DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0299
283
The hollow in the middle has been cut out, I know not for what
purpose.
Between this column and the North gate of the city is a square
building inclosed with a double wall, which may have been a
senate-house or odeum, certainly some place of public resort.
Returning towards the gate to the South, you cross a small valley
which runs through the city, and during the inundation receives
the water of the Nile. The sides of it are now cultivated, though
in former times it was probably nothing more than a canal for
the supply of the inhabitants. It is called Ou&di el Gamous.
The whole interior of the city is occupied with very high mounds,
among which are many ruins of brick walls, others of stone and
marble. The South gate is still in excellent preservation and a very
handsome monument of Corinthian architecture; its chief orna-
ment being eight Corinthian columns nearly forty feet high. Eighty
yards behind this gateway are the remains of a Roman theatre, of
which the seats, the twelve columns in front, and the proscenium
were of stone;—it is in a semicircular form, on a diameter of
two hundred yards: and a little further South is part of the wall
of the antient town. The theatre fronts the city, and preserves
the character of these buildings in Greece and Italy, command-
ing a fine prospect in front, and resting on hills behind to assist
the reverberation of the voice.
Considerably beyond the city wall, in the same direction, are
the ruins of a Saracen or Arab town, with several Mahometan
mosques and Coptic churches scattered about them, all equally
in ruins and deserted. This spot is called Medine, and is pro-
bably the immediate successor of Antinoe, now called Ensine.
A little further South is the modern village of Abou Ilennis,
which is still a corruption of the original Roman name; and still
2 o 2 more
The hollow in the middle has been cut out, I know not for what
purpose.
Between this column and the North gate of the city is a square
building inclosed with a double wall, which may have been a
senate-house or odeum, certainly some place of public resort.
Returning towards the gate to the South, you cross a small valley
which runs through the city, and during the inundation receives
the water of the Nile. The sides of it are now cultivated, though
in former times it was probably nothing more than a canal for
the supply of the inhabitants. It is called Ou&di el Gamous.
The whole interior of the city is occupied with very high mounds,
among which are many ruins of brick walls, others of stone and
marble. The South gate is still in excellent preservation and a very
handsome monument of Corinthian architecture; its chief orna-
ment being eight Corinthian columns nearly forty feet high. Eighty
yards behind this gateway are the remains of a Roman theatre, of
which the seats, the twelve columns in front, and the proscenium
were of stone;—it is in a semicircular form, on a diameter of
two hundred yards: and a little further South is part of the wall
of the antient town. The theatre fronts the city, and preserves
the character of these buildings in Greece and Italy, command-
ing a fine prospect in front, and resting on hills behind to assist
the reverberation of the voice.
Considerably beyond the city wall, in the same direction, are
the ruins of a Saracen or Arab town, with several Mahometan
mosques and Coptic churches scattered about them, all equally
in ruins and deserted. This spot is called Medine, and is pro-
bably the immediate successor of Antinoe, now called Ensine.
A little further South is the modern village of Abou Ilennis,
which is still a corruption of the original Roman name; and still
2 o 2 more