A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

TEMPLES OF IBSAMBOUL. 207
You can conceive nothing more singular and
impressive than the facade of the great temple
of Ibsamboul. Cut into the solid rock, this
temple is not a structure^ but an excavation, and
it is the opinion of many scientific men that
this description of rock-architecture was the
first attempt of the ancient Egyptians to pro-
duce religious sanctuaries ; consequently that
the rock-temples of Nubia and Upper Egypt
preceded all their edificial monuments, and are
of a far earlier date than even that which is
considered the patriarch of ruins, antique
Thebes. This fa9ade is composed of a large
doorway guarded on either side by two colossal
statues seated, the dimensions of which I shall
leave you to judge of by telling you that when
I had scrambled up the precipitous sand bank
to the entrance of the temple, (whiclt on the
north side is still half-buried in bright yellow
sand,) I sat down to take breath under the
vast shadow of the last of these colossi, whose
head is all that now remains above ground
and where, think you, did I shelter myself?
in its ear, which afforded me a cool and com-
modious niche. These statues must not be tried
by the test that is applied to the efforts of
Grecian art; overwhelming vastness appears to
;