Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library. (1862) (14783907633)

Identifier: upnilehomeagainh00fair (find matches)
Title: Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library.
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Fairholt, F. W. (Frederick William), 1814-1866
Subjects:
Publisher: London, Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



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able, asit seemed so peculiarly to belong to the countrywhose savans had done so much in disseminating itsknowledge. The hammer of the auctioneer gave itto England at the cost of <£500; a large sum,for a few hieroglyphics • but no fixed money-valuecan be placed on objects unique as this is.- It was found in the debris of the small temple ofOsiris, some short distance to the north of thelarger temple. There is little remaining of thisfamed building but a few feet of wall above thefoundation, and that reached by excavating the sandwhich has buried the original surface of the groundat least thirty feet. This place rivalled the islandof Philae, for it was also asserted to be the burial-place of Osiris. Here the greatest god of the Egyp-tian Pantheon had the most splendid and beautifulof temples constructed to his honour. It was linedwith alabaster, its walls covered with painting andsculpture. Its pristine beauty may be guessed at,from the fragments.we now see; the pure white of the
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SIOUT TO KENEH. 203 surface, and the brilliant manner in which thedetails are painted—the hieroglyphic inscriptionsbeing richly coloured also—testify to the costly beantyof this famed shrine. When furnished with all thesacerdotal paraphernalia of the ancient faith, andcrowded by richly-dressed priests, attendants, king,and people, how striking must haye been thesacred ceremonies under the pure bright sunlight—itself typical of the god. There is nothing in Egyptpurer in taste, or more indicative of refined splen-dour, than this small fragment of a solemn fane. The great temple near it is half buried in sand,which has covered even the roof of the great hall, asshown in Plate XII. Into this you descend by asloping excavation. The pillars are of very ancientform, the sculptures boldly and beautifully executed,particularly the hieroglyphic inscriptions, which insome instances are unusually large. The enormousblocks of sandstone stretching from pillar to pillar,and forming the roof, a