The Pylon of Ramses II with The Battle of Kadesh :-
We now pass out of the Forecourt of Ramses by the western gate, and go
round to the front of the great pylon .
The gateway was originally flanked by six colossi of Ramses II, two
sitting and one standing on each side . Of these, the two sitting statues still
remain, much weathered and mutilated, and one of the standing colossi still
survives, in a similar condition .
Of the two fine obelisks, which originally stood in front of the seated
colossi, one, 82 feet in height, still remains in position .
The other, 74 feet high, now adorns the Place de la Concorde at Paris .
The scenes on the front of the pylon, which follow the usual rule -achievements
of the Pharaoh on the outside walls of the temple, religious scenes on the
inside walls - represent the everlasting Battle of Kadesh of which Ramses II
was, with so little justification, so uncommonly proud . We shall meet these
reliefs, or ' another of the same ' more than once before we are done with
them, so that there is no reason to detail the various scenes here .
Scenes from the Asiatic campaigns of Ramses II are continued along the
western wall of the temple behind the pylon . The king storms the town of
" Tunip " in Naharin ; charges the enemy in the field, receives
prisoners, and returns in triumph . Next, he drives the enemy back upon their
city ; attacks the city of Satarna, and a devastated landscape is shown . The
royal army then climbs the Lebanon, and the sons of Ramses bring in Asiatic
prisoners .
The end of our journey :-
We have now completed our visitation of this great
temple . Its chief attraction, from one point of view, is the comparative unity
and simplicity of its structure . Here it is strong contrast to Karnak, which
is hardly a temple, but rather an aggregate of temples, and an epitome of the
history of Thebes . All that counts at Luxor Temple was built within what
seems, in Egypt, the small space of 175 years ; and while one cannot deny to
the work of Ramses II a certain impressiveness of mere bulk, it is scarcely to
be questioned that the temple would have been far more beautiful without his
additions to the work of Amenhotep III .
All that is best at Luxor Temple was done, roughly
speaking, within half a century, between 1400 and 1350 B.C. . And thus, while
Karnak, so much vaster than its sister temple, bewilders and overwhelms almost
as much as it impresses us, Luxor Temple charms us by the clarity and
intelligibility of its lay-out .
Good Bye ... But Do not Forget That
LoL ...............
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