merely internal, and so far belong rather to Syrian architecture than to Coptic. The principal church shows two other features which do not occur elsewhere in the Christian buildings of Egypt, namely, an external atrium surrounded with a cloister, and a central tower with a clerestory . . . . . Possibly the same remark may apply to the structure of the iconostasis, which has two side-doors and no central entrance, though this arrangement is not quite unparalleled in the churches of Upper Egypt, and may be a later alteration. It will be noticed that the church has a triple western entrance from the cloisters." (Butler, Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, Vol. I., p. 361.) R LUXOR (EL-ĶUŞÛR) AND THEBES. Luxor, 450 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the river, is a small town with a few thousand inhabitants, and owes its importance to the fact that it is situated close to the ruins of the temples of the ancient city of Thebes. The name Luxor is a corruption of the Arabic name of the place, El-Kuşûr, which means "the palaces." Ancient Thebes stood on both sides of the Nile, and was generally called in hieroglyphics, Uast; that part of the city which was situated on the east bank of the river, and included the temples of Karnak and Luxor, appears to have been called Apet,* whence the Coptic & Пe and the name Thebes have been derived. The cuneiform inscriptions and Hebrew Scriptures call it No (Ezek. xxx. 14) and No-Amon† (Nahum iii. 8), and the Greek and Roman writers Diospolis Magna. When or by whom Thebes was founded it is impossible to say. Diodorus says that it is the most ancient city of Egypt; some say that, like Memphis, it was founded by Menes, and others, that it was a colony from Memphis. It is certain, however, that it did not become a city of the first importance until after the decay of Memphis, and as the progress of Egyptian civilization was from north to south, this is only what was to be expected. During the early dynasties no mention is made of Thebes, but we know that as early as the XIIth dynasty some kings were buried there. The spot on which ancient Thebes stood is so admirably adapted for the site of a great city, that it * I.e., "throne city." would have been impossible for the Egyptians to overlook it. The mountains on the east and west side of the river sweep away from it, and leave a broad plain on each bank of several square miles in extent. It has been calculated that modern Paris could stand on this space of ground. We have, unfortunately, no Egyptian description of Thebes, or any statement as to its size; it may, however, be assumed from the remains of its buildings which still exist, that the descriptions of the city as given by Strabo and Diodorus are on the whole trustworthy. The fame of the greatness of Thebes had reached the Greeks of Homer's age, and its "hundred gates" and 20,000 war chariots are referred to in Iliad IX, 381. The city must have reached its highest point of splendour during the rule of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties over Egypt, and as little by little the local god Amen-Ra became the great god of all Egypt, his dwelling-place Thebes also gained in importance and splendour. The city suffered severely at the hands of Cambyses, who left nothing in it unburnt that fire would consume. Herodotus appears never to have visited Thebes, and the account he gives of it is not satisfactory; the account of Diodorus, who saw it about B.C. 57, is as follows: "Afterwards reigned Busiris, and eight of his posterity after him; the last of which (of the same name with the first) built that great city which the Egyptians call Diospolis, the Greeks Thebes; it was in circuit 140 stades (about twelve miles), adorned with stately public buildings, magnificent temples, and rich donations and revenues to admiration; and he built all the private houses, some four, some five stories high. And to sum up all in a word, made it not only the most beautiful and stateliest city of Egypt, but of all others in the world. The fame therefore of the riches and grandeur of this city was so noised abroad in every place, that the poet Homer takes notice of it. . . . . Although there are some that say it had not a hundred ..... gates; but that there were many large porches to the temples, whence the city was called Hecatompylus, a hundred gates, for many gates: yet that it was certain they had in it 20,000 chariots of war; for there were a hundred stables all along the river from Memphis to Thebes towards Lybia, each of which was capable to hold two hundred horses, the marks and signs of which are visible at this day. And we have it related, that not only this king, but the succeeding princes from time to time, made it their business to beautify this city; for that there was no city under the sun so adorned with so many and stately monuments of gold, silver, and ivory, and multitudes of colossi and obelisks, cut out of one entire stone. For there were there four temples built, for beauty and greatness to be admired, the most ancient of which was in circuit thirteen furlongs (about two miles), and five and forty cubits high, and had a wall twenty-four feet broad. The ornaments of this temple were suitable to its magnificence, both for cost and workmanship. The fabric hath continued to our time, but the silver and the gold, and ornaments of ivory and precious stones were carried away by the Persians when Cambyses burnt the temples of Egypt. There, they say, are the wonderful sepulchres of the ancient kings, which for state and grandeur far exceed all that posterity can attain unto at this day. The Egyptian priests say that in their sacred registers there are 47 of these sepulchres; but in the reign of Ptolemy Lagus there remained only 17, many of which were ruined and destroyed when I myself came into those parts." (Bk. I., caps. 45, 46, Booth's translation, pp. 23, 24.) ... "Next Strabo, who visited Thebes about B.C. 24, says :— to the city of Apollo is Thebes, now called Diospolis, 'with her hundred gates, through each of which issue 200 men, with horses and chariots,' according to Homer, who mentions also its wealth; 'not all the wealth the palaces of Egyptian Thebes contain.' Other writers use the same language, and consider Thebes as the metropolis of Egypt. Vestiges of its magnitude still exist, which extend 80 stadia (about nine miles) in length. There are a great number of temples, many of which spot is at present occupied by villages. One part of it, in which is the city, lies in Arabia; another is in the country on the other side of the river, where is the Memnonium. Here are two colossal figures near one another, One is entire; the upper each consisting of a single stone. parts of the other, from the chair, are fallen down, the effect, it is said, of an earthquake. It is believed that once a day a noise as of a slight blow issues from the part of the statue which remains in the seat and on its base. When I was at those places with Ælius Gallus, and numerous friends and soldiers about him, I heard a noise at the first hour (of the day), but whether proceeding from the base or from the colossus, or produced on purpose by some of those standing around the base, I cannot confidently assert. For from the uncertainty of the cause, I am disposed to believe anything rather than that stones disposed in that manner could send forth sound. Above the Memnonium are tombs of kings in caves, and about forty in number; they are skill, and are worthy of notice. obelisks with inscriptions, denoting the wealth of the kings of that time, and the extent of their empire, as reaching to the Scythians, Bactrians, Indians, and the present Ionia; the amount of tribute also, and the number of soldiers, which composed an army of about a million of men. The priests there are said to be, for the most part, astronomers and philosophers. The former compute the days, not by the moon, but by the sun, introducing into the twelve months, of thirty days each, five days every year. But in order to complete the whole year, because there is (annually) an excess of a part of a day, they form a period hewn out of the stone, executed with singular Among the tombs are |