COLOSSI AT WADY SABOUA.

 

IMMEDIATELY in front of the propylon originally stood two fine colossal figures: these were at the end of the avenue of Sphinxes, while two others stood at the commencement of the dromos. Each bore in his left hand a symbolical staff, surmounted with a ram's head and disk. The hair on each of the Colossi is arranged in the Nubian or Berber fashion, bound with a fillet, in front of which is the asp. The dress around the loins is gathered in front, unlike that which is usually observed in the Ptolemaic, or lower periods. Both of these statues have fallen, but our Artist has placed one standing, to shew the symmetry of its form. Each statue is fourteen feet in height, and about five feet across the shoulders. The Sphinxes of the avenue have the head of Osiris instead of that of the ram, which monstrous emblem is more frequently employed to represent intellectual power.