1-647-390 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Avenue of sacred images after excavation, Karnak, Thebes, Egypt', 1905. 'It was Ramses II who erected this splendid avenue of sphinxes, or really of rams, though they are often called sphinxes. The row on the right is in an unusually good state of preservation, and you observe the statues of the king standing between the protecting forepaws of each ram. The ram was the sacred animal of Amon, the great god of Thebes, hence its use as the exclusive figure in the sculpture along these Theban avenues, thus expressing in an oft-repeated symbol - the god's protection of the king.' Stereoscopic card. Detail. From a series called Egypt Through the Stereoscope, text by James H Breasted.