DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0307
268
APPENDIX.
gallery, or any part of the horizontal passage leading to the
Queen's Chamber, excepting its entrance, had been filled up with
solid masonry, but only the ascending passage; and he is of
opinion, that the stones necessary for these operations were de-
posited between the ramps, which were raised for the purpose of
affording a spacious and level entry for the funeral of the king.
He then quotes Herodotus and Pliny, as to the construction of
the Pyramids, and estimates its solid contents at 79,144,277 cubic
feet, and thinks that it might be built by European workmen for
158,288,554 francs. The causeway seemed to M. Denon to have
been made for the conveyance of the building materials, and he
says that its construction shewed a great want of skill in those
who built it, and their ignorance of the arch, or that it would have
been used in this instance, and also in the Pyramid itself. The
mortar appeared to be like that used in Europe, and the stones
had been squared. He assigns a base of six hundred and fifty-
five feet, and a height of three hundred and ninety-eight feet, to
the Second Pyramid, which was built with blocks quarried from
the spot. The casing that yet remained shewed the angle of the
upper part of it, but he concludes from Herodotus, that the lower
part was built in steps or degrees. The stones of the exterior had
not been regularly squared, and it had, on this account, been
covered with plaster composed of " gypse," of a little sand, and
small flints. It was very white and conspicuous at a great distance,
and when the sun shone brightly upon it, it reflected the light,
so that it appeared to many persons to have been composed of
fine granite.6 Having examined the temple on the eastern side,
he does not think that much of the Third Pyramid is concealed by
the sand ; its base was a square of two hundred and eighty feet,
and its height was two hundred and sixty-two feet. He could not
measure the ranges of stone on the northern front on account of
the excavations said to have been made by Mourat Bey, or by his
predecessor, Mahomed Bey, in consequence of having been pre-
sented with a ring, upon which was engraved a prediction of good
fortune, and of having dreamt of a treasure concealed in tins
monument. From the vast quantity of black marble (probably
basalt), as well as granite, which he observed near this building,
its construction seemed to have been truly described by antient
6 The casing is of calcareous stones in horizontal courses, like that of the
propylva at Karuac.
APPENDIX.
gallery, or any part of the horizontal passage leading to the
Queen's Chamber, excepting its entrance, had been filled up with
solid masonry, but only the ascending passage; and he is of
opinion, that the stones necessary for these operations were de-
posited between the ramps, which were raised for the purpose of
affording a spacious and level entry for the funeral of the king.
He then quotes Herodotus and Pliny, as to the construction of
the Pyramids, and estimates its solid contents at 79,144,277 cubic
feet, and thinks that it might be built by European workmen for
158,288,554 francs. The causeway seemed to M. Denon to have
been made for the conveyance of the building materials, and he
says that its construction shewed a great want of skill in those
who built it, and their ignorance of the arch, or that it would have
been used in this instance, and also in the Pyramid itself. The
mortar appeared to be like that used in Europe, and the stones
had been squared. He assigns a base of six hundred and fifty-
five feet, and a height of three hundred and ninety-eight feet, to
the Second Pyramid, which was built with blocks quarried from
the spot. The casing that yet remained shewed the angle of the
upper part of it, but he concludes from Herodotus, that the lower
part was built in steps or degrees. The stones of the exterior had
not been regularly squared, and it had, on this account, been
covered with plaster composed of " gypse," of a little sand, and
small flints. It was very white and conspicuous at a great distance,
and when the sun shone brightly upon it, it reflected the light,
so that it appeared to many persons to have been composed of
fine granite.6 Having examined the temple on the eastern side,
he does not think that much of the Third Pyramid is concealed by
the sand ; its base was a square of two hundred and eighty feet,
and its height was two hundred and sixty-two feet. He could not
measure the ranges of stone on the northern front on account of
the excavations said to have been made by Mourat Bey, or by his
predecessor, Mahomed Bey, in consequence of having been pre-
sented with a ring, upon which was engraved a prediction of good
fortune, and of having dreamt of a treasure concealed in tins
monument. From the vast quantity of black marble (probably
basalt), as well as granite, which he observed near this building,
its construction seemed to have been truly described by antient
6 The casing is of calcareous stones in horizontal courses, like that of the
propylva at Karuac.