In these strange conglomerations of various races of animals--the
lions with human heads and hawks' heads--there is generally preserved
that majestic repose, and that mighty force of execution, which rescue
the most incomprehensible of the ancient Egyptian monuments from
contempt. Not at all farcical or barbarous could the effect have been,
when the Egyptian approached his place of worship through an avenue
formed by rows of these colossal sphinxes--all grandly fashioned and
full of majesty. Mr. Long says: "Most speculations on the origin of
the compound figure, called a sphinx, appear unsatisfactory; nor,
indeed, is it an easy matter for the modern inhabitants of Western
Europe to conceive what is meant by the symbolical forms which enter
so largely into the ancient religious systems of the Eastern world. It
seems to us altogether an assumption without proof, that either the
andro-sphinx, or the sphinx with the female head, ought to be
considered as the original type of this compound figure. The sphinx
differs from other compound figures, which occur very often in the
Egyptian pictorial representations, in always having the body of a
lion, or, it may be, a panther, or some such animal as might be
considered a symbol of strength and courage. The whole history of our
species bears testimony to that tendency of the human mind, when not
restrained and guided by better knowledge, to pourtray in some visible
form its conceptions of Deity. However far many superior minds of the
heathen world might advance, in deducing from the contemplation of all
around them more correct views of the goodness and wisdom of an
all-ruling power, these were ideas far too refined for the mass, who
felt the want of something more apparent to the senses--something on
which the mind could repose from vain imaginings and real fears. Hence
the Deity was invested with various forms of familiar objects, under
which he was venerated as a protector and friend, or feared as an
avenging and angry power. Under the form of a ram, and the name of
Ammon, we find a deity worshipped along the banks of the Nile, from
the temple of the ancient Meroe to the sand-girt oasis of Siwah. The
mild and benignant expression of the sacred ram would indicate the
diffusion of tranquillity and peace, nor would the essential value of
the symbol be changed by finding the head of the ram placed on human
shoulders, or attached to the body of a lion. In the first case it
would, in accordance with the Egyptian tradition of gods having
assumed the forms of animals, commemorate, as in the Hindoo mythology,
an incarnation of the superior power; and in the second, the union of
strength and courage with mildness and the arts of peace. The
crio-sphinx, then, belongs to the Ammonian mythology, and is a
distinct symbol from the andro-sphinx and female sphinx, which,
probably, are connected with the worship of Osiris and Isis."
Something of the effect may be comprehended from the two large red
granite lions which mark the southern boundary of the saloon (1-34.)
They are of the time of the third Amenophis, and were discovered at
Mount Barkal by Lord Prudhoe, in 1829. As specimens of the mechanical
skill of ancient Egyptian sculptors, they are worth particular remark.
Here there is little of that angular stiffness characteristic of the
statues the visitor has already examined. And now, making one more
progress through the saloon, the visitor may rapidly notice the
varieties of strange animal forms--all of which, in ancient Egypt, had
their religious meaning. They were, at all events, symbols of divine
instincts, and for this reason a deep interest rises in the modern
mind in the contemplation of their proportions and expression. The
figure numbered 7 is a colossal head of a ram, emblematic of Amen-ra;
that numbered 8, is Hapi, the god of the Nile of the period of the
22nd dynasty, with allegorical waterfowl and plants hanging from the
altar he is holding; two strange figures of gryphons, or hawk-headed
sphinxes, found by Belzoni in the great temple of Ibsamboul (11-13),
and emblematic or Munt-ra, will next engage the visitor's attention;
and from these specimens the visitor should turn to a black granite
fragment of the Egyptian Diana--Pasht, of the time of Amenophis; but
as he will have an opportunity of observing more finished
representations of this popular divinity, he may at once pause before
a second statue of this goddess, also of the time of the third
Amenophis (37), where Pasht is represented in black granite, upon a
throne, with the head of a lion, and in her hand the emblem of life.
Hereabouts, also, are two specimens of the strange cynocephalus, or
dog-headed baboon (38-40), sacred to the Hercules and Mercury of the
Egyptian Pantheon. The figures marked 41-45 are two more specimens of
Pasht, who appears to have been the most popular subject for the
Egyptian sculptor's chisel; these are erect figures, holding lotus
sceptres, and are both from Karnak. The figures marked 49, 50, 52, 53,
57, are all representations of the popular Pasht; in 52 she wears the
disk of the sun. And now the visitor may well pause before a fragment
marked 58. This is a piece of the beard of the Great Sphinx. Peeping
above the sands which surround the famous pyramids of Gizeh, is the
upper part of a man-headed sphinx. This sphinx is said to measure no
less than 62 feet in height, and 143 feet in length; this Colossus has
been plucked by the beard, and the result lies before the visitor.
Hereabouts, in passing, the visitor may glance at another object
wrested from the hands of the French (59). It is a fragment of a
column in porphyry, supporting a colossal areonite hawk, sacred to the
sun. More statues of Pasht! (60, 62, 63, of the 22nd dynasty; 65, 68,
69). A column found in a house at Cairo, the capital of which is
formed in the shape of a lotus flower (64), deserves notice; also
(70), the basalt statue of a god, conjectured to be Amen-ra, holding a
small figure of a monarch of the 28th dynasty. More statues of Pasht
(71, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9; 80, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9); and then the visitor may pause
before the colossal scarabaeus, emblematic of the world and creation
(74); and a broken sphinx, of Roman work (82). Not far off are
deposited the legs of Truth (91), the goddess Ma of the Egyptians;
some altars from Aboukir and Sais, that marked 135, from the Temple of
Berenice, having steps leading to it; entrances to tombs (157),
ornamented with figures; and more statues of Pasht, amongst them a
colossal bust from a statue (521).
Having noticed these specimens, the visitor should pass into the lobby
at the northern end of the saloon, to notice the two small obelisks
placed here, brought from Cairo; they stood before a temple to Thoth.
The hieroglyphics upon them are carefully executed, but these
specimens give the spectator no idea of the colossal obelisks of
ancient Egypt, of which that of Alexandria, 63 feet high, is a fair
specimen. These obelisks were generally in pairs, and were placed on
each side of the great entrance to Egyptian temples. Having returned
to the saloon, the visitor should, before finally passing from it,
notice the famous tablet of Abydos (117), found by Mr. Banks, in 1818,
in the Temple of Abydos. It is the work of the great Sesostris, and
the inscription on it is a record of his predecessors in the kingly
office: hence it has been long an attractive object to chronologists.
Also, before glancing at the few paintings, and closing the
examination of this interesting saloon, the visitor should inspect the
Rosetta stone (24), inscribed in three characters (of which one is
Greek), by order of the high priests, recording the services of the
fifth Ptolemy. And now, with a glance at the