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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte. Vivant Denon | | | | |
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Chapter 35: Crocodiles. (p.184)
On
the 26th [Jan. 1799], a new nature developed before our eyes: palm
trees, much larger than those we had seen, gigantic tamarisks, villages
half a league long, and yet lands which had been flooded, and who had
remained uneducated. Did the inhabitants only want to cultivate what
would suffice for their food, and thus deprive their tyrants of the
surplus of their work? In the afternoon, chatting with Desaix, he spoke
to me about crocodiles: we were in the part of the Nile where they
inhabit; in front of us were low sandy islands, like those where they
appear; we saw something long and brown through many of the ducks; it
was a crocodile; he was fifteen to eighteen feet tall; (p.185) he was
asleep: a gunshot was fired at him, he gently entered the water, and
came out a few minutes later; a second shot made him go back in, he
came out the same way: I found his belly much bigger than those of
animals of the same species that I had seen stuffed.
Fig.1: Nilotic crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) drawn
by Redoute and Saint-Hilary, artistic and scientific companions of
Denon in 1798-9. This figure (published in the Natural History
section of Description de l'Egypte,
vol. I, Reptiles, Pl.1, 1809) shows both adult and juvenile
examples of the Nilotic crocodile, the species associated with the god
Sobek. They were frequently mummified and placed in tombs at temples of
Sobek at Tebtunis and other Fayum sites.
We
learned that part of the Mamluks had crossed to the right bank of the
river, and that the other was following the road to Esnê and Syene.
Desaix sent his cavalry out at midnight to try to reach the latter.
On
the 27th, we left at two in the morning; eight of us found a dead
crocodile on the banks of the river: it was still fresh; it was eight
feet long: the upper jaw, the only moving one, fits rather poorly with
the lower one; but his throat makes up for it, it folds like a purse,
and its elasticity acts as a tongue, of which it absolutely lacks: its
nostrils and ears close like the gills of a fish; his eyes, small and
close together, add much to the horror of his physiognomy.
Chapter 36: Thebes. (p.185)
At
nine o'clock, turning around the point of a mountain range which forms
a promontory, we suddenly discovered the location of ancient Thebes in
all its development; this city whose extent is depicted by a single
expression of Homer, this Thebes with a hundred gates; poetic and vain
phrase that has been repeated with confidence for so many centuries.
Described in a few pages dictated to Herodotus [1] by Egyptian priests,
and copied since by all other historians; famous for the number of
kings whom their wisdom placed in the rank of gods, for laws which we
revered without ever knowing them, for sciences entrusted to (p.186)
sumptuous and enigniatic inscriptions, learned and first monuments
arts, respected by time; this abandoned sanctuary, isolated by
barbarism, and returned to the desert from which it had been conquered;
this city finally always enveloped in the veil of mystery by which even
the colossi are enlarged; this relegated city, which the imagination
only glimpses through the darkness of time, was still a ghost so
gigantic for our imagination that the army, at the sight of its
scattered ruins, stopped herself, and, by a spontaneous movement,
clapped her hands, as if the occupation of the remains of this capital
had been the goal of her glorious labors, had completed the conquest of
Egypt.
I made a drawing of this first aspect as if I could have
feared that Thebes would escape me (plate 21-2); and I found in the
complacent enthusiasm of the soldiers knees to serve as a table, bodies
to give me shade, the sun illuminating with too ardent rays a scene
that I would like to paint for my readers, to make them share the
feeling that the presence of such large objects made me feel, and the
spectacle of the electric emotion of an army composed of soldiers,
whose delicate susceptibility made me happy to be their companion,
glorious to be French.
Plate 21-2: Panorama of Thebes (Denon, vol. 1, 1802).
"No.
2.—General view of Thebes, taken from the south-east to the north-west,
on the right bank of the river, from where we can see all the monuments
of this city, except that of the village of Damhout; starting on the
right, where we see six birds, the village of Karnak, with its ruins;
in the middle, on a sort of promontory formed by a bend in the river,
that of Luxor; immediately after on the third plane, and on the other
bank of the river, Kournou; following, on the same line, Memnonium, the
two colossal statues, and Medinet-Abou, all crowned by the mountains of
the Libyan chain: the place where we see two birds is that where is the
valley which leads at the tombs of kings; on the left, a cultivated
island, and in the middle, in the foreground, these low islands on
which crocodiles are often seen; this view, which happens to be a kind
of topographical map of four square leagues, in addition to the extreme
interest of its monuments, offers a picturesque aspect by its shapes,
by the movement of the ground, and by the variety of its colors." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
The situation of
this city is as beautiful as one can imagine; the extent of its ruins
does not allow us to doubt that it was as vast as fame has published:
the diameter of Egypt not being large enough to contain it, its
monuments lean on the two ranges which border it, and its tombs occupy
the western valleys well into the desert. I took a view of its
situation from the moment I could distinguish its obelisks and its
famous porticos: I thought that, just as eager as me, my readers would
see with interest the image of such a curious object. 'as far as we can
perceive it, and that in general the first duty of a traveler is to
give an account of all his sensations, without allowing himself to
judge and distort them. This is why (p.187) I made it a law to engrave
my drawings as I made them from nature: and I tried to preserve in my
journal the same naivety that I put in my drawings. Four villages
compete for the remains of the ancient monuments of Thebes; and the
river, by the sinuosity of its course, still seems proud to cross its
ruins.
Plate 16:
"View of a temple of Thebes at Kournou; it is cluttered with bad modern
structures, which are very picturesquely composed with the severity of
the ancient style of the monument and its state of dilapidation; its
shape, different from the other temples, would have made the plan
interesting; but, apart from the difficulty presented by the ruin of
the building, circumstances never allowed me to undertake it; its
burial and the heaviness of its dimensions further add to the colossal
aspect of its effective size." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Between noon and one o'clock, we arrived at a
desert which was the field of the dead: the rock, cut into its inclined
plane, presents regular openings in the three faces of a square, behind
which double and triple galleries and chambers served as burials. I
entered there on horseback with Desaix, believing that these dark
retreats could only be the asylum of peace and silence; but we had
barely entered the darkness of these galleries when we were assailed
with javelins and stones by enemies whom we could not distinguish;
which put an end to our observations. We have since learned that a
considerable population inhabited these obscure retreats; that
apparently contracting fierce habits, she was almost always in
rebellion with authority, and became the terror of her neighbors: too
eager to make better acquaintance with the inhabitants, we retrograded
with precipitation; and this time we only saw Thebes at a gallop.
Plate 17-1: View of necropolis.
"No.
1.— Necropolis of Thebes, located northwest of this city, on a plateau
in the lower part of the Libyan chain: this deserted and arid part was
by its nature devoted to the silence of death. By cutting the rock on
an inclined plane, three sides quite naturally offered escarpments, in
which double galleries were dug, and behind them, sepulchral chambers;
these excavations are innumerable, and occupy a space of more than half
a square league; They now serve as housing for the inhabitants of the
village of Kournou, and their numerous herds. It would be very
interesting to observe the details of these tombs: but the first time I
saw them, I entered there with Dcsaix, and we thought we would be
killed with pikes by the inhabitants who had hidden there; the second
time they fired guns at us there; the last time we went there to make
war on the inhabitants, and, once peace was made, we did not want to
torment them with a home visit." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
My fate was to stay for months at Zaoïé, at
Bénisouef, at Girgé, and to pass without stopping over the large
objects that I had come to look for. We arrived a moment later at a
temple, which I had to judge to be the oldest by its dilapidation, its
more pronounced color of dilapidation, its less perfected construction,
the excessive simplicity of its ornaments, the irregularity of its
lines. , its dimensions, and above all the crudeness of its sculpture.
I quickly began to make a drawing of it, then, galloping after the
troops who were still marching, I arrived at a second building, much
larger and much better preserved (pl;ate 17-2). I found on the way (p.188) what is
this material that has long been called basalt, and of which the
magnificent Egyptian lions which are at the bottom of the ramp of the
Capitol are made.
At its entrance two square piers flank an immense door:
against the interior wall are sculpted in two bas-reliefs the
victorious battles of a hero; this sculpture is of the most baroque
composition, without perspective, without plan, without distribution,
and like the first conceptions of the human mind which always has the
same march. At Pompeia I saw drawings made by Roman soldiers on the
stucco of the walls; they entirely resembled our drawings, those of any
child who wants to convey his first ideas, when he has not yet seen,
compared, or reflected. Here the hero is gigantic, and the enemies he
fights are twenty-five times smaller: if this was already a flattery of
the arts, it was undoubtedly misunderstood, since it must have been
shameful for this hero not to having to fight only pygmies.
A
few steps from this door are the remains of an enormous colossus; it
was badly broken, because the spare parts have so preserved their
polish, and the fractures their edges, that it is obvious that if the
devastating spirit of men had allowed them to entrust time alone with
the task of ruining this monument, we would still enjoy it in its
entirety; it suffices to say, to give an idea of its size, that the
width of the shoulders is twenty-five feet, which would make the whole
figure approximately seventy-five feet; exact in its proportions, the
style is mediocre, but the execution perfect; in his fall he fell on
his face, which prevents us from seeing this interesting part; the
hairstyle being broken, we are no longer in the position of judging by
its attributes whether it was the figure of a king or a divinity: was
it the statue of Memnon or that of Ossimandue? ....The descriptions
made so far, compared on (p.189) places to monuments, rather confuse
ideas than clarify them.
Plate 17, No. 2: The Memnonium.
"View
of what is commonly called Memnonium [1] on the left bank of the Nile. (See
the plan, Plate XXVII.) To the left of the view is the ruin of a large
gate, covered with barbarously composed bas-reliefs, representing a
battle; between this large door and another is an overturned colossus,
whose ruined fragments resemble the site of a quarry; the entire
monument runs from east to west, and reaches almost to the base of the
Libyan chain: the trees that we see are doum palms; and below the trees
is the ruined one, the only column which remains in the base of the
statue, which could have been brought to my courtyard, and the
beginning of the avenue in Europe, and which could have given an idea
colossal columns; to the right of the door of the colossal proportion
of these species of the south is a cistern; on the foreground with
Egyptian monuments. left part of the village of Karnak." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
If it were that of Memnon, which is
most probable, all travelers for two thousand years would have been
mistaken in the object of their curiosity, as we see by the inscription
of their name on another colossus, of which I will have to speak later.
There remains a foot of this first statue, which is detached and well
preserved, very likely to be transported, which could give in Europe a
scale of comparison of monuments of this type, and make a counterpart
to the colossal feet which are in the courtyard of the Capitol in Rome.
The enclosure in which this figure is located was either a temple, or a
palace, or perhaps both at the same time; for if the bas-relief was
suitable for a sovereign's palace, eight figures of priests in front of
two interior porticos were also suitable for a temple, unless they were
there to remind the sovereign that, in accordance with the laws,
priests must always serve and assist His Majesty. Moreover, this ruin,
located on the slope of the mountain, and having never been inhabited
in later times, is so well preserved in its still standing parts that
it has less the appearance of a ruin than of a building that is being
built, and whose work is suspended: we see a number of columns right
down to their bases; the proportions are large, but the style, although
purer than that of the first temple, is nevertheless not comparable to
that of Tintyra, neither for the majesty of the whole, nor for the
delicacy of the execution of the details. It would have taken time for
reflection to come up with the plan; but we had taken the galloping
movement, and we had to follow closely so as not to be stopped forever
in our observations.
We were attracted into the plain by two
large seated figures (plate 19), between which, according to the descriptions of
Herodotus, Strabo, and those who copied these writers, was the famous
statue of Ossimandue, the greatest (p.190) of all the colossi:
Ossimandue himself had been so glorious of the execution of an
enterprise so daring, that he had an inscription scratched on the
pedestal of this statue, in which he defied the power of men to attack
this monument as well as that of his tomb, whose sumptuous description
seems only a fantastic dream. The two statues still standing are
undoubtedly those of the mother and son of this prince, of whom
Herodotus mentions; that of the king has disappeared; time and jealousy
having fought over its destruction, all that remains is a shapeless
granite rock; it takes the stubborn gaze of the observer accustomed to
seeing to distinguish some parts of these figures which have escaped
destruction, and even then they are so insignificant that they can give
no idea of its dimension: the two which are still existing have fifty
to fifty-five feet in proportion; they are seated, both hands on their
knees: what remains of them shows that the style was as severe as the
pose was straight.
Plate 19: Colossal statues,
"No.
1.—The two statues which we agree to call the statues of Memnon, on one
of which are inscribed the names of the learned and illustrious Greek
and Latin personages who came to hear the sounds she made, they say,
when she was struck by the first rays of dawn; among these names we
find that of the Empress Sabine, wife of Adrian."
"I chose
the moment of sunrise, the moment when travelers arrive to hear; .and
which at the same time presents these monuments in a historical manner,
orients them, and shows the effect of the trail of shadow projecting to
the base of the Libj'-que range, covered with tombs. The ruin that we
see beyond the statues is that of Memnonium."
"No. 2 and 3.—The
state of destruction of the above figures. I made a faithful portrait
of the breaks, and put the living figures in exact proportion. No. 2 is
the one that is forward in view; it is drawn at its northern part; that
No. 3 is the other statue taken, from its southern part, and which we
have agreed, I do not know by what preference, to call the statue of
Memnon; at least it is on its legs that the names of those who came to
hear it are inscribed in Greek and Latin. It should be noted that Nos.
2 and 3 are two drawings made separately, that the direction of these
two figures is the same, and that if the latter seem to turn their
backs on each other, it is because the sun was so hot when I made the
drawings, that it could only be in the shadow of one that I was able to
draw the other. They are 55 feet high; they are in one piece; placed on
high ground, and are visible from five leagues." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
The
bas-reliefs and small figures which make up the armchair of the one
further south, however, lack neither charm nor delicacy in execution;
It is against the leg of the northern one that the names of the
illustrious and ancient travelers who came to hear the sounds of the
statue of Meranon are written in Greek. It is here that we can be
convinced of the empire of fame over the minds of men, since, in times
when the ancient Egyptian government and the jealousy of the priests no
longer allowed foreigners to approach these monuments, the love of the
marvelous still acted on those who came to visit them; that in the
century of Adrian, enlightened by the lights of philosophy, Sabine, the
wife of this emperor, who herself was literate, wanted, as did the
scientists who accompanied her, to have heard sounds, which no physical
reason nor politics could no longer produce: but the pride of
memorializing his name by inscribing it (p.191) before such antiquities
could very well have caused the first names to be written, and the very
natural desire to associate his own with this kind of glory will have
added others to it; this is undoubtedly the cause of these innumerable
inscriptions of names from all dates and in all languages.
I had
barely begun to draw these colossi when I realized that I had been left
alone with my sumptuous originals, and the thoughts that their
destitution inspired in me; frightened of where I found myself, I
galloped again to catch up with my curious companions, who had already
arrived at a large temple, near the village of Medinet-Abou. I observed
while running that the site of the tomb of Ossimandue was cultivated,
that consequently the flood reached there; which proved either that the
bed of the Nile was raised, or that formerly there had been some quay
or dike to prevent the waters from flooding this part of the city,
which, at the time when we crossed it, was a vast field of very green
corn, which promised an abundant harvest.
Plate 20-1 (top): Medinet-Abou temples.
"No.
1.—General view of the temples and palaces located near the village of
Medinet-Abou in Thebes. The plan, Plate XXVIII, can provide insight.
The part in front is that marked figure first; it was never finished,
and we can still see in bossage what was intended to be sculpted in
bas-relief; behind, to the left, marked in the plan fig. 3, is the ruin
of the small palace, the view of which is made apart." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Plate 21-1 (bottom): The
small palace which is near the great temple of Medinet-Abou (shown at
right) is the only monument which is obviously not a temple, and yet it
was still adjoining it; it has a floor, windows, small doors, a
staircase, balconies as solidly constructed as sacred buildings; it is
also covered with bas-reliefs: circumstances have never given me the
freedom to draw them; the bases to support the balconies are very
extraordinary, and the only ones I have seen of this kind; it is the
same thought as that of the caryatids: another singularity is the
crenellated facings, which we see in the middle of the print, which I
have not found anywhere else, and of which I have not been able to on
the places imagine the use. I have since been told that among the
bas-reliefs there are some which represent licentious scenes; they
escaped me: when we approach monuments of such extraordinary antiquity
and of such a particular form, we experience such preoccupation, such
agitated curiosity, that we look without seeing, and that for the most
part we leave them with as much worry and regret as enthusiasm." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
To the right and adjoining the village of
Medinet-Abou, at the bottom of the mountain, is a vast palace built and
enlarged at various times. What I was able to observe positively in the
speed of this first examination, which we carried out on horseback, was
that the back of this palace, which leans against the mountain, and
which seemed to me to be the oldest part built , was covered with
hieroglyphics, very deeply dug, and without any relief; that
Catholicity, in the fourth century, took possession of this temple, and
made it a church, adding two rows of columns in the style of the time,
to be able to support a roof. To the south of this monument, there are
Egyptian apartments with square windows and stairs; it was the only
building I had yet seen that was not a temple; next to it, factories
rebuilt with older materials in front of which are a facade and a
courtyard which were never completed. It was (p.192) It was rather a
glance, a recognition made at haste than a real exam. The first thirst
of curiosity satisfied, Desaix galloped again as if he had seen the
Mamluks on the plain; he took us two more leagues from there to sleep
at Hermontis, where for my part I was lodged in a temple.
Footnotes:
1.
[Editor's note:] The site named Memnonium by Denon corresponds to part
of the site of Deir el-Bahri, which contains large temples and tombs
from the 11th and 12th dynasties, and in the New Kingdom, a major
temple complex for Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th dynasty (reigned
1474-1458 BC). Early excavations were undertaken for the Egyptian
Antiquities Dept. by Maspero and Brugsch in the 1870s, by Naville for
the Egyptian Exporation Fund in the 1890s - 1913 (Naville, Édouard, The
Temple of Deir el Bahari, EEF, vols 12-14, 16, 19, 27, 29, London, 1894-1898; and The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari, EEF, vols. 28, 30, 32, London, 1907-1913); and
by Winlock for the Metropolitan Museum (Winlock, Herbert E.,
Excavations at Deir el-Bahri, 1911-1931, New York: Macmillan, 1942.)
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