286 On the Origin of the Pyramids of Egypt. 



be accomplished, were it allowable, upon good authority, to an- 

 nihilate a most redundant source of error and imposture. With 

 this view, it may be advisable to abandon all that Grecian histo- 

 rians have written upon the subject. The arrogance and vanity 

 with which they endeavoured to explain every thing consistently 

 with their own fables and prejudices, caused the well known ob- 

 servation, made l)y an Egyptian priest, who, according to Plato, 

 maintained that the Gretks were always children^ and had no 

 knowledge of uiiliquily. Hence originate those difficulties men- 

 tioned by Pauw, as encountered by persons who study the monu- 

 ments of a country concerning which the moderns have con- 

 spired with the ancients to give us false ideas, "The latter 

 indeed," says he (Philosojdi. Diss, on the Egyptians and Chinese, 

 vol. ii. p. 43. Lend. 1793,) " were probably deceived by being 

 at the discretion of a set of men called interpreters, whose col- 

 lege was established in the reign of Psarametichus, and who 

 might be compared to those ]jeople called Ciceroni at Rome. 

 Travellers who went and returned, like Herodotus, without 

 knowing a word of the language of the country, could learn no- 

 thing but from ti.ese interpreters. These men, perceiving the 

 inclination of the Greeks for the marvellous, amused them, like 

 children, with stories inconsistent with common sense, and un- 

 worthy of the majesty of history." If we would obtain authentic 

 information conceining the earliest history of the Egyptians, we 

 must lie conteiitcd to glean from other sources; ar.d principally 

 from Jewish and Arabian writers. The Jews, by long residence 

 of their forefathers in Egypt, and also by the constant inter- 

 course offered in the contiguity of this country and India, were 

 of all people the most likely to have jneserved some knowledge 

 of Egvptiun antiquities : and the Arabs have preserved not 

 only the names bestowed upon tire Pyramids from the earliest 

 times, i)ut also some traditions as to the use for which they were 

 intended. By the dim light thus afforded, and by comparing 

 the existing remains with similar works in other countries, and 

 with the knowledge we ])0ssess of the customs of all nations in 

 their infancy, we may jiossibly attain something bevond conjec- 

 ture, as to the people by wtiom the Pyramids were erected, and 

 the purpose for which they were intended. The epocha of their 

 origin was unknown when the hrst Greek philosophers travelled 

 into Egypt. They are even more ancient than the age of the 

 earliest writers whose works have been transmitted to us. That 

 we may arrive, therefore, at any thing like satisfactory informa- 

 tion concerning them, the following order of inquiry may be 

 deemed requisite : 



I. Who were the inhabitavts of this part of Egypt in the re- 

 mote period to uhich these monuments refer ? 



IL Is 



