DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0107
91
The walls of the anticnt town reach to within a few yards of
the right bank of the river, inclosing an oblong square of eighteen
hundred by sixteen hundred feet. In process of time, as the po-
pulation diminished, the inhabitants were collected into a smaller
compass, another inclosure was formed within the great one;
and the site of the old town was cultivated, except where there
were temples or other public buildings: of these we saw but few
remains, consisting of some small columns, mutilated fragments
of statues.and sphinxes, and a small gateway. The city wall was
twenty feet thick, and thirty in height; though built of bricks
baked in the sun, the whole is still in an extraordinary state of
preservation. At regular distances are ramps and steps to mount
to the top, where is a walk the whole way round. The bricks
are sixteen inches long, eight in width, and seven in height; they
arc all placed lengthwise alternately on their bases and sides.
The more modern part of the town, though equally desolate
with the rest, appears of Creek or Saracen construction, from the
number of double brick arches cemented together by a firm coat
of plaster. About one mile and a half North of the town, in the
sandy plain towards the river, Ave found a small peripteral tem-
ple, the dimensions of which were thirty-five feet by twenty-eight.
The sculptures on it present only one object worthy of remark ;
the frequent representation of Isis in the act of embracing Osi-
ris, her right arm thrown over his shoulders, and her left hand
clasping his arm. As this picture occurs no where else, it is not
improbable that it may be symbolical of the conjunction of the
Sun and Moon previous to the phenomenon of the new moon;
an event which was connected with some of the most important
mysteries of the Egyptian religion. We know that Isis was here
worshipped under the name of Eilithuia or Lucina, that is, in
n 2 her
The walls of the anticnt town reach to within a few yards of
the right bank of the river, inclosing an oblong square of eighteen
hundred by sixteen hundred feet. In process of time, as the po-
pulation diminished, the inhabitants were collected into a smaller
compass, another inclosure was formed within the great one;
and the site of the old town was cultivated, except where there
were temples or other public buildings: of these we saw but few
remains, consisting of some small columns, mutilated fragments
of statues.and sphinxes, and a small gateway. The city wall was
twenty feet thick, and thirty in height; though built of bricks
baked in the sun, the whole is still in an extraordinary state of
preservation. At regular distances are ramps and steps to mount
to the top, where is a walk the whole way round. The bricks
are sixteen inches long, eight in width, and seven in height; they
arc all placed lengthwise alternately on their bases and sides.
The more modern part of the town, though equally desolate
with the rest, appears of Creek or Saracen construction, from the
number of double brick arches cemented together by a firm coat
of plaster. About one mile and a half North of the town, in the
sandy plain towards the river, Ave found a small peripteral tem-
ple, the dimensions of which were thirty-five feet by twenty-eight.
The sculptures on it present only one object worthy of remark ;
the frequent representation of Isis in the act of embracing Osi-
ris, her right arm thrown over his shoulders, and her left hand
clasping his arm. As this picture occurs no where else, it is not
improbable that it may be symbolical of the conjunction of the
Sun and Moon previous to the phenomenon of the new moon;
an event which was connected with some of the most important
mysteries of the Egyptian religion. We know that Isis was here
worshipped under the name of Eilithuia or Lucina, that is, in
n 2 her