A, Entrance to the great pyramid. D, Pyramid of the daughter of Cheops. Q, Tomb of trades, to west of tombs H. O, The third pyramid. T, Three small pyramids. Y, Southern stone causeway. Z, Northern causeway, repaired by the a, Tombs cut in the rock. dd, Tombs cut in the rock. S, The sphinx. f, Pits, probably unopened. g, h, Stone ruin on a rock. k, A grotto in the rock. m n, Tombs in the rock. p, Tombs cut in the scarp of the rock. UV, Ruined buildings, whose original use it is now difficult to determine. OBJECT OF THE BUILDERS. 59 in most of them human bones are found. Dr. Lepsius's workmen had just uncovered one of the deepest pits at the time of our visit; and we saw a sarcophagus of red granite, in excellent condition, that had been taken out of it. They had also exposed one of the tombs or monuments, a very solid erection of stone, built on the limestone rock. In the wood-cut, C, C, C are long pits, supposed by some to have been used for mixing the mortar employed in building the pyramids; H, H, H are tombs with deep pits; P, Q, R, large tombs; U, V, ruined buildings, whose purpose is unknown; a, d, d, k, p, p, tombs cut in the rock; and h, a stone ruin on the surface of the rock. The reader must not suppose that these, vast as they are, are the only cemeteries of the ancient Memphis; remains of the same kind, equally curious and extensive, are found along the line of rocky plateau for ten or fifteen miles up the river, as far as Darfour. Remains of pyramids are found along the whole line: those at Sakhara and Darfour are the most remarkable. The object of these structures, and the period of their erection, are questions about which the world has been making inquiry for ages. Pliny's pithy sentence, Pyramides, regum pecuniæ otiosa ac stulta ostentatio, contains about all that is really known of the matter. That there was much money spent is certain; that there was a deal of ostentation in the spending of it after this fashion is equally certain; but whether the real design of the author of these great works was political or personal-ne plebs esset otiosa-or to perpetuate his memory and preserve his ashes, can only now be matter of conjecture: unless, indeed, a Lepsius, or some such antiquarian devotee, should carry on the work so well began by Champollion and Rosellini, and 60 TIME OF THEIR ERECTION. unfold still more of the secrets of that wonderful people who once dwelt by the River of Egypt. The most reasonable hypothesis, founded on the position of the pyramids, in the midst of a vast cemetery, and favoured by the fact that sarcophagi have been found in them, is, that they were designed for the mausoleums of the monarchs who built them. It has been supposed, from the exact position of all these structures, with reference to the four cardinal points, and from the fact that in the six which have been opened the principal passage preserves the same inclination of 26° to the horizon, that they were built and used for astronomical purposes. But there could have been no necessity for such erections for the purpose of celestial observations in so flat a region; and if there were, there is no fitness whatever in them for such an object. Sir John Herschel has shown that, at the time when it is supposed the great pyramid was built (2123 B.C.), the passage must have been directly pointed at the star a Draconis, which was polar at the time; but this adds no strength to the hypothesis that the purpose of the building was celestial observation. Upon the whole, we adhere to the supposition, that as man has committed the greatest of his follies in attempts to perpetuate his memory, these mighty edifices were designed as monuments for tyrants, whose history, as they deserve, has perished. At the same time, it may not be impossible that future explorers may discover, in some of the many chambers which yet doubtless exist within these eternal piles, the ancient records of the house of Pharaoh. I shall not detain the reader with a notice of the various theories that have been offered in regard to the time of the building of the pyramids, but simply present, as the substance of what is known (or believed on probable grounds), the statement of Wilkinson.* "The oldest monuments of Egypt, and probably of the world, are the pyramids to the north of Memphis; but the absence of hieroglyphics, and of every trace of sculpture, precludes the possibility of ascertaining the exact period of their erection, or the names of their founders. From all that can be collected on this head, it appears that Suphis and his brother Sensuphis erected them about the year 2120 B.C.; and the tombs in their vicinity may have been built, or cut in the rock, shortly after their completion." The precise dates given in Wilkinson are, Suphis, the Cheops of Herodotus, builder of the first pyramid, 2123; Suphis II., or Sensuphis, the Cephrenes of Herodotus, the second pyramid, 2083; and Mencheris (Mycerinus), the third, 2043. A gray antiquity indeed. THE SPHINX. East of the second pyramid, at some hundred paces distant (S, on the plan), is the mysterious Sphinx, hewn out of the living rock, near the edge of which it stands, facing southeast in the direction of the ancient city of Memphis, from any elevated point of which its placid countenance might have been seen. At the time of our visit nothing but the head and neck were visible, the rest being buried in the sand. The face is much disfigured by the disintegration of the soft sandstone of which it is composed, and also by the arrows of the Arabs, who hold all images in abhorrence; yet its expression is remarkably mild and agreeable. As so little of the figure was visible when I was there, I must be content, as all recent travellers are, to take M. Caviglia's account of that part of it which is covered by the sand. After * Ancient Egyptians, i., 19. VOL. I.-F |