The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
None of the Pharaohs undertook such numerous works and left behind so
many monuments as Ramses II. He completed the hall of his father at
Karnak,[236] and extended on a magnificent scale the temple of Amenophis
III. at Luxor, by adding on the north-east a second court, and adorning
the entrance to it by a lofty gateway. Before this he placed two seated
colossi, statues of himself--at present, like the lower parts of all the
ruins at Luxor, they are covered to a considerable height with sand--and
two obelisks of red granite, of which one still rises in splendour to
the blue sky, and displays the long, sharply-cut rows of the
hieroglyphics in all the brightness of the uninjured polish. The other
is at Paris, in the Place de la Concorde. On the left bank of the Nile,
between the colossi of Amenophis III. and his father's temple, a little
further to the west, and immediately at the foot of the Libyan range, he
built a large temple. A massive gateway rises on a slightly elevated
terrace, leading to a rectangular court. This is surrounded by a double
row of pillars supporting the portico, of which two only are now
standing. On this follows a second court, of which the portico is
supported on the right and left by double pillars, on the front
transverse side by single pilasters, and on the back by double
pilasters, against the first row of which lean colossal images of
Osiris. At the entrance from the first into the second court, on the
left, was the greatest of all the detached colossi in Egypt, the seated
statue of Ramses, hewn out of a block of red granite from Syene. Sixty
feet in height, this statue once overlooked both courts; now it lies
prostrate on the ground. The length of the middle finger is four feet.
There was apparently a second colossus on the other side of the entrance
corresponding to this. From the second court, in which are the remains
of two smaller colossi, three gates of black granite led into a great
hall, built on a higher level. The roof of this, the remains of which
exhibit a blue ground with gold stars, was supported by sixty pillars in
ten rows. Of these rows four are still standing; the pillars are 35 feet
in height and six feet in diameter. On this great hall adjoin three
smaller ones, on both sides of which lay chambers, and the roof of one
is adorned with a large astronomical painting. The back part of the
building was formed by vaulted porticoes of brick, and each brick is
stamped with the name-shield of Ramses II.[237]
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