DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0235
196
appendix.
says, at a distance, as large as the other; hut upon a closer
examination, the difference was evident. The Third Pyramid he
found to be much smaller. It was reported to have been built
by a courtesan, who, although originally a slave, contrived by her
beauty and elegance to amass sufficient riches for such an under-
taking. He adds, that there were a great number of smaller
pyramids, and also other tombs, but that they were ruined.
PROSPER ALPINUS (1591)
Gives the following account of the Pyramids of Gizeh. The
three most famous are built upon a sandy rock, five Italian
miles eastward7 of Cairo — the Third being about a mile distant
from the other two. The largest, which is first approached, is
composed of scpjared stones, of such an enormous size that,8 in
the opinion of many persons, all the mountains in Europe could
scarcely supply materials for its construction. He observed, in
ascending to the summit,0 which is a platform often paces, that
the ranges of stone, one hundred and twenty-five in number,
diminished a little in size towards the top ; he therefore con-
cluded, that the Pyramid was one hundred and twenty-five paces
high. He says, that each side of the base is one hundred and
fifty paces long, and that the whole circumference is five hundred
paces j1 and he remarks that the southern face is much dilapidated,
lie then proceeds to describe the interior, of which, in his time,
no correct account existed. He says that there was only one
entrance till the year 1584, when Ibiaham Pacha, the viceroy of
Egypt, led by curiosity, and by the advice of an African magi-
cian, who told him that the Pyramid contained great treasures,
enlarged the confined entrance, so that a man could stand upright
in it. He also intended to blow up the Pyramid, by filling the
well with powder, and was dissuaded from the attempt by Signore
7 " Ad Orientem essent:"—it should be " westward."
8 " Ut ad earn comparandam lapides monlium tonus fere Europo vix sufficere
potuisse non pauci existimant."
8 Prosper Alpinus is said, by M. Savary, to have ascended at the S.E. or S.W.
angle.
1 This is evidently a mistake, and the whole account is so full of errors, and so
confused, that it is scarcely intelligible.
appendix.
says, at a distance, as large as the other; hut upon a closer
examination, the difference was evident. The Third Pyramid he
found to be much smaller. It was reported to have been built
by a courtesan, who, although originally a slave, contrived by her
beauty and elegance to amass sufficient riches for such an under-
taking. He adds, that there were a great number of smaller
pyramids, and also other tombs, but that they were ruined.
PROSPER ALPINUS (1591)
Gives the following account of the Pyramids of Gizeh. The
three most famous are built upon a sandy rock, five Italian
miles eastward7 of Cairo — the Third being about a mile distant
from the other two. The largest, which is first approached, is
composed of scpjared stones, of such an enormous size that,8 in
the opinion of many persons, all the mountains in Europe could
scarcely supply materials for its construction. He observed, in
ascending to the summit,0 which is a platform often paces, that
the ranges of stone, one hundred and twenty-five in number,
diminished a little in size towards the top ; he therefore con-
cluded, that the Pyramid was one hundred and twenty-five paces
high. He says, that each side of the base is one hundred and
fifty paces long, and that the whole circumference is five hundred
paces j1 and he remarks that the southern face is much dilapidated,
lie then proceeds to describe the interior, of which, in his time,
no correct account existed. He says that there was only one
entrance till the year 1584, when Ibiaham Pacha, the viceroy of
Egypt, led by curiosity, and by the advice of an African magi-
cian, who told him that the Pyramid contained great treasures,
enlarged the confined entrance, so that a man could stand upright
in it. He also intended to blow up the Pyramid, by filling the
well with powder, and was dissuaded from the attempt by Signore
7 " Ad Orientem essent:"—it should be " westward."
8 " Ut ad earn comparandam lapides monlium tonus fere Europo vix sufficere
potuisse non pauci existimant."
8 Prosper Alpinus is said, by M. Savary, to have ascended at the S.E. or S.W.
angle.
1 This is evidently a mistake, and the whole account is so full of errors, and so
confused, that it is scarcely intelligible.