A Trip Abroad: An Account of a Journey to the Earthly Canaan and the Land of the Ancient Pharaohs; To Which Are Appended a Brief Consideration of the Geography and History of Palestine, and a Chapter on Churches of Christ in Great BritainJanes, Don Carlos
Religion
A Trip Abroad: An Account of a Journey to the Earthly Canaan and the Land of the Ancient Pharaohs; To Which Are Appended a Brief Consideration of the Geography and History of Palestine, and a Chapter on Churches of Christ in Great Britain
Janes, Don Carlos
Churches of Christ -- Great Britain; Palestine -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
The first of the Karnak temples reached is one dedicated to the Theban
moon god, Khons, reared by Rameses III. The Temple of Ammon, called "the
throne of the world," lies a little beyond. I spent half a day on the
west side of the river in what was the burial ground of ancient Thebes,
where also numerous temples were erected. My first stop was before the
ruins of Kurna. The Temple of Sethos I. originally had ten columns
before it, but one is now out of place. The Temple Der el Bahri bore an
English name, signifying "most splendid of all," and it may not have
been misnamed. It is situated at the base of a lofty barren cliff of a
yellowish cast, and has been partially restored.
In 1881 a French explorer discovered the mummies of several Egyptian
rulers in an inner chamber of this temple, that had probably been
removed to this place for security from robbers. In the number were the
remains of Rameses II., who was probably reigning in the boyhood days of
Moses, and the mummy of Set II., perhaps the Pharaoh of the Oppression,
and I saw both of them in the museum in Cairo.
The Ramasseum is another large temple, built by Rameses II., who is
said to have had sixty-nine sons and seventy daughters. There are also
extensive remains of another temple called Medinet Habu. About a half a
mile away from this ruin are the two colossal statues of Memnon,
which were surrounded by water, so I could not get close to them. The
following dimensions of one of them are given: "Height of the figure,
fifty-two feet; height of the pedestal on which the feet rest, thirteen
feet; height of the entire monument, sixty-five feet. But when the
figure was adorned with the long-since vanished crown, the original
height may have reached sixty-nine feet. * * * Each foot is ten and
one-half feet long. * * * The middle finger on one hand is four and a
half feet long, and the arm from the tip of the finger to the elbow
measures fifteen and one-half feet."
All about these temples are indications of ancient graves, from which
the Arabs have dug the mummies. As I rode out, a boy wanted to sell me a
mummy hand, and another had the mummy of a bird. They may both have been
counterfeits made especially for unsuspecting tourists. There are also
extensive rock-cut tombs of the ancient kings and queens, which are
lighted by electricity in the tourist season. I did not visit them on
account of the high price of admission. The government has very properly
taken charge of the antiquities, and a ticket is issued for six dollars
that admits to all these ruins in Upper Egypt. Tickets for any one
particular place were not sold last season, but tourists were allowed to
visit all places not inclosed without a ticket.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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