Position 94 - The Grotto Temple Of Abu Simbel, Seen (northwest) From A Boat On The Nile

Who will ever forget the first impression of these colossal figures looking out like impassive gods upon the river which they dominate! When modern travelers rediscovered Abu Simbel, the descriptions of its glory which reached Europe were considered wild exaggerations; but the reports of Champollion in his letters left no room for doubt that here was one of the marvelous creations of the Egyptian architect, surpassing anything of the kind elsewhere known.

We have seen how the cliffs in this Nubian country approach often to the very water's edge, leaving the architect no vantage ground for his temples. With what triumphant skill and consummate art has he here overcome this difficulty, by hewing his temple out of the solid rock! Reduced by perspective and seen through the rigging of this feluka, the temple does not here produce the impression of size, of which it is capable from another point of view. We are here in a small boat out upon the river 174 miles above the first cataract, and as the temple faces exactly east, we look north of west against the face of the western cliffs (Map 3, Plan 19). That front is 119 feet wide and over 100 feet high.

It is crowned by a cornice of sacred apes, and a niche in the centre above the door contains a figure of the god Horus, with the hawk's head. The four gigantic colossi which adorn the façade are each 65 feet in height, that is, higher than any of the standing colossi which we have seen, and they, as well as the whole front and the interior chambers, were hewn from the mountain as they stand.

It was wrought by Ramses II, the author of the most colossal works in Egypt. The statues all represent himself, and, as we shall see, are excellent portraits. Beside them are smaller figures of various members of his family. At the extreme left, or south, is his daughter, Nebet-towe, between the feet of the southernmost colossus an unknown princess, while next her to the right is another daughter, named Bint-Anath. The colossus at the left of the door has, unfortunately, fallen, and the upper portions lie in fragments at its feet. Beside this colossus also are royal ladies of Ramses's family: on the left of the feet, his mother, Tuye, and to the right Nofretere, his wife.

These statues possess real artistic value as portraits, as we can see if we climb up and stand at the left (south) end of the temple front, and look northward at the two on the north (right) of the door. This next standpoint and our field of vision from it are given by the lines numbered 95 on Plan 19.