Bernard de Mauntfaucon's prints of 1721      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                           
                                 1880                                    1809                                        1880
                                                                                                                       
                                                 
                                               
                         Medinet Habu             The Colossi           Sphinx at Giza           Ruins at Luxor

                                          Prints by the artist Henry Pilleau  (1813 - 1899)

                   
       
                                    Watercolours     by Giovanni Barbaro    Early 20th Century 
  
                       

ARTICLE FROM 'THE PENNY MAGAZINE'  Published in 1832, by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, originally published as 'The Egyptian Antiquities in The British Museum' by George Long.

                                                                       

             Those who visit the British Museum cannot fail to have observed in the room of Egyptian antiquities, a colossal statue of which only the head and breast remain. It is numbered 66 in the catalogue and on the stone.
              Though this statue is commonly called the 'younger Memnon', a name for which convenience we shall adhere, there is no reason in the world for calling it so, but a mistake of Norden, a Danish traveller who visited Egypt in 1737. He then saw this statue in its entire state, seated on a chair, in precisely the same attitude as the black breccia figure, No 38, but lying with its face on the ground; to which accident indeed the preservation of its features is no doubt mainly due. Several ancient writers, and among them the Greek Geographer Strabo, speak of a large Temple at Thebes on the west side of the Nile, to which they gave the name of the Memnonium, or Memnon's Temple. Norden fancied that the building, amidst whose ruins he saw this statue, was the ancient Memnonium; though he supposed, that another statue of much larger dimensions than this in the Museum, and now lying in fragments in the same place, was the great Memnon statue, of which some ancient writers relate the following fact - that at sun-rise when the rays first struck the statue, it sent forth a sound something like that of the snapping of the string of a lute.
               It is now generally admitted that the real statue of Memnon is neither the large one still lying at Thebes in fragments, nor this statue in the Museum, which came out of the same Temple - but another statue still seated in its original position on the plain at Thebes, and showing by numerous Greek and Latin inscriptions on the legs, that it was the statue of which Strabo, Pausanias, and other ancient writers speak. The entire black statue, No 38, is also a Memnon statue, for it resembles in all respects the great colossus with the inscriptions on its legs, and it has also the name of Memnon written on it and enclosed in an oblong ring, on each side of the front part of the seat, and also on the back.
            If this colossus in the Museum (No. 66) was entire in 1737, it may be asked how came it to be broken? We cannot say further than the following statement :-   Belzoni, whose name must be fresh in the recollection of most people, went to Egypt in 1815, intending to propose to Pasha some improved mechanical contrivances for raising water from the river in order to irrigate the fields. Owing to various obstacles this scheme did not succeed, and Belzoni determined to pay a visit to Upper Egypt, to see the wonderful remains of its Temples. Mr Salt, then the British Consul in Egypt, and Lewis Burckhardt, commissioned Belzoni to bring this colossal head from Thebes. Belzoni went up the river, and landing at Thebes found the statue exactly in the place where the Consul's instructions described it to be. It was lying ' near the remains of its body and chair, with its face upwards, and apparently smiling at me at the thought of being taken to Britain. I must say that my expectations were exceeded by its beauty, but not by its size. I observed that it must have been absolutely the same statue as mentioned by Norden, lying in his time with the face downwards, which must have been the cause of its preservation. I will not venture to assert to separate the bust from the rest of the body by an explosion, or by whom the bust has been turned face upwards.'
               It will observed that the left shoulder of this figure is shattered, and that there is a large hole drilled in the right shoulder. We believe both are the work of the French who visited Thebes during the occupation by the French army in 1800; and there is no doubt that Belzoni in the above extract means to attribute to them the separation of the head and shoulders from the rest of the body. In the magnificent work on Egyptian Antiquities, which has been published at Paris, there is a drawing of this head, which is pretty correct, except that the hole and the whole right shoulder are wanting. It seems that they drew the colossal bust in that form which it would have assumed, had they blown off the right shoulder. From what cause it happened we do not know, but they left the colossus behind them; and Belzoni alone and unaided accomplished what the French had unsuccessfully attempted.
             All the implements that Belzoni had for removing this colossus were 14 poles, 8 of which were employed in making a car for the colossus, 4 ropes of palm-leaves, 4 rollers, and no tackle of any description. With these sorry implements and such wretched workmen as the place could produce, he contrived to move the colossus from the ruins where it lay to the banks of the Nile, a distance considerably more than a mile. But it was no less difficult task to place the colossus on board a boat, the bank of the river being ' more than 15 feet above the level of the water, which had retired at least a 100 feet from it'. This, however, was effected by making a sloping causeway, along which the heavy mass descended slowly till it came to the lower part, where, by means of 4 poles, a kind of bridge was made, having one end resting on the centre parts of the boat and the other on the inclined plane. thus the danger of tilting it over by pressing too much on one side.
            From Thebes it was carried down the river to Rosetta and thence to Alexandria, a distance of more than 400 miles: from the latter place it was embarked for Britain.
            The material of this colossus is a fine-grained granite, which is found in the quarries near the southern boundary of Egypt, from which masses of enormous size may be procured free from any split or fracture. These quarries supplied the Egyptians with the principal materials for their colossal statues and obelisks, some of which in an unfinished form may still be seen in the granite quarries at Assouan. There is considerable variety in the qualities of this granite, as we may see from the specimens in the Museum, some of which consist of much larger component parts than others, and in different proportions; yet all of them admit a fine polish. The colossal head, No.8, opposite to the Memnon, and No.2, commonly called an altar, will serve to explain our meaning.
           This Memnon's bust consists of one piece of stone, of two different colours, of which the sculptor has judiciously applied the red part to form the face. Though there is a style of sculpture which we may properly call Egyptian as distinguished from and inferior to the Greek, and although this statue clearly belongs to this Egyptian style, it surpasses as a work of art most other statues from that country by a peculiar sweetness of expression and a finer outline of face. Though the eyebrows are hardly prominent enough for our taste, the nose somewhat too rounded, and the lips rather thick, it is impossible to deny that there is great beauty stamped on the countenance. Its profile, when viewed from various points, will probably show some new beauties to those only accustomed to look at it in front.
         The position of the ear in all Egyptian statues that we have had the opportunity of observing is very peculiar, being always too high; and the ear itself is rather large. We might almost infer that there was some national peculiarity in this member from seeing it so invariably placed in the same singular position. The appendage to the chin is common in Egyptian colossal statues, and is undoubtedly intended to mark the beard, the symbol of manhood : and it may be observed not only on numerous statues, but also on painted reliefs, where we frequently see it projecting from the end of the chin and not attached to the breast, but slightly curved upwards. Osiris, one of the great objects of Egyptian adoration, is often thus represented; but the beard is generally only attached to the clothed figure, being, for the most part, but not always, omitted on the naked ones. The colossal figures, No. 8, and 38, have both lost their beards. there is a colossal head in the Museum, No. 57, that is peculiar in having the upper margin of the beard represented by incisions on the chin after the fashion of Greek bearded statues. It is the only instance we have seen either in reality or in any drawing of a colossus with a genuine beard.
          There is more variety in the head-dresses of colossal statues than in their beards. No. 8, opposite the Memnon, has the high cap which occurs very often on Egyptian standing colossi which are place with their backs to pilasters. No. 38 has the flat cap fitting close to the head and descending behind, very much like the pigtails once in fashion. The Memnon head-dress differs from both of these, and has given rise to discussions, called learned, into which we cannot enter here.
         On the forehead of this colossus may be seen the remains of the erect serpent, the emblem of royalty, which always indicates a deity or royal personage. This erect serpent may be traced on various monuments of the Museum, and perhaps occurs more frequently than any single sculptured object.
          Our limits prevent us from going into other details, but we have perhaps said enough to induce some of our readers to look more carefully at this curious specimen of Egyptian art; and to examine the rest of the ornamental parts. The following are some of the principal dimensions:-
(1)    The whole height of the bust from the top of the head-dress to the lowest part of the fragment, measures behind        8 feet 9 inches 
(2)     Round the shoulders and breast, above       15 feet 3 inches
(3)     Height of the head from the upper part of the head-dress to the end of the beard                                                                     6 feet   0 1/2 inches
(4)     From the forehead to the chin                         3 feet   3 1/2 inches
    
           Judging from these dimensions, the figure in its entire state would be about 24 feet high as seated on its chair ; which is about half the height of the real Memnon, who still sits majestic on his ancient throne, and throws his long shadow at sun-rise over the plain of Thebes. 
            
                                                                         

             The other colossal head which is (No.8) in the Museum, and opposite to the Memnon, was also brought to England by Belzoni. It was found at Karnak, on the east side of the Nile, but at what precise spot the discoverer does not say. It is of red granite, polished to a wonderful degree of smoothness, and well preserved, except the left ear and part of the chin, which, together with the beard, is broken off. Though the head is of somewhat larger dimensions than the Memnon ("being 10 feet from the neck to the top of the mitre"), it was much easier to transport it from place to place, as the shoulders are not attached to the head, and, in consequence, the whole mass is not so heavy as the Memnon. The arm in the Museum, measuring about 10 feet in length, also belongs to this colossus, and assists us in forming a more correct idea of the whole figure. It is clear, from the arm being straight, that this colossus must have been a full length figure, and in a standing posture, of which we find instances in the caryatid pilasters. The under part of the arm shows also by the fracture that it was attached to the sides of the figure, as in the Argo colossi; and we see the remains of the cylindrical staff grasped in the hand. This figure, then, originally stood with its back attached to a large block, like the mutilated colossus at the entrance of the hypostyle hall at Karnak.

   
                      
             The following are the dimensions of this arm:
(1) Circumference of arm round the thickest part below the elbow   61 inches
(2)  Length from knuckle of middle finger to wrist (hand closed)        17 inches
(3)  Length of long joint of middle finger                                          13 1/2 inches
(4)  Whole length of arm to junction with scapula                               120 inches
             This colossus then may be considered as a specimen of part of a standing colossus, which, when attached to a caryatid pilaster, we believe, always has a high cap, something like that of the Museum figure. With the exception of a small portion of the top, which is broken off, but still occupying its place, the cap is entire.It is fastened on in the usual way with standing colossi, by a bandage on each side, coming down to the chin, where it met the beard-case, which appears to have been attached to these bandages. In front we see the royal serpent, somewhat mutilated, the head being gone; the part that runs up the front of the cap, occupying a higher place than the head when the symbol was entire, is the tail of the reptile, which, in a flat-capped regal statue, is continued over the convex surface of the head nearly as far as the crown. The rough fracture which runs up the back of the cap, is a remnant of the stone by which the head-dress was fastened to the upper part of the block against which the back of the colossus rested. It is clear, from a careful examination of this fracture, and of drawings of standing colossi, that this back support reached as high as the top of the cap. Forming an estimate from the from the head and the length of the arm, this statue could not be less than 26 feet high, including his cap. The usual attitude of a standing colossus is to have one foot advanced a little beyond the other, but still nearly parallel to it : the arms are sometimes crossed on the breast, but perhaps more frequently they hang down along the sides, to which they are attached by a portion of the stone which is left; as we may observe in the present instance, where it is rough and fractured like the piece at the back of the head. The hands often grasp a short cylindrical stick, such as in the Nubian colossi of Argo. This kind of dress which this statue probably had, may be inferred from that of the Argo statues.
    (1)       The length of this statue's nose is                                0ft    11 1/2 in    
    (2)        Width of mouth from angle to angle                            1ft      1 1/4 in
    (3)        Circumference of his neck just where shirt begins   8ft    4  1/4 in  

                                           
 
              The colossal figure of the Museum, (No. 38), possesses a peculiar interest, from being a miniature copy of the great Memnon statue, and from being itself a Memnon. Its material is a breccia so compounded as at a distance to appear quite black, but upon nearer examination it may be called rather a dark grey colour. The stone contains a number of brightish yellow particles, which have been sometimes compared in appearance to the substance called Dutch metal. There is a curious streak of red about three-fourths of an inch wide, running across his right shoulder, his beard, neck, and lappets, which is also visible at his back, where it forms a curve, at first sight looking exactly some ornament hanging round the shoulders. Belzoni remarks that this and a lion-headed statue are the only specimens of this kind of stone which he ever saw. This statue, which in all respects resembles the great Memnon, was dug up behind the two seated colossi.
              This statue (No. 38), has the close-fitting cap on his head, with a broad bandage as usual descending on each side of the face to hold the beard on. The beard itself and part of the chin is broken off, which is almost the only damage the statue has received. The erect serpent is on the front of the cap, represented with several contortions, and the head rising above them on a part of the stone left in high relief : the tail of the serpent follows the curve of the statue's head, adhering closely to it, and being continued above the position of the serpent's head, does not terminate till it has reached the crown of this statue, or somewhat further. The same position of the tail may be observed on the head of the colossus, No. 73, where, however, it is divided on the crown of the head by a rectangular hole five or six inches deep, cut, probably, by some barbarian.
             The cap of No.38, after making two triangular flat projections, against which the ears rest, descends in a lappet on each side, as far as two inches above the nipple. By the aid of this head-dress we may give a complete restoration to the front face of the great Memnon. The head-dress at the back assumes a singular rounded convex form, marked with a number of radii, all converging towards a cantre at the nape of the neck, where they unite in a kind of cylindrical ornament, very like the long pig-tails once in fashion. This pig-tail, which is attached close to the mass of the stone, after running straight down for 12 inches, strikes into the square column which forms the central and upper part of the chair. The head-dress of this Museum Memnon agrees with Mr. Burton's drawing of the back of the great Theban Memnon, which he has given in his 'Excerpta'.
              On the front of the statue, we see an ornament extending from the bottom of the throat to the termination of the lappets, and filling up the space between them. This ornament consists of a number of curved lines one above another, assuming the form of strings of beads, or any other similar ornament suspended about the neck. The body and arms are bare. Just below the navel there is a broad belt surrounding the body, on the agraffe of which there are two cartouches; that containing the name has been nearly erased. This, like many other Egyptian statues, has a nether garment of a corduroy appearance, which is attached to the belt. This garment is represented by small flutings on the stone, cut exactly in the style of those on a Greek column; it overlaps in two parts on the thighs, while on end of the garment, which lies between the other two parts, extends as far as the knees. The whole of these three parts, forming a sloping inclined plain, lie between the hands which are stretched out flat on the thighs, with the middle finger reaching nearly as far as the knee-bone. The hands are the worst executed parts of the whole figure. This centre piece of the lappet, which is a truncated isosceles triangle, may be observed on many standing colossi dangling down in front, as on the colossi of Argo in Nubia, which  have been already described.
             The square column at the back, after descending to the depth of 20 inches from the point of junction with the pig-tail, meets the main back of the chair, which is 31 inches wide. The column itself is 12 1/2 inches wide, and contains two parallel and vertical rows of hieroglyphs, which are continued to the bottom of the seat. Among the hieroglyphs are two cartouches. The back of the chair of the great Memnon is precisely of the same character as this, except that the former has three vertical rows of hieroglyphics running down the back of the chair, with two cartouches in each of two rows, and a third single cartouche in the remaining row. These cartouches, which contain the praenomen or title of the king, followed by his proper name, Amenothph or Memnon, according to the Greek corrupted term, are exactly the same on the back of the Theban colossus and on the Museum figure.
             There are two vertical rows of hieroglyphs in front of the chair, running down parallel to each leg, one on each side. Each row contains two cartouches, the same as those on the back. The sides of the chair have the usual lotus ornaments, enclosed in a parallelogrammic frame, just as on the seat of the great Memnon, and on the chairs of many other statues.
            This statue as a work of art is not without merit, though the legs from the feet to the knee are somewhat too long, and the arms are too short. The feet are better executed than the hands. The most favourable view is a side one, which shows the back part of the arms and the roundness of the shoulders. The following dimensions will assist the reader in forming a more just conception of this minor Memnon:-
(1) Height of figure from base of the pedestal to top of head   9ft  6 1/2 ins
(2) Height to pedestal                                                            1ft   0 1/2ins
(3) From sole of foot to knee-bone, about                             3ft   6 ins
(4) Length of foot                                                                  1ft    7ins
(5) Length of hand from wrist-bone to end of middle finger     1ft   2ins
           From comparing the height between the sole of the foot and the knee with the whole height of the seated figure, it will be found that the proportion differs a little from what is true in a well-formed man. The proportion between the height of a man's knee, when seated in such a way that the legs shall be in the same attitude as those of the Memnon, and the whole height, may be represented by the fraction 20/52, while the like proportion in the Memnon is about 21/51. The denominator of the former fraction should perhaps be about 53, which will render the difference still greater. This colossus then shows a fact contrary to Belzoni's assertion, that the heads of colossi are larger than they ought to be in consequence of their greater distance from the spectator. In this statue exactly the reverse is the case : the head is certainly small, while the lower part of the legs and the feet exceed their due proportion.This statue, from being badly placed in the Museum and not sufficiently elevated, does not produce the complete effect which it would in a better situation.   
    
     
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