Greaves, John: Pyramidographia: or, a Description of the pyramids in Egypt ([London], [1752])

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Of the Authors or Pounders

of them, that this Saurid was the founder
of these three Pyramids, which the admi-
ration os after-times inrolled amongst the
miracles of the world. And these are
those three, which are Hill fair and entire,
and (landing near to one another, formerly
not far distant from the great and ancienE
city Memphis, built by r Uchoreus, (of which
there is now not so much as the ruins left)
and less distant from the river Nilus, as
Diodorus, Strabo, and Pliny, rightly de-
scribe.
Besides these three, we find mentioned,,
in Herodotus and Diodorus, the names and
authors of some others, not much inferior
to these in magnitude, long since ruined
and defaced by time. On the contrary,
there are many now {landing in the Libyan
desert, whose names and authors neitheF
Herodotus nor Diodorus, nor yet any of the
ancients, have expreiTed,
After Mycerinus, according to * Herodo-*
tus, (for Diodorus is here silent) Asychis
succeeded in the kingdom, a who, being de-<
firous to excel his predeceffors, left for a mo-
nument a Pyramid made of bricks, with thefe
words engraven in fione; Campare not me with
the Pyramids built of sione, which I as far
excel, as Jupiter doth the other gods, Fors
ftriking of the bottom of the lake with long
poles, and gathering the dirt which fiuck to
them, they made thence bricks, and formed
me in this manner.
The same author relates, that, many ages
after this Asychis, Sanacharib, king of the
Arabians and Ajfyrians, who certainly is
the same which is mentioned in the Scrip-
tures, having expelled Sethon the king of
the Egyptians, and the prieft of Vulcan^
b the Egyptians, recovering their liberty 9
made choice of twelve kings, ("which is also
confirmed by Diodorus) dividing Egypt
into fo many parts; for they could at no time
live without a king; thefe, by a common confens*,
built a labyrinth above the lake of Mceris z
At the angle where the labyrinth ends, there
is a Pyramid of xl Orgyiae, Cthat is, of
ccxl feet) in which are ingraven huge re-*
femblances of beasis : the pajfage to it is under
ground. And this is that Pyramid, as may
evidently be collected out of c Strabo, irt
which Imandes lies buried, whom we may
probably suppose to have been the builder of
it. His words are these, At the end of this
building, (that is, of this labyrinth) which
contains a furlong in length, there is a cer-
tain * fepulchre, being a quadrilateral Fyra*
mii%
x Plin. 1. 36. c. iz. y Ovxosivs 'iitjiffi ts'qKiv Miyjptv, ewiqutverdTW -rss Kuj'wAifu7r]ov. Diodor. lib. j.
z Herod, lib. 2. * 'TTi^Cctki^ o sizkbsdsJov rkrov r (icMrikia. t&j t§'otz§ov ictvj'S sieto-ikicis -^JoyXv-ce
Aiyvyflvy [Avnpbcrvvov Xlv^.f/i^et Kitt'iSx^ Im. wkivQ'av vrotri(ru.v}a, Lv th yfctyyafct iyki&a \^KiKohcty.yXvet,Td<^i.
kisovja, c??. M« /xz KctjovoQns 'sr^pi 7cl$ kiQivas Tlvs^iASects' Trgoi^a) y6 aurkov 7wSW, ovov 0 Zivs issi akkw
•d-icov x.ovja $ v'7rojv7r]ovj2i \s kiy.vw, on ^so^otro rkmk* r£ kcv7& tut*crukhkswjzs Trkivfes eijv<rccy}Kdi//,g
t%Wg> toivJS l^Toimav,
b Herod, lib. i. « Strab. lib. 17. d Diodorus relates, that> over the sepulchre. there was
a circle of gold of three hundred and fixtY-five cubits compass, and a cubit in thicluiesi, in which the dajs
1 9t

Greaves, concludes, * Inter omnes eos non constat a
quibus faclce fmt, juftijjimo casu obliterans
tantes vanitatis authoribus.
The Arabians, whosc excellencies I judge
to have been in the speculative sciences,
and not in the histories and occurrences of
ancient times, assign other founders of these
three, disserent from those mentioned by
the Greeks. The author of the book in
titled, Morat Alzeman, writes, They disser
concerning him that built the Pyramids: fome
fay Joseph, fome fay Nimrod, fome Dalu-
kah the queen, and fome that the Egypti-
ans built them before the flood: for they fore-
faw, that it would be, and they carried thi-
ther their treasures, but it profited them no-
thing. In another place he tells us, That
the Coptites (or Egyptians) report, that
thefe two greater Pyramids, and the lesfer,
which is coloured, are fepulchres. In the
east Pyramid is king Saurid, in the weft Py-
ramid his brother Hougib, and in the co-
loured PynzssttWFazfarinoun the fon of Hou-
gib : The Sabseans relate, that one of them
is the fepulchre of Shiit, (that is, Seth) and
the fecond the fepulchre of Hermes, and the
coloured one the fepulchre of Sab, the fon of
Hermes,/hw* whom they are called Sabasans.
They go in pilgrimage thither, and facrisice
at them a cock, and a black calf, and offer
up incenfe. Ibn Abd Alhokm, another Ara-
bian, discoursing of this argument, con-
fesses, that he could not find amongst the
learned men in Egypt, any certain relation
concerning them : (wherefore) what is more
reasonable ("saith he) than that the Pyramids
were built before the ssood? Far if they had
been built after, there would have been fome
memory of them amongft men. At last he
concludes, The greatejl part of chronologers
affirm, that he which built the Pyramids, was
Saurid Ibn Salhouk the king of Egypt, who
was before the ssood three hundred years*
And this opinion he confirms out of the
books of the Egyptians. To which he adds,
The Coptites mention in their books, that
upon them there is an infeription engraven °,
the exposition of it in Arabick is this, i"
Saurid the king built the Pyramids in fuch
and fuch a time, and finifhed them in fix
years ; he that comes aster me, and fays he
is equal to me, let him dessroy them in fix
hundred years ; and yet it is known, that it
is eafier to pluck down than to build ; and
when I had finished them, I covered them
withfatin, and let him cover them with mats.
The same relation I find in several others