DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6553#0081
APPENDIX.
47
in which another room of the same kind may formerly have heen
constructed.
The sides of these apartments had been lined with calcareous
stone, and ornamented with rows of convex pieces of bluish-green
porcelain, inscribed on the back with a hieroglyphic, the impres-
sion of which remained on the cement. See Plate C. The
porcelain had been removed, but from the fragments found in
the upper passage, Mr. Perring was enabled to ascertain the form
of the several pieces. The rock, made good and level with
plaster, formed the floors, and the ceilings.
From the northern side of the second apartment an excavated
passage inclines to the westward, and communicates with the
present entrance-passage.3 Mr. Perring is of opinion that the
communication, leading from the entrance-passage below the
level of the great apartment, was not only intended to facilitate
the construction, and to open into the lower excavation, but that
it has also served for a catacomb, because the recesses in the sides
of it (which are as large as the nature of the rock will allow) are
sufficient to contain sarcophagi; and because the sanctity attached
to the Pyramids may have authorised the interment within them,
of the people employed in their construction, and likewise that
of the attendants of the deceased king.
The lower passages (about 5 feet in width) were nearly filled
with broken vases composed of marble and of alabaster, with
fragments of sarcophagi, and with broken stones, upon which
stars, a common ornament of Egyptian ceilings, were observed.
These passages were very intricate, in some instances leading to
the excavations for the floor of the large apartment; in others, to
small recesses, which might also have been supposed to have
been intended for the bodies of the workmen employed in the
building, had they not contained the fragments of valuable sar-
cophagi.
A small passage near the doorway appeared to communicate
with the recess at the upper part of the western end of the apart-
ment ; but upon examination it was ascertained to end in the
rock. The lowest passage to the westward, which Mr. Perring
had imagined to be connected with one on the right-hand side of
the entrance, was also found to be similarly constructed.
' Sir J. G. Wilkinson conjectures that these apartments and passages are
of a later date than the rest of the Pyramid. See "General View of Egypt
and Thebes," p. 337.
47
in which another room of the same kind may formerly have heen
constructed.
The sides of these apartments had been lined with calcareous
stone, and ornamented with rows of convex pieces of bluish-green
porcelain, inscribed on the back with a hieroglyphic, the impres-
sion of which remained on the cement. See Plate C. The
porcelain had been removed, but from the fragments found in
the upper passage, Mr. Perring was enabled to ascertain the form
of the several pieces. The rock, made good and level with
plaster, formed the floors, and the ceilings.
From the northern side of the second apartment an excavated
passage inclines to the westward, and communicates with the
present entrance-passage.3 Mr. Perring is of opinion that the
communication, leading from the entrance-passage below the
level of the great apartment, was not only intended to facilitate
the construction, and to open into the lower excavation, but that
it has also served for a catacomb, because the recesses in the sides
of it (which are as large as the nature of the rock will allow) are
sufficient to contain sarcophagi; and because the sanctity attached
to the Pyramids may have authorised the interment within them,
of the people employed in their construction, and likewise that
of the attendants of the deceased king.
The lower passages (about 5 feet in width) were nearly filled
with broken vases composed of marble and of alabaster, with
fragments of sarcophagi, and with broken stones, upon which
stars, a common ornament of Egyptian ceilings, were observed.
These passages were very intricate, in some instances leading to
the excavations for the floor of the large apartment; in others, to
small recesses, which might also have been supposed to have
been intended for the bodies of the workmen employed in the
building, had they not contained the fragments of valuable sar-
cophagi.
A small passage near the doorway appeared to communicate
with the recess at the upper part of the western end of the apart-
ment ; but upon examination it was ascertained to end in the
rock. The lowest passage to the westward, which Mr. Perring
had imagined to be connected with one on the right-hand side of
the entrance, was also found to be similarly constructed.
' Sir J. G. Wilkinson conjectures that these apartments and passages are
of a later date than the rest of the Pyramid. See "General View of Egypt
and Thebes," p. 337.