DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0380
APPENDIX.
341
went up into the chamber constructed in the top of the Pyra-
mid. Upon their return, they related the wonderful things they
had seen, and told us that the passage was nearly stopped up with
bats and dirt; that the bats were as large as pigeons, and that
in the upper part were openings and windows, which appeared
to have been made to admit air and light. When I again visited
the Pyramids, I entered this passage with several people, but
having penetrated about two-thirds into the interior, and having
through fear completely lost my senses, I returned half dead.
" These Pyramids are built of great stones, from ten to twenty
cubits in length, and from two to three cubits in thickness and
breadth. The extreme exactness with which they have been
worked and laid is worthy of the utmost admiration. The joints
are so perfect, that it would be impossible to pass a needle or
even a hair between them. They are cemented together by a
Pyramides.' M. YVahl observes, that some Eastern historians attribute the first
opening of the Pyramid to the Caliph Mahmoud : and others, to Haroun Al Raschid:
but he does not mention the W orks from which lie forms this opinion. He must,
at all events, have made some mistake, because none of the caliphs before Mamoon
bore the name of Mahmoud. Or did M. YVahl mean to speak of the Caliph Mahdi,
whose name was Mahommed ? The common tradition, however, which attributes
to Mamoon the opening of the Pyramid, is founded upon the testimony of Masoudi,
who wrote about a century after the time of this caliph. According to Makrizi,
Masoudi reports this fact in a work entitled ' Histoire des Temps Passees et des
Choses, que la Fortune a detruites,' and he there says, ' That Abd-Allah Mamoon
son of Haroun Al Haschid, having come into Esrypt, and having visited the Pyra-
mids, wanted to demolish one of them to see what they contained; and that, upon its
being represented to him as an undertaking, in which he would not succeed, he an-
swered, 'An opening must be made ;' upon which his orders were obeyed ; and the
chasm was made, by the help of fire, vinegar,' &c, which is to be seen at this day,
I examined this passage, as quoted by Makrizi, and it is said, that ' Haschid having
arrived in Egypt, and having seen the Pyramids,' &c, but I have no doubt
that this is an error in the manuscript, for 1 do not recollect that any other
Arabian writer has mentioned any voyage of Haroun Al Raschid into Egypt.
Ebn Ilaukal, a contemporary of Masoudi, contents himself with saying, that
one of the Caliphs, Abbasis, who he believed to be Mamoon or Motasem, had an
idea of destroying the Pyramids, but that he gave up the project, after having
ascertained that the whole of the revenue of Egypt would not be sufficient to defray
the expenses of the enterprise. I have quoted this passage from Ebn Haukal
after Makrizi, in my 'Notice de la Guographie Orientale, d'Ebn Ilaukal,' where
it may be seen, and I have since found it in the manuscript of Ebn Ilaukal, in the
library of the University of Leydin. May it not be supposed, that the Pyramid
had been opened before Mamoon, and that the orders, given by that prince to
prosecute still further the researches into the interior of the Pyramid, gave rise to
the idea that he made the first opening?"—M. De Sacy.
341
went up into the chamber constructed in the top of the Pyra-
mid. Upon their return, they related the wonderful things they
had seen, and told us that the passage was nearly stopped up with
bats and dirt; that the bats were as large as pigeons, and that
in the upper part were openings and windows, which appeared
to have been made to admit air and light. When I again visited
the Pyramids, I entered this passage with several people, but
having penetrated about two-thirds into the interior, and having
through fear completely lost my senses, I returned half dead.
" These Pyramids are built of great stones, from ten to twenty
cubits in length, and from two to three cubits in thickness and
breadth. The extreme exactness with which they have been
worked and laid is worthy of the utmost admiration. The joints
are so perfect, that it would be impossible to pass a needle or
even a hair between them. They are cemented together by a
Pyramides.' M. YVahl observes, that some Eastern historians attribute the first
opening of the Pyramid to the Caliph Mahmoud : and others, to Haroun Al Raschid:
but he does not mention the W orks from which lie forms this opinion. He must,
at all events, have made some mistake, because none of the caliphs before Mamoon
bore the name of Mahmoud. Or did M. YVahl mean to speak of the Caliph Mahdi,
whose name was Mahommed ? The common tradition, however, which attributes
to Mamoon the opening of the Pyramid, is founded upon the testimony of Masoudi,
who wrote about a century after the time of this caliph. According to Makrizi,
Masoudi reports this fact in a work entitled ' Histoire des Temps Passees et des
Choses, que la Fortune a detruites,' and he there says, ' That Abd-Allah Mamoon
son of Haroun Al Haschid, having come into Esrypt, and having visited the Pyra-
mids, wanted to demolish one of them to see what they contained; and that, upon its
being represented to him as an undertaking, in which he would not succeed, he an-
swered, 'An opening must be made ;' upon which his orders were obeyed ; and the
chasm was made, by the help of fire, vinegar,' &c, which is to be seen at this day,
I examined this passage, as quoted by Makrizi, and it is said, that ' Haschid having
arrived in Egypt, and having seen the Pyramids,' &c, but I have no doubt
that this is an error in the manuscript, for 1 do not recollect that any other
Arabian writer has mentioned any voyage of Haroun Al Raschid into Egypt.
Ebn Ilaukal, a contemporary of Masoudi, contents himself with saying, that
one of the Caliphs, Abbasis, who he believed to be Mamoon or Motasem, had an
idea of destroying the Pyramids, but that he gave up the project, after having
ascertained that the whole of the revenue of Egypt would not be sufficient to defray
the expenses of the enterprise. I have quoted this passage from Ebn Haukal
after Makrizi, in my 'Notice de la Guographie Orientale, d'Ebn Ilaukal,' where
it may be seen, and I have since found it in the manuscript of Ebn Ilaukal, in the
library of the University of Leydin. May it not be supposed, that the Pyramid
had been opened before Mamoon, and that the orders, given by that prince to
prosecute still further the researches into the interior of the Pyramid, gave rise to
the idea that he made the first opening?"—M. De Sacy.