DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6359#0136
KOOM-OMBOS. 121
add that these women are the most abandoned of the courte-
zans of Egypt.' Sir G. Wilkinson uses language equally
strong, and characterized by indignation and warmth."
There is a temple here, the inside of which was cleared out
by Mohamed Ali, and the portico of which is probably the
best specimen of the Ptolemaic style in Egypt. Beyond this
portico there is but little to attract the voyager. Not so, how-
ever, with Edfou, to which the traveller next comes. It is
thus described by a recent visitor.
" It stands on rising ground not far from the Nile, and as
the external wall with which it is surrounded is entire, gives
Us a complete idea of the vast size and massive grandeur of an
■Egytian temple in its state of completeness, serving no less as
a fortress and a palace for the sacerdotal caste, than as a place
for the solemn rites of religion. We advanced through a
fetched village of mud hovels swarming with ragged Fellahs,
and beset by naked children, who raised a shrill demand of
" beckshish howaga," accompanied by the barking of a host
°f dogs, who, roused by our arrival from dozing in the sun
uP°n heaps of festering filth, joined the discordant chorus.
Thus escorted we reached the magnificent propylon, covered
with gigantic forms of mythological and regal personages, who
Seemed to look down impassive and contemptuous upon the
•hft and dust raised by the degenerate tenants of their beloved
and once glorious land. Spite of the sticks of dragoman and
boatmen, some of the more active contrived to glide in with
Us> unperceived, to the interior, while others, climbing like
donkeys to the top of the corridors, pursued us with their imp-
ish
antics and importunate clamor, till, their position being
st°rrned, they were driven down with kicks and blows into
e area below, raising in their escape whole clouds of suffo-
add that these women are the most abandoned of the courte-
zans of Egypt.' Sir G. Wilkinson uses language equally
strong, and characterized by indignation and warmth."
There is a temple here, the inside of which was cleared out
by Mohamed Ali, and the portico of which is probably the
best specimen of the Ptolemaic style in Egypt. Beyond this
portico there is but little to attract the voyager. Not so, how-
ever, with Edfou, to which the traveller next comes. It is
thus described by a recent visitor.
" It stands on rising ground not far from the Nile, and as
the external wall with which it is surrounded is entire, gives
Us a complete idea of the vast size and massive grandeur of an
■Egytian temple in its state of completeness, serving no less as
a fortress and a palace for the sacerdotal caste, than as a place
for the solemn rites of religion. We advanced through a
fetched village of mud hovels swarming with ragged Fellahs,
and beset by naked children, who raised a shrill demand of
" beckshish howaga," accompanied by the barking of a host
°f dogs, who, roused by our arrival from dozing in the sun
uP°n heaps of festering filth, joined the discordant chorus.
Thus escorted we reached the magnificent propylon, covered
with gigantic forms of mythological and regal personages, who
Seemed to look down impassive and contemptuous upon the
•hft and dust raised by the degenerate tenants of their beloved
and once glorious land. Spite of the sticks of dragoman and
boatmen, some of the more active contrived to glide in with
Us> unperceived, to the interior, while others, climbing like
donkeys to the top of the corridors, pursued us with their imp-
ish
antics and importunate clamor, till, their position being
st°rrned, they were driven down with kicks and blows into
e area below, raising in their escape whole clouds of suffo-