We add to the foregoing, the observations of other writers upon the subject of some of the most interesting of these wondrous antiquities.
Luxor.—In approaching this temple from the north, the first object is a magnificent propylon, or gateway, which is two hundred feet in length, and the top of it fifty-seven feet above the present level of the soil. In front of the entrance are the two most perfect obelisks in the world, each of a single block of red granite, from the quarries of Elephantine; they are between seven and eight feet square at the base, and above eighty feet high; many of the hieroglyphical figures with which they are covered are an inch and three quarters deep, cut with the greatest precision. Between these obelisks and the propylon are two colossal statues, also of red granite; though buried in the ground to the chest, they still measure twenty-one and twenty-two feet from thence to the top of their mitres. The attention of the traveller is soon diverted from these masses to the sculptures which cover the eastern wing of the north front of the propylon, on which is a very animated description of a remarkable event in the campaigns of Osymandrias or Sesostris. The ruined portico, which is entered from the gateway, is of very large dimensions; from this a double row of seven columns, with lotus capitals, two-and-thirty feet in circumference, conducts you into a court, one hundred and sixty feet long, and one hundred and forty wide, terminating at each side by a row of columns, beyond which is another portico of thirty-two columns, and the adytum, or interior apartments of the building.
The temple of Luxor was probably built on the banks of the Nile, for the convenience of sailors and wayfaring men; where, without much loss of time, they might stop, say their prayers, present their offerings, &c. Great and magnificent as it is, it only serves to show us the way to a much greater, to which it is hardly more in comparison than a kind of porter's lodge; I mean the splendid ruin of the temple at Karnak. The distance from Luxor to Karnak is about a mile and a half, or two miles. The whole road was formerly lined with a row of sphinxes on each side. At present these are entirely covered up for about two-thirds of the way, on the end nearest to Luxor. On the latter part of the road, near Karnak, a row of criosphinxes (that is, with a ram's head and a lion's body), still exist on each side of the way.
Karnak.—The name of Diospolis is sufficient to entitle us to call the grand temple at Karnak the temple of Jupiter. This temple has twelve principal entrances, each of which is composed of several propyla and colossal gateways, or moles, besides other buildings attached to them, in themselves larger than most other temples. One of the propyla is entirely of granite, adorned with the most finished hieroglyphics. On each side of many of them have been colossal statues of basalt, breccia and granite; some sitting, some erect, from twenty to thirty feet in height.
The body of the temple, which is preceded by a large court, at the sides of which are colonnades of thirty columns in length, and through the middle of which are two rows of columns fifty feet high, consisting, first of a prodigious hall, or portico, the roof of which is sustained by one hundred and thirty-four columns, some of which are twenty-six feet in circumference, and others thirty-four; there are four beautiful obelisks marking the entrance by the adytum, near which the monarch is represented as embraced by the arms of Isis.
The adytum itself consists of three apartments, entirely of granite. The principal room, which is in the centre, is twenty feet long, sixteen wide, and thirteen feet high. Three blocks of granite form the roof, which is painted with clusters of gilt stars on a blue ground. Beyond are other porticoes and galleries, which have been continued to another propylon, at the distance of two thousand feet from that at the western extremity of the temple.