No King Osymandyas is mentioned either by Herodotus or Manetho; nor has the name been yet discovered in any inscription; but the royal legend of Sesostris, or Rameses the great, is everywhere displayed on the monuments ascribed to him. The subjects, likewise, of all the reliefs, the battles, triumphs, etc., constantly refer to him. Even the lion, which is said to have attended him, is seen on his war chariot as an ornament, in this respect much as it appears in connection with the chariot of the Assyrian kings, on the slabs from Koyunjik and Nineveh. And to whom will the inscription, quoted by Diodorus, "I am Osymandyas, the King of Kings. He who wishes to know how great I was and where I rest, let him surpass my works," apply so well as to this very remarkable Egyptian character? It has been suggested that Osymandyas may have been a name of the great Rameses, as the name of Seostris was or that it might have been his name as a hero. It is considered as highly probable that his deeds are represented here, although a portion of the building may have belonged to a period prior to his. The proofs, however, which might arise from going into a minute comparison of the sculptures with the descriptions of Diodorus it is impossible to give here, as in the great work upon Egypt very few sculptures are engraved and there is nothing we have to avail us in the matter, excepting the accounts of the French and some more recent.

In the space between these immense edifices and the Libyan mountain chain stands the temple of Isis, which although smaller, is still highly deserving of attention from its fine preservation. In this may be seen in its fullest splendor the effects of the colors with which the reliefs are painted. Moreover, the narrower dimensions of the building enables the beholder to take in the whole at a glance by which he is better able to judge of the impressions made by these embellishments. All the reliefs here refer to religious subjects. The most remarkable among them is a judgment upon the dead, exactly as it is found painted upon the mummies. It seems probable that this temple served also as a sepulchre.

Going north from this monument the traveler finds himself in the midst of an alley of pedestals, occasionally interrupted, but immediately after resumed. A more accurate examination has shown that this was formerly an avenue of sphinxes two hundred in number and of a colossal size, the pedestals being six feet wide and twelve feet long. The breadth of the alley runs to forty feet; the distance of the statues from each other being seven feet.

What must the building have been to which such an alley led! Immense ruins of pylous, of walls and of steps are met with, but nothing entire. There is a remarkable stone vault in the form of an arch, without as has been shown by a closer examination being one. If the ancient Egyptians were acquainted with the proper arch, as I have no doubt they were, they did not use it in these kind of buildings.

The palace of Gornou or Kornou still remains upon this western side of the Nile pertaining to Thebes. It is not one of the largest or most splendid edifices of the royal city, but it is far too large to allow that an idea should be entertained that it was a private dwelling. It was no temple, but seems to have been of a middle or general character between those imperial palaces and private dwellings. Neither sphinxes nor obelisks nor stupendous pylons nor colonnades are here met with. The whole seems calculated for habitation. A portico, one hundred and fifty feet long, supported by ten columns, forms the principal entrance, and is still almost entire. From the portico three doors lead into the interior of the building. The principal and most central door opens into a vestibule, supported by six pillars, and from this passages run off into many chambers and offices. The door to the left in the portico leads likewise into a saloon, and this again into many chambers with courts and cabinets on the side. The same seems to have been the case in passing through the door to the right, but everything here is much dilapitated; so that the whole building appears to have consisted of three independent divisions, which were, nevertheless, connected by their opening into the great portico in front. The conclusion of explorers generally, who have been unable to detect any religious or historical scenes or hierogliphycal pictures on the walls is that if it were not a royal residence it must have been the private residence of some great official of the kingdom; but it is evident that those who hold this view differ from Dr. Richardson (Moderr. Traveler, vol. vi. p. 86) who, as far as I know, stands alone in saying that, "this building has by some travelers been called a palace, but it is ornamented with sculpture and hieroglyphics in the same manner as the other temples; and from the frequent occurrence of the ram's head upon the walls, both among the sculptures and the hieroglyphics, it would appear that Jupiter Ammon was the principal object of worship in this as well as in the great temples." So far as to the Theban monuments on the western side.

The Theban Monuments on the Eastern Side of the Nile.

If from the western side of the river we now pass over to the eastern side we shall find it equally rich in those stupendous monuments which we find to be so characteristic of Thebes. On this side, however, they are situated partly close to the river and partly at some distance from it, though less than that on the western side. Between

the river and the eastern mountain-chain, a wide almost wholly uncultivated plain extends, nearly five miles square, which is supposed to have been once covered with private habitations and formed a part of the ancient city. The monuments still left are named after their villages, Luxor to the south, and Karnac to the north.

Beginning with those on the south we find the ruins of Luxor are situated upon an artificial elevation, fenced with brick-work, from nine to ten feet high, immediately upon the Nile; it is upwards of two thousand feet in length and above a thousand in breadth. The more northern portico is partly covered with the village of Luxor; the southern part is more open, but it is on the northern side that the great entrance to the principal building is found. Two of the most beautiful obelisks in the world adorned the front of this; they are of red granite and above eighty feet high. Their upper surface is not completely flat, but a little convex, doubtless so formed designedly and probably on account of the effect of light; for it is a principle in optics that a completely flat surface does not appear such. Other obelisks do not present this peculiarity and so it is thought that from this might be deduced their relative ages.

Behind the obelisks two sitting colossal statues present themselves, each upon a block of black and red granite of Syene. They are half buried and have been broken by violence. They are each forty feet high. Their head dress has many peculiarities, they have, also, collars. Hamilton conjectures them to represent male and female. There is reason to believe that two similar colossi stood in the interior, as the head of one has been discovered.

Close behind these two statues is one of those immense pylons with its two pyramidal masses, fifty-two feet in height, enclosing the principal gate. Both on account of its size and its ornamentation this pylon is highly deserving of attention. Representations of war scenes are sculptured on both wings; on the eastern is seen a number of warriors in their chariots, each drawn by two horses.

They rush over a river or canal in pursuit of a fleeing enemy. The king, mounted on his chariot, is at their head with a bow in his hand. Higher up is seen a camp and tents. Upon the left wing the king is seen in his car mustering the bound captives. Near to this is portrayed a triumphal procession with offerings and gifts presented to the gods.

Among all the great historical reliefs this is considered the most worthy of attention on account of the perfection of the execution and expression: "The moment chosen for the representation of the battle is that when the troops of the enemy are driven back upon the fortress and the Egyptians in the full career of victory will soon be masters of the citadel."

"The conqueror, behind whom is borne aloft the royal standard, is of a colossal size, that is, far larger than any of the other warriors, standing up in a car drawn by two horses. He is in the act of shooting an arrow from a bow, which is full stretched. There is a great deal of life and spirit in the form and attitude of the horses, which are in full gallop, feathers waving over their heads and the reins lashed round the body of the conqueror. Under the wheels of the car and under the horses hoofs and bellies are crowds of dying and slain; some stretched on the ground, others falling. On the enemy's side horses in full speed with empty cars; others heedless of the rein and all at last rushing headlong down a precipice into a broad and deep river, which washes the walls of the town. The expression is exceedingly good, and nowhere has the artist shown more skill than in two groups; in one of which the horses arrived at the brink of the precipice instantly fall down; and the driver clinging with one hand to the car, the reins and whip falling from the other, his body trembling with despair, is about to be hurled over the backs of the horses. In the other, the horses still find a footing on the side of the hill and are hurrying forward their drivers to inevitable destruction. Behind this scene of strife the two lines of the enemy join their forces and attack in a body the army of the Egyptians, which advances to meet them in a regular line. Besides, the peculiarities of the incidents recorded in this interesting piece of sculpture we evidently trace a distinction between the short dresses of the Egyptians and the long robes of their oriental enemies; the uncovered and covered heads; the different forms of the cars, of which the Egyptian carried two the others three warriors; and, above all, the difference of the arms, the Egyptian shield being square at one end and round at the

other, their arms a bow and arrows. The enemy's shield, on the contrary, is round; their infantry are armed with spears, their charioteers with short javelins."

"At one extremity of the west wing of the gateway the begining of this engagement appears to be represented; the same monarch being seen at the head of his troops advancing against the double line of the enemy and first breaking their ranks. At the other extremity of the same wing the conqueror is seated on his throne after the victory, holding a sceptre in his left hand and enjoying the cruel spectacle of eleven of the principal chieftains among his captives, lashed together in a row with a rope about their necks; the foremost stretches out his arms for pity; close to him is the twelfth on his knees, just going to be put to death by the hand of two executioners. Among them is the captive sovereign tied, with his hands behind him, to a car, to which two horses are harnessed; these are checked by an attendant from rushing onward, until the monarch shall mount and drag behind him the unfortunate victims of his triumphs. There is then the conqueror's camp, round which is placed his treasures and where the servants are preparing a banquet to celebrate his victory." (Hamilton, p. 115, sqq.) Through the grand entrance the explorer enters an immense colonnade surrounded with galleries. This is now occupied with the village of Luxor, and the earth is so risen that the columns and colossal statues do but jut out above it. A second pylon leads into a second colonnade and this into many saloons and apartments, which cannot be understood without a plan. Some idea of the magnitude of this edifice may be formed from the fact that each of the forty columns in the second colonnade is forty-five feet high. The great palace of Luxor is not built after a single plan. The whole of this immense pile is divided into three parts, which have different sites. The hinder part of the fabric (the great hall of granite and its surrounding buildings) was perhaps built first. At a later period the second colonnade was erected. A still more magnanimous or magnificent monarch added the first great colonnade, with the pylons, obelisks and colossal statues, that is, if these latter were not the work of a fourth. It is only remarkable that the site of these parts of the buildings should have been changed without necessity. It seems, however, to be explained by the situation of the buildings of Luxor opposite those of Karnac, with which they were placed in connection.

About 6,100 feet south of those ruins are discovered the traces of