DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4010#0009
/ages
)f the
nly is
Scrip-
ingos
'ulcan*
liberty*
is alsa
Egypt
■10 time
onfins^
loeris r
; there
is, oi
nge re*
Is under
as may,
* itl
we may
lilderoi
* 0/ '%
\ wbtcb
is a cer*
of
lib. «,
Ant
%W
of the PYRAMIDS.
mid, each fide of which is cccc feet, and the
altitude is the fame; the name of him that lies
buried there is Imandes, wh©m the author
os the epitome calls Maindes, and Strabo
6l3
himself not long aster 1 imandes; Diodorus
'3
names him Ofymanduas. Which of.these
two, whether Herodotus or Strabo, hath
given the trued measure of it, unless the
Pyramid were now extant, cannot be de-
cided by us ; though Pliny adheres to the
dimensions os Herodotus: But whereas He-
rodotus and Strabo mention there but one
Pyramid, he makes mention of many :
and whereas Strabo makes this to be qua-
drilateral, he describes these (if I mistake
not his words) to be sexangular. e Super -
que Nemefes xv adiculis incluferit Pyr amides
complures (that is, above this labyrinth,
which he places in Heracleopolite Nomo)
quadragenarum ulnarum vi radice muros ob-
tinentes.
Long before these four Pyramids of
Cheops, Cephren, Mycerinus, and Asychis,
who immediately succeeded one another in
the kingdom, but after this of Ismandes,
Myris, as he is called by Diodorus, (but
Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny, name him Ma-
ris) another Egyptian king, built two ad-
mirable Pyramids; thedescription of which,
though in Herodotus it immediately follows
that of the twelve kings; yet, as it may
evidently be collected out of him and Dio-
dorus, these two of Maris must, many ages,
have preceded. f For Herodotus tells us,
that from Menes (the first king of the
Egyptians, whom Diodorus names Men as)
the priejls recited out of their books cccxxx
kings, the last of which was Mceris ; long
after whom reigned Sefoftris, who is called
by Manethos, Sethofis \ and by Diodorus,
Sefoftris and Sefoofis; who, more particu-
larly than Herodotus, expreises Sefoftris to
have been s seven ages after Maris, and
to have reigned long before these twelve
kings. The which Sefoftris, or Sethofis,
immediately succeeding Amanophis, (ac-
cording to Manethos in Jofephus, as we
shall shew in the ensuing discourse) must
have been before Cheops, Cephren, Myceri-
nus, and Asychis ; and therefore, consequent-
]y, that Mceris must long have preceded
these twelve kings. This Mceris undertook
and finifhed that most admirable lake de* Greaves.
nominated after his name, as it is testified
by Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, and Pliny.
A work the most useful, and wonderful, if
it be rightly considered, that I think was
ever by any man attempted \ in the midst
of which he creeled two Pyramids, the one
in memory of himself, the other of his
wife, each os them being ioc feet in height 5
the description of both which, and of his
lake, we have in Herodotus: the latter we
find in Strabo, but in none so fully as in
h Diodorus -, and therefore I mall relate his
words: Ten schcenes (that is, ioc furlongs-,
though Strabo, and Artemidorus besore him,
observe a disference of fchcenes in Egypt)
above the city (Memphis) Myris dug a lake
of admirable ufe, the greatnefs of which work
is incredible. For they relate, that the cir-
cumference of it contains cio cid cio ioc
furlongs -, the depth of it in many places is sifty
fathom (that is, two hundred c biiS,or
three hundred feet). Who, therefore, may
not defervedly ask, that fhall confider the great-
nefs of the work, how many myriads of men,
and in how many years they made it ? The
common benefit of it, to thoje that inhabit
Egypt, and the wisdom of the king, no man
can jujficiently commend. For finee therifing
cfNilus is not always alike, and the country
is the more fruitful by the moderateness of this,
he digged a lake to receive the fuperfluity of the
water, that neither by the greatnefs of the
inundation unfeasonably drowning the country,
it Jhouid occafion marfhes or lakes, or flowing
lefs than it fihou'd do, for want of water, it
Jhouid corrupt the fruits. He therefore cut a
ditch from the river to the lake, eighty furlongs
long, and three hundred feet in breadth ; by
which, fometimes receiving in, and fometimes
diverting the river, he exhibited a feafonable
quantity of water to the hufbandmen, the
mouth of it fometimes being opened, and fome-
times Jhut, not without much art, and great
expences. For he that would open the bars,
(or (luices) or Jhut them, it was necesfary, that
he fpent at the leaf sifty talents. The lake in
this manner benefiting the Egyptians, hath
continued to our times; and, from the author
of it at this day, is called the lake of'Myris.
The king that digged it, left a place in the
midst, in which he built a fepulchre, and two
of the year were inseribed, and divided into a cubit apiece, with a description, according to their nature, of
the setting and rising of the stirs, and also their operations, after the Egyptian astro'.ogers. They say, this
circle was carried away by Cambyfes and the Ferfians, at what time they conquered Egypt [Diod. SicuL lib. i.).
He which shall serioussy consider this, and several other passages in Herodotus and Diodorus, of the stupendous
works of the Egyptians, must needs acknowledge, that for magnificence, if not for art, they far exceeded
the Grecians and Romans, even when their empires were at the highest, and most ssourishing. And therefore
those admiranda Roma, collected by Lipfeus, are scarce to be admired, if compared with some of these. At this
day, there is hardly any vast column or obelisk remaining in Rome, worthy of note, which hath not anciently
been brought thither out of Egypt.
e Plin. lib. 36. cap. 13. f Herod, lib. 2. V-iJct il <tvtiv [MjiW] Kctjktesov 01 hf'iis In silCto clhKav
(ia.<Tt\id)V T$tYiX.00~'lZ>v]i )d TtWK0v]cL Wo^cC[a; £^«7®J OWTXOV Moip/S.
s Diod. Sic. lib. r. h Diod. Sic. lib. 1, 'E^a'ccy <^e <? Trbxeus d-vo <PiK& %o\vwv hty.l'W clfv^i th sj.lv
su^pjjriA doupAwV) tS H sJsy'iQei tuv tysav awis-ov, &c.
7R
Pyramids,
)f the
nly is
Scrip-
ingos
'ulcan*
liberty*
is alsa
Egypt
■10 time
onfins^
loeris r
; there
is, oi
nge re*
Is under
as may,
* itl
we may
lilderoi
* 0/ '%
\ wbtcb
is a cer*
of
lib. «,
Ant
%W
of the PYRAMIDS.
mid, each fide of which is cccc feet, and the
altitude is the fame; the name of him that lies
buried there is Imandes, wh©m the author
os the epitome calls Maindes, and Strabo
6l3
himself not long aster 1 imandes; Diodorus
'3
names him Ofymanduas. Which of.these
two, whether Herodotus or Strabo, hath
given the trued measure of it, unless the
Pyramid were now extant, cannot be de-
cided by us ; though Pliny adheres to the
dimensions os Herodotus: But whereas He-
rodotus and Strabo mention there but one
Pyramid, he makes mention of many :
and whereas Strabo makes this to be qua-
drilateral, he describes these (if I mistake
not his words) to be sexangular. e Super -
que Nemefes xv adiculis incluferit Pyr amides
complures (that is, above this labyrinth,
which he places in Heracleopolite Nomo)
quadragenarum ulnarum vi radice muros ob-
tinentes.
Long before these four Pyramids of
Cheops, Cephren, Mycerinus, and Asychis,
who immediately succeeded one another in
the kingdom, but after this of Ismandes,
Myris, as he is called by Diodorus, (but
Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny, name him Ma-
ris) another Egyptian king, built two ad-
mirable Pyramids; thedescription of which,
though in Herodotus it immediately follows
that of the twelve kings; yet, as it may
evidently be collected out of him and Dio-
dorus, these two of Maris must, many ages,
have preceded. f For Herodotus tells us,
that from Menes (the first king of the
Egyptians, whom Diodorus names Men as)
the priejls recited out of their books cccxxx
kings, the last of which was Mceris ; long
after whom reigned Sefoftris, who is called
by Manethos, Sethofis \ and by Diodorus,
Sefoftris and Sefoofis; who, more particu-
larly than Herodotus, expreises Sefoftris to
have been s seven ages after Maris, and
to have reigned long before these twelve
kings. The which Sefoftris, or Sethofis,
immediately succeeding Amanophis, (ac-
cording to Manethos in Jofephus, as we
shall shew in the ensuing discourse) must
have been before Cheops, Cephren, Myceri-
nus, and Asychis ; and therefore, consequent-
]y, that Mceris must long have preceded
these twelve kings. This Mceris undertook
and finifhed that most admirable lake de* Greaves.
nominated after his name, as it is testified
by Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, and Pliny.
A work the most useful, and wonderful, if
it be rightly considered, that I think was
ever by any man attempted \ in the midst
of which he creeled two Pyramids, the one
in memory of himself, the other of his
wife, each os them being ioc feet in height 5
the description of both which, and of his
lake, we have in Herodotus: the latter we
find in Strabo, but in none so fully as in
h Diodorus -, and therefore I mall relate his
words: Ten schcenes (that is, ioc furlongs-,
though Strabo, and Artemidorus besore him,
observe a disference of fchcenes in Egypt)
above the city (Memphis) Myris dug a lake
of admirable ufe, the greatnefs of which work
is incredible. For they relate, that the cir-
cumference of it contains cio cid cio ioc
furlongs -, the depth of it in many places is sifty
fathom (that is, two hundred c biiS,or
three hundred feet). Who, therefore, may
not defervedly ask, that fhall confider the great-
nefs of the work, how many myriads of men,
and in how many years they made it ? The
common benefit of it, to thoje that inhabit
Egypt, and the wisdom of the king, no man
can jujficiently commend. For finee therifing
cfNilus is not always alike, and the country
is the more fruitful by the moderateness of this,
he digged a lake to receive the fuperfluity of the
water, that neither by the greatnefs of the
inundation unfeasonably drowning the country,
it Jhouid occafion marfhes or lakes, or flowing
lefs than it fihou'd do, for want of water, it
Jhouid corrupt the fruits. He therefore cut a
ditch from the river to the lake, eighty furlongs
long, and three hundred feet in breadth ; by
which, fometimes receiving in, and fometimes
diverting the river, he exhibited a feafonable
quantity of water to the hufbandmen, the
mouth of it fometimes being opened, and fome-
times Jhut, not without much art, and great
expences. For he that would open the bars,
(or (luices) or Jhut them, it was necesfary, that
he fpent at the leaf sifty talents. The lake in
this manner benefiting the Egyptians, hath
continued to our times; and, from the author
of it at this day, is called the lake of'Myris.
The king that digged it, left a place in the
midst, in which he built a fepulchre, and two
of the year were inseribed, and divided into a cubit apiece, with a description, according to their nature, of
the setting and rising of the stirs, and also their operations, after the Egyptian astro'.ogers. They say, this
circle was carried away by Cambyfes and the Ferfians, at what time they conquered Egypt [Diod. SicuL lib. i.).
He which shall serioussy consider this, and several other passages in Herodotus and Diodorus, of the stupendous
works of the Egyptians, must needs acknowledge, that for magnificence, if not for art, they far exceeded
the Grecians and Romans, even when their empires were at the highest, and most ssourishing. And therefore
those admiranda Roma, collected by Lipfeus, are scarce to be admired, if compared with some of these. At this
day, there is hardly any vast column or obelisk remaining in Rome, worthy of note, which hath not anciently
been brought thither out of Egypt.
e Plin. lib. 36. cap. 13. f Herod, lib. 2. V-iJct il <tvtiv [MjiW] Kctjktesov 01 hf'iis In silCto clhKav
(ia.<Tt\id)V T$tYiX.00~'lZ>v]i )d TtWK0v]cL Wo^cC[a; £^«7®J OWTXOV Moip/S.
s Diod. Sic. lib. r. h Diod. Sic. lib. 1, 'E^a'ccy <^e <? Trbxeus d-vo <PiK& %o\vwv hty.l'W clfv^i th sj.lv
su^pjjriA doupAwV) tS H sJsy'iQei tuv tysav awis-ov, &c.
7R
Pyramids,