Northern Courtyard

You enter the large rectangular courtyard and are immediately struck by its exotic foreignness. Here the emphasis is on Egypt. Priests wrapped in white with shaven heads scurry around the courtyard on arcane missions, and in one corner of the courtyard you see women and dwarfs dancing to the rhythmic clapping of sticks and rattling of sistra. You marvel at the mosaics depicting animals and plants that you have never seen, including the cobra and hippopotamus, the crocodile and ibis. Several granite obelisks line one wall, and there are numerous statues of sphinxes, crouching lions, and animal-headed Egyptian deities, such as Anubis. On the base of several columns, you can see reliefs that depict the ceremonies of the cult of Isis. A canal is cut through the center of the courtyard, a small reminder of the great Nile river, source of Egypt's fertility and Isis' life-giving power.