DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0104
88
between Eleithias and Syene, there can be no doubt of this being
the city which the Greek colonists in Egypt chose to consider
as sacred to the god of light and of music.
In the most conspicuous part of the great Temple priests are
paying divine honours to the Scarabaeus or beetle, which is placed
upon an altar; and that it might have a character of more my-
sterious sanctit\r, it is generally represented with two mitred heads:
that of the common hawk, and that of the ram with the horn
of Amnion. This insect is said to have been typical of the Sun,
because it changes its appearance and place of abode every six
months, or because it is wonderfully productive. Harpocrates
or Orus with his finger to his mouth, said to be the emblem of
the just temperature of the air, is seated on a lotus, and a priest
is presenting to Osiris two obelisks, images of the sun's rays,
each of them suspended by a chain.
The pyramidal Propylon which forms the principal entrance
to this Temple, is one of the most imposing monuments of Egyp-
tian architecture. Each of the sides is one hundred feet in
length, thirty wide, and one hundred high. Many of the figures
sculptured on it are thirty feet in height, and are executed in
so masterly and spirited a style, as to add considerably to the
grand effect of the building. In each division, there is a staircase
of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty steps, which
conduct you gradually in ascending them, into apartments, which
arc alternately thirty-one feet by ten, and seventeen by ten.
The horizontal sections of each wing diminish gradually from
one hundred feet by thirty to eighty-three feet by twent}r. The
solidity and height of this Propylon give it more the appearance
of a fortress and place of defence, than of the approach to a
place of divine worship. Yet we are told that the addition of
one or more of these ornaments to a Temple was permitted as
an
between Eleithias and Syene, there can be no doubt of this being
the city which the Greek colonists in Egypt chose to consider
as sacred to the god of light and of music.
In the most conspicuous part of the great Temple priests are
paying divine honours to the Scarabaeus or beetle, which is placed
upon an altar; and that it might have a character of more my-
sterious sanctit\r, it is generally represented with two mitred heads:
that of the common hawk, and that of the ram with the horn
of Amnion. This insect is said to have been typical of the Sun,
because it changes its appearance and place of abode every six
months, or because it is wonderfully productive. Harpocrates
or Orus with his finger to his mouth, said to be the emblem of
the just temperature of the air, is seated on a lotus, and a priest
is presenting to Osiris two obelisks, images of the sun's rays,
each of them suspended by a chain.
The pyramidal Propylon which forms the principal entrance
to this Temple, is one of the most imposing monuments of Egyp-
tian architecture. Each of the sides is one hundred feet in
length, thirty wide, and one hundred high. Many of the figures
sculptured on it are thirty feet in height, and are executed in
so masterly and spirited a style, as to add considerably to the
grand effect of the building. In each division, there is a staircase
of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty steps, which
conduct you gradually in ascending them, into apartments, which
arc alternately thirty-one feet by ten, and seventeen by ten.
The horizontal sections of each wing diminish gradually from
one hundred feet by thirty to eighty-three feet by twent}r. The
solidity and height of this Propylon give it more the appearance
of a fortress and place of defence, than of the approach to a
place of divine worship. Yet we are told that the addition of
one or more of these ornaments to a Temple was permitted as
an