o many and so new that the enquiring mind,
craving for an explanation and an interpretation of all these
incomprehensible mysteries, hardly dared investigate them in detail.

A heavy curtain, that looked as though giants must have woven it on a
loom of superhuman proportions, hung, like a thick cloud shrouding a
mountain-peak, from the very top of the hypostyle, in grand folds over
the niche containing the statue, and down to the floor; and while it
hid the sacred image from the gaze of the worshipper it attracted his
attention by the infinite variety of symbolical patterns and beautiful
designs which were woven in it and embroidered on it.

The gold and silver vessels and precious jewels that lay concealed by
this hanging were of more value than many a mighty king's treasure; and
everything was on so vast a scale that man shuddered to feel his own
littleness, and the mind sought some new standard of measurement by
which to realize such unwonted proportions. The finite here seemed to
pass into the infinite; and as the spectator gazed up, with his head
thrown back, at the capitals of the lofty columns and the remote
height of the ceiling, his sight failed him before he had succeeded
in distinguishing or even perceiving a small portion only of the
bewildering confusion of figures and emblems that were crowded on to
the surface. Greek feeling for beauty had here worked hand in hand with
Oriental taste for gorgeous magnificence, and every detail could bear
examination; for there was not a motive of the architecture, not a work
of sculpture, painting, or mosaic, not a product of the foundry or the
loom, which did not bear the stamp of thorough workmanship and elaborate
finish. The ruddy, flecked porphyry, the red, white, green, or yellow
marbles which had been used for the decorations were all the finest and
purest ever wrought upon by Greek craftsmen. Each of the hundreds of
sculptured works which here had found a home was the masterpiece of some
great artist; as the curious visitor lingered in loving contemplation of
the mosaics on the polished floor, or examined the ornamental mouldings
that framed the reliefs, dividing the walls into panels, he was
filled with wonder and delight at the beauty, the elegance and the
inventiveness that had given charm, dignity, and significance to every
detail.

Adjoining these great halls devoted especially to the worship of the
god, were hundreds of courts, passages, colonnades and room