DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0034
22
TEN YEARS' DIGGTNG IN EGYPT
The results were decidedly destructive for the
theories. The fundamental length of the base of the
pyramid does not agree to any of the theoretical
needs: and though no doubt some comfort has been
extracted from hypothetical lengths of what the
pyramid base would be if continued clown to levels
below the pavement (such as the different sockets),
yet no such bases ever existed, nor could even be
guessed at or theorised on, so long as the pyramid
base was intact, as the sockets were entirely covered
by casing and pavement. Various other theories fare
as badly ; and the only important one which is well
established is that the angle of the outside was such
as to make the base circuit equal to a circle struck by
the height as a radius. See also the account of Medum.
The second pyramid was built by Khafra. J lis
name was first found with it on the piece of a
mace-head of white stone, which I found in the
temple. The form is here completed from another
head of the twelfth dynasty; and drawings of maces
from Medum show the head and stick entire. In
accuracy Khafra's work is inferior to that of Khufu.
The errors of the pyramid length arc double, and of
angle quadruple that found in the earlier work, and
the bulk of its masonry is far rougher. Hut the sarco-
phagus in it is of much better work, without any
mistakes, and generally showing more experience and
ability. The third pyramid, of Menkaura, is again in-
ferior to the second, in both its outer form and internal
work. It has moreover been most curiously altered ;
originally intended to be of small size, it has been
greatly enlarged, not by repeated coatings, but at one
TEN YEARS' DIGGTNG IN EGYPT
The results were decidedly destructive for the
theories. The fundamental length of the base of the
pyramid does not agree to any of the theoretical
needs: and though no doubt some comfort has been
extracted from hypothetical lengths of what the
pyramid base would be if continued clown to levels
below the pavement (such as the different sockets),
yet no such bases ever existed, nor could even be
guessed at or theorised on, so long as the pyramid
base was intact, as the sockets were entirely covered
by casing and pavement. Various other theories fare
as badly ; and the only important one which is well
established is that the angle of the outside was such
as to make the base circuit equal to a circle struck by
the height as a radius. See also the account of Medum.
The second pyramid was built by Khafra. J lis
name was first found with it on the piece of a
mace-head of white stone, which I found in the
temple. The form is here completed from another
head of the twelfth dynasty; and drawings of maces
from Medum show the head and stick entire. In
accuracy Khafra's work is inferior to that of Khufu.
The errors of the pyramid length arc double, and of
angle quadruple that found in the earlier work, and
the bulk of its masonry is far rougher. Hut the sarco-
phagus in it is of much better work, without any
mistakes, and generally showing more experience and
ability. The third pyramid, of Menkaura, is again in-
ferior to the second, in both its outer form and internal
work. It has moreover been most curiously altered ;
originally intended to be of small size, it has been
greatly enlarged, not by repeated coatings, but at one