CHAPTER XXII.

THEBES-COLOSSI-DER-EL-BAHARI-LUXOR-KARNAK.
HE reader's attention was called in tlie closing part of Chapter XX to our arrival at the threshold of " Hundred-gated Thebes," con- spicxiously located on the banks of the river Nile, distant from Cairo about four hundred and fift3'-four miles. Its origin is lost in the misty- ages of the past, and according to the best authorities it is not so ancient as Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt.
The next morning we arose bright and early, took our breakfast and with Hassan and Salame, preceded by our guide armed with a long spear, we rode out to visit the Colossi, distant about three miles. Our way led us alotig through cultivated fields, first winding one way then another, but all the time nearing our point of destination, the Colossi, for they are constantly in view.
These two statues sit looking out across the plains of Thebes, toward the ruined palaces of a vanished race ; wearied, and worn, and crumbling into dust as the mighty ages roll along. Thej^ still preserve a sublime majest}^ even in their mutilated isolation. They are carved out of breccia, a. kind of pebbl}' sandstone, and to this fact is due their preserva- tion, for had they been composed of limestone they would have passed through the lime kiln and have been destroyed long ago. They both sit facing the Nile and looking to the East, and when it is high Nile they are surrounded with water that laps just above their feet.
Lepsius informs us that the Arabs called them Sanama/, or the idols. They are distant one from the other about twenty yards, and were originally monoliths, having been carved from a single block of breccia. Strabo informs us that they were thrown down by an earthquake some- where about B. c. 27, and during the reign of Septimus Severus the}^ were restored, but the work was very poorly executed. The most northern of the two is known as the I ^ocal Stahie of Memnon {Amenophis) and called
512 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
by the Arabs Tavia^ and the one to the south, Shmna. This one is in a far better state of preservation than the other. The height of the statues themselves is very nearly fifty-two feet, and the height of the pedestal beneath them thirteen feet, which would make the entire height of the monument or statue close upon sixty-five feet. From the bottom of the feet to the top of the knees measures nineteen feet ten inches ; the breadth across the shoulders nineteen feet and eight inches ; the middle finger is four feet and six inches long ; the foot of each figure is full}- ten feet and six inches long, and the entire weight of the statue, throne and all, has been estimated at one thousand one hundred and seventy five tons. The northern pedestal, as well as from the feet to the knees, has been covered with beautiful Greek and Latin inscriptions, and quotations written by numerous people who no doubt came here to listen to the stou}' voice of Memnon. Some of these inscriptions bear the early date of the eleventh year of Nero.
To-day they are isolated and alone, but at one time they were sur- rounded with the magnificence of ancient Thebes, and formed the com- mencement of a most beautiful avenue that led up to the pjdou of a temple. Jitdging from the size of the statues themselves, the temple must have been a most magnificent structure, but being composed of limestone it became food for the lime kiln, and passed through the voracious maw of that monster who destroyed thousands of priceless jewels belonging to Eg3'pt in her Golden Age. The ruined site of the temple itself is covered with the shrouding desert sands, while these two ancient guardians of the temple sit majestically alone in silent solitude.
After leaving the Colossi we rode out toward Medinet Habii^ situated at the foot of the Libyan range of mountains about a mile west from here. The road took us out along dikes, and cultivated fields, groups of dom palms, and beautiful gardens. There was not a breath of air stirring, and the sun shone down upon us with hot burning rays. We rode on our wa}' until we foixnd the rocks beginning to gather around us and eventually we found ourselves before the gates of Medinet Habu.
The ruins of this place consist of a small temple founded by Qtieeji Hatasu daughter of Thothmes first of the XVIII dynasty, who erected it in honor of her father. A very much larger one was built by Rameses III, who was called Tlie Sesostris of Herodotus.
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This temple or palace is a noble specimen of ancient Egyptian Architecture. It is decorated with sculptures of all kinds, beautiful paintings, etc. It is one of the most magnificent temples to be found throughout the " Land of Egypt." Of course it does not begin to com- pare with the stupendous magnitude of Karnak, but its beautiful courts, superb columns, its most exquisite paintings and its peculiar style of walls, etc., lend a peculiar charm and fascination to it, making it a most attractive and interesting spot for the tourist and Masonic student to visit.
It is said to have been built by Rameses III as an offering to the " Gods of Egypt," in permitting him to gain a victory over his enemies. The paintings and sculptures within this temple demonstrate the com- plete triumph of an Egyptian Warrior King, not only triumphing over his enemies in battle, but in grand processional triumph, and sacred cere- monies after his conquest. There are man}^ places where the pictures do not refer to war, captives, and slaves returning with spoils, but to hunting scenes, etc. In one of the upper apartments the King is sur- rounded by his harem in a variety of ways. He is also represented as playing a game of draughts with a lady, possibly some favorite of his harem. No matter what pictures we examine in this ancient temple, whether it is Rameses conquering a fleet of ships, or in his war chariot fighting and overcoming his enemies, or receiving the cut off hands of the conquered Libyans, or assisting in the mystic ceremonies within the temple, they are all of the deepest interest. If all those who go into this most extraordinar}^ country for the purpose of carefull}^ examining, not only the various tombs and temples, but those exquisite sculptures and paintings upon the walls, would only begin at the beginning of these decorations they would be enabled, in many instances, to trace the life and history of the whole reign of the King ; his battles on sea, or on land, his spoils, his return, and welcome, the grand procession and glori- ous mystic ceremonies, and finally his interview with the Gods of Egypt alone. After which we find him enjoying the pleasure of the society of the ladies of his harem, in fact the whole series of pictures if properly linked together will give us a biographical sketch of his life and reign.
While we w^ere examining the interior decorations of this charming temple, Hassan and Salame were preparing our luncheon, and before we 3.3
514 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
left we partook of refreshments in the hj^postyle hall of this most extra- ordinary building, after which we mounted and rode off on our way to the Ramesseum which is located about a mile to the northeast.
This building is the mortuary temple of Rameses 11, and the one that is described by Diodorus as the temple of Osymandyas, being User- Maa-Ra^ otherwise Rameses II. The Ramesseum is a beautiful temple, and verj^ much different from the great majority because it is not inclosed within walls, and shut out from the light of day. Here the free air cir- culates throughout the whole of the building, and we find no damp ill smelling odors within this temple, for the glorious raj^s of the sun god Ra illuminates its interior and dispels- the darkness and gloom that we find in nearly all others. Its architectural design and exquisite deco- rations will compare favorably with any other structure in the Valley of the Nile.
This temple was built by Rameses, and it was probably intended for the worship of the manes of this Great Warrior King, whose mummy was no doubt originally laid to rest within the sacred walls of this most mag- nificent fabric. To-day there is but very little of it remaining to guide either the traveller or student in his examination, yet they can still plainly trace the description of Diodorus amidst its ruins. We are perfectly assured, in our own mind, that it was originally the " Tomb of Osyman- dyas." Although it is in such a ruinous condition, we can still find evidences to prove Diodorus's description, from the first pylon to the largest statue in Egypt, which lies prone upon the ground. It still occu- pies the same place that it did when Cambyses hurled it from' its original position in his mad rage. It lies there to-day disfigured and broken.
The battle scene with the lion, the fortress surrounded by water, and the golden stars on a blue ground, are still to be seen, in fact all the various things that were mentioned by Diodorus have been found in this temple. ChmnpoUion discovered here the figures of Tlioth, the inventor of letters, and the goddess Saf^ the " Lady of Letters," President of the Hall of Books, inscribed upon the jambs of a doorway which was no doubt the entrance to the Sacred Library that Diodorus describes — "The Dis- pensary of the Mind." Before leaving this ver}^ interesting ruin, I desire that you should know the dimensions of the colossal statue that was uninjured when Diodorus saw it in A. d. 6o.
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The leaders of the French expedition made some very careful measure- ments of this statue, which are as follows : Across the back from shoulder to shoulder, twenty-one feet six inches ; across the chest from shoulder to shoulder, twenty-three feet four inches ; across the face from ear to ear six feet nine inches ; length of the ear, three feet six inches ; circumfer- ence of the arm close to the elbow, seventeen feet six inches ; length of the forefinger, over three feet ; length of the nail on the middle finger, seven and one-half inches, the breadth of the same nail being six inches ; width of the foot across the toes, four feet six inches ; and the height of this statue when in situ was fifty-seven feet six inches ; the total weight of this most extraordinary statue being estimated by them at fully two million pounds.
About a half a mile to the north of the Ramesseum, and just bej'ond Shekh ^Abd el-Qurna, and a short distance south of the ancient temple of Der el-Bahari is where Professor M. Maspero discovered the Royal mum- mies in the summer of 1881, and in relation to this find I will quote 3'ou from " Cleopatra's Needles " by the Rev. James King, M. A., an account of this wonderful discovery and their transportation to Gizeh, etc.
" Professor M. Maspero lately remarked that for 3'ears he had noticed with considerable astonishment, that many valuable Egyptian relics found their way in a mysterious manner to European Museums as well as to the private collections of European noblemen. He therefore suspected that the Arabs in the neighborhood of Thebes, in Upper Egypt, had discovered and were plundering some royal tomb. This suspicion was intensified by the fact that Mr. Colin Campbell, on returning to Cairo from a visit to Upper Egypt, showed to the Professor some pages of a royal ritual pur- chased from some Arabs at Thebes. M. Maspero accordingly made a journey to Thebes, and on arriving at the place conferred on the subject with Daoud Pasha, the governor of the district, and offered a handsome reward to any person who would give information of an}' recently dis- covered royal tombs. . . . Behind the Ramesseum is a terrace of rock-hewn tombs, occupied by the families of four brothers named Abd-cr-Rasoid. The brothers professed to be guides and donkey masters, but in reality they made their livelihood by tomb breaking and mummy snatching. Suspicion at once fell upon them, and a mass of concurrent testimony pointed to the four brothers as the possessors of the secret.
516 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
" With the approval of the district governor, one of the brothers, Ahmad- Abd-er-Rasoul, was arrested and sent to prison at Keneh^ the chief town of the district. Here he remained in confinement for two months, and preserved an obstinate silence ; at length Mohammed, the eldest brother, fearing that Ahmad's constancy might give way, and fearing lest the family might lose the reward offered by Maspero, came to the governor and volunteered to divulge the secret. Having made his dispositions, the governor telegraphed to Cairo whither the Professor had returned.
" It was felt that no time should be lost. Accordingly M. Maspero empowered Herr Emil BrtigscJi, keeper of the Boolak Museum, and Alimcd Effendi Keinal, also of the Museurh service, to proceed without delay to Upper Egypt. In a few hours from the arrival of the telegram the Boolak officials were on their way to Thebes. The distance of the journey is four hundred and fifty-four miles, and as a great part had to be undertaken by the Nile steamer, four days elapsed before they reached their destination, which they did on Wednesday, 6th of July, 1881.
'' On the western side of the Theban plain rises a high mass of lime- stone rock enclosing two desolate valleys. One runs up behind the ridge into the very heart of the hills, and being entirely shut in by the limestone cliffs is a picture of wild desolation. The other valley runs up from the plain, and its mouth opens out towards the cit}- of Thebes. ' The former is the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings — the Westminster Abbey of Thebes ; the latter the Tombs of the Priests and Princes — its Canterbury Cathedral.'
" High up among the limestone cliffs, and near the plateau overlook- ing the plain of Thebes, is the site of an old temple known as Der-el- Bahari. At this last named place, according to agreement, the Boolak of&cials met Mohammed- Abd-er-Rasoul, a spare, sullen fellow, who simply from the love of gold had agreed to divulge the grand secret. Pursuing his way among desolated tombs, and under the shadow of precipitous cliffs, he led his anxious followers to a spot described as ' unparalleled, even in the desert, for its gaunt solemnity.' Here, behind a huge frag- ment of fallen rock, perhaps dislodged for that purpose from the cliffs overhead, they were shown the entrance to a pit so ingeniously hidden that, to use their own words, ' one might have passed it twenty times with- out observing it.'
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" The shaft of the pit proved to be six and a half feet square; and on being lowered by means of a rope, the}' touched the ground at a depth of about fort}^ feet. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and certainly nothing in romantic literature, can surpass in dramatic interest, the revela- tion which awaited the Boolak Officials in the subterranean sepulchral chambers of Der-el-Bahari. At the bottom of the shaft the explorers noticed a dark passage running westward ; so, having lit their candles, they groped their way along the passage which ran in a straight line for twenty-three feet and then turned abruptly to the right, stretching away northward into the darkness.
'' At the corner where the passage turned northward, they found a ro3-al funeral canopy flung carelessly down in a tumbled heap. As they proceeded, they found the roof so low in some places that they were obliged to stoop, and in other parts the rocky floor was A^ery uneven. At a distance of sixt}^ feet from the corner, the explorers found themselves at the top of a flight of stairs roughh-- hewn out of the rock. Having descended these steps, each with his flickering candle in hand, they pur- sued their way along a passage slightly descending and penetrating deeper and farther into the heart of the mountain. As they proceeded the floor became more and more strewn with fragments of mumni}^ cases and tattered pieces of mummy bandages. Presently they noticed boxes piled on the top of each other against the wall, and these boxes proved to be filled with statuettes, libation jars, and Canopic vases of precious alabaster. Then appeared several huge coffins of painted wood ; and great was their joy when they gazed upon a crowd cf mummy cases, some standing, some laid upon the ground, each fashioned in human form, with folded hands and solemn faces. On the breast of each was emblazoned the name and titles of the occupant. Words fail to describe the joyous excitement of the scholarly explorers, when among the group they read the names of Seti I, Thothmes II, Thothmes III, and Rameses II, surnamed The Great.
" The Boolak Officials had journeyed to Thebes, expecting at most to find a few mummies of petty princes, but on a sudden they were ■ brought, as it were, face to face with the mightiest Kings of ancient Egypt, and confronted the remains of heroes whose exploits and fame filled the ancient world with awe more than three thousand years ago.
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The explorers stood bewildered and could scarcely believe the testimony of their own eyes, and actually inquired of each other if they were not in a dream. At the end of a passage, one hundred and thirty feet from the bottom of the rock-cut passage, they stood at the entrance of a sepulchral chamber twenty-three feet long and thirteen feet wide literally piled to the roof with mummy cases of enormous size. The coffins were brilliant with color-gilding and varnish, and looked as fresh as if they had recently come out of the workshops of the Memnonmm.
" Among the mummies of this Mortuary Chapel were found Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses, besides royal and priestly personages of both sexes, all decendants of Her Hoi\ the founder of the line of priest kings known as the twent3^-first dynasty. The chamber was manifestly the vault of the Her Hor family ; while the mummies of their niore illustrious predecessors of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties found in the approaches to the chamber, had evidently been brought there for the sake of safety. Each member of the family was buried with the usual mortuary outfit. One Oueen, named Isi-em-Keb (Isis of Lower Egypt), was also furnished with a sumptous funeral repast, as well as a rich sepulchral toilet, consisting of ointment bottles, alabaster cups, gob- lets of exquisite variegated glass, and a large assortment of full-dress wigs curled and frizzed. As the funeral repast was designed for refresh- ment, so the sepulchral toilet was designed for the queen's use and adorn- ment on the Resurrection morn, when the vivified dead, clothed, fed, anointed and perfumed, should leave the dark sepulchral chamber and go forth to the mansions of everlasting day.
" When the temporary excitement of the explorers had somewhat abated they felt no time was to be lost in securing their newly discovered treasures. Accordingly, three hundred Arabs were engaged from the neighboring villages ; and working as they did with unabated vigor, without sleep, and without rest, they succeeded in cleaning out the sepulchral chamber, and the long passages of their valuable contents in the short space of forty-eight hours. All the mummies were then care- fully packed in sail cloth, and matting, and carried across the plains of Thebes to the edge of the river. Thence they were rowed across the Nile to Luxor, there to He in readiness for embarkation on the approach of the Nile Steamer.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY, 519
'' Some of the sarcophagi are of huge dimensions, the largest being that of Nofretari a queen of the eighteenth dynasty. The coffin is ten feet long, made of cartonnage, and style resembles one of the Osiride pillars of the temple of Mcdinct Habu, Its weight and size are so enor- mous that sixteen men were required to remove it. In spite of all diffi- culties, however, onl}^ five days elapsed from the time the Boolak Officials were lowered down the shaft until the precious relics la}^ ready for embarkment at Luxor.
" The Nile steamers did not arrive for three days, and during the time Messrs. Brugsch, and Kemal, and a few trustworthy Arabs kept constant guard over their treasure amid a fanatical people who regarded tomb breaking as the legitimate trade of the neighborhood. On the fourth morning the steamer arrived, and having received on board the royal mummies, steamed down the stream " en route " for the Boolak Museum. Meanwhile the news of the discovery had spread far and wide, and for fifty miles below Luxor, the villagers lined the banks of the river, not merely to catch a glimpse of the mummies on deck as the steamers passed by, but also to show respect for the mighty dead. Women with dishevelled hair ran along the banks shrieking the death wail ; Avhile men stood in solemn silence, and fired guns into the air to greet the mighty Pharaohs as they passed. Thus to the mummified bodies of Thothmes the Great, and Rameses the Great, and their illustrious compeers, the funeral honors paid to them three thousand years ago were in a meas- ure, repeated as the mortal remains of the heroes sailed down the Nile on their way to Boolak.
" The principal personages found either as mummies, or represented by their mummy cases, include a King and Queen of the seventeenth dynasty^ five Kings and four Queens of the eighteenth dynasty, and three successive Kings of the nineteenth dynasty, namely, Rameses the Great, his Father and his Grandfather. The twentieth dynasty strange to say is not represented ; but belonging to the twenty-first dynasty of royal priests are four Queens, two Kings, a prince and a princess. These royal mummies belong to four dynasties, under which ancient Egj'pt reached the summit of her fame. Through the expulsion of the Hyksos inva- ders, and the extensive conquests of Thothmes III and Rameses the Great, the oppression of Israel in Egypt and the Exodus of the Hebrews,
520 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
the colossal temples of Thebes, the royal sepulchres of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, the greater part of the Pharaonic obelisks, and the rock cut temples of the Nile Valley belong to this period-
" ThoTHMES III. — Standing near the end of the long dark passage running Northward and not far from the threshold of the family vaiilt of the priest kings, lay the sarcophagus of Thothmes III close to that of his brother Thothmes II. The mummy case was in a lamentable con- dition, and had evidently been broken into, and subjected to rough usage. On the lid, however, were recognized the well-known cartouches of this illustrious monarch. On opening the coffin the mumni}^ itself was ex- posed to view, completely enshrouded with bandages ; but a rent near the left breast shows that it had been exposed to the violence of tomb break- ers. Placed inside the cofi&n and surrounding the body were found wreaths of flowers ; larkspurs, acacias and lotuses. They looked as if but recently dried, and even their colors could be discerned. Long hieroglyphic texts found written on the bandages contained the seven- teenth chapter of the ' Ritual of the Dead ' and the ' Litanies of the Sun.' The body measured only five feet two inches ; so that making due allowance for .the shrinking and compression in the process of embalm- ing, still it is manifest that Thothmes III was not a man of commanding stature ; but in shortness of stature, as in brilliancy of conquest, finds his counterpart in Napoleon the Great.
" It was desirable in the interest of science to ascertain whether the mummy bearing the monogram of Thotlunes III^ was really the remains of that monarch. It was therefore unrolled. The inscription on the bandages established beyond all doubt, the fact that it was indeed the most distinguished of the kings of the brilliant XVIII dynasty, and once more, after an interval of tliirty-six centuries humanity gazed on the fea- tures of the man who had conquered Syria^ Cyrus and Ethiopia^ and had raised Egypt to the highest pinnacle of her power ; so that it was said in his reign ' she placed her frontiers where she pleased.' The spectacle was of brief duration ; the remains proved to be in so fragile a state that there was only time to take a hasty photograph, and then the features crumbled to pieces and vanished like an apparition, and so passed from human view for ever. The director felt such remorse at the result that he refused to allow the unrolling of Ravieses the Great for fear of a simi-
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 521
lar catastrophe. Thothmes III was the man who overran Palestine with his armies tzejo hundred years before the birth of Afoses, and has left us a diary of his adventures ; for, like Cesser he was an author as well as a soldier.
" It seemed so strange that though the body mouldered to dust, the flowers with which it had been wreathed were so wonderfully preserved, that even their color could be distinguished ; yet a flower is the very type of ephemeral beauty, that passeth away and is gone almost as soon as born. A wasp which had been attracted by the floral treasures, and had entered the coffin at the moment of closing, was found dried up, but still perfect, having lasted better than the king whose emblem of sovereignty it had once been ; now it was there to mock the embalmer's skill, and to add point to the sermon on the vanity of human pride, and power preached to us by the contents of that cofiin. Inexorable is the decree, ' Unto dust thou shalt return.' "
Following the same line of meditation, it is difiicult to avoid a thought of the futility of human devices to achieve immortality. These Egyptian monarchs the veriest type of earthlj^ grandeur and pride, whose rule was almost limitless, whose magnificent tombs seem built to outlast the hills, could find no better method of ensuring that their names should be held in remembrance, than the embalmment of their frail bodies. These remain, but in what a condition, and how degraded are the uses to which they are put. The spoil of an ignorant and thieving population, the pet curiosity of some wealthy tourist, who buys a royal mummy as he would buy the Sphinx if it were movable.
RamESES II died about thirteen centtiries before the Christian era. It is certain that this illustrious monarch was originally buried in the stately tomb of the magnificent subterranean sepulchre by royal order hewn out of the limestone cliffs in the Valley of THE 'Tombs of the Kings. In the same valley his grandfather and father were laid to rest ; so that these three mighty kings " all lay in glory, each in his own house." This burial place of the Pharaohs of the XVIII and XIX dynas- ties is in a deep gorge behind the Western hills of the Theban plain.
" The valley is the very ideal of desolation. Bare rocks without a particle of vegetation, overhanging and enclosing in a still narrower and narrower embrace, a valley as rocky, and bare as themselves — no
522 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
human habitation visible— the stir of the city wholly excluded. Such is, such must always have been, the awful aspect of the resting-place of the Theban kings."
The sepulchres of this valley are of extraordinary grandeur. You enter a sculptured portal in the face of these wild cliffs, and find yourself in a long and lofty gallery, opening or narrowing as the case maybe, into successive halls and chambers, all of which are covered with white stucco, brilliant with colors, fresh as they were thousands of years ago. The sepulchres are in fact magnificent palaces. Hewn out of the rock and painted with all the decorations of the tombs and temples. One of the most gorgeous of these sepulchral palaces, was that prepared in this valley by Ranieses II, and after the burial of the king the portals were walled up, and the mummified body laid to rest in the vaulted hall till the morn of Resurrection. From a hieratic inscription found on the mummy case of Ravieses, it appears that official Inspectors of Tombs vis- ited this royal tomb in the sixth year of Hc7'-Hor, the founder of the priestly line of kings ; so that at least for two centuries the mummy of Rameses the Great lay undisturbed, in the original tomb prepared for its original -reception.
From several papyri still extant, it appears that the neighborhood of Thebes at that period was like it is to-day, filled with robbers of the dead, or tomb breakers. Such being the dreadful state of insecurity during the lat- ter period of the twentieth dynasty and throughout the whole of the Her- Hor dynasty, we are not surprised to find the mummy of Rameses Ily and that of his grandfather Rameses /, removed for greater security from their own separate catacombs into the tomb of his father Seti I. In the sixteenth year of Hcr-Hor, that is ten years after the official inspection mentioned above, a commission of priests visited the three royal mummies in the tomb of Seti. On an entry found on the mummy case of Seti and Rameses If the priests certify that the bodies are in an uninjured condi- tion ; but they deem it expedient, on grounds of safety, to traiisfer the three mummies to the tomb of Ansera, a queen of the seventeenth dynasty.
For ten years at least Rameses"" body reposed in this abode ; but in the year of Pinotum it was removed into '' the eternal house " of Amcn- Hotep. A fourth inscription on the breast bandage of Rameses relates
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how that, after resting for six years, the body was again carried back to the tomb of his father in " ike Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, ^' a valley now called " Bab el-Molooky How long the body remained in this resting place, and how many transfers it was subsequently subjected to, there exists no evidence to show ; but after being exposed to many vicis- situdes, the mummy of Rameses II, together with those of his royal relatives and many of his illustriovis predecessors, was brought in as a refugee into the famil}^ vaiilt of the Her-Hor dynasty. In this subterra- nean hiding place, buried deep in the heart of the Theban Hills., Rameses the Great., surrounded b}^ a goodh- companj' of thirty royal mummies, lay undisturbed and unseen by mortal eyey^r three thousand years, until a few years ago the lawless tomb breakers of Thebes burrowed into this sepulchral chamber.
The mummy-case containing Rameses'' mummy is not the original one, for it belonged to the style of the twenty-first dynasty, and was probably made at the time of the official inspection of his tomb in the sixth year oi Her-Hor'' s reign. It is made of unpainted sycamore wood, and the lid of the shape known as Osirian, that is, the deceased is repre- sented in the well known attitude of Osiris, with arms across, and hands grasping a crook and flail. The eyes are inserted in enamel, while the eyebrows, eyelashes and beard are painted black. Upon the breast are the familiar cartouches of Rameses If namely : — Ra-user-H^a-sotep-en-Ra, his prenomeu ; and Ra-mc-sn-Meri-Amen, his nomen. The mummy itself is in good condition, and measures six feet ; but as in the process of mummification, the larger bones were probably drawn closer together in their sockets. It seems self-evident that Rameses was a man of command- ing appearance. It is thus satisfactory to know that the mighty Sesostris was a hero of great physical stature, that this conqueror of Palestine was in height equal to a grenadier. The outer shrouds of the body are made of rose colored linen and bound together by very strong bands. Within the outer shrouds, the mummy is swathed in original bandages ; and Professor M. Maspero has expressed his intention of removing these inner bandages, on some convenient opportunity', in the presence of scholars and medical witnesses.
It has been urged that since Ra^neses XI f of the twentieth dynasty., had a prenomen similar, though not identical, with the divine cartouche
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of Rameses II, the mummy in question may be that of Ramcses XII. We have, however, shown that the mummies of Rameses /, Seti I and Rameses II were exposed to the same vicissitudes, being buried, trans- ferred and reburied again and again in the same vaults. When therefore we find in the sepulchre of Der-el Bahari^ in juxta-position, the mummy case of Rameses I, the mummy-case and acknowledged mummy of Seti I, and on the mummy- case and shroud the well known cartouches of Rameses II, the three standing in the relation of grandfather, father and son, it seems that the evidence is overwhelming in favor of the mummy in question being that of Rameses the Great.
The whole of these mummies were o'riginally placed in the Boolak Museum, but they are to be found to-day at the Gizeh Museum, which is located a few miles from Cairo and close to the river. This Museum is open every day of the week to the general public, excepting Monday, when a small admission fee is charged. All these mummies have been arranged, numbered and set up for general inspection, and what a glorious company they are, for they represent the most mighty and renowned Warrior Kings of ancient Egypt, and what an inexpressible feeling comes over one in the presence of these illustrious mummied dead, when we think that not one of them lived after B. c. looo.
Before closing the account of these mummies I will quote you from H. D. Rawnsley's " Notes for the Nile," page 84 et seq., which will prove that the mummy that was found with Rameses I, and Seti I, and known as Rameses the Great was actually and truly the mummy of Rameses II. " I had read in the Academy of July 3rd, 1886, the very startling and accurate account of the unwrapping of the mummies of Rameses II and Rameses III, which took place at the Bulak Museum Jvme ist, 18S6. There in the presence of His Highness Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egj'pt, and their excellencies Mouctar Pasha Ghazi, High Commissioner of the Sultan, Sir Drummond Wolf, Her Majesty's Consul, and other great persons, M. Gastine Maspero, the director of the antiquities of Egypt, and his subordinates, Messrs. Brugsch Bey and Bouriant, unrolled at nine o'clock in the morning the royal mummies brought from Der el BaJiari, and marked in the catalogue Nos. 5229 and 5233.
" There was more of interest than at first sight attached to the unwrapping of the royal mummy No. 5233, for though the coffin had
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY, 525
been found in close proximit}' to, and in company with, tlie coffins of Seti I and Rameses I, and though the coffin lid bore the nomen and pre- nomen of the illustrious Rameses II, it had been suggested by some Egyptologists that Rameses XII, of the XX dynasty, a man of no great noteworthiness, bore the similar divine name, or cartouche, as the Great Rameses the Second of the XIX dynasty. This coffin might contain the lesser notable's body, after all. The savants further pointed out the coffin-case was of the Osirian tyipe of the XX or XXI dynasty ; so that, as the royal assemblage gathered round coffin No. 5233, on the first of June, 1886, though Maspero was full}^ persuaded that the great Pharaoh's body lay before them, enveloped in its pink colored and yellow cerements, there was just enough element of doubt about it, to render his task intensely interesting as a work of identification, apart from the fact of the unveiling of a roj^al monarch.
" The proces verbal of the dates on the coffin lid pointed to the mummj- being the mumm}^ of the great king. It had been written in black ink on the sycamore coffin case, and gave the years six and six- teenth of the royal or high priest Her Hor Siamun, and the tenth 5^ear of the ro3'al priest Pinotmou I, was traced on the first cerecloth or wrap- ping, just at the breast. The Khedive's attention was called to the inscription ; he nodded assent, and the unwrapping went forward. Beneath the first envelope was discovered a band of cloth, wrapped round and round the body, then a second envelope or shroud, sewn and kept in its place b}^ narrow bands from space to space ; next came two layers of small bandages, and then a piece of fine linen, stretching from head to foot; on this was painted in red and black, a representation of the god- dess of creation out of nothing, Nonit or Ncith^ as prescribed by the ritual of the dead. The goddess in profile unmistakably resembled the delicate features of Seti I, the father of Rameses II, as made known by the bas-reliefs of Thebes and Abydos.
" This was proof, not positive, but looking very much as if the great son of Seti I la}' therein. A band of brand-new material had been placed beneath this amulet of the goddess Nouit ; then came a kind of quilt, of pieces of linen folded in squares, and struck together by the bituminous preparation the embalmers had used. There was considerable excite- ment amongst the bystanders. This last covering was removed and lo,
526 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
"Among his perfumed wrappings Ram'ses laj', Son of the sun, and conqueror without peers ; The jewel-holes were in his rounded ears,
His thick lips closed above th' embalmer's clay ;
Unguent had turned his white locks amber-grey, But on his puissant chin fresh from the shears The thin hair gleamed which full three thousand years
Of careless sleep could never disarray.
Hands henna-stained across his ample breast
Were laid in peace ; but through the narrow eyes Flamed fires no more beneath the forward brow.
His keen hawk nose such pride, such power expressed, Near Kadesh stream we heard the Hittite cries, And saw by Hebrews' toil San's temple cities grow.
" In less than a qtiarter of an hour from the commencement of the unwrapping, appeared from beneath its many cerements the great Sesos- tris himself, who had been embalmed with such care, and wrapped up so laboriously, over three thousand one hundred and eighty-six years ago."
I have devoted considerable space to the discovery of the royal mummies of Ancient Egypt, and to the unwrapping of Rameses the Great, because, after having visited Der el-Bahari and the place where they were found, I was ver}' much interested in them, consequently I have written and quoted from the ver}' best authorities, all that was to be gleaned in relation to these celebrated mummies so that you, my dear Brothers and readers, may thoroughly understand everything pertaining to them. I have been so intensely interested in taking notes, measuring and examining these most extraordinary tombs, temples and monolithic stones and statues, that the da3's have come and gone without note, and yet, we have not described half of what is to be seen on this western bank of the river Nile, but, as we were very anxious to see and examine Luxor and Karnak, we discharged our gtiide and hired another for our excur- sions upon the other side of the river, who was to direct our steps in search of " More Light " among those stupendous ruins of Luxor and Karnak. We spent that evening with some acqitaintances we had made while examining the beautiful ruined temple of Medinet Habu.
The night was lovely, so after our dinner, we sat up under the awning, and talked until a late hour upon the various tombs and temples,
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and the wondrous knowledge that pertained to those people who lived here in the "Golden Age" of Egypt. We drifted off into Scottish Masonry whose sublime philosophical and theosophical teachino-s ema- nated from the greater Mysteries of ancient Egypt, whose esoteric teach- ings were identical with the Indian and Mazdean of prehistoric ages.
Early the next morning we took our breakfast and started out on our way to examine the celebrated temples of Luxor and Karnak, so we landed upon the river bank and made our way direct to the temple of Luxor.
I iirst visited this temple many years ago with my father when I was a boy. I again visited it some years ago, on my return from India, at which time it was very difficult to move around in, for it was at that day literally filled with mud hovels of the Arabs, and it was nearly impossible to see anything at all whatever of the building proper, for it was a veritable village in itself containing a mosque. It was a very dirty village at that time, with very narrow filthy lanes or alleys through which to walk, amid stables, hen roosts, and pigeon houses that were plastered up against beautiful sculptured walls. There was so much confusion that I could not, under any circumstances, find out anything at all whatever in relation to the original plan of this especial part of the building, but to-dav it is very much different, thanks to Professor Maspero, M. Grebaut and others, who have changed it most wonderfully, for they certainly had a very difficult task in clearing the temple of these Arab invaders.
They at first positively refused to sell their homes, or mud hovels in which they lived, and leave the temple. After long and tiresome negotia- tions were the}' induced to sell their mud houses and quit. There was one man Mustapha Aga, the British consul, who had built his consular residence between the columns of Horemeb, directly facing the river, and when he was approached in relation to buying him oiit, he asked them such an enormous price for his place, that it was simply impossible to do anything with him. He was a good kindly old fellow, and very hospitable, for his house was ever open to all travellers, but there was one thing that he was very peculiar about, and that was the selling of his home. It was not until this old fellow died that they were enabled to remove his residence from between the columns. Over forty other families had been
528 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
bought out and got rid of, in one way or another, who rebuilt their homes upon the land that had been alloted to them.
The little native mosque gave them far more trouble than any other thing in the temple, but \h.&y continiied in the good work until the year 1886, when they cleared the temple of the dirty accumulations of these people, whom they had bought out, until all that remained as evidences of their occupation was the little mud Mosque.
After the resignation of M. Maspero, M. Grabaut succeeded him, and followed up the work of the restoration of the temple. Any one who had visited it at the time I did, some years ago, would not to-day recog- nize it as the same building, for the dirty mud hovels, and accumulations of centuries have been removed from around the columns, clear down to the original pavement. During the performance of this work they discovered beneath " the rubbish of the temple," quite a number of magnificent colossal statues of Rameses II, in beautiful polished red granite.
The traveller who goes there to-day will see the ruins of a most magnificent temple of exquisite design and beauty, second only to that of the Grand temple of Karnak itself, of which this was originally the gateway, as it were, to the most stupendous building ever erected by the hand of man — The temple of Karnak.
One can very readily recognize the principal entrance, or pylon at Luxor, on account of the obelisk and colossi at the gateway. The com- panion stone to this remaining obelisk stands to-day in the famous Place de la Concorde. It was presented to the French government by Moham- med Ali and it cost them over a million francs to take from Luxor, and set it up in Paris, which was done in the year 1836. This stone is seventy-seven feet high, and about seven feet square at the base. The one still in situ measures about eighty-four feet in height, and seven feet six inches square at the base.
The pictures on the front of the towers represent battle scenes. The first hall that we enter is about one hundred and eight-six feet, by one hundred and sixty-eight feet. Upon the walls are historical representations of Egyptian victories, etc. A colonnade of about one hundred and seventy feet long, connects this hall with another one, that is not quite so large as the first one. As we continued our jour- ney we at length found ourselves out of the temple at the west gate, stand-
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 529
ing facing the river, and the remains of a stone quay of the Roman age. We spent the day in this most extraordinary temple examining the various chambers, sanctuaries, columns, sculptures, etc., and were deeply interested in all we saw. It is so very difficult to describe the magnifi- cence of these beautiful ruins, but you, I hope, will be enabled to get some idea of its beauty not only from my description, but from many of the illustrations of this temple of Luxor and Karnak.
We returned to our dahabiyeh tired and wear}^, and after dinner we smoked and chatted of what \\'& had seen. Our sailors went ashore to visit the crew of another dahabiyeh, and assist them in a grand fantasia, and we could hear their voices and recognize their songs until we dropped off to sleep.
In the morning we landed at Luxor and hired donkeys, starting out along the avenue of sphinxes, that begins at the lone obelisk and extends for about two miles, from one temple to the other. We rode slowly down this avenue for more than a mile when the road turned slightly to the left. and we saw before us the p3'lon of Ptolemy III {Eurgetus I) through which we passed, and pushed on to the little temple of Rameses III. We did not stop here, only for a very short time, just peeped in, and turning sharp to the left we kept on, now toward the river, then to the right again until we arrived at another avenue of ram head sphinxes. At length we found ourselves before the main entrance of this wonderful temple of Karnak.
We now dismounted and stood before it in awe and admiration, for we were now at the threshold of this most stupendous and magnificent gate- way of the grandest temple that was ever raised by the hands of man. One of the enormous towers is very nearly perfect, and its dimensions were three hundred and seventy feet broad, by one hundred and forty-two feet six inches high, with a depth of about fifty feet, so you can imagine what an enormous propylon it must be. One can readil}' make the ascent to the top from which they may obtain a beautiful view of the surrounding country, and all of these wonderful ruins.
What a sight the avenue of mutilated sphinxes must have been in the glorious days of ancient Egyptian splendor, before they were ravaged by the hand of time, or by those disreputable image breakers whose van- dalism is visible throughout the whole of the Land of Egypt. No pen
34
530 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
can describe the magnificence, vastness and exquisite sculptures of this stupendous temple in its mutilated grandeur, as I saw it some few years ago. It must be seen to be fully appreciated and properly understood, for in no part of the world is there anything to compare with its magni- tude and beauty, the splendor of which no man can describe.
We now passed through this enormous gateway and entered the outer court to the temple, it is two hundred and seventy-five feet deep by three hundred and thirty-eight feet wide, with a row of columns on each side, supporting a roof, Avhich forms a regular corridor on both sides of the court, excepting where the temple of Rameses III projects into it through the south wall. At the end of -this court we passed through another enormous gateway beautifully adorned with bas-reliefs and found ourselves in the celebrated hypostyle hall — the wonderful " Hall of Columns," the most beautiful and magnificent of its kind in the world to-day. It is one hundred and seventy feet long by three hundred and thirty-nine feet wide, whose roof is supported by one hundred and thirty- four most stupendous columns, twelve of which are twelve feet in diam- eter and sixty-two feet high, the other one hundred and twenty -two are nine feet in diameter and forty-two feet high, and all of them beautifully sculptured with kings, gods, etc., blazoned with royal names and emblems of all kinds. The immense stone beams that run from column to column are fully twenty-six feet long. I will not attempt to go into details in my description of this most magnificent temple, although as I stood among this forest of columns I seemed bewildered, and astonished, so much so that I could not find words wherein to express myself regarding this most marvellous building.
On my return from India I camped in this temple, and lived here within its sacred precincts for weeks, during which time I have carefully examined the various points of interest, in the vicinit}^, but more espe- cially this temple itself I have wandered from court to court, ever find- ing something new in every part of its pillared halls and corridors. I have at times stood, lost in admiration and wonder, beneath the shadows of its enormous columns and gazed up to their capitals whose summits rose nearly seventy feet above me. Six of our party, with outstretched arms, attempted to encircle some of these columns, but without success. This was my last visit to this celebrated temple and I still found many things
HYPOSTYLE HALL OF THE GKEAI I LMPLE OF KARNAK.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 531
that were new to me and which filled me with astonishment. For hours I rambled eagerly around among the ruins, lost in admiration of its mag- nitude and its mutilated grandeur. I realized that I stood within the walls' of the grandest specimens of architectural design and beauty that have ever been executed by the hands of man, whose walls, columns, and pylons represent the torn, soiled, and ragged pages of the records of the most glorious dynasties of ancient Egyptian History.
Tired with our investigations we turned away very reluctantly, and remounting our donkeys rode back toward Luxor, deeply impressed by what we had seen, having spent the whole day in very carefully measuring and examining the various parts of this most extraordinary building. Luxor now has lost its charm for us and Karnak is the dominant chord, for we talked of it, we thought of it, aye, we dreamed of it, and even to-day in memory I can still see the depth of its shadows, and the dazzling light playing upon its pillared halls and glorious sculptures. From every point of view, or at any time, whether by the effulgent rays of a mid-day sun, at eventide, or even under the rays of the glorious moon, Karnak is at its best — Majestic, Silent and Impressive.
We at length arrived at the bank of the river, and were rowed to our dahabiyeh depositing our note books and traps in the cabin. We then strolled up to the postoffice and received two letters from home, and just as we returned the gong rang out the dinner hour. After which we informed Hassan, that we were ready to proceed on our journey, in the morning, if the wind should be in our favor. He told us that there was nothing that he needed, and that he had supplied himself abundantly for our journey southward. I spent the whole of the evening in writing letters and fixing up my notes, and retired early to sleep and rest, hoping for a favoring breeze in the morning.
Since I last visited this celebrated temple the French government has undertaken the restoration of this most stupendous building, and while they were endeavoring to execute the work in hand, M. Lazani found one of the ancient city gates, a very valuable discovery, and said to be the first of its kind ever found in this country. It has upon it the date of the eighteenth dynasty. There are quite a number of new discoveries now being brought to light that will be of great importance, not only to the Egyptologist, but to the Masonic student.
Ceremonies— initiation— BItic Uotrge— ®^ransnti= ^ration— Jttgstev]) ^Language,
533
Bow poor, how rich, how abject, how aucfust,
Bow complicate, how wonderful, is man!
Bow passing wonder he who made him such!
mho centred in our mahe such strange extremes.
•from different natures marvellously mixed,
Connection exquisite of distant worlds!
Distinguished link in being's endless chain J
Midway from nothing to Deity!
H beam ethereal, sullied, and absorpt!
■Chough sullied and dishonored, stitl divine!
Dim miniature of greatness absolute !
Hn heir of glory! a frail child of dust!
Belplcss immortal! insect infinite!
H worm! a 6od! — 1 tremble at myself,
Hnd in myself am lost. Ht home, a stranger,
Chought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast,
Hnd wondering at her own. Bow reason reels!
O, what a miracle to man is man!
Criumphantly distressed ! Slhat joy ! what dread I
Hlternatcly transported and alarmed!
dhat can preserve my life? or what destroy?
Hn angel's arm can't snatch mc from the grave;
Legions of angels can't confine me there.
— Dk. Edward Young.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 535