DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0187
171
and those to which Philostratus alludes, may have perished with
■the remainder of the temple to which these two detached statues
probably have belonged : but the hearsay evidence of Pliny and
Philostratus must be allowed little weight against the positive
testimony of Strabo, an eye-witness.
The outward appearance of the statue corresponds perfectly
well with what Tzelzes says, that it was of a mixed red, or spotted
stone: in some places it is quite red, and in others it resembles
the breccia or pudding stone, with pebbles of various colours.
I would here add, that on reading the expression in Pliny,
" Non absimilis illi narratur in Thebis delubro Serapis, ut putant
Memnonis statua dicatur," we must account for the confused
sense of the passage, partly by the frequent incorrectness of the
author, partly the inattention of copyists; or we must suppose
that the Egyptians had before his time devoted to the worship of
Serapis the temples of Isis and Osiris.
In addition to the above testimonies, which seem on the whole
to favour Pococke's opinion, we have those of the numerous
Greeks and Romans who visited this statue at different times, and
have engraven their names on its legs and feet, declaring that
they heard the sound or voice of Memnon at such an hour, gene-
rally either one or two hours after sunrise; and it cannot be sup-
posed that they should hear the sound come from one statue,
and commemorate the circumstance on another. Strabo too
visited the statue, and heard the voice. We searched in vain for
the name of the geographer among the other inscriptions; but.
the terms kr which he mentions the fact are inserted in the Ap-
pendix *.
One objection has been founded on an expression of Pausa-
nias in the passage above quoted, where he says " that,the The-
* See Appendix, C.
'a 2 bans
and those to which Philostratus alludes, may have perished with
■the remainder of the temple to which these two detached statues
probably have belonged : but the hearsay evidence of Pliny and
Philostratus must be allowed little weight against the positive
testimony of Strabo, an eye-witness.
The outward appearance of the statue corresponds perfectly
well with what Tzelzes says, that it was of a mixed red, or spotted
stone: in some places it is quite red, and in others it resembles
the breccia or pudding stone, with pebbles of various colours.
I would here add, that on reading the expression in Pliny,
" Non absimilis illi narratur in Thebis delubro Serapis, ut putant
Memnonis statua dicatur," we must account for the confused
sense of the passage, partly by the frequent incorrectness of the
author, partly the inattention of copyists; or we must suppose
that the Egyptians had before his time devoted to the worship of
Serapis the temples of Isis and Osiris.
In addition to the above testimonies, which seem on the whole
to favour Pococke's opinion, we have those of the numerous
Greeks and Romans who visited this statue at different times, and
have engraven their names on its legs and feet, declaring that
they heard the sound or voice of Memnon at such an hour, gene-
rally either one or two hours after sunrise; and it cannot be sup-
posed that they should hear the sound come from one statue,
and commemorate the circumstance on another. Strabo too
visited the statue, and heard the voice. We searched in vain for
the name of the geographer among the other inscriptions; but.
the terms kr which he mentions the fact are inserted in the Ap-
pendix *.
One objection has been founded on an expression of Pausa-
nias in the passage above quoted, where he says " that,the The-
* See Appendix, C.
'a 2 bans