DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0399
THEBES. 381
the way in winch this color was applied, one would say that
the statue was tinted rather than painted. The surface-
work, wherever it remains, is as smooth and highly fin-
ished as the cutting of the finest gem. Even the ground
°f the superb cartouche, on the upper half of the arm, is
elaborately polished. Finally, in the pit which it plowed
out in falling, lies the great pedestal, hieroglyphed with
the usual pompous titles of Rameses Mer-Amen. Diodorns,
knowing nothing of Ratneses or his style, interprets the
ascription after his own fanciful fashion: " I am Osy-
mandias, king of kings. If any would know how great I
am and where I lie let him excel me in any of my works."
■The fragments of wall and shattered pylon that yet
reinain standing at the Ramesseum face northwest
and southwest. Hence, it follows that some of the most
interesting of the surface sculpture (being cut in very low
felief) is go placed with regard to the light as to be actually
invisible after midday. It was not till the occasion of my
last visit, when I came early in the morning to make a cer-
tain sketch by a certain light, that I succeeded in distin-
guishing a single figure of that celebrated tableau,* on the
south wall of the great hall, in which the Egyptians are
Seen to be making use of the testudo and scaling-ladder to
assault a Syrian fortress. The wall scuptures of the
second hall are on a bolder scale and can be seen at any
'our. Here Thoth writes the name of Rameses on the
gg-shaped fruit of the persea tree and processions of
Shaven priests carry on their shoulders the sacred boats of
anous gods. In the center of each boat is a shrine sup-
ported by winged genii, or cherubim. The veils over
'ese shrines, the rings through which the bearing-poles
vere passed and all the appointments and ornaments of the
an are distinctly shown. One seems here, indeed, to be
'Omitted to a glimpse of those original shrines upon which
loses — learned in the sacred lore of the Egyptians —
modeled, with but little alteration, his ark of the covenant.
-Next in importance to Karnak, and second in interest
•o none of the Theban ruins, is the vast group of build-
arf8 nown hy the collective name of Medinct Ilabu. To
attempt to describe these would be to undertake a task as
tun,Seec'",'ood"cut:NTo- 340 in SirG. Wilkinson's "Manners and Cus-
ws ot the Ancient Egyptians," vol. i, ed. 1871.
the way in winch this color was applied, one would say that
the statue was tinted rather than painted. The surface-
work, wherever it remains, is as smooth and highly fin-
ished as the cutting of the finest gem. Even the ground
°f the superb cartouche, on the upper half of the arm, is
elaborately polished. Finally, in the pit which it plowed
out in falling, lies the great pedestal, hieroglyphed with
the usual pompous titles of Rameses Mer-Amen. Diodorns,
knowing nothing of Ratneses or his style, interprets the
ascription after his own fanciful fashion: " I am Osy-
mandias, king of kings. If any would know how great I
am and where I lie let him excel me in any of my works."
■The fragments of wall and shattered pylon that yet
reinain standing at the Ramesseum face northwest
and southwest. Hence, it follows that some of the most
interesting of the surface sculpture (being cut in very low
felief) is go placed with regard to the light as to be actually
invisible after midday. It was not till the occasion of my
last visit, when I came early in the morning to make a cer-
tain sketch by a certain light, that I succeeded in distin-
guishing a single figure of that celebrated tableau,* on the
south wall of the great hall, in which the Egyptians are
Seen to be making use of the testudo and scaling-ladder to
assault a Syrian fortress. The wall scuptures of the
second hall are on a bolder scale and can be seen at any
'our. Here Thoth writes the name of Rameses on the
gg-shaped fruit of the persea tree and processions of
Shaven priests carry on their shoulders the sacred boats of
anous gods. In the center of each boat is a shrine sup-
ported by winged genii, or cherubim. The veils over
'ese shrines, the rings through which the bearing-poles
vere passed and all the appointments and ornaments of the
an are distinctly shown. One seems here, indeed, to be
'Omitted to a glimpse of those original shrines upon which
loses — learned in the sacred lore of the Egyptians —
modeled, with but little alteration, his ark of the covenant.
-Next in importance to Karnak, and second in interest
•o none of the Theban ruins, is the vast group of build-
arf8 nown hy the collective name of Medinct Ilabu. To
attempt to describe these would be to undertake a task as
tun,Seec'",'ood"cut:NTo- 340 in SirG. Wilkinson's "Manners and Cus-
ws ot the Ancient Egyptians," vol. i, ed. 1871.