Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-31


gods and uon Here a king rides by
in his golden chariot. followed by his
ministers and warriors, attended by
his fan bearers and priests who burn
incense before him; In another place
he is represented as sitting upon his
throne in state. receiving tribute from
conquered kings and princes and the
homage of his court, Again he is
portrayed with his terrible bow or bat
tie sword staying his enemies by the
thousands. or returning from the car
mage of war with all the evidences of
his triumphs, his captlves and his
booty.
The great Sesoslris, who la 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 complimentary as
10 excite doubt as TO their accuracy
For example, one series of sketches re
lates the history of memorable cam
paign which Is commemorated upon
The walls of nearly every temple and
DdlH'' ll' D'lllit anu lfDfhl'u tpoI
tomb by the royal scribes. There can
be no doubt that II refers TO some eX-
traordinary display of courage and
strength by this famous Pharoah. al
huugh II may not he strictly truth
full because II tells us that Sesostris
llone and Individually, being separat-
ID from his army in battle and attend
I'D only by his chariot driver, tram
plrd down hundred thousand war
riors like straw beneath his horses
Get. slew most of them with his own
hand like a god. and those who es-
,aped his sword he chased to the
banks of the river and drove them
Dver into the water, where they were
subblcd up by crocodiles This, you
will admit, sounds like story In a
modern yellow journal, even though
/ was carved upon the walls of re
igious meeting house 3T0O years ago.
Rameses was no doubt great man
md a powerful fighter. but he exposed
himself to criticism. also because of
he number of statues of himself
which he erected In his own honor
We find them scattered all over
Egypt. and when he allowed his own
,aid artisans to proclaim him to pos
Gritty as "'rhe Lord of the World. the
Companion of the Gods, the Guardian
f the san, and the Protector of the
Garth" II sounds a trfle conceited.
But we may excuse him on account of
he wonderful architectural effects he
has left us. for he was the greatest
builder of all the Egyptian kings. and
le reigned for Ga years. A dozen cit
es which he built still lie under the
lesert sands; thousand temples
we're erected for his own worship
priests offered prayers to him while
he was still living, as he sat enthron'
ed, and proclaimed him the Regent OF
the Deity. His ministers and attend
nts never addressed him except In
Wch language as was used in the rit
tas Tor worship. and even his 400
wives, who ought to have known him
thoroughly are represented as ador
ing him. Every temple he erected
was a monument to his own nobility
very statue OF himself was intended
o commemorate what he considered
l worthy deed. no king before or after
him ever had such colossal compl
ments. and yet. with his boundless
power and his boundless pride. this
viceroy of the gods went blind in his
Did age and died in misery by his own
hand.
He was the Pharaoh who prosecuted
he children of Israel; he compelled
hem TO make bricks for these tenn
pies; antqnarians fix the birth of
Moses in the sixth year of his reign,
when, according to the sweet old Bi-
BILE story, his daughter found a pretty
baby adrift among the bulrushes. Ac-
;ording TO the biblical story. fourscore
years elapsed before lsreal was re-
leased from bondage by his son and
successor. Seti Meneplha. which cor
responds with remarkable accuracy to
lhe records carved upon the tombs.
This morning we got up early. cross
I'd the river and wandered among the
ruins of Thebes. and inspected the
"Ramesuem,' the palace in which this
great king dwelt. 1t was one of the
srandest buildings ever erected, and
Notwithstanding the thousands of
vears which have passed since 1t fell,
II can still be traced Near by are the
Twin Colossl. two enormous mono
lithic statues, sitting 40 feet high
without their pedesi1ls. rs feet and =
inches across the shoulders, 20 feet
md inches across the hips Each
foot is II feet long. and according TO
he calculations The solid contents of
each statue amount to SSI tons. so that
they must have been the largest
blocks of granite ever quarried How
hey We're brought here. how they
were carved and how they were over
brown are problem which antiquar-
ians are still disc ing But there
is no doubt that their intention was
10 glorify Rameses. he KING of kings,
Tor an inscription reads;
"lr anyone would know how great
am, let him excel my works"
Compared with Karnak. the temple
If Luxor is not of the greatest import
Ince. aud until recent years the larg-
er part of its courts and chambers
were buried under the accumulated