DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0057
ALEXANDRIA TO CAIRO.
ist Pyramid.
2nd Pyramid.
Present.
Original.
Present.
Orginal.
Feet.
Feet.
Feet.
Feet.
Sides of the base.........
746
767
690
705
Slant height...........
568
614
563
577
Perpendicular height.....
450
479
447
457
51.20
52.21
Area of the base, sq. yards
61.835
65.437
53,015
55,320
3rd Pyramid.
Present
Feet.
352
203
Original.
Feet.
352
283
219
51.10
13,853
The Great Pyramid is, therefore, more than half as long again on every side as
Westminster Abbey, and, though deprived of more than thirty feet by the removal of
its apex, it is still fifty feet higher than the top of St. Paul's, and more than twice as
high as the central tower of York Minster. It covers thirteen acres of ground, equal
to the area of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and is computed to have contained 6,848,000 tons
of solid masonry.
The pyramid itself contains two chambers, which have received the appellation of
the King s and Queens. The latter is lined with slabs of polished stone, very carefully
finished, and artistically roofed with blocks leaning against each other to resist the
pressure of the mass above. This apartment is reached by a sloping passage, which
terminates in a gallery or hall twenty-eight feet high. From the entrance to the gallery
a horizontal passage, one hundred and nine feet long, leads to the queen's chamber,
which measures seventeen feet north and south by eighteen wide, and is twenty feet
high to the top of the inclined blocks.
The gallery continues to ascend till it reaches a sort of vestible, which leads to the
King's chamber. This chamber is finished with as much care as the other, and
measures thirty-four feet by seventeen, and nineteen in height. The north and south
walls are pierced by two shafts or tubes, about eight inches square, slanting up through
the entire fabric to the exterior of the pyramid.
The King's chamber contained a red granite sarcophagus without a lid ; it was
empty, and had neither sculpture nor inscription of any kind. The door was guarded
by a succession of four heavy stones portcullises, intended to be let down after the
body was deposited, and impenetrably seal up the access. The roof of the chamber is
flat; and, in order to take off the weight above, five spaces, or entresols, have been left
in the structure. On the wall of one of these garrets, never intended to be entered,
General Vyse discovered, in 1836, what had been searched for in every other part of
the pyramid in vain. Drawn in red ochre, apparently as quarry marks on the stones
previously to their insertion, are several hieroglyphic characters, among which is seen
the oval ring which encircles the royal titles, and within it a name which had already
been noticed on an adjoining tomb. On the latter it was read Shufu or Chufu, a word
sufficiently near, in the Egyptian pronunciation, to Cheops, whom Herodosus gives as
the founder of the largest pyramid.
One of the most singular features in this pyramid is a perpendicular shaft descending
from the gallery in front of the queen's chamber down to the entrance passage under-
53
ist Pyramid.
2nd Pyramid.
Present.
Original.
Present.
Orginal.
Feet.
Feet.
Feet.
Feet.
Sides of the base.........
746
767
690
705
Slant height...........
568
614
563
577
Perpendicular height.....
450
479
447
457
51.20
52.21
Area of the base, sq. yards
61.835
65.437
53,015
55,320
3rd Pyramid.
Present
Feet.
352
203
Original.
Feet.
352
283
219
51.10
13,853
The Great Pyramid is, therefore, more than half as long again on every side as
Westminster Abbey, and, though deprived of more than thirty feet by the removal of
its apex, it is still fifty feet higher than the top of St. Paul's, and more than twice as
high as the central tower of York Minster. It covers thirteen acres of ground, equal
to the area of Lincoln's Inn Fields, and is computed to have contained 6,848,000 tons
of solid masonry.
The pyramid itself contains two chambers, which have received the appellation of
the King s and Queens. The latter is lined with slabs of polished stone, very carefully
finished, and artistically roofed with blocks leaning against each other to resist the
pressure of the mass above. This apartment is reached by a sloping passage, which
terminates in a gallery or hall twenty-eight feet high. From the entrance to the gallery
a horizontal passage, one hundred and nine feet long, leads to the queen's chamber,
which measures seventeen feet north and south by eighteen wide, and is twenty feet
high to the top of the inclined blocks.
The gallery continues to ascend till it reaches a sort of vestible, which leads to the
King's chamber. This chamber is finished with as much care as the other, and
measures thirty-four feet by seventeen, and nineteen in height. The north and south
walls are pierced by two shafts or tubes, about eight inches square, slanting up through
the entire fabric to the exterior of the pyramid.
The King's chamber contained a red granite sarcophagus without a lid ; it was
empty, and had neither sculpture nor inscription of any kind. The door was guarded
by a succession of four heavy stones portcullises, intended to be let down after the
body was deposited, and impenetrably seal up the access. The roof of the chamber is
flat; and, in order to take off the weight above, five spaces, or entresols, have been left
in the structure. On the wall of one of these garrets, never intended to be entered,
General Vyse discovered, in 1836, what had been searched for in every other part of
the pyramid in vain. Drawn in red ochre, apparently as quarry marks on the stones
previously to their insertion, are several hieroglyphic characters, among which is seen
the oval ring which encircles the royal titles, and within it a name which had already
been noticed on an adjoining tomb. On the latter it was read Shufu or Chufu, a word
sufficiently near, in the Egyptian pronunciation, to Cheops, whom Herodosus gives as
the founder of the largest pyramid.
One of the most singular features in this pyramid is a perpendicular shaft descending
from the gallery in front of the queen's chamber down to the entrance passage under-
53