The Alps of Arabia; Travels in Egypt, Sinai, Arabia and the Holy Land (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 Excerpt: ...nto account. The monument is sculptured out of the sandstone cliff, which has been all excavated for a considerable space on either side of the temple, so as to allow its proportions to be fully seen. High above its crowning urn, within whose stony recesses the Arabs believe countless treasures are concealed, the naked face of the cliff towers up for some 200 feet. The monument consists of two stories, the lower portion being a colonnade of four Corinthian columns, about 3 feet in diameter and 35 feet in height; one of the centre pillars, however, has fallen, it, like its fellow, not being cut out of the rock, but built of several pieces of stone. There are two pilasters at the extremities of the temple, hewn out of the rock, as is the whole facade. The architecture of the portico is sculptured with a frieze and vases, connected with festoons and wreaths. Between the outermost pillar and the pilasters may be distinguished the remains of figures, once standing in high relief, but now almost entirely worn away. Above the portico is a pediment, having in the centre a beautiful cylindrical monument standing by itself, adorned with delicate Corinthian columns and rich capitals in perfect preservation, and a dome and urn at the top of all, in which are the supposed hidden treasures. On either side of this circular montiment is an intervening space, and then succeed two pillars, similar to those in the portico below, also supporting a richly sculptured cornice. Three pedestals resting on the flat surface of the portico, having one of these pillars on each side, once supported statues, but these are much mutilated, probably by the Arabs, who have a special antipathy to all representations of the human form. They seemed to have considered that Pharaoh founded this c...