[24] Diodorus (i. 45, 4) talks of a circumference of 140 stades (28,315 yards), without telling us whether his measurement applies to the whole of Thebes, or only to the city on the right bank. Strabo (xvii. 46) says that "an idea of the size of the ancient city may be formed from the fact that its existing monuments cover a space which is not less than 80 stades (16,180 yards) in length (τὸ μῆκος)." This latter statement indicates a circumference much greater than that given by Diodorus. Diodorus (i. 50, 4) gives to Memphis a circumference of 150 stades (30,337 yards, or 17-1/4 miles).
[25] Diodorus, i. 45, 5.
[26] In a tale translated by M. Maspero (Études Égyptiennes, 1879, p. 10), a princess is shut up in a house of which the windows are 70 cubits (about 105 feet) above the ground. She is to be given to him who is bold and skilful enough to scale her windows. Such a height must therefore have seemed quite fabulous to the Egyptians, as did that of the tower which is so common in our popular fairy stories.
[27] In M. Maspero's translated Roman de Satni (Annuaire de l'Association pour l'Encouragement des Études grecques, 1878), the house in Bubastis inhabited by the daughter of a priest of high rank is thus described: "Satni proceeded towards the west of the town until he came to a very high house. It had a wall round it; a garden on the north side; a flight of steps before the door."
[28] Quintus Curtius, v. 1, 127.
[29] Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 377.
[30] We have borrowed this short description from a Review of M. Gailhabaud's Monuments anciens et modernes, Style Égyptien. Maisons. Those who require further details may consult Chapter V. of Sir Gardner Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
[31] Herodotus (ii. 95) says that they did so in the marshy parts of Lower Egypt.
[32] It is difficult to say what the artist meant by the little oblong mark under these windows. Perhaps it represents an outside balcony by which the window could be reached either for the purposes of inspection or in order to add to the store within.
[33] These trees must have been planted in large terra-cotta pots, such as are still used in many places for the same purpose.