GIBEL EL BIRKEL.
Published by Longman, Rees & Co. April 6th. 1835.
The form of the eminence is not very unlike that of the Acropolis of Athens, but there certainly never was any fortification on this rock. Some broken pottery and bricks, on the eastern side, indicate the site of the town. On the opposite, or western side of the mountain, but more in the desert, are two groups of pyramids. One consists of nine, the other, still farther in the desert, of eight. They are surrounded by sand, on the surface of which great quantities of quartz pebbles are disseminated.
Besides the two temples, mentioned as having been destroyed by the falling of a part of the mountain, there are the remains of eight other edifices, principally temples. The one I first arrived at, situated at the south-west corner of the mountain, is perhaps the most interesting of all. (See [Plate XIX.])
I admired exceedingly the beautiful and picturesque form of Gibel el Birkel; but the ruins in the distance, scattered beneath the southern side of the mountain, excited to the greatest degree my curiosity. I felt, indeed, that I was undoubtedly approaching the site of the capital of a formerly rich and flourishing region. The situation at once announces it, and the magnificent remains bear testimony to its importance, and, I may truly add, to the taste, knowledge, and refinement of the ancient inhabitants of this now deserted city. [Plate XX.] is a view of the ruins which first engaged my attention. It shows the remaining fragment of the propylon, and the manner in which the columns forming the first court were ornamented. The head of Isis adorns the eastern and western sides of the columns, fronting the avenue and enclosure, where they would be seen conspicuously, but the other two sides have merely the lotus flower; an economy of sculpture never seen in Egyptian edifices. This drawing also shows the entrance into the chambers which were excavated out of the rock. [Plate XIX.] is the best point of view that I could fix upon, and indeed a better could not be desired, as it shows seven columns, ornamented with the capitals of the head of Athor, which are all that remain; and it also comprises the only Typhonian pillar that is now entire in the portico. My drawings will, I trust, give the reader a full idea of the imposing appearance of these ruins. I will now enter into a more detailed architectural description of this temple, of which we have given the plan and section, Plates [XXI.] and [XXII.]
The length of this temple is 115 feet 6 inches, the breadth (in the interior) 50 feet 2 inches. The pylon is almost entirely destroyed, but sufficient is left to prove that its depth was 11 feet 3 inches, and total width 62 feet 6 inches: there are no remains of the entrance into this portico, but I have restored it according to the usual form. This pylon leads into a portico 59 feet long and 50 feet 2 inches wide. I know not why Cailliaud and others have made two rooms of this portico, and a difference in the diameter of the columns. My artist had sufficient time to make the plan, which, with the section, were drawn out, as I give them, on the spot. This was our habitation, and in my examination of the ruins I did not see any authority to induce me to suppose that there had been two apartments. All the columns were so easily traced, that the plan, with the exception of the propylon, may be considered entire.
Pl. 18.
| On stone by W. Walton, from a Drawing by G. A. Hoskins Esqr. | Printed by C. Hullmandel. |
GENERAL VIEW OF GIBEL EL BIRKEL.