For lack of time, doubtless, the dressing of the granite was not completed, but the limestone received all the polish it was capable of taking. The enclosing wall was extended to the north so as to meet, and become one with, that of the second pyramid. The temple was connected with the plain by a long and almost straight causeway, which ran for the greater part of its course* upon an embankment raised above the neighbouring ground. This temple was in fair condition in the early years of the eighteenth century,** and so much of it as has escaped the ravages of the Mameluks, bears witness to the scrupulous care and refined art employed in its construction.
* This causeway should not be confounded, as is frequently
done, with that which may be seen at some distance to the
east in the plain: the latter led to limestone quarries in
the mountain to the south of the plateau on which the
pyramids stand. These quarries were worked in very ancient
times.
** Benoit de Maillet visited this temple between 1692 and
1708. “It is almost square in form. There are to be found
inside four pillars which doubtless supported a vaulted roof
covering the altar of the idol, and one moved around these
pillars as in an ambulatory. These stones were cased with
granitic marble. I found some pieces still unbroken which
had been attached to the stones with mastic. I believe that
the exterior as well as the interior of the temple was cased
with this marble” (Le Mascrier, Description de l’Egypte,
1735, pp. 223, 224).
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph, by Emil Brugsch-Bey, of
a statue preserved in the Museum of Gîzeh.
Coming from the plain, we first meet with an immense halting-place measuring 100 feet by 46 feet, and afterwards enter a large court with an egress on each side: beyond this we can distinguish the ground-plan only of five chambers, the central one, which is in continuation with the hall, terminating at a distance of some 42 feet from the pyramid, exactly opposite the middle point of the eastern face. The whole mass of the building covers a rectangular area 184 feet long by a little over 177 feet broad. Its walls, like those of the temple of the Sphinx, contained a core of lime-stone 7 feet 10 inches thick, of which the blocks have been so ingeniously put together as to suggest the idea that the whole is cut out of the rock. This core was covered with a casing of granite and alabaster, of which the remains preserve no trace of hieroglyphs or of wall scenes: the founder had caused his name to be inscribed on the statues, which received, on his behalf, the offerings, and also on the northern face of the pyramid, where it was still shown to the curious towards the first century of our era. The arrangement of the interior of the pyramid is somewhat complicated, and bears witness to changes brought unexpectedly about in the course of construction. The original central mass probably did not exceed 180 feet in breadth at the base, with a vertical height of 154 feet. It contained a sloping passage cut into the hill itself, and an oblong low-roofed cell devoid of ornament. The main bulk of the work had been already completed, and the casing not yet begun, when it was decided to alter the proportions of the whole.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin. The coffin is in the British Museum.
The drawing of it was published by Vyse, by Birch-Lenormant,
and by Lepsius. Herr Sethe has recently revived an ancient
hypothesis, according to which it had been reworked in the
Saite period, and he has added to archaeological
considerations, up to that time alone brought to bear upon
the question, new philological facts.
Mykerinos was not, it appears, the eldest son and appointed heir of Khephren; while still a mere prince he was preparing for himself a pyramid similar to those which lie near the “Horizon,” when the deaths of his father and brother called him to the throne. What was sufficient for him as a child, was no longer suitable for him as a Pharaoh; the mass of the structure was increased to its present dimensions, and a new inclined passage was effected in it, at the end of which a hall panelled with granite gave access to a kind of antechamber.* The latter communicated by a horizontal corridor with the first vault, which was deepened for the occasion; the old entrance, now no longer of use, was roughly filled up.**