DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0063
48
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
both the chambers were perfectly plain; but, upon one
of the slabs composing the roof, some hieroglyphics had
been described with red paint, and, amongst them, the
cartouche of Mycerinus.
From the appearance of the bones, and the small size
of the sarcophagus, they seem to have belonged to a
female; and from the form of it, and the decomposed
state of the wood, and particularly from the general
appearance of the masonry, the superstructure may be
considered as coeval with the three large Pyramids, — a
supposition in accordance with the antient tradition, that
these three smaller buildings were the sepulchres of the
wives of Cheops, Chephrenes, and Mycerinus. It would
be very desirable to find out what has become of the
border cut out of the sepulchral chamber, as it doubt-
less contains an inscription, and it might yet possibly
be discovered in some museum or collection of antiqui-
ties.1 The manner of fastening on the lids of the sarco-
1 The mode of burial in a plain sarcophagus deposited in a pyramid
without inscription, or sculpture, is so directly contrary to that usually
practised by the Egyptians, in which not only the sarcophagus, but also
the whole of the building were covered with hieroglyphics, that both of
them can hardly be supposed to have been used by the same people. It
seems probable, therefore, that the former was adopted by those mighty
strangers, who, according to the most authentic accounts, had possession
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH.
both the chambers were perfectly plain; but, upon one
of the slabs composing the roof, some hieroglyphics had
been described with red paint, and, amongst them, the
cartouche of Mycerinus.
From the appearance of the bones, and the small size
of the sarcophagus, they seem to have belonged to a
female; and from the form of it, and the decomposed
state of the wood, and particularly from the general
appearance of the masonry, the superstructure may be
considered as coeval with the three large Pyramids, — a
supposition in accordance with the antient tradition, that
these three smaller buildings were the sepulchres of the
wives of Cheops, Chephrenes, and Mycerinus. It would
be very desirable to find out what has become of the
border cut out of the sepulchral chamber, as it doubt-
less contains an inscription, and it might yet possibly
be discovered in some museum or collection of antiqui-
ties.1 The manner of fastening on the lids of the sarco-
1 The mode of burial in a plain sarcophagus deposited in a pyramid
without inscription, or sculpture, is so directly contrary to that usually
practised by the Egyptians, in which not only the sarcophagus, but also
the whole of the building were covered with hieroglyphics, that both of
them can hardly be supposed to have been used by the same people. It
seems probable, therefore, that the former was adopted by those mighty
strangers, who, according to the most authentic accounts, had possession