Foreign topography; or, an encyclopedick account, alphabetically arranged, of the ancient remains in Africa, Asia, and Europe; forming a sequel to the Encyclopedia of antiquities / By the Rev. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke.
- Thomas Dudley Fosbroke
- Date:
- 1828
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Foreign topography; or, an encyclopedick account, alphabetically arranged, of the ancient remains in Africa, Asia, and Europe; forming a sequel to the Encyclopedia of antiquities / By the Rev. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke. Source: Wellcome Collection.
408/470 page 294
![THEBES. T’ measured 309 feet, the whole extent of s cut out ot the living rock. The chambers are numerous. The sides of the roc every where are as white as snow, and covered with paintings of well-shaoed gures, a//re^co, and with hieroglyphs quite perfect. The colours of tlie paintings are as resh as if they had been laid on the day before the painting was made. It was in one o le chambers of this tomb, that Beizoni discovered the exquisitely beautiful cop lagus of alabaster, and which he describes as being 9 feet 12 inches long ^ feet 9 indies wide, and 2 feet 1 inch deep, covered within and without with SglyS parentT^^^^^ sounding like a bell, and as^tr\L- L; • Trom the extraordinary magnificence of this tomb, Beizoni con- ceived that it must be the depository of the remains of Apis, in which idea he was the more confirmed by having found the carcase of a bull, embalmed with asphaltum in the innermost room. Of this tomb, says Mr. Salt, I have forwarded some account to England. It con- sists ot a long suite of passages and chambers, covered with sculptures, and paintings n e most perfect preservation, the tints of which are so resplendent that it was found scarcely possible to imitate them in England, and which in fact are executed on a prin- ciple and scale of colour, that would make them, I conceive, retain their lustre even y le side ot a Venetian picture. The sarcophagus of alabaster here discovered is eminent in its taste, delicate workmanship, and skill in managing so fragile a material, 1 perhaps for ever remain unrivalled. Quarterly Review, 1818, pp. 192, 193. he Urande Description, under the he'&d of Thebes Hypogoea, has various plates. A. vol. 11. plate 44, is Paintings and Bas-reliefs. Here we see the long necked musical instrument, and D-shaped harp. Plate 45 represents shooting with bows and arrows PI f ^ Iront of it, only the edge, in which arrows are sticking, rlate 40 shows scales with basins suspended from an upright post. A chair with a modern back. Cars carried by a pole, over the shoulders between two men. Plates 49 and 50 give heads of mummies. Plate 60 refers to a MS. of Papyrus. The flail, or weapon-formed flail, is seen in a seated figure. There appear two ohelishs (or goods so formed) weighed against each other in scales. Upon the top of the fulcrum is a bird, [py means of a lever of this kind the obelisks may have been raised to an erect position.] The modern pelisse and nun’s hood occur in female figures. Plate 61 refers to another MS. of Papyrus. Part i. Here are a boat and corpse laid on a bier, under an awning in the middle; figures carrying goods, like a rabbit-seller, with a pole over the shoulders; women drawing a long box, with an animal in it, after t e corpse ! a kind of bamboo or wicker cage of a cylindrical form and dome top. e same MS. of Papyrus, part ii. a boat in the form of a Greenland canoe, with a crescent-formed upright ornament at the stern, and a rudder formed like a baker’s peel, with a bird at the head, and working like an oar. H uman figures squatted; women in the attitude of teaching at the prow, to others listening. Plate 63 exhibits another MS. of Papyrus. Here we see a table standing on one foot; a moveable perch vrith a stork upon it; a woman driving an ox ; a thonged whip; another woman sowing corn; she holds a basket in one hand, and with the other throws the seed behind over her * Before the death of poor Beizoni, it was temporarily exhibited at the British Museum; and was pi^chased by Mr, Soane the Architect for 2,000 guineas. This is the famous sarcophagus called the Tomb of Psammis.* **](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22012035_0408.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
