DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4010#0020
624
For what End or Intention
Of the end or intention of the PYRAMIDS, that they were for
fepulchres ; where, by the way, is expresfed the manner of imbalm-
ingufedby /& EGYPTIANS.
Greaves.
H A T these Pyramids were intended
for sepulchres and monuments of the
dead, is the constant opinion of most au-
thors, which have writ of this argument.
a Diodorus expresly tells us, that Chemmis
and Cephren, although they designed (these
two greater) for their fepulchres, yet it hap-
pened^ that neither of them were buried in them.
h Strabo judges all those near Memphis to
have been the sepulchres of kings* Forty
ftadia from the city (Memphis) there is a
certain brow of an hill, in which are many
Pyramids, the fepulchres of kings-. And in
particular he calls another, near the lake
of Mceris, the c fepulchre of Imandes. To
which also the writings of the Arabians are
consonant, who make the three greater the
monuments of Saurid, Hougib, and Fazfa-
rinoun : and the Sabaans the first of them,
the sepulchre of Seth, the second of Her-
mes, the third of Sab, from whom they sup-
pose themselves denominated Sabaans, as
we formerly mentioned. And if none of
these authorities were extant, yet the tomb
found in the greater!: Pyramid to this day
of Cheops, as Herodotus names him, or
Chemmis, according to Diodorus, puts it out
of controversy. Which may farther be
confirmed by the testimony of Ibn Abd
Alhokm an Arabian, where he discourses of
the wonders of Egypt, who relates that
after Almamon, the calif of Babylon, had
caused this Pyramid to be open'd [about
Note, in eight hundred years since,3 d they found in
Mr- it towards the top a chamber, with an hollow
Greaves s aone {n which there was a ftatue like a man,
edition of J ' . , . J
this work, and within it a man, upon whom was a
■printed at breasi-plate of gold fet with jewels: upon this
London, lreas.plate was a fword of ineftimable price,
1646 the and at his head a carbuncle of the bigness of
Arabick is an egg, jhining like the light of the day ; and
cited at upon him were characters writ with a pen,
^Fh t0h wbicb no man understood.
mriom But why the Egyptian kings should have
reader been at so vast an expence in the build-
may have jng 0f these Pyramids, is an inquiry of
an higher nature. e Ariftotle judges them
to have been the works of tyranny : and
Pliny conjectures, that they built them,
partly out of ostentation, and partly out
of state-policy, by keeping the people in
employment, to divert them from mutinies
and rebellions. f Regum pecunice otiofa, ac
jlulta oftentatio. Quippe cum faciendi eas
caufa a plerisque tradatur, ne pecuniam Juc-
cefsoribus, aut amulis infidiantibus prcsberent,
aut ne plebs ejfet otiofa.
But the true reason depends upon higher
and more weighty consederations ; though
I acknowledge these alleged by Pliny
might be secondary motives. And thss
sprang from the theology of the Egyptians,
who, zsServius shews in his comment upon
these words of § Virgil, describing the fu-
neral of Polydorus,
-.—. dnimamque fepulcro
Condimus-----—
believed, that as long as the body endured,
fo long the foul continued with it -, which also
was the opinion of the h Stoics. ' Heme
the Egyptians, fkilful in wisdom, do keep
their dead imbalmed fo much the longer, to
the end that the soul may for a long while
continue, and be obnoxious to the body, left it
fhould quickly pafs to another. The Romans
did the contrary, burning their dead, that the
foul might fuddenly return into the generality,
that is, into its own nature. Wherefore that
the body might not either by putrefaction
be reduced to dull, out of which it was
first formed •, or by fire be converted into
ashes (as the manner of the Grecians and
Romans was), they invented curious compo-
sitions, besides the intombing them in {late-
ly reconditories, hereby endeavouring to
preserve them from rottenness, and to make
them eternal. k Nee cremare, aut foderefas
putant, verum arte medicatos intra penetralia
collocant, saith Pomponius Mela. And He-
rodotus gives the reason why they did nei-
ther burn nor bury. For, discoursing, in
his third book, of the cruelty of Cambyfes,
and of his commanding that the body of
* Tav jv (ZassiKsav r»VJtajaa:kzvetcdv]cov etuTai lavrol? Tettpa? uvv'isin y.^irzf.v civrcov rait Trv^^'io-iv lv-
Vctqwctt. Diod. Sic. lib. 1.
ratpotrav stcteiKiwv. Strab. lib. 17.
c 'Ijt/apJSij <P' ovoijlo. 0 Tatpzis. Ibid.
d G. Alraec. Hist. Arab, ex edit. Erp. c Arist. 1. 3. Polit. s Piin. 1.16. c. 12.
s Mnc'xd. lib. 3. h Stoici medium sequentes, tamdiu animam durare dicunt, quamdiu durat & corpus.
Serv. Com. in lib. 3. ^Eneid. * Unde JEgyptii periti sapientia condita diutius refervant cadavera, fcilicet ut
anima multo tempore perduret, (& cor port sit obnoxia, ne citoad alind tranfeat. Romani contra saciebant comburen-
tes cadavera, ut statim anima, ingeneralitatem, id esi, in[uam naturamrediret. Serv. Com. in lib. 3.y£neid.
* Pompon. Mel. 1. i.e. 0,
Amafis,
For what End or Intention
Of the end or intention of the PYRAMIDS, that they were for
fepulchres ; where, by the way, is expresfed the manner of imbalm-
ingufedby /& EGYPTIANS.
Greaves.
H A T these Pyramids were intended
for sepulchres and monuments of the
dead, is the constant opinion of most au-
thors, which have writ of this argument.
a Diodorus expresly tells us, that Chemmis
and Cephren, although they designed (these
two greater) for their fepulchres, yet it hap-
pened^ that neither of them were buried in them.
h Strabo judges all those near Memphis to
have been the sepulchres of kings* Forty
ftadia from the city (Memphis) there is a
certain brow of an hill, in which are many
Pyramids, the fepulchres of kings-. And in
particular he calls another, near the lake
of Mceris, the c fepulchre of Imandes. To
which also the writings of the Arabians are
consonant, who make the three greater the
monuments of Saurid, Hougib, and Fazfa-
rinoun : and the Sabaans the first of them,
the sepulchre of Seth, the second of Her-
mes, the third of Sab, from whom they sup-
pose themselves denominated Sabaans, as
we formerly mentioned. And if none of
these authorities were extant, yet the tomb
found in the greater!: Pyramid to this day
of Cheops, as Herodotus names him, or
Chemmis, according to Diodorus, puts it out
of controversy. Which may farther be
confirmed by the testimony of Ibn Abd
Alhokm an Arabian, where he discourses of
the wonders of Egypt, who relates that
after Almamon, the calif of Babylon, had
caused this Pyramid to be open'd [about
Note, in eight hundred years since,3 d they found in
Mr- it towards the top a chamber, with an hollow
Greaves s aone {n which there was a ftatue like a man,
edition of J ' . , . J
this work, and within it a man, upon whom was a
■printed at breasi-plate of gold fet with jewels: upon this
London, lreas.plate was a fword of ineftimable price,
1646 the and at his head a carbuncle of the bigness of
Arabick is an egg, jhining like the light of the day ; and
cited at upon him were characters writ with a pen,
^Fh t0h wbicb no man understood.
mriom But why the Egyptian kings should have
reader been at so vast an expence in the build-
may have jng 0f these Pyramids, is an inquiry of
an higher nature. e Ariftotle judges them
to have been the works of tyranny : and
Pliny conjectures, that they built them,
partly out of ostentation, and partly out
of state-policy, by keeping the people in
employment, to divert them from mutinies
and rebellions. f Regum pecunice otiofa, ac
jlulta oftentatio. Quippe cum faciendi eas
caufa a plerisque tradatur, ne pecuniam Juc-
cefsoribus, aut amulis infidiantibus prcsberent,
aut ne plebs ejfet otiofa.
But the true reason depends upon higher
and more weighty consederations ; though
I acknowledge these alleged by Pliny
might be secondary motives. And thss
sprang from the theology of the Egyptians,
who, zsServius shews in his comment upon
these words of § Virgil, describing the fu-
neral of Polydorus,
-.—. dnimamque fepulcro
Condimus-----—
believed, that as long as the body endured,
fo long the foul continued with it -, which also
was the opinion of the h Stoics. ' Heme
the Egyptians, fkilful in wisdom, do keep
their dead imbalmed fo much the longer, to
the end that the soul may for a long while
continue, and be obnoxious to the body, left it
fhould quickly pafs to another. The Romans
did the contrary, burning their dead, that the
foul might fuddenly return into the generality,
that is, into its own nature. Wherefore that
the body might not either by putrefaction
be reduced to dull, out of which it was
first formed •, or by fire be converted into
ashes (as the manner of the Grecians and
Romans was), they invented curious compo-
sitions, besides the intombing them in {late-
ly reconditories, hereby endeavouring to
preserve them from rottenness, and to make
them eternal. k Nee cremare, aut foderefas
putant, verum arte medicatos intra penetralia
collocant, saith Pomponius Mela. And He-
rodotus gives the reason why they did nei-
ther burn nor bury. For, discoursing, in
his third book, of the cruelty of Cambyfes,
and of his commanding that the body of
* Tav jv (ZassiKsav r»VJtajaa:kzvetcdv]cov etuTai lavrol? Tettpa? uvv'isin y.^irzf.v civrcov rait Trv^^'io-iv lv-
Vctqwctt. Diod. Sic. lib. 1.
ratpotrav stcteiKiwv. Strab. lib. 17.
c 'Ijt/apJSij <P' ovoijlo. 0 Tatpzis. Ibid.
d G. Alraec. Hist. Arab, ex edit. Erp. c Arist. 1. 3. Polit. s Piin. 1.16. c. 12.
s Mnc'xd. lib. 3. h Stoici medium sequentes, tamdiu animam durare dicunt, quamdiu durat & corpus.
Serv. Com. in lib. 3. ^Eneid. * Unde JEgyptii periti sapientia condita diutius refervant cadavera, fcilicet ut
anima multo tempore perduret, (& cor port sit obnoxia, ne citoad alind tranfeat. Romani contra saciebant comburen-
tes cadavera, ut statim anima, ingeneralitatem, id esi, in[uam naturamrediret. Serv. Com. in lib. 3.y£neid.
* Pompon. Mel. 1. i.e. 0,
Amafis,