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.
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![the same purpose. The sides of the gallery are formed of calcareous stones, and the wall is of brick. I’he first, I think, must have been built by some of the Ptolemies to protect the caravans, at the time when the trade with India by the way of Berenice and the Red Sea flourished. Belzoni, 305, 30b. Wadv Moosa. See Petra. WuNN (India). Pyramidal pagodas, containing colossal statutes. Bombay Trans. iii. 536. Xanthus or Patara. Probably a village called Koynucky, where are extensive ruins, columns, statues, inscriptions, &c. Clarke, iii. 321. Xerica (Spain). A few Roman inscriptions. Bonrgoannfi, Slc. Yattenour (Ceylon). An ancient temple, near which are rocks cut deep with great letters, to defy obliteration, but not understood. Bomb. Trans, iii. 513. Ybsambul (Egypt). Belzoni has given two plates. , Plate 42 contains an exte- rior view of the two temples at Ybsambul cut out of the solid rock. One consists of three erect figures, backed against the rock, and divided by piers in the centre and door-way. The other has immense heads and busts on each side of the door; above, is a frieze and hieroglyphical ornaments. Plate 43 is very interesting. It is a view of the interior of the temple of Ybsambul. Four immense colossal figures, all with the arms crossed, guard an entrance on each side. They set oflf the flat faces of piers. The sides of the latter are also ornamented with figures, some with animals’ heads, and holding each other hand in hand. Beyond this is an entrance passage, composed of piers richly hieroglyphed, terminating in an idol on a pedestal. To these plates Belzoni adds the following account: As we crossed the Nile, exactly opposite these temples, we had an opportunity of examining and having full view s of them at a dis- tance [see pi. 42]. In the front of the minor temple are six colossal figures, which make a better appearance at a distance than w'hen near. They are thirty feet high, and are hewn out of the rock, as. is also the large temple, which has one figure of an enormous size with the head and shoulders only projecting out of the sand. Notwith- standing the great distance, I could perceive that it was beautifully executed. In the upper part, or frieze of the temple, was a line of hieroglyphicks, which covered the whole front, and above these a range of figures in sitting postures, as large again as life. Two thirds of the temple were buried in sand. We ascended a hill of sand, at the upper part of the temple, and there found the head of a hawk, projecting out of the sand only to his neck. From the situation of this figure, I concluded it to be over the door. From the size of the head, the figure must have been more than twenty feet high. Below the figure, there is generally a vacant s])ace, so that w'ith the cornice over the door and the frieze, 1 calculated that the doorway could not be less than 35 feet below the surface of the sand, as this distance would have agreed in proportion with the front of the temple, which isT 17 feet wide (p. 80). In p. ()3, he observes, that there is a small temple on the south side of Ybsambul which has served for a Greek church ; and (p. 211) thus takes up the subject of Ybsambul again : Ybsambul is seated under a rock about 100 feet above the Nile, facing the south-east by east, and about days journey from the second cataract in Nubia, or Wady Haifa. “ We entered at first into a large pronaos, 57 feet long and 52 feet wide, supported by two rows of square pillars on a line from the front door to the door of of the sekos [see pl.43j. Each pillar has a figure not unlike those of Medinet Aboo, finely executed, and very little injured by time. I'lie tops of their turbans reach the ceiling, which is about](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22012035_0441.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
