312

FAÇADE OF THE TEMPLE.

frieze, like the graceful bend of the palm-leaf. In the centre of the cornice, immediately above the entrance, is the winged globe, and on either side are hawks, vultures, eagles, with outspread wings, and the characteristic mitres of the gods to whom they were sacred. The high torus, or moulding, which runs between the cornice and the frieze, descending along the corner of the building to the ground, appears to enclose the whole façade like a frame. A head of Athor, in intaglio, with the cobra di capello springing from the front of the tiara, occupies the centre of the frieze, immediately to the right of which Isis is seated beside Osiris on her throne; while a long procession, consisting of thirty-one figures, approaches the gods. In front are four priests with lofty mitres, each bearing in his hand a staff, surmounted by the budding lotus; these are followed by a woman with uplifted hands; and to her succeed three birdheaded figures, in whose train advance numerous persons of both sexes, some bearing offerings, others casting incense on small lotus-shaped altars. Several women, in gait and gesture resembling the Bacchantes of Greece, are playing on sistrums, tambourines, tabors, &c.; and one of these, the ninth from the corner of the building, is represented touching a small beautiful ten-stringed harp, placed beside her on a high square stool. The frieze on the left of the door-way contains a repetition of the same figures, but bearing different offerings, and otherwise varied in appearance.

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CCXXIV. The pronaos is adorned with twentyfour columns, arranged in six rows, three on either side. In the front row, the intercolumniations have been built up to about half the height of the columns on both sides of the entrance, thus, in a great measure, spoiling the effect of the whole; but, as the shafts still appear slightly projecting beyond the wall all the way down to their base, it is to be presumed that we owe this deformity to the corrupt taste of a period greatly posterior to the era of the temple. This wall, which causes the spaces above between the pillars to assume the appearance of so many windows, is adorned with its cornice, and loaded with hieroglyphics, figures in intaglio, and all those luxuriant ornaments in which this style of architecture delights; but greatly diminishes from that air of beauty, mingled with grandeur, which those lofty columns, surmounted by the most striking capitals, and covered with a barbaric profusion of painted sculpture, would otherwise have possessed. On either side of the entrance, a little below the cornice, a large block of blue granite is inserted in this mural skreen, among the whitish sandstone with which the rest of the edifice is constructed, offending the eye by an illjudged attempt at producing effect; a circumstance sufficient of itself to convince us that the skreen formed no part of the original edifice. The capitals of the columns are exceedingly peculiar, being square, and instead of foliage, having on each of their four sides, the face of Athor, coifed with a large twisted shawl, which crossing the forehead, and, passing

behind the ears, falls in large waving folds upon the neck. This curious head-dress is in three places confined by striped fillets, in the middle of the forehead, and over each temple. The face, where not entirely mutilated, is expressive of that voluptuous softness, which is everywhere the characteristic of this goddess, but it is too broad to be strictly beautiful. Over each side of the capital a kind of cornice projects, like the curling crest of a wave of the sea; and the whole is surmounted by a high plinth,the most tasteless and unsightly thing in the building, having upon each of its faces the figure of a temple, with Isis suckling the infant Horus, and Osiris standing before her, sometimes naked and alone, in other places draped and with an attendant. The ceiling of the pronaos is divided into seven compartments by immense rafters of stone, which pass over the columns from the front 'to the cella, and are covered with mythological and astronomical figures. The ceiling itself, part of which is now blackened by time, was originally painted blue, and, as I have already observed, represents the birth of all things from the womb of Athor, who appears floating through immeasureable space, with the stars, planets, constellations, and all the "host of heaven," moving in her train.

CCXXV. The sekos, into which we now enter, falls very far short in grandeur of the idea formed of it from the contemplation of the exterior; for we expect to find a vast hall, with long ranges of majestic

INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE.

315

pillars, like those represented in Belshazzar's feast, which, viewed in partial gloom, might appear interminable. But, on the contrary, the cella is divided into a number of apartments, necessary, perhaps, for the peculiar worship celebrated in this temple, but destructive of architectural effect. However, in some measure to make up for this defect, the numerous walls, corridors, staircases, friezes, and architraves, are profusely covered with hieroglyphical and mystic sculpture, among which are many groups, particularly in the upper and more secret apartments, where the imagination of the artist has audaciously overstepped the bounds of decency. In fact, in whatever light the philosophers of Egypt may have regarded Athor, it is quite clear, both from these sculptures, and the testimony of ancient authors, that both priests and populace confounded her with Venus Pandemos, who must always have been a favourite divinity among a nation so licentious and depraved as the ancient Egyptians.

CCXXVI. A dim light, sufficient for the mysteries here celebrated, is admitted into the lower apartments by apertures in the wall, which, externally narrow, diverge inwards for the better distribution of the scanty rays. From a small dark chamber on the right hand, a long sculptured corridor, now nearly choked up with sand, leads to the foot of the staircase, which mounts by an easy ascent to the upper suites of apartments and the roof. On the immense

316

SYMBOLICAL SCULPTURES.

blocks of stone which form the roof of the pronaos are carved the names of numerous travellers, both from the old and new world-but chiefly English. The upper chambers have suffered much more than those below from the wanton depredations of antiquarians, who, in their pretended zeal for the arts, mutilate and destroy, wherever they are permitted, the noblest monuments of antiquity. It was from one of these small chambers that Saulnier and Lelorrain, with a barbarism which would have disgraced a Huron, cut away the circular zodiac. But innumerable sculptured groups remain, many of which are capable of interpretation; and among these there is one on the ceiling which particularly interested me. A bearded figure, with his feet turned up to his head, so as with his body to form a complete circle, is represented surrounded with diverging beams, like the rising sun. Directly opposite is the figure of a woman, with legs and arms outstretched, so as to describe a lunar crescent, and having her face turned towards the man, who seems to light up and kindle her whole figure with his rays. representation of the influence of the sun upon the moon. On the sides and bosom of the female are numerous diminutive figures of mortals, adoring the full moon, on whose disk is a woman walking on her hands and feet, in order to resemble a cow, the symbol of Athor. On her arms is depicted a globe with human legs, alluding, perhaps, to that article of their philosophical creed which taught that the world

This is obviously a