The Book Of Curiosities Part 48

M. Belzoni refutes the general a.s.sertion, that the pyramids were built of stone brought from the east side of the Nile; since stones of immense size have been cut from the very rocks around the pyramids, and there is yet stone enough to build many others if required. He is of opinion, that the pyramids were erected before writing in hieroglyphics was invented, and that they were erected as sepulchres. By the measurement which he took of the second pyramid, he found it to be as follows:--

Feet.

The base 684 Apotome, or central line down the front, from the top to the base 568 Perpendicular 456 Coating, from the top to the place where it ends 140

POMPEY'S PILLAR AT ALEXANDRIA; with an account of a surprising Exploit of some British Sailors.

_The Pillar._--This pillar is situated a quarter of a league from the southern gate. It is composed of red granite. The capital is Corinthian, with palm leaves, and not indented. It is nine feet high. The shaft and upper member of the base are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. The base is a square of about fifteen feet on each side. This block of marble, sixty feet in circ.u.mference, rests on two layers of stone, bound together with lead; which, however, has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them, to search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column is one hundred and fourteen feet high. It is perfectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side.

Nothing can equal the majesty of this monument: seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels; approaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can never be tired with admiring the beauty of the capital, the length of the shaft, and the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity. Learned men and travellers have made many fruitless attempts to discover, in honour of what prince it was erected.

The best informed have concluded that it could not be in honour of Pompey, since neither Strabo nor Diodorus Siculus has spoken of it. The Arabian Abulfeda, in his description of Egypt, calls it the _Pillar of Severus_.

And history informs us, that this emperor 'visited the city of Alexandria;' that he granted a senate to its inhabitants, who, until that time, under the subjection of a Roman magistrate, had lived without any national council, as under the reign of the Ptolemies, when the will of the prince was their only law; and that he did not terminate his benefactions here, but changed several laws in their favour. This column, therefore, Mr. Savoy concludes to have been erected by the inhabitants as a mark of their grat.i.tude to Severus; and in a Greek inscription, now half defaced, but visible on the west side when the sun shines upon it, and which probably was legible in the time of Abulfeda, he supposes the name of Severus to have been preserved. He further observes, that this was not the only monument erected to him by the grat.i.tude of the Alexandrians, for there is still seen, in the ruins of Antinoe, built by Adrian, a magnificent pillar, the inscription of which is still remaining, dedicated to Alexander Severus.

_The exploit of some British Seamen._--One of the volutes of the column was prematurely brought down some years ago, by a prank of some English captains; which is thus related by Mr. Irwin. These jolly sons of Neptune had been pushing about the can on board one of the ships in the harbour, until a strange freak entered into one of their brains. The eccentricity of the thought occasioned it immediately to be adopted: and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for the putting it into execution. The boat was ordered; and with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed ash.o.r.e, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's pillar! At the spot they arrived, and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. But their labour was vain; and they began to despair of success, when the genius who struck out the frolic, happily suggested the means of performing it.

A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite; and the inhabitants, by this time apprised of what was going forward, flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the English. The governor of Alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompey's pillar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves; and politely answered, that the English were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire risen in opposition, it would not at that moment have deterred them. The kite was brought, and flown directly over the pillar; so that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope, one of the seamen ascended to the top; and in less than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch, amidst the shouts of the astonished mult.i.tude.

To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently. It is astonishing that no accident befel these madcaps, in a situation so elevated, that it would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar received, was the loss of the volute before-mentioned, which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who had commissioned him to procure her a piece of it. The discovery which they made amply compensated for this mischief; as without their evidence, the world would not have known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this pillar, one foot and ancle of which are still remaining. The statue must have been of a gigantic size, to have appeared of a man's proportion at so great a height. There are circ.u.mstances in this story which might give it an air of fiction, were it not proved beyond all doubt. Besides the testimonies of many eye-witnesses, the adventurers themselves have left a token of the fact, by the initials of their names, which are very legibly painted in black just beneath the capital.

BUILDINGS, AND LIBRARY, OF ALEXANDRIA.--The architect employed by Alexander, in this undertaking, was the celebrated Dinocrates, who had acquired so much reputation by rebuilding the temple of Diana at Ephesus.

The city was first rendered populous by Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander's captains, who, after the death of the Macedonian monarch, being appointed governor of Egypt, soon a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of king, and took up his residence at Alexandria, about three hundred and four years before Christ.

In the thirtieth year of his reign he made his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, partner with him in the empire; and by this prince the city of Alexandria was much embellished. In the first year of his reign, the famous watch-tower of Pharos was finished. It had been begun several years before by Ptolemy Soter; and, when finished, was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world.

The same year, the island of Pharos itself, originally seven furlongs distant from the continent, was joined to it by a causeway. This was the work of Dexiphanes, who completed it at the same time that his son put the last hand to the tower. The tower was a large square structure of white marble, on the top of which, fires were kept constantly burning for the direction of sailors. The building cost 800 talents; which, if Attic, amounted to 165,000; if Alexandrian, to twice that sum. The architect employed in this famous structure, fell upon the following contrivance to usurp the whole glory to himself. Being ordered to engrave upon it the following inscription, "King Ptolemy, to the G.o.ds the Saviours, for the Benefit of Sailors;" instead of the king's name, he subst.i.tuted his own, and then filling up the marble with mortar, wrote upon it the above-mentioned inscription. In process of time, the mortar being worn off, the following inscription appeared: "Sostratus the Cnidian, the son of Dexiphanes, to the G.o.ds the Saviours, for the Benefit of Sailors."

This year, also, was remarkable for bringing the image of Serapis from Pontus to Alexandria. It was set up in one of the suburbs of the city called Rhacotis, where a temple was afterwards erected to his honour, suitable to the greatness of that stately metropolis, and called, from the G.o.d worshipped there, Serapium. This structure, according to Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, surpa.s.sed in beauty the magnificence of all others in the world, except the capitol at Rome.

Within the verge of this temple was the famous Alexandrian library. It was founded by Ptolemy Soter, for the use of an academy he inst.i.tuted in this city; and, from continual additions by his successors, became at last the finest library in the world, containing no fewer than seven hundred thousand volumes. One method adopted in collecting books for this library, was, to seize all those which were brought into Egypt by the Greeks, or other foreigners. The books were transcribed in the museum by persons appointed for that purpose; the copies were then delivered to the proprietors, and the originals laid up in the library. Ptolemy Euergetes, having borrowed from the Athenians the works of Sophocles, Euripides, and aeschylus, returned them only the copies, which he caused to be transcribed in as beautiful a manner as possible, presenting the Athenians at the same time with 13 talents (upwards of 3000 sterling) for the exchange. As the museum was at first in that quarter of the city called Bruchion, near the royal palace, the library was placed there likewise; but when it came to contain four hundred thousand volumes, another library within the Serapium was erected, by way of supplement to it, and on that account called the Daughter of the former. In this second library, three hundred thousand volumes, in process of time, were deposited; and both libraries together contained the seven hundred thousand volumes already mentioned. In the war carried on by Julius Caesar against the inhabitants of this city, the library in the Bruchion, with the four hundred thousand volumes it contained, was reduced to ashes. The library in the Serapium, however, still remained; and here Cleopatra deposited two hundred thousand volumes of the Permagean library, with which Marc Antony presented her. These, and others added from time to time, rendered the new library at Alexandria more numerous and considerable than the former; and though it was often plundered during the revolutions and troubles of the Roman Empire, yet it was again and again repaired, and filled with the same number of books.

TEMPLE OF TENTYRA, IN EGYPT.--From Belzoni's Narrative.

"Little could be seen of the temple, till we came near to it, as it is surrounded by high mounds of rubbish of the old Tentyra. On our arriving before it, I was for some time at a loss to know where I should begin my examination; the numerous objects before me, all equally attractive, leaving me for a while in a state of suspense and astonishment. The enormous ma.s.ses of stone employed in the edifice, are so well disposed, that the eye discovers the most just proportion every where. The majestic appearance of its construction, the variety of its ornaments, and, above all, the singularity of its preservation, had such an effect on me, that I seated myself on the ground, and, for a considerable time, was lost in admiration. It is the first Egyptian temple the traveller sees on ascending the Nile, and it is certainly the most magnificent. It has an advantage over most others, from the good state of preservation it is in; and I should have no scruple in saying, that it is of a much later date than any other. The superiority of the workmanship gives us sufficient reason to believe it to be of the time of the first Ptolemy; and it is not improbable, that he who laid the foundation of the Alexandrian library, inst.i.tuted the philosophical society of the museum, and studied to render himself beloved by his people, might erect such an edifice, to convince the Egyptians of his superiority of mind over the ancient kings of Egypt, even in religious devotion.

"This is the cabinet of the Egyptian arts, the product of study for many centuries, and it was here that Denon thought himself in the sanctuary of the arts and sciences. The front is adorned with a beautiful cornice, and a frieze covered with figures and hieroglyphics, over the centre of which the winged globe is predominant, and the two sides are embellished with compartments of sacrifices and offerings. The columns that form the portico are twenty-four in number, divided into four rows, including those in the front. On entering the gate, the scene changes, and requires more minute observation. The quadrangular form of the capitals first strikes the eye. At each side of the square there is a colossal head of the G.o.ddess Isis, with cow's ears. There is not one of these heads but is much mutilated, particularly those on the columns in the front of the temple, facing the outside: but, notwithstanding this disadvantage, and the flatness of their form, there is a simplicity in their countenance that approaches to a smile. The shafts of the columns are covered with hieroglyphics and figures, which are in _ba.s.so relievo_, as are all the figures in the front and lateral walls. The front of the door-way, which is in a straight line with the entrance, and the sanctuary, is richly adorned with figures of smaller size than the rest of the portico. The ceiling contains the zodiac, inclosed by two long female figures, which extend from one side to the other of it. The walls are divided into several square compartments, each containing figures representing deities, and priests in the act of offering or immolating victims. On all the walls, columns, ceiling, or architraves, there is nowhere a s.p.a.ce of two feet that is not covered with some figures of human beings, animals, plants, emblems of agriculture, or of religious ceremony. Wherever the eyes turn, wherever the attention is fixed, every thing inspires respect and veneration, heightened by the solitary situation of this temple, which adds to the attraction of these splendid recesses. The inner apartments are much the same as the portico, all covered with figures in _ba.s.so relievo_.

"On the top of the temple the Arabs had built a village; I suppose, to be the more elevated, and exposed to the air: but it is all in ruins, as no one now lives there. From the top I descended into some apartments on the east side of the temple; there I saw the famous zodiac on the ceiling. The circular form of this zodiac led me to suppose, in some measure, that this temple was built at a later period than the rest, as nothing like it is seen any where else. In the front of the edifice there is a propylaeon, not inferior to the works in the temple, and, though partly fallen, it still shews its ancient grandeur. On the left, going from the portico, there is a small temple, surrounded by columns. In the inside is a figure of Isis sitting with Orus in her lap; and other female figures, each with a child in her arms, are observable. The capitals of the columns are adorned with the figures of Typhon. The gallery, or portico, that surrounds the temple, is filled up with rubbish, to a great height, and walls of unburnt bricks have been raised from one column to another.

"Farther on, in a right line with the propylaeon, are the remains of an hypaethral temple, which form a square of twelve columns, connected with each other by a wall, except at the door-way, which fronts the propylaeon.

The eastern wall of the great temple is richly adorned with figures in _intaglio relevato_; they are perfectly finished; the female figures are about four feet high, disposed in different compartments.

"Behind the temple is a small Egyptian building, quite detached from the large edifice; and, from its construction, I would venture to say, that it was the habitation of the priests. At some distance from the great temple are the foundations of another, not so large as the first. The propylaeon is still standing, in good preservation."

Two objects of great curiosity are, THE PALACE OF MEMNON, AND THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS, AT ABIDOS.--Abidos, an inland town of Egypt, between Ptolemais and Diospolis Parva, towards Cyrene, is famous for the Palace of Memnon, and the Temple of Osiris, and inhabited by a colony of Milesians. It was the only one in the country into which the singers and dancers were forbid to enter. This city, reduced to a village under the empire of Augustus, now presents to our view only an heap of ruins, without inhabitants; but to the west of these ruins is still found the celebrated Tomb of Ismandes.

The entrance is under a portico sixty feet high, and supported by two rows of ma.s.sy columns. The immoveable solidity of the edifice, the huge ma.s.ses which compose it, the hieroglyphics it is loaded with, stamp it as a work of the ancient Egyptians.

Beyond it, is a temple three hundred feet long, and one hundred and fifty-five wide. Upon entering the monument, we meet with an immense hall, the roof of which is supported by twenty-eight columns, sixty feet high, and nineteen in circ.u.mference at the base. They are twelve feet distant from each other. The enormous stones that form the ceiling, perfectly joined and incrusted as it were one into the other, offer to the eye nothing but one solid platform of marble, one hundred and twenty-six feet long, and twenty-six wide. The walls are covered with hieroglyphics. Here are seen a mult.i.tude of animals, birds, and human figures with pointed caps on their heads, and a piece of stuff hanging down behind, dressed in loose robes, that come down only to the waist. The sculpture, however, is clumsy; and the forms of the body, with the att.i.tudes and proportions of the members, are ill observed. Amongst these we may distinguish some women suckling their children, and men presenting offerings to them. Here also we meet with the divinities of India.

Monsieur Chevalier, formerly governor of Chandernagore, who resided twenty years in that country, carefully visited this monument on his return from Bengal. He remarked here the G.o.ds Juggernaut, Gonez, and Vechnon, or Wistnou, such as they are represented in the temples of Indostan.

A great gate opens at the bottom of the first hall, which leads to an apartment, forty-six feet long by twenty-two wide. Six square pillars support the roof of it, and at the angles are the doors of four other chambers, but so choked up with rubbish that they cannot now be entered.

The last hall, sixty-four feet long by twenty-four wide, has stairs which form a descent into the subterraneous apartments of this grand edifice.

The Arabs, in searching after treasure, have piled up heaps of earth and rubbish. In the part we are able to penetrate, sculpture and hieroglyphics are discoverable, as in the upper story. The natives say that they correspond exactly with those above ground, and that the columns are as deep in the earth, as they are lofty above ground. It would be dangerous to go far into those vaults; for the air of them is so loaded with a mephitic vapour, that a candle can scarcely be kept burning in them.

Six lions' heads, placed on the two sides of the temple, serve as spouts to carry off the water. One mounts to the top by a staircase of a very singular structure. It is built with stones incrusted in the wall, and projecting six feet out; so that, being supported only at one end, they appear to be suspended in the air. The walls, the roof, and the columns of this edifice, have suffered nothing from the injuries of time; and did not the hieroglyphics, by being corroded in some places, mark its antiquity, it would appear to have been newly built. The solidity is such, that unless people make a point of destroying it, the building must last a great number of ages. Except the colossal figures, whose heads serve as an ornament to the capitals of the columns, and which are sculptured in _relievo_, the rest of the hieroglyphics which cover the inside are carved in stone.

To the left of this great building we meet with another much smaller, at the bottom of which is a sort of altar. This was probably the sanctuary of the temple of Osiris.

CHAP. LIV.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BUILDINGS, ETC.--(_Continued._)

_Temple of Diana at Ephesus--Laoc.o.o.n--Babylon--Alhambra._

TEMPLE OF DIANA, AT EPHESUS.--The chief ornament of Ephesus was the temple of Diana, built at the common charge of all the states in Asia, and, for its structure, size, and furniture, accounted among the wonders of the world. This great edifice was situated at the foot of a mountain, and at the head of a marsh; which place they chose, if we believe Pliny, as the least subject to earthquakes. This site doubled the charges; for they were obliged to be at a vast expense in making drains to convey the water that came down the hill into the mora.s.s and the Cayster. Philo Byzantius tells us, that in this work they used such a quant.i.ty of stone, as almost exhausted all the quarries in the country; and these drains, or vaults, are what the present inhabitants take for a labyrinth. To secure the foundations of the conduits or sewers, which were to bear a building of such prodigious weight, they laid beds of charcoal, says Pliny, well rammed, and upon them others of wood: Pliny says, four hundred years were spent in building this wonderful temple, by all Asia: others say, only two hundred and twenty. It was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and two hundred in breadth, supported by one hundred and twenty-seven marble pillars, seventy feet high, of which twenty-seven were most curiously carved, and the rest polished. These pillars were the works of so many kings, and the bas-reliefs of one were done by Scopas, the most famous sculptor of antiquity; the altar was almost wholly the work of Praxiteles. Cheiromocrates, who built the city of Alexandria, and offered to form Mount Athos into a statue of Alexandria, was the architect employed on this occasion.

The temple enjoyed the privilege of an asylum, which at first extended to a furlong, was afterwards enlarged by Mithridates to a bow-shot, and doubled by Marc Antony, so that it took in part of the city: but Tiberius, to put a stop to the many abuses and disorders that attended privileges of this kind, revoked them all, and declared that no man, guilty of any wicked or dishonest action, should escape justice, though he fled to the altar itself.

The priests who officiated in this temple were held in great esteem, and entrusted with the care of sacred virgins, or priestesses, but not till they were made eunuchs. They were called _Estiatores_ and _Essenae_, had a particular diet, and were not allowed to go into any private house. They were maintained out of the profits accruing from the lake Selinusius, and another that fell into it; which must have been very considerable, since they erected a golden statue to one Artemidorus, who being sent to Rome, recovered them, after they had been seized by the farmers of the public revenues.

All the Ionians resorted yearly to Ephesus, with their wives and children, where they solemnized the festival of Diana with great pomp and magnificence, making on that occasion rich offerings to the G.o.ddess, and valuable presents to her priests.

The _Asiarchae_, mentioned by St. Luke, (Acts xix. 31,) were, according to Beza, priests who regulated the public sports annually performed at Ephesus, in honour of Diana; and were maintained with the collections during the sports, for all Asia flocked to see them.

The great Diana of the Ephesians, as she was styled by her blind adorers, was, according to Pliny, a small statue of ebony, made by one Canitia, though believed by the superst.i.tious to have been sent down from heaven by Jupiter. This statue was first placed in a niche, which, as we are told, the Amazons caused to be made in the trunk of an elm. Such was the first rise of the veneration that was paid to Diana in this place. In process of time the veneration for the G.o.ddess daily increasing among the inhabitants of Asia, a most stately and magnificent temple was built near the place where the elm stood, and the statue of the G.o.ddess placed in it. This was the first temple and was not quite so sumptuous as the second, though reckoned, as well as it, one of the wonders of the world.

The second temple of the great Diana, was remaining in the times of Pliny and Strabo; and is supposed to have been destroyed in the reign of Constantine, pursuant to the edict of that emperor, commanding all the temples of the heathens to be demolished:--the former was burnt the same day that Alexander was born, by one Erostratus, who owned on the rack, that the only thing which had prompted him to destroy so excellent a work, was the desire of transmitting his name to future ages. Whereupon the common council of Asia made a degree, forbidding any one to name him; but this prohibition served only to make his name the more memorable, such a remarkable extravagance, or rather madness, being taken notice of by all the historians who have written of those times. Alexander offered to rebuild the temple at his own expense, provided the Ephesians would agree to put his name on the front; but they received his offer in such a manner as prevented the resentment of that vain prince, telling him, "it was not fit that one G.o.d should build a temple to another." The pillars, and other materials, that had been saved out of the flames, were sold, with the jewels of the Ephesian women, who on that occasion willingly parted with them; and the sum thus raised served for the carrying on of the work till other contributions came in, which, in a short time, amounted to an immense treasure. This is the temple which Strabo, Pliny, and other Roman writers, speak of. It stood between the city and the port, and was built, or rather finished, as Livy tells us, in the reign of king Servius. Of this wonderful structure there is nothing at present remaining but some ruins, and a few broken pillars, forty feet long, and seven in diameter.

Another curious monument of antiquity, which demands the reader's attention, is, LAOc.o.o.n.--This is a celebrated monument of Greek sculpture, exhibited in marble, by Polydorus, Athenodorus, and Agesander, the three famous artists of Rhodes. This relic of antiquity was found at Rome, among the ruins of the palace of t.i.tus, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, under the pontificate of Julius II. and since deposited in the Farnese palace. Laoc.o.o.n is represented with his two sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his body, gnawing it, and injecting their poison.

Virgil has given us a beautiful description of the fact, _aen._ lib. ii.

201-222.

This statue exhibits the most astonishing dignity and tranquillity of mind, in the midst of the most excruciating torments. Pliny says of it, that it is, _opus omnibus picturae et statuariae artis praeferendum_.--Lib.

x.x.xvi. c. 5. "The Laoc.o.o.n (Dr. Giles observes) may be regarded as the triumph of Grecian sculpture; since bodily pain, the grossest and most ungovernable of all our pa.s.sions, and that pain united with anguish and torture of mind, are yet expressed with such propriety and dignity, as afford lessons of fort.i.tude superior to any taught in the schools of philosophy. The horrible shriek which Virgil's Laoc.o.o.n emits, is a proper circ.u.mstance for poetry; but the expression of this shriek would have totally degraded the statue. It is softened, therefore, into a patient sigh, with eyes turned to heaven in search of relief. The intolerable agony of suffering nature is represented in the lower part, and particularly the extremity of the body; but the manly breast struggles against calamity. The contention is still more plainly perceived in his furrowed forehead; and his languishing paternal eye demands a.s.sistance, less for himself than for his miserable children, who look up to him for help."--_Hist. of Greece_, ii. 177.

The Laoc.o.o.n was sent to Paris by Bonaparte, in 1797.

BABYLON.--The following account of this city, in its greatest splendour, is borrowed princ.i.p.ally from Herodotus, who had been on the spot, and is the oldest author who has treated of the subject.

The city of Babylon was square, being a hundred and twenty furlongs, that is, fifteen miles, or five leagues, every way; and the whole circuit of it was four hundred and eighty furlongs, or twenty leagues. The walls were built with large bricks, cemented with bitumen, a thick glutinous fluid, which rises out of the earth in the neighbouring country, and which binds stronger than mortar, and becomes harder than brick itself. These walls were eighty-seven feet thick, and three hundred and fifty high. Those who mention them as only fifty cubits high, refer to their condition after Darius, son of Hystaspes, had commanded them to be reduced to that height, to punish a rebellion of the Babylonians.