Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/408

386 ARCHITECTURE [EGYPTIAN. Other A second pyramid, close to the first, was built by the 1 j-ramiils. successor of Cheops, whom Herodotus calls Chephren ; the inscriptions on the stones, however, give the name Shafra. The side of its base is about GO feet less than that of the former. About forty years later, Mycerinus, or Men- cheres, built a third ; but the side of the base is only about 364 feet, or less than half that of the Great Pyramid. It was, however, entirely faced with polished granite, while the others were of limestone. A statue of King Chephren has recently been found in a temple close adjacent to the pyramids, and now forms one of the most remarkable objects in the museum at Cairo. Canina (Archi tectures Antica, part i.) has described altogether twenty large and twenty-seven small pyramids, some not more than 30 feet square. But the researches of Lepsius and others prove that the mimber is much greater than this, and on the range of cliffs overlooking the Nile, from Abooroash in the north to Illahoon in the south, the number is probably not under 100. Design and A great deal of trouble has been taken to discover the construe- principles on which the Egyptians planned these erections. The most reasonable theory is that each side was meant for an equilateral triangle, four of which, laid sloping and brought to a point, would compose the pyramid; but neither the dimensions nor the angles agree with this. It is true that the sides of the three great pyramids have an angle with the horizon of from 51|to 52| or thereabouts ; but those at Abooseer and at Sakkara, as given by Canina, measure 55, while at Barkal, near Meroe, the angle is no less than 72. At Dashour the pyramid has a slope about half way up of 53, which afterwards is flattened to 44. At Meydoum there is a pyramid in three great steps. If, pyramids. Fio. 15. Pyramid of Meydoum. From Vyse. therefore, the Egyptians had begun to work on the above theory, they departed from it in many notable instances. The following seems to have been the manner in which the pyramids were generally constructed. A level platform was cut in the rock, a portion of which was, however, left in the centre above the general level to serve as a sort of core to the pyramid. A deep chamber was then sunk in the rock, with a passage leading from it always on the north side, and usually at an angle of 26 to 28, to the surface of the ground. It is curious that these passages were almost always of one dimension, viz., 3 ft. 5 in. wide, and 3 ft. 1 1 in. high. Over the chamber was built a mass of masonry, which was gradually added to at the side and top, according to the power, or the wealth, or the length of life of the founder. Finally, the angles of the stones were cut off to the proper slope, or a casing added, and the pyramid thus completed from the top. Some of the casings were highly finished. Those of the first and second pyramid were of polished stone ; that of the third was of polished granite. Occasionally, as in the Great Pyramid, and in the southern one at Dashour, there was a chamber built above Fio. 16. Section (facing east) of South Stone Pyramid at Dashour. From Vyse. the one which was cut in the rock. Their entrances were carefully con cealed, and even the doors of the chamber de fended by gi gantic portcul lises of granite, some 8 to 10 feet square, weigh ing 50 to GO tons, so as to render the se curity of the chambers as great as possible. Yet every chamber in the chief pyra mids, at least, except perhaps "the false one" at Meydoum, has been rifled ages ago, and so the great purpose of their erection utterly set at nought. Most of the sarcophagi which they once con tained have also been carried away. One, that of Mycerinus, was lost in its passage to England; but the mummy-case and mummy which, it con tained are now in the British Museum. The sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid still rests in its chamber. An extra in terest belongs to the third pyramid (of Mycerinus) owing to its chamber being ceiled with a point ed arch. But it is not a true arch, the stones being merely strutted against each other, as over the entrance to the Great Pyramid (see fig. 13 supra), and the underside cut to the above form. The chamber of a pyramid at Sakkara was lined with blue and white tiles like the Dutch style ; and at the false one at Meydoum there is, about two-thirds up, a band about 12 feet wide, left rough all round, and it has been sup posed that this may have been left as a ground for decoration. But there is nothing to prove this. Herodotus, however, expressly says that the ex terior was richly sculptured, and a model of a pyramid that is to be seen Fia 17. Sepulchral Chamber, Third Pyramid. From Vyse. Fio. 18. Section of Sepulchral Cham ber, Third Pyra mid. From Vvse. at the Museum of Cairo bears out his statement. The con struction of pyramids seems to have ended in Lower Egypt at a very early date, with the old dynasty of Memphis. But some of crude brick, and containing arched chambers, are found at Thebes, and are supposed to be of date about 1200 B.C. Many similar structures, but on a very much smaller scale, were erected in Ethiopia and Meroe down to about 700 B.C. Many theories have been stated as to the purposes for which these gigantic monuments were erected, but the opinion of M. Mariette, the latest, as well as one of the most learned writers, may be taken as correct, viz., that every pyramid was a tomb and the gigantic enclosure of a mummy. It is certain that every pyramid is on the western bank of the Nile, the region of the setting sun, and thus associated by the Egyptians with the regions of death, and

that each group of pyramids is the centre of a necropolis.