INTRODUCTORY.
So long as the geographer confines himself to mapping out the different countries of the world, or smaller portions of the earth’s surface, he finds no difficulty in making a projection which shall correctly represent the exact relative position of all the various features of the land or sea. But when he attempts to portray a continent, some distortion necessarily results; and when he undertakes a hemisphere, both distortion and exaggeration become inevitable. It has consequently been found necessary to resort to some conventional means of portraying the larger surfaces of the globe. These avowedly do not represent correctly the forms of the countries portrayed, but they enable the geographer to ascertain what their distances or relative positions are by the application of certain rules and formulæ of no great complexity.
The same thing is true of history. So long as the narrative is confined to individual countries or provinces, it may be perfectly consecutive and uninterrupted; but when two or three nations are grouped together, frequent interruptions and recapitulations become necessary; and when universal history is attempted, it seems impossible to arrange the narrative so as to prevent these from assuming very considerable importance. The utmost that can be done is to devise some scheme which shall prevent the repetition from leading to tediousness, and enable the student to follow the thread of any portion of the narrative without confusion or the assumption of any special previous knowledge on his part.
Bearing these difficulties in mind, it will probably be found convenient to divide the whole history of Architecture into four great divisions or parts.
The first, which may be called “Ancient or Heathen Art,” to comprehend all those styles which prevailed in the old world from the dawn of history in Egypt till the disruption of the Roman Empire by the removal of the capital from Rome to Constantinople in the 4th century.
The second to be called either “Mediæval,” or more properly “Christian Art.” This again subdivides itself into three easily-understood divisions. 1. The Byzantine or Eastern Christian style; 2. The Romanesque or transitional style which prevailed between the Roman and the Gothic styles; and 3. The Gothic or western Christian style. The Byzantine style comes first because its development was so rapid that already in the 6th century it had reached its culminating period, and throughout the Middle Ages it exercised considerable influence in various parts of Italy and France; an influence the extent of which it is only possible to follow after its study. It is difficult, for instance, to understand the churches in Ravenna or St. Mark’s in Venice, or the churches at Périgueux, and in the Charente, until the churches of Sta. Sophia and of St. Sergius, Constantinople, and of St. Demetrius, Thessalonica, have been studied; and although it is advisable when describing the style to carry it through its later developments in Greece, in Russia, and in the East, these variations and developments are not of a nature to distract the reader or cause him to lose sight of the leading characteristics of the style. There is some difficulty in knowing where to draw the line between the Romanesque and the Gothic style; as generally accepted now, the term Romanesque includes all the round-arched Gothic styles, and although many of the leading principles of Gothic work are to be found entering into buildings constructed prior to the introduction of the pointed arch into transverse and diagonal ribbed arch vaulting, it was this latter which led to the great development of the Gothic style in France, England, and elsewhere in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The third great division of the subject I would suggest might conveniently be denominated “Pagan.”[[21]] It would comprise all those minor miscellaneous styles not included in the two previous divisions. Commencing with the Saracenic, it would include the Buddhist, Hindu, and Chinese styles, the Mexican and Peruvian, and lastly that mysterious group which for want of a better name I have elsewhere designated as “Rude Stone Monuments.”[[22]] No very consecutive arrangement can be formed for these styles. They generally have little connection with each other, and are so much less important than the others that their mode of treatment is of far less consequence. Nor is it necessary to attempt any exact classification of these at present, as, owing to the convenience of publication, it has been determined to form the Indian and allied Eastern styles into a separate volume, which will include not only the Buddhist and Hindu styles, but the Indian Saracenic, which, in a strictly logical arrangement, ought to be classified with the western style bearing the same name.
The styles of the New world, having as yet no acknowledged connection with those of the Old, may be for the present treated of anywhere.
The fourth and last great division, forming the fourth volume of the present work, is that of the “Modern or Copying Styles of Architecture,” meaning thereby those which are the products of the renaissance of the classical styles that marked the epoch of the cinquecento period. These have since that time prevailed generally in Europe to the present day, and are now making the tour of the world. Within the limits of the present century it is true that the copying of the classical styles to some extent were superseded by a more servile imitation of those of mediæval art. The forms consequently changed, but the principles remained the same.
It would of course be easy to point out minor objections to this or to any scheme, but on the whole it will be found to meet the exigencies of the case as we now know it, as well or perhaps better than any other. The greatest difficulty in carrying it out is to ascertain how far the geographical arrangement should be made to supersede the chronological and ethnographical. Whether, for instance, Italy should be considered as a whole, or if the buildings of the eastern coast should not be described as belonging to the Byzantine, and those of the western coast to the Gothic kingdom? Whether the description of the Temple at Jerusalem should stop short with the rebuilding by Zorobabel, or be continued till its final completion under Herod? If the former course is pursued, we cut in two a perfectly consecutive narrative; if the latter, we get far in advance of our chronological sequence.
In both of these instances, as in many others, it is a choice of difficulties, and where frequently the least strictly logical mode of proceeding may be found the most convenient.
After all, the real difficulty lies not so much in arranging the materials as in weighing the relative importance to be assigned to each division. In wandering over so vast a field it is difficult to prevent personal predilection from interfering with purely logical criticism. Although architecture is the most mechanical of the fine arts, and consequently the most amenable to scientific treatment, still as a fine art it must be felt to be appreciated, and when the feelings come into play the reason is sometimes in danger. Though strict impartiality has been aimed at in assigning the true limits to each of the divisions above pointed out, few probably will be of the same opinion as to the degree of success which has been achieved in the attempt.
OUTLINE OF EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY.
ACCORDING TO MANETHO AND THE MONUMENTS.
| OLD KINGDOM OF PYRAMID BUILDERS. | |||||||
| Years. | B.C. | ||||||
| 1st | dynasty | Thinite | 252 | Accession of Menes, 1st king. | 3906 | ||
| 2nd | dynasty | Thinite | 302 | ||||
| 3rd | dynasty | Memphite | 214 | Ten dynasties of kings, reigning sometimes contemporaneously in Upper and in Lower Egypt; at other times both divisions were united under one king. The total duration of their reigns, as nearly as can be estimated, was 1335 years. | |||
| 4th | dynasty | Memphite | 284 | ||||
| 5th | dynasty | Elephantine | 248 | ||||
| 6th | dynasty | Memphite | 203 | ||||
| 7th | dynasty | Memphite 70 days? | |||||
| 8th | dynasty | Memphite | 146 | ||||
| 9th | dynasty | Heracleapolite | 100 | ? | |||
| 10th | dynasty | Heracleapolite | 185 | ||||
| FIRST THEBAN KINGDOM. | |||||||
| 11th | dynasty | Thebans | 43 | Commenced | 2571 | ||
| 12th | dynasty | Thebans | 246 | over Upper, 188 over Lower Egypt. | |||
| SHEPHERD INVASION. | 2340 | ||||||
| 13th | dynasty | Diospolites | 453 | Five dynasties of Shepherd or native kings reigning or existing contemporaneously in four series in different parts of Egypt during 511 years. | |||
| 14th | dynasty | Xoite | 484 | ||||
| 15th | dynasty | Shepherds | 284 | ||||
| 16th | dynasty | Hellenes | 518 | ||||
| 17th | dynasty | Shepherds | 151 | ||||
| 435 | |||||||
| GREAT THEBAN KINGDOM. | |||||||
| 18th | dynasty | Theban | 393 | Over all Egypt | 1829 | ||
| 19th | dynasty | Theban | 194 | 1436 | |||
| Exode of Jews, 1312. | |||||||
| 20th | dynasty | Theban | 135 | 1242 | |||
| 21st | dynasty | Tanite | 130 | 1107 | |||
| 22nd | dynasty | Bubastite | 120 | 977 | |||
| Temple of Jerusalem plundered, 972. | |||||||
| 23rd | dynasty | Tanite | 89 | 857 | |||
| 24th | dynasty | Saïte | 44 | 768 | |||
| 25th | dynasty | Ethiopian | 44 | 724 | |||
| 26th | dynasty | Saïte | 155 | 680 | |||
| Persian Invasion under Cambyses | 526 | [[23]] | |||||
BOOK I.
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
In any consecutive narrative of the architectural undertakings of mankind the description of what was done in Egypt necessarily commences the series, not only because the records of authentic history are found in the Valley of the Nile long before the traditions of other nations had assumed anything like tangible consistency, but because, from the earliest dawn down to the time when Christianity struck down the old idolatry, the inhabitants of that mysterious land were essentially and pre-eminently a building race. Were it not for this we should be left with the dry bones of the skeleton of her history, which is all that is left us of the dynasties of Manetho; or with the fables in which ignorant and credulous European travellers expressed their wonder at a civilisation they could not comprehend.
As the case now stands, the monuments of Egypt give life and reality to their whole history. It is impossible for any educated man capable of judging of the value of evidence to wander among the Pyramids and tombs of Memphis, the Temples of Thebes, or the vast structures erected by the Ptolemys or Cæsars, and not to feel that he has before him a chapter of history more authentic than we possess of any nation at all approaching it in antiquity, and a picture of men and manners more vivid and more ample than remains to us of any other people who have passed away.
As we wander among the tombs or temples of Egypt we see the very chisel-marks of the mason, and the actual colours of the painter which were ordered by a Khufu, or a Rameses, and we stand face to face with works the progress of which they watched, and which they designed in order to convey to posterity what their thoughts and feelings were, and what they desired to record for the instruction of future generations. All is there now, and all who care may learn what these old kings intended should be known by their remotest posterity.
Immense progress has been made in unravelling the intricacies of Egyptian history since the time when Champollion, profiting by the discovery of Young, first translated the hieroglyphical inscriptions that cover the walls of Egyptian buildings. Of late years it has been too frequently assumed that his works, with those of Rosellini, of Wilkinson, and Lepsius, and the numerous other authors who have applied themselves to Egyptology, had told us all we are ever likely to know of her history. In so far as the epochs of the great Pharaonic dynasties of Thebes are concerned this may be partially true, but it is only since M. Mariette undertook the systematic exploration of the great Necropolis of Memphis that we have been enabled to realise the importance of the older dynasties, and become aware of the completeness of the records they have left behind them. Much as we have learned during the last fifty years, the recent explorations of Maspero, W. M. Flinders Petrie and others have taught us that the soil of Egypt is not half exhausted yet; and every day our knowledge is assuming a consistency and completeness as satisfactory as it is wonderful.
Although there are still minor differences of opinion with regard to the details of Egyptian chronology, still the divergences between the various systems proposed are gradually narrowing in extent. The sequence of events is certain, and accepted by all. The initial date, and the adjustments depending on it, are alone in dispute. The truth is that every subsequent step in the investigation has tended more and more to prove the correctness of the data furnished by the lists of Manetho, and the only important question is, “what is Manetho?” His work is lost. The only real extracts we have from the original are those in ‘Josephus contra Apion.’ The lists in Eusebius and Syncellus or Africanus have avowedly been adjusted to suit preconceived theories of Biblical chronology; but on the whole a great preponderance of evidence seems in favour of assuming that he really intended to fix the year 3906 as the initial year of the reign of Menes,[[24]] or some year within a very short distance of that date. Some years ago this would have seemed to suffice, but so many new monuments have been disinterred of late, so many new names of kings added to our lists, that the tendency is now rather to extend than to contract this limit of duration.
Be this as it may, what we really do know absolutely is that there was an old kingdom of pyramid-builders, comprising the first ten dynasties of Manetho, who reigned at Memphis. These, after a period of decadence, were superseded by kings of a different race coming from the south; and that these, after a short period of glory, were conquered by an Asiatic race of hated Shepherd kings.
After five centuries of foreign domination, the Shepherds in their turn were driven out, and the new kingdom founded. This, after witnessing the glories of the 18th and 19th dynasties, declined during the next seven dynasties till they were struck down by the Persian Cambyses.
A third period of architectural magnificence arose with the Ptolemys, and was continued by the Cæsars on nearly the same scale of magnificence as the second kingdom; but wanting its exuberant nationality, and far below the quiet grandeur of the earlier epoch.
In counting backwards the dates of these dynasties, the first authentic synchronism we meet with is that of Shishak, the first king of the 22nd dynasty, contemporary with Rehoboam, about 970 B.C.
The next is the Exode of the Jews, which took place 1312 B.C., under the reign of Meneptah II., the fourth king of the 19th dynasty of Manetho. Many would place it earlier, but none probably would bring that event down to a more modern date.
From this date Josephus tells us that Manetho counted 518 years to the expulsion of the Shepherds, and 511 for the duration of their sojourn in Egypt,[[25]] we thus get back to 2340 for the first year of Salatis. There then remain only fifteen centuries and a half, in which we have to arrange the two great Theban dynasties (the 11th and 12th), which reigned for more than two centuries over the whole of Egypt; while the 12th seems to have extended some distance into the period occupied by the Shepherds. We are thus left with little more than 1300 years over which to spread the ten first dynasties, notwithstanding that some 60 or 70 of their royal sepulchral pyramids still adorn the banks of the Nile; and we have many names to which no tombs can be attached, and many pyramids may have perished during the 5000 years which have elapsed since the greater number of them were erected.
Long as these periods may to some appear, they are certainly the shortest that any one familiar with the recent progress of Egyptian research would be willing to assign to them. But in whatever light they may be viewed, they sink into utter insignificance when compared with the periods that must have elapsed before Egypt could have reached that stage of civilisation in which we find her when her existence first dawns upon us. If one point in Egyptian history is proved with more certainty than another, it is that the great Pyramids of Gizeh were erected by the kings of the 4th dynasty: and it seems impossible to find room for the now ascertained facts of Egyptian chronology, unless we place their erection between 3000 and 3500 years before the Christian era.
No one can possibly examine the interior of the Great Pyramid without being struck with astonishment at the wonderful mechanical skill displayed in its construction. The immense blocks of granite brought from Syene—a distance of 500 miles—polished like glass, and so fitted that the joints can hardly be detected. Nothing can be more wonderful than the extraordinary amount of knowledge displayed in the construction of the discharging chambers over the roof of the principal apartment, in the alignment of the sloping galleries, in the provision of ventilating shafts, and in all the wonderful contrivances of the structure. All these, too, are carried out with such precision, that, notwithstanding the immense superincumbent weight, no settlement in any part can be detected to the extent of an appreciable fraction of an inch. Nothing more perfect, mechanically, has ever been erected since that time; and we ask ourselves in vain, how long it must have taken before men acquired such experience and such skill, or were so perfectly organised, as to contemplate and complete such undertakings.
Around the base of the pyramid are found numerous structural tombs, whose walls bear the cartouche of the same king—Khufu—whose name was found by Colonel Howard Vyse in one of the previously unopened chambers of the Great Pyramid.[[26]] These are adorned with paintings so numerous and so complete, as to enable us to realise with singular completeness the state of Egyptian society at that early period.
On their walls the owner of the tomb is usually represented seated, offering first fruits on a simple table-altar to an unseen god. He is generally accompanied by his wife, and surrounded by his stewards and servants, who enumerate his wealth in horned cattle, in asses, in sheep and goats, in geese and ducks. In other pictures some are ploughing and sowing, some reaping or thrashing out the corn, while others are tending his tame monkeys or cranes, and other domesticated pets. Music and dancing add to the circle of domestic enjoyments, and fowling and fishing occupy his days of leisure. No sign of soldiers or of warlike strife appears in any of these pictures; no arms, no chariots or horses. No camels suggest foreign travel. Everything there represented speaks of peace at home and abroad,[[27]] of agricultural wealth and consequent content. In all these pictures the men are represented with an ethnic and artistic truth that enables us easily to recognise their race and station. The animals are not only easily distinguishable, but the characteristic peculiarities of each species are seized with a power of generalisation seldom if ever surpassed; and the hieroglyphic system which forms the legend and explains the whole, was as complete and perfect then as at any future period.
More striking than even the paintings are the portrait-statues which have recently been discovered in the secret recesses of these tombs; nothing more wonderfully truthful and realistic has been done since that time, till the invention of photography, and even that can hardly represent a man with such unflattering truthfulness as these old coloured terra-cotta portraits of the sleek rich men of the pyramid period.
Wonderful as all this maturity of art may be when found at so early a period, the problem becomes still more perplexing when we again ask ourselves how long a people must have lived and recorded their experience before they came to realise and aspire to an eternity such as the building of these pyramids shows that they sacrificed everything to attain. One of their great aims was to preserve the body intact for 3000 years, in order that the soul might again be united with it when the day of judgment arrived. But what taught them to contemplate such periods of time with confidence, and, stranger still, how did they learn to realise so daring an aspiration?
Nor is our wonder less when we ask ourselves how it happened that such a people became so thoroughly organised at that early age as to be willing to undertake the greatest architectural works the world has since seen in honour of one man from among themselves? A king without an army, and with no claim, so far as we can see, to such an honour beyond the common consent of all, which could hardly have been obtained except by the title of long inherited services acknowledged by the community at large.
It would be difficult to find any other example which so fully illustrates the value of architecture as a mode of writing history as this. It is possible there may have been nations as old and as early civilised as the Egyptians: but they were not builders, and their memory is lost. It is to their architecture alone that we owe the preservation of what we know of this old people. And it is the knowledge so obtained that adds such interest to the study of their art.
In the present state of our knowledge it may seem an idle speculation to suggest that the Egyptian and Chinese are two fragments of one great primordial race, widely separated now by the irruption of other Turanian and Aryan races between them; but this at least is certain, that in manners and customs, in arts and polity, in religion and civilisation, these two peoples more closely resemble one another than any other two nations which have existed since, even when avowedly of similar race and living in proximity to one another.
At the earliest period at which Chinese history opens upon us, we find the same amount of civilisation maintaining itself utterly unprogressively to the present day. The same peaceful industry and agricultural wealth accompanied by the same outwardly pleasing domestic relations and apparent content. The same exceptional mode of writing. The same want of power to assimilate with surrounding nations. Both hating war, but reverencing their kings, and counting their chronology by dynasties exactly as the Egyptians have always done. Their religions seem wonderfully alike, and both are characterised by the same fearlessness of death, and the same calm enjoyment in the contemplation of its advent.[[28]]
In fact there is no peculiarity in the old kingdom of Egypt that has not its counterpart in China at the present day, though more or less modified, perhaps, by local circumstances; and there is nothing in the older system which we cannot understand by using proper illustrations, derived from what we see passing under our immediate observation in the far East. The great lesson we learn from the study of the history of China as bearing on that of Egypt is, that all idea of the impossibility of the recorded events in the latter country is taken away by reference to the other. Neither the duration of the Egyptian dynasties, nor the early perfection of her civilisation, or its strange persistency, can be objected to as improbable. What we know has happened in Asia in modern times may certainly have taken place in Africa, though at an earlier period.
CHAPTER II.
THE PYRAMIDS AND CONTEMPORARY MONUMENTS.
Leaving these speculations to be developed more fully in the sequel, let us now turn to the pyramids—the oldest, largest, and most mysterious of all the monuments of man’s art now existing. All those in Egypt are situated on the left bank of the Nile, just beyond the cultivated ground, and on the edge of the desert, and all the principal examples within what may fairly be called the Necropolis of Memphis. Sixty or seventy of these have been discovered and explored, all which appear to be royal sepulchres. This alone, if true would suffice to justify us in assigning a duration of 1000 years at least to the dynasties of the pyramid builders, and this is about the date we acquire from other sources.
The three great pyramids of Gizeh are the most remarkable and the best known of all those of Egypt. Of these the first, erected by Cheops, or, as he is now more correctly named, Khufu, is the largest; but the next, by Chephren (Khafra), his successor, is scarcely inferior in dimensions; the third, that of Mycerinus (Menkaura), is very much smaller, but excelled the two others in this, that it had a coating of beautiful red granite from Syene, while the other two were revêted only with the beautiful limestone of the country. Part of this coating still remains near the top of the second; and Colonel Vyse[[29]] was fortunate enough to discover some of the coping-stones of the Great Pyramid buried in the rubbish at its base. These are sufficient to indicate the nature and extent of the whole, and to show that it was commenced from the bottom and carried upwards; not at the top, as it has sometimes been thoughtlessly asserted.[[30]]
No. 7. Section of Great Pyramid.
Since Colonel Vyse’s discovery, however, further casing-stones have been found in situ by Mr. Flinders Petrie, whose measurements, taken in 1880-82, and published in the following year,[[31]] are the most accurate yet made. The dimensions hitherto given have shown a difference of as much as eighteen inches in the length of the sides, which, if the pyramid had been set out on a perfectly clear level ground, would have detracted from the perfection which has been claimed for its setting out. This difference, however, it appears now, was due to the fact that the various observers had measured from angle to angle of the corner sockets, and had “assumed that the faces of the stones placed in them rose up vertically from the edge of the bottom until they reached the pavement (whatever level that might be), from which the sloping face started upwards.” This, however, was not the case; the sloping sides of the Pyramid continued down to the rock surface, and the base was eventually partially covered over by a level pavement or platform;[[32]] the parts covered over varying in extent according to the depth they were carried down. Mr. Petrie utilized the angle sockets for the purpose of obtaining the true diagonals of the casing, and having computed a square which passed through the points of casing found on each side, and having also its corners lying on the diagonals of the sockets, obtained the dimensions of the original base of the Great Pyramid casing on the artificial platform or pavement, which was as follows:—
| Sq. In. | Ft. | In. | ||
| North side | 9069·4 | or | 755 | 9·4 |
| East side | 9067·7 | or | 755 | 7·7 |
| South side | 9069·5 | or | 755 | 8·6 |
| West side | 9068·6 | or | 755 | 8·8 |
The mean being 755 ft. 8·8 in., and the extreme difference being 1·7 of an inch only.
The actual height of the Great Pyramid from level of platform was 481 ft. 4 in., and the angle of casing 51° 52ʺ.
In the Second Pyramid, the bottom corner of casing (which was in granite) had a vertical base 10 or 12 in. high, against which the pavement was laid; and the following were the dimensions obtained:—
| Sq. In. | Ft. | In. | ||
| North side | 8471·9 | or | 705 | 11·9 |
| East side | 8475·2 | or | 706 | 3·2 |
| South side | 8476·9 | or | 706 | 4·9 |
| West side | 8475·5 | or | 706 | 3·5 |
The mean being 706 ft. 2·9 in., and the extreme difference in the length of side 5 in.
The height was 472 ft., and the angle of casing 53° 10ʹ.
The Third Pyramid was never quite finished, and there is some difficulty in determining the exact level of platform. The mean length of the sides was calculated by Mr. Petrie as 346 ft. 1·6 in., its height 215 ft., and the angle of its casing 51° 10ʹ.
From this it will be seen that the area of the Great Pyramid (more than 13 acres) is more than twice the extent of that of St. Peter’s at Rome, or of any other building in the world.[[33]] Its height is equal to the highest spire of any cathedral in Europe; for, though it has been attempted to erect higher buildings, in no instance has this yet been successfully achieved. Even the Third Pyramid covers more ground than any Gothic cathedral, and the mass of materials it contains far surpasses that of any erection we possess in Europe.
All the pyramids (with one exception) face exactly north, and have their entrance on that side—a circumstance the more remarkable, as the later builders of Thebes appear to have had no notion of orientation, but to have placed their buildings and tombs so as to avoid regularity, and facing in every conceivable direction. Instead of the entrances to the pyramids being level, they all slope downwards—generally at angles of about 26° to the horizon—a circumstance which has led to an infinity of speculation, as to whether they were not observatories, and meant for the observation of the pole-star, &c.[[34]] All these theories, however, have failed, for a variety of reasons it is needless now to discuss; but among others it may be mentioned that the angles are not the same in any two pyramids, though erected within a few years of one another, and in the twenty which were measured by Colonel Vyse they vary from 22° 35ʹ to 34° 5ʹ. The angle of the inclination of the side of the pyramid to the horizon is more constant, varying only from 51° 10ʹ to 52° 32ʹ, and in the Gizeh pyramid it would appear that the angle of the passage was intended to have been about one-half of this.
Mr. Petrie gives a synopsis of the various theories connected with the Great Pyramid, which applies not only to the outside form but to the several chambers and passages in the interior. “There are three great lines of theory,” he says,[[35]] “throughout the Pyramid, each of which must stand or fall as a whole, they are scarcely contradictory, and may almost subsist together;” these are (1) the Egyptian cubit (20·62 in.) theory; (2) the π proportion or radius and circumference theory; (3) the theory of areas, squares of lengths and diagonals.
Of the two first, and applying these only to the exterior by the cubit theory, the outside form of pyramid is 280 cubits high and 440 cubits length of side, or 7 in height to 11 of width. This is confirmed by the π theory, where we get the very common proportion that the height is to the circumference as the radius is to the circumference of a circle inscribed within its base; thus taking the mean height of 481 ft. 4 in., we have 481·33 × 2 × 3·1416 = 3024, whilst the side 755·75 × 4 = 3023, so near a coincidence that it can hardly be accidental, and if it was intended, all the other external proportions follow as a matter of course.
Even if this theory should not be accepted as the true one, it has at least the merit of being nearer the truth than any other yet proposed. I confess it appears to me so likely that I would hardly care to go further, especially as all the astronomical theories have signally failed, and it seems as if it were only to some numerical fancy that we must look for a solution of the puzzle.
Be this as it may, the small residuum we get from all these pyramid discussions is, that they were built by the kings of the early dynasties of the old kingdom of Egypt as their tombs. The leading idea that governed their forms was that of durability—a quasi-eternity of duration is what they aimed at. The entrances were meant to be concealed, and the angle of the passages was the limit of rest at which heavy bodies could be moved while obtaining the necessary strength where they opened at the outside, and the necessary difficulty for protection inside, without trenching on impossibility. By concealment of the entrance, the difficulties of the passages, and the complicated but most ingenious arrangement of portcullises, these ancient kings hoped to be allowed to rest in undisturbed security for at least 3000 years. Perhaps they were successful, though their tombs have since been so shamefully profaned.
To the principal dimensions of the Great Pyramid given above, it may be added that the entrance is 55 ft. 8 in. above the base, on the 19th course, which is deeper than the 11 to 14 courses above and below; at present there remain 203 courses, to which must be added 12 to 14 missing. Their average height is nearly 2 ft. 6 in., but they diminish in height—generally speaking, but not uniformly—towards the top. The summit now consists of a platform 32 ft. 8 in. square; so that about 27 ft. is wanting, the present actual height being 454 ft. It contains two chambers above-ground, and one cut in the rock at a considerable depth below the foundations.
The passages and chambers are worthy of the mass; all are lined with polished granite; and the ingenuity and pains that have been taken to render them solid and secure, and to prevent their being crushed by the superincumbent mass, raise our idea of Egyptian science higher than even the bulk of the building itself could do.
Fig. 1.
Fig 2.
No. 8. Section of King’s Chamber and of Passage in Great Pyramid. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
Towards the exterior, where the pressure is not great, the roof is flat, though it is probable that even there the weight is throughout discharged by 2 stones, sloping up at a certain angle to where they meet, as at the entrance. Towards the centre of the pyramid, however, the passage becomes 28 feet high, the 7 upper courses of stone overhanging one another as shown in the annexed section (fig. 1), so as to reduce the bearing of the covering stone. Nowhere, however, is this ingenuity more shown than in the royal chamber, which measures 17 ft. 1 in. by 34 ft. 3 in., and 19 ft. in height. The walls are lined and the roof is formed of splendid slabs of Syenite, but above the roof 4 successive chambers, as shown in the annexed section (fig. 2), have been formed, each divided from the other by slabs of granite, polished on their lower surfaces, but left rough on the upper, and above these a 5th chamber is formed of 2 sloping blocks to discharge the weight of the whole. The first of these chambers has long been known; the upper four were discovered and first entered by Colonel Vyse, and it was in one of these that he discovered the name of the founder. This was not engraved as a record, but scribbled in red paint on the stones, apparently as a quarrymark, or as an address to the king, and accompanied by something like directions for their position in the building. The interest that attaches to these inscriptions consists in the certainty of their being contemporary records, in their proving that Khufu was the founder of the Great Pyramid, and consequently fixing its relative date beyond all possibility of cavil. This is the only really virgin discovery in the pyramids, as they have all been opened either in the time of the Greeks or Romans, or by the Mahometans, and an unrifled tomb of this age is still a desideratum. Until such is hit upon we must remain in ignorance of the real mode of sepulture in those days, and of the purpose of many of the arrangements in these mysterious buildings.
The portcullises which invariably close the entrances of the sepulchral chamber in the pyramids are among the most curious and ingenious of the arrangements of these buildings. Generally they consist of great cubical masses of granite, measuring 8 or 10 ft. each way, and consequently weighing 50 or 60 tons, and even more. These were fitted into chambers prepared during the construction of the building, but raised into the upper parts, and, being lowered after the body was deposited, closed the entrance so effectually that in some instances it has been found necessary either to break them in pieces, or to cut a passage round them, to gain admission to the chambers. They generally slide in grooves in the wall, to which they fit exactly, and altogether show a degree of ingenuity and forethought very remarkable, considering the early age at which they were executed.
In the Second Pyramid one chamber has been discovered partly above-ground, partly cut in the rock. In the Third the chambers are numerous, all excavated in the rock; and from the tunnels that have been driven by explorers through the superstructures of these two, it is very doubtful whether anything is to be found above-ground.[[36]]
All the old pyramids do not follow the simple outline of those at Gizeh. That at Dahshur, for instance, rises to half the height, with a slope of 54° to the horizon, but is finished at the angle of 45°, giving it a very exceptional appearance. The pyramids of Sakkara and Medum are of the class known as mastaba pyramids, the term mastaba (Arabic for bench) being given to the sloping-sided tombs of about 76° angle and from 10 to 20 ft. high.
No. 10. Pyramid of Sakkara. (From Colonel Vyse’s work.) Scale 100 ft to 1 in.
The annexed plan and section of Sakkara (Woodcut Nos. [9] and [10]), both to the scale of 100 ft. to 1 in., show the peculiar nature of their construction, which seems to have been cumulative; that is to say, they have been enlarged in successive periods, the original casing of the earlier portions having been traced. Mr. Petrie says: “Both of these structures have been several times finished, each time with a close-jointed polished casing of the finest white limestone, and then, after each completion, it has been again enlarged by another coat of rough masonry and another line casing outside.”
These two pyramids are the only two genuine stepped pyramids, all the others having had an uniform casing on one slope (excepting Dahshur, as above mentioned). The Pyramid of Sakkara is the only pyramid that does not face exactly north and south. It is nearly of the same general dimensions as the Third Pyramid, that of Mycerinus; but its outline, the disposition of its chambers, and the hieroglyphics found in its interior, all would seem to point it out as an imitation of the older form of mausolea by some king of a far more modern date.