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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte. Vivant Denon | | | | |
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Chapter 40: Etfu, or Apollinopolis Magna; its magnificent temple. (p.196)
We
saw on the other side of the river two hundred Mamluks descend with
their crews; we have since known that it was Elfy-bey, who, wounded at
Samanhout, did not want to cross the cataracts with the other beys. As
we approached, we admired the superb and advantageous situation of
Apollinopolis Magna; it dominated the river and the whole valley of
Egypt, and its superb temple still pyramided over the whole like a
citadel which could have commanded the country: this idea derives so
naturally (p.197) from its situation, that this temple is only
known in the country under the name of the fortress. I
anticipated with sadness that we would arrive late and leave early the
next morning.
I started to gallop to get ahead of the first
soldiers, and before the last rays of day ceased to illuminate the
country. This time I only had time to explore this building on
horseback, whose grandeur, nobility, magnificence and conservation
surpass anything I had yet seen in Egypt and elsewhere; it made a
gigantic impression on me like its dimensions. This building is a long
series of pyramidal doors, courtyards decorated with galleries,
porticos, covered naves, built not with stones, but with entire rocks.
Night had come before I had time to tour this surprising monument; and
I began to moan again about the fate which obliged me to see so quickly
what deserved so much admiration.
Plate 33, No.1 (top): View of Etfu, from south to north. (from Denon 1802 vol. 3).
"This
general view, as well as that No. 2, presents the imposing appearance
of this large building, and the effect it has in space, compared with
modern buildings, with an entire village, with the mountains, with all
the surrounding nature. We cannot judge such an object with such
comparisons; as soon as we are close we no longer have scales, a
fragment becomes a monument, and it loses its majesty because we cannot
distinguish its shape. I have always thought that travelers cannot pay
too much attention to this distinction, to give a fair idea of what
they want to make known, and that before approaching the object and
attacking its details, they must always present the general view, which
serves as a topographical map of the country. No. 1 contains, on the
foreground, typhoiium. This village of Etfu, the temple of
Apollinopolis Magna, on the entrance side, its portico, and its
sanctuary, its circumvallation wall, which we will realize when seeing
the plan, Plate XXVIII; behind is the Nile, and the valley, bordered on
the east by the Arabian chain.
" No. 2 (bottom):
The view of the same temple, from north to south; on the front the main
road which brings from Esné to Etfu, lined with modern tombs; the
temple all covered with hieroglyphics, the modern structures which
still cover the roof of the sanctuary and the portico; on the right and
left, the village of Etfu, the Libyque range; and in the sky a flock of
storks, of which the country abounds.
(Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Plate 34: Interior of the temple of Apollinopolis Magna (Denon, 1802 vol. 3, ).
"View
of the interior, taken from beneath the portico between the first two
columns on the left. (See the plan, Plate XXVIII, letter D.) This view
gives an idea of the interior of this monument, of its magnificence, of
the research of its execution, of its floral borders and its
architraves, of the beauty and of the variety of capitals, columns,
their landings, the work of centuries, and which are produced by puny
factories built and destroyed successively on the roof of the temple,
and in the courtyard which is between the portico and the door
entrance, which forms the second plane of this view; in the background
are the ruins of the ancient city, which covered with sand now form
mounds which dominate the temple to the west." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)
Plate 35: View of the temple of Apollinopolis Magna (from Denon 1802 vol. 3).
"View
of Apollinopolis magna in Etfu, taken from the west to the east of this
temple on heights which dominate it, and from where we can see both its
exterior development and some parts of its interior. I made a journey
of more than fifty leagues with the sole thought of adding this drawing
to my collection, of completing the presentation of this superb
building; and yet, having arrived at Etfu, I was about to leave without
having been able to draw it, due to the impossibility of supporting the
heat of the sun to which I had to be exposed to make this view. I owe
it to the intelligence of citizen Baltard to have rendered the very
imperfect sketch, which I had made as best I could, tormented by the
dazzlement which my eyes experienced from the vivacity of the day, and
those which my blood in it boiling caused me at every moment: this
print is one of the many obligations that I have at the city. Baltard,
who lent himself to the execution of my work with an accuracy, a zeal,
and a friendship, which matched the talent that it was so easy for him
to put into it."
"In the development of this large monument we
can notice on the right the entrance door; between the two large piers
two stones advancing on the doorframe, against which undoubtedly rested
the heads of two statues in the shape of caryatids; the four long
niches in front of which the obelisks must have been, as I am
authorized to believe by the repetition of the same niches behind the
obelisks that I found at Philea; on the walls of the mole three orders
of hieroglyphics, becoming ever more gigantic, and ending up having a
proportion of twenty-five feet; the interior courtyard, decorated with
a gallery of columns, carrying two terraces, which lead to two doors,
through which one arrives at the stairs which go up to the platforms of
the mole; in the courtyard, the modern buildings, which are part of the
village of Etfu, the other part of which can be seen beyond the temple;
the portico which follows undoubtedly contains various apartments, and
the sanctuary of the people buried, and now cluttered with rubbish,
with the exception of a few voids which serve as stores for the houses
built on the platform of the temple; at the leveling a circumvallation
wall, decorated inside and out with innumerable hieroglyphs, executed
with careful care; at the very left part of the print, the Arab tombs
that we encounter on the road from Esnê to Etfu, the Nile in the third
plane, and at the very bottom the Arabian chain.; on the front the
mound of rubble, under which are the remains of the ancient city of
Apollinopolis, and the group of figures, the frugal meal of an Arab
family." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates.)Plate 28, No. 2 (right): Plan of the temple of Apollinopolis Magna. (from Denon 1802, vol. 3).
"Two
large pyramidal-shaped piers, joined by a large door A, the leaves of
which rested on the frames of drum B; the leaves of these doors were
approximately 45 to 50 feet high, and rolled on hinges of which we can
now only see the notch in which they were fixed: outside there remained
two projecting pins, under which it is to believe that two statues in
the shape of caryatids were supported, of the kind that we see at the
door of the Clementinum Museum; next to them are two LL niches, long
and narrow, in front of which were doubtless obelisks, such as I saw
two in the same situation next to the gate of the mole of the main
temple of Philaae."
"The interior distribution of these two
piers also divided them into three parts; II, the drum of a turning
staircase, of gentle treads, which leads to landings which give from
space to space in two sad rooms, H and K, the use of which it is very
difficult to imagine, except to illuminate and ventilate the staircase,
lighten the mass of the building, and prevent it from collapsing under
its own weight, as at Thebes: these staircases lead to two platforms,
which could serve as observatories or military launches for enlighten
the whole country."
"Courtyard C is surrounded on three sides by
a gallery, forming a terrace F, supported by columns of a diameter and
height less than those of the portico D, and which seem to enhance its
majesty; this beautiful courtyard is crowded with nasty little
dwellings, which have been collapsing and rebuilding for many
centuries, raising the ground, having already buried the beautiful
columns of the portico up to two-thirds of their height, and are
currently closing up to the cymaise. door which entered the different
rooms of the E part of the nave of the temple; this part of the
building currently serves as stores for those who have their house on
the roof: a circumvallation wall forms a corridor G, which ends at two
false doors; this wall, lower and just as covered with sculptures as
the rest of the building, seems to be a magnificent base for its
exterior decoration; this enclosure wall is finished with a cornice,
and covered with hieroglyphics inside and out: finally this monument,
which is more than 500 feet long, built with sandstone which has the
equality and almost the fineness of marble , is covered with
hieroglyphics, carved in such a firm and precious manner, that the work
has the appearance rather of being cast in bronze and chiseled than of
being sculpted." (Comments by Vivant Denon in vol.2, Explanations of Plates).
The
conservation of this ancient building contrasts wonderfully with the
grayish ruins of the modern dwellings built within its interior; part
of the population of the village lives in the temple in huts, built in
the courtyards and on the attic, and which, like the swallows' nests in
our houses, dirty them without masking or degrading them. Moreover,
this mixture, annoying at first glance, produces a picturesque contrast
which gives at the same time a scale, and men and times: moreover, do
we have the right to find it ridiculous that peoples ignorant people
support their weak constructions, and do not fear to hide beauties on
which they have never fixed their gaze, while we leave the arenas of
Nîmes [1] cluttered with hovels?
Chapter 41: Continuation of the March into Upper Egypt. - Distress of the Army. - Ruins of Silsilis. - Anecdotes. - Gazelles. - Arrival at Syenne. (p.198)
Beyond Etfu the country narrows; there is only a quarter of a league left
between
the desert and the river. At noon, we stopped on the banks of the Nile:
the cavalry had preceded us; when we were about to set out, she
informed us that we were going to have to cross a desert of seven
leagues: the day being too late for us to undertake such a long march,
we slept in an abandoned village, where fortunately there was wood.
On
the 30th [January, 1799], we set out at three o'clock: after walking an
hour in the cultivated country, we entered the mountain composed of
rotten slate, sandstone, white and pink quartz, brown pebbles, with
some white carnelians. After five hours of walking in the desert, the
shoes were torn, the soldiers tied what linen they had to their feet,
an ardent thirst devoured them; water could only be found in the Nile,
whose banks were as arid as the desert: the division was exhausted, and
to reach the river it was necessary to turn back a league; but thirst
dictated, we arrived there exhausted; the crews, whose animals had not
had any grazing the day before, weakened by hunger, had only been able
to follow partially. What was the distress, when it was necessary to
announce to the troop that there was nothing to eat! we looked at each
other sadly; no murmur was heard: only a dreary silence, but the tears,
sad harbinger of despair, were much more terrible. After a few moments
of this frightful situation, a camel carrying (p.199) a light little
load of butter joined us with some of those whose provisions had been
eaten; we looked at the bottom of the bags, we shook them, we managed
to collect enough to distribute a handful of flour: we proposed to make
fritters; a tree gave us fire; the occupation chased away melancholy
ideas, and French cheerfulness brought back the usual courage among us.
We
set off very quickly in our ballast; but barely on the way, our poor
horses which had not eaten donuts rolled beneath us from starvation; it
was necessary to lead them in hand, it was necessary to support them or
abandon them; we had to walk, which I would have thought impossible
without necessity: but there was an emergency; and we had learned the
extent of the resources that this word reveals.
Half an hour
after passing the first desert, we found the ruins of Silsilis, which
consist of debris, bricks, and the remains of a temple, the highest
walls of which do not now exceed three feet above. above the ground We
can also recognize that the nave of the temple, covered with
hieroglyphs, was surrounded by a gallery, to which, at a later time, a
portico without hieroglyphs had been added: we brought a third ibis
into the desert; a hyena followed the column for quite a long time.
The
rock becomes granite, with pebbles of all colors and types, which their
hardness made susceptible to a brilliant polish; I found some of
carnelian, jasper, and serpentine; sand is only formed from the debris
of all the primitive and constituent materials of granite. We arrived
at a high plateau, from which we discover a vast expanse in which we
see the Nile meandering; after having flowed along the Mokatam, it
returns to the northwest to run north again. At this angle, we can see
the ruins of a lighthouse, which perhaps served to illuminate this
(p.200) tortuous part of navigation; at the other corner, we see the
heights of Ombos, displaying beautiful monuments; at the bend of the
river, one of its branches forms a crowded island, which alone is worth
twenty square leagues of the whole country which borders it: its
position saved it from the incursions of the Mamluk cavalry and from
our visit; the inhabitants of the mainland withdrew there, leaving us
the large village of Binban, leaning against the desert and as sad as
it.
This is where we arrived after eleven hours of walking. The
herd of oxen which followed us had gone astray; we had to wait for it
with the fear that it would have been taken: the village only offered
us a few walls; they were excavated down to their foundations. At that
moment I witnessed a scene which offered a striking contrast of the
fiercest brutality and the most hospitable sensitivity. At the moment
when I observed that if avarice is ingenious in finding a hiding place,
the need is perhaps even more ingenious in discovering it, a soldier
comes out of a hole, dragging after him a goat which he had snatched:
he was followed by an old man carrying two children at his breast; he
leaves them on the ground, falls on his knees, and, without uttering a
word, he shows, by shedding a torrent of tears, that these children
will die if the goat is taken away from them. The blind and deaf need
is not stopped by this heartbreaking picture, and the goat is already
slaughtered: at the same moment another soldier arrives, holding in his
arms another child, a mother, fleeing before us , had undoubtedly been
forced to abandon in the desert; despite the weight with which this
brave man was loaded, his bag, his rifle, his cartridges, the weariness
of four days of forced march, the need to save this unfortunate little
creature had made him pick it up carefully; he brought it from two
leagues in his arms: not knowing what to do with it in this abandoned
village, he saw a single inhabitant, he saw (p.201) saw two children,
and, without taking any further information, he still leaves him the
object of his concern with the enthusiasm of a sensitive being who does
a good deed.
If I had been horrified to see that hunger made an
individual of my species as ferocious as a wild beast, this other
soldier had not relieved me, but had linked me to humanity. What
sensations are those produced by gentle virtues in the midst of the
horrors of war! the withered soul is revived; it is a glass of fresh,
fresh water presented in the middle of the desert. I was able to give
money and biscuits to the unfortunate old man; but not being able to do
anything for the children, I ran away to escape the spectacle of a
misfortune for which it was not in my power to provide any help.
On
the 31st, new deserts to cross: we find the rock alternately of granite
and decomposed sandstone, forming a friable and tearing crust on the
surface, similar to slag. In the valleys where sand abounds, its
surface is smooth and soft like snow, so that the tracks of animals are
printed there with the same ease, and we can recognize those who have
crossed them since the last wind; most often there are traces of
gazelles which cross them: this pretty little animal, more shy than
fierce, after having taken its food on the edge of the river, will hide
its fear in the silence of the desert. I noticed with sad reflection
that an animal of prey almost always accompanies the steps of this
pretty and frail individual; the speed of its course does not ensure
its freedom, and space is not yet for it an asylum against tyranny:
during the day we saw two of these animals, the most elegant, the most
delicate of all those of this big family. We walked as slowly as with
difficulty, stopping every moment to mend our shoes and catch our
breath: in the afternoon, I found (p.202) two children, and, without
taking any further information, he still leaves the object of his
concern with the enthusiasm of a sensitive being who does a good deed..
We
walked as slowly as with difficulty, stopping every moment to mend our
shoes and catch our breath: in the afternoon, I found (p.202) in the
middle of the desert the trace of a great ancient path, covered with
each side of large masses of stones aligned, and which led straight to
Syene.
In the afternoon, the troop was so tired that on leaving
the desert we allowed them to stop at the first place that could
provide grass for our horses; I believe that it would have been
impossible to tear them away, nor to make the soldiers relieve
themselves: for me, I was at the end of my strength, and I remained as
if attached to the ground where I sat, and I passed there the night.
The next day we had only three-quarters of a league to go to rejoin the
cavalry, which had only gone ahead of us to devour the country in front
of us; finally we reached Eçouan or Syene, the end of our march. The
soldier forgot his fatigue, as if he had arrived at the promised land;
as if, to find a country that could feed him, he would not have had to
retrace the same path he had just traveled so painfully; but the past
is already nothing, and the present enjoyment barely allows us to
glimpse the uncertain future. However, I saw only myself as being in a
position to rejoice, since I was going to breathe and sit down for the
first time in a country where everything was going to be interesting.
The
first good news we learned was that the Mamluks had not burned the
boats which they had not been able to get across the cataracts: we
bivouacquated at Contre-Eçouan. In the morning, I went up to the
convent of S. Laurent, which is a bad ruin. Above is the tower of the
winds, which is a star from which we have the strangest view: it is the
end of the world, or rather it is chaos, from which the air has already
been released, and whose water in veins, also beginning to separate
from the earth, promises nature to make it fertile; in fact its first
benefits are manifested on the granite rocks, where sand and silt
deposited in hollows provide a base for vegetation, which multiplies
and grows gradually. In Elephantine, the culture, (p,203) the trees,
the homes, already offer the image of perfected nature; this is
undoubtedly what gave it the name Qeziret-êl-Sag or Isle-Fleurie in
Arabic. I made a drawing of this country, which would have to be
painted, and of which I can only offer a bird's eye map.
On
February 2, we crossed the river to go to the right bank to occupy
Eçouan or Syene. Mourat-bey had passed the cataracts, and extended over
a long space to be able to support his Mamluks and his horses: we found
ourselves in the same situation for ours.
On the 4th, Desaix
left with the cavalry to look for Elfy-bey, whom we had left behind us
to the right of the river. I had not yet left Desaix since I left
Cairo: I dare say with some pride that it was a sorrow for both of us;
we had spent such sweet and repeated moments together, walking side by
side for twelve to fifteen hours in a row; we didn't talk, we dreamed
out loud; and often, after these long sessions, we said to ourselves:
How many things we will have to say to each other the rest of our
lives! How many administrative, wise, philanthropic ideas reached his
soul when the sound of the trumpet or the roll of the drum ceased to
give him war fever. What interesting notes his astonishing memory would
provide me today! with what advantage I would consult him! with what
interest he would see my work, which he would have regarded as his own!
By moving away from me for a few moments, it seemed that he wanted to
gradually accustom me to leaving him.
Footnotes:
1.
[Editor's note:] Denon here refers to the large Roman amphitheater at
Nimes in Provence of southern France, built in the 1st century AD and still
relatively well-preserved [and today restored], which at the time he wrote (1798-9)
evidently contained numerous makeshift dwellings.
,
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