riveted to the spot, unable to decide whither to direct the step, or fix
the attention." These ruins extend about eight miles along the Nile,
from each bank to the sides of the enclosing mountains, and describe a
circuit of twenty-seven miles. The most remarkable objects on the
eastern side are the temples of Carnac and Luxor; and on the western
side are the Memnonium or palace of Memnon, two colossal statues, the
sepulchres of the kings, and the temple of Medinet Abu. The glory of
Thebes belongs to a period prior to the commencement of authentic
history. It is recorded only in the dim lights of poetry and tradition,
which might be suspected of fable, did not such mighty witnesses remain
to attest their truth. Strabo and Diodorus Siculus described Thebes
under the name of _Diospolis_ (the city of God), and gave such
magnificent descriptions of its monuments as caused the fidelity of
those writers to be called in question, till the observations of modern
travelers proved their accounts to have fallen short of the reality. At
the time of the Persian invasion under Cambyses, Memphis had supplanted
Thebes; and the Ptolemys afterwards removed the seat of empire to
Alexandria. At present, its site presents only a few scattered villages,
consisting of miserable cottages built in the courts of the temples. The
ancient structures, however, remain in a state of wonderful
preservation. Almost the whole extent of eight miles along the river is
covered with magnificent portals, obelisks decorated with most beautiful
sculptures, forests of columns, and long avenues of sphynxes and
colossal statues. The most remarkable monuments, the ruins of which
remain, are the temples of Carnac, Luxor, the Memnonium or temple of
Memnon, and the temple of Medinet Abu. The tomb of Osymandyas, the
temple of Iris, the Labyrinth, and the Catacombs lie on the western
side of the Nile. In the interior of the mountains which rise behind
these monuments, are found objects less imposing and magnificent indeed,
but not less interesting--the tombs of the kings of Thebes. Several of