DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0133
Bk. I. Cu. II. PYRAMIDS AND CONTEMPORARY MONUMENTS. 97
CHAPTER II.
THE PYRAMIDS AYD CONTEMPORARY MONUMENTS.
Leaving these speculations to be developed more fully in the sequel,
let us now turn to the pyramids—the oldest, largest, and most myste-
rious of all the monuments of man’s art now existing. All those in
Egypt are situated on the left bank of the Nile, just beyond the
cultivated ground, and on the edge of the desert, and all the principal
examples within what may fairly be called the Necropolis of Memphis.
Sixty or seventy of these have been discovered and explored, all which
appear to be royal sepulchres. This alone, if true would sullice to
justify us in assigning a duration of 1000 years at least to the dynasties
of the pyramid builders, and this is about the date we acquire from
other sources.
The three great pyramids of Gizeh are the most remarkable ancl the
best known of all those of Egypt. Of these the first, erected by Cheops,
or, as he is now more correctly named, Ivhufu, is the largest; but the
next, by Chephren (Khafra), his successor, is scarcely inferior in di-
mensions; the third, that of Mycerinus (Menkaura), is very much
smaller, but excelled the two others in this, that it had a coating of
beautiful red granite from Syene, while the other two wqre reveted
only with the beautiful lhnestone of the country. Part of this coating
still remains near the top of the second; and Colonel Vyse1 was
fortunate enough to discover some of the coping-stones of the Great
Pyramid buried in the rubbish at its base. These are sufficient to
indicate the nature and extent of the whole, and to show that it was
commenced from the bottom and carried upwards ; not at the top, as it
has sometimes been thoughtlessly asserted.2
Since Colonel Yyse’s discovery, however, further casing-stones have
1 Col. H. Yyse, ‘ Operations carried on
at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837.’
Lond. 1840-43.
2 This will be hest understood by look-
ing at the section (Woodcut 7), in which
it will be seen that the so-called coping
or casing-stones were not simply tri- ,
angular blocks, filling up the angles
formed by the receding steps, and which
might have been easily displaced, but
stones froM 7 to 10 feet in depth, which
could not have been supported unlcss the !
work had been commenced at tlic bottom.
On the other liand, it is difficult to under-
stand how the casing-stones for the upper
portion could have been raised up the
sloping portion completed. It is probable,
therefore, that the casing was commenced
at the angles and was carried up in
vertical planes, thus leaving a causeway
of steps in the middle uf each face, which
diminished in width as the work pro-
ceeded; tliis causewmy, a few feet wide
only, on eacli face bcing then encascd
from the top downwards after the apex
blocks had been laid.—Ed.
VOL. I.
H
CHAPTER II.
THE PYRAMIDS AYD CONTEMPORARY MONUMENTS.
Leaving these speculations to be developed more fully in the sequel,
let us now turn to the pyramids—the oldest, largest, and most myste-
rious of all the monuments of man’s art now existing. All those in
Egypt are situated on the left bank of the Nile, just beyond the
cultivated ground, and on the edge of the desert, and all the principal
examples within what may fairly be called the Necropolis of Memphis.
Sixty or seventy of these have been discovered and explored, all which
appear to be royal sepulchres. This alone, if true would sullice to
justify us in assigning a duration of 1000 years at least to the dynasties
of the pyramid builders, and this is about the date we acquire from
other sources.
The three great pyramids of Gizeh are the most remarkable ancl the
best known of all those of Egypt. Of these the first, erected by Cheops,
or, as he is now more correctly named, Ivhufu, is the largest; but the
next, by Chephren (Khafra), his successor, is scarcely inferior in di-
mensions; the third, that of Mycerinus (Menkaura), is very much
smaller, but excelled the two others in this, that it had a coating of
beautiful red granite from Syene, while the other two wqre reveted
only with the beautiful lhnestone of the country. Part of this coating
still remains near the top of the second; and Colonel Vyse1 was
fortunate enough to discover some of the coping-stones of the Great
Pyramid buried in the rubbish at its base. These are sufficient to
indicate the nature and extent of the whole, and to show that it was
commenced from the bottom and carried upwards ; not at the top, as it
has sometimes been thoughtlessly asserted.2
Since Colonel Yyse’s discovery, however, further casing-stones have
1 Col. H. Yyse, ‘ Operations carried on
at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837.’
Lond. 1840-43.
2 This will be hest understood by look-
ing at the section (Woodcut 7), in which
it will be seen that the so-called coping
or casing-stones were not simply tri- ,
angular blocks, filling up the angles
formed by the receding steps, and which
might have been easily displaced, but
stones froM 7 to 10 feet in depth, which
could not have been supported unlcss the !
work had been commenced at tlic bottom.
On the other liand, it is difficult to under-
stand how the casing-stones for the upper
portion could have been raised up the
sloping portion completed. It is probable,
therefore, that the casing was commenced
at the angles and was carried up in
vertical planes, thus leaving a causeway
of steps in the middle uf each face, which
diminished in width as the work pro-
ceeded; tliis causewmy, a few feet wide
only, on eacli face bcing then encascd
from the top downwards after the apex
blocks had been laid.—Ed.
VOL. I.
H