THE SPHINX, EGYPT. This unique monument, situated near Cairo, in the neighborhood of the Pyramids, is one of the most characteristic and probably the oldest of Egyptian remains. As such it is the oldest monument in the world. Recent researches show that it is more ancient than even the Pyramid of Cheops. Originally it was a recumbent figure, representing an andro-sphinx, or man-headed lion, one hundred and eighty-eight feet nine and one-half inches in length, hewn out of the solid rock. Steps led down to its front, where there was a sanctuary and tablets. But the sands covered all save the head, shoulders and back, which rose from the surrounding desert with a startling and almost fearsome abruptness. In this condition the monument was allowed to remain for centuries. But more recently excavations have been started to restore it to its pristine state, and before long the entire colossal figure will be bared to view.
PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, EGYPT. Gizeh is about twelve miles from Cairo. It contains the largest and most famous of those mysterious sepulchral monuments known as Pyramids, which the ancient Egyptians were fond of raising. Three of these are especially famous—the Great Pyramid called the “Splendid,” which is the mausoleum of Cheops, and is four hundred and fifty feet nine inches high; the scarcely inferior Pyramid of Chepheren, and the Pyramid of Mycerinus, which is much smaller. These mountains of masonry, built of stones whose huge size perplexes modern engineers to account for the method of their handling, were designed by the kings of the early Egyptian dynasties as their tombs. Their leading idea was durability, and by concealment of the entrance, and tortuous and complicated passages, they strove to baffle the vandal. Yet all these tombs have been shamefully profaned.
RUINS OF KARNAK, EGYPT. Most guide-books advise the traveller in Egypt to leave Karnak to the last, as the crown of his explorations. It is, indeed, the most marvelous ruin along the Nile. Yet, though in ruins, it preserves all its original character. It lies amid the ruins of Thebes. It was intended for a temple. But it is not so much a temple as a city of temples, of palaces, courts, columns and obelisks enclosed by a great wall of circuit about a mile and a half in circumference. The Great Hall alone, which is the largest of all the monuments, measures three hundred and forty feet by one hundred and seventy. The Temple of Amenophis, here represented, is one of the finest of the smaller remains.
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM. This church, situated on a hill called Acra, purports to be built over the site of Calvary and the actual tomb of Jesus. Not only that tomb itself, but the tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus, the places where the Saviour appeared after His resurrection to Mary Magdalene and to Mary, His mother; where Constantine’s mother found the true cross, &c., &c., are pointed out to visitors. Not everybody accepts the genuineness of the site. But, at least, it was for the reconquest of the Holy Sepulchre that the Crusades were instituted, and for fifteen hundred years kings and queens, knights and pilgrims have knelt and prayed here. The church is a Byzantine structure, which was commenced in 1103 A. D., was partly destroyed by fire in 1808, and has since been restored. Some parts of it, however, are said to date back to the Empress Helena.
GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, JERUSALEM. No spot in the whole world could have more interest for the Christian traveler than the Garden of Gethsemane, the scene of our Lord’s agony on the eve of His crucifixion. It is known that it was a garden or orchard belonging to a small estate at the foot of Mount Olivet, somewhere on the east slope of the Kedron Valley and about half a mile from Jerusalem. But whether the present enclosure which is pointed out as the identical garden be so or not is a matter which archæologists have not yet settled. Certainly, the garden is very old and very venerable; its few olive trees date back to an unknown antiquity, and it may very well have been extant in almost its present condition in the time of Christ.
