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The building of a pyramid.

pyramids of Abu Roâsh, Gîzch, Zâwyet el-Aryân, Abuşîr, Şakkârah, and Dahshûr. Other places in Egypt where pyramids are found are El-lâhûn in the Fayyûm, and Kullah near Esneh. The pyramids built by the Ethiopians at Meroë and Gebel Barkal are of a very late date (B.C. 600–100) and are mere copies, in respect of form only, of the pyramids in Egypt. There is no evidence whatever to show that they were built for purposes of astronomical observations, and the theory that the Great Pyramid was built to serve as a standard of measurement is ingenious but worthless. The significant fact, so ably pointed out by Mariette, that pyramids are only found in cemeteries, is an answer to all such theories. Tomb-pyramids were built by kings and others until the XIIth dynasty. The ancient writers who have described and treated of the pyramids are given by Pliny (Nat. Hist., xxxvi. 12, 17). If we may believe some of the writers on them during the Middle Ages, their outsides must have been covered with inscriptions; these were probably of a religious nature.1 In modern times they have been examined by Shaw (1721), Pococke (1743), Niebuhr (1761), Davison (1763), Bruce (1768), Denon and Jumard (1799), Hamilton (1801), Caviglia (1817), Belzoni (1817), Wilkinson (1831), Howard Vyse and Perring (1837-38), Lepsius (1842-45), and Petrie (1881).

It appears that before the actual building of a pyramid was begun, a suitable rocky site was chosen and cleared, a mass of rock if possible being left in the middle of the area to form the core of the building. The chambers and galleries leading to them were next planned and excavated. Around the core a truncated pyramid building was made, the angles of which were filled up with blocks of stone. Layer after layer of stone was then built round the work, which grew larger and larger until it was finished. Dr. Lepsius thought that when a king ascended the throne, he built for himself a small but complete tomb-pyramid, and that a fresh coating of stone was built round it every

1 "...... their surfaces exhibit all kinds of inscriptions written in the characters of ancient nations which no longer exist. No one knows what this writing is or what it signifies." Mas'ûdi (ed. Barbier de Meynard), t. ii. p. 404.

year that he reigned; that when he died the sides of the pyramid were like long flights of steps, which his successor filled up with right-angled triangular blocks of stone; and that the door of the pyramid was walled up after the body of its builder had been laid in it, and thus it became a finished tomb. The explanation of Dr. Lepsius may not be correct, but at least it answers satisfactorily more objections than do the views of other theorists on this matter. It has been pointed out that near the core of the pyramid the work is more carefully executed than near the exterior, that is to say, as the time for the king's death approached the work was more hurriedly performed.

During the investigations made by Lepsius in and around the pyramid area, he found the remains of about seventyfive pyramids, and noticed that they were always built in groups.

Persians.

The pyramids of Gizeh were opened by the Persians Violation during the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ; it is of pyramids by probable that they were also entered by the Romans. Khalif the Mâmûn (A.D. 813-833) entered the Great Pyramid, and found that others had been there before him. The treasure which is said to have been discovered there by him is probably fictitious. Once opened, it must have been evident to every one what splendid quarries the pyramids formed, and very few hundred years after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs, they were laid under contribution for stone to build mosques, etc., in Cairo. At the end of the twelfth century Melik el-Kâmil made a mad attempt to destroy the pyramid built by Mycerinus; but after months of toil he only succeeded in stripping off the covering from one of the sides. It is said that Muḥammad 'Ali was advised to undertake the senseless task of destroying them all. The most important pyramids and groups of pyramids are the following :—

THE GREAT PYRAMID.

This, the largest of the three pyramids at Gîzeh, was built

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Pyramid of Cheops.

name was found written in red ink upon the blocks of stone inside it. All four sides measure in greatest length about 755 feet each, but the length of each was originally about 20 feet more; its height now is 451 feet, but it is said to have been originally about 481 feet. The stone used in the construction of this pyramid was brought from Turra and Mokaṭṭam, and the contents amount to 85,000,000 cubic feet. The flat space at the top of the pyramid is about thirty feet square, and the view from it is very fine.

The entrance (A) to this pyramid is, as with all pyramids, on the north side, and is about 43 feet above the ground. The passage A B C is 320 feet long, 3 feet high, and 4 feet wide; at B is a granite door, round which the path at D has been made. The passage at D E is 125 feet long, and the large hall E F is 155 feet long and 28 feet high; the passage E G leads to the pointed-roofed Queen's Chamber H, which measures about 17 × 19 × 20 feet. The roofing in of this chamber is a beautiful piece of mason's work. From the large hall E F there leads a passage 22 feet long, the antechamber in which was originally closed by four granite doors, remains of which are still visible, into the King's Chamber, J, which is lined with granite, and measures about 35 x 17 x 19 feet. The five hollow chambers K, L, M, N, O were built above the King's Chamber to lighten the pressure of the superincumbent mass. In chamber o the name Chufu was found written The air shafts P and Q measure 234 feet x 8 inches x 6 inches, and 174 feet x 8 inches x 6 inches respectively. A shaft from E to R leads down to the subterranean chamber S, which measures 46 x 27 x 10 feet. The floor of the King's Chamber, J, is about 140 feet from the level of the base of the pyramid, and the chamber is a little to the south-east of the line drawn from T to U. Inside the chamber lies the empty, coverless, broken, red granite sarcophagus of Cheops, measuring 7 × 3 × 3 feet. The account of the building of this pyramid is told by Herodotus as follows: "Now, they told me, that to the reign of Rhampsinitus there was a perfect distribution

1 Bk. ii. 124-126.

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Section of the Pyramid of Cheops at Gizeh. From Vyse. "Pyramids of Gizeh," Vol. I. p. 2.

on the

of justice, and that all Egypt was in a high state of prosperity; but that after him Cheops, coming to reign over Herodotus them, plunged into every kind of wickedness. For that, building having shut up all the temples, he first of all forbade them to offer sacrifice, and afterwards he ordered all the Egyptians Pyramid. to work for himself; some, accordingly, were appointed to

of the Great

draw stones from the quarries in the Arabian mountain
down to the Nile, others he ordered to receive the stones
when transported in vessels across the river, and to drag
them to the mountain called the Libyan. And they worked
to the number of 100,000 men at a time, each party during
three months. The time during which the people were thus
harassed by toil, lasted ten years on the road which they
constructed, along which they drew the stones, a work,
in my opinion, not much less than the pyramid; for its
length is five stades (3,021 feet), and its width ten orgyæ
(60 feet), and its height, where it is the highest, eight orgyæ
(48 feet); and it is of polished stone, with figures carved on
it on this road then ten years were expended, and in
forming the subterraneous apartments on the hill, on which
the pyramids stand, which he had made as a burial vault for
himself, in an island, formed by draining a canal from the
Nile. Twenty years were spent in erecting the pyramid
itself: of this, which is square, each face is eight plethra
(820 feet), and the height is the same; it is composed of
polished stones, and jointed with the greatest exactness;
none of the stones are less than thirty feet. This pyramid
was built thus; in the form of steps, which some call
crossæ, others bomides.
When they had first built it in
this manner, they raised the remaining stones by machines
made of short pieces of wood: having lifted them from the
ground to the first range of steps, when the stone arrived
there, it was put on another machine that stood ready on
the first range; and from this it was drawn to the second
range on another machine; for the machines were equal in
number to the ranges of steps; or they removed the
machine, which was only one, and portable, to each range in
succession, whenever they wished to raise the stone higher;
for I should relate it in both ways, as it is related. The

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