DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0124
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
condition of a people compelled "to serve with rigor in mortar and in brick, and in all
manner of service in the field."1
Leaving Thebes reluctantly, and feeling that months might be spent in exploring its
remains, we pursue our course up the Nile, and reach Esneh. Here is a temple, the
portico of which has been excavated only in the present century. The sand in which
it was so long buried has preserved its sculptures and paintings in marvellous per-
fection. The colors are as fresh and bright as when laid on at the commencement of
the Christian era. It belongs to the later period of Egyptian art, when it had come
decidedly under Greek influence. The present edifice probably occupies the site of an
older one, built by Thothmes in. The palm leaf here replaces the lotus in the capitals
IN THE TOMBS AT THEBES.
of the columns, which are of great beauty. No two are alike. Their variety and grace
afford a fine study for the decorative artist. We may observe here the change which
had passed over the Egyptian feeling towards the gods and Pharaohs, since the time
when they were regarded with awe and terror. Greek thought and feeling had human-
ized the deities, and brought them down from their mysterious seclusion into friendly
intercourse with man. In one panel we see them assisting the monarchs in the sports
of the field. They are holding the cords of a clapnet in four divisions. The upper
tier encloses flying birds ; the second, birds perched among the trees; the third, water-
fowl; the fourth, fishes. In another section, the gods, with their characteristic head-
i Exodus i. 13, 14.
condition of a people compelled "to serve with rigor in mortar and in brick, and in all
manner of service in the field."1
Leaving Thebes reluctantly, and feeling that months might be spent in exploring its
remains, we pursue our course up the Nile, and reach Esneh. Here is a temple, the
portico of which has been excavated only in the present century. The sand in which
it was so long buried has preserved its sculptures and paintings in marvellous per-
fection. The colors are as fresh and bright as when laid on at the commencement of
the Christian era. It belongs to the later period of Egyptian art, when it had come
decidedly under Greek influence. The present edifice probably occupies the site of an
older one, built by Thothmes in. The palm leaf here replaces the lotus in the capitals
IN THE TOMBS AT THEBES.
of the columns, which are of great beauty. No two are alike. Their variety and grace
afford a fine study for the decorative artist. We may observe here the change which
had passed over the Egyptian feeling towards the gods and Pharaohs, since the time
when they were regarded with awe and terror. Greek thought and feeling had human-
ized the deities, and brought them down from their mysterious seclusion into friendly
intercourse with man. In one panel we see them assisting the monarchs in the sports
of the field. They are holding the cords of a clapnet in four divisions. The upper
tier encloses flying birds ; the second, birds perched among the trees; the third, water-
fowl; the fourth, fishes. In another section, the gods, with their characteristic head-
i Exodus i. 13, 14.