Chap. 17.] THE EGYPTIAN SPHINX. 337 



height, from tlie belly to the summit of the asp on the head 

 sixty-two.^ ' 



The largest2« Pyramid is built of stone quarried in Arabia - 

 three hundred and sixty thousand men, it is said, were em- 

 ployed upon It twenty years, and the three were completed in 

 seventy-eight years and four months. They are described by 

 tlie foUowing writers: Herodotus," Euhemerus, Duris of 

 bamos, Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Alexander Poly- 

 histor, Butoridas, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles, and 

 Apion. Ihese authors, however, are disagreed as to the persons 

 by whom they were constructed; accident having, with very 

 considerable justice, consigned to oblivion the names of those 

 who erected such stupendous memorials of their vanity. Some 

 ot these writers inform us that fifteen hundred talents were 

 expended upon radishes, garlic, and onions'^ alone. 



The largest Pyramid occupies seven^^ jugera of ground, and 

 the tour angles are equidistant, the face of each side being eight 

 hundred and thirty- three^" feet in length. The total height 

 trom the ground to the summit is seven hundred and twenty, 

 hve feet, and the platform on the summit is sixteen feet and 

 a-half m circuit. Of the second Pyramid, the faces of the four 

 sides are each seven hundred and fifty-seven feet and a-half in 

 length. The third is smaller than the others, but fur more 

 prepossessing m appearance : it is built of -Ethiopian stone,^^ 



hZ Ms' 'rh^'f ''. P'^J'P'', Vreh'^hle to the LXI. s, (611) of the Bam- 

 in hei ht ' ^ uncovered, were found to be 27 feet 



27 ^u\^^ ^'°^ Cheops, according to Herodotus, B. ii. 



.v„ rT .T V^^^""^ ^^^ mentioned in the list of authors at the end of 

 iDc present ijook. 



. lEl^ ^?' ""'' of the workmen. There is, probably, no foundation for 

 a statement so exact as this ; as it would be very singular that such a fact 



oblivion ' ^^^ ''^"''' °^ ^^' ^"^^^''' ^^ ^^"^^ i^ 



thrfi^fnTf- °^'7*«oT^''"''-'°t^''''''"'^*' t^^ ^'^^^ of its base measure at 

 the foundation 763 feet 4 inches, and it occupies a space of more than 13 

 acres. Its perpendicular height is 480 feet. 



30 Other readings are 883, and 783. 



3; Differing very considerably from the modern measurement. These 



brg^re"ed'w^?rsan^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^' '^^ ^-« 



32 It was entirely coated With marble from the Thebaid ; which, how- 



ever, was removed by t'ie Arabs in the middle ages. In the vicinity there 

 >0L. VI. 2 



