DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0156
CHAPTER XVII.
dexderah-keneh-a human heart.
"We had been thirty days and more upon the Nile without
seeing any antiquities; excepting one pillar and one obelisk
at Alexandria, the pyramids at a distance, and a few frag-
ments at Minieh, Ekhmim, and other places where mighty
cities once stood. It was time to see a temple; and while
the crew sojourned at Keneh to bake their bread, we crossed
the river to its western bank, and took donkeys for the ruins
of Tentyris, about two miles inland, on the slope of the
Lybian mountains. Riding over an immense uncultivated
plain, we reached a huge mound composed in part of the
ruins of the ancient city, and in part of the debris of an
Arab village, that in later times had squatted over these.
Ascending this mound for a short distance we found an
isolated gateway {pylon) of yellow stone, richly sculptured,
and bearing upon its inner face the image of Isis nursing
her infant Horus. This is as distinct as if sculptured yes-
terday. The pylon, however, is of Roman origin, and bears
the names of the emperors Domitian and Trajan.
Those who have seen the Arc de Triomphe at Paris, can
form some idea of the pylon of an Egyptian temple. From
this pylon an avenue (dromos), two hundred feet long, leads
to a magnificent portico in almost perfect preservation, sup-
ported by twenty-four columns, of about thirty feet diame-
ter, disposed in four parallel rows. This, too, is Roman,
11*
dexderah-keneh-a human heart.
"We had been thirty days and more upon the Nile without
seeing any antiquities; excepting one pillar and one obelisk
at Alexandria, the pyramids at a distance, and a few frag-
ments at Minieh, Ekhmim, and other places where mighty
cities once stood. It was time to see a temple; and while
the crew sojourned at Keneh to bake their bread, we crossed
the river to its western bank, and took donkeys for the ruins
of Tentyris, about two miles inland, on the slope of the
Lybian mountains. Riding over an immense uncultivated
plain, we reached a huge mound composed in part of the
ruins of the ancient city, and in part of the debris of an
Arab village, that in later times had squatted over these.
Ascending this mound for a short distance we found an
isolated gateway {pylon) of yellow stone, richly sculptured,
and bearing upon its inner face the image of Isis nursing
her infant Horus. This is as distinct as if sculptured yes-
terday. The pylon, however, is of Roman origin, and bears
the names of the emperors Domitian and Trajan.
Those who have seen the Arc de Triomphe at Paris, can
form some idea of the pylon of an Egyptian temple. From
this pylon an avenue (dromos), two hundred feet long, leads
to a magnificent portico in almost perfect preservation, sup-
ported by twenty-four columns, of about thirty feet diame-
ter, disposed in four parallel rows. This, too, is Roman,
11*