Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-31
RECALLS OLD 1nEsEs.
William e. Curtis Writes Of Its Mod
ern City of Luxor.
BY William e. Curtis.
Special Correspondence of the Chsca
go Record Herald.

very cDmiDFiADis nDfti NJ lsuApl, SUI
rounded by garden and plenty oi
verandas, where one may loaf and
take his ease II he is fortunate enough
to have leisure for that luxury. Lux.
or is modern Arab village. occupy
ing part of the site Of the ancient city
OF Thebes. which stretched back into
the desert on both sides Of the Nile,
II stands on the eastern bank, nearly
opposite the famous statues called the
Colossi and the Ramcsseum, as the
palace of Ramescs II is called which
in it's time, was one of the most ex'
tensive and one of the most splendid
of human habitations, Thebes, IKE
London. occupied both sides OF riv-
er. and must have extended over an
enormous area The topography Is
favorable for "A large city. aud the eN-
tent over which the ruins are scat
tered gives a hint of it's size and pop
ulation Some archacologists think
that Thebes had u million of people
and # certainly was very popnlous;
but of it's thousands OF palaces and
hundreds of temples lis mighty walls
and massive gates. there ls nothing
left but piles of rubbish, heaps OF
ruins and "A multitude OF tombs spread
over the hills that surrounded the
city, Thcbes represented the great
central period Of Egyptian art, and
the most powerful period Of Egyptian
history Rameses II. made 1t his cap
ital. and The records of his deeds and
the praises of his virtues that are
carved upon the walls OF temples and
tombs cover almost as much space
as is devoted To the rest Of the dy-
nasty.
Behind the ruins, reaching far back
into the desert, is range OF granite
mountains with valleys radiating In
different directions. which We're used
as a metropolis, and among them,
carved into the living rock, are the
tombs of the kings. which you are al
ready familiar with if you have read
much about Egypt.
The river widcEs here. and between
the two ranges OF mountains that once
formed the banks of the Nile is a rich
plain. broken here and there by
clumps of palm trees and sycamores.
which produces two crops OF wheat
every year Luxor should be a pros
porous town because of the rich agri-
cultural resources around 1t, but to rs
1t is interesting as one of the most
popular health resorts of Egypt and
the home of its grandest ruins.
Upon the back of the river are two
groups Of temples, the most extensive
and the most imposing in the valley
of the Nile. and many consider them
the grandest ever erected One group
is at Luxor; the other at Karnak, two
miles farther mp the river and 1000
years ago they were connected by a
broad boulevard lined on either side
with rows of sphinNos. carved from
massive blocks Of stone and set fac
Ing each other M frequent intervals
II was the grandest avenue In the
world. as these were the grnndest tenn
pies People who live in Washington
or visit that ciIy. can get a slight idea
of what the temples were from the
Halls of the Ancients." where Mr.
Franklin W Smith has reproduced
with great ingenuity and skill a por-
3, ton OF one of the groups of pillars,
No such columns stand anywhere
else no such massive walls and
arches, no such towering obeisks,
Several acres OF ground are covered
with broken and recmmbent statues.
shattered colnmes, mutlated pillars
and massive blocks OF stone, which
once formed buildings that are allud.
ed to in Homers Had. for knowl-
edge of the grandeur of Thebes had
reached the Greeks of that age, who
wondered and gosslped about Its hun
dred gates and the 20.o0u chariots of
war which Rameses II. led TO battle,
Herodotus tells MS all about it, and
Diodorus who saw the city with his
own eyes asserts that IL was II miles
In circumference. and was not only
the most beautiful and the stateliest
city of Egypt. hut of all others in the
world" There We're a hundred stables
on the river banks he says each of
which was capable of holding POO
horses and mo city under the sun is
adorned with so many stately monu'
ments of gold. silver and ivory. aud
multitudes of colossi and ohelisks cut
out OF one entire stone" He de-
scribes four temples the most an
cient of which was in circuit - fur
longs. tabout one half milesl and
five and forty cubts high, and had a
wall - four feet broad; and the or
naments of this temple, Diodorus says,
We're suitable To its magnifccnce both
in cost and workmanship, hut the sill
yer and gold and the ivory and prec-
ious stones We're carried away by the
Persans"
There is no doubt that these ruins
are the most wonderful in the world
for the temples We're built upon the
same stupendous lines as the pyra'
mids They were not beautiful, but
they were imposing. Egyptian archi-
lecture is massive rather than beauti
full and suggests strength and endur
ance rather than artistic taste and
skill Everything was on colossal
scale. and that is the reas n they have
stood so long when the rest of the an.
cient world has been crumbling. But
thay dn nnf annaa1 In mo liLa tho par.