DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0298
APPENDIX.
259
and in the roof of the large chamber, where the Sarcophagus
stands, as also in the top of the roof of the gallery, as you go up
into that chamber, you see large fragments of the rock, affording
unanswerable proof that the Pyramids were once huge rocks,
standing where they now are ; that some of them, the most
proper from their form, were chosen for the body of the Pyra-
mid, and the others hewn into steps, and to serve for the super-
structure and the exterior parts of them."
MONSIEUR L'ABBE DE B1NOS (1777),
In his letters, addressed to Madame Elizabeth of France, men-
tions that the Pyramids of Egypt are supposed by some to be
tbe tombs of the antient kings ; that they are called by others
tbe mountains of Pharaoh; that the poets have described them,
as rocks heaped one upon the other by the Titans, in order to
scale Olympus; that the Great Pyramid was the only one that
had been opened ; that those who have measured them, asserted
that the base of the Third was three hundred feet; of the
Second, five hundred feet; and of the larger, six hundred feet;
that he ascended to the top of the Great Pyramid, by one of the
angles, and found that those buildings were distant from one
another about twenty paces ; and that the Sphinx was behind
them, and not more than twenty feet above the surface of the
sand. He states that the entrance into the Great, Pyramid was
about fifteen feet high above the rubbish, and probably three
times that height above the base. The entrance was a square of
'°ur palms. The descending passage, about eighty feet long, was
full of rubbish ; and, at about one-third from the bottom, he found,
°n ihe right hand, a large opening, in which a mass of rock was
to be surmounted in order to arrive at an ascending passage,
about ninety-six feet in length and three feet four inches square.
At the upper end of this communication he saw, on the right
hand, a very deep pit, which formerly contained a secret chamber;
a"d on a level with the mouth of the pit, a passage, one hundred
and thirteen feet long, and three feet square, conducted to a
chamber, eighteen feet long, sixteen wide, and twenty high.
Having reached this chamber, lie returned to the end of the
ascending gallery, near the well, where he perceived a perpen-
dicular ascent to another ascending passage, one hundred and
259
and in the roof of the large chamber, where the Sarcophagus
stands, as also in the top of the roof of the gallery, as you go up
into that chamber, you see large fragments of the rock, affording
unanswerable proof that the Pyramids were once huge rocks,
standing where they now are ; that some of them, the most
proper from their form, were chosen for the body of the Pyra-
mid, and the others hewn into steps, and to serve for the super-
structure and the exterior parts of them."
MONSIEUR L'ABBE DE B1NOS (1777),
In his letters, addressed to Madame Elizabeth of France, men-
tions that the Pyramids of Egypt are supposed by some to be
tbe tombs of the antient kings ; that they are called by others
tbe mountains of Pharaoh; that the poets have described them,
as rocks heaped one upon the other by the Titans, in order to
scale Olympus; that the Great Pyramid was the only one that
had been opened ; that those who have measured them, asserted
that the base of the Third was three hundred feet; of the
Second, five hundred feet; and of the larger, six hundred feet;
that he ascended to the top of the Great Pyramid, by one of the
angles, and found that those buildings were distant from one
another about twenty paces ; and that the Sphinx was behind
them, and not more than twenty feet above the surface of the
sand. He states that the entrance into the Great, Pyramid was
about fifteen feet high above the rubbish, and probably three
times that height above the base. The entrance was a square of
'°ur palms. The descending passage, about eighty feet long, was
full of rubbish ; and, at about one-third from the bottom, he found,
°n ihe right hand, a large opening, in which a mass of rock was
to be surmounted in order to arrive at an ascending passage,
about ninety-six feet in length and three feet four inches square.
At the upper end of this communication he saw, on the right
hand, a very deep pit, which formerly contained a secret chamber;
a"d on a level with the mouth of the pit, a passage, one hundred
and thirteen feet long, and three feet square, conducted to a
chamber, eighteen feet long, sixteen wide, and twenty high.
Having reached this chamber, lie returned to the end of the
ascending gallery, near the well, where he perceived a perpen-
dicular ascent to another ascending passage, one hundred and