Thebes, from whence Thebais had its name, might vie with the noblest cities in the universe. Its hundred gates, celebrated by Homer,[258] are universally known; and acquired it the surname of Hecatompylos, to distinguish it from the other Thebes in Bœotia. Its population was proportionate to its extent; and, according to History, it could send out at once two hundred chariots, and ten thousand fighting men at each of its gates.[259] The Greeks and Romans have celebrated its magnificence and grandeur, though they saw it only in its ruins; so august were the remains of this city.[260]
In the Thebaid, now called Said, have been discovered temples and palaces which are still almost entire, adorned with innumerable columns and statues.[261] One palace especially is admired, the remains whereof seem to have existed purely to eclipse the glory of the most pompous edifices. Four walks extending farther than the eye can see, and bounded on each side with sphinxes, composed of materials as rare and extraordinary as their size is remarkable, serve as avenues to four porticos, whose height is amazing to behold. And even they who have given us the description of this wonderful edifice, had not time to go round it; and are not sure that they saw above half: however, what they had a sight of was astonishing. A [pg 003] hall, which, in all appearance, stood in the middle of this stately palace, was supported by a hundred-and-twenty pillars, six fathoms round, of a proportionable height, and intermixed with obelisks, which so many ages have not been able to demolish. Painting had displayed all her art and magnificence in this edifice. The colours themselves, which soonest feel the injury of time, still remain amidst the ruins of this wonderful structure, and preserve their beauty and lustre; so happily could the Egyptians imprint a character of immortality on all their works. Strabo, who was on the spot, describes a temple he saw in Egypt, very much resembling that of which I have been speaking.[262]
The same author, describing the curiosities of Thebais,[263] speaks of a very famous statue of Memnon, the remains whereof he had seen. It is said that this statue, when the beams of the rising sun first shone upon it in the morning, uttered an articulate sound.[264] And, indeed, Strabo himself was an ear-witness of this; but then he doubts whether the sound came from the statue.
Chapter II. Middle Egypt, or Heptanomis.
Memphis was the capital of this part of Egypt. In this city were to be seen many stately temples, among them that of the god Apis, who was honoured here after a peculiar manner. I shall speak of it hereafter, as well as of the pyramids which stood in the neighbourhood of this place, and rendered it so famous. Memphis was situated on the west side of the Nile.
Grand Cairo, which seems to have succeeded Memphis, is built on the other side of that river.[265] The castle of Cairo is one of the greatest curiosities in Egypt. It stands on a hill without the city, has a rock for its foundation, and is surrounded with walls of a vast height and solidity. You go up to the castle by a way hewn out of the rock, and which is so easy of ascent, that loaded horses and camels get up without difficulty. The [pg 004] greatest rarity in this castle is Joseph's well, so called, either because the Egyptians are pleased with ascribing what is most remarkable among them to that great man, or because such a tradition has been preserved in the country. This is a proof, at least, that the work in question is very ancient; and it is certainly worthy the magnificence of the most powerful kings of Egypt. This well has, as it were, two stories, cut out of the solid rock to a prodigious depth. The descent to the reservoir of water, between the two wells, is by a staircase seven or eight feet broad, consisting of two hundred and twenty steps, and so contrived, that the oxen employed to throw up the water, go down with all imaginable ease, the descent being scarcely perceptible. The well is supplied from a spring, which is almost the only one in the whole country. The oxen are continually turning a wheel with a rope, to which a number of buckets are fastened. The water thus drawn from the first and lower-most well, is conveyed by a little canal into a reservoir, which forms the second well; from whence it is drawn to the top in the same manner, and then conveyed by pipes to all parts of the castle. As this well is supposed by the inhabitants of the country to be of great antiquity, and has, indeed, much of the antique manner of the Egyptians, I thought it might deserve a place among the curiosities of ancient Egypt.
Strabo speaks of a similar engine, which, by wheels and pulleys, threw up the water of the Nile to the top of a very high hill; with this difference, that, instead of oxen, a hundred and fifty slaves were employed to turn these wheels.[266]
The part of Egypt of which we now speak, is famous for several rarities, each of which deserves a particular examination. I shall mention only the principal, such as the obelisks, the pyramids, the labyrinth, the lake of Mœris, and the Nile.
Sect. I. The Obelisks.—Egypt seemed to place its chief glory in raising monuments for posterity. Its obelisks form at this day, on account of their beauty as well as height, the principal ornament of Rome; and the Roman power, despairing to equal the Egyptians, thought it honour enough to borrow the monuments of their kings.