Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-27
THE RUINS At LUXOR
Size and Wealth of Ancient
Thebes Indicated.
AVENUE OF SPHINXES
MEMORIES OF THE sPLENDoR
AND POWER OF EGYPT.
Statues and Temples Built by Rameses
the Great to Exploit His
Achievements.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald
LUXOR, Egypt December ~. l9o5'
Luxor is a modern Arab village. occupy
ing part of the site of the ancient clty VI
Thebes, which stretched back into the des-
ert on both sides of the Nile. 1t stands on
the eastern bank, nearly opposite the IA
nous statues called the Colossi and the
Ramesseum, as the palace of Rameses IL
is called, which in it's time was one OF the
most extensive and splendid OF human hapi-
tations.
Thebes, like London, occupied both sloes
Of a river, and must have extended over an
enormous area. The Typography Is faVor-
able for large city and the extent over
which the ruins are scattered gives MINT
of it's size and population.
Some archaeologists think that Ineoes
had a million of people. But of its thou
sands of palaces and hundreds of temples,
its mighty walls and massive gates, there
is nothing left but piles of rubbish. heaps
of ruins and multitude of tombs spread
over the hills. Thebes represented the
great central period of Egyptian art, and
the most powerful period of Egyptian his
tory Rameses II made it his capital. Be-
hind the ruins, reaching far back into the
desert, is a range of granite mountains,
with valleys radiating in d1nerent olrec-
tions, which were used as metropolis, and
among them, carved into the living rock'
are the tombs OF the kings
The river widens here, and between the
two ranges of mountains that once formed
it's banks Is a rich plain, broken here and
there by clumps of palm trees and syca-
mores which produces two crops of wheat
every year. Luxor should be a prosperous
town, because of the rich agricultural re-
sources around it, but to us it is interesting
49, ,lar hal rfc
of Egypt and the home of it's srandest
ruins.
Grandest in the World.
Upon the bank of the river are two groups
of temples, the most extensive and impos
ing in the Nile valley. One group is at
Luxor, the other at Karnak, two miles
farther up the river, and 1900 years ago
they were connected by a broad boulevard
lined on either side with rows OF Sphinxes,
carved from massive blocks Of stone and
set facing each other at frequent intervals.
1t was the grandest avenue in the world, as
these were the grandest temples.
No such columns stand anywhere else;
no such massive walls and arches; no
such towering obelisks. Several acres Of
ground were covered with broken and re-
cumbent statues, shattered columns, mu-
tilated pillars and massive blocks Of
stone, which once formed buildings that
are alluded to in aHomers 'Iliad," for a
knowledge of the grandeur Of Thebes
had reached the Greeks of that age, who
wondered and gossiped about its hum
dred gates and the 10000 chariots Of war
which Rameses II led to battle.
Heroditus tells us of it and Diadorus
who saw the city, asserts that it was
twelve miles in circumference and not only
1.-The most beautiful and the stateliest city
in Egypt, but of all others in the world. ="
There were hundred stables on the river
bank, he says. each Of which was capable
of holding 200 horses, and mo city under
the sun is adorned with SO many stately
monuments of gold, silver and ivory and
multitudes OF colossi and obelisks cut out
of one entire stone" He describes four
temples, 1.-The most ancient of which was
In circuit thirteen furlongs about one and
a half miles, and five and forty cubits
high" and had wall twenty-four feet
broad; and the ornaments of this temple,
DiodOrus says, were suitable to its mag
niicence, both in cost and workmanship,
but the silver and gold and the ivory and
precious stones were carried away by the
Persians
Imposing, Not Beautiful.
There is no doubt that these ruins are
the most wonderful in the world, for tho
temples were built upon the same stu.
pendous lines as the pyramids. They were
not beautiful, they were imposing
Egyptian architecture is massive rather
than beautiful. and suggests strength and
endurance rather than taste and skill. Ev-
erything was on a colossal scale. The ma
terial is sandstone, limestone and granite,
and 1t is roughly dressed Archaeologisrs
explain that the surface Of the columns
and walls was once covered with enamel,
and that the coarseness Of the stone was
concealed by gliding and paint.
The walls were wonderfully carved and
painted, and where they have been protect
ed from the weather the workmanship and
colors are almost as perfect today as tlry
were 5000 years ago. There are elaborate
sculptures of horses and chariots, fleets of