DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0079
50
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
The difference of the proportions of the smaller temple
to those of the larger seemed to agree with its supposed
feminine dedication to Isis, or Athor. On each side of
the entrance are colossal Atlantides in the usual position
of advancing with the left-leg foremost, accompanied by
two smaller figures, the one also advancing, the other the
reverse : these gigantic statues, like those in the facade
of the other temple, are seen to disadvantage from their
inclined positions. There are several cartouches in this
temple, which I did not observe in Mr. Wilkinson's list,
and a slight difference in that of Remeses the Second. It
has a crypt, or subterraneous apartment, beneath it about
five feet high. To the northward of these temples there
is a figure of Isis remarkably well carved in the rock ;
and at some little distance are the remains of a wall,
and of an old building apparently a church. On the
sloping bank of sand between the temples a stove yet
remains, that was used by Mr. Hay in taking casts of
plaster. This gentleman seems to have done more than
any other person to preserve from oblivion the venerable
antiquities of this interesting country ; therein presenting
a striking and honourable contrast to the wanton and
barbarous devastation, which has marked the progress of
many other noted antiquarians, particularly at Thebes
and Karnac.
I left Abou-Simbel with great regret, but as I ex-
pected great discoveries to have been made by Mr.
Caviglia at Gizeh I set out in the afternoon of the 21st,
and proceeded to Tosko, a picturesque village surrounded
by fields in a tolerable degree of cultivation; but the
people were apparently extremely poor. The antient
tombs are excavations in isolated rocks, and at a distance
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEII.
The difference of the proportions of the smaller temple
to those of the larger seemed to agree with its supposed
feminine dedication to Isis, or Athor. On each side of
the entrance are colossal Atlantides in the usual position
of advancing with the left-leg foremost, accompanied by
two smaller figures, the one also advancing, the other the
reverse : these gigantic statues, like those in the facade
of the other temple, are seen to disadvantage from their
inclined positions. There are several cartouches in this
temple, which I did not observe in Mr. Wilkinson's list,
and a slight difference in that of Remeses the Second. It
has a crypt, or subterraneous apartment, beneath it about
five feet high. To the northward of these temples there
is a figure of Isis remarkably well carved in the rock ;
and at some little distance are the remains of a wall,
and of an old building apparently a church. On the
sloping bank of sand between the temples a stove yet
remains, that was used by Mr. Hay in taking casts of
plaster. This gentleman seems to have done more than
any other person to preserve from oblivion the venerable
antiquities of this interesting country ; therein presenting
a striking and honourable contrast to the wanton and
barbarous devastation, which has marked the progress of
many other noted antiquarians, particularly at Thebes
and Karnac.
I left Abou-Simbel with great regret, but as I ex-
pected great discoveries to have been made by Mr.
Caviglia at Gizeh I set out in the afternoon of the 21st,
and proceeded to Tosko, a picturesque village surrounded
by fields in a tolerable degree of cultivation; but the
people were apparently extremely poor. The antient
tombs are excavations in isolated rocks, and at a distance