DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0137
106 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBIA
on such an extent of building without being lost in admira-
tion ; no description will be able to give an adequate idea of
the enormous masses still defying the ravages of time. En-
closure within enclosure, propylasa in front of propykea; to
these, avenues of sphinxes, each of fourteen or fifteen feet in
length, lead from a distance of several hundred yards. The
common Egyptian sphinx is found in the avenues to the
south; but, to the west, the crio sphinx, with the ram's head,
from one or two that have been uncovered, seems to have
composed its corresponding avenue. Those of the south and
east are still buried. Headless statues of grey and blue gra-
nite, of gigantic size, lay prostrate in different parts of the
ruins. In the western court, in front of the great portico,
and at the entrance to this portico, is an upright headless
statue of one block of granite, whose size may be imagined
from finding that a man of six foot just reaches to the patella
of the knee.
The entrance to the great portico is through a mass of
masonry, partly in ruins ; through Avhich the eye rests on
an avenue of fourteen columns, whose diameter is more than
eleven feet, and whose height is upwards of sixty. On each
side of this are seven rows, of seven columns in each, whose
diameter is eight feet, and about forty feet high, of an archi-
tecture which wants the elegance of Grecian models, yet suits
the immense majesty of the Egyptian temple.
on such an extent of building without being lost in admira-
tion ; no description will be able to give an adequate idea of
the enormous masses still defying the ravages of time. En-
closure within enclosure, propylasa in front of propykea; to
these, avenues of sphinxes, each of fourteen or fifteen feet in
length, lead from a distance of several hundred yards. The
common Egyptian sphinx is found in the avenues to the
south; but, to the west, the crio sphinx, with the ram's head,
from one or two that have been uncovered, seems to have
composed its corresponding avenue. Those of the south and
east are still buried. Headless statues of grey and blue gra-
nite, of gigantic size, lay prostrate in different parts of the
ruins. In the western court, in front of the great portico,
and at the entrance to this portico, is an upright headless
statue of one block of granite, whose size may be imagined
from finding that a man of six foot just reaches to the patella
of the knee.
The entrance to the great portico is through a mass of
masonry, partly in ruins ; through Avhich the eye rests on
an avenue of fourteen columns, whose diameter is more than
eleven feet, and whose height is upwards of sixty. On each
side of this are seven rows, of seven columns in each, whose
diameter is eight feet, and about forty feet high, of an archi-
tecture which wants the elegance of Grecian models, yet suits
the immense majesty of the Egyptian temple.