DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0155
THEBES AND KARNAK. 137
doorway, these columns, are the wonder of the world.
How was that lintel-stone raised ? How were these capi-
tals lifted ? Entering amotig those mighty pillars, says a
recent observer, "you feel that you have shrunk to the
dimensions and feebleness of a fly." But I think you feel
more than that. You are stupefied by the thought of the
mighty men who made them. You say to yourself:
" There were indeed giants in those days."
It may be that the traveler who finds himself for the
first time in the midst of a grove of Wdlingtonia gigantea
feels something of the same overwhelming sense of awe and
wonder; but the great trees, though they have taken three
thousand years to grow, lack the pathos and the mystery
that comes of human labor. They do not strike their roots
through six thousand years of history. They have not
been watered with the blood and tears of millions.* Their
leaves know no sounds less musical than the singing of
-birds, or the moaning of the night-wind as it sweeps over
the highlands of Calaveros. But every breath that wanders
down the painted aisles of Karnak seems to echo back the
sighs of those who perished in the quarry, at the oar, and
under the chariot-wheels of the conqueror.
The Hypostyle Hall, though built by Seti, the father of
Barneses II, is supposed by some Egyptologists to have
been planned, if not begun, by that same Amenhotep III
who founded the Temple of Luxor and set up the famous
colossi of the plain. However this may be, the cartouches
so lavishly sculptured on pillar and architrave contain no
names but those of Seti, who undoubtedly executed the
work en bloc, and of Barneses, who completed it.
And now, would it not be strange if we knew the name
and history of the architect who superintended the build-
ing of this wondrous hall, and planned the huge doorway
by which it was entered, and the mighty pylons which lie
shattered on either side? Would it not be interesting to
look upon his portrait and see what manner of man he
was? Well, the Egyptian room in the Glyptothek museum
at Munich contains a statue found some seventy years ago
at Thebes, which almost certainly represents that man, and
is inscribed with his history. His name was Bak-en-
* It has been calculated that every stone of these huge Pharaonic
temples cost at least one human life.
doorway, these columns, are the wonder of the world.
How was that lintel-stone raised ? How were these capi-
tals lifted ? Entering amotig those mighty pillars, says a
recent observer, "you feel that you have shrunk to the
dimensions and feebleness of a fly." But I think you feel
more than that. You are stupefied by the thought of the
mighty men who made them. You say to yourself:
" There were indeed giants in those days."
It may be that the traveler who finds himself for the
first time in the midst of a grove of Wdlingtonia gigantea
feels something of the same overwhelming sense of awe and
wonder; but the great trees, though they have taken three
thousand years to grow, lack the pathos and the mystery
that comes of human labor. They do not strike their roots
through six thousand years of history. They have not
been watered with the blood and tears of millions.* Their
leaves know no sounds less musical than the singing of
-birds, or the moaning of the night-wind as it sweeps over
the highlands of Calaveros. But every breath that wanders
down the painted aisles of Karnak seems to echo back the
sighs of those who perished in the quarry, at the oar, and
under the chariot-wheels of the conqueror.
The Hypostyle Hall, though built by Seti, the father of
Barneses II, is supposed by some Egyptologists to have
been planned, if not begun, by that same Amenhotep III
who founded the Temple of Luxor and set up the famous
colossi of the plain. However this may be, the cartouches
so lavishly sculptured on pillar and architrave contain no
names but those of Seti, who undoubtedly executed the
work en bloc, and of Barneses, who completed it.
And now, would it not be strange if we knew the name
and history of the architect who superintended the build-
ing of this wondrous hall, and planned the huge doorway
by which it was entered, and the mighty pylons which lie
shattered on either side? Would it not be interesting to
look upon his portrait and see what manner of man he
was? Well, the Egyptian room in the Glyptothek museum
at Munich contains a statue found some seventy years ago
at Thebes, which almost certainly represents that man, and
is inscribed with his history. His name was Bak-en-
* It has been calculated that every stone of these huge Pharaonic
temples cost at least one human life.