DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3715#0003
SITUATION AND DISCOVERY
OF
THE TOMB.
The sepulchre, of which these two chambers form but a small
part, is a vast artificial excavation in a rock distant about three
miles from the Nile, to the west of the ancient city of ^hebes in
Egypt. All the various passages and halls of which it consists
are covered with similarly painted figures in relief, and the whole
length of the tomb equals 309 feet. These two apartments are
not contiguous; but they have been selected for exhibition, the
one for its great beauty, and the other for the instructive character
of its emblematical representations; they will, together, give some
idea of the splendour of the whole sepulchre. The figures are
casts in plaster of Paris, from wax impressions taken on the spot,
and painted with the greatest exactness and fidelity from drawings
made at the same time: on the day the tomb was opened, the colours
were found as fresh and vivid as they are here represented. In
examining, however, this curious monument, its high antiquity
ought not for a moment to be lost sight of, as it would scarcely
be just or reasonable to compare the paintings, which have
decorated its walls for nearly three thousand years, with the finer
specimens of modern art. But this is only one of an immense
number of excavations to be found in the neighbourhood.
At the foot of the Libyan chain of mountains, is a tract of rocks,
called Gournou, lying to the west of Thebes, and extending in
length about two miles, which is hollowed out into chambers
and galleries where the ancient inhabitants deposited their dead.
No mines or catacombs in any part of the world can be com-
pared with these astonishing places, the number and enormous
extent of which, attest the vast population of a city, whose
antiquity reaches far beyond all historical notice. For though
the ruins of Thebes afford the most complete evidence of
the genius and amazing resources of the early Egyptians, no
record enables us to form the slightest conjecture as to the date
of its foundation; since its temples and obelisks had already
begun to decay, when Menes, the first king of the country,
commenced the building of Memphis. This latter, on the establish-
ment of monarchy, became the capital of Egypt, but of the
comparative greatness of the two cities, we may judge by the
simple fact that the exact position of Memphis is now a matter of
dispute, which the Members of the Institute, who accompanied
the French expedition, were unable to determine; while Thebes,
though ruined, has resisted, in a wonderful manner, the inroads of
lime, of ignorance, and barbarity.
OF
THE TOMB.
The sepulchre, of which these two chambers form but a small
part, is a vast artificial excavation in a rock distant about three
miles from the Nile, to the west of the ancient city of ^hebes in
Egypt. All the various passages and halls of which it consists
are covered with similarly painted figures in relief, and the whole
length of the tomb equals 309 feet. These two apartments are
not contiguous; but they have been selected for exhibition, the
one for its great beauty, and the other for the instructive character
of its emblematical representations; they will, together, give some
idea of the splendour of the whole sepulchre. The figures are
casts in plaster of Paris, from wax impressions taken on the spot,
and painted with the greatest exactness and fidelity from drawings
made at the same time: on the day the tomb was opened, the colours
were found as fresh and vivid as they are here represented. In
examining, however, this curious monument, its high antiquity
ought not for a moment to be lost sight of, as it would scarcely
be just or reasonable to compare the paintings, which have
decorated its walls for nearly three thousand years, with the finer
specimens of modern art. But this is only one of an immense
number of excavations to be found in the neighbourhood.
At the foot of the Libyan chain of mountains, is a tract of rocks,
called Gournou, lying to the west of Thebes, and extending in
length about two miles, which is hollowed out into chambers
and galleries where the ancient inhabitants deposited their dead.
No mines or catacombs in any part of the world can be com-
pared with these astonishing places, the number and enormous
extent of which, attest the vast population of a city, whose
antiquity reaches far beyond all historical notice. For though
the ruins of Thebes afford the most complete evidence of
the genius and amazing resources of the early Egyptians, no
record enables us to form the slightest conjecture as to the date
of its foundation; since its temples and obelisks had already
begun to decay, when Menes, the first king of the country,
commenced the building of Memphis. This latter, on the establish-
ment of monarchy, became the capital of Egypt, but of the
comparative greatness of the two cities, we may judge by the
simple fact that the exact position of Memphis is now a matter of
dispute, which the Members of the Institute, who accompanied
the French expedition, were unable to determine; while Thebes,
though ruined, has resisted, in a wonderful manner, the inroads of
lime, of ignorance, and barbarity.