Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-27

galleys and the panoramaS OF the struggles
his golden chariot, followed by his minis
tiers and warriors, attended by his fan
bearers and priests who burn incense be-
fore him; in another place he is represented
as sitting upon his throne in state, re-
ceiving tribute from conquered kings and
princes and the homage of his court Again
he is portrayed with his terrible bow or
battle sword, staying his enemies by the
thousands, or returning from the carnage
of war with all the evidence of his tri-
umphs, his captives and his booty.
Chronicles Of Sesostris.
: The great Sesostris, who is best known
to history as Rameses the Great, gets
great deal Of glory from the walls of the
temples, which he built himself, and the
accounts of his adventures are SO compli-
curacy. For example, one series of sketches
relates the history of memorable cam
paign, which Is commemorated upon the
walls OF nearly every, temple and palace he
built, and repeated upon his tomb by the
royal scribes. There can be no doubt that
1t refers to some extraordinary display OF
courage and strength by this famous Phar-
aoh. although it may not be strictly truth
full, because it tells US that Sesostris, alone
and individually, being separated from his
army In battle and attended only by his
chariot driver, <trampled down a hundred
thousand warriors like straw beneath his
LOTSeS Ieet, STEW most OF them with MS
own hand like god, and those who escap-
ed his sword he chased to the banks Of the
river and drove them over into the water,
where they were gobbled up by the croco-
diles.
Rameses was the greatest builder of all
the Egyptian kings. He reigned for sixty
seven years, and a dozen cities which he
Quilt still lie under the deserts sands. Tenn
pies were erected for his own worship,
priests offered prayers to him while he was
still living, and proclaimed him the regent
OF the deity. His ministers and attendants
never addressed him except in such lam
guage as was used in the rituals for wor-
ship, and even his 400 wives who ght to
have known him thoroughly are represent
ed as ador1ng him. Every temple he erect
ed was monument to his own nobility;
every statue of himself was intended to
commemorate what he considered a worthy
deed; no king before or after him ever had
such colossal compliments, and yet with
his boundless power and his boundless
pride, this viceroy of the gods went blind
in his old age and died in misery by his
own hand.
He was the Pharaoh who prosecuted the
children of Israel; he compelled them to
make bricks for these temples; antiouar-
fans fix the birth Of Moses in the sixth year
of his reign.
The Colossi.
This morning crossed the river and wan
dered among the ruins of Thebes and in
spected the "Ramesseum," the palace in
which this great king dwelt. 1t was one
of the grandest buildings ever erected, and
Notwithstanding the thousands of years
which have passed since 1t fell 1t can still
be traced. Near by are the twin Colossi.
two enormous monolithic statues, sitting
SO feet high without their pedestals, 10 feet
and inches across the shoulders, % feet
and 4 inches across the hips. Each foot is
II feet long. and according to the calcula-
h0 of
amount to SS7 tons, so that they must have
teen the largest blocks of granite ever
quarried. How they were brought here
how they were carved and how they were
ians are still discussing. But there is no
doubt their intention was to gIorify Ram
eses. the king of kings, for an inscription
reads:
IF any one would know how great I
am let him excel my works.
Luxor's Temple.
Compared with Karnak the temple of
Luxor is not of the greatest Importance,
and until recent years the larger part of
it's courts and chambers were buried
under the accumulated rubbish of twenty
centuries, upon which large number of
houses stood. Excavations were made in
the eighties by public subscription in
England and the walls and columns have
been strengthened with modern masonry.
The original temple was 500 feet long
and $50 wide and was extended from time
to time by other kings until it covered an
area of several acres. Two obelisks, hewn
out of granite, 81 feet high, once stood
before the entrance. One of them remains
there still, the other now decorates the
Place de la Concorde, Paris. Between
these obelisks stood a row of colossal
statues of Rameses II, the builder, who
rot satisfied with one, must have six to
satisfy his vanity.
The Karnak Wonder.
1t was considered a duty for each Pharaoh
to keep the old temples at Karnak in re-
pair and to build new one If he could
raise the funds. In that way they grew
from age to age owing colonnade to one
king an arch to another and group of
massive chambers to the next. This ex-
plains the variation in architecture and the
great striking contrasts in the designs.
Much written about and often painted, no
words and no brush can adequately portray
the great hall at Karnak. with it's 124
mighty columns that radiate into avenues
whichever way you look among them and
are sculptured and painted with the his
tories of gods and kings. We know that
the majestic columns represents the sacri-
many have been drenched by the blood and
tears Of millions of poor creatures, but the
men whose genius designed and whose skill
brought them from the quarres and raised
them here have been overlooked.
The schooners Ella Presley of Thomas
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