DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0222
appendix.
183
Pyramid was built which stands in the middle of the three before
the Great Pyramid ;6 each side of which is a hundred and fifty-feet.7
The Egyptians said, that this Cheops reigned fifty years, and was
succeeded at his death by his brother, Cephren, who pursued in
all respects the same course as he had clone, and built a Pyramid,
which, however, does not reach the measure of that of Cheops (for
these measures we ourselves took), since it wants subterraneous
chambers; nor is there any canal flowing into it from the Nile as
there is into the other, which passes through an artificial tunnel
in the interior of the Pyramid, round an island, in which, they say,
Cheops himself lies.8 Cephren made the substructure of his
building of variegated Ethiopian stone,9 and built it adjoining the
great one, leaving it forty feet inferior in size. They both stand
on the same eminence, which is about one hundred feet high.
They say Cephren reigned fifty-six years. These make up one
hundred and six years, in which, according to their account, the
Egyptians were reduced to extreme misery, and during all this
time the temples were closed up. The Egyptians hated these
(kings) so much, that they are very unwilling to name them, but
call the Pyramids, the Pyramids of the shepherd Philition; he
having fed his flocks in this spot about that time.1
Sect. 134.—He too (Mycerinus) left a pyramid, much less
than that of his father—it is a square of two hundred and eighty
feet, and, half-way up, of Ethiopian stone.2 This indeed, other
Grecians attribute, but incorrectly, to the courtesan Rhodopis.
In saying this, they appear to me not even to know who Rliodopis
was, or they would not have ascribed to her the making of so
6 It is remarkable, that the casing-stones of this Pyramid resemble those of the
Great in their workmanship, and in having been apparently finished down from the
top.
7 See mensurations by Mr. I'erring, for all the admeasurements in these
abstracts.
8 I have already referred to this remarkable account, which is so distinct that,
although nothing has been discovered by the shaft which has been lately made in the
subterraneous chamber down to the level of the Nile, it would appear, that a secret
apartment exists; and the last chance of finding it would be to remove the sand
and earth along the foot of the rocks, from the northern dyke to the Sphinx, as low
as the level of the river, which must disclose any canal that might have been made.
u The lower tiers have been faced with granite.
1 The shepherds are said, by Wanetho, to have been driven out of Egypt into
Palestine, and there to have built Jerusalem : they appear to have retained this name
Philistines
Key-stones of granite now remain in the lower part of the I'yramid.
183
Pyramid was built which stands in the middle of the three before
the Great Pyramid ;6 each side of which is a hundred and fifty-feet.7
The Egyptians said, that this Cheops reigned fifty years, and was
succeeded at his death by his brother, Cephren, who pursued in
all respects the same course as he had clone, and built a Pyramid,
which, however, does not reach the measure of that of Cheops (for
these measures we ourselves took), since it wants subterraneous
chambers; nor is there any canal flowing into it from the Nile as
there is into the other, which passes through an artificial tunnel
in the interior of the Pyramid, round an island, in which, they say,
Cheops himself lies.8 Cephren made the substructure of his
building of variegated Ethiopian stone,9 and built it adjoining the
great one, leaving it forty feet inferior in size. They both stand
on the same eminence, which is about one hundred feet high.
They say Cephren reigned fifty-six years. These make up one
hundred and six years, in which, according to their account, the
Egyptians were reduced to extreme misery, and during all this
time the temples were closed up. The Egyptians hated these
(kings) so much, that they are very unwilling to name them, but
call the Pyramids, the Pyramids of the shepherd Philition; he
having fed his flocks in this spot about that time.1
Sect. 134.—He too (Mycerinus) left a pyramid, much less
than that of his father—it is a square of two hundred and eighty
feet, and, half-way up, of Ethiopian stone.2 This indeed, other
Grecians attribute, but incorrectly, to the courtesan Rhodopis.
In saying this, they appear to me not even to know who Rliodopis
was, or they would not have ascribed to her the making of so
6 It is remarkable, that the casing-stones of this Pyramid resemble those of the
Great in their workmanship, and in having been apparently finished down from the
top.
7 See mensurations by Mr. I'erring, for all the admeasurements in these
abstracts.
8 I have already referred to this remarkable account, which is so distinct that,
although nothing has been discovered by the shaft which has been lately made in the
subterraneous chamber down to the level of the Nile, it would appear, that a secret
apartment exists; and the last chance of finding it would be to remove the sand
and earth along the foot of the rocks, from the northern dyke to the Sphinx, as low
as the level of the river, which must disclose any canal that might have been made.
u The lower tiers have been faced with granite.
1 The shepherds are said, by Wanetho, to have been driven out of Egypt into
Palestine, and there to have built Jerusalem : they appear to have retained this name
Philistines
Key-stones of granite now remain in the lower part of the I'yramid.