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highest parts of it, therefore, were first finished, and afterwards they completed the parts next following; but last of all they finished the parts on the ground, and that were lowest. On the pyramid is shown an inscription, in Egyptian characters, how much was expended in radishes, onions, and garlic, for the workmen; which the interpreter,1 as I well remember, reading the inscription, told me amounted to 1,600 talents of silver. And if this be really Herodotus the case, how much more was probably expended in iron building tools, in bread, and in clothes for the labourers, since they of the Great occupied in building the works the time which I mentioned, Pyramid. and no short time besides, as I think, in cutting and drawing the stones, and in forming the subterraneous excavation. [It is related] that Cheops reached such a degree of infamy, that being in want of money, he prostituted his own daughter in a brothel, and ordered her to extort, they did not say how much; but she exacted a certain sum of money, privately, as much as her father ordered her; and contrived to leave a monument of herself, and asked every one that came in to her to give her a stone towards the edifice she designed of these stones they said the pyramid was built that stands in the middle of the three, before the great pyramid, each side of which is a plethron and a half in length." (Cary's translation.)

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THE SECOND PYRAMID.

The second pyramid at Gîzeh was built by Chā-f-Rā, or Chephren, the third king of the IVth dynasty, B.C. 3666, who called it A, ur. His name has not been found inscribed upon any part of it, but the fragment of a marble sphere inscribed with the name of Cha-f-Rā,

1 Herodotus was deceived by his interpreter, who clearly made up a translation of an inscription which he did not understand. William of Baldensel, who lived in the fourteenth century, tells us that the outer coating of the two largest pyramids was covered with a great number of inscriptions arranged in lines. (Wiedemann, Aeg. Geschichte, p. 179.) If the outsides were actually inscribed, the text must have been purely religious, like those inscribed inside the pyramids of Pepi, Teta, and Unås.

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which was found near the temple, close by this pyramid, confirms the statements of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, that Chephren built it. A statue of this king, now in the Gizeh Museum, was found in the granite temple close by. This pyramid appears to be larger than the Great Pyramid because it stands upon a higher level of stone foundation; it was cased with stone originally and polished, but the greater part of the outer casing has disappeared. An ascent of this pyramid can only be made with difficulty. It was first explored in 1816 by Belzoni (born 1778, died 1823), the discoverer of the tomb of Seti I. and of the temple of Rameses II. at Abu Simbel. In the north side of the pyramid are two openings, one at the base and one about 50 feet above it. The upper opening leads into a corridor 105 feet long, which descends into a chamber 46 × 163 × 221 feet, which held the granite sarcophagus in which Chephren was buried. The lower opening leads into a corridor about 100 feet long, which, first descending and then ascending, ends in the chamber mentioned above, which is usually called Belzoni's Chamber. The actual height is about 450 feet, and the length of each side at the base about 700 feet. The rock upon which the pyramid stands has been scarped on the north and west sides to make the foundation level. The history of the building of the pyramid is thus stated by Herodotus1: "The Egyptians say that this Cheops reigned fifty years; and when he died, his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom; and he followed the same practices as the other, both in other respects, and in building a pyramid; which does not come up to the dimensions of his brother's, for I myself measured them; nor has it subterraneous chambers; nor does a channel from the Nile flow to it, as to the other; but this flows through an artificial aqueduct round an island within, in which they say the body of Cheops is laid. Having laid the first course of variegated Ethiopian stones, less in height than the other by forty feet, he built it near the large pyramid. They both stand on the same hill, which is about 100 feet high. Chephren, they said, reigned fifty-six years. Thus 106 years are reckoned, during

1 Bk. ii. 127.

which the Egyptians suffered all kinds of calamities, and for this length of time the temples were closed and never opened. From the hatred they bear them, the Egyptians are not very willing to mention their names; but call the pyramids after Philition, a shepherd, who at that time kept his cattle in those parts." (Cary's translation.)

THE THIRD PYRAMID.

The third pyramid at Gîzeh was built by Men-kau-Rā,

UU the fourth king of the IVth dynasty, about B.C. 3633, who called it A, Her. Herodotus and other ancient authors tell us that Men-kau-Rã, or Mycerinus, was Pyramid. of Myburied in this pyramid, but Manetho states that Nitocris, a cerinus. queen of the VIth dynasty, was the builder. There can be, however, but little doubt that it was built by Mycerinus, for the sarcophagus and the remains of the inscribed coffin of this king were found in one of its chambers by Howard Vyse in 1837. The sarcophagus, which measured 8 × 3 × 2 feet, was lost through the wreck of the ship in which it was sent to England, but the venerable fragments of the coffin are preserved in the British Museum, and form one of the most valuable objects in the famous collection of that institution. The formula on it is one which is found upon coffins down to the latest period, but as the date of Mycerinus is known, it is possible to draw some interesting and valuable conclusions from the fact that it is found upon his coffin. It proves that as far back as 3,600 years before Christ the Egyptian religion was established on a firm base, that the doctrine of immortality was already deeply rooted in the human mind. The art of preserving the human body by embalming was also well understood and generally practised at that early date.

of My

The pyramid of Men-kau-Rā, like that of Chephren, is Pyramid built upon a rock with a sloping surface; the inequality of cerinus. the surface in this case has been made level by building up courses of large blocks of stones. Around the lower part the remains of the old granite covering are visible to a depth of

B. M.

Pyramid

of Mycerinus.

from 30 to 40 feet. It is unfortunate that this pyramid has
been so much damaged; its injuries, however, enable the
visitor to see exactly how it was built, and it may be
concluded that the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren were
built in the same manner. The length of each side at the
base is about 350 feet, and its height is variously given as
210 and 215 feet. The entrance is on the north side, about
thirteen feet above the ground, and a descending corridor
about 104 feet long, passing through an ante-chamber,
having a series of three granite doors, leads into one chamber
about 44 feet long.
feet long. In this chamber is a shaft which leads
down to the granite-lined chamber about 20 feet below,
in which were found the sarcophagus and wooden coffin
of Mycerinus, and the remains of a human body. It is
thought that, in spite of the body of Mycerinus being buried
in this pyramid, it was left unfinished at the death of this
king, and that a succeeding ruler of Egypt finished the
pyramid and made a second chamber to hold his or her body.
At a short distance to the east of this pyramid are the ruins
of a temple which was probably used in connexion with the
rites performed in honour of the dead king. In A.D. 1196 a
deliberate and systematic attempt was made to destroy this
pyramid by the command of the Muḥammadan ruler of
Egypt. The account of the character of Mycerinus and of
his pyramid as given by Herodotus is as follows: "They said
that after him, Mycerinus, son of Cheops, reigned over
Egypt; that the conduct of his father was displeasing to him;
and that he opened the temples, and permitted the people,
who were worn down to the last extremity, to return to their
employments, and to sacrifices; and that he made the most
just decisions of all their kings. On this account, of all the
kings that ever reigned in Egypt, they praised him most, for
he both judged well in other respects, and moreover, when
any man complained of his decision, he used to make him
some present out of his own treasury and pacify his anger.
This king also left a pyramid much less than that of
his father, being on each side 20 feet short of three
plethra; it is quadrangular, and built half way up of

1 Bk. ii. 129, 134.

Ethiopian stone. Some of the Grecians erroneously say that this pyramid is the work of the courtesan Rhodopis; but they evidently appear to me ignorant who Rhodopis was; for they would not else have attributed to her the building such a pyramid, on which, so to speak, numberless thousands of talents were expended; besides, Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, and not at this time; for she was very many years later than those kings who left these pyramids.' (Cary's translation.)

In one of the three small pyramids near that of Mycerinus the name of this king is painted on the ceiling.

THE PYRAMIDS OF ABU ROÂSHI.

These pyramids lie about six miles north of the Pyramids of Gîzeh, and are thought to be older than they. Nothing remains of one except five or six courses of stone, which show that the length of each side at the base was about 350 feet, and a passage about 160 feet long leading down to a subterranean chamber about 43 feet long. A pile of stones close by marks the site of another pyramid; the others have disappeared. Of the age of these pyramids nothing certain is known. The remains of a causeway about a mile long leading to them are still visible.

THE PYRAMIDS OF ABUŞIR.

of the Vth

These pyramids, originally fourteen in number, were Other built by kings of the Vth dynasty, but only four of them are pyramids now standing, probably because of the poorness of the dynasty. workmanship and the careless way in which they were put together. The most northerly pyramid was built by

O

Saḥu-Ra, the second king of the Vth

dynasty, B.C. 3333; its actual height is about 120 feet, and the length of each side at the base about 220 feet. The blocks of stone in the sepulchral chamber are exceptionally large. Saḥu-Rā made war in the peninsula of Sinai, he

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