DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0040
26
Survey of the Ancient World
42. Slow
progress of
the Egyp-
tians before
they built
stone
masonry
43. Rapid
progress
from the
earliest stone
masonry to
the Great
Pyramid — a
century and
a half
and the fertile soil he refreshes, and the green life which he
brings forth — all these the Egyptian thought of together as a
single god, Osiris, the imperishable life of the earth which
revives and fades every year with the changes of the seasons.
It was a beautiful thought to the Egyptian that this same life-
giving power which furnished him his food in this world would
care for him also in the next, when his body lay out yonder in
the great cemetery which we are approaching.
But this vast cemetery of Gizeh tells us of many other things
besides the religion of the Egyptians. Let us see what it tells
of Egyptian progress in building. As we look up at the colossal
pyramids behind the Sphinx (Frontispiece) we can hardly grasp
the fact of the enormous forward stride taken by the Egyptians
since the days when they used to be buried with their flint
knives in a pit scooped out on the margin of the desert (Fig. io).
It was chiefly the use of metal which carried them so far.
That Egyptian in Sinai who noticed the first bit of metal
(§ 37) lived over a thousand years before these pyramids were
built. He was buried in a pit like that of the earliest Egyptian
peasant (Figs. 10 and 12,1). By the thirty-fourth century B.C.
the Egyptians were building the tombs of their kings of sun-
baked brick. Such a royal tomb was merely a chamber in the
ground, roofed with wood and covered with a mound of sand and
gravel (Fig. T2, 2). Such tombs continued to be built until about
3000 B.C., only a century before the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.
Meantime some skillful workmen found out that with their
copper tools they could cut blocks of limestone and line the
burial chamber with these stone blocks in place of the soft
bricks. This was the first piece of stone masonry ever put
together in so far as we know (Fig. 12,3). It was built not
more than fifty years before 3000 B.C. In the course of the
next century and a half or less (Fig. 12, bracket at bottom)
the first tombs of pyramidal form were erected (Fig. 12,5, 6, 7),
and by 2900 B.C. the king's architect was building the
Great Pyramid of Gizeh (Fig. 12, 8). Most of this amazing
Survey of the Ancient World
42. Slow
progress of
the Egyp-
tians before
they built
stone
masonry
43. Rapid
progress
from the
earliest stone
masonry to
the Great
Pyramid — a
century and
a half
and the fertile soil he refreshes, and the green life which he
brings forth — all these the Egyptian thought of together as a
single god, Osiris, the imperishable life of the earth which
revives and fades every year with the changes of the seasons.
It was a beautiful thought to the Egyptian that this same life-
giving power which furnished him his food in this world would
care for him also in the next, when his body lay out yonder in
the great cemetery which we are approaching.
But this vast cemetery of Gizeh tells us of many other things
besides the religion of the Egyptians. Let us see what it tells
of Egyptian progress in building. As we look up at the colossal
pyramids behind the Sphinx (Frontispiece) we can hardly grasp
the fact of the enormous forward stride taken by the Egyptians
since the days when they used to be buried with their flint
knives in a pit scooped out on the margin of the desert (Fig. io).
It was chiefly the use of metal which carried them so far.
That Egyptian in Sinai who noticed the first bit of metal
(§ 37) lived over a thousand years before these pyramids were
built. He was buried in a pit like that of the earliest Egyptian
peasant (Figs. 10 and 12,1). By the thirty-fourth century B.C.
the Egyptians were building the tombs of their kings of sun-
baked brick. Such a royal tomb was merely a chamber in the
ground, roofed with wood and covered with a mound of sand and
gravel (Fig. T2, 2). Such tombs continued to be built until about
3000 B.C., only a century before the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.
Meantime some skillful workmen found out that with their
copper tools they could cut blocks of limestone and line the
burial chamber with these stone blocks in place of the soft
bricks. This was the first piece of stone masonry ever put
together in so far as we know (Fig. 12,3). It was built not
more than fifty years before 3000 B.C. In the course of the
next century and a half or less (Fig. 12, bracket at bottom)
the first tombs of pyramidal form were erected (Fig. 12,5, 6, 7),
and by 2900 B.C. the king's architect was building the
Great Pyramid of Gizeh (Fig. 12, 8). Most of this amazing