Читать книгу Great Zimbabwe, Mashonaland, Rhodesia. An account of two years' examination work in 1902-4 on behalf of the government of Rhodesia онлайн

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But turning a glance round to the Western Temple, still at this height bathed in golden sheen, one sees only the ancient walls and passages silent and deserted. This area might have been a busy spot for the ancient occupiers at this hour of the day, for monoliths, decorative mural patterns, and conical towers are now all aglow with sunset brightness, and here at this time of day, as the shadow of the slanting granite beam fades on the dentelle pattern on the platform, they might have read as on a dial face, in light and shade, the progress of the season of the year. The call to prayers and the chanting of the evening hymn of the devout at sunset might at this same hour very many centuries ago have rung round the selfsame hallowed walls which look down sphinx-like and blankly upon the modern visitor.

It is easy to fashion a tale of ancient scenes in such a spot and ’mid such surroundings. Such a scene may have been—the parties of ancient worshippers approaching the temple up the Higher Parapet or by the sunken passage in the Platform Enclosure, or along the East Passage, filling the amphitheatre and watching the bringing of the sacred vessels possibly from the now dank and evil-smelling Platform Cave to some spot near the centre of the temple, perchance at the centre of the arc of the great curved wall, which is directed towards the setting sun; the disappearance of the priests through the Covered Passage and their reappearance on the Platform, which faces west and overlooks the interior of the temple, or listening to priestly orations, the announcement of the actual sunset to the worshippers. Possibly, too, the chief priest may have announced the commencement of the “Feast of the New Moon.”