‘After sailing for some hours,’ says Warburton,[[25]] ‘through a country quite level on the eastern bank, we come upon a precipitous rocky mountain, starting up so suddenly from the river’s edge, that its very summits are reflected in the water. We moored under a sand-bank, and, accompanied by half-a-dozen of the crew with torches, approached this isolated and stupendous rock. Yet even here the daring genius of Ethiopian architecture ventured to enter into rivalry with Nature’s greatness, and found her material in the very mountains that seemed to bid defiance to her efforts.
‘On the face of the vertical cliff a recess is excavated to the extent of about a hundred feet in width. From this four gigantic figures stand out in very bold relief. Between the two central stony giants, a lofty doorway opens into a vast hall, supported by square pillars, each the size of a tower, and covered with hieroglyphics. Just enough painting still glimmers faintly on these columns to show that they were formerly covered with it; and the walls are carved into historic figures in slight relief; these, as our torches threw an uncertain glare over them, seemed to move and become instinct with life.
‘This temple was dedicated to Athor, the lady of Aboccis (the ancient name of Ipsamboul), who is represented within under the form of the sacred bow. This was, however, a mere “chapel of ease” to the great temple, excavated from a loftier rock, about fifty yards distant. Between these two a deep gorge once ran to the river, but this is now choked up with sand, in whose burning waves we waded knee-deep to the Temple of Osiris.
‘Here a space of about 100 feet in height is hewn from the mountain; smooth, except for the reliefs. Along the summit runs a frieze of little monkeys in long array, as if the architect felt the absurdity of the whole business, or as Byron sometimes finishes off a sublime sentence with a scoff. Then succeeds a line of hieroglyphics and some faintly-carved figures, also in relief, and then four colossal giants that seem to guard the portal. They are seated on thrones (which form, with themselves, part of the living rock), and are about sixty feet high. One is quite perfect, admirably cut, and the proportions admirably preserved; the second is defaced as far as the knee; the third is buried in sand to the waist; and the fourth has only the face and neck visible above the desert’s sandy avalanche.
‘The doorway stands between the two central statues, and is surmounted by the statue of Isis wearing the moon as a turban.
‘On entering, the traveller finds himself in a temple, which a few days’ work might restore to the state in which it was left, just finished, three thousand years ago. The dry climate and its extreme solitude have preserved its most delicate details from injury; besides which it was hermetically sealed by the desert for thousands of years, until Burckhardt discovered it, and Mr. Hay cleared away its protecting sands.
‘A vast and gloomy hall, such as Eblis might have given Vathek audience in, receives you in passing from the flaming sunshine into that shadowy portal. It is some time before the eye can ascertain its dimensions through the imposing gloom, but gradually there reveals itself, around and above you, a vast aisle, with pillars formed of eight colossal giants, upon whom the light of heaven has never shone. These images of Osiris are backed by enormous pillars, behind which run two great galleries; and in these torchlight alone enabled us to peruse a series of sculptures in relief representing the triumphs of Rameses the Second, or Sesostris. The painting, which once enhanced the effect of these spirited representations, is not dimmed, but crumbled away; where it exists the colours are as vivid as ever.
‘This unequalled hall is one hundred feet in length, and from it eight lesser chambers, all sculptured, open to the right and left. Straight on is a low doorway opening into a second hall of similar height, supported by four square pillars, and within all is the adytum, wherein stands a simple altar of the living rock in front of four large figures seated on rocky thrones. This inner shrine is hewn at least one hundred yards into the rock, and here, in the silent depth of that great mountain, these awful idols, with their mysterious altar of human sacrifice, looked very preadamitic and imposing. They seemed to sit there waiting for some great summons which should awaken and reanimate these “kings of the earth, who lie in glory, every one in his own house.”
‘We wandered through many chambers, in which the air is so calm and undisturbed that the very smell of the torches of the last explorers of these caverns was perceptible.’
In Abyssinia the rock-churches of Lalibala likewise give proof of an ancient state of civilisation, strongly contrasting with the barbarism of the present times.