DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0308
APPENDIX.
269
authors, and he thinks that it had been built of different kinds of
stone : the casing appeared to have been lately removed.
Note.
The English translation by Aikin differs in some respects from the
French edition, as M. Denon is represented in it to have determined that
the height of the entrance to the Great Pyramid, which was the only one
open, was sixty feet above the base; to have considered the King's Cham-
ber as the principal or sole object for which the building had been
erected ; and also to have observed, that so great was the antiquity of
the Sphinx and of the adjoining ruins, that the time and circumstances
of their demolition were equally unknown with those of their construction;
and that these wonderful monuments proved the extent to which science
had arrived in the remotest times. M. Denon quotes the admeasurements
of antient authors, of Greaves, and of Lebrun, and inserts the following
observation taken by M. Caraboeuf, 1799: —
" N. S. face of the Great Pyramid, 19' 58" of declination, N.O."
COLO.\EL COUTELLE (1801)
Was officially employed with M. Le Pere at the Pyramids of
Gizeh, and had a hundred men for a guard. Their exertions
appear to have been chiefly directed to take the admeasurements
of the Great Pyramid, and to examine the well in the interior of
that edifice ; to take down one of the smaller Pyramids; and to
examine the Sphinx and the tombs. The following is the sub-
stance of his remarks :—The entrance of the Great Pyramid is
situated on the fifteenth course in the north-eastern front, 14m-489
above the base, and two ranges of stone are placed over it, to sup-
port the superincumbent weight of the building. The passages
are 1m-110 square, and are formed of blocks of calcareous stone
from the quarries near Tourah. The first passage is 22m-363
in length; the entrance appears to have been closed up and
concealed by masonry. Upon the removal of the blocks, which
formed the casing, the adjacent courses were found to be inclined,
like the passage itself, at an angle of 26°. The second pnssage
ascends at an angle of 27°, and is 33'"-134 long; the lower part
°f it is still closed up with large blocks of granite, and to avoid
these impediments a communication hud been forced beyond them.
269
authors, and he thinks that it had been built of different kinds of
stone : the casing appeared to have been lately removed.
Note.
The English translation by Aikin differs in some respects from the
French edition, as M. Denon is represented in it to have determined that
the height of the entrance to the Great Pyramid, which was the only one
open, was sixty feet above the base; to have considered the King's Cham-
ber as the principal or sole object for which the building had been
erected ; and also to have observed, that so great was the antiquity of
the Sphinx and of the adjoining ruins, that the time and circumstances
of their demolition were equally unknown with those of their construction;
and that these wonderful monuments proved the extent to which science
had arrived in the remotest times. M. Denon quotes the admeasurements
of antient authors, of Greaves, and of Lebrun, and inserts the following
observation taken by M. Caraboeuf, 1799: —
" N. S. face of the Great Pyramid, 19' 58" of declination, N.O."
COLO.\EL COUTELLE (1801)
Was officially employed with M. Le Pere at the Pyramids of
Gizeh, and had a hundred men for a guard. Their exertions
appear to have been chiefly directed to take the admeasurements
of the Great Pyramid, and to examine the well in the interior of
that edifice ; to take down one of the smaller Pyramids; and to
examine the Sphinx and the tombs. The following is the sub-
stance of his remarks :—The entrance of the Great Pyramid is
situated on the fifteenth course in the north-eastern front, 14m-489
above the base, and two ranges of stone are placed over it, to sup-
port the superincumbent weight of the building. The passages
are 1m-110 square, and are formed of blocks of calcareous stone
from the quarries near Tourah. The first passage is 22m-363
in length; the entrance appears to have been closed up and
concealed by masonry. Upon the removal of the blocks, which
formed the casing, the adjacent courses were found to be inclined,
like the passage itself, at an angle of 26°. The second pnssage
ascends at an angle of 27°, and is 33'"-134 long; the lower part
°f it is still closed up with large blocks of granite, and to avoid
these impediments a communication hud been forced beyond them.