of Cheops, Cephren, and that of Mycerinus, the last-named much smaller than the other two. Herodotus, who was born about 500 B.C., tells us that in building the great pyramid of Cheops it took 100,000 men working incessantly for 30 years to complete it; 10 years of this 30 was spent in making a causeway 3,000 feet long, to facilitate the transportation of the stone from the Turah quarries. Herodotus describes the method of building by steps, and raising the stones from layer to layer by machines, and finally of facing the external portion from the top down. Its present height is 460 feet, the original height was 480 feet.
The extent of solid masonry has been estimated at 82,111,000 cubic feet. It at present covers 12 acres. The only entrance is on the north face, 49 feet above the base, though the masonry has been so much broken away that the débris reaches nearly up to it. A passage, 3 feet 11 inches high and 3 feet 5½ inches wide, conducts from the entrance down a slope at an angle of 26° 41´, a distance of 320 feet 10 inches to the original sepulchral chamber, commonly known as the subterraneous apartment; it is carried, reduced in dimensions, beyond this a distance of 52 feet 9 inches into the rock, though for what purpose remains a matter of conjecture. The sepulchral chamber is 46 feet long by 27 feet wide, and 11½ feet high. From the entrance passage another branches off and leads to several other passages and chambers. One of the latter, known as the Queen’s Chamber, is situated about the middle of the pyramid, 67 feet above the base; it has a groined roof, and measures 17 feet broad by 18 feet 9 inches long and 20 feet 3 inches high. The other, called the King’s Chamber, is reached by an offshoot from the Queen’s Passage, 150 feet long. Its dimensions are 34 feet 3 inches long by 17 feet 1 inch wide, and 19 feet 1 inch high. The chamber is lined with red granite highly polished, single stones reaching from the floor to the ceiling, and the ceiling itself is formed of nine large slabs of polished granite extending from wall to wall. The only contents of the apartment is a sarcophagus of red granite, which, judging by its dimensions, must have been introduced when the building was proceeding. It is supposed to have contained a wooden coffin with the mummy of the king, and that these long since disappeared when the pyramids were first opened and plundered. We do not see these pyramids as they originally were. The outer casing of polished stone has been removed and utilized in constructing the mosque of Sultan Hassan. These pyramids were built between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago. Great was the antiquity of Thebes before European history begins to dawn. It was declining before the foundations of Rome were laid, but the building of the great pyramids of Gizeh preceded the earliest history of Thebes by 1,000 years. Whilst speaking of Thebes, I’ll just mention that there are to be seen to-day the tomb of the great Sethos, Joseph’s Pharaoh, of his greater son, Rameses II., and of Menophres or Meneptha, in whose reign the Exodus took place. In the tomb of Sethos, coloured sculptures cover 320 feet of the excavation. There is to be seen the draughtsman’s handiwork in red colour, showing the designs that were to be executed by the sculptor, and the corrections in black ink of the superintendent of such works, and although these sketches were made 3,000 years ago, they are still quite clear and fresh-looking. On the east side of the pyramid, half buried in sand, is the wonderful colossal Sphinx, his head 25 feet high and back 100 feet long, all one stone.
CHAPTER VI.
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