pyramids of the Sûdân are called by the natives Tarabîl,* the exact meaning of which is unknown. The ancient Egyptian word for "pyramid" appears to have been PER-EM-US A C and it probably meant "a building with a sloping side." On the western bank of the Nile, from Abû Roâsh on the north to Mêdûm on the south, is a slightly elevated tract of land, about 25 miles long, on the edge of the Libyan desert, on which stand the pyramids of Abû Roâsh, Gîzah, Zâwyat al-'Aryân, Abuşîr, Şakķârah, Lisht, and Dahshûr. Other places in Egypt where pyramids are found are Al-lâhûn in the Fayyum, Hawârah, and Kullah near Asnâ. The pyramids built by the Nubians or Ethiopians at Kurrû, Zûma, Tanķâsi, Gabal Barkal, Nûri, and Bagrâwîr (Meroë), are of various dates and are mere copies, in respect of form only, of the pyramids in Egypt. The pyramids were tombs and nothing else. There is no evidence whatever to show that they were built for purposes of astronomical observations, and the theory that the Great Pyramid was built to serve as a standard of measurement, though ingenious, seems to the present writer to be impossible. The significant fact, so ably pointed out by Mariette, that pyramids are only found in cemeteries, is an answer to all such theories. The ancient writers who have described and treated of the pyramids are given by Pliny (Natural History, xxxvi, 12, 17). If we may believe some of the writers on them during the Middle Ages, their outsides must have been covered with inscriptions, which were, probably, of a religious nature. In modern times they have been examined by Shaw (1721), Pococke (1743); Niebuhr (1761), Davison (1763), Bruce (1768), Denon Jomard (1799), Hamilton (1801), Caviglia (1817), Belzoni (1817), Wilkinson (1831), Howard Vyse and Perring (1837-38), Lepsius (1842-45), and Petrie (1881). and It appears that before the actual building of a pyramid was begun a suitable rocky site was chosen and cleared, a mass of rock if possible being left in the middle of the area to form the core of the building. The chambers and the galleries leading to them were next planned and excavated. Around the core a truncated pyramid building was made, the angles of which were filled up with blocks of stone. Layer after layer of stone was then built around the work, which grew larger and larger until it was finished. Dr. Lepsius thought that when a king ascended the throne, he built for himself a small but complete tomb-pyramid, and that a fresh coating of stone was built around it every year that he reigned; and that when he died the sides of the pyramids were like long flights of steps, which his successor filled up with right-angled triangular blocks of stone. The door of the pyramid was walled up after the body of its builder had been laid in it, and thus remained a finished tomb. Another explanation of the method employed in the building of pyramids was put forward by Professor Petrie, but recent researches have proved that Lepsius's view is the correct one. During the investigations made by Lepsius in and about the pyramid area, he found the remains of about 75 pyramids, and noticed that they were always built in groups. The pyramids of Gîzah were opened by the Persians during the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ; it is probable that they were also entered by the Romans. The Khalifah Mâmûn (A.D. 813-833) entered the Great Pyramid, and found that others had been there before him. The treasure which is said to have been discovered there by him is probably fictitious. Once opened, it must have been evident to everyone what splendid quarries the pyramids formed, and for some hundreds of years after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs they were laid under contribution for stone to build mosques, etc., in Cairo. Late in the twelfth century Malik al-Kâmil made a mad attempt to destroy the third pyramid at Gîzah, built by Mycerinus; but after months of toil he only succeeded in stripping off the covering from one of the sides. Muḥammad 'Alî ordered the Barrage to be built with stones from the Great Pyramid, and was only persuaded to give up the plan because it was cheaper to get stone from the quarries.* x The Great Pyramid, the largest of the three pyramids at Gîzah, was built by Khufu, or Cheops, the second king of the IVth dynasty, 3733 B.C., who called it A Aakhut. His name was found written in red ink upon the blocks of stone inside it. All four sides measure in greatest length about 775 feet each, but the length of each was * The outer casings and inscriptions of the Pyramids have been discussed by Mr. A. E. Hudd, in the Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club (Exeter, 1906). originally about 20 feet more; its height now is 451 feet, but it is said to have been originally about 481 feet. The stone used in the construction of this pyramid was brought from Turah and Mukaṭṭam, and the contents amount to 85,000,000 cubic feet. The flat space at the top of the pyramid is about 30 feet square, and the view from it is very fine. The entrance (A) to this pyramid is, as with all pyramids, on the north side, and is about 45 feet above the ground. The passage A B C is 320 feet long, 34 feet high, and 4 feet wide; at B is a granite door, round which the path at D has been made. The passage at D E is 125 feet long, and the large hall, E F, is 155 feet long and 28 feet high; the passage E G leads to the pointed-roofed Queen's Chamber, H, which measures about 17 feet by 19 feet by 20 feet. The roofing in of this chamber is a beautiful piece of mason's work. From the large hall, E F, there leads a passage 22 feet long, the ante-chamber in which was originally closed by four granite doors, remains of which are still visible, into the King's Chamber, J, which is lined with granite, and measures about 35 feet by 17 feet by 19 feet. The five hollow chambers, K, L, M, N, O, were built above the King's Chamber to lighten the pressure of the superincumbent mass. In chamber o the name Khufu was found written. The air shafts, P and Q, measure 234 feet by 8 inches by 6 inches, and 174 feet by 8 inches by 6 inches respectively. A shaft from E to R leads down to the subterranean chamber s, which measures 40 feet by 27 feet by 10 feet. The floor of the King's Chamber, J, is about 140 feet from the level of the base of the pyramid, and the chamber is a little to the south-east of the line drawn from T to U. Inside the chamber lies the empty, coverless, broken, red granite sarcophagus of Cheops, measuring 7 feet by 34 feet by 33 feet. The account of the building of this pyramid is told by Herodotus (Book ii, 124–126) as follows:— "Now, they told me that to the reign of Rhampsinitus there was "a perfect distribution of justice, and that all Egypt was in a high "state of prosperity; but that after him Cheops, coming to reign "over them, plunged into every kind of wickedness. For that, 66 having shut up all the temples, he first of all forbade them to offer sacrifice, and afterwards he ordered all the Egyptians to work for "himself; some, accordingly, were appointed to draw stones from "the quarries in the Arabian mountain down to the Nile, others he "ordered to receive the stones when transported in vessels across "the river, and to drag them to the mountain called the Libyan. "And they worked to the number of 100,000 men at a time, each 66 66 "party during three months. The time during which the people were thus harassed by toil lasted 10 years on the road which they constructed, along which they drew the stones, a work, in my opinion, not much less than the pyramid for its length is 5 stades (3,051 feet), and its width 10 orgyæ (60 feet), and its height, where 66 66 Section of the Pyramid of Cheops at Gîzah. (From Vyse, Pyramids of Gizeh, Vol. I, p. 2.) "it is the highest, 8 orgyæ (48 feet); and it is of polished stone, "with figures carved on it: on this road then 10 years were 'expended, and in forming the subterraneous apartments on the 'hill, on which the pyramids stand, which he had made as a burial 66 N 66 66 66 "vault for himself, in an island, formed by draining a canal from the "Nile. Twenty years were spent in erecting the pyramid itself: "of this, which is square, each face is 8 plethra (820 feet), and the 'height is the same; it is composed of polished stones, and jointed "with the greatest exactness; none of the stones are less than 30 feet. This pyramid was built thus; in the form of steps, which some call crossæ, others bomides. When they had first built it in "this manner, they raised the remaining stones by machines made "of short pieces of wood: having lifted them from the ground to "the first range of steps, when the stone arrived there, it was put on another machine that stood ready on the first range, and from this it was drawn to the second range on another machine; for the "machines were equal in number to the ranges of steps; or they "removed the machine, which was only one, and portable, to each range in succession, whenever they wished to raise the stone higher; for I should relate it in both ways, as it is related. The highest parts of it, therefore, were first finished, and afterwards "they completed the parts next following; but last of all they "finished the parts on the ground, and that were lowest. 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 [It is On the pyramid is shown an inscription, in Egyptian characters, “how much was expended in radishes, onions, and garlic, fo rth "workmen; which the interpreter, as I well remember, reading the inscription, told me amounted to 1,600 talents of silver. And if "this be really the case, how much more was probably expended "in iron tools, in bread, and in clothes for the labourers, since they occupied in building the works the time which I mentioned, and no short time besides, as I think, in cutting and drawing the stones, and in forming the subterraneous excavation. "related] that Cheops reached such a degree of infamy, that being "in want of money, he prostituted his own daughter in a brothel, "and ordered her to extort, they did not say how much; but she "exacted a certain sum of money, privately, as much as her father "ordered her; and contrived to leave a monument of herself, and "asked everyone that came in to her to give her a stone towards the edifice she designed: of these stones they said the pyramid I was built that stands in the middle of the three, before the great 'pyramid, each side of which is a plethron and a half in length.' (Cary's translation.) 66 66 66 The second pyramid at Gîzah was built by Khā-f-Rā, A 22 O , or Chephren, the third king of the IVth dynasty, 3666 B.C., who called it ur. His name has not been found inscribed upon any part of it, but the fragment of a marble sphere inscribed with the name of Khā-f-Rā, which was found near the temple, close by this pyramid, confirms the statements of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, that Chephren built it. A statue of this king, now in the Cairo Museum, was found in the granite temple close by. This pyramid appears to be larger than the Great Pyramid, because it stands upon |