"Each is mounted with a chapiter composed of four wo-⚫ "mens heads dreffed very fingularly and back to back. "Thele four faces refemble very much the manner in "which they represent the two heads of Janus: their "thickness is proportioned to the fize of the columns "which fupport them. These four heads are, moreover, "crowned each with a cube about fix feet which fupports "the ceiling. This fort of cornice which runs all along the "periftyle, is of a very fingular conftruction: on the mid"dle of the portico, which ferves for an entrance to the "whole edifice, are feen two large ferpents twisted toge"ther, whofe heads rest on two large wings extended on "both fides.

"From this veftibule you immediately enter into a large "fquare hall, where we see three doors which lead to dif"ferent apartments: thefe first apartments lead to o"thers alike fupported by many large columns. The roof "of the edifice is a terrafs; and to judge of the fize, it "fuffices to fay the Arabians had formerly built upon it

a very large village of which we ftill fee the ruins *. "We cannot, however, exactly determine of how many "bodies of building this edifice was compofed; for we "find, at some distance from the front, a grand

building which appears to have been the entrance: it "is more than forty feet high. Thirty paces from this we "meet, on each fide, with two other buildings whofe gates "are almost fallen to ruins. We there ftill remark many

apartments." This monument, as reprefented by Paul Lucas, appears to have much refemblance with the maufoleum of Olymandes.

Paul Lucas is not the only one who has fpoken of this fuperb edifice: M. Granger, a traveller, whose exactness and difcernment I have already had occafion to commend, has made a defcription, which, although infinitely more exact and much more circumftantial, yet differs

very little from that we have juft read: he thinks that this edifice is a temple of Ifis.

"The first object," fays he, " which offers itfelf to our "view is a portico of fixty feet high, thirty-fix feet broad, "and feventy-one thick, embellished with a beautiful cor"nice, and a fillet goes round it; below which and im"mediately over the gate, which is twenty feet high and ten wide, we see a fort of efcutcheon composed of a σε globe, fupported by two kind of eel pouts, placed on an azure field in the manner of two extended wings. This "portico is all covered from the top to the bottom with hieroglyphic infcriptions*. From this gate we enter "into a very spacious court full of the remains of co"lumns: opposite to the temple, which is in the middle of "this court, we find twelve other pillars ftanding, which "fupport the reft of the ceiling.

"The front of the temple is 129 feet long, 82 wide, "and 70 high: the back part 170 feet long, 108 broad; " and the height is the fame with that of the front. The "walls without are covered from the top to the bottom, "with the Egyptian divinities in bas relief, and hieroglyphic characters; a most beautiful cornice goes round "the whole eight lions heads form gutters.

"We immediately enter into a grand hall, which is 112 feet long, 60 high, and 58 broad. The ceiling is supported by fix rows of four pillars each. The shaft of "these columns is 52 feet, and their circumference 23: "the chapiters of these columns are formed by four wo

mens heads, with their backs to each other. The walls "of that hall are covered with an infinity of figures of ani"mals, of Egyptian divinities, and hieroglyphic characters. The ceiling, of which the ftones are each 18 feet long, 7 broad, and 2 thick, is painted in fresco, and the "colours are still very lively.

"From this hall we pafs into a large fquare fallon, whose ceiling is fupported by 6 columns, 3 on each fide, of

"the fame form and proportion as the preceding ones,

only a little larger. This hall is 42 feet by 41. "This fame hall leads to four chambers. The first is "63 feet by 18; the others 43 feet by 17. The walls "of these chambers are painted and covered with infcrip"tions and hieroglyphics.

From the last chamber, we enter into a veftibule "of 12 feet long, and 3 wide, which leads us to wind"ing ftairs, by which we afcend the terrafs. We there "find a very dark chamber, 18 feet fquare, and 9 high, "built on the ceiling of the grand hall: it is equally en"riched with many figures cut in bas relief. We see on "the ceiling of that chamber, the figure of a giant in re"lievo, whofe arms and legs are extended."

1 might add to these relations that of Pococke: according to his opinion, the monument of Ofymandes fubfifts at prefent almofl entire. He fays, he has seen and measured it : but his recital is fo diffufe, fo obfcure, and fo conjectural, that we can obtain no fatisfaction from it. Father Sicard believed likewise, that he had found the mausoleum of Ofymandes but we have now no complete relation of that illuftrious traveller. There now only remains anaccount too abridged and fuperficial to instruct and satisfy the curiosity a.

Let us now relate all that concerns the other antiquities which they find ftill in the neighbourhood of Thebes. I am going to begin by tranfcribing what has been said by two miffionaries who visited those fuperb ruins towards the end of the last age. They speak of the monuments which fubfifted in the neighbourhood of Luxor, a village which they prefume to have been built on the ruins of Thebes.

"I have counted," fays one of these travellers, "about 120 "columns in one fingle hall whofe walls were covered with "bas reliefs and hieroglyphics from the top to the bottom. I

a Granger, voyage d'Egypte, p. 43. &c. Defcription of the east, Lond. fol. vol. 1. p. 139. Mem. les miffions du Levant, t. 7. p 161.

d See ibid.

e Relat. au voyage du Sayd, par les PP. Protais, & Charle-Francois d'OrFeans, miffion. dans la collection des voyages, publiés par Thevenot, t. 2.

Granger, p. 54.

❝ have

"have there found many figures of marble as high as three "persons, and two particularly of 56 feet high, although "they were fitting on chairs. Two other ftatues of women "coifed fingularly with globes on their heads, measured "twelve feet from one shoulder to the other." The fame

traveller afterwards fpeaks of another edifice, which the tradition of the country would have had formerly to have been the refidence of a king." "We cannot," fays he, "doubt much of this even before we enter into it: this palace "fhews itself by many avenues formed by rows of fphynxes, "the head turned to the infide of the alley. Thefe figures, "which are each twenty-one feet high, are diftant from "each other about the space of two paces. I have walked," continues our traveller, "in four of thefe avenues, which "ended at fo many gates of the palace. I know not whether "there were any more, because I only made half the circuit "of that edifice, which appeared extremely fpacious. I "counted 60 fphynxes, in the length of an alley, ranged op"pofite to an equal number, and 51 in another. Thefe avenues are about the length of a mall. The gates of this palace are of a prodigious height covered with admirable "ftones. That alone which forms the entablature, is 261 "feet long, and broad in proportion. The ftatues and the figures in bas relief which this palace contains, are in very great numbers *."

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The fame traveller adds, that the frontispieces of the temples which he has had occafion to fee in that place were not rich in architecture, Yet he faw temples fo fpacious, that he believes, three thousand perfons might be ranged with ease on their roofs. He obferves, laftly, that all the figures in bas relief which decorated that monument, were only in profile. But for the reft, these palaces were fo ruined and in such disorder, that one could know nothing of their diftribution nor of their arrangment.

* I think that this edifice must have been a temple, and not a palace. I remark a very great refemblance with the defcription that Strabo gives us of the Egyptian temples. 1. 17. p. 1158. & 1159.

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Paul Lucas, who boasts alfo of having visited these ruins, speaks in the fame manner in his firft voyage: or, to speak more properly, he feems only to have copied the relation I have just now quoted. I therefore think I ought not to dwell upon it. I go to what he has faid of another place fituated in the neighbourhood of Thebes.

"Near the village of Hermant, we fee the ruins of a most grand and most spacious edifice: we perceive on all fides "an immenfe number of ftones and columns of the richest " and most beautiful marble. The columns which remain "still standing, are of a fize that nothing can equal: they

are all covered with figures and hieroglyphics: their chapiters adorned with foliages, are of an order of archi"tecture different from all thofe which Greece and Italy "have tranfmitted to us. There remains ftanding one part "of the building, whofe covering is formed by five stones "twenty feet long by five, and two feet eight inches thick. "This roof is built in a plat-form. We fee near it two co❝loffal figures of granite marble which are each more than "fixty feet high h."

M. Granger alfo fpeaks of thefe different monuments, but in fuch a manner as to make us think, that he has vifited them and feen them with his own eyes. But yet I shall not ftop to relate what he fays of the ruins of Luxor. His recital in that refpect differs very little from the relation of the two missionaries, and that of Paul Lucas: I shall only take notice of fome monuments, which in my opinion no traveller before him ever mentioned.

He speaks of a magnificent palace of which we fee the ruins a league and a half from Luxor, "We enter at first "into a court which is 162 feet wide and 81 long. "The front of the palace is 180 feet, and 36 high; having " on each of its fides a column of granite of the Corinthian "order. The gate is ten feet thick, eighteen high, and eight wide: we go from that gate to another court, "which is 56 feet fquare, and from that into another filled Voyage du Levant, t. I. p. 110. & III. Troifieme voyage, t. 3. p. 17. & 22. Father Sicard speaks of it alfo in the fame terms, loco fupra cit. p. 16ɔ.

iSee p. 54. &c.