The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
the gateway a lion is found beside the chariot of the king.) On the
second wall the prisoners are brought forward: they are without their
hands and members, in order to indicate that they fought without spirit.
The third wall contains reliefs of various kinds and sketches
representing the king's sacrifice of bulls, and his triumphant return.
In the middle of the court stands an altar of marvellous size and
workmanship. Before the fourth wall are two seated colossi 27 cubits
high, and beside these three entrances lead into a colonnade, of which
the sides measure 200 feet. In this hall are a number of statues of wood
representing men in expectation of the decision of their law-suits, and
looking towards the judges. These, thirty in number, are engraved on one
of the walls; in their midst is the chief judge, on whose neck hangs a
picture of truth with closed eyes; beside him lie a great quantity of
books. Then you pass into a space intended for walking, where are
represented many of the most delicate kinds of food. Here also the image
of the king is engraved, and brightly coloured, showing how he offered
to the god the gold and silver which came to him year by year from the
mines of Egypt, and the total is written down close by; estimated in
silver, it amounted to 320,000 minæ. Then follows the sacred library,
and after this the images of all the gods of Egypt, and of the king, who
offers to each god the appropriate gifts, in order as it were to show to
Osiris and his assessors in the under world that the king had lived a
life just towards men and pious towards the gods. On the walls of the
library abuts another building, in which are twenty couches, the images
of Zeus and Hera, and the images of the king. In this chamber the king
appears to be buried. In a circle round this chamber are yet many other
rooms containing very beautiful pictures of all the animals worshipped
in Egypt. Through these chambers we reach the top of the sepulchre, a
golden circle 365 cubits in circumference, and one cubit thick. On this
circle are marked divisions for every day in the year, and in each is
noted the rising and setting of the stars, and the influence which the
Egyptian astrologers attributed to these constellations."[240]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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