DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6272#0107
104
VOYAGE UP THE NILE.
hatchet, the ark, the lotus fruit, the winged glohe, the serpent,
fine bas-reliefs, offerings to the deities, among whom is Am-
nion Ra, the ram-headed deity, from which we suppose that
Jupiter Amnion was worshipped here, as also at Karnac. Here
was the hall of assembly of ancient Thebes. Here the The-
ban senate discussed the policy of government, receiving the
decrees of the hierarchy, who governed here, as well as in the
temple of Jupiter Amnion. The ruin, when seen by day,
appeared simple and beautiful; and afterwards, when return-
ing by moonlight, at midnight, from the tombs of the kings,
the pale light threw shadows through its halls, wrapping the
dim figures and names in a splendor, which accorded well
with their antiquity and obscurity.
Near these ruins lies the beautiful village of Gournou,
which, among the Arab villages of Egypt, is perhaps the most
attractive. It is extremely well built, and surrounded by
fertile groves, like the ruins in the midst of a plain of lux-
uriant corn-fields, and fields of as fertile crops and fruits as
when Osiren had his palace residence here, three thousand
years ago.
A part of Gournou, which is fronted by the pillars of
lotus reed, it is said was built by Menephthah I., and his son,
Rameses the Great. One of the inscriptions, " Menephthah
Barei, son of the Sun, constructed this habitation for years."
Here Menephthah offers flowers to the Theban Triad*
We visited next the temple Dair, which in its construction
by the Queen Amunmeitgori, tells some interesting histories of
Egypt.
Just under the lofty precipice, which is above the Biban-
el-Memlook, and from which one of the most awful prospects
* See Grammaire Egyptienne, p. 441, 159.
VOYAGE UP THE NILE.
hatchet, the ark, the lotus fruit, the winged glohe, the serpent,
fine bas-reliefs, offerings to the deities, among whom is Am-
nion Ra, the ram-headed deity, from which we suppose that
Jupiter Amnion was worshipped here, as also at Karnac. Here
was the hall of assembly of ancient Thebes. Here the The-
ban senate discussed the policy of government, receiving the
decrees of the hierarchy, who governed here, as well as in the
temple of Jupiter Amnion. The ruin, when seen by day,
appeared simple and beautiful; and afterwards, when return-
ing by moonlight, at midnight, from the tombs of the kings,
the pale light threw shadows through its halls, wrapping the
dim figures and names in a splendor, which accorded well
with their antiquity and obscurity.
Near these ruins lies the beautiful village of Gournou,
which, among the Arab villages of Egypt, is perhaps the most
attractive. It is extremely well built, and surrounded by
fertile groves, like the ruins in the midst of a plain of lux-
uriant corn-fields, and fields of as fertile crops and fruits as
when Osiren had his palace residence here, three thousand
years ago.
A part of Gournou, which is fronted by the pillars of
lotus reed, it is said was built by Menephthah I., and his son,
Rameses the Great. One of the inscriptions, " Menephthah
Barei, son of the Sun, constructed this habitation for years."
Here Menephthah offers flowers to the Theban Triad*
We visited next the temple Dair, which in its construction
by the Queen Amunmeitgori, tells some interesting histories of
Egypt.
Just under the lofty precipice, which is above the Biban-
el-Memlook, and from which one of the most awful prospects
* See Grammaire Egyptienne, p. 441, 159.