Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-08

about half mile distant, appear to guard IL,
although they were actually erected as guar
dams of the mortuary temple Of Amenophis
III, of whom they were duplicate portraits.
The Ramesseum Is one Of the most utterly
wrecked Of the Theban structures, yet enough
remains TO indicate it as q gloriously beautiful
structure when it was erected by Ramses II,
who was one Of Egypt's greatest builder kings.
A few pillars remain standing. and the outlines
Of the vast edifice may be traced by the ruins
Of the walls. The colossus Of Ramses lies In
immense fragments. having been broken. the
guide declares, by Cambyses when he led his
unsuccessful expedition against the GASES of the
Libyan Desert in about 525 BIC. Measurement
Of these fragments indicates that the efigy was
about go feet in height and weighed about 900
tons
Then there is the Medinet Habu the temple
of Ramses III, which lies about half mile
to the southwest Of the Ramesseum. It con-
sists virtually Of two structures both of them
in fair state Of preservation, with wealth
OF wall carvings and some sculptures. just
south and in front of the temple proper is a
small temple, which preceded the larger one in
point of time. It was in the upper portion of a
gate pavilion Of this outer, older temple that
Georges Mikhail spread our lunch on the day
of our visit.
AS we drove back to the Nile from the
Medinet Habu we called on the ColoSsi. They
stand alone and aloof out in the plain. Guilt
waited fields surround them. The temple OF
which they were originally the guardian figures
has long since crumbled into dust, with practi-
caIly no remaining trace. No road appears TO
lead to the giants which have mystified many
generations of visitors and which were long
famed for their vocal performance upon the
of he kIrnw Of fnns
only the northward statue gave forth its
sonorous note when the sun shone upon it.
As we approached the Colossi not person
was visible Yet remarked to my son that it
was an even bet that by the time we reached
the scene there would be several would-be sell
ers Of souvenirs, such as had besieged us at
every stop save at Biban el-Muluk, which is too
distant for them. Sure enough motor
car, halted half dozen came running, spring.
ing UP apparently from nowhere. Even camel
rider Joined the party found him useful for
a Photographic pose, for which he demanded
much more than the liberal baksheesh be-
slowed vociferous in his clamor until silenced
by word from Georges. Later I suspected
that he is a professional Photographic model.
The faces of the Colossi are almost totally
destroyed. But they rise in their majesty none
the less imposing and significant. Even the
defacements due to the vandalism of visitors
are interesting. Roman names of historic note
are to be deciphered on the legs. One of these
is Septimius Severus to whom is attributed the
loss of the voice of the northern statue when
he undertook the restoration of the upper por-
lions Of the figures, with view one legend
relates, to propitiate the goddess Eos whose
anger was manifest when the morning sound
was not omitted. Whatever happened, some
time in the period of the Roman occupation
of Egypt the "Memnon" ceased to cry in greet
ing to rising sun, according to the lore of the
land.
Today they stand, these giants, facing the
Nile. whose waters in olden times annually rose
to surround them. Today the Nile is harnessed
at Assuan and no longer does the annual
inundation flood such immense areas of the
plain as formerly were covered with the SOLE
deposting current. Mutely they watch, with
their disfgured faces turned toward the sun, as
the streams of tourists pour over the Nile banks
and in their ebb and flow leave golden de.
post, greatly increased since Howard Carter
found the tomb of Tut.