one of Osymandyas. The entrance to it is by a vestibule of various
coloured stones, two hundred feet long, and sixty-eight high. Leaving
this we enter a square peristyle, each side of which is four hundred
feet in length. Animals twenty-four feet high, cut from blocks of
granite, serve as columns to support the ceiling, which is composed
of marble slabs, twenty-seven feet square, and embellished throughout
by golden stars glittering on a ground of azure. Beyond this
peristyle is another entrance; and after that a vestibule, built like
the first, but containing more sculptures of all kinds. At the
entrance are three statues, formed from a single stone by Memnon
Syncite, the principal of which, representing the king, is seated,
and is the largest in Egypt. One of its feet, exactly measured, is
about seven cubits. The other had figures supported on its knees; the
one on the right, the other on the left, are those of his mother and
daughter. The whole work is less valuable for its enormous grandeur,
than for the beauty of the sculpture, and the choice of the granite,
which, though so extensive, has neither flaw nor blemish on its
surface. The colossus bears this inscription: ‘I am Osymandyas, king
of kings; he who would comprehend my greatness, and where I rest, let
him destroy some one of these works.’ Beside this, is another statue
of his mother, cut from a single block of granite, thirty feet high.
Three queens are sculptured on her head, intimating that she was a
daughter, wife, and mother of a king. After this portico is a
peristyle, still more beautiful than the first; on the stones of
which is engraved, the history of the wars of Osymandyas, against the
rebels of Bactriana. The façade of the front wall exhibits this
prince attacking ramparts, at the foot of which the river flows. He
is combating advanced troops; and by his side is a terrible lion,
ardent in his defence. On the right wall are captives in chains,
with their hands and genitals cut off, as marks of reproach for their
cowardice. The wall on the left contains symbolical figures of
exceedingly good sculpture, descriptive of triumphs and sacrifice of
Osymandyas returning from this war. In the centre of the peristyle,
where the roof is open, an altar was erected of a single stone of
marvellous bulk and exquisite workmanship; and at the farther wall
are two colossal figures, each hewn from a single block of marble,
forty feet high, seated on their pedestals. This admirable peristyle
has three gates, one between the two statues, and the others on each
side. These lead to an edifice two hundred feet square, the roof of
which is supported by high columns; it resembles a magnificent
theatre; several figures carved in wood, represent a tribunal
administering justice. Thirty judges are seen on one of the walls;
and in the midst of them the chief justice, with a pile of books at
his feet, and a figure of Truth, with her eyes shut, suspended from
his neck; beyond is a walk, surrounded by edifices of various forms,
in which were tables stored with all kinds of delicious viands. In
one of these, Osymandyas, clothed in magnificent robes, offers up the
gold and silver which he annually drew from the mines of Egypt to the
gods. Beneath, the amount of this revenue, which was thirty-two
million minas of silver, was inscribed. Another building contained
the sacred library, at the entrance of which these words were read:
‘Physic for the soul.’ A fourth contained all the deities of Egypt,
with the king offering suitable presents to each; and calling Osiris
and the surrounding divinities to witness, he had exercised piety
towards the gods, and justice towards men. Beside the library stood
one of the finest of these edifices, and in it twenty couches to
recline on, while feasting; also the statues of Jupiter, Juno, and
Osymandyas, whose body, it is supposed, was deposited here. Various
adjoining apartments contained representations of all the consecrated
animals of Egypt. Hence was the ascent to the sepulchre of the king;
on the summit of which was placed a circle of gold, in thickness one
cubit, and three hundred and sixty-five in circumference, each cubit
corresponding to a day in the year; and on it was engraved the rising
and setting of the stars for that day, with such astrological
indications as the superstition of the Egyptians had affixed to them.
Cambyses is said to have carried off this circle, when he ravaged
Egypt. Such, according to historians, was the tomb of Osymandyas,
which surpassed all others as well by its wealth, as by the
workmanship of the skilful artists employed.”
In the whole of Upper Egypt, adjacent to each city, numerous tombs are
always found excavated in the neighbouring mountains. The most
extensive and highly ornamented are nearest to the base; those of
smaller dimensions, and less decorated, occupy the middle; and the most
rude and simple are situated in the upper parts.
Those adjacent to Thebes are composed of extensive galleries, twelve
feet broad and twenty high, with many lateral chambers.
They are ornamented with pilasters, sculptures, stucco, and paintings;
both ceilings and walls are covered with emblems of war, agriculture,
and music; and, in some instances, with shapes of very elegant utensils,
and always representing offerings of bread, fruit, and liquors. The
colours upon the ceilings are blue, and the figures yellow. We must,
however, refer to a fuller account:—that of Belzoni.
“GOURNOU is a tract of rocks about two miles in length, at the foot
of the Lybian mountains, on the west of Thebes, and was the
burial-place of the great ‘city of the hundred gates.’ Every part of
these rocks is cut out by art, in the form of large and small
chambers, each of which has its separate entrance; and, though they
are very close to each other, it is seldom that there is any
communication from one to another. I can truly say, it is impossible
to give any description sufficient to convey the smallest idea of
these subterranean abodes and their inhabitants; there are no
sepulchres in any part of the world like them; and no exact
description can be given of their interior, owing to the difficulty
of visiting these recesses. Of some of these tombs many persons
cannot withstand the suffocating air, which often causes fainting. A
vast quantity of dust rises, so fine, that it enters into the throat
and nostrils, and chokes to such a degree, that it requires great
power of lungs to resist it, and the strong effluvia of the mummies.
This is not all; the entry, or passage where the bodies are, is
roughly cut in the rocks, and the falling of the sand from the
ceiling causes it to be nearly filled up:—so that in some places,
there is not a vacancy of much more than a foot left, which must be
passed in a creeping posture on the hands and knees. Alter getting
through these passages, some of them two or three hundred yards long,
you generally find a more commodious place, perhaps high enough to
sit: but what a place of rest! Surrounded by bodies, by heaps of
mummies in all directions, which, till I got accustomed to the
sight, impressed me with horror. After the exertion of entering into
such a place through a passage of sometimes six hundred yards in
length, nearly overcome, I sought a resting-place, found one, and
contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian,
it crushed it like a band-box. I naturally had recourse to my hands
to sustain my weight, but they found no better support; so that I
sank altogether among the broken mummies with a crash of bones, rags,
and wooden cases, which raised such a dust as kept me motionless for
a quarter of an hour, waiting till it subsided again. Once I was
conducted from such a place to another resembling it, through a
passage about twenty feet in length, and no larger than that a body
could be forced through; it was choked with mummies, and I could not
pass without putting my face in contact with that of some decayed
Egyptian; but, as the passage inclined downwards, my own weight
helped me on, and I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs,
arms, and heads; rolling from above. The purpose of my researches was
to rob the Egyptians of their papyri, of which I found a few hidden
in their breasts, under their arms, in the space above their knees,
or on the legs, and covered by the numerous folds of cloth that
envelop the body.
“Nothing can more plainly distinguish the various classes of people,
than the manner of their preservation. In the many pits that I have
opened, I never saw a single mummy standing, and found them lying
regularly in horizontal rows, and some were sunk into a cement which
must have been nearly fluid when the cases were placed on it. The
lower classes were not buried in cases: they were dried up, as it
appears, after the usual preparation. Mummies of this sort were in
the proportion of about ten to one of the better class, as nearly as
I could calculate from the quantity of both I have seen; the linen in
which they are folded is of a coarser sort and less in quantity; they
have no ornaments about them of any consequence, and are piled up in
layers, so as to fill, in a rude manner, the caves excavated for the
purpose. In general these tombs are to be found in the lower grounds,
at the foot of the mountains; they are entered by a small aperture
arched over, or by a shaft four or five feet square, at the bottom of
which are entrances into various chambers, all choked up with
mummies, many of which have been rummaged and left in the most
confused state. Among these tombs we saw some which contained the
mummies of animals intermixed with human bodies; these were bulls,
cows, sheep, monkeys, foxes, bats, crocodiles, fishes, and birds.
Idols often occur, and one tomb was filled with nothing but cats,
carefully folded in red and white linen, the head covered by a mask
made of the same, and representing the cat. I have opened all these
sorts of animals. Of the bull, the calf, and the sheep, there is no
part but the head, which is covered with linen with the horns
projecting out of the cloth; the rest of the body being represented
by two pieces of wood eighteen inches wide and three feet long, with
another at the end, two feet high, to form the breast. It is somewhat
singular, that such animals are not to be met with in the tombs of
the higher sort of people, while few or no papyri are to be found
among the lower order; and if any occur, they are only small pieces
stuck on the breast with a little gum or asphaltum, being probably
all that the poor individual could afford to himself. In those of the
better classes other objects are found. I think they ought to be
divided into several classes, and not confined to three, as is done
by Herodotus in his account of the mode of embalming. In the same pit
where I found mummies in cases, I have found others without, and in
these, papyri are most likely to be met with. I remarked that those
in cases have none. It appears to me that those that could afford it
had a case to be buried in, on which the history of their lives was
painted; and those who could not afford a case, were contented to
have their lives written on papyri, and placed above their knees. The
cases are made of sycamore, some very plain, some richly painted with
well-executed figures; all have a human face on the lid: some of the
larger contain others within them, either of wood or plaster, and
painted; some of the mummies have garlands of flowers and leaves of
the acacia, or Sunt-tree, over their heads and breasts. In the inside
of these mummies are often found lumps of asphaltum, sometimes
weighing as much as two pounds. Another kind of mummy I believe I may
conclude to have belonged exclusively to the priests: they are folded
in a manner totally differing from the others, and with much more
care; the bandages consist of stripes of red and white linen
intermixed, and covering the whole body, but so carefully applied,
that the form of the trunk and limbs are preserved separate, even to
the fingers and toes; they have sandals of painted leather on the
feet, and bracelets on their arms and wrists. The cases in which
these mummies are preserved, are somewhat better executed than the
rest.
“The tombs containing the better classes are of course superior to
the others; some are also more extensive than others, having various
apartments adorned with figures. It would be impossible to describe
the numerous little articles found in them, which are well adapted to
show the domestic habits of the ancient Egyptians. It is here the
smaller idols are occasionally found, either lying on the ground, or
on the cases. Vases made of baked clay, painted over, from eight to
eighteen inches in size, are sometimes seen, containing embalmed
entrails; the covers represent the head of some divinity, bearing
either the human form, or that of a monkey, fox, cat, or other
animal. I met with a few of these made of alabaster, in the tombs of
the kings, but they were unfortunately broken: a great quantity of
pottery and wooden vessels are found in some of the tombs; the
ornaments, the small works in clay in particular, are very curious. I
have been fortunate enough to find many specimens of their
manufactures, among which is leaf-gold, nearly as thin as ours; but
what is singular, the only weapon I met with was an arrow, two feet
long.
“One day while causing the walls of a large tomb to be struck with a
sledge-hammer, in order to discover some hidden chambers, an
aperture, a foot and a half wide, into another tomb, was suddenly
made: having enlarged it sufficiently to pass, we entered, and found
several mummies and a great quantity of broken cases; in an inner
apartment was a square opening, into which we descended, and at the
bottom we found a small chamber at each side of the shaft, in one of
which was a granite sarcophagus with its cover, quite perfect, but so
situated, that it would be an arduous undertaking to draw it out.”
Among the many discoveries of the enterprising Belzoni, was that of the
Tombs of the Kings:—
“After a long survey of the western valley, I could observe only one
spot that presented the appearance of a tomb: accordingly I set the
men to work, and when they had got a little below the surface, they
came to some large stones; having removed these, I perceived the rock
had been cut on both sides, and found a passage leading downwards,
and in a few hours came to a well-built wall of stones of various
sizes, through which we contrived to make a breach; at last on
entering, we found ourselves on a staircase, eight feet wide and ten
high, at the bottom of which were four mummies in their cases, lying
flat on the ground, and further on four more: the cases were all
painted, and one had a large covering thrown over it like a pall.
These I examined carefully, but no further discoveries were made at
this place, which appears to have been intended for some of the royal
blood.
“Not fifteen yards from the last tomb I described, I caused the earth
to be opened at the foot of a steep hill, and under a torrent which,
when it rains, pours a great quantity of water over the spot: on the
evening of the second day, we perceived the part of the rock which
was cut and formed the entrance, which was at length entirely
cleared, and was found to be eighteen feet below the surface of the
ground. In about an hour there was room for me to enter through a
passage that the earth had left under the ceiling of the first
corridor, which is thirty-six feet long and eight or nine wide, and
when cleared, six feet nine inches high. I perceived immediately, by
the painting on the ceiling, and by the hieroglyphics in bas-relief,
that this was the entrance into a large and magnificent tomb. At the
end of the corridor, I came to a staircase twenty-three feet long,
and of the same breadth as the corridor, with a door at the bottom,
twelve feet high; this led to another corridor thirty-seven feet
long, and of the same width and height as the former one, each side,
and the ceiling sculptured with hieroglyphics and painted; but I was
stopped from further progress by a large pit at the other end, thirty
feet deep and twelve wide. The upper part of this was adorned with
figures, from the wall of the passage up to the ceiling; the passages
from the entrance, all the way to this pit, were inclined at an angle
of about eighteen degrees. On the opposite side of the pit, facing
the passage, a small opening was perceived, two feet wide, and two
feet six inches high, and a quantity of rubbish at the bottom of the
wall; a rope, fastened to a piece of wood that was laid across the
passage, against the projections which form a kind of door, appears
to have been used for descending into the pit, and from the small
aperture on the other side hung another, for the purpose, doubtless,
of ascending again; but these and the wood crumbled to dust on
touching them, from the damp arising from the water which drained
into the pit down the passages. On the following day we contrived a
bridge of two beams to cross the pit by, and found the little
aperture to be an opening forced through a wall, which had entirely
closed the entrance, and which had been plastered over and painted,
so as to give the appearance of the tomb having ended at the pit, and
of there having been nothing beyond it. The rope in the inside of the
wall, having been preserved from the damp, did not fall to pieces,
and the wood to which it was attached was in good preservation. When
we had passed through the little aperture, we found ourselves in a
beautiful hall, twenty-seven feet six inches by twenty-five feet ten
inches, in which were four pillars, three feet square. At the end of
this room, which I shall call the entrance hall, and opposite the
aperture, is a large door, from which three steps lead down into a
chamber with two pillars, four feet square, the chamber being
twenty-eight by twenty-five feet; the walls were covered with
figures, which, though in outline only, were as fine and perfect as
if drawn only the day before. On the left of the aperture a large
staircase of eighteen steps, descended from the entrance-hall into a
corridor, thirty-six feet by seven wide; and we perceived that the
paintings became more perfect as we advanced further; the figures are
painted on a white ground, and highly varnished. At the end of this
ten steps led us into another, seventeen feet by eleven, through
which we entered a chamber, twenty feet by fourteen, adorned in the
most splendid manner by _basso-relievos_, painted like the rest.
Standing in this chamber, the spectator sees himself surrounded by
representations of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Proceeding
further, we entered another large hall, twenty-eight feet square,
with two rows of pillars, three on each side, in a line with the
walls of the corridors; at each side is a small chamber, each about
ten or eleven feet square. At the end of this hall we found a large
saloon, with an arched roof or ceiling, thirty-two feet by
twenty-seven; on the right was a small chamber, roughly cut, and
obviously left unfinished; and on the left there is another, twenty
six by twenty-three feet, with two pillars in it. It had a projection
of three feet all round it, possibly intended to contain the articles
necessary for the funeral ceremonies; the whole was beautifully
painted like the rest. At the same end of the room we entered by a
large door into another chamber, forty-three feet by seventeen, with
four pillars in it, one of which had fallen down; it was covered with
white plaster where the rock did not cut smoothly, but there were no
paintings in it. We found the carcass of a bull embalmed with
asphaltum, and also, scattered in various places, an immense quantity
of small wooden figures of mummies, six or eight inches long, and
covered with asphaltum to preserve them; there were some others of
fine baked earth, coloured blue, and highly varnished. On each side
of the two little rooms were some wooden statues, standing erect,
four feet high, with a circular hollow inside, as if to contain a
roll of papyrus, which I have no doubt they once did. In the centre
of the saloon was a SARCOPHAGUS of the finest oriental alabaster,
nine feet five inches long, and three feet seven wide; it is only two
inches thick, and consequently transparent when a light is held
within it; it is minutely sculptured, both inside and out, with
several hundred figures, not exceeding two inches in length,
representing, as I suppose, the whole of the funeral procession and
ceremonies relating to the deceased. The cover had been taken out,
and we found it broken in several pieces in digging before the first
entrance: this sarcophagus was over a staircase in the centre of the
saloon, which communicated with a subterraneous passage, leading
downwards, three hundred feet in length. At the end of this we found
a great quantity of bats’ dung, which choked it up, so that we could
go no further without digging; it was also nearly filled up by the
falling in of the upper part. One hundred feet from the entrance is a
staircase, in good preservation, but the rock below changes its
substance. This passage proceeds in a south-west direction through
the mountain. I measured the distance from the entrance, and also the
rocks above, and found that the passage reaches nearly half-way
through the mountain to the upper part of the valley. I have reason
to suppose that this passage was used as another entrance; but this
could not be after the person was buried there; for, at the bottom of
the stairs, under the sarcophagus, a wall had been built, which
entirely closed this communication; hence it should appear, that this
tomb had been opened again with violence, after all the precautions
mentioned had been taken to conceal the existence of the greater part
of it; and as these had been carefully and skilfully done, it is
probable that the intruder must have had a guide who was acquainted
with the place.”
The rich alabaster sarcophagus, mentioned above, is now in the Soane
Museum, Lincoln’s-inn-fields, London, and remains altogether unrivalled
in beauty and curiosity. How it came there is thus described by Sir John
Soane:—
“This marvellous effort of human industry and perseverance is
supposed to be at least three thousand years old. It is of one piece
of alabaster, between nine and ten feet in length, and is considered
of pre-eminent interest, not only as a work of human skill and
labour, but as illustrative of the customs, arts, religion, and
government of a very ancient and learned people. The surface of this
monument is covered externally and internally with hieroglyphics,
comprehending a written, language, which it is to be hoped the labour
of modern literati will one day render intelligible. With no
inconsiderable expense and difficulty this unique monument was
transferred from Egypt to England, and placed in the British Museum,
to the trustees of which it was offered for two thousand pounds.
After which negotiation, the idea of purchasing it for our national
collection was relinquished; when it was offered to me at the same
price, which offer I readily accepted, and shortly after I had the
pleasure of seeing this splendid relic of Egyptian magnificence
safely deposited in a conspicuous part of my museum.”
“On entering the sepulchral chamber,” says a writer, giving an
account of the Soane collection, “notwithstanding intense anxiety to
behold a work so unique and so celebrated as the Belzoni
sarcophagus, I confess that the place in which this monument of
antiquity is situated became the overpowering attraction. Far above,
and on every side, were concentrated the most precious relics of
architecture and sculpture, disposed so happily as to offer the charm
of novelty, the beauty of picturesque design, and that sublimity
resulting from a sense of veneration, due to the genius and the
labours of the ‘mighty dead.’ The light admitted from the dome
appeared to descend with a discriminating effect, pouring its
brightest beams on those objects most calculated to benefit by its
presence.
“The more,” says the same writer, speaking of the sarcophagus itself,
“we contemplate this interesting memorial of antiquity and regal
magnificence, the more our sense of its value rises in the mind. We
consider the beauty and scarcity of the material, its transparency,
the rich and mellow hue, the largeness of the original block, the
adaptation of its form to the purpose, which was unquestionably to
receive a body inclosed in numerous wrappings, and doubly cased,
according to the custom of the Egyptians. We then examine the carving
of innumerable figures, doubting not that the history of a life
fraught with the most striking events is here recorded; gaze on the
beautiful features of the female form sculptured at the bottom of the
sarcophagus, and conclude it to be that of the goddess Isis, the
elongated eye and the delicate foot closely resembling those drawings
of her, given by the learned Montfaucon; and repeat the exclamation
of Belzoni, when he declared that the day on which he found this
treasure was the happiest of his life.