AFRICA. Great Pyramid, and descends at the same angle. CHAP. IV. The second is from the pavement at the base, and runs first in a horizontal direction, but then inclining upwards it meets the former passage, and the room called two united proceed in a horizontal line to the Chamber. sepulchral room called Belzoni's Chamber.' This Sepulchral 1 It is impossible to pass over this account of the second pyramid, or that of Chephren, without some_notice of the circumstances connected with Belzoni's discovery. The French savans who accompanied Buonaparte's army into Aegypt made several efforts to find an entrance, but were compelled to leave it in despair. Belzoni however, by his solitary exertions, accomplished more than this united band of philosophers. His success in detecting the sepulchral labyrinths of Thebes inflamed him with the desire and hope of penetrating the secret chambers of Chephren. He began by forcing a passage in the centre of the north side, which he was soon obliged to abandon as hopeless to himself and dangerous to his work-people. He next minutely examined the exterior of the Great Pyramid. He saw that the passage ran in a straight line to the eastern extremity of the King's Chamber. Now as this chamber was in the centre of the pyramid, a straight passage running to its eastern extremity must necessarily begin as far to the east of the centre of the exterior as it ends eastward of the centre of the chamber. He therefore concluded, that if there were any chamber at all in the pyramid of Chephren, the entrance to the passage leading to it could not be in the centre of the northern side where he had commenced this excavation, but, calculating by the position of the passage in the Great Pyramid, nearly 30 feet farther to the east. Accordingly he recommenced operations at this spot, and so correct was his theory and measurement, that he subsequently found that he had not deviated more than two feet from the mouth of the passage which was to lead him into this vast edifice. After clearing away a great deal of rubbish and cutting through massive stones, during which labours he was cheered by hearing the native workmen occasionally muttering their opinion of him in the expressive term "magnoon," denoting madman or fool, he at length had the satisfaction of seeing a block of granite inclining downward at the same angle as the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid. At last the right entrance was opened, and proved to be a passage 4 feet high and 34 feet wide, formed with granite, and descending 104 feet towards the centre. This passage had to be cleared of large stones which had fallen from the upper part and slid down the slope. Last of all Belzoni reached a portcullis, which being a fixed block of stone, appeared at first sight to stop all further progress, for it made a close joint with the groove at each side, and the top seemed as firm as the rock which formed the passage. On a closer inspection however he perceived that at the bottom it was raised about eight inches from the lower part of the groove, which was cut beneath to receive it; and he found by this circumstance that the barrier before him was nothing more than a large slab of granite, I foot 3 inches thick. Observing a small aperture at the top, he thrust a straw into it upwards of three feet, a discovery which convinced him that there was a vacuum above prepared to receive the portcullis. The raising of this slab however was a task of no small difficulty, on account of the smallness of the passage. As soon as it was elevated high enough for a man to pass, an Arab entered with a candle and announced that the place was very fine. A little more room enabled chamber is 46 feet long, 16 broad, and 22 high. AFRICA. Belzoni found it to contain a sarcophagus, of red CHAP. IV. granite, 8 feet 7 inches long on the outside and 7 feet within, without sculpture or hieroglyphics. No mummy was within the sarcophagus, but some bones were discovered mixed with sand and gravel, which on examination were ascertained to belong to the bovine species, and have been generally supposed to be the remains of a sacred bull. No argument Chamber. however can be drawn as to the destination of the pyramid from the state in which Belzoni found it, for he perceived an inscription at the western end of the chamber which distinctly proves that it had been previously opened by the caliphs.' Beneath the lowest point of the lower passage is another Lower chamber excavated in the rock, and resembling the Queen's Chamber in the Great Pyramid. It has an angular ceiling, and is 34 feet long, 10 broad, and 8 high in the highest part. It is supposed to have been intended for a sepulchral chamber, but only contained some loose stones. The following diagram, on the top of the next page, is intended to represent the general course of the passages and position of the chambers. Mr. Belzoni to squeeze his person through, and thus, after thirty days, find himself in the way to the central chamber. See Belzoni, Narrative of Operations and Discoveries in Egypt and Nubia, vol. i. 1 This inscription was translated by Mr. Salamé for Belzoni, as follows:-"The master Mohammed Ahmed, lapicide, has opened them; and the master Othman attended this (opening), and the King Ali Mohammed, from the beginning to the closing up." Professor Lee, however, in a letter to Lord Aberdeen, quoted by Col. Vyse, translates it as follows:-"The master Mohammed, son of Ahmed, the stone-cutter, first opened them (i. e. the chambers in the pyramid); and upon this occasion were present, El Melec Othman, and the master Othman, and Mohammed Lugleik.” Aethiopian stone used course granite Lower Chamber. Pyramid of Chephren. Section from North to South. The first course of this pyramid, described by for the first Herodotus as being constructed of variegated Aethiopian stone, is composed of granite brought from the cataracts between Syene and Philae. Loose blocks of this granite are still to be found at the base, and fully confirm the accuracy of our author's statement. Ábove the course of granite right up to ing formed the summit the pyramid was cased with the same from the cataracts. Upper cas of limestone. fine limestone from Mokattam as the Great Pyramid, and for about 130 to 150 feet from the summit the limestone casing still remains. The general masonry of the pyramid, with the exception of the granite casing and the passages which are lined with granite, is decidedly inferior to that of the Great Pyramid. Mr. Perring thought that the intering's view rior was divided, by massive walls of wrought stone, struction of into various square compartments, which had been the interior. filled up by a sort of gigantic rubble-work composed of large blocks and mortar. Mr. Per of the con Indeed the whole is so irregularly built, that since the removal of the casing the desert sand and rain have penetrated in several places to a considerable distance.' 1 Vyse, vol. ii. It was this looseness of construction which impeded the operations of Belzoni. Mycerinus. III. The THIRD PYRAMID, or that of MYCERINUS, is AFRICA. described by Herodotus as being still smaller than CHAP. IV. the preceding ones. The length of each side was III. 20 feet less than 3 plethra. It was constructed half Pyramid of way up of the Aethiopian stone. Some of the Greeks Herodotus's supposed it was the work of the courtesan Rhodopis, description. but, in the first place, she flourished at a much later period, in the reign of Amasis; and, secondly, she could not possibly have been able to expend so many thousand talents as would have been required for the erection of so vast a building.2 mensions ble with Herodotus thus calculates the base of the pyramid Present diof Mycerinus to be about 280 feet. This cannot be irreconcilareconciled with the real measurement, which was Herodotus's ascertained by Col. Vyse and Mr. Perring to be as estimate. follows: 1 Rhodopis was a Thracian by birth, and the servant of Iadmon the Samian. Aesop, the writer of the Fables, also belonged to the same master at the same time, and was thus the fellow-servant of Rhodopis. Subsequently, in the reign of Amasis, Xanthus the Samian took Rhodopis to Aegypt in order to gain money by her person. Here she was ransomed for a large sum by Charaxus of Mitylene, the brother of Sappho the poetess; and when Charaxus returned to Mitylene his sister ridiculed him in an ode. Rhodopis having thus obtained her freedom, continued to reside in Aegypt, and being exceedingly lovely, acquired great riches for a person of her condition, but certainly not sufficient to build a pyramid. A tenth of her wealth might be seen at Delphi in the days of Herodotus; for, being desirous of leaving behind her such a memorial as had never before been dedicated in a temple, she set aside that portion of her property for the purchase of iron spits, which were then piled up behind the altar in the Delphian temple. Such is the account given by Herodotus. Sappho seems to have accused Rhodopis of robbing her brother of his property, calling her by the name of Doricha. Probably Doricha was her real name, and she received that of Rhodopis, which signifies the "rosy-cheeked," on account of her beauty. The origin of the story recorded by Herodotus has been explained, with great probability, by Zoega and Bunsen. In consequence of the name Rhodopis," rosy-checked," she was confounded with Nitocris, the beautiful Aegyptian queen, and the heroine of many an Acgyptian legend, who is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have built the third pyramid. Another tale about Rhodopis, related by Strabo, (xvii. p. 808,) renders the supposition of her being the same as Nitocris still more probable. It is said, that as Rhodopis was one day bathing at Naucratis, an eagle took up one of her sandals, flew away with it, and dropt it in the lap of the Aegyptian king, as he was administering justice at Memphis. Struck by the strange occurrence, and the beauty of the sandal, he did not rest till he had found out the fair owner of the beautiful sandal, and as soon as he had discovered her made her his queen. The reader can scarcely forget the story of Cinderella. Cf. also Smith, Dict. of Gk. and Rom. Biog. and Myth., art. Rhodopis. 2 ii. 134. AFRICA. CHAP. IV. rately fin ished than the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren. Entrance discovered Vyse. The only suggestion I can offer is, that his measurement applies not to the length of each side, but to the inclined height, which we see was anciently More elabo- 278 feet 2 inches. Though of much smaller dimensions than the two others, this pyramid was the most elaborately finished. The site was levelled, not by cutting away the rock, but by raising, on the eastern side, a superstructure ten feet in height, composed of two tiers of immense blocks. There was no vesby Caviglia tige of an entrance, nor tradition of the pyramid and Colonel having ever been opened, until the operations begun by Caviglia, and concluded by Col. Vyse in 1837, upon which it appeared that, like the others, it had been previously opened in the time of the caliphs. The entrance was found as usual on the north side, and about 13 feet above the base. The passage descends at the same angle as that of the Great Pyramid for a distance of 104 feet, when it reaches an ante-room, the walls of which are panelled with sculptured partitions. Beyond the ante-room are Chamber. the usual portcullises of granite, and a horizontal passage terminating in a large chamber, 46 feet long and 12 broad, lying nearly under the centre of the pyramid. Upper Se pulchral Two passages lead from the chamber; one, near the top of the side-wall, returns toward the exterior, and probably reached it, but was closed again by the builders themselves; the other descends from the floor for about 30 feet, and ends in a Lower SeChamber. pulchral Chamber, 21 feet long, 8 broad, and 11 high.' The following diagram exhibits the course of the passages and position of the Upper and Lower Chambers. Lower Sepulchral 1 Seven steps further down from the lower chamber is a third room, with two niches on each side, which were probably designed for the reception of upright mummies. This niche room is not represented in the diagram. It is 17 feet long, and 6 feet in breadth and height. |