DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0328
312
tie fourteen inches and a half long, six wide, and four thick.
As they have been only dried in the sun, we could examine the
earth of which the}7 were made, which appeared much less adhe-
sive than that of the bricks used at Dendera, Eleithias, &c, and
with a greater proportion of straw. There can be no doubt that
this is the pyramid of king Asychis, on which was the remarkable
inscription reported by Herodotus. " Do not compare me with
the pyramids of stone; for I excel these, as much as Jupiter ex-
cells the other gods: for those who built me, thrust poles into a
lake, and collecting together the mud which adhered to them,
they made bricks, and thus they constructed me." I do not,
however, see in what consisted the superiority of this pyramid
above its rivals, either for difficulty of execution, or for durabi-
lity; but the people had been accustomed for ages to raise their
stupendous monuments, on nearly the same plan, and with the
same materials; and as their inventive genius had long since slum-
bered under the laws of imitation, the novelty of the object was
sufficient to raise the vanity of the sovereign and the wonder of
the people.
On our return to the river's side we recrossed the mai'shy bot-
tom I before mentioned. We then passed by several small lakes,
and a grove of acanthus trees. The country beyond, which was
frequently intersected by canals, we found very rugged and un-
even, with vestiges of antient buildings. We rejoined our boats
at Bedreshine about three miles below Mazghouni.
The next morning we made another excursion from Bedreshine
in a direction nearly due West, in the expectation of exploring the
remains of Memphis. Several blocks of granite scattered about
in the neighbourhood of antient mounds, announced our approach
to some place of note. A causeway constructed of earth and
stones, a quarter of a mile in length, conducted us across a coun-
try covered with palm-trees, flax, beans, barley, wheat, and len-
tils.
tie fourteen inches and a half long, six wide, and four thick.
As they have been only dried in the sun, we could examine the
earth of which the}7 were made, which appeared much less adhe-
sive than that of the bricks used at Dendera, Eleithias, &c, and
with a greater proportion of straw. There can be no doubt that
this is the pyramid of king Asychis, on which was the remarkable
inscription reported by Herodotus. " Do not compare me with
the pyramids of stone; for I excel these, as much as Jupiter ex-
cells the other gods: for those who built me, thrust poles into a
lake, and collecting together the mud which adhered to them,
they made bricks, and thus they constructed me." I do not,
however, see in what consisted the superiority of this pyramid
above its rivals, either for difficulty of execution, or for durabi-
lity; but the people had been accustomed for ages to raise their
stupendous monuments, on nearly the same plan, and with the
same materials; and as their inventive genius had long since slum-
bered under the laws of imitation, the novelty of the object was
sufficient to raise the vanity of the sovereign and the wonder of
the people.
On our return to the river's side we recrossed the mai'shy bot-
tom I before mentioned. We then passed by several small lakes,
and a grove of acanthus trees. The country beyond, which was
frequently intersected by canals, we found very rugged and un-
even, with vestiges of antient buildings. We rejoined our boats
at Bedreshine about three miles below Mazghouni.
The next morning we made another excursion from Bedreshine
in a direction nearly due West, in the expectation of exploring the
remains of Memphis. Several blocks of granite scattered about
in the neighbourhood of antient mounds, announced our approach
to some place of note. A causeway constructed of earth and
stones, a quarter of a mile in length, conducted us across a coun-
try covered with palm-trees, flax, beans, barley, wheat, and len-
tils.