DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5392#0034
THE PYRAMID BUILDERS.
Fortresses were erected and soldiers stationed
there to protect the workmen, and temples were
erected that all might be carried on under the
protection of the gods. This treasure-yielding
district was jealously watched and guarded by
the Egyptians, who were thus often brought
into collision with neighbouring tribes. Nor is
Senefru's tablet by any means the sole record
of battle and of conquest, for his successors left
many such memorials there. It is not, how-
ever, by these alone, or by these principally,
that their name and fame has been preserved
to modern days.
The rocky platform at the foot of the Libyan
hills is of unequal breadth; at one spot, near
Memphis, it widens considerably, and forms a
sort of promontory jutting out into the plain.
It was here that the pyramids of Ghizeh rose in
their stupendous majesty. Not far off a huge
block of limestone rock, bearing probably some
accidental resemblance to an animal at rest,1
was transformed by the skill of the royal archi-
tect into the colossal image of a mysterious
1 The face of the Sphinx is 30 feet long and 14 wide. Its body 140,
and its front paws 50 feet long. Between the paws was a small
sanctuary.
Fortresses were erected and soldiers stationed
there to protect the workmen, and temples were
erected that all might be carried on under the
protection of the gods. This treasure-yielding
district was jealously watched and guarded by
the Egyptians, who were thus often brought
into collision with neighbouring tribes. Nor is
Senefru's tablet by any means the sole record
of battle and of conquest, for his successors left
many such memorials there. It is not, how-
ever, by these alone, or by these principally,
that their name and fame has been preserved
to modern days.
The rocky platform at the foot of the Libyan
hills is of unequal breadth; at one spot, near
Memphis, it widens considerably, and forms a
sort of promontory jutting out into the plain.
It was here that the pyramids of Ghizeh rose in
their stupendous majesty. Not far off a huge
block of limestone rock, bearing probably some
accidental resemblance to an animal at rest,1
was transformed by the skill of the royal archi-
tect into the colossal image of a mysterious
1 The face of the Sphinx is 30 feet long and 14 wide. Its body 140,
and its front paws 50 feet long. Between the paws was a small
sanctuary.