DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0044
32
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYI'T
as we have just noticed—were but scantily attended
to before. The fallen blocks of the granite pylon
needed to be turned over, as they were all cut
out of older sculptures; and to do this without
tackle, I dug a trench on one side of the heap of
blocks., and then rolled them over one by one into
it, so as to turn them. In this way I examined every
block, and discovered the fragments of the enormous
colossus of Ramcssu II in red granite, which must have
been about 80 feet high, and have towered far above
the temple roofs, amid the forest of obelisks which
adorned the city. The toe alone is as large as a
man's body. Some large statues were also found by
the road leading up to the temple. And every block
of the hundreds which strew the ground here was
examined on all sides, by mining beneath it where
needful ; every fragment of inscription was copied ;
and finally a plan was made, showing the place of
each block, with numbers affixed referring to the
inscriptions. Thus anyone can draw their own con-
clusions as to the arrangement of the place, and the
positions of the monuments, better in their arm-chair
than by wandering over the chaos of dilapidation in
the plain of Zoan.
Finding that no great discoveries could reward me
in the temple. I tried the outskirts of the town, but
only found a very late cemetery of no importance.
I tried also sinking pits, in hopes of reaching the early
town of the Ramessides or the Hyksos ; but in vain, as
the accumulation of Greek and Roman remains blocked
the way, after descending even thirty feet. Then the
houses of the Roman period on the surface were ex-
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYI'T
as we have just noticed—were but scantily attended
to before. The fallen blocks of the granite pylon
needed to be turned over, as they were all cut
out of older sculptures; and to do this without
tackle, I dug a trench on one side of the heap of
blocks., and then rolled them over one by one into
it, so as to turn them. In this way I examined every
block, and discovered the fragments of the enormous
colossus of Ramcssu II in red granite, which must have
been about 80 feet high, and have towered far above
the temple roofs, amid the forest of obelisks which
adorned the city. The toe alone is as large as a
man's body. Some large statues were also found by
the road leading up to the temple. And every block
of the hundreds which strew the ground here was
examined on all sides, by mining beneath it where
needful ; every fragment of inscription was copied ;
and finally a plan was made, showing the place of
each block, with numbers affixed referring to the
inscriptions. Thus anyone can draw their own con-
clusions as to the arrangement of the place, and the
positions of the monuments, better in their arm-chair
than by wandering over the chaos of dilapidation in
the plain of Zoan.
Finding that no great discoveries could reward me
in the temple. I tried the outskirts of the town, but
only found a very late cemetery of no importance.
I tried also sinking pits, in hopes of reaching the early
town of the Ramessides or the Hyksos ; but in vain, as
the accumulation of Greek and Roman remains blocked
the way, after descending even thirty feet. Then the
houses of the Roman period on the surface were ex-