DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5073#0098
THEBES.
87
whose reion the wonderful tomhs of Beni-Hassan were
hewn and painted) — and perhaps it stood there hefore
Moses refused to he called the son of Pharaoh's daughter
— perhaps even before Joseph was brought into the
land of Egypt by the Bedouin! yet the characters en-
graved upon its sides are as clear now as they were five
or six thousand years ago, and one may well be excused
for the fancy that the stone is as imperishable as the
idea conveyed on it. These two obelisks commenced
an avenue of twelve hundred giant ram-headed Sphynxes,
which led from Luxsor to the pylon of the first temple
of Karnak, each standing on a pedestal; hundreds of
these have been destroyed, but many, headless and
broken, still border the empty path down which the long
and gorgeous procession of priests, clad in panther skins,
passed daily, carrying the ram-prowed barge containing
the shrine of the god in whose honour the festival of the
day was held, before whom burning incense was borne;
several of these Sphynxes are at Turin — very many at
St. Petersburg — some in Berlin, and one or two in
England. Another avenue of Sphynxes led from the
front of this Temple to the bank of the river, overlook-
ing Gourneh, and a third led in a southerly direction
towards Luxsor.
The first Temple reached at Karnak is a very complete
and fine one, approached by another Sphynx avenue —
but one cannot linger here in one's impatience to see
the grand Temple itself, a few minutes further on. Two
giant pylons open into a large court, with columns on
two sides, and an aisle of columns up the centre, leading
into the famous hypostyle hall, which Fergusson calls
" the greatest of man's architectural works;" the centre
aisle is formed of twelve columns, sixty-two feet high,
the largest if not the tallest columns in the world, with
G 4
87
whose reion the wonderful tomhs of Beni-Hassan were
hewn and painted) — and perhaps it stood there hefore
Moses refused to he called the son of Pharaoh's daughter
— perhaps even before Joseph was brought into the
land of Egypt by the Bedouin! yet the characters en-
graved upon its sides are as clear now as they were five
or six thousand years ago, and one may well be excused
for the fancy that the stone is as imperishable as the
idea conveyed on it. These two obelisks commenced
an avenue of twelve hundred giant ram-headed Sphynxes,
which led from Luxsor to the pylon of the first temple
of Karnak, each standing on a pedestal; hundreds of
these have been destroyed, but many, headless and
broken, still border the empty path down which the long
and gorgeous procession of priests, clad in panther skins,
passed daily, carrying the ram-prowed barge containing
the shrine of the god in whose honour the festival of the
day was held, before whom burning incense was borne;
several of these Sphynxes are at Turin — very many at
St. Petersburg — some in Berlin, and one or two in
England. Another avenue of Sphynxes led from the
front of this Temple to the bank of the river, overlook-
ing Gourneh, and a third led in a southerly direction
towards Luxsor.
The first Temple reached at Karnak is a very complete
and fine one, approached by another Sphynx avenue —
but one cannot linger here in one's impatience to see
the grand Temple itself, a few minutes further on. Two
giant pylons open into a large court, with columns on
two sides, and an aisle of columns up the centre, leading
into the famous hypostyle hall, which Fergusson calls
" the greatest of man's architectural works;" the centre
aisle is formed of twelve columns, sixty-two feet high,
the largest if not the tallest columns in the world, with
G 4