sessed and practised the architectural arts of the Egyptians
» Belzoni was the first modem traveller who personally
explored and described these remains, to a considerable extent,
in the region of Nubia which is in immediate contiguity
to Egypt. The pyramids and sculptures in the higher
course of the Nile have been examined, more or less completely,
by writers of later date, by Waddington, Cailliaud,
Light, Hoskins and Riippell.
By some of these writers the relics of ancient architecture
in Nubia have beèn thought to display a character more archaic
or simply primitive than even those of Egypt. The fact
that the temples of Ibsambul are excavated in the earth rather
than raised above the surface of the soil, the huge and
gigantic forms which their sculptured images display, and the
comparison of these ancient subterranean temples with the
mythologically sculptured caves of Elephanta near Bombay
and of Ellora in the Dekhan, referred .by general consent to
_an ancient period in the history of the East, give some further
support to the most exaggerated opinion respecting the antiquity
of the Nubian remains.
But in order to form a tolerably correct idea of the nature
of these remains, and the countries in which they have been
discovered, we must adopt the division proposed by Professor
K. Ottfried Muller, and consider separately those belonging to
the ancient kingdom of Meroë near the confluence of the Nile
and the Astaborus, which Muller terms Upper Nubia, and
the antiquities of Lower Nubia, the region of the Nile immediately
above Syene the southern limit of Egypt.
1. Lower Nubia is considered as extending from Assouan
as far southward as Solib, near the limit of Succot and
Mahass. It is separated from Meroë, or Upper Nubia, by a
vast distance, which, measured along the course of the Nile,
is scarcely less than 200 geographical miles, and through
all this tract no relics of antiquity have been discovered.
On the other hand, from the isle of Elephantine to Solib, the
narrow valley of the Nile contains innumerable remains of
temples and various monuments of sculpture and architecture
in the finest style of Egyptian antiquity. The ruins of
Parembole in the isle of Beremrem near Debod, those of Taphis
at Tafa, of Talmis at",' Kalahsé%e, the great cavern-temple
at Tulzis with colossal ^figures at Gyrshey the ruins of
jpselkis at Dakke,:'Corte, the JBerosycaminon at Mahar-
raka, the temples and rows of sphinxes' at Wady Sebua, remains
at Hamada, Hasseya, Derr; Ibsambul with it^ two
cavern-temples and colossal imhli^S',e ©nte. of them supposed
to be a monument in honour of the> great Rhamsjeg)—ruins in
Wady Haifa, Semne, Aamara, aricl$it;hS& templefef Bqlib; with
reliefs of the second Amenophis^i^^b,these,and similar Te-
mains1 of lessee note, present themselvëë iri4sfpcëiiSion, at very
short intervals, to the-traveller who ascénds-thèiëiim.fee’of the
Nile. From Solib;,as I havë <befQ];é' -Qbservéd, ».ruife! in this
style cease to be discoverable ; for a great épafëe^qthjngthat
resembles the architecture of the Egyptians has been seen. .
ië#. Upper Nubia was the site of the ancient kingdom of Mè-
roë ; ?the northern extremity of the island, or • peninsula so
termed, lies between the confluence of the. Astaboras or
Atbara with the Nilb* Here near Shendy, about the seventeenth
degree of north latitude, are vast ruins near the. Nileof
forty-three pyramids- at Gurkab, and not less than eighty at
Assur. These are supposed to be near the site of the ancient
cityJbf Meroë. Southward from Shendy are the ruins of Me-
zaurah, supposed by Heeren to have been the seat of an oracle,
and Naga, a temple of Ammon, with avenues of rams1. To the
northward of Meroë are extensive ruins of similar architecture,
or Jebel Barkal near Dongola, and at Mérawe, the site
of the ancient Napata, a residence of the queens who bore the
name pf Candace.
It has been observed by Muller that the remains of architec?
ture and of sculpture in Upper Nubia display in no instance
the severe and simple style which is typical .-of remote antiquity,
and of which the character is so strongly impressed
on all the monuments of Upper Egypt. All the
relics of pyramids and temples in this region of Nubia indicate
plainly a late and degraded state of the Egyptian arts.
The frequent recurrence of female figures in those sculptures
representing queens, who, sometimes alone, sometimes
accompanied by a royal consort, are seen performing the
solemn acts of religion and military government, leave scarcely
i - b 2