And Of Them All I Marvel Most At
This, Namely A Monolith Chamber Which He Brought From The City Of
Elephantine; And They Were Three Years Engaged In Bringing This, And
Two Thousand Men Were Appointed To Convey It, Who All Were Of The
Class Of Boatmen.
Of this house the length outside is one-and-twenty
cubits, the breadth is fourteen cubits, and the height eight.
These
are the measures of the monolith house outside; but the length inside
is eighteen cubits and five-sixths of a cubit, the breadth twelve
cubits, and the height five cubits. This lies by the side of the
entrance to the temple; for within the temple they did not draw it,
because, as it is said, while the house was being drawn along, the
chief artificer of it groaned aloud, seeing that much time had been
spent and he was wearied by the work; and Amasis took it to heart as a
warning and did not allow them to draw it further onwards. Some say on
the other hand that a man was killed by it, of those who were heaving
it with levers, and that it was not drawn in for that reason. Amasis
also dedicated in all the other temples which were of repute, works
which are worth seeing for their size, and among them also at Memphis
the colossal statue which lies on its back in front of the temple of
Hephaistos, whose length is five-and-seventy feet; and on the same
base made of the same stone are set two colossal statues, each of
twenty feet in length, one on this side and the other on that side of
the large statue.
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