of virility, purporting them to be men destitute of courage and the power of resistance: and the third wall presented various subjects and appropriate sculptures, indicating the sacrifices and triumph of the king. In the centre of the open court was an altar of very beautiful stone, admirable for its size as well as for its workmanship; and close to the end wall were two sitting statues, of a single block each, measuring twenty-seven cubits in height. Three entrances led from the area to a hall supported throughout by columns, and built in the manner of an odéum, which measured on each side two plethra. Here were several wooden statues, representing persons engaged in lawsuits, and judges listening to the causes. These last were thirty in number, with the chief justice in the centre, who had many books lying near him, and wore an image of Truth, with her eyes closed, suspended from his neck: an emblematic figure, purporting that the duty of a judge was to receive nothing †, and that the chief justice should have his mind intent on truth alone. After this was a corridor filled with numerous chambers, where all kinds of food most agreeable to the *40 feet 6 inches. He evidently alludes to the two small colossi of the Memnonium, which stood on each side of the steps leading from the second court of that building. The head of one is in the British Museum, and was formerly called of the young Memnon. From this court, three entrances lead to the hall of assembly, agreeing well with the description of Diodorus in his account of the tomb. + Diodorus has omitted to mention their being "without hands;" which, however, we learn from Plutarch: "The statues of judges at Thebes without hands, with their chief or president at their head, with his eyes turned downwards, signify that justice ought neither to be accessible to bribes, nor guided by favour and affection." De Isid. s. 10. palate were introduced. The king also appeared in the sculptures, painted in elegant colours, dedicating to the deity the gold and silver he annually received from the mines throughout Egypt, which in silver alone amounted to 3200 myriads of minæ.* To these chambers succeeded the sacred library, over which was inscribed The balsam of the soul;' and contiguous to it were figures of all the gods of Egypt, to each of whom the Monarch presented a suitable offering; in order that Osiris, and the deities who attended beneath him, might know, that through life he had acted with piety towards the gods and benevolence towards men. Adjacent t to the library was a chamber elegantly fitted up with twenty couches, where the statues of Jupiter, Juno, and the king were placed; and here it was supposed that the body of the prince reposed. Around were several rooms, having beautiful paintings of all the sacred animals of the country, and from them an ascent to the whole tomb; beyond which, and immediately over the sepulchre, was a golden planisphere, carried away in later times by Cambyses when the Persians invaded Egypt. It measured 365 cubits S in circumference, and one in thickness, and was divided and marked at every cubit with the days of the year, the rising and setting of the stars according to their natural revolutions, and the The Egyptian mina was 1 lb. 5 oz. 6 dwts. English. From the position of the Memnonium on a rising rock, you ascend towards the upper end of the building. 547 feet, or about 182 feet in diameter. signs ascertained from them by Egyptian astrologers." * In re-examining this description of Diodorus, I am still more inclined to the opinion I before stated of his having in view the Memnonium, or palacetemple of Remeses II. 1. The distance from the first tombs, where the pallacides of Jove were buried, agrees very satisfactorily with that from the tombs of the queens † to the Memnonium. 2. Its having the largest statue in Egypt, which is the sitting colossus of Remeses, in that building. 3. The plan of the tomb, its three entrances from the second area, and the succeeding hall of columns, agree perfectly with those of the Memnonium; and if the dimensions of the areas exceed the truth, or appear inconsistent, the objection is one which equally applies to any other Egyptian edifice. I had supposed the word λα to refer to an entrance court or propylæum; but I perceive that he alludes to the pyramidal towers of the propylon, to which he gives the length of two plethra. The area behind them was four plethra square, and we must therefore conclude the towers to be each two plethra, without including the intermediate gateway, which will accord very well with the proportions of an Egyptian temple. However, his measurements may be exaggerated, and * Another astronomical ceiling is met with at the Memnonium, in the central chamber, immediately behind the grand hall, in which all the Egyptian months, and various stars, are introduced, with figures and hieroglyphic legends. The Egyptian princesses and queens held that office in the service of Amun or Jove. Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 80. I consider it better to leave his plethrum of indeterminate length. And in order that the reader may perceive the relative dimensions and usual arrangement of these courts, and compare Diodorus' description with the Memnonium, I insert a plan of that building, and leave him to form his own opinion. * That two Theban buildings, the palace of Remeses III. at Medeenet Haboo and the Memnonium, are united in this description of the historian appears not altogether improbable, from a comparison of the plans and sculptures of those edifices. And the revolt of an Eastern people, the lion accompanying Remeses III., and the mutilation of the bodies of the enemy slain in the fight, which occur at Medeenet Haboo in the sculptures of the inner and outer walls, as well as the fortified town surrounded by a river at the Memnonium, and the presence of his sons in the battle, show a striking resemblance to the circumstances detailed by Diodorus. "After Mendes, or Osymandyas, ensued an interregnum, which lasted five generations, until Cetes or Cetna, a Memphite, "who in the Greek language was called Proteus," ascended the throne. The shrine of this monarch was still visible at Memphis in the time of Herodotus. It stood on the south of the temple of Vulcan, and was magnificently ornamented. The Phoenicians of Tyre, who had settled in Egypt, lived in its vicinity, * See wood-cut in next page. Plan of the Memnonium, showing its great resemblance to the description the Tomb of Osymandyas, given by Diodorus: — ... ... παρα δε την A, A, Towers of the Propylon, “ πυλωνα ... το μεν μήκος διπλέθρον, το δ' υψος τετταράκοντα και πεντε πήχων. B, the entrance, “ την είσοδον.” c, c, the area, « διελθοντι δε αυτον ειναι λιθινον περιστύλον τετραγωνον, εκαστης πλευρας ούσης τετταρων πλέθρων.” « αντι των κιωνων, ζωδια .. μονολιθα,” as at H, H, in the next court; the area was open in the centre, and covered at the sides, “ την οροφην . . επι πλατος δύειν οργυιων." σε εξης δε του περίστυλου τουτου παλιν ετεραν εισοδον και πυλωνα εισοδον (Ε) ανδριαντας τρεις εξ ενός λίθου τούτων ενα μεν καθημενον (ο) υπαρχειν μεγιστον παντων των κατ' Αιγυπίον. D, is the large sitting Colossus of Remeses the Great, close to the second entrance E. 66 μετα δε τον πυλωνα (F, F) περιστυλον του προτέρου αξιολογώτερον (G, G) εν φ γλυφας . . . δηλουσας τον πολεμον.” The battle scenes occur on these walls, and at r are traces of sculptures relating to the war; but that part, as well as s, is now in ruins. At K, the first wall on the right entering, the king is besieging a city sur |