DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6551#0123
RETURN FltO.M UPPER EGYPT.
89
as fresh as when first out of the loom. This gentle-
man's house was well arranged, considering its extra-
ordinary situation. I then proceeded to the Memno-
nium, where the famous Colossus excites almost as
much astonishment by the manner in which it has been
destroyed, as by the skill, and labour, which must have
been employed in its erection, for it is impossible to con-
ceive by what engine so vast a mass of solid granite
could have been suddenly broken without some marks
being left of the manner, in
which the force was applied.
The form of the arches near
the Memnonium, and the
lining of bricks placed edge-
ways to retain cement, or
mortar, would lead to the
supposition that they were
Roman; but had they been
constructed by that people
with materials taken from
Egyptian buildings, several
different cartouches would
probably have been found
amongst them, particularly
as a considerable ruin, composed entirely of the bricks of
Thothmes the Third (or Maris),5 was close at hand.0
5 See Rosellini, Tav. 2. torn. 1.
6 It is also to be observed, that these bricks are of the same size
as those of Remeses the Great, one foot four inches long, seven inches
broad, and five inches deep. They are composed of mud and cut straw,
and between the courses layers of straw, which were wonderfully fresh,
are inserted with the slime, that serves for mortar. In some instances
89
as fresh as when first out of the loom. This gentle-
man's house was well arranged, considering its extra-
ordinary situation. I then proceeded to the Memno-
nium, where the famous Colossus excites almost as
much astonishment by the manner in which it has been
destroyed, as by the skill, and labour, which must have
been employed in its erection, for it is impossible to con-
ceive by what engine so vast a mass of solid granite
could have been suddenly broken without some marks
being left of the manner, in
which the force was applied.
The form of the arches near
the Memnonium, and the
lining of bricks placed edge-
ways to retain cement, or
mortar, would lead to the
supposition that they were
Roman; but had they been
constructed by that people
with materials taken from
Egyptian buildings, several
different cartouches would
probably have been found
amongst them, particularly
as a considerable ruin, composed entirely of the bricks of
Thothmes the Third (or Maris),5 was close at hand.0
5 See Rosellini, Tav. 2. torn. 1.
6 It is also to be observed, that these bricks are of the same size
as those of Remeses the Great, one foot four inches long, seven inches
broad, and five inches deep. They are composed of mud and cut straw,
and between the courses layers of straw, which were wonderfully fresh,
are inserted with the slime, that serves for mortar. In some instances