DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0360
APPENDIX.
321
diminish towards their summits, which are large enough for a
camel to stand upon. Within them are passages, which are diffi-
cult of access; and suhterraneous chambers, supposed, with great
probability, to have been the sepulchres of antient kings.
ABOU RIHAN MOHAMMED BEN AHMED AL
KHAWAREZMI,
died after the year 430, a.ii.
This author is quoted by various Arabian authorities : he is
stated in the MS. of Yakut to have affirmed, tliat " the Persians
and Magians in general denied that the deluge had taken place ;"
but he does not afford any particular information.
MASOUDI,5
died 345 a.ii.
TnE manuscript of the Akbar Ezzeman, at Oxford, was so much
decayed, that recourse has been had to the works of other authors,
who have given the same account in nearly the same words —
namely, to Makrizi, who quotes from listed Ibrahim Ben
4 M. Jomard concludes from this author, that the Pyramids were covered with
continuous inscriptions, written by nations long since perished ; and he appears to
consider that this account is correct, particularly as it is corroborated by Rbn Uaukal,
and likewise by William De Baldensel,* who lived in the fourteenth century, and
said, that he saw inscriptions in various characters upon the two larger Pyramids.
It is to be remarked, however, that this only proves that some part of them had been
written upon; and other authors have mentioned Latin verses, Sec, that had been
inscribed in the same manner as the names of travellers, which are now to be seen
upon the top of the Great Pyramid. M. Jomard then states, upon the authority of
DionysiusTelmahre, that the Pyramids were solid buildings, erected over the tombs
of antient kings; and from the same author, that the height of the Pyramids
was two hundred and fifty cubits, and that their bases were squares of five hundred
cubits; and also that lie had examined an excavation fifty cubits deep, which had
been made in one of them, and found that it had been built of hewn stones, from
live to ten cubits in length.
* M. Jomard seems to have taken this account from M. l)e Sacy.
VOL. II. y
321
diminish towards their summits, which are large enough for a
camel to stand upon. Within them are passages, which are diffi-
cult of access; and suhterraneous chambers, supposed, with great
probability, to have been the sepulchres of antient kings.
ABOU RIHAN MOHAMMED BEN AHMED AL
KHAWAREZMI,
died after the year 430, a.ii.
This author is quoted by various Arabian authorities : he is
stated in the MS. of Yakut to have affirmed, tliat " the Persians
and Magians in general denied that the deluge had taken place ;"
but he does not afford any particular information.
MASOUDI,5
died 345 a.ii.
TnE manuscript of the Akbar Ezzeman, at Oxford, was so much
decayed, that recourse has been had to the works of other authors,
who have given the same account in nearly the same words —
namely, to Makrizi, who quotes from listed Ibrahim Ben
4 M. Jomard concludes from this author, that the Pyramids were covered with
continuous inscriptions, written by nations long since perished ; and he appears to
consider that this account is correct, particularly as it is corroborated by Rbn Uaukal,
and likewise by William De Baldensel,* who lived in the fourteenth century, and
said, that he saw inscriptions in various characters upon the two larger Pyramids.
It is to be remarked, however, that this only proves that some part of them had been
written upon; and other authors have mentioned Latin verses, Sec, that had been
inscribed in the same manner as the names of travellers, which are now to be seen
upon the top of the Great Pyramid. M. Jomard then states, upon the authority of
DionysiusTelmahre, that the Pyramids were solid buildings, erected over the tombs
of antient kings; and from the same author, that the height of the Pyramids
was two hundred and fifty cubits, and that their bases were squares of five hundred
cubits; and also that lie had examined an excavation fifty cubits deep, which had
been made in one of them, and found that it had been built of hewn stones, from
live to ten cubits in length.
* M. Jomard seems to have taken this account from M. l)e Sacy.
VOL. II. y