THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



209 



and south, or, in other words, so that their four 

 faces front the four cardinal points. One can 

 imagine no reason why a tomb should have such 

 a position. It is not, indeed, easy to understand 

 why any building at all, except an astronomical 

 observatory, should have such a position. A 

 temple perhaps devoted to sun-worship, and gen- 

 erally to the worship of the heavenly bodies, 

 might be built in that way. For it is to be no- 

 ticed that the peculiar figure and position of the 

 pyramids would bring about the following rela- 

 tions : When the sun rose and set south of the 

 east and west points, or (speaking generally) be- 

 tween the autumn and the spring equinoxes, the 

 rays of the rising and setting sun illuminated the 

 southern face of the pyramid ; whereas during 

 the rest of the year, that is, during the six months 

 between the spring and autumn equinoxes, the 

 rays of the rising and setting sun illuminated the 

 northern face. Again, all the year round the 

 sun's rays passed from the eastern to the west- 

 ern face at solar noon. And, lastly, during seven 

 months and a half of each year, namely, for three 

 months and three-quarters before and after mid- 

 summer, the noon rays of the sun fell on all four 

 faces of the pyramid, or, according to a Peruvian 

 expression (so Smyth avers), the sun shone on 

 the pyramid " with all his rays." Such condi- 

 tions as these might have been regarded as very 

 suitable for a temple devoted to sun-worship. Yet 

 the temple theory is as untenable as the tomb 

 theory. For, in the first place, the pyramid form 

 — as the pyramids were originally built, with per- 

 fectly smooth slant-faces, not terraced into steps 

 as now, through the loss of the casing-stones — 

 was entirely uusuited for all the ordinary require- 

 ments of a temple of worship. And further, this 

 theory gives no explanation of the fact that each 

 king built a pyramid, and each king only one. 

 Similar difficulties oppose the theory that the 

 pyramids were intended to serve as astronomical 

 observatories. For, while their original figure, 

 however manifestly astronomical in its relations, 

 was quite unsuited for observatory-work, it is 

 manifest that if such had been the purpose of 

 pyramid-building, so soon as the Great Pyramid 

 had once been built, no other would be needed. 

 Certainly none of the pyramids built afterward 

 could have subserved any astronomical purpose 

 which the first did not subserve, or have sub- 

 served nearly so well as the Great Pyramid those 

 purposes (and they are but few) which that build- 

 ing may be supposed to have fulfilled as an as- 

 tronomical observatory. 



Of the other theories mentioned at the begin- 



ning of this paper none seem to merit special 

 notice, except perhaps the theory that the pyr- 

 amids were made to receive the royal treasures, 

 and this theory rather because of the attention it 

 received from Arabian literati, during the ninth 

 and tenth centuries, than because of any strong 

 reasons which can be suggested in its favor. 

 "Emulating," says Prof. Smyth, " the enchanted 

 tales of Bagdad," the court poets of Al-Manioun 

 (son of the far-famed Ilaroun-al-Raschid) " drew 

 gorgeous pictures of the contents of the pyramid's 

 interior. . . . All the treasures of Sheddad Ben 

 Ad, the great antediluvian king of the earth, 

 with all his medicines and all his sciences, they 

 declared were there, told over and over again. 

 Others, though, were positive that the founder- 

 king was no other than Saurid Ibn Salhouk, a far 

 greater one than the other ; and these last gave 

 many more minute particulars, some of which are 

 at least interesting to us in the present day, as 

 proving that, among the Egypto-Arabians of 

 more than a thousand years ago, the Jeezeh pyr- 

 amids, headed by the grand one, enjoyed a pre- 

 eminence of fame vastly before all the other pyr- 

 amids of Egypt put together ; and that if any 

 other is alluded to after the Great Pyramid 

 (which has always been the notable and favorite 

 one, and chiefly was known then as the East 

 Pyramid), it is either the second one at Jeezeh, 

 under the name of the West Pyramid ; or the 

 third one, distinguished as the Colored Pyramid, 

 in allusion to its red granite, compared with the 

 white limestone casings of the other two (which, 

 moreover, from their more near, but by no means 

 exact, equality of size, went frequently under the 

 affectionate designation of 'the pair')." 



The report of Ibn Abd Alkohm, as to what 

 was to be found in each of these three pyramids, 

 or rather of what, according to him, was put into 

 them originally by King Saurid, runs as follows: 

 " In the Western Pyramid, thirty treasuries filled 

 with store of riches and utensils, and with signa- 

 tures made of precious stones, and with instru- 

 ments of iron and vessels of earth, and with 

 arms which rust not, and with glass which might 

 be bended and yet not broken, and with strange 

 spells, and with several kinds of alakakirs (magi- 

 cal precious stones) single and double, and with 

 deadly poisons, and with other things besides. 

 He made also in the East" (the Great Pyramid) 

 " divers celestial spheres and stars, and what 

 they severally operate in their aspects, and the 

 perfumes which are to. be used to them, and the 

 books which treat of these matters. He put also 

 into the Colored Pyramid the commentaries of 



