DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4010#0046
wmmmmmm
A Defc
Greaves, hundred sixty-thrde, they only make it a
" third part greater than the Pyramid at
Rome, of C. Caftius, near the mons Tesia-
ceus : To that either they have much in-
larged that at Rome, or ihrunk and con-
traded this. For the Pyramid at Rome,
exactly measured on that side which stands
within the city, is completely seventy-eight
seet English in breadth ; to which if we
add a third part of it, the result will be an
hundred and Four \ which should be equal
to this Egyptian Pyramid, in the notion
and acceptation of Bellonius. An unpar-
donable oversight, no less than two hundred
feet, in a very little more than three hun-
dred. For so much, besides the authority
of Herodotus, and Diodorus, before cited,
1 take the side of this Pyramid to be, and
the altitude to have much the same pro-
portion.
I would gladly have seen in this, the
name of Mycerinus, the founder of it,
ingraven, as n Diodorus mentions • or that
other inscription in the first, whereof Hero-
dotus procured the interpretation : but both
have been defaced by time. His words
are these: ° In the Pyramid there are Egyp-
tian char after s infer ibed, which Jhew how
much was expended upon the workmen, in
ripiion of
radishes, onions, and garlick ; which an inter-
preter (as I well remember) faid^ was the
J urn of a thoufand and fix hundred talents of
fiver : which is it be fo, how much is it
credible was f.ent in iron, and in meat, and
in clothes for the labourers ? Hereby I might
have known what to determine of the
ancient Egyptian letters : I mean not the
sacred ones, (for those were all symbolical,
expreliing the abstractest notions of the
mind, by visible similitudes of p birds and
beasts, or by representations of some other
familiar objects) but those used in civil
affairs. By such sculptures, which I have
seen in gems found at Alexandria, and
amongst the Mummies, I can no way sub-
scribe to the asfertion of Kircherus, though
an able man, who, in his Prodtomus Coptus*
contends, that the prelent Egyptian or Cop-
tite character (which certainly is only a cor-
ruption and distortion of the Greek) is the
same with that of the ancient Egyptians.
But surely the Egyptian character is of a
much higher descent : and, if we believe
<l Tacitus, (whose opinion is very probable)
they were the first inventors of letters •, tho*
some ascribe the honour os this invention
to the Phoenicians.
n Diodor. l.'t. ° Herodot. I. 2. "2,ian[JL0Lv]a.i S*l£ta. ypctfj-ixdrav A\yv7r\ia>v c-v tm tz-vpayj^t, co~et
is Ti <?vfixa,tw, %j Kfo-[j.y.va-t ^ o~x,bpc<s-a, cLv&iaiy.u^vi roiai if>ya.£os/.tvonrti >y a{ \[A to (ttfAptiSs^ to, b i^nvivs
fj.oi \-7rih<iy'oy.<iT& t« ypd[Ay.a.T<t \<pi\, i^ctx.ba'ict k&i ^/A/«4 rei^avjet as>yvtL« rzTihicd^, 8cc.
P Phcenices primi, fames Ji creditur, auji^, Noverat : & faxis tantum <volucresque, fereeque,
Mansuram rudibus wocem Jignare figuris. Sculptaque fervabant magicas animalia linguas.
Nondum siumineas Memphis contexere bibbs Lucan. lib. 3.
1 Primi per Jiguras animalium JEgyptiisensus mentis effingebant : et antiquijjima monumenta memories humanes
hnpresfafaxis cernuntur : et liter arum.femet inventor es perhibent. Inde Phcenicas, quia mari prapollebant, in-
tuliffe Grescies, gloriamque adept os, tanquam repererunt, qua acceperant. Tacit. 2. lib. annal.
Of the reft of the P Y R A M I D S in the Libyan Defert.
I Have done with these three Pyramids,
each of them being very remarkable,
and the two first: reckoned amongst the
miracles of the world. The rest in the Li-
byan desert, lying scattered here-and-there,
are (excepting one of them) but lesler
copies, and, as it were, models of these :
and therefore I mail neither much trouble
myself, nor the reader, with the descrip-
tion of them: tho', to speak the truth, did
not the three sirst, standingso near together,
obseure the lustre of the rest, which lie far
scattered, some os them were very consi-
derable. And therefore I cannot but tax
the omisiion of the ancients, and the inad-
vertency of all modern writers and travel-
lers, who, with too much supineness, have
neglected the description of one of them j
which, in my judgment, is as worthy of
memory, and as near a miracle, as any of
those three which I have mentioned. And
this stands from these south and by west,
at twenty miles distance, more within the
sandy desert, upon a rocky level like these,
and not far from the village whence we
enter the Mummies. This, as the Venetian
doctor allured me, and as I could judge by
conjecture at a distance, hath the same di«
mensions that the first and fairest of these \
hath graduations or ascents without, and
of the lame colour like that, (but more de-
cay'd, especially at the top) and an en-
trance into it on the north side, which is
barred up within ; and therefore whatso-
ever is spoken of the first, in respect of thfe
exterior figure, is appliable to this section.
a Bellonius extremely exceeds in his compu-
tation of the number of them, who thus
writes : Above an hundred others are feen di-
sperfed up and down in that plain. I could
Pltifqttam centum per earn pUniciem bine inde sparfz conspicmntur. Bellon. I. 2. c. 44.
not
A Defc
Greaves, hundred sixty-thrde, they only make it a
" third part greater than the Pyramid at
Rome, of C. Caftius, near the mons Tesia-
ceus : To that either they have much in-
larged that at Rome, or ihrunk and con-
traded this. For the Pyramid at Rome,
exactly measured on that side which stands
within the city, is completely seventy-eight
seet English in breadth ; to which if we
add a third part of it, the result will be an
hundred and Four \ which should be equal
to this Egyptian Pyramid, in the notion
and acceptation of Bellonius. An unpar-
donable oversight, no less than two hundred
feet, in a very little more than three hun-
dred. For so much, besides the authority
of Herodotus, and Diodorus, before cited,
1 take the side of this Pyramid to be, and
the altitude to have much the same pro-
portion.
I would gladly have seen in this, the
name of Mycerinus, the founder of it,
ingraven, as n Diodorus mentions • or that
other inscription in the first, whereof Hero-
dotus procured the interpretation : but both
have been defaced by time. His words
are these: ° In the Pyramid there are Egyp-
tian char after s infer ibed, which Jhew how
much was expended upon the workmen, in
ripiion of
radishes, onions, and garlick ; which an inter-
preter (as I well remember) faid^ was the
J urn of a thoufand and fix hundred talents of
fiver : which is it be fo, how much is it
credible was f.ent in iron, and in meat, and
in clothes for the labourers ? Hereby I might
have known what to determine of the
ancient Egyptian letters : I mean not the
sacred ones, (for those were all symbolical,
expreliing the abstractest notions of the
mind, by visible similitudes of p birds and
beasts, or by representations of some other
familiar objects) but those used in civil
affairs. By such sculptures, which I have
seen in gems found at Alexandria, and
amongst the Mummies, I can no way sub-
scribe to the asfertion of Kircherus, though
an able man, who, in his Prodtomus Coptus*
contends, that the prelent Egyptian or Cop-
tite character (which certainly is only a cor-
ruption and distortion of the Greek) is the
same with that of the ancient Egyptians.
But surely the Egyptian character is of a
much higher descent : and, if we believe
<l Tacitus, (whose opinion is very probable)
they were the first inventors of letters •, tho*
some ascribe the honour os this invention
to the Phoenicians.
n Diodor. l.'t. ° Herodot. I. 2. "2,ian[JL0Lv]a.i S*l£ta. ypctfj-ixdrav A\yv7r\ia>v c-v tm tz-vpayj^t, co~et
is Ti <?vfixa,tw, %j Kfo-[j.y.va-t ^ o~x,bpc<s-a, cLv&iaiy.u^vi roiai if>ya.£os/.tvonrti >y a{ \[A to (ttfAptiSs^ to, b i^nvivs
fj.oi \-7rih<iy'oy.<iT& t« ypd[Ay.a.T<t \<pi\, i^ctx.ba'ict k&i ^/A/«4 rei^avjet as>yvtL« rzTihicd^, 8cc.
P Phcenices primi, fames Ji creditur, auji^, Noverat : & faxis tantum <volucresque, fereeque,
Mansuram rudibus wocem Jignare figuris. Sculptaque fervabant magicas animalia linguas.
Nondum siumineas Memphis contexere bibbs Lucan. lib. 3.
1 Primi per Jiguras animalium JEgyptiisensus mentis effingebant : et antiquijjima monumenta memories humanes
hnpresfafaxis cernuntur : et liter arum.femet inventor es perhibent. Inde Phcenicas, quia mari prapollebant, in-
tuliffe Grescies, gloriamque adept os, tanquam repererunt, qua acceperant. Tacit. 2. lib. annal.
Of the reft of the P Y R A M I D S in the Libyan Defert.
I Have done with these three Pyramids,
each of them being very remarkable,
and the two first: reckoned amongst the
miracles of the world. The rest in the Li-
byan desert, lying scattered here-and-there,
are (excepting one of them) but lesler
copies, and, as it were, models of these :
and therefore I mail neither much trouble
myself, nor the reader, with the descrip-
tion of them: tho', to speak the truth, did
not the three sirst, standingso near together,
obseure the lustre of the rest, which lie far
scattered, some os them were very consi-
derable. And therefore I cannot but tax
the omisiion of the ancients, and the inad-
vertency of all modern writers and travel-
lers, who, with too much supineness, have
neglected the description of one of them j
which, in my judgment, is as worthy of
memory, and as near a miracle, as any of
those three which I have mentioned. And
this stands from these south and by west,
at twenty miles distance, more within the
sandy desert, upon a rocky level like these,
and not far from the village whence we
enter the Mummies. This, as the Venetian
doctor allured me, and as I could judge by
conjecture at a distance, hath the same di«
mensions that the first and fairest of these \
hath graduations or ascents without, and
of the lame colour like that, (but more de-
cay'd, especially at the top) and an en-
trance into it on the north side, which is
barred up within ; and therefore whatso-
ever is spoken of the first, in respect of thfe
exterior figure, is appliable to this section.
a Bellonius extremely exceeds in his compu-
tation of the number of them, who thus
writes : Above an hundred others are feen di-
sperfed up and down in that plain. I could
Pltifqttam centum per earn pUniciem bine inde sparfz conspicmntur. Bellon. I. 2. c. 44.
not