Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

8 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. that is about all that can be said concerning (hem. As movers of huge masses of stone, the ancient Egyptians may claim first place. The huge scale of their monuments Egyptian and temples is laigely respon- Colossi. sible for having preserved them from the fury of the flood of destruction that again and again has swept through the valley of the Nile. Some of the in the Theban temple named after him, the Rameseum. It was cut from a red granite monolith, 60 feet high, and its weight has been computed by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson at 887 tons 5£ cwt. This block also undoubtedly came from the Assuan quarries. We may wonder what force it was that overthrew so gigantic a monument, as there are no signs of Egypt having been visited by an earthquake. The remains of an even larger colossus were THE “ LINES ” These rows of huge stones extend for about 2| miles. Individual most notable objects to be seen in Egypt are the mighty statues erected in honour of her kings. The twin colossi of Amenhotep III., which have sat for many centuries outside Thebes, overlooking the desert, were hewn out of single masses of granite brought hundreds of miles down the Nile from Assuan. Each colossus is about 53 feet high, and weighs several hundreds of tons. Even more strik- ing is the fallen statue of Rameses II,, lying discovered by Mr. Flinders Petrie at Tanis. The mere chips that he found weigh several tons each ; and from them he has reckoned the avoirdupois A Veritable of the complete statue at 1,200 Monster, tons; its height, with pedestal, at 125 feet. “ The effect,” wrote Mr. Petrie, “ when there were no high mounds here, must have been astounding. The temple was prob- ably not more than 50 feet high, and the