TWO WEATHER-WORN FIGURES OF PRODIGIOUS SIZE]

The walls and columns of the Ramesseum, the magnificent temple built by
Ramses II, and those of Medinet Habu, the great temple built by Ramses
III, were covered with pictures in relief, made in the golden days of
Theban prosperity.

"The ancient artists, to perpetuate their work, used chisels on lasting
stone instead of brushes on perishable canvas," remarked the professor
as we examined the reliefs, "and their pictures carved on the stone
walls have endured through centuries."

We saw battle scenes with the king leading in the fray, archers
discharging arrows, charioteers riding down the foe, and enemies fleeing
in dismay; triumphal marches with the king borne aloft on a canopied
litter, fan-bearers waving fans, musicians blowing trumpets and beating
drums, courtiers bearing standards, and captives led in chains; festal
processions with the king marching in front, the sacred white bull
festooned with wreaths, maidens carrying flowers, and priests bearing
images; and nations paying tribute to the king upon his throne, Nubians
bringing leopard skins, giraffes, and grinning apes, and princes
presenting gems, costly vases, and golden shields. One picture at
Medinet Habu represented the soldiers cutting off the right hands of
their enemies who had been slain in battle and bringing these gruesome
emblems of the dead to the secretaries to be counted and recorded. The
secretaries had counted and recorded twelve thousand five hundred and
thirty-five hands. To enumerate the many interesting scenes sculptured
on the temple walls would be like cataloguing a picture gallery.

At the Ramesseum, the enormous Colossus of Ramses lay broken on the
ground, overthrown by some mighty force.

"This huge granite figure," said Mahmoud, "was, before its fall, the
largest statue ever carved out of one block of stone. Its height was
nearly sixty feet, the fingers three feet long, and its weight has been
estimated at one thousand tons."

The Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures in the midst of
level cultivated fields, were passed and photographed as we returned to
Luxor. Their hugeness may be judged by comparing their size with the
height of the tourists alongside in the illustration.

"During the weeks of inundation each year," said Mahmoud, after he had
told us the dimensions of the statues and the mythical stories
associated with them, "these grain fields as far as the vegetat