ARRIVAL AT EDFOO.

17

head, greatly defaced. In another part are Isis and Osiris ; to whom a votary is making an offering of three lotuses and a child's head, with a tuft of hair on the crown as worn at present. On the opposite side a figure presents to the same divinities the symbol of the double-sexed god; from all which it would appear that these rock temples were dedicated to the worship of gods analogous in character to Kal and Kali, whose horrid altars have always been smeared in India with human blood.

Thursday, Feb. 7. Edfoo.

CCCCXV. There being nothing on this part of the river to invite our landing, except a few crocodiles on the sand banks, and Monro having gone forward towards Thebes, we continued all day on board. Making, however, some way, we moored about sunset on the western bank, a little above Edfoo, or Apollinopolis Magna; nearly an hour to the south of which we met Mr. Godfrey Levinge, who was proceeding alone into Nubia. From him I learned the first European news I had heard for several months. He also informed me of the destruction of the Sultan's army, and the capture of the Grand Vizir. But the most interesting portion of his intelligence was, that he had left at Thebes a packet of letters, among which there might probably be some for me. The distance between Edfoo and Karnak now seemed trebled,—but I abstain from dwelling on my personal feelings.

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APPROACHES TO THE TEMPLE.

Friday, Feb. 8. Esneh.

CCCCXVI. Taking along with me Suleiman and another Arab, I left the kandjia early, and walked across the country to Edfoo, which is situated at some distance from the river. The Baroness Minutoli was somewhere told, she says, that this place is denominated by the Arabs, Atbah, which, according to the interpretation given her, means, "without trees." If this be the case, the name must be derived after the fashion of lucus from non lucendo; for the date-palms of the village are numerous; but the natives, in reality, know the place by no other name than Edfoo, and have never heard of Atbah, of which they do not even understand the meaning. Notwithstanding that its approaches are encumbered by the mud huts of the peasantry, which are peculiarly noisome and filthy, this temple must undoubtedly strike the beholder, whose judgment is unfettered by system, as by far the noblest religious structure in Egypt. The genuine Egyptian antiquarian refuses to admire it, because Rameses the Second was not concerned in its erection, which must be attributed wholly to the Greeks. But the traveller, who judges by the impressions made upon his mind, not according to the hypotheses which may happen to be in vogue, will probably differ on many points from the mere antiquarian.

CCCCXVII. The vast pyramidal propylon, two hundred and twenty feet in length, and one hundred

feet high, covered with colossal representations of the mysterious gods of Egypt, engaged in or sanctioning the most bloody rites, first commands attention. Entering the lofty gateway, through which the Sons of Anak might have passed without stooping, we find ourselves in a spacious dromos, adorned with a beautiful peristyle of thirty-two columns, whose richly spreading capitals, and luxuriant ornaments, have been but little injured by barbarism or time. To this succeeds the pronaos, containing eighteen columns, disposed in six rows, three on either side; and the exterior intercolumniations not having been built up, the effect of these majestic shafts, with their varied, but magnificent capitals of lotus, doum, and palm leaves, their mysterious sculpture and dusky hue, is peculiarly grand. But the Arabs have contrived to render it as difficult to remain long in this portico, as to sit down in the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, or to walk through the ditches of a fortified city in France.

CCCCXVIII. In spite, however, of the loathsome smells, we proceeded with the examination of the sculpture, retiring occasionally into the dromos, to breathe a purer air. The walls, the beams, the plinths, the friezes, the columns, are richly adorned with mysterious characters and symbolical figures: all the deities of Egypt seem to be assembled here, some in boats, others moving in procession towards them with offerings, others seated on thrones surrounded by devout worshippers. Among the most frequent

20

HERMES TRISMEGISTHUS.

and prominent figures is that of the hawk,-the symbol of Aroëris-Apollo, the divinity of the temple, -with outspread wings, between which is a long round topped feather, with a large ring on the quill. Upon its head it bears a figure of the sun, with the Uræus on either side of the disk. This serpent, whose crest is adorned with a diminutive globe, is represented standing on a large basin or vase, emblematical, perhaps, of the passive principle of nature, the mother of all things. M. Champollion considers this to be the symbol of Thoth, or Hermes Trismegisthus; but I see no reason for coinciding in this opinion. On the eastern wall, the figure of Thoth is thrice repeated, standing with uplifted hands before a boat filled with gods, in which occurs another figure of the same divinity. As the Egyptians, according to Cicero, were acquainted with two Hermæ, the one in the boat may be the superior, the offspring of the Nile; the other, the inferior and more modern deity. But even in the boat we find Thoth exhibited as an inferior, that is, making an offering to a divinity, probably Lunus or Piooh, with a lion's head, surmounted by a crescent, like the Siva of the Hindoos. Beside the crescent, a small disk is likewise observed among the tresses of his hair. The offering made by Thoth consists of the horse's head with the human eye,-emblematic of the union of knowledge with power, and it is worthy of remark that this curious symbol is found among the hieroglyphics connected with the moon. In the middle of the boat containing these divinities is a vast globe, probably

SYMBOLICAL SCULPTURE.

21

that of the full moon, upon the centre of which this symbolical figure is again found; with rows of crouching figures, each seven in number, crossing the globe above and below, while five hawks, emblematic of the sun, appear beyond the disk, as if keeping watch over it. Near these is the steersman, who directs the motions of the boat.

CCCCXIX. On the cornice of the ancient temple, -for the pronaos, propylon, and casing are more modern than the cella, is a globe resting on a kind of altar, bearing on its disk a scarabæus with two heads, the one that of the hawk, the other of the horse, with the human eye; the latter surmounted by a high complicated mitre, the former by a small globe. Above the larger disk, containing the scarabæus, symbolical of the sun, is a lesser orb, enclosing the greater planet between its outspread wings, as if to be impregnated by its rays; here we discover a physical allegory, representing the influence of the sun upon the earth. Close to this group is the Uræus, or Agathodæmon, with a pair of vast wings. On one of the beams we find the scarabæus standing on the winged orb of the sun, with a ball between his claws. Chemmis, or Priapus Orthophallus, with his hand in the mystic van, occurs on the plinths; and the sides of the beams are decorated with innumerable figures of Isis, seated behind each other in endless succession. The cella projects slightly into the pronaos; and on the lateral wall, uniting it with the external casing, is an enormous figure of the Uræus with outspread