Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2)

Megara still retains it name: it has been greatly infested by corsairs; insomuch that in 1676, the inhabitants were accustomed, on seeing a boat approaching in the daytime, or hearing their dogs bark by night, immediately to secrete their effects and run away. The Vaiwode, who lived in a forsaken tower, above the village, was once carried off.

Besides two citadels, Megara had several magnificent structures and ornaments. One was an aqueduct, distinguished for its grandeur and beauty; another for a statue of Diana, the protectress; and to these were added statues of the twelve great gods, of so much excellence, that they were ascribed to Praxiteles; – a group, consecrated to Jupiter Olympius, in which was a statue of that deity, with its face of gold and ivory, and the rest of the body of burnt earth. There were also a temple of Bacchus, and another of Venus; a third of Ceres, a fourth of Apollo, a fifth of Diana, and a sixth of Minerva; in which last was a statue of the goddess, the body of which was gilt, and the face, feet, and hands of ivory. There was, also, a chapel dedicated to the Night. Pausanias speaks, also, of several tombs; especially those of Hyllus, Alcmenes, Therea, and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.

In Wheler's time, Megara was a collection of pitiful cottages, whose walls were sometimes only the broken stones of her ruins, or clay dried in the sun, covered only with faggots; and these again spread over with earth above them*.

Chandler describes the site of Megara as covered with rubbish, amongst which were standing some ruinous churches; some pieces of ancient wall, on which a modern fortress has been erected. The village consisting of low, mean cottages, pleasantly situated on the slope of an eminence, indented in the middle. Nearly the whole site of the ancient city he found green with corn, and marked by heaps of stones, and the rubbish of buildings. A few inscriptions, too, were seen: one of which relates to Herodes Atticus, signalising the gratitude of the Megareans, for his benefactions and good will. There was another on a stone: – "This, too, is the work of the most magnificent Count Diogenes, the son of Archelaus, who, regarding the Grecian cities as his own family, has bestowed on that of the Megarensians 100 pieces of gold towards the building of their towers; and also 150 more, with 2200 feet of marble, toward re-edifying the bath; deeming nothing more honourable than to do good to the Greeks, and to restore their cities."

The person here signalised was one of the generals of the emperor Anastasius, who employed him on a rebellion in Isauria, A. D. 494.

Wheler also gives an inscription in "honour of Callimachus, Scribe and Gymnasiarch," and several others. Dr. Clarke also saw one, setting forth that, "under the care of Julius, the proconsul, and the prætorship of Aiscron, this (monument or statue) is raised by the Adrianidæ to Adrian."

Several other inscriptions have been found; one in honour of the Empress Sabina; and others in praise of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. There is another, too, in honour of a person, who had been several times conqueror in almost all the public games in Greece and Italy. There was, also (formerly), another inscription, still more honourable. This was on the tomb of a person named Choræbus, in which was related, in elegiac verse, the history of his having devoted himself to death, in order to free his native country (Thebes) from the evils of a pestilence354.

The Earl of Sandwich mentions two statues of women, about eight feet high, without heads; and having no attributes to show for what they were designed.

Clarke says, that Ionic and Doric capitals, some of which are of limestone, and others of marble, lie scattered among the ruins, and in the courts of some of the houses. He procured, also, a few fragments of terra-cotta, of a bright red hue, beautifully fluted.

Chandler speaks of the remains of a temple of Minerva, near a large basin of water; on the sides of which are the remains of a bath, remarkable for its size and ornaments, and for the number of its columns.

The stone of Megara was of a kind unknown any where else in Hellas; very white, and consisting entirely of cockle shells; which, not being hard, may be reckoned among the causes of the destruction of Megara.

Another cause of destruction may be supposed to have originated in its locality; it being the great road leading to and from the peninsula, as well as its immediate situation between the two powerful enemies, – the Athenians and Corinthians, – with whom the Megareans had frequent contests concerning the boundaries of their respective territories. If its situation, however, was the cause of its destruction, it was, also, the one great cause of its consequence355.

Megara is well known from the following anecdote. The city of Megara being taken by Demetrius, the soldiers demanded leave to plunder the inhabitants; but the Athenians interceded for them so effectually, that the city was saved. Stilpon, a celebrated philosopher, lived in that city, and was visited by Demetrius, who asked him if he had lost any thing? – "Nothing at all," replied Stilpon, "for I carry all my effects about me;" meaning by that expression, his justice, probity, temperance, and wisdom; with the advantage of not ranking any thing in the class of blessings that could be taken from him356.

NO. LIII. – MEMPHIS

There are said to be in Upper Egypt thirty-four temples, still in existence, and five palaces. The most ancient have been constructed chiefly of sand-stone, and a few with calcareous stone. Granite was only used in obelisks and colossal statues. After the seat of empire was removed to Memphis, granite was made use of.

Memphis, according to Herodotus, was built (eight generations after Thebes) by Menes; but Diodorus attributes its origin to Uchoreus, one of the successors of Osymandyas, king of Thebes. To reconcile this want of agreement, some authors ascribe the commencement to Menes, and its completion and aggrandisement to Uchoreus, who first made it a royal city.

The occasion of its having been erected, is thus stated357: – A king of Egypt having turned the course of the Nile, which diffused itself over the sands of Lybia, and the Delta being formed from the mud of its waters, canals were cut to drain Lower Egypt. The monarchs, who till then had resided at Thebes, removed nearer the mouth of the river, to enjoy an air more temperate, and be more ready to defend the entrance of their empire. They founded the city of Memphis, and endeavoured to render it equal to the ancient capital; decorating it with many temples, among which that of Vulcan drew the attention of travellers: its grandeur and sumptuousness of rich ornaments, each excited admiration. Another temple beside the barren plain was dedicated to Serapis, the principal entrance to which had a sphinx avenue. Egypt has always been oppressed with sands, which, accumulating here, half buried some of the sphinxes, and others up to the neck, in the time of Strabo; at present they have disappeared. To prevent this disaster, they built a large mound on the south side, which also served as a barrier against the inundations of the river, and the encroachments of the enemy. The palace of the kings and a fortress built on the mountain, defended it on the west; the Nile on the east; and to the north were the lakes, beyond which were the plain of mummies, and the causeway which led from Busiris to the great pyramids. Thus situated, Memphis commanded the valley of Egypt, and communicated by canals with the lakes Mœris and Mareotis. Its citizens might traverse the kingdom in boats; and it therefore became the centre of wealth, commerce, and arts; where geometry, invented by the Egyptians, flourished. Hither the Greeks came to obtain knowledge, which, carrying into their own country, they brought to perfection. Thebes, and her hundred gates, lay forgotten, and on the hill near Memphis, rose those proud monuments, those superb mausoleums, which alone, of all the Wonders of the World, have braved destructive time, and men still more destructive.

Strabo says, that in this city there were many palaces, situated along the side of a hill, stretching down to lakes and groves, forty stadia from the city. "The principal deities of Memphis," says Mr. Wilkinson, "were Pthah, Apis, and Butastis; and the goddess Isis had a magnificent temple in this city, erected by Amasis, who also dedicated a recumbent colossus, seventy-five feet long, in the temple of Pthah or Vulcan. This last was said to have been founded by Menes, and was enlarged and beautified by succeeding monarchs. Mœris erected the northern vestibule; and Sesostris, besides the colossal statues, made considerable additions with enormous blocks of stone, which he employed his prisoners of war to drag to the temple. Pheron, his son, also enriched it with suitable presents, on the recovery of his sight; and on the south of the temple of Palain, were added the sacred grove and chapel of Proteons. The western vestibule was the work of Rhampsinetus, who also erected two statues, twenty-five cubits in height; and that on the east was Asychis. It was the largest and most magnificent of all these propyla, and excelled as well in the beauty of its sculpture as its dimensions. Several grand additions were afterwards made by Psamaticus, who, besides the southern vestibule, erected a large hypæthral court, where Apis was kept, when exhibited in public. It was surrounded by a peristyle of figures, twelve cubits in height, which served instead of columns, and which were no doubt similar to those in the Memnonium at Thebes."

Diodorus and Strabo speak highly of its power and opulence: – "Never was there a city," observes the former of these, "which received so many offerings in silver, gold, obelisks, and colossal statues."

The first shock this city received was from the Persians358. Cambyses, having invaded Egypt, sent a herald to Memphis, to summon the inhabitants to surrender. The people, however, transported with rage, fell upon the herald, and tore him to pieces, and all that were with him. Cambyses, having soon after taken the place, fully revenged the indignity, causing ten times as many Egyptians of the prime nobility, as there had been of his people massacred, to be publicly executed. Among these was the eldest son of Psammenitus. As for the king himself, Cambyses was inclined to treat him kindly. He not only spared his life, but appointed him an honourable maintenance. But the Egyptian monarch, little affected by this kind usage, did what he could to raise new troubles and commotions, in order to recover his kingdom; as a punishment for which he was made to drink bull's blood, and died immediately. His reign lasted but six months; after which all Egypt submitted to the conqueror.

When the tyrant came back from Thebes, he dismissed all the Greeks, and sent them to their respective homes; but on his return into the city, finding it full of rejoicing, he fell into a great rage, supposing all this to have been for the ill success of his expedition. He therefore called the magistrates before him, to know the meaning of these rejoicings; and upon their telling him that it was because they had found their god, Apis, he would not believe them; but caused them to be put to death, as impostors, that insulted him in his misfortunes. And when he sent for the priests, who made him the same answer, he replied, that since their god was so kind and familiar as to appear among them, he would be acquainted with him, and therefore commanded him forthwith to be brought to him. But when, instead of a god be saw a calf, he was strangely astonished, and falling again into a rage, he drew out his dagger, and run it into the thigh of the beast; and then upbraiding the priests for their stupidity in worshipping a brute for a god, ordered them to be severely whipped, and all the Egyptians in Memphis, that should be found celebrating the feast of Apis, to be slain. The god was carried back to the temple, where he languished for some time and then died. The Egyptians say, that after this fact, which they reckon the highest instance of impiety that ever was committed among them, Cambyses grew mad. But his actions show that he had been mad long before.

The splendour of Upper Egypt terminated with the invasion of Cambyses. He carried with him not only conquest, but destruction. His warfare was not merely with the people, but with their palaces and temples.

At a subsequent period, Memphis was taken by Alexander. The account we give of that event is from the same author359. As soon as Alexander had ended the siege of Gaza, he left a garrison there, and turned the whole power of his army towards Egypt. In seven days' march he arrived before Pelusium, whither a great number of Egyptians had assembled, with all imaginable diligence, to recognize him for their sovereign. The hatred these people bore to the Persians was so great, that they valued very little who should be their king, provided they could but meet with a hero, to rescue them from the insolence and indignity with which themselves, and those who professed their religion, were treated. Ochus had caused their god Apis to be murdered, in a manner highly injurious to themselves and their religion; and the Persians, to whom he had left the government, continued to make the same mock of that deity. Thus several circumstances had rendered the Persians so odious, that upon Amyntas's coming a little before with a handful of men, he found them prepared to join, and assist him in expelling the Persians.

This Amyntas had deserted from Alexander, and entered into the service of Darius. He had commanded the Grecian forces at the battle of Issus; and having fled into Syria, by the country lying toward Tripoli, with four thousand men, he had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and immediately set sail towards the island of Cyprus, and afterwards towards Pelusium, which he took by surprise. As soon as he found himself possessed of this important city, he threw off the mask, and made public pretensions to the crown of Egypt; declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this, a multitude of Egyptians, who wished for nothing so earnestly as to free themselves from these insupportable tyrants, went over to him. He then marched directly to Memphis, when, coming to a battle, he defeated the Persians, and shut them up in the city. But, after he had gained the victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers together, they straggled up and down in search of plunder, which the enemy seeing, they sallied out upon such as remained, and cut them to pieces, with Amyntas their leader. This event, so far from lessening the aversion the Egyptians had for the Persians, increased it still more; so that the moment Alexander appeared upon the frontiers, the people, who were all disposed to receive that monarch, ran in crowds to submit to him. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with a secure protection, which Amyntas could not afford them; and, from this consideration, they all declared openly in his favour. Mazæus, who commanded in Memphis, finding it would be to no purpose for him to resist so triumphant an army, since Darius, his sovereign, was not in a condition to succour him, set open the gates of the city to the conqueror, and gave up eight hundred talents, (about £140,000,) and all the king's furniture. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt, without the least opposition.

On the founding of Alexandria by the Macedonian conqueror, Memphis lost the honour of being the metropolis of Egypt; and its history became so obscure, that little knowledge of it is preserved in history. We must, therefore, now content ourselves with stating to what a condition it is now reduced.

Of this celebrated city, which, according to Diodorus Siculus, was not less than seven leagues in circumference, and contained a multitude of beautiful temples, not one stone remains to tell the history; even the site on which it stood being disputed. "Is it not astonishing," says Savary, "that the site of the ancient metropolis of Egypt, a city containing magnificent temples and palaces, which art laboured to render eternal, should at present be a subject of dispute among the learned? Pliny removes the difficulty of past doubts – the three grand pyramids, seen by the watermen from all parts, stand on a barren and rocky hill, between Memphis and Delta, one league from the Nile, two from Memphis, and near the village of Busiris." Rennell, however, says, that Memf is on the site of Memphis; since Abulfeda describes it as being a short day's journey from Cairo: Memf being only fourteen road miles from that city. M. Maillet says, "The most probable opinion is, that this superb city was built at the entrance of the town of mummies, at the north of which the pyramids are placed: the prodigious ruins which present themselves in this spot will serve for a long time as proofs of the greatness of that city, of which they are remains, and the incontestible evidences of its true position." Again, he says, that "out of so many superb monuments, &c., there remain only at present some shapeless ruins of broken columns of ruined obelisks, and some other buildings fallen to decay, which one still discovers at the bottom of the lake, when the increase of the Nile is too small to furnish it with its usual supply of water. This circumstance has twice happened during my seventeen years' consulship, particularly in the year 1677, when the surface of the lake sank between eight and nine feet, and discovered at the bottom of this vast reservoir a kind of city, which excited the admiration of every one. This lake can never be dried up, or drawn off again as before; because they have neglected to keep up the canal which served to drain off the water. There are, also, some heaps of ruins in the plain of three leagues in width, that separates the northern from the southern pyramids, and in which this ancient city extended from the borders of the lake towards the Nile eastward. These are the faint traces of so much magnificence."

Dr. Shaw is of opinion that Djizeh, or Giseh, now occupies the site of Memphis; and that the city is entirely buried in soil. Other authorities, however, place it, and perhaps with greater probability, near the village of Menshee or Dashoo. Norden says: "If we give credit to some authors, the city of Memphis was situated in the place where at present stands the village of Gize, and I own that this opinion does not want probability. But if we attend to it carefully, we shall find it necessary to strike off a great deal of grandeur of that ancient capital of Egypt, or else raise extremely all the plains about it. In effect, Gize does not occupy half the space of Old Cairo, and the plains that extend all round never fail to be deluged at the time of the overflowing of the waters of the Nile. It is incredible, that they should have built a city, so great and famous, in a place subject to be under water half of the year; still less can it be imagined that the ancient authors have forgotten so particular a place."

Mr. Browne says: "I visited the pleasant site of the ancient Memphis on the left bank of the Nile, about two hours to the south of Kahira, in a plain about three miles broad, between the river and the mountains. The land is now laid down in corn, with date-trees toward the mountains. Nothing remains except heaps of rubbish, in which are found pieces of sculptured stone. The spot has been surrounded by a canal. Its extent might be marked by that of the ground where remains are dug up, and which is always overgrown with a kind of thistle, that seems to thrive among the ruins. None of the fine marbles, which are scattered so profusely at Alexandria, are discoverable here; whether it be that they were never used, or were carried away to adorn other cities."360

But though the site of the city is not absolutely known, certain it is, that many wonderful erections in its neighbourhood denote its former grandeur, power, and magnificence. These are the Catacombs, the Sphinx, the lake of Mœris, and the Pyramids.

"The entrances into the Catacombs," says the Earl of Sandwich, "where the inhabitants of the neighbouring city of Memphis entombed their embalmed bodies, are near the last Pyramid of Sakara. The greatest part of the plain of Sakara is hollowed into subterraneous cavities, all cut out of the solid rock; not of a hard nature, but yielding to the least violence. The entrances are many in number; and are in form a square of three feet, and about twenty feet deep. The vaults contain embalmed bodies, scattered in confusion, and many of them broken in pieces. These have been taken out of their chests or coffins; and after having been ransacked in search of any idol of value, which are frequently found within the bodies, thrown aside by persons, who would not be at the trouble of carrying them away. The farther the recesses are penetrated, however, the bodies are much more entire, and everything less disturbed. These subterraneous passages are divided into many different chambers; in the sides of which are to be seen a multitude of perpendicular niches, of sufficient height to contain the bodies upright."

A little to the east of the second pyramid, is the Sphinx, cut out of the same rock upon which the pyramids are built. The length is about twenty-five feet; and its height, from the knees to the top of the hand, thirty-eight feet.

"The sphinx," says Mr. Wilkinson, "stands nearly opposite the south end of the pyramid Cephren: between its paws were discovered an altar and some tablets; but no entrance was visible. Pliny says, they suppose it the tomb of Amasis; – a tradition which arose, no doubt, from the resemblance of the name of the king, by whose order the rock was cut into this form. But one author has gone farther, and given to Amasis the pyramids themselves. The cap of the sphinx, probably the pshent, has long since been removed; but a cavity in the head, attests its former position, and explains the mode in which it was fixed. The mutilated state of the face, and the absence of the nose, have led many to the erroneous conclusion, that the features were African; but by taking an accurate sketch of the face, and restoring the Egyptian nose, any one may convince himself, that the lips, as well as the rest of the features, perfectly agree with the physiognomy of a Pharaoh; for the reader must be aware, that this, and all other sphinxes, are emblematic representations of Egyptian kings."

Between the paws of the sphinx, a perfect temple was discovered, a few years ago, by the intrepid traveller Belzoni, on clearing away the sand by which it had been choked up for ages.

This figure was361, a few years ago, at an expense of 800 or 900l. (contributed by some European gentlemen,) cleared from the sand which had accumulated in front of it, under the superintendence of Captain Caviglia.

The noblest and most wonderful of all the structures362 or works of the kings of Egypt, was the lake of Mœris; accordingly, Herodotus considers it as vastly superior to the pyramids and labyrinth. As Egypt was more or less fruitful in proportion to the inundations of the Nile; and as, in these floods, the first general flow or ebb of the waters were equally fertile to the land; King Mœris, to prevent these two inconveniences, and correct, as far as lay in his power, the irregularities of the Nile, thought proper to call art to the assistance of nature; and so caused the lake to be dug, which afterwards went by his name. This lake was several thousand paces long, and very deep. Two pyramids, on each of which stood a colossal statue, seated on a throne, raised their heads to the height of three hundred feet, in the midst of the lake, whilst their foundations took up the same space under the waters; a proof that they were erected before the cavity was filled; and a demonstration that a lake of such vast extent, was the work of man's hands, in one prince's reign. This is what several historians have related concerning the Lake Mœris, on the testimony of the inhabitants of the country. This lake had a communication with the Nile, by a great canal, four leagues long, and fifty feet broad. Great sluices either opened or shut the canal and lake, as there was occasion.

When it is considered, that the object of this work was the advantage and comfort of a numerous people, all must agree, with M. Savary, that Mœris, who constructed it, performed a far more glorious work than either the labyrinth or the pyramids.