DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0125
CAIRO TO ASSOUAN.
dresses and symbols of authority, are driving bulls, goats, and flocks of geese. Whilst
the form of Egyptian worship remained, the sense of reverence and awe, which formed
its spirit and essence, had departed.
About thirty miles above Esneh is the most perfectly preserved temple in Egypt—
that of Edfou. Until excavated by M. Mariette, in i864, only the propylons were visi-
ble ; the rest was hidden beneath an Arab village which had been built upon its walls
and sanctuary. It belongs to the period of the Ptolemies, and, like the temple at
Esneh, exhibits the gods engaged in field-sports. One corridor is mainly devoted to
harpooning the hippopotamus, and, with the irresistible tendency of the Egyptians to
caricature, many of the incidents are very droll. In several cases the clumsy harpooner
has struck his weapon into one of the attendants, instead of the animal at which it was
THE JUDGMENT HALL OF OSIRIS.
aimed. Doubtless there was a mythological meaning in the sculptures—the hippopota-
mus being a symbol of Typhon, the Evil principle. But the realism and the fun of
the scene are strangely out of keeping with the conventional and reverential tone
of earlier art.
A few hours after leaving Edfou we reach Silsilis, which is interesting as being the
quarry from which the stone was cut for the temples and palaces of Thebes. The
excavations are of immense extent on both sides of the river, which is here very narrow.
They have been vividly described by Eliot Warburton, who says : " Hollowed out of
the rocks are squares as large as that of St. James's, streets as large as Pall Mall, and
lanes and alleys without number ; in short, you have all the negative features of a town,
if I may so speak, i.e., if a town be considered as a cameo, these quarries are a vast
intaglio" The tool-marks of the masons, made three thousand years ago, are distinctly
visible, and it is easy to see the methods employed to separate the huge blocks of stone,
121
dresses and symbols of authority, are driving bulls, goats, and flocks of geese. Whilst
the form of Egyptian worship remained, the sense of reverence and awe, which formed
its spirit and essence, had departed.
About thirty miles above Esneh is the most perfectly preserved temple in Egypt—
that of Edfou. Until excavated by M. Mariette, in i864, only the propylons were visi-
ble ; the rest was hidden beneath an Arab village which had been built upon its walls
and sanctuary. It belongs to the period of the Ptolemies, and, like the temple at
Esneh, exhibits the gods engaged in field-sports. One corridor is mainly devoted to
harpooning the hippopotamus, and, with the irresistible tendency of the Egyptians to
caricature, many of the incidents are very droll. In several cases the clumsy harpooner
has struck his weapon into one of the attendants, instead of the animal at which it was
THE JUDGMENT HALL OF OSIRIS.
aimed. Doubtless there was a mythological meaning in the sculptures—the hippopota-
mus being a symbol of Typhon, the Evil principle. But the realism and the fun of
the scene are strangely out of keeping with the conventional and reverential tone
of earlier art.
A few hours after leaving Edfou we reach Silsilis, which is interesting as being the
quarry from which the stone was cut for the temples and palaces of Thebes. The
excavations are of immense extent on both sides of the river, which is here very narrow.
They have been vividly described by Eliot Warburton, who says : " Hollowed out of
the rocks are squares as large as that of St. James's, streets as large as Pall Mall, and
lanes and alleys without number ; in short, you have all the negative features of a town,
if I may so speak, i.e., if a town be considered as a cameo, these quarries are a vast
intaglio" The tool-marks of the masons, made three thousand years ago, are distinctly
visible, and it is easy to see the methods employed to separate the huge blocks of stone,
121