DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4995#0048
LHOTFBE ON EGYPT. 29
and, so like a man you will say, lie had himself drawn
as a glorious and powerful personage, and his wife and
children like Liliputians. He was, however, evidently
a superior, successful, and jolly person; and as the
works of art are the most perfect and finished in Egypt,
we can afford to forgive his undoubted vanity.
The Pyramids of Dashour succeed Sakkara, and, in Dashour.
common with all pyramids, are placed near the boundary
line between the cultivated land and the desert.
At Beni-Hassan are tombs and- temples of great but Beni-
varied antiquity, cut out of the solid rock and extending
for a considerable distance along the side of the hills, at
a level several hundred feet above the water of the Nile.
Many of these tombs present considerable architectural
design. A rough stone pillar is formed into a Doric
column, and large excavated spaces are rock-hewn into
columnar buildings, which must have presented an im-
posing appearance before they were mutilated. The
designs on the walls of these tombs include paintings
illustrating the daily life of the Egyptians of different
dates, such as playing at ball, chess, or draughts, the act
of being shaved, cutting the nails of the feet, and wrest-
ling, besides various trades, such as those of glass-
blowers, goldsmiths, statuaries, painters and potters.
These illustrations, of a period about 2,000 years after
the construction of the Pyramids of Ghizeh, are of
great interest and value in helping us to determine the
progress in civilisation of the ancient Egyptians.
Proceeding up the Nile, we find ourselves at Bel- Abydus.
and, so like a man you will say, lie had himself drawn
as a glorious and powerful personage, and his wife and
children like Liliputians. He was, however, evidently
a superior, successful, and jolly person; and as the
works of art are the most perfect and finished in Egypt,
we can afford to forgive his undoubted vanity.
The Pyramids of Dashour succeed Sakkara, and, in Dashour.
common with all pyramids, are placed near the boundary
line between the cultivated land and the desert.
At Beni-Hassan are tombs and- temples of great but Beni-
varied antiquity, cut out of the solid rock and extending
for a considerable distance along the side of the hills, at
a level several hundred feet above the water of the Nile.
Many of these tombs present considerable architectural
design. A rough stone pillar is formed into a Doric
column, and large excavated spaces are rock-hewn into
columnar buildings, which must have presented an im-
posing appearance before they were mutilated. The
designs on the walls of these tombs include paintings
illustrating the daily life of the Egyptians of different
dates, such as playing at ball, chess, or draughts, the act
of being shaved, cutting the nails of the feet, and wrest-
ling, besides various trades, such as those of glass-
blowers, goldsmiths, statuaries, painters and potters.
These illustrations, of a period about 2,000 years after
the construction of the Pyramids of Ghizeh, are of
great interest and value in helping us to determine the
progress in civilisation of the ancient Egyptians.
Proceeding up the Nile, we find ourselves at Bel- Abydus.