DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0176
144
EGYPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
plain from the encroachments of the desert and from the
invasion of enemies. The plain itself is watered by the
Nile, which Homer styles the " heaven-sprung river," which
in its yearly overflow heaps upon it the alluvial deposits of
the mountains of Ethiopia, and which opens to it the com-
merce of Ethiopia and of the Mediterranean. A short
caravan march brings to it the commerce of the Red Sea,
from Arabia, Persia, and the Indies.
The only present occupants of this plain are a few miser-
able Arab villagers, whose hovels are built of and amid the
ruins of the old city. These ruins are found on a stupen-
dous scale, at five or six prominent points, so related to each
other that from these we can reconstruct the Thebes of four
thousand years ago. Though the ruins are chiefly those of
public buildings — palaces and temples — yet the interior
magnificence of some of the tombs of private individuals,
and the pictures of private houses found upon their walls,
show that not all the wealth of ancient Thebes was in its
royal coffers.
Turning to the map, the reader will there find indicated
the names and localities of the several ruins. Upon the
western bank are the temples of Medeenet Habou, the
Memnonium, and Gournou, with others of less note,— the
colossal statues, and the principal tombs ; on the eastern
bank are the temples of Luxor and Karnac. The distance
from Luxor to Karnac is about a mile and a half; that
from Luxor to Medeenet Habou is about two and a half
miles. The river is represented at a moderate stage.
During the inundation the land is overflowed as far back as
the colossal statues.
Medeenet Habou was a palace-temple of grand propor-
tions, surrounded with huge sphinxes, lions, and colossal
men. In the front of the main edifice is an oblonsr court,
flanked on either hand by pyramidal towers, where was the
EGYPT, PAST AND PRESENT.
plain from the encroachments of the desert and from the
invasion of enemies. The plain itself is watered by the
Nile, which Homer styles the " heaven-sprung river," which
in its yearly overflow heaps upon it the alluvial deposits of
the mountains of Ethiopia, and which opens to it the com-
merce of Ethiopia and of the Mediterranean. A short
caravan march brings to it the commerce of the Red Sea,
from Arabia, Persia, and the Indies.
The only present occupants of this plain are a few miser-
able Arab villagers, whose hovels are built of and amid the
ruins of the old city. These ruins are found on a stupen-
dous scale, at five or six prominent points, so related to each
other that from these we can reconstruct the Thebes of four
thousand years ago. Though the ruins are chiefly those of
public buildings — palaces and temples — yet the interior
magnificence of some of the tombs of private individuals,
and the pictures of private houses found upon their walls,
show that not all the wealth of ancient Thebes was in its
royal coffers.
Turning to the map, the reader will there find indicated
the names and localities of the several ruins. Upon the
western bank are the temples of Medeenet Habou, the
Memnonium, and Gournou, with others of less note,— the
colossal statues, and the principal tombs ; on the eastern
bank are the temples of Luxor and Karnac. The distance
from Luxor to Karnac is about a mile and a half; that
from Luxor to Medeenet Habou is about two and a half
miles. The river is represented at a moderate stage.
During the inundation the land is overflowed as far back as
the colossal statues.
Medeenet Habou was a palace-temple of grand propor-
tions, surrounded with huge sphinxes, lions, and colossal
men. In the front of the main edifice is an oblonsr court,
flanked on either hand by pyramidal towers, where was the