in ii Memphis, and was engraved in memory of a personage who acted as superintendent of the building of the
pyramid. This pyramid has tw se- pulchral chambers, and appear- to have
PYRKER
825
PYRRHO
nasty. Some small brick pyramids of the kings of the eleventh dynasty are at the Drah Abit Negr at Thebes. In Nubia, the ancient Ethiopia, are several pyramids, the tombs of the monarchs of Meroe, and of some of the Ethiopian conquerors of Egypt. They are taller in pro- portion to their base than the Egyptian pyramids, and generally have a sepulchral hall, or propylon, with sculptures, which faces the east. The principal groups of these pyramids are at Bege Rauie, or Begromi, 17° N. hit., in one of which gold rings and other objects of late art, resembling that of the Ptolemaic period, were found. See Egypt.
In Assyria, the Birs Nirnriid, or Tower of Belus, was a kind of step-shaped pyramid of seven different-colored bricks, dedicated to the planets by Nebuchadnezzar. See Babel. The Miijellibe, another mound, was of pyramidal shape. The pyramid also entered into the architecture of the tomb of Sardanapalus at Tanus, and of the mausoleum of Artemisia at Halicarnassus. A small pyramid, the sepulchre of C. Cestius, imitated from the Egyptian in the days of Augustus, still exists within the wall of Aurelian at Rome. Temples and oth- er monuments of pyramidal shape are found in India, China, Java, the Polynesian Islands, and elsewhere. The Toltecs and Aztecs erected temples in Mexico, called Teocalli, or abodes of gods, of pyramidal shape, with steps or terraces by which to ascend and reach an altar, generally placed on the summit, where they per- formed human sacrifices and other rites. These, how- ever, are not true pyramids, the pure and simple form of which is restricted to Egypt. The pyramid entered extensively into the architecture of the Egyptians, and appears on the tops of obelisks and tombs as a kind of roof. Small models of pyramids, with inscribed adula- tions to the sun, or having royal names, were also placed in the tombs. See Lepsius, Ueber den Bau der Pi/ra- miden (1843), p. 143,217; "Wilkinson, Topogr. of Thebes (Loud. 1*35); Vvse, Operations carried on at Gizeh in 1837 (ibid. 1840-42) ; Perring, \leivs,etc. (ibid. 1839-42); Gliddon, O/ia JEgyptiaca (ibid. 1849) ; Taylor, The Great Pyramid (ibid. 1859, 1864); Smyth,. Life and Work at the Great Pyramid (1867); also, Our Inheri- tance in the Great Pyramid (Lond. 1864, 1866, 1877, a work full of fanciful theories) ; St. Day, Plates and Notes (Edinb. 1869).
PYRAMID, a sepulchral monument in imitation of a spire of flame. Beleth mentions one built at Tours, and another, called St. Peter's Needle, at Rome. — Walcott. See Effigies.
Pyrker, Johann Ladislav of Felso-Eor, a Ro- man Catholic prelate, and a poet of some talent, was born Nov. 2, 1772, at Langk, in Hungary. His father was the manager of an estate. John studied first at the gymnasium of Stuhlweissenburg and the academy of Etinfkirchen, and then decided to enter the service of the State. His application for admission in the chief chan- cery at Ofen having met with a refusal, he accepted a situation as private secretary in the house of a count at Palermo, but never performed these functions ; for, while on his journey, in the spring of 1792, and on the point of passing over to Sicily, he suddenly changed his mind and returned. On his journey home he escaped an ambush of pirates, which circumstance gave origin to the tale that he was taken by pirates, sold at Al- giers, and escaped to Genoa. The aspect of the South exercised an animating influence upon Pyrker's poetical talent. On his return through Venice and Vienna, he made the acquaintance of a former Cistercian monk and applied for admission to that order. His request was granted at Lilienfeld (Lower Austria), Oct. 18, 1792 He studied theology at St. Polten, received holy orders in 1796, and subsequently exercised several monastical functions. In 1807 he became curate of Timiz. In
1811 he was recalled to his monastery as prior, and in
1812 he was elected abbot of Lilienfeld. In 1818 he was appointed bishop of Zips, where he founded a seminary
for country teachers. In 1820 he became patriarch of Venice, and in the ensuing year primate of Dalmatia, chaplain of the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, etc. In 1827 he was called to the archiepiscopal see of Erlau, which post he held until his death, at Vienna, Dec. 2, 1847. Pyrker was a man of amiable manners, a con- scientious and courageous priest, a Mtecenas.to the arts, a father to the poor, an ornament to science, and en- joyed general esteem and affection. His heart rests in the cathedral at Erlau ; his body, in conformity with his will, in a spot of the cemetery of Lilienfeld chosen by himself. His epitaph, chiselled on a simple slab of mar- ble, is also of his own composition : Ossa I. L. P. Patr. . 1 rch iej>. Agru nsis ri qu u scant in pace. Of his w< irks, we consider it appropriate to mention here only PerU u der heiligen Vorzeit (Vienna, 1821; 2d ed. 1826) :— Bilder cms dem Leben Jesu und der Apostel (Leips. 1842-43) : — Legenden der Heiligen (ibid. 1842). His complete works were published at Stuttgart (1832-34, 3 vols.; new ed. 1843). Severe critics miss in Pyrker's poems creative freshness and the charm of an original fancy; but they cannot deny the power and beauty of his poet- ical pictures, the pronounced relief of his characters, and his masterly management of the language and rhythm. See Ignaz Hub, Deulschlands Balladen- und Romanzen- Dichter (Carlsruhe, 1849, 2d ed.),p. 188; Winer, llaudb. der theol. Literatur, ii, 351, 718 ; but especially Briihl, Gesch. der lcathol. Literatur, Beutschlands (Vienna, 1861), p. 340 sq.