Wilkinson, John Gardner: Topographie of Thebes, and general view of Egypt: being a short account of the principal objects worthy of notice in the valley of the Nile, to the second cataracte and Wadi Samneh, with the Fyoom, Oases and eastern desert, from Sooez to Bertenice (London, 1835)

Chap.VII.] EGYPTIANS XOT BLACK. 497

attached to the pillars in the great hall are,—from
the shoulder to the elbow, 4 feet 6 inches; from the
elbow to the wrist, 4 feet 3; from the nose to the
chin, 8 inches; the ear, 13| inches; the nose,
about 10 inches; the face nearly 2 feet; and the
total height, without the cap and pedestal, 17 feet 8.

The principal objects of the interior are the his-
torical subjects, relating to the conquests of Remeses
II., represented in the great hall. A large tablet,
containing the date of his first year, extends over
great part of the north wall; and another between
the two last pillars on the opposite side of this hall,
of his thirty-fifth year, has been added long after
the temple was completed. The battle scenes on
the south wall are particularly spirited; and it will
not be without benefit to those who still adhere to
the notion that the Egyptians were black, to observe
the distinction maintained in the color of the faces
of the negro, Ethiopian, and eastern captives repre-
sented at Aboo Simbel, and to compare them with
that of the Egyptians, who are here, as on every
other monument, of a red complexion, not even
approaching the copper hue of the Ethiopians.

Ra was the god of the temple and the protector
of the place. In a niche over the entrance is a
statue of this deity* in relief, to whom the king is
offering a figure of Truth; and he is one of the
four at the end of the adytum. The Theban triad

* This figure, the staff, and the goddess of Truth, at the sides
of the niche, refer also to the name of Remeses.

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