DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0367
326 NO HIEROGLYPHICS NOW [Chap. VI.
the Arab historians, of finding a rich treasure ; but
it was soon discovered that the pyramid had been
previously opened and reclosed, and the caliph had
nearly finished his vain search, when the people
began to evince their discontent, and to censure
his indiscretion. To check their murmurs, he had
recourse to artifice. He secretly ordered a large
sum of money to be conveyed to, and buried in, the
innermost part of the excavated passage; and the
subsequent discovery of the supposed treasure,
which was found to be about equal to what had been
expended, satisfied the people, and the caliph thus
gratified his own curiosity at the expense of their
labor, their money, and their unsuspecting credulity.
It has always been a matter of surprise that no
hieroglyphics are met with, either in the interior or
on the exterior of the pyramids, and that, above all,
the sarcophagus* should be destitute of those sacred
characters, so generally found on Egyptian monu-
ments. Herodotus says he saw an inscription on
the frontf, and, by his account, it seems to have
been in the Enchorial or in the Hieratic character;
but the Enchorial did not exist at the time of
its erection, and the Hieratic, from not being monu-
* It is remarkable that the door of the chamber is only just large
enough to admit it. Was it introduced by means of the screw, or
before the roof and upper part of the pyramid were built ? I
think it was put in afterwards. It emits a fine sonorous sound on
being struck. It is 3 ft. 1 in height. The door is 3 ft. 3 broad.
f Abd-el-Azees also mentions hieroglyphics on the great
pyramid. He is generally very accurate, but the authority of
Arab writers can seldom be relied upon.
the Arab historians, of finding a rich treasure ; but
it was soon discovered that the pyramid had been
previously opened and reclosed, and the caliph had
nearly finished his vain search, when the people
began to evince their discontent, and to censure
his indiscretion. To check their murmurs, he had
recourse to artifice. He secretly ordered a large
sum of money to be conveyed to, and buried in, the
innermost part of the excavated passage; and the
subsequent discovery of the supposed treasure,
which was found to be about equal to what had been
expended, satisfied the people, and the caliph thus
gratified his own curiosity at the expense of their
labor, their money, and their unsuspecting credulity.
It has always been a matter of surprise that no
hieroglyphics are met with, either in the interior or
on the exterior of the pyramids, and that, above all,
the sarcophagus* should be destitute of those sacred
characters, so generally found on Egyptian monu-
ments. Herodotus says he saw an inscription on
the frontf, and, by his account, it seems to have
been in the Enchorial or in the Hieratic character;
but the Enchorial did not exist at the time of
its erection, and the Hieratic, from not being monu-
* It is remarkable that the door of the chamber is only just large
enough to admit it. Was it introduced by means of the screw, or
before the roof and upper part of the pyramid were built ? I
think it was put in afterwards. It emits a fine sonorous sound on
being struck. It is 3 ft. 1 in height. The door is 3 ft. 3 broad.
f Abd-el-Azees also mentions hieroglyphics on the great
pyramid. He is generally very accurate, but the authority of
Arab writers can seldom be relied upon.