Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-04-13

when The traveller has reacneu tne more
ancient buildings at Thebes he will he able
to judge how little the Egyptian style var
led in the thousands Of years during which
it prevailed. The difference between Dem
derah and Karuac is not as great as that be-
tween Westminster Abbey aud St. Paufs,
yet period OF twelve centuries divides
them. At Denderah there is more sym
melry, perhaps, than at Karnacj there is
more haste to erect a complete temple,
more regard to effect, and less TO endur-
ance. The sculptures, too, have mt the
delicacy and, so 10 s leak the sobriety Of
those ou the older walls. Sometimes the
professions, The lines OF trophies, the rows
OF emblems, are arranged more with an
eye to ornament, and the walls are too dis
tinclly divided by cornices and dados.
But the difference is not such as to prevent
the later work from being typical Egypt
ian temple as much as the older one; a
place in which the arrangement may be
studied with advantage, aud the features
common to all alike traced out aud identi-
fed. The gloom Of the interior, when once
the entrance with its four-and-twenty col
umns has been passed, the vast size Of the
blocks of stone, the large scale of all the
architectural details, the simplicity Of the
construction, and the lavish use of orna-
ment, nowhere prominent but everywhere
present, are enough TO distinguish the style
from that Of any other country. The pOr-
tico itself, as we have said, is now under
ground. The ancient city made, probably,
like all Egyptian cities, chiefly of crude
brick, crumbled round the solid stone
building; aud a second, an Arab town,
rose on the ruinous heaps, invading the
sacred inclosuIe, and at length climbing
even over the temple ITSELF Such has been
the fate Of Esneh and of Edfou, as well as
of Denderah, and iD each instance the lem
pie, covered in and overlaid by the mud
huts OF twenty centuries, has been preserv-
ed until our own day. One of NJ. Mariette's
first antiquarian enterprises was to unearth
Edfou. Esnsh is still half buried in the
midst of the modern town. But at Den
deIah even the town has perished, and on
ly mounds and broken pottery remain TO
tell of its having existed.
The columns, as We descend 10 the an
cient level, seem TO grow and expand, un-
til, as we stand on The 1oor in the half
light, they rise like gigantic forest around
US. As our eyes get accustomed 10 the
gloom we see the images of old kings look
ing down from the walls, everywhere pray
ing to the goddess, the beautiful Athor, who
ruled the return of the year and the rising
Of Sirius, 10 whom mortals owed all that
was true, and loving and good, either in
nr ha.yaD in ha Y,npcb har
priests annually assembled from the dark
chambers beyond, and prepared 10 make
their procession round the outer court in
the presence of the people. They brought
out the sacred barges from the sanctuary,
the banners and the standards from the
store chambers, the golden vases from the
treasury, the shields and halberds from the
arinory. They threaded their way among
the dark passages and in single file up the
narrow stair TO the little temple on the
| roof, where twelve columns symbolized
the Twelve months, and where sacrifice
was done to the returning year. Next,
| passing through the chamber where Isis
wept for the dead Osiris, they sang their
long-drawn lament, exchanging il at last
into hymn Of joy as they passed through
the ball of the resurrection and descended
the stair once more. The modern traveller
endeavors to people the deserted corridors
and chambers and 10 bring 10 life tue stiff
forms with which every wall is covered.
He peeps into the shrine in which the em-
blem Of the goddess was preserved, the
| golden SystTttm upon which only a king
might look. He chambers over The roof
in the blazing sunshine, and wonders how
the priests could bear the heat of July when
in midwinter ii is like this. He endeavors
10 ma he out the symbolism on the twelve
columns of Sothia, and 10 distinguish the
chamber of Osiris dead from that of Osiris
alive again. He seeks in vain for the Sc
cret passages of which tie guide-books
tell, for all the passages seem to be more
or less secret. Then, as weary of gazing,
be sits down al the foot Of pillar, he tries
10 realize the age Of the temple. It is mod
ern, he reflects, in Egypt. Yet was it not
begun before the dawn of history in that
| little island of the North from which he
has made this pilgrimage? P,olemy Au-
letes reigned in Egypt; Cesar was not yet
born. And was il not finished during that
life from which we reckon our Christian
| centuries? Tiberius was the master of
Rome and Egypt alike; England had not
| yet come into being. Yet Denderah is
modern in this ancient country.
The question has frequently been discuss
ed whether people would ever exert them
selves but for hunger. Sitting on great
stone in the cool recesses of the temple OF
Athoy the Beautiful, making sentimental
reflections on the moderness of all our
Western antiquities, trying to imagine that
the Arabs, whom our stslwart sailor keeps
at poles length, are white-robed priests,
and that the ceaseess repetition of "bak-
sheesh" is the refrain Of some ancient lit
any 10 tire Good and True, one is perpetu-
ally bsffled by unwelcome recollections of
Bulwer's "Zsnoni," and by The insidlous
thought that luncheon will be ready when
we return. The Bulwer we may repress.
Sickly sentiment has no place beside such
facts as are presented by columns sixty
feet high, roofstones weighing twenty tons,
and an age greater than the whole Chris
tian era. But the gnawing of hunger in
the sharp air Of the desert is irrepressible.
| We bid farewell TO Denderah, we threaten
the Arabs individually with heavy um-
brella, turH a deaf ear to "baksheesh," and
not even delaying 10 inspect the other ru-
ins, make the best of our way TO the boat.
The fields are wide and rough. There are
no paths. The only donkey to be hired has
a sore back, like most Egyptian donkeys,
aud it is impossible TO mount him. The
tall sailor walks with firm tread on his
bare feet through the hard furrows, and
extends his strong arm with lofty aud
contemptuous pity. 1t is not far, but the