In the lateral columns, Rameses speaks as follows:—_Cleopatra's needle

_First Side_, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of Tum, the king

of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra, lord of diadems,

who protects Egypt and chastises nations; son of the sun, Ramessou

Meriamen, who throws down southern peoples as far as the Indian Ocean,

and the northern peoples as far as the prop of the sky; the lord of the

two lands, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra; son of the sun, Ramessou Meriamen,

vivifier like the sun.”

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Ma (truth), the king of

Upper and Lower Egypt, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra, lord of panegyrics like

his father, Ptah Totnen; son of the sun, Ramessou Meriamen, strong

bull, like the son of Nou (Set); none could stand (against him) in his

time, the lord of the two lands (_prenomen_); son of the sun (_name_).”

_Second Side_, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of Khepra, the

king of Upper and Lower Egypt (_prenomen_). Golden hawk, of abundant

years, very victorious; son of the sun (_name_). (He) enabled men to

behold (what) he has done; never was uttered denial (against it). The

lord of the two lands (_prenomen_); son of the sun (_name_); splendor

of the sun”....

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Truth, the king of Upper

and Lower Egypt (_prenomen_); son of the sun, offspring of the gods,

possessor of the two lands; son of the sun (_name_), who made his

frontiers to the place he chose, and got peace through his victory; the

lord of the two lands (_prenomen_); son of the sun (_name_), splendour

of the sun.”

_Third Side_, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Ra, the

king of Upper and Lower Egypt (_prenomen_); lord of panegyries, like

his father, Ptah; son of the sun (_name_); son of Tum, from his loins,

who loves him; Hathor generated him; he who opened the two lands; lord

of the two lands (_prenomen_); son of the sun (_name_), vivifier like

the sun.”

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of ...... the king of Upper and

Lower Egypt (_prenomen_); lord of diadems, who cares for Egypt and

chastises nations; son of the sun (_name_).”

The Flaminian obelisk is a beautiful example of the species; it was

constructed by the Pharaoh Seti I., otherwise Osirei, the blind king,

or as he is designated by the carvings on the stone, Menephtha Scthai;

and was completed by his son, Rameses II.: we therefore find his

own personal narrative in the middle column, and that of the great

Sesostris in the side columns. This obelisk was originally erected at

Heliopolis, and was brought thence and conveyed to Rome by the Emperor

Augustus in the tenth year before the Christian era. At Rome it was

taken to the Circus Maximus or Campus Martius, where it would seem

to have fallen into neglect, inasmuch as, at a later period, it was

found partly buried and broken into three pieces. It was one of the

five obelisks set up by Pope Sixtus V., and was placed by him in front

of the church of St. Maria at the Porta del Popolo, the old Flaminian

gate, in 1589; and although it has lost a portion of its base, is

the third in height of the obelisks of Rome, measuring upwards of

eighty-seven feet.

The Flaminian obelisk has been made the subject of an excellent

paper, contributed to the Royal Society of Literature, in 1841, by

the Rev. George Tomlinson, and published in the Transactions of the

Society. Mr. Tomlinson produces a careful and exact translation of

the inscription on all the sides of this obelisk; and as there is

necessarily a considerable amount of repetition, we have endeavoured to

curtail it, without, as we hope, doing injury to the sense. On three

sides of the pyramidion Seti supplicates three separate deities:—Thoré

of the sacred bark; Horus-phra, lord of the two worlds; and Athom,

lord of Heliopolis. He appeals as follows:—“The good god, the Pharaoh,

establisher of justice, the son of the sun, Menephtha-Sethai, says:

Give me a life strong and pure. To which the deities reply:—We give

thee all strength; we give thee a life strong and pure.”

On the fourth side of the pyramidion, Rameses II., son of Seti, prefers

a similar request to Athom, lord of Heliopolis, thus:—“The good god,

the Pharaoh, guardian of justice, approved of the sun, the son of the

sun, Ammon-mai Rameses, says: Give me a life strong and pure; and the

deity responds:—We give thee a pure life.”

[Illustration:

The subject of the woodcut is copied from the British

obelisk, and represents the sacred hawk, the symbol

of Horus, the deity of the Sun; surmounting the

standard of the king, the Pharaoh, Thothmes III.

]

At the top of the column, immediately under the pyramidion, is a square

compartment, on which are sculptured figures of the king kneeling

before the respective divinities, and offering gifts, libations, vases

of precious ointment, &c.

Next below the square compartment is another of oblong figure, divided

into three stripes, corresponding with the three columns which descend

the rest of the shaft down to its base. The upper part of the oblong

space is occupied by the sacred hawk, capped with the helmet-shaped

double crown of Egypt, and emblematical of the god Horus. Then follows

the standard of the king in the form of a banner representing a

bull, the emblem of power and moderation, together with the special

attributes of the king. The inscription in the oblong compartment

will therefore read as follows:—The Horus, the powerful; then, in the

case of Seti; sanctified by truth and justice; the piercer of foreign

countries by his victories; the beloved of the sun and justice. Whilst

the legend of Rameses styles him:—The beloved of the sun; the son of

Noubti or Seth; the beloved of justice; the son of Ptha-Totonen; and

the son of Athom.

The vertical columns commemorative of Seti are as follows:—The Horus,

the powerful, sanctified by truth and justice, &c. Lord of the diadems

of Upper and Lower Egypt, Month or Mandou of the world; possessor of

Egypt; the resplendent Horus, the Osiris, the divine priest of Thoré;

the king, Pharaoh, establisher of justice, who renders illustrious the

everlasting edifices of Heliopolis, by foundations fit for the support

of the heaven; who has established, honoured, and adorned the Temple

of the Sun and the rest of the gods; which has been sanctified by him,

the son of the sun, Menephtha-Sethai, the beloved of the spirits of

Heliopolis, everlasting like the sun.

The variations in other columns speak of Seti as “the establisher of

everlasting edifices, making his sanctuary in the sun, who loves him,

the adorner of Heliopolis, who makes libations to the sun and the rest

of the lords of the heavenly world, who gives delight by his rejoicings

and by his eyes: beloved of Horus, the lord of the two worlds:”—“The

scourge of foreign countries, piercer of the shepherds, who fills

Heliopolis with obelisks to illumine with their rays the Temple of the

Sun; who like the Phœnix fills with good things the great temple of the

gods, causing it to overflow with rejoicing.”

The vertical columns in praise of Rameses proclaim as follows:—“The

Horus, the powerful, the beloved of the sun, the Ra, the offspring of

the gods, the subjugator of the world, the king, the Pharaoh, guardian

of justice, approved of the sun; son of the sun, Ammon-mai Rameses; who

gives joy to the region of Heliopolis when it beholds the radiance of

the solar mountain. He who does this is lord of the world; the Pharaoh,

guardian of justice, approved of the sun, son of the sun, Ammon-mai

Rameses, giving life like the sun.”

In another column he calls himself:—“The beloved of justice, who has

erected edifices like the stars of heaven; he hath made his deeds

resound above heaven, scattering the rays of the sun, rejoicing over

them in his house * * *. In the * * year of his majesty he made good

this edifice of his father, whom he loved, giving stability to his name

in the abode of the sun. He who hath done this is the son of the sun,

Ammon-mai Rameses, the beloved of Athom, lord of Heliopolis, giving

life for ever.”

In a third column he is called “The director of the years, the great

one of victories.” In a fourth:—“The Ra, begotten of the gods, the

subjugator of the world, who magnifies his name in every region by

the greatness of his victories.” Again:—he is termed “The lord of

panegyrics,[23] like his father Ptha-Totonen, begotten and educated by

the gods, builder of their temples, lord of the world; a son of Thoré.”

[23] Sir Gardner Wilkinson writes:—“Of the fixed festivals, one of

the most remarkable was the celebration of the grand assemblies, or

panegyries, held in the great halls of the principal temples, at which

the king presided in person. That they were of the greatest importance

is abundantly proved by the frequent mention of them in the sculptures;

and that the post of president of the assemblies was the highest

possible honour, may be inferred as well from its being enjoyed by the

sovereign alone, of all men, as from its being assigned to the deity

himself in these legends:—‘Phra (Pharaoh), lord of the panegyries, like

Ra,’ or, ‘like his father Ptha.’”

At the base of the obelisk, on the north side, Seti kneels before the

hawk-headed deity Hor-phra, Horus, or the Sun, offering gifts: the god

says:—“The speech of Hor-phra, lord of the two worlds. We give thee

vigour, magnanimity, and strength, to have a life pure, and like the

sun, everlasting.”

On the south side he says:—“The speech of Hor-phra, the enlightener of

the two worlds, the great god, the lord of heaven: we give thee all the

worlds, all the countries * * * and to be lord of the south and the

north, like the sun, sitting for ever upon the throne of Horus.”

On the east side of the base of the obelisk Rameses kneels before Athom

(the setting sun), and offers, with his left hand, one of the pyramidal

cakes common in Egypt. The deity says—“We, Athom, lord of Heliopolis,

the great god, give thee the throne of Seb (Saturn), the altar of Athom

* * * the diadems of Horus and Noubti, in a pure life.”

As another example of the inscriptions on obelisks, we quote a

translation of the middle column of the west face of the Paris obelisk,

as follows:—“The sun Horus, with the strength of the bull, lover of

Truth, sovereign of the north and south, protector of Egypt, and

subjugator of the foreigner, the golden Horus, full of years, powerful

in the fortress, King Ra-user-ma, chief of chiefs, was begotten by

Toum, of his own flesh, by him alone, to become King of the Earth, for

ever and ever, and to supply with offerings the temple of Ammon.”

“It is the son of the sun, Ramses-meri-Amon, eternally living, who

constructed this obelisk.”

It may be as well to explain, that the sun being deified by the

Egyptians as the symbol of creation, the maker, the disposer; and the

Pharaohs being supposed to be sons of the sun, the rising sun Ra,

being generated out of Toum, or Tum, the setting sun; the rising sun,

therefore, becomes, at one and the same time, both father and son.

One of the inscriptions on Cleopatra’s Needle at Alexandria is as

follows:—

“The glorious hero, the mighty warrior, whose actions are great on

the banner; the king of an obedient people; a man just and virtuous,

beloved by the Almighty Director of the universe; he who conquered

all his enemies, created happiness throughout all his dominions, who

subdued his adversaries under his sandals.

“During his life he established meetings of wise and virtuous men, in

order to introduce happiness and prosperity throughout his empire. His

descendants, equal to him in glory and power, followed his example. He

was, therefore, exalted by the Almighty-seeing Director of the world.

He was the lord of Upper and Lower Egypt; a man most righteous and

virtuous, beloved by the All-seeing Director of the world.”

The Thothmes-Rameses obelisks, subsequently called Cleopatra’s Needles;

and one of them, now, the British obelisk, were erected by Thothmes

III., in front of the portico of the great temple of Heliopolis; where

Moses pursued his studies and became skilled in Egyptian learning,

and where he afterwards filled the office of professor or priest.

Many, many times, no doubt, must Moses have contemplated the pagan

proclamations on these obelisks, and have contrasted them, in his own

mind, with the simple language of the living God Most High, whom he

himself worshipped. Many times he must have shuddered at the pagan

oppression of his own people, and felt himself appealed to for their

protection. Who shall say that the immolation of the Egyptian who was

discovered striking a Hebrew was not a righteous act. Cruelties had

been suffered by the Israelites until they could be borne no longer,

and this blow from the hand of an Egyptian became the starting-point

of the future exodus. Many years later Moses proved his capacity

as a leader,[24] and conducted his brethren safely across the Red

Sea, pursued by Menephtah III., the Pharaoh of the day, the son and

successor of that Rameses whose oval is impressed on the British

obelisk. The date of Joseph’s advent in Egypt has latterly been

referred to the period of the shepherd kings, who are supposed to

have been of Jewish descent, and therefore more likely to be disposed

favourably towards Joseph than the Egyptian Pharaohs. The dynasties of

the shepherd kings ranged between 2214 and 1703 B.C.

[24] Moses is said to have been eighty years old at the time of the

exodus.

A little fusillade of guns reminds us that the time has arrived when

we must bid farewell to the Queen of Eastern cities, and embark on

the enchanting Nile for the ancient city of Thebes, just 450 miles

away. A shriek from the railway-train on the west bank suggests that

we may shorten our pilgrimage by nearly 200 miles; a well-known pant

from the river tells us that a steam-boat is at hand, destined to

carry passengers and scare crocodiles[25] in its journey to the first

cataract. But we have dreamed of a Nile voyage in the graceful Nile

boat, the “Dahabeeyah,” with its huge lateen sail, for many and many

a month; we have enjoyed, by anticipation, the quiet, the repose, and

the opportunity for contemplation which the voyage of the Nile for

several weeks[26] must afford, and our mind has long since been made

up; the guns again fire their parting salute, the anchor is tripped,

and we spring away from our moorings like a bird enjoying its first

flight on a summer’s morning. Upon either side of the river-stream

is the narrow strip of arable earth, green with its luxuriant crops,

so peculiar to the land of Egypt; beyond are the yellow sands of

the desert; and further off, constituting the frame in which the

picture is set, is the range of orange-red sandstone rocks, which

shuts in the valley of the Nile on both its sides. As we move onwards

we seem to be reviewing a section of the earth—the alluvium of the

Delta behind us; the sandstone, the gritstone, the limestone of the

secondary rocks, rising into a wall on either side, with the porphyry,

the syenite, and the granite of the primary rock awaiting us at the

first cataract, the gates of Egypt. The rocks approach nearer to the

river as we advance, and keep us company to the end of our journey;

sometimes they are so close as to stand up like perpendicular cliffs,

and encroach on the tawny stream; and at other times they recede,

and encircle an extensive valley, such as that on which the grandest

ruins in the world, those of the ancient city of Thebes, are heaped

up. This rock-bound valley is bisected by the Nile: on the one side,

the west, are the ruins of once magnificent temples and royal tombs;

on the other, the east, the up-piled heaps of gigantic _débris_; the

Nile dividing the abodes of the living from those of the dead. On the

west side are temples dedicated to Rameses I. by his son Seti I.; to

Seti I. by Rameses II.; and to Rameses II. by Rameses himself; a temple

to Queen Hatasou, and temples to Amenophis III. and Rameses III. Then

we have valleys enshrined with tombs of kings and queens, dating from

Seti I. downwards to Rameses IV. In the tomb of Seti, Belzoni secured

the beautiful sarcophagus of white alabaster, one of the choice relics

deposited in the Soane Museum; and from the tomb of Rameses III.,

discovered by Bruce, was obtained the sarcophagus of red granite, the

cyst of which is preserved in the Louvre, and the covercle, or lid,

in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge; whilst round and about are

necropolises of considerable extent, for the most part appendages of

the temples.

[25] It is a curious fact that the crocodile is rarely met with now,

even in Upper Egypt, but requires to be sought after higher up the

river—namely, in Nubia. It is said to be a timid creature, and the

steam-boat and rifle have scared it from its ancient haunts. Mr. A.

C. Smith, who is a zealous ornithologist, identifies the bird that

ventures into the mouth of the crocodile in search of leeches—the

crocodile bird—as the spur-winged plover (charadrius spinosus), the

Zic-Zac of the Arabs, which has constituted itself the professional

toothpicker of the crocodile.

[26] Professor Flower mentions that the voyage from Cairo and back

occupies from eight to ten weeks; while that to and from the second

cataract requires a month longer.

[Illustration:

The Memnonian Colossi; one of the two being the “Vocal

Memnon.” They are sitting statues of the Pharaoh,

Amenophis III.

]

Once upon a time there existed on this spot a temple of calcareous

stone; the temple was named Memnonium, from being situated in a part

of the city called Memnonia; and the trumpet of fame has ascribed it

to a mythical king, Memnon: it was, however, erected by Amenophis or

Amunoph III., who, for no better reason, has likewise been termed

Memnon. Egyptologists deplore the loss of this temple, as it no doubt

contained the historical record of the reign of Amenophis; but of its

pylons, its walls, and its columns, nothing now remains save their

foundations; its stones have been broken into bits, and the bits have

been carried away and burnt into lime. Nevertheless, a memorial of its

former existence happily remains in the two gigantic colossal statues

of Amenophis, which were carved out of breccia, a transition rock, that

could yield no lime by the burning. These are the two huge Colossi,

still grand, but much defaced and injured, which sat at their ease in

front of the pylon of Amunoph’s temple, and will sit on, perhaps, for

centuries, although the sanctuary which they once guarded and adorned

is no more. Of another temple near at hand, M. Mariette says:—“The

lime-burners have luckily not yet found their way here. But why?

Simply because there is already so much limestone among the ruins on

the plain, which is, therefore, more easy of acquisition;” but when

this shall have been exhausted, then looms another invasion of those

industrious shepherds, the lime-burners.

No doubt, a good deal of the destruction which we see around was the

handiwork of man, perhaps of the baffled Cambyses; perhaps of Ptolemy

Lathyrus, those two great destroyers; but history reminds us, that

in the twenty-seventh year before the birth of Christ, an earthquake

visited Egypt, and shook it to its very foundations. This earthquake

seriously damaged the Colossi, and more especially the northernmost

one, which had its upper part shaken completely off. But a curious

phenomenon succeeded. Of a morning, when the sun first rose and warmed

the statue, it gave forth a plaintive wail, resembling the sound of

the human voice. This, apparently, resulted from some contraction or

expansion of the material of the broken stump: it has been supposed

that the fractured stone, moistened by the dew of night, crackled under

the drying influence of the warm rays of the rising sun. But whatever

the physical cause may have been, the sound attracted the notice

of travellers; and visitors came from all parts of the surrounding

countries to witness the phenomenon. It would seem that the event was

a little fickle; it did not always manifest itself, nor precisely at

the same time; but it was only at or about the time of the rising of

the sun that it was evoked. To the multitude, this sound was the voice

of Memnon lamenting to his divine mother, Aurora, the injuries his

statue had sustained; and in this wise he sighed forth his lament for

250 years, when Septimus Severus stretched forth his hand to heal his

wounds, and perchance to elicit a happier, cheerfuller note. The statue

was repaired by means of blocks of stone, as in ordinary masonry; the

voice of lamentation ceased, and with it every vestige of sound. Memnon

wailed and sighed no more, neither did his voice come more melodiously

forth as his restorer hoped. The vocal Memnon sunk at once, from an

object of wonder, to the simple rank of the northern colossus of

Amenophis. But the term Colossus is well-earned when we reflect that

the statue itself was fifty feet in height; while its pedestal of ten

feet gave it an altitude of sixty feet. Two figures standing against

the arms of the throne on which the giant sits, are those of his mother

and sister.

Not far away from the ruin of the Memnonium and the Memnonian Colossi

are the fragments of a temple, erected by Rameses II., and dedicated

to himself, the Ramesseum; it has likewise been named the Palace of

Memnon and the Tomb of Osymandias. But the object of chief interest

for us, at the present time, in connection with this ruin, is the

broken Colossus, which formerly stood within the entrance-court of the

temple. The statue is wrought out of Syenite granite; it was brought

from Syené, and is one of the most gigantic monoliths carved by the

Egyptians. It is a statue of Rameses the Great, seated on his throne,

in the attitude of repose, and was originally nearly forty feet high;

whilst its estimated weight was very little short of 900 tons. It

is now broken across at the waist; the lower part is shattered into

fragments; whilst the upper portion is reduced in size by the cutting

out of mill-stones by the Arabs. “It is difficult,” says Mariette, “at

what most to wonder, the patience and labour of the sculptor, or the

pains and force employed by the destroyer.” Miss Edwards, speaking of

this Colossus, remarks, that “the stone is so hard, that when small

fragments are mounted on a handle, they are used as a substitute for

the diamond by engravers of antiques.”

But we must confess to a little, a very little, malice when we turn

the attention of our readers to Deir-el-Bahari, a temple erected to

the honour of Hatasou, also on the western and sepulchral side of

Thebes. “Here,” says Mariette, “we find a temple mounting the rock

behind it by regular steps or platforms, and built of a beautiful white

and marble-like calcareous stone. It was formerly approached by a long

avenue of sphinxes, and heralded by _two obelisks_, of which the bases

alone are now traceable.”

But how, may we venture to enquire, came obelisks, the offspring of

the rising sun, on the Hades side of the Nile? Can the river have

changed its course? Alas! no. It is the whim of woman. Hatasou erected

the grandest obelisks in existence; she covered the whole shaft, with

the exception of the carvings, with gold. She erected a temple that

stepped up the side of a mountain, as if it were a flight of stairs.

She governed Egypt, the two worlds, and maintained the dignity of the

diadems of the upper and lower country during one of the most brilliant

periods of Egypt’s greatness; and now we find her imparting sunshine

to the dead, and by exception proving the rule, that no obelisks are

to be found on the western bank of the Nile, saving her own, and the

flouted fragments of Fyoom. “She hath made this work for her father

Amun-re, lord of the regions; she hath erected to him this handsome

gateway * * * Amun protects the work * * * she hath done this to whom

life is given for ever.”[27] So says the Pharaoh Amun-noo-het, or

Hatasou. Turn we now to the eastern bank of the Nile, and we find the

Arab village of Luxor grown up like a parasitic fungus over the ruins

of once stately edifices, the grand temple of Amenophis III., where the

Colossi of Rameses guard the entrance; and two miles away, the still

more magnificent ruin of the temple of Usertesen and his successors:

but of these anon.

[27] Murray.

The inscription on the paw of the sphynx, already noted, has reminded

us how precious to the Egyptian is every “spot of harvest-bearing

land,” so precious that not a tittle could be spared for the interment

of the dead; the sands were too shifting, and the sandstone rock alone

remained for the purposes of burial. The sandstone rock forms a broad

shelf at the border of the desert, and thence mounts up in terraces to

the summit of the mountain-range. Cheops and Chephren, and the kings of

the early dynasties, had the power and the means of raising mountains

over their embalmed and mummified remains; but for the people, must

suffice a more humble resting-place;—for them a hole was scooped out

on the platform of rock, to be built up at its entrance until the day

of resurrection should arrive. In the neighbourhood of the Pyramids,

the cemetery of kings, the sandstone rock is honeycombed with tombs, in

which the population of every degree have their appropriate sepulchral

niche. In later times these tombs have been ransacked for antiquarian

relics and for the riches they contained; and the desert around is

still thickly carpeted with a profuse accumulation of fragments of

mummies and mummy-cases, and vestments of every kind.

The word mummy is said to be derived from “mourn,” a kind of wax used

in the process of embalming. This process would seem to have been

first employed during the eleventh dynasty, about 3,000 years before

the Christian era, and to have been practised until the 6th century

A.D. Mariette notes differences in the appearance and qualities of

the mummies in accordance with their source—from Memphis or Thebes,

or their preparation in more recent times. The Memphite mummies

are extremely dry, break easily, and are black in colour; those of

Thebes are tightly bandaged, yellow and flexible, bending easily, and

sometimes preserving so much softness as to admit of being indented by

pressure: whereas, in later times, the bodies were saturated with a

kind of turpentine from Judea, and became heavy, compact, the bandages

seemingly identified with the flesh, and so hard as only to be broken

with violence. The Memphite mummies were often filled with amulets

and scarabæi, and by their sides, or between their legs, was placed a

papyrus, a copy of the Book of the Dead. On the Theban mummies were

scarabæi and rings, which were worn on the fingers of the left hand.

[Illustration: A pylon or doorway of a house or temple.]

The essentials of a tomb, for such as could afford the expense, were,

a deep quadrangular well in the rock; in the side of this well was a

smaller cavity for the deposit of the mummy, or of the mummy-case;

after which, the entrance of the cavity, or grave, was carefully

walled up; next followed a chamber in which mourners and friends could

assemble; and after that a portal, or exterior entrance, by which

admission might be obtained. It is easy to understand how this simple

design may be amplified until an entire rock of considerable magnitude

has been hollowed out into numerous chambers; how these chambers may

be ornamented with columns and sculptures; how the portal may assume

an architectural form, and become a pylon, and the front of the rock

be carved into columns and statues of imposing grandeur and beauty.

Indeed, there would seem—as in fact is the case—no bounds to the

intricacy and extent of the sanctuary and its chambers, the elegance

and decoration of the appurtenant halls, and the magnificence and

grandeur of the pylonic front. We should be pleased to imagine that the

first efforts of man practised on the rocks, and thence transferred

to the plain, were the early origin of Egyptian architecture, were we

not aware of the fact, that the work of the mason makes its appearance

seemingly contemporaneously with that of the wonderful excavations, of

which so many examples are to be met with on the banks of the Nile.

Arrived at Thebes, we find the rock and tomb architecture especially

illustrated on the western bank of the Nile; while the masonic element

appears in all its grandeur on the eastern bank, in the temples of

Karnak and Luxor, magnificent in the midst of overwhelming ruin. At

Karnak, the foundation of the principal temple is a mile and a-half in

circuit: it was founded by Usertesen, of the twelfth dynasty, and has

been enlarged by successive additions of courts and halls, by Thothmes

I. and his family, by Seti I. and Rameses II. and their family, and

subsequently by a long series of kings, ending with Alexander the

Greek.

[Illustration:

The propylon, or tower-gate, of the temple of Edfoo,

one of the most magnificent in Egypt. Its breadth

is 250 feet, and height 115. The temple itself,

which is one of the most perfect specimens of

Egyptian temple-architecture, was founded by

Ptolemy Philopater, and the propylon was erected

by Ptolemy Dyonysus. The entire structure is

Ptolemaic, and it is ornamented on every side with

paintings and sculptures. The small buildings at

its base are the houses of the village.

]

One of the most interesting features of these magnificent temples is

the doorway, or _pylon_, which, from the simplest form, ornamented in

the simplest manner, and serving as the humble entrance of the cavern

in the rock, has become developed into an architectural structure of

surpassing grandeur and importance. When it stands independently, in

advance of the proper entrance of the temple, it is termed _propylon_;

and the propylon is often a massive structure, which resembles a tower

or a fortress rather than a simple gate or portal. It consists usually

of a thick wall, pyramidal in its figure, of considerable height, and

terminated above by a broad cornice ornamented over the portal with

the winged orb, the type of the Eternal and of the sun; the centre of

the wall being perforated by the doorway, or entrance. The propylon

is generally furnished with two flag-staves fixed to its front, and

sometimes divides at the top into a pair of towers.[28] As the propylon

is the representative of the ornamented entrance of the temple, the

_fore_-gate, or _fore_-tower, it is a necessary appurtenance to the

temple, and forms a picturesque object when seen from a distance;

whilst its walls are made subservient to the purposes of painting and

sculpture, destined to illustrate the history of its founder. The

propylon of the most modern portion of the temple at Karnak is 140 feet

high, 370 feet in breadth, and 50 feet in thickness; it is approached

by an avenue of ram-headed sphynxes, 200 feet long, and the sides of

the doorway were formerly ornamented with two granite statues, which

are now in a state of ruin.

[28] Miss Edwards remarks, that there is preserved in the Egyptian room

of the Glyptothek Museum at Munich, a statue of the chief architect of

the Ramessian period, Bak-en-khonzu, who, “having obtained the dignity

of High Priest and First Prophet of Ammon, during the reign of Seti I.,

became chief architect of the Thebaid under Rameses II., and received

a royal commission to superintend the embellishment of the temples.

When Rameses II. erected a monument to his divine father Ammon-Ra,”

Bak-en-khonzu “made the sacred edifice in the upper gate of the abode

of Ammon. He erected obelisks of granite. He made golden flag-staffs.

He added very, very great colonnades.”

The peculiar characteristics of ancient Egyptian architecture are,

its obelisks, its pylons or propylons, its colossal statues, and its

superb columns. At the entrance of the temple at Karnak, leading into

the Hall of Rameses II., we have the colossal sphynxes and statues

and propylon, and passing through the latter we enter a spacious hall

decorated with superb columns. At the end of this hall we approach

another propylon, its doorway supported on either side by a statue of

Rameses III.; and this gives entrance to the great Hall of Seti I. and

Amenophis III., enriched with 134 columns, and said to be the largest

and most magnificent of ancient Egyptian monuments. Beyond the great

hall are a third and a fourth propylon, and between them an obelisk,

one of a pair erected by Thothmes I. The obelisk is seventy-five

feet high, and is covered on one face with hieroglyphs descriptive

of its founder, while the opposite face is occupied with sculptured

writing of Rameses II. For the second time we are made aware of this

remarkable combination—shall we call it appropriation?—by Rameses. The

brother-obelisk has fallen, and is broken into fragments.

Through the entrance of the fourth propylon we are admitted into a hall

ornamented with columns whose capitals represent the head of Osiris.

This is the Hall of Thothmes I.; and by the side of its doorway stands

another obelisk, 92 feet in height, and 8 feet square at the base.

There were originally two of these splendid obelisks; but its consort

is fallen, and has been dashed into bits. These are the obelisks that

bear the legend on their base of having been hewn from the rock, and

erected in the short space of seven months; of having been capped with

gold taken from the enemies of the country, and of being emblazoned

with gold-leaf from bottom to top: they were set up by Hatasou,

daughter of Thothmes I., in honour of her father. Hatasou was her

father’s favourite; he, no doubt, discovered in her, indications of

talent fitting her for the throne, and he appointed her his successor.

In this capacity she became the guardian of her brother, Thothmes II.,

who died at an early age; and, subsequently, of the distinguished

potentate, her brother, Thothmes III., who was not admitted to the

throne for fifteen years after the death of his brother. Many grand

works in architecture owe their origin to Queen Hatasou, and to these

her cartouche was affixed; but, in later times, she was treated as

an usurper; her name was erased from the monuments, and that of her

brother substituted in its place.

Beyond the Hall of Osiris we reach the original temple and sanctuary

containing the tomb and funereal chambers founded by Usertesen; and

further on still, and forming the end of the pile, a temple erected

by Thothmes III. Here, therefore, we observe a striking illustration

of the combination of many potentates in the construction of these

wonderful examples of architectural skill. The first stone of this

temple was laid, probably, 3064 B.C., and the building was scarcely

completed in the year 1288 B.C.; a period embracing 1,776, or nearly

2,000 years, being devoted to its construction.

[Illustration:

Plan of ornamentation of the entrance of an Egyptian

temple—_e.g._, that of Luxor. In front and on

either side of the pylon are the obelisks. Nearer

the jambs of the pylon are two colossal sitting

statues of Rameses II., wearing the double crown

of Egypt; then follows the pylon itself, with

its two majestic pyramidal towers. The pylon is

surmounted with an over-hanging cornice, on which

is carved the winged orb, emblem of the Eternal and

of the sun; while two crowned asps, one on each

side of the disk, imply dominion over the north

and the south, as well as the east and the west;

consequently over the whole world.

]

In the neighbourhood of the great temple of Karnak are the ruins of

a smaller temple appertaining to Amenophis III. “It was once adorned

with elegant sculptures and two granite obelisks; but is now a confused

heap of ruins, whose plan is with difficulty traced beneath its

fallen walls.”[29] Of course, the obelisks are lost. The Temple of

Luxor likewise owes its origin to Amenophis III.; and was extended, a

century and a-half later, by Rameses II.; the latter monarch adding a

magnificent hall, a propylon of vast dimensions, two colossal sitting

statues of himself, a pair of beautiful obelisks, and an avenue of

sphynxes nearly two miles in length, stretching away from Luxor to

Karnak. Approaching the temple by the avenue of sphynxes, about 500

in number, we meet with the now solitary obelisk, its consort having

been removed to Paris; next comes the majestic propylon, its entrance

guarded by two helmeted colossal sitting statues of Rameses II., carved

out of black granite, and half buried in the earth. Passing the portal,

we enter the great Hall of Rameses, and, beyond that, reach the

sanctuary of Amenophis. The obelisk bears the name of Rameses, and is

remarkable for the beauty and depth of its carving—a circumstance which

may possibly have influenced the French in their selection. Sir Gardner

Wilkinson made a curious discovery with regard to the Paris obelisk,

which he narrates as follows:—

“Being at Luxor when it was taken down, I observed beneath the lower

end on which it stood the nomen and prenomen of Rameses II., and

a slight fissure extending some distance up it; and what is very

remarkable, the obelisk was cracked previous to its erection, and

was secured by two wooden dove-tailed cramps. These, however, were

destroyed by the moisture of the ground, in which the base had become

accidentally buried.”

[29] Murray’s “Hand-book.”

The hieroglyphs on its face, announce that “the lord of the world,

guardian-sun of truth, approved of Phra; has built this edifice in

honour of his father, Ammon-Ra, and has erected to him these two great

obelisks of stone, in face of the House of Rameses, in the city of

Ammon.”[30]

[30] Miss Edwards.

Besides the Luxor obelisks, numerous others are ascribed to Rameses

II.—namely, the two small monoliths at Rome, one in the Piazza Rotunda

in front of the Pantheon, the other at the Villa Mattei; as also the

ten broken obelisks at San, on the field of Zoan: while two more bear

the joint names of his father Seti and himself; for example, the

beautiful column of the Piazza del Popolo, known as the Flaminian

Obelisk, and that of the Trinita de Monti at Rome.

It is a curious fact in connexion with the history of obelisks, that

two of the most stately—indeed, the next in height to that of St. John

Lateran—should have been the work of a woman, Queen Hatasou, daughter

of Thothmes I., and guardian for a while of Thothmes III. But when the

reins of power fell into the hands of the latter, he seems to have

treated his sister as an usurper, and to have obliterated her name

from the monuments, while he substituted in its place the cartouche of

his own; so that the work of Hatasou is usually ascribed to Thothmes

III. We find a similar illustration in the relation between Rameses

II. and his father, Seti I. Seti was distinguished in his early life

as a warrior, but, unfortunately, was stricken with blindness; he

thereupon resigned the throne to his son, and retired into solitude.

By degrees he recovered his sight, and devoted the rest of his life

to architecture and building. His cartouche is to be found amongst

the magnificent ruins at Thebes; and he was the author of several

obelisks: in the latter instance his name is associated with, and

occasionally replaced by, that of his son. The son of the blind man,

the great Sesostris, Rameses II., must be supposed to have encouraged

this substitution, for he has obtained credit for much that was not

really his own; and to such an extent has misconception been carried,

that Rameses and Seti have been identified as one and the same person;

while a younger son of Rameses, Menephtah, has been described as the

son of the king who went blind. Another element of confusion is the

Greek name—Sesostris, given to Rameses II. Rameses was celebrated as a

victorious soldier; as also was his distinguished predecessor, Thothmes

III. Sesostris is described by Herodotus as a great conqueror; and

as this character applies equally to Thothmes and Rameses, these two

kings, although 200 years apart in point of time, become awkwardly

confounded with each other. It would be ungenerous to suppose that

such a state of confusion was acceptable to Rameses and favoured his

designs; or that it could have led him to adopt that association with

the memory of Thothmes which is implied by the sculptures on the

Thothmic obelisks: although it must be admitted that there certainly

exist grounds for the suspicion. In this respect Rameses would almost

seem to have been the victim of an idiosyncrasy. In fact, Rameses

II. is accused of monopolising the reputation of all the great deeds

enacted during more than 600 years, from the time of Thothmes II.

to that of Shishonk, or, as he is named in the Bible, Shishak, the

conqueror of Jerusalem.

[Illustration:

Sacred scarabæi, or beetles. On the back of the thorax

of the upper pair are engraven mythological figures

and hieroglyphics; the middle scarab is furnished

with wings like the winged orb; the lower one has

human supporters. The scarabæus is the emblem of

future being, or future existence, and is often

introduced into the body of the mummy to take the

place of the heart, which is embalmed separately.

The four figures probably represent the four

keepers to whom the heart is confided, and the

hieroglyphics are verses from the Book of the Dead.

]

We have compared the village of Luxor to a crop of mushrooms

overgrowing a mountain of architectural ruins; and so it would seem to

be: the mud huts of the Arabs and Copts at first sheltered themselves

under the massive walls, then crept up to the cornices and roofs, and

in time, like swallows’ nests, stuccoed every hollow and niche where

sufficient space could be obtained for a resting-place. Only that they

were forbidden, they would have occupied the whole of the temples and

their halls, hypostyle and hypæthral, and have left nothing visible

but themselves. The inhabitants of these huts are poor and ragged;

but, according to Lady Duff Gordon (who lived amongst them for a long

time, and between whom and them a warm attachment subsisted, fostered

by her own humanity and kindness), they are remarkable for cleanliness,

both in their persons and in their huts. Luxor, however, is the great

emporium of antiques, and an active manufacture of scarabæi or sacred

beetles, of statuettes, and even of tablets, is carried on by the Arab

traders. “It is the centre,” says M. Mariette, “of a commerce more

or less legal, inasmuch as the rummaging of tombs is now prohibited

by law. Nevertheless, it requires much judgment, and often that of

the expert, to distinguish with certainty between the genuine and

the fictitious.” Miss Edwards relates that she was once accidentally

ushered into the workshop of a dealer, where she saw tools and

appliances in number for the fabrication of these objects, so eagerly

sought after by the traveller. On the arrival of the proprietor she was

speedily shown out, but overheard the scoldings which were administered

to the unfortunate help who had allowed her to enter. She illustrates

the simplicity of these people by the following anecdote:—One day,

being more than usually pestered by an Arab trader to buy his genuine

antiques, she sharply replied, “I don’t like them: I prefer the modern

ones.” “Bisallah!” exclaimed the pedlar, “then you will like these;

for they were all manufactured by myself.”—“As for genuine scarabs

of the highest antiquity,” says Miss Edwards, “they are turned out

by the gross every season. Engraved, glazed, and administered to the

turkeys in the form of boluses, they acquire, by the simple process of

digestion, a degree of venerableness that is really charming.”

[Illustration: Under-surface of sacred scarabæi, engraven with

hieroglyphs.]

_Apropos_ of scarabs, the toleration by Egyptians of all living

creatures, from the crocodile to the fly, exhibits, in a high degree,

the gentleness and amiability of character of the people. It was

not always love—often it was superstition, or fear, that made them

so lenient; but, nevertheless, we cannot fail to perceive, in their

treatment of animals, a recognition of the rights of all created

beings, as well as of themselves. Lady Duff Gordon looked warily around

her, lest there should be witnesses, when her prejudices led her to

kill a serpent that had intruded itself into her apartment; and she was

unable to induce the Arab mothers to kill the gorged flies which hung

from the inflamed eyelids of their children afflicted with ophthalmia.

The Fellaheen look doubtfully at the sportsman as he fills his bag

with the superfluous pigeons, although to themselves they are almost

a scourge. Different parts of Egypt preferred different animals, and

held them sacred; so that we find a Leontopolis, or city of lions;

a Lycopolis, or city of the wolf; a Crocodilopolis, or city of the

crocodile; a Bubastis, where the cat was held in veneration; and so

forth.

But what shall we say of the venerable scarab, the sacred scarabæus.

Those who are sufficiently acquainted with the natural history of

certain beetles, are aware that they propel, with their hind-legs,

objects of domestic use which they are desirous of storing away in

their caves. Now, on the banks of the Nile, the object of greatest

importance and anxiety to the scarab is its egg. She lays it near the

stream; and, to protect it from injury, she plasters it over with mud,

enclosing it like a kernel in its shell; and, instinctively mindful

of the rise of the Nile, which would wash it away, she sets herself

diligently to work to roll it upward from the river’s brink. It has

to be propelled often to a considerable distance: she must drive it

across the arable belt; for the sepulchre of the scarab, like that

of the Egyptian, is the desert; and the male oftentimes helps her in

her labour. Arrived at the sandy border of the desert, they dig their

well; the precious mummy is deposited therein, to await the return of

the spirit of life, and, at the appointed hour, to rise from the tomb

into renewed existence. Does not the Egyptian see, in the scarab, the

pioneer of his own religious belief?—and hence is led to regard it as

the emblem of the divine spirit—the future “to be,” or “to transform.”

Too frequently this labour of love, on the part of the scarab,

concludes in sacrifice: the exhausted labourer sinks wearily by the

side of the finished tomb, and dies.

Another pleasant sail of 133 miles carries us from Luxor to Syené, or

As-souan (Coptic, _souan_, the opening), Egypt’s extremest boundary,

where Juvenal pined in exile, where the first cataracts burst through

the gates of Egypt, and where those grand quarries are stationed which

have supplied the whole of the roseate granite obelisks of Egypt. We

have already had occasion to mention the existence, in these quarries,

of an unfinished obelisk not yet reft from the parent rock, but bearing

the traces of the artificers’ hands, as though they had unexpectedly

been summoned from their work. The dimensions of the Syené obelisk have

been variously stated: for example, 100 feet by 11 feet 2 inches; and

95 feet by 11 feet: and a flaw was discovered in the shaft, which has

suggested an excuse for its abandonment; while others are of opinion

that the flaw is an accident of subsequent occurrence.

The excellence of the quality of the granite of Syené, and its property

of splitting under the application of suitable force, permitted the

separation from the native rock of a single piece of sixty, seventy,

and sometimes more than a hundred feet in length. The unfinished

obelisk exhibits the contrivance by which these immense stones were

severed from the solid rock. In the course of the line which marks

the boundary of the obelisk, is a sharply cut groove; and all along

this groove, at short intervals, are holes which are intended for the

reception of wedges or plugs of dry wood; when the wedges were driven

firmly into the holes, the groove was filled with water; the dry wedges

gradually imbibed the water and swelled, and the force created by their

swelling along a line of considerable length, was sufficient to crack

the granite throughout the whole extent of the groove. We are but too

familiar with this force in the instance of water congealed into ice; a

small fissure or opening of any kind becomes filled with water in the

winter-time; the water freezes; frozen water expands, and under the

force of that expansion the fissure is doubled in extent. It is this

process which is so destructive to the face of buildings constructed

of laminated stone; it is this which produces the slide of mountains

and the fall of cliffs; and the same force the agriculturist utilises

by ploughing, for the purpose of breaking up the clods of his land and

pulverising the soil. It has been supposed that the Egyptians sometimes

had recourse to another method, which is thus described by our old

friend, Charles Knight, in the “Pictorial Gallery of Arts.”

“One of the modes in which large blocks of granite may be severed from

a rock, is exemplified by what takes place in some parts of India at

the present day. The quarryman, having found a portion of the rock

sufficiently extensive, and situated near the edge of the part already

quarried, lays bare the upper surface, and marks on it a line in the

direction of the intended separation, along which a groove is cut

with a chisel about a couple of inches in depth. Above this groove a

narrow line of fire is kindled, and maintained till the rock below is

thoroughly heated; immediately on which a number of men and women, each

provided with a vessel of cold water, suddenly sweep off the ashes, and

pour the water into the heated groove, which causes the rock to split

with a clear fracture. Blocks of granite eighty feet in length are

severed by these means.”[31]

[31] Sir J. F. Herschel’s discourse; quoted in Long’s “Egyptians,”

referring to an obelisk erected at Seringapatam.

From Syené by the cataract or by the road, a short journey of five

miles brings us to the lovely island of Philæ reposing in the midst of

the placid stream of the Nile, in the golden land of Nubia.[32] “The

approach to the island by water is very striking. The stream winds

in and out among gigantic black rocks of the most fantastic form and

shape, and then unexpectedly, after a sharp turn or two, Philæ comes

suddenly in sight. ‘Beautiful’ is the epithet commonly applied to this

spot, justly considered to present the finest bit of scenery on the

Nile; but the beauty, or rather grandeur, is more in the framework

of the picture than in the picture itself. The view from the top of

the propylon tower at Philæ, of all beyond the island, is far finer

than the view of Philæ itself from any point.”[33] Philæ is outside

the natural boundary and proper frontier of Egypt;[34] and although

enriched with a temple dedicated to Isis, its ruins date back no

further than the last of the Pharaohs. The Temple of Isis was founded

by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and bears the cartouche of Cleopatra; whilst

its completion is due to the Roman emperors. Here also may be seen an

elegant and picturesque hypæthral, or roofless temple, open, as were

many of the temples of Egypt, to the blue vault of the firmament. This

temple is called “Pharaoh’s bed;” but appears to have been the work of

the Ptolemies and of the Cæsars.

[32] The word _noub_ signifies gold.

[33] Murray’s Hand-book.

[34] The learned editor of “Murray’s Hand-book” observes, that in the

Egyptian language the island was called Pilak or Ailak, _the place of

the frontier_,—a word perverted by the Greeks into Philæ.

At the landing-place in front of the chief temple at Philæ, a broad

flight of steps, leading upwards from the river’s edge, is crowned at

the summit by a solitary obelisk, one alone remaining; next follows an

avenue of Isis-headed columns, and then the majestic propylon of the

temple. The obelisk is of fine sandstone, without sculpture, broken at

the summit, and about thirty feet in height. At no great distance is

the pedestal, cupped at the top, which formerly supported its companion.

Another obelisk wrought out of red granite is now at Kingston-Lacy, in

Dorsetshire, and was brought to England by Mr. William Bankes. It is

said to have been carved with the cartouche of Cleopatra, made famous

from its furnishing Champollion with two important letters of the

hieroglyphic alphabet—namely, K and T—after he had previously gained

possession, from the cartouche of Ptolemy, of the five letters P T L

M S. These obelisks are not Pharaonic, but were probably erected by

Ptolemy Philadelphus, or by one of his successors. We presume that this

latter is the obelisk referred to by Sharpe in the following quotation:—

“We possess a curious inscription upon an obelisk that once stood in

the island of Philæ, recording, as one of the grievances that the

villagers smarted under, the necessity of finding supplies for the

troops on their marches, and also for all the government messengers

and public servants, or those who claimed to travel as such. The cost

of this grievance was probably greater at Philæ than in other places,

because the traveller was there stopped in his voyage by the cataracts

on the Nile, and he had to be supplied with labourers to carry his

luggage where the navigation was interrupted. Accordingly the priests

at Philæ petitioned the king that their temple might be relieved from

this heavy and vexatious charge, which they said lessened their power

of rightly performing their appointed sacrifices; and they further

begged to be allowed to set up a monument to record the grant which

they hoped for. Euergetes granted the priest’s prayer, and accordingly

set up a small obelisk; and the petition and the king’s answer were

carved on the base.”

Mr. Walter Ralph Bankes, of Kingston-Lacy Hall, Wimborne, Dorsetshire,

has very kindly furnished us with the following information with regard

to the Philæ obelisk, which was brought to England by his relative,

Mr. William Bankes:—“The height of the three plinths in one block, on

which the pedestal rests, is 2 feet 2 inches; that of the lower member

of the pedestal, 3 feet 4 inches; and of the upper member, 2 feet 5

inches; the whole pedestal being one block: the height of the shaft,

a monolith, 22 feet 1½ inch; making the entire monument 30 feet 8½

inches. The material of the whole is red Egyptian granite.

“On the foot of the obelisk is inscribed:—‘The granite used in the

reparation of this monument was brought from the ruins of Leptis Magna

in Africa, and was given for that purpose by His Majesty King George

IV.’

“William John Bankes, Esq., M.P., eldest son of Henry Bankes, Esq.,

M.P., caused this obelisk, and the pedestal from which it had fallen,

to be removed, under the direction of G. Belzoni, in 1819, from the

Island of Philæ, beyond the first cataract; and brought this platform

from the ruins of Hierosyesimnon in Nubia.

“The inscription on this obelisk and pedestal records their dedication

to King Ptolemy Euergetes II., and two Cleopatras his queens, who

authorised the priests of Isis, in the Isle of Philæ, to erect them

about 150 years B.C., as a perpetual memorial of exemption from

taxation.

“This spot was chosen, and the first stone of the foundation laid by

Arthur, Duke of Wellington, August 17, 1827.”

The following is a translation of the three Greek inscriptions on the

pedestal of the Egyptian obelisk.

The first two are painted in red letters upon the surface; the lowest

is cut into the stone.

_Upper Inscription_ ... “of the gods Euergetes ... gods Epiphanes

... of the gods Eupator, and of the god Philometor, and of the gods

Euergetes, greeting. We have submitted to you the copy of the letter

written to Lochus, our cousin and general, and we permit to you the

setting up of the monument which you apply for ... Pacon 22.”

_Second Inscription._—“King Ptolemy, and Queen Cleopatra the sister,

and Queen Cleopatra the wife; to Lochus their brother, greeting ...

to us ... from the ... a copy ... you shall make ... not to trouble

them”....

_Third Inscription._—“To King Ptolemy, and Queen Cleopatra the sister,

and Queen Cleopatra the wife, beneficent deities; the priests of

the great goddess Isis in Abatus and Philæ, greeting. Whereas those

frequenting Philæ as generals and prefects and governors of Thebes,

and royal scribes, and prefects of the frontier guard, and all other

functionaries and constituted authorities, and the rest who are in

office, compel us to make contributions to them against our will; and

out of this it results that the Temple is deteriorated, and that we

are in danger of not having what is appointed for the sacrifices and

libations to be made for you and your children.

“We request of you, great deities as you are, if it shall seem good, to

order Noumenius, your cousin and secretary for correspondence, to write

to Lochus, your cousin and general of the Thebaid, not to trouble us

in these things, nor to suffer any other to do the same, and to give

us the necessary decrees to that effect; and in them to permit us to

set up a monument, on which we may inscribe your kindness to us upon

these points, that your favour may be perpetuated upon it to all time.

When this shall be done, we and the Temple of Isis shall hold ourselves

obliged. Fare ye well.”

It is worthy of remark, that the Egyptian religion, intended to be

abolished by Theodosius in his sweeping edict of 381 A.D.,[35] still

existed at Philæ seventy years later—namely, in 453, as is proved by

the sculptures on the walls of the temple. And Philæ further claims

the honour of being the resting-place of a portion of the body of

Osiris, to whom a monolithic shrine, now standing in the sanctuary,

is dedicated. Osiris, it will be remembered, was slain by Typhon, or

Set, who cut his body into pieces, and dispersed the fragments over the

country; so that Philæ is not alone in the possession of so sacred a

relic: although Isis, the wife of Osiris, presumedly gathered all the

pieces together, when they became united, and Osiris was restored to

life. Horus, the son of Osiris, was his father’s avenger, and, in his

turn, destroyed Typhon. This fable bears several allegorical readings:

for example—Osiris, as the setting sun, sinks into the regions of Set,

or Saturn, and becomes king of Hades; Isis, or the moon, comes in

search of her lost husband; but the sun rises again from the shades of

Hades, as Horus, and dispels the darkness of Saturn, and the deadly

influences of Typhon.[36] This is, perhaps, more obvious if we join

with the Greeks in calling Horus, Phœbus. Osiris, Isis, Horus, are

one form of the Egyptian trinity, in which the humble worshipper of

the ancient faith still believes. The trinity was the creed of the

earliest family of human beings; and so was the death of one member of

that trinity, his descent into Hades, and his subsequent resurrection;

with the consequent immortality of the soul. This is all pourtrayed in

the Egyptian Triad. Moreover, the name of Osiris among the Egyptians

was an unspoken word; it was a holy secret, breathed with extremest

caution by the priests themselves. Even Herodotus mentions the word

with reluctance; while the most solemn of all adjurations was the name

of “him who sleeps in Philæ.” Here, then, was a secret, a holy secret,

which has descended to Freemasons, and they have since held it, and

must ever continue to hold it, sacred. [35] Athanasius was patriarch of

Alexandria in 327 A.D.

[36] Typhon, the genius of evil, is the great ancestor of the

too-frequent deadly enemy of our own day, typhus and typhoid fever.

In the Egyptian language we meet with many words which are in common

use amongst ourselves at the present time:—Chemistry is derived from

_Chem_, or Shem; _Alabastron_, was a city of Egypt; the Oasis of

_Ammon_ produces ammonia; the topaz and the sapphire are named after

_Topazion_ and _Saparine_ on the Red Sea; the smaragd, or emerald, is

found in Mount _Smaragdus_; and natron and nitre in Mount _Nitria_, &c.

So that the world and all its mysteries are but a chain of mutually