and triangular sides. Although various opinions have ' has led to the conclusion thai they wire wound Up by prevailed as to their use, as that they were erected for machines. The stones were quarried on or near the spot; astronomical purposes, for resisting the encroachment sometimes, however, granite taken from the quarries of of the sand of the desert, for granaries, reservoirs, or Syene was partially employed. The entrances were sipiil.lm-. the last - mentioned hypothesis has I. ecu carefully filled up, and the passage protected by stone proved to be correct in recent times bj the excavations portcullises and other contrivances, to prevent ingress of the late general Howard Vyse. They were all the to the sepulchral chamber. There appears to have been tombs of monarchs of Egypt who nourished from the also a door, or pylon, at the entrance of the shaft, orna- fourth to the twelfth dynasty, none having been con- mented with Egyptian sculptures and hieroglyphs. The Btructed later than that time, the subsequent kings be- sides of the pyramids face the cardinal points, and the ing buried at AU dos, Thebes, and other places, in tombs i ntrances face the north. The work ol the largi r pyr- oi a \' iy different construction. The picture of a pyra- am ids was executed by corvees of laborers, mid forms a pari of the hieroglyphic name of Memphis. The mosl remarkable and finest p\ ram ids are those and the immutability of mosl things in Egypt leads us of I rtzeh, situated on a level space of the Libyan chain to infer, from this circumstance, that the foundation of al Memphis, on the wesl hank of the Nile. The largest
thr< '■ an- the mosl fa- mous. The firsl or Cnat Pyramid, as ap- pears from the t xea- vaiions of Y\ se, was
the sepulchre of the
( 'heops of I lerodotus,
tint hi ml" s.orChem- mis. of Diodorus, and the Suphis of Mane- tho and Eratosthenes (Shufu I. l;.c. 2218- 2186 . The name of
the founder ol the Great I \ ramid has been detected in a small tomb iii iis mi- ni, di.ite vicinity. It - i- written in Greek by Manet ho, ] whii h is >aid by Era-
tOStlieill - to mean ill EgJ ptian KOfiaOTOQ,
w ho has much hair." The hiero- glyphic name. Shufu, has also the same
meaning as in the
General View of the Pyramids.
PYRAMID
823
PYRAMID
EXPLANATION Entrance lo Pyramids thus, E
• i^#-~c^i hit:/ -;■' ' A v
3H J ' /2-Sh.f.No.l ^\ //'' I >/ C \ J
\&S\ K
i] -
- THIRD PYRAMID ' "I
In -W
Plan of the Pyramids of Gizeh Coptic, "much hair." Its height was r^ >K\ 480 feet 9 inches, and its base 764 feet ^ 2L\ square, having an area of about 13 acres. 'jC-b Its slope or angle is 51° 50'. It has, however, been much spoiled and stripped of its exterior blocks for the building of ■^L , I Cairo. The original sepulchral cham- L ^P^# ,jer' ca^et^ tne Subterranean Apartment, %.-"- M 46 feet by 27 feet, and 11 feet 6 inches high, has been hewn in the solid rock, and was reached by the original passage, 320 feet long, which descended to it by an entrance at the foot of the pyramid. The excavations in this direction were subsequently abandoned on account of the vast size attained by the pyramid, rendering it impracticable to carry on the en- trance on a level with the natural rock, which had been cat down and faced for that purpose. Accordingly a second chamber, with a triangular roof, was constructed in the masonry of the pyramid. 17 feet by 18 feet 9 inches, and 20 feet 3 inches high. This was reached by a passage rising at an inclination of 263 18', termi- nating in a horizontal passage. It is called the Queen's Chamber, and occupies a position nearly in the centre of the pyramid. The monument — probably owing to the long life attained by the monarch — still progress- ing, a third chamber, called the King's, was finally con- structed, by prolonging the ascending passage of the Queen's Chamber for 150 feet farther into the very cen- tre of the pyramid, and, after a short horizontal pas- sage, making a room 17 feet 1 inch by 34 feet 3 inches, and 19 feet 1 inch high. To diminish, however, the
pressure of the superincumbent masonry on the flat roof, five small chambers were made vertically in succession
Entrance of the Great Py
PYRAMID
824
PYRAMID
above the roof, the last one pointed, varying in height been broken into by the caliph Alaziz Othman ben-
from 1 foot I inches to 8 Peel 7 inches, the apex of the Yussuf, A.I>. 1196. Subsequently, it was opened by
top one being rather more than 69 feet above the roof Belzoni. The masonry is inferior to the first, but it was
of the King's Chamber. The end of the horizontal anciently cased below with red granite. The casing
was finished in a superior style, and cased with Mill remains at the summit.
red syenitic granite; and in the King's Chamber was The third pyramid, built by Blencheres, or Myceri-
us of the king, Cheops, 7 feel 6j uus (brother of Chephren, B.C. 2163 2130), is much