B.C. 3766] PYRAMID OF SENEFERU AT MÊDÜM

25

at an angle of about 74°; the king, wishing to enlarge the mass of masonry, from time to time built round its sides thick layers of masonry, and at the same time added to the height of the original building. At length the tops of the layers of masonry formed a series of seven steps, and Seneferu no doubt intended to cover it all over, from apex to base, with a covering of polished stones. The following illustration is taken from

The Pyramid of Mêdûm. Plan showing the original building with additions, the mummy-chamber and the corridor leading thereto.

Medum by Prof. Petrie, who, on the east side of the pyramid, close to the casing, discovered a courtyard wherein stood the remains of the small temple which had been built of limestone; in the courtyard was an altar, by the side of which stood two uninscribed stelae. The inscriptions in and about the pyramid, which were written by visitors during the XVIIIth Dynasty, prove that the building was at that time regarded as the tomb of Seneferu. To the north and east of the pyramid

26 A MAGICIAN MAKES THE WATERS OF THE [B.C. 3766

seen.

several of the officials of Seneferu were buried in "maşțăba," or "bench-shaped" tombs; the largest of these were built for Ra-hetep and his wife Nefert, and for Nefer-Maat and his wife Åtet, and the statues and painted scenes which were found in the maşțăba of Ra-hetep are among the finest which have ever been Near the pyramid of Seneferu a number of tombs were also found, in which the bodies had been buried in a contracted position, the knees being sharply bent, and the thighs at right angles to the body. The right arm was usually in front, and the left arm was usually under the body and legs, with the hand under the knees; such burials are, of course, survivals of the old indigenous custom, and the people thus buried were, no doubt, members of some tribe of the indigenous race which had survived until this period and which had been brought into a state of subjection by the dynastic Egyptians.

1

The wife of Seneferu was called Mertitefs

2

and she seems to have been held in high honour after her husband's death by his successors Khufu and Khāfrā; his daughter Nefertkau was the grandmother of the priest Seneferu-khaf, whose tomb is at Gîzeh. Seneferu is, according to M. Golénischeff, mentioned in connection with a year of famine and an invasion of the Āmu, a hostile race of Asiatic origin. An interesting story, which is well worthy of mention here, is told of Seneferu in the Westcar Papyrus.3 It appears that on a certain 1 Petrie, Medum, p. 21.

2 Aegyptische Zeitschrift, 1876, p. 110.

3 Ed. Erman, p. 9.

B.C. 3766] LAKE TO STAND UP IN A HEAP

27

day the king was weary and depressed, and that he applied to his nobles to find some means of cheering him; as they had nothing to suggest, the king sent for the magician Tchatcha-em-ānkh, who, having been brought into the presence, advised the king to go for a sail on the lake. He next proposed that he should make the necessary arrangements for the king, and having brought a boat with twenty young and beautiful virgins in it, each of whom was provided with a paddle of ebony inlaid with gold, he invited the king to embark, and the boat was rowed out on the lake. As the maidens were rowing, one of them dropped a turquoise ornament into the water, and when the king had learned what had happened, he promised to have it found for her. Having called the magician into his presence and told him what was wanted, Tchatcha-em-ankh spake certain words of power which he knew, whereupon one section of the water of the lake straightway raised itself and placed itself upon the other portion, which thus became twenty-four cubits deep instead of twelve as formerly; the magician then found the turquoise ornament lying on the bed of the lake, and taking it up he gave it to the maiden. This done, he uttered certain words of power, and the section of the water which had raised itself up out of its place and set itself upon the other portion at once descended to its former place, and the whole lake resumed its normal level of twelve cubits. Thus we see that in the XVIIIth Dynasty, when the copy of the story as given in the Westcar Papyrus

28

THE GREAT PYRAMID

[B.C. 3733 was made, the Egyptians believed that their ancestors in the IVth Dynasty were able to work magic of a powerful and far-reaching kind. It is impossible not to call to mind, in connection with the above story, the narrative in Exodus which tells how Moses, by means of his rod and words of power, made a way for the Israelites through the waters of the sea, so that they might pass over on dry ground whilst the waters stood up on each side of them like walls.

2. Χέοψ.

A

MATCHETU,

of Khufu.

KHEFU, or Khufu,

KHEFU, or KHUFU, the Souphis of Manetho, and the Kheops of Herodotus, was, according to the Westcar Papyrus, the son of Seneferu, and he is said by Manetho to have reigned sixty-three years. He was, beyond all doubt, a mighty builder, and it seems as if all his the Horus name energies were spent in arranging for and watching the construction of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, which he intended to be his tomb, and which has excited the wonder and admiration of the world. On a rock in the Wâdî Maghâra is a relief in which he, like his father, Seneferu, is represented in the act of clubbing a typical Sinaitic foe, but there is no record to show that he was ever regarded as a great warrior. In connection with

B.C. 3733]

KHUFU AT WADI MAGHARA

29

this relief it is interesting to note that he is called “Khnemu Khufu," and that the clubbing of the foe is taking place in the presence of the god Thoth, who stands there in the form of an ibis-headed man. To Khufu belongs the credit of having built the first and greatest pyramid, in the strict sense of the word, just as

to Seneferu belongs the credit of having built the first true step pyramid. In passing we may note that the derivation of the word "pyramid," i.e., πupaμís, is apparently unknown, and no entirely satisfactory meaning for it has been put forward; it may, of course, be a word of Aryan origin, but we should probably rightly set aside all