DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0363
324
APPENDIX.
He ordered them to inquire if the earth would again become
fruitful, or if it would continue to be covered with water. They
answered that its former fertility would return. The king de-
manded what would then happen. He was informed that a
stranger would invade the country, kill the inhabitants, and seize
upon their property ; and that afterwards a deformed people,
coming from beyond the Nile, would take possession of the
kingdom upon which the king ordered the Pyramids to be
built, and the predictions of the priests to he inscribed upon
columns, and upon the large stones belonging to them; and be
placed within them his treasures, and all his valuable property,
together with the bodies of his ancestors. He also ordered the
priests to deposit within them, written accounts of their wisdom
and acquirements in the different arts and sciences.3 Subter-
ranean Sea, described by Masoudi, and alluded to by Abul Eeda; whether the
supposition be true or not, it is extremely probable, that after the great and
miraculous event, large bodies of water were left on the higher levels, which from
time to time may have been increased by the melting of snow and by other natural
causes, till, bursting through their respective barriers they produced, without the
special intervention of Almighty power, at different times, partial inundations, and
other alterations in the surface of the earth, which, under Divine Providence, may
have had the salutary effect of keeping in human remembrance the former tremendous
judgment. The destruction ol the eartli by fire and water, (both which agents may be
supposed to have been co-existent, since without water no volcanic effects can be
produced), and the idea of a resuscitation of the world after a certain period, appear
to have been alluded to by the Hindoos in their mythology, and also by the Parsces ;
and Herodotus slates, that this was also the belief of the antient Egyptians, and terms it
ixiru^iris. It would be perhaps difficult to ascertain whether these ideas proceeded
from traditions of the universal deluge, or of the final consummation of the globe.
The learned doctor then repeats his opinion, that the fable of Surid having built
the Pyramids before the deluge, is not of Arabic origin, but that it is possible that
they were erected with the vain idea of providing against the recurrence of a similar
event; and that the tower of Babel, built for somewhat the like purpose, may have
been a Pyramid. He concludes, with great probability, that these monuments were
constructed by people of the same nation, who, he conjectures, established the reli-
gious institutions at Babylon, came to Egypt from Iran, and were termed by the
Arabs, Edris (teachers); by the Egyptians, Tauth ; and by the Greeks and Persians,
Hermes; and, as a term of hostility, Cushites.
s These deformed people appear to be the men of ignoble birth, out of the
eastern parts, mentioned by Manetho.
3 IVIasoudi says that all these marvellous things were placed within the Pyramids,
whilst Makrizi, on the authority ofUsted Ibrahim, particularises the subterraneous
passages as the depositories. On the margin of one of Makrizi's MSS., we read
that the inscriptions of the priests were on the ceilings, roofs,&c, of the subterraneous
passages.—Dr. Spreiigcr.
APPENDIX.
He ordered them to inquire if the earth would again become
fruitful, or if it would continue to be covered with water. They
answered that its former fertility would return. The king de-
manded what would then happen. He was informed that a
stranger would invade the country, kill the inhabitants, and seize
upon their property ; and that afterwards a deformed people,
coming from beyond the Nile, would take possession of the
kingdom upon which the king ordered the Pyramids to be
built, and the predictions of the priests to he inscribed upon
columns, and upon the large stones belonging to them; and be
placed within them his treasures, and all his valuable property,
together with the bodies of his ancestors. He also ordered the
priests to deposit within them, written accounts of their wisdom
and acquirements in the different arts and sciences.3 Subter-
ranean Sea, described by Masoudi, and alluded to by Abul Eeda; whether the
supposition be true or not, it is extremely probable, that after the great and
miraculous event, large bodies of water were left on the higher levels, which from
time to time may have been increased by the melting of snow and by other natural
causes, till, bursting through their respective barriers they produced, without the
special intervention of Almighty power, at different times, partial inundations, and
other alterations in the surface of the earth, which, under Divine Providence, may
have had the salutary effect of keeping in human remembrance the former tremendous
judgment. The destruction ol the eartli by fire and water, (both which agents may be
supposed to have been co-existent, since without water no volcanic effects can be
produced), and the idea of a resuscitation of the world after a certain period, appear
to have been alluded to by the Hindoos in their mythology, and also by the Parsces ;
and Herodotus slates, that this was also the belief of the antient Egyptians, and terms it
ixiru^iris. It would be perhaps difficult to ascertain whether these ideas proceeded
from traditions of the universal deluge, or of the final consummation of the globe.
The learned doctor then repeats his opinion, that the fable of Surid having built
the Pyramids before the deluge, is not of Arabic origin, but that it is possible that
they were erected with the vain idea of providing against the recurrence of a similar
event; and that the tower of Babel, built for somewhat the like purpose, may have
been a Pyramid. He concludes, with great probability, that these monuments were
constructed by people of the same nation, who, he conjectures, established the reli-
gious institutions at Babylon, came to Egypt from Iran, and were termed by the
Arabs, Edris (teachers); by the Egyptians, Tauth ; and by the Greeks and Persians,
Hermes; and, as a term of hostility, Cushites.
s These deformed people appear to be the men of ignoble birth, out of the
eastern parts, mentioned by Manetho.
3 IVIasoudi says that all these marvellous things were placed within the Pyramids,
whilst Makrizi, on the authority ofUsted Ibrahim, particularises the subterraneous
passages as the depositories. On the margin of one of Makrizi's MSS., we read
that the inscriptions of the priests were on the ceilings, roofs,&c, of the subterraneous
passages.—Dr. Spreiigcr.