DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0228
APPENDIX.
189
records among its wonderful and remarkable things the extreme
points of these, which are said to rise (above the water). The
remaining three, which have filled the earth with their renown,
and are conspicuous on all sides to those who sail by, are situated
on the African side on a barren stony mountain, between the city
of Memphis and what we have said is called the Delta, less than
four miles from the Nile, and seven from Memphis, near a village
called Busiris, where are persons accustomed to mount them.
Before these is the Sphinx,4 an object still more worthy of being
recorded, as it seems to give evidence of their venerating some-
thing of a mixed nature, like our rural deities. They suppose
King Amasis to be buried therein, and assert that it appears to
have been brought thither. It is smooth, and made out of the
natural stone. The circumference of the head of the monster,
across the forehead, is 102 feet; the length is 143 feet; the
height, from the stomach to the crown of the head, 62 feet.5 The
material of the largest Pyramid came from the Arabian quarries.
Three hundred and sixty-six thousand men are said to have been
twenty years building it. The construction of the three cost
seventy-eight years and four months.6 The authors who have
written upon them are Herodotus, Euhemerus, Duris Samius,
Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Alexander Polyhistor, Bu-
torides, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles, and Apion. All
these authors do not make it clear who built them. It has most
justly happened that oblivion has concealed the authors of such
vanity ; some of these have stated that 1600 talents were spent
on radishes, garlics, and onions. The largest occupies eight
acres (jugera); the four angles are equidistant; eacli side ex-
tends 883 feet; the height from the top fifteen feet.7(?) The
length of each side of the second, between the four equal angles, is
4 Notwithstanding the similarity of the name Abouseir to Busiris, this de-
scription of the relative position of the Sphinx proves that the author alluded to the
Pyramids at Ghizeh.
4 It does not appear by this description that Pliny saw the lower part of this
figure.
1 According to Herodotus, Cheops reigned fifty years, and Chephren fifty-six
years.
7 In the text this is, "Altitudo a cacumine, pedes 15,"which is stated in a note
to be so in the manuscript; and it is added, " Hoc est quindecem millia pedum
cum semisse. Prius legebatur 'latitudo, .... pedes 25.'" The passage is very
obscure.
189
records among its wonderful and remarkable things the extreme
points of these, which are said to rise (above the water). The
remaining three, which have filled the earth with their renown,
and are conspicuous on all sides to those who sail by, are situated
on the African side on a barren stony mountain, between the city
of Memphis and what we have said is called the Delta, less than
four miles from the Nile, and seven from Memphis, near a village
called Busiris, where are persons accustomed to mount them.
Before these is the Sphinx,4 an object still more worthy of being
recorded, as it seems to give evidence of their venerating some-
thing of a mixed nature, like our rural deities. They suppose
King Amasis to be buried therein, and assert that it appears to
have been brought thither. It is smooth, and made out of the
natural stone. The circumference of the head of the monster,
across the forehead, is 102 feet; the length is 143 feet; the
height, from the stomach to the crown of the head, 62 feet.5 The
material of the largest Pyramid came from the Arabian quarries.
Three hundred and sixty-six thousand men are said to have been
twenty years building it. The construction of the three cost
seventy-eight years and four months.6 The authors who have
written upon them are Herodotus, Euhemerus, Duris Samius,
Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Alexander Polyhistor, Bu-
torides, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles, and Apion. All
these authors do not make it clear who built them. It has most
justly happened that oblivion has concealed the authors of such
vanity ; some of these have stated that 1600 talents were spent
on radishes, garlics, and onions. The largest occupies eight
acres (jugera); the four angles are equidistant; eacli side ex-
tends 883 feet; the height from the top fifteen feet.7(?) The
length of each side of the second, between the four equal angles, is
4 Notwithstanding the similarity of the name Abouseir to Busiris, this de-
scription of the relative position of the Sphinx proves that the author alluded to the
Pyramids at Ghizeh.
4 It does not appear by this description that Pliny saw the lower part of this
figure.
1 According to Herodotus, Cheops reigned fifty years, and Chephren fifty-six
years.
7 In the text this is, "Altitudo a cacumine, pedes 15,"which is stated in a note
to be so in the manuscript; and it is added, " Hoc est quindecem millia pedum
cum semisse. Prius legebatur 'latitudo, .... pedes 25.'" The passage is very
obscure.