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

368 TEMPLE OF EDFOU.
only from the time of the Ptolemies applies to
Ed foil as it does to Koom Ombos and Esne, and
detracts from all its merits ; and Champollion,
whose authority is not to be questioned on such
a subject, says of it : " Ce monument imposant
par sa masse porte cependant Tempreinte de la
decadence de I'art Egyptien sous les Ptolemees,
au regne desquels il appartient tout entier ; ce
n'est plus la simplicity antique ; on y remarque
une recherche et une profusion d'ornement bien
maladroit, et qui marque la transition entre
la noble gravite des monuments Pharaoniques
et le papillotage fatiguant et de si mauvais
gout du temple d'Esne, construit du temps des
Empereurs/'
This sweeping censure of course refers more
to the sculptures than to the architecture of the
Ptolemaic temples, for bas-reliefs and hiero-
glyphic legends were the peculiar province of
Champollion, and interested him far more than
the proportions of propyla and pronaos. Those
of Edfou are in profusion, and to my unpractised
eye appear to be beautifully executed, the greater
part of them in the style termed by the Italians
distemper(dura. Columns, walls, ceilings, all are
covered with gigantic figures, and more delicately
proportioned mythological subjects, relating of