a higher level of stone foundation; it was cased with stone originally and polished, but the greater part of the outer casing has disappeared. An ascent of this pyramid can only be made with difficulty. It was first explored in 1816 by Belzoni (born 1778, died 1823), the discoverer of the tomb of Seti I and of the temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel. In the north side of the pyramid are two openings, one at the base and one about 50 feet above it. The upper opening leads into a corridor 105 feet long, which descends into a chamber 461 feet by 16 feet by 22 feet, which held the granite sarcophagus in which Chephren was buried. The lower opening leads into a corridor about 100 feet long, which, first descending and then ascending, ends in the chamber mentioned above, which is usually called Belzoni's Chamber. The actual height is about 450 feet, and the length of each side at the base about 700 feet. The rock upon which the pyramid stands has been scarped on the north and west sides to make the foundation level.

The history of the building of the pyramid is thus stated by Herodotus (Book ii, 127):

"The Egyptians say that this Cheops reigned 50 years; and "when he died his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom; "and he followed the same practices as the other, both in other "respects and in building a pyramid; which does not come up to "the dimensions of his brother's, for I myself measured them; nor "has it subterraneous chambers; nor does a channel from the Nile "flow to it, as to the other; but this flows through an artificial aqueduct round an island within, in which they say the body of Cheops is laid. Having laid the first course of variegated Ethiopian stones, less in height than the other by 40 feet, he built "it near the large pyramid. They both stand on the same hill, "which is about 100 feet high. Chephren, they said, reigned "56 years. Thus 106 years are reckoned, during which the Egyptians suffered all kinds of calamities, and for this length of "time the temples were closed and never opened. From the hatred they bear them, the Egyptians are not very willing to mention their names; but call the pyramids after Philition, a shepherd, who "at that time kept his cattle in those parts." (Cary's translation.)

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Early in the year 1909 Messrs. Hölscher and Steindorff, at the expense of Dr. E. Sieglin of Stuttgart, began to excavate the funerary temple of the Pyramid of Chephren, and, after two months' work, they were able to obtain a clear idea of its general plan and character. According to their preliminary report, this temple was connected with the so-called Temple of the Sphinx by means of a path, the use of which was hitherto unknown. The entrance to this path, which is about 470

yards long, is at the north end of the Great Hall of Columns in the Temple of the Sphinx. The entrance to the funerary temple was near the south-east corner. At the end of the entrance passage was another passage which ran north and south. On the south end were two store rooms, and on the north a large ante-chamber with four store rooms beyond it. On the west side of the ante-chamber was the entrance to a wide hall with 14 square pillars. At the north and south sides were two passages, which ran due west, and joined two other passages, one of which ran north and the other south. On the west side of the wide hall was a passage leading to a long rectangular hall with 10 square pillars, and on the west side of this was a passage which led to the Great Hall of Columns, which occupied the whole width of the building. This hall contained 12 square pillars, two on the north and two on the south sides, and four on the east and four on the west sides. Beyond were five chambers, each containing a statue of the king, and beyond this were five other chambers, which were reached by a passage on the south side from the Great Hall of Columns. On the north side of the Great Hall was another passage by which the court, which lay between the temple and the pyramid, could be reached. At the west end were other smaller chambers, the use of which is unknown. Most of the walls appear to have been built of alabaster faced with granite, and the pillars were of granite. The total length of the temple must have been nearly 400 feet. In 1912-13 the Harvard-Boston Expedition carried out a series of excavations at the back of the pyramid of Men-kau-Rā, under the direction of Dr. Reisner. The royal burial ground contained three groups of maṣṭabahs, i.e. western, southern, and eastern cemeteries. The western cemetery belonged to the time of Khufu, and the eastern to the time of Men-kau-Rā. The American excavators also found portrait statues of Men-kau-Rā, and his wife, which they exported to America. The third pyramid at Gîzah was built by Men-kau-Rā, the fourth king of the IVth dynasty, about

3633 B.C., who called it

A, Her. Herodotus and other

ancient authors tell us that Men-kau-Rā, or Mycerinus, was buried in this pyramid, but Manetho states that Nitocris, a queen of the VIth dynasty, was the builder. There can be, however, but little doubt that it was built by Mycerinus, for the

sarcophagus and the remains of the inscribed coffin of this king were found in one of its chambers by Howard Vyse in 1837. The sarcophagus, which measured 8 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet, was lost through the wreck of the ship in which it was sent to England, but the venerable fragments of the coffin are preserved in the British Museum, and form one of the most valuable objects in the famous collection of that institution. The inscription reads: "Osiris, king of the North and South, Men-kau-Rā, living for ever! The heavens have produced "thee, thou wast engendered by Nut (the sky), thou art the offspring of Geb (the earth). Thy mother Nut spreads "herself over thee in her form as a divine mystery. She has granted thee to be a god, thou shalt nevermore have enemies, "O king of the North and South, Men-kau-Ra, living for ever." This formula is one which is found upon coffins down to the latest period, but as the date of Mycerinus is known, it is possible to draw some interesting and valuable conclusions from the fact that it is found upon his coffin. It proves that as far back as 3,600 years before Christ the Egyptian religion was established on a firm base, and that the doctrine of immortality was already deeply rooted in the human mind. The art of preserving the human body by embalming was also well understood and generally practised at that early date.

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The pyramid of Men-kau-Rā, like that of Chephren, is built upon a rock with a sloping surface; the inequality of the surface in this case has been made level by building up courses of large blocks of stones. Around the lower part the remains of the old granite covering are visible to a depth of from 30 feet to 40 feet. It is unfortunate that this pyramid has been so much damaged; its injuries, however, enable the visitor to see exactly how it was built, and it may be concluded that the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren were built in the same manner. The length of each side at the base is about 350 feet, and its height is variously given as 210 feet and 215 feet. The entrance is on the north side, about 13 feet above the ground, and a descending corridor about 104 feet long, passing through an ante-chamber, having a series of three granite doors, leads into one chamber about 40 feet long, and a second chamber about 44 feet long. In this last chamber is a shaft which leads down to the granite-lined chamber about 20 feet below, in which were found the sarcophagus and wooden coffin of Mycerinus, and the remains of a human body. It is thought that, in spite of the body of

Mycerinus being buried in this pyramid, it was left unfinished at the death of this king, and that a succeeding ruler of Egypt finished the pyramid and made a second chamber to hold his or her body. At a short distance to the east of this pyramid are the ruins of a temple which was probably used in connection with the rites performed in honour of the dead king. In A.D. 1196 a deliberate and systematic attempt was made to destroy this pyramid by the command of the Muḥammadan ruler of Egypt.

The account of the character of Mycerinus and of his pyramid as given by Herodotus (ii, 134), is as follows:

They said that after him, Mycerinus, son of Cheops, reigned over Egypt; that the conduct of his father was displeasing to "him; and that he opened the temples, and permitted the people, "who were worn down to the last extremity, to return to their employments, and to sacrifices; and that he made the most just "decisions of all their kings. On this account, of all the kings that ever reigned in Egypt, they praise him most, for he both judged "well in other respects, and, moreover, when any man complained "of his decision, he used to make him some present out of his own treasury and pacify his anger. This king also left a pyramid "much less than that of his father, being on each side 20 feet short "of three plethra; it is quadrangular, and built half-way up of "Ethiopian stone. Some of the Grecians erroneously say that this pyramid is the work of the courtesan Rhodopis; but they evidently appear to me ignorant who Rhodopis was; for they would not "else have attributed to her the building of such a pyramid, on "which, so to speak, numberless thousands of talents were expended; besides, Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, and "not at this time; for she was very many years later than those 'kings who left these pyramids." (Cary's translation.)

In one of the three small pyramids near that of Mycerinus the name of this king is painted on the ceiling. The age of the Sphinx is unknown, and few of the facts connected with its history have come down to these days. Some years ago it was generally believed to have been made during the rule of the kings of the Middle Empire over Egypt, but when the stele which recorded the repairs made in the Temple of the Sphinx by Thothmes IV, 1450 B.C., came to light, it became certain that it was the work of a far older period. The stele records that one day during an after dinner sleep, Harmachis appeared to Thothmes IV, and promised to bestow upon him the crown of Egypt if he would dig his image, i.e., the Sphinx, out of the sand. At the end of the inscription part of the name of Khā-f-Rā, or Chephren, appears, and hence some have thought that this king was the maker of the Sphinx;