or rather collection of temples, called after El-Karuak, a modern village near by. The temple of El-Karnak is about half a mile from the river, in the cultivable land. More than a mile to the south-west is the temple of El-Uksur, on the bank of the Nile. On the western bank was the suburb bearing the name Memnonia. The desert near the northernmost of the temples on this side, the Setheum, almost reaches the river, but soon recedes, leaving a fertile plain generally more than a mile in breadth. Along the edge of the desert, besides the Setheum, are the Rameseum of El-Kurneh, and, less than a mile farther to the south west, that of Medeenet-Haboo, and between them, but within the cultivated land, the remains of the Amenophium with its two gigantic seated colossi. Behind these edifices rises the mountain, which here attains a height of about 1200 feet. It gradually recedes in a south-westerly direc tion, and is separated from the cultivated tract by a strip of desert in which are numerous tombs, partly excavated in two isolated hills, and two small temples. A tortuous valley, which begins not far from the Setheum, leads to those valleys in which are excavated the Tombs of the Kings beneath the highest part of the mountain which towers above them in bold and picturesque forms. The temple of El-Uksur is nearest of the edifices to the river, and but an appendage to the great group of El-Karnak. It takes its name from the small town of El-Uksur, or Abu-1-Haggag, which is built in and around part of it, thus injuring its effect, and rendering examina tion difficult. It differs from most Egyptian temples in not facing the river, but this is accounted for by its connection with the temple of El-Karnak, from the southern approaches to which a long avenue of sphinxes (now wholly ruined) leads to it, ending at its entrance. This is a massive propylon, or portal with wings, 200 feet in width, before which is a very fine obelisk of red granite. Its fellow, which stood on the western side, was removed by the French to Paris in 1831, and now adorns the Place de la Concorde. Both have beautifully cut hieroglyphic inscriptions. The height of that which remains is about 80 feet. It is adorned with three vertical lines of hieroglyphics on each side, bearing the titles of Ramses II. The other obelisk differs from this only in being slightly shorter. Close to the winged portal are three seated statues of red granite representing Ramses II. ; a fourth has been destroyed. The wings of the portal are covered with sculptures of remarkable interest, representing occur rences in the war of Ramses II. with the Kheta or Hittites, in his fifth year. On the left wing is depicted the defeat by the Egyptians, led by their king, of the confederate peoples under the walls of the Hittite stronghold called Ketesh, cr Kadesh, on the Orontes. The king is repre sented, according to the Egyptian custom, of a gigantic size, standing in his chariot, which he has urged into the midst of the hostile force, whose warriors fall by his well- directed arrows. The Egyptians, on the other hand, sustain no loss. On the right wing is represented the Egyptian camp. This has been sculptured over another subject, of which part may be now seen, owing to the falling out of the plaster with which it had been filled. All these repre sentations are in sunk relief, and beautifully executed. The entrance to the temple is contracted by a modern wall, through the small door of which we pass into a great court choked by the huts of the town, among which stands a mosque. The court is surrounded by a double row of columns, the capitals of which have the form of the bud of the papyrus. A ruined portal with wings forms the end of ^ this court, and with it begins the older part of the edifice, which has a more southerly direction; and its southernmost part in like manner turns a little more in that direction, that is, from the river, though not so remarkably. Some deviation was probably rendered necessary by the course of the Nile. The second court is much obstructed by rubbish ; nothing is seen of it but a magnificent central avenue of fourteen columns, having capitals of the bell-shaped flower of the papyrus. The columns are about 60 feet in height, of fine form, and elegantly sculptured. They were raised by Amenophis III., whose name is the oldest which occurs on them and in the rest of the temple. Behind this is another court, which has a double row of columns on each side, and at its end a portico supported by columns four deep. This court is much ruined. Beyond it are several chambers of the time of Amenophis III., and in the midst of them an iso lated sanctuary, the sculptures of which bear the name of Alexander ^Egus, in whose reign it was built, in the place, no doubt, of one destroyed by the Persians under Cambyses or Ochus, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks (Modern Egypt and Thebes, ii. 245). Most of these apartments are in a dilapidated state. Although there is an approach to the temple of El-Karnak from that of El-Uksur, the grand entrance was towards the river, and from that direction it should be entered. This extraordinary assemblage of buildings consists of a great temple and several smaller structures, surrounded by a massive crude brick wall. There are other remains similarly inclosed, which were connected with the great temple. The grand entrance is through a propylon more than 360 feet wide, for this is its measure above the rubbish which is piled up around it. It was never sculptured, nor was its surface smoothed. It presents, therefore, a rude appearance, and is much ruined, a great part of the left or northern wing having been demolished. The court of which the propylon forms the front measures 329 feet in width and 275 in length, having on each side a gallery with a single row of columns ; and a double colonnade, of which one column alone stands, formed an avenue from its entrance to that of the hypostyle hall beyond. On the right side a temple of older date interrupts the side gallery, extending 50 feet into the court. Its front is formed by a propylon, about 90 feet wide, on each wing of which Ramses III. is portrayed in the act of slaying prisoners before Amen-ra. The interior of this temple consists of a court, which has on each side a row of Osiridean pillars, and at the end another row of such pillars with columns behind them, a hall or portico supported by eight columns, next to the court, and, beyond, other apartments. Nearly all the sculptures are of the reign of Ramses III., but the names of later sovereigns occur. On the other side of the great court is a small structure which may be called a chapel, or three chapels. The most interesting sculptures in this part of the group of temples are outside the eastern portion of the south wall of the great court, for here is the famous list of countries and towns subdued by Sheshonk I., or Shishak, the head of Dynasty XXII. Among the names is that thought to be the kingdom of Judah, and those of several places in the dominions of Rehoboam and Jeroboam I. At the end of the court is a fine portal, the wings of which are much ruined. This is the entrance to the great hypostyle hall, the most magnificent work of its class in Egypt. Its length is 170 feet, and its width 329 ; it is supported by 134 columns, the loftiest of which are nearly 70 feet in height, and about 12 in diameter, and the rest more than 40 feet in height, and about 9 in diameter. The great columns, 12 in number, form an avenue through the midst of the court from the entrance, and the others are arranged in rows very near together on each side. There is a transverse avenue made by two rows of the smaller columns being placed farther apart than the VII. 98