290 On the Origin of the Pyramids of' Egypt. 



satiilegious was the attempt held to be among all the nations of 

 antiquity, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, and Romans. At the same 

 time, there are many weighty arguments against the opinion that 

 .•^uch a stupendous pyramid would have been erected by Joseph's 

 posterity over his remains, even if they had worshipped him as a 

 God, when it was known that hisbody was not intended to re- 

 main in the country ; but the honours paid to the dead in Egypt 

 were, in certain instances, as it is evident, almost beyond our 

 conception ; and there is no saying what, in a century and a 

 half, the piety of some hundred thousand individuals might not 

 have effected, especially when aided by the Egyptians themselves, 

 who equally revered the memory of Joseph, although they be- 

 came, at last, inimical to his descendants. This part of the 

 subject is not altogether essential to the end proposed ; it has 

 been introduced rather as a curious inquiry suggested by the 

 connection which appears to exist between the Pyramids and the 

 history of the Hebrews j it neither affects nor alters the main 

 argument. 



IV. 



Doth any record or tradition attribute the origin of the Py- 

 tamids to the Israelites^ or to a period equally remote with that 

 of their residence in Egypt P 



This brings us to the last article of the inquiry. For the 

 record we have only to refer to Josephus, who expressly states it 

 a-j one of the grievous oppressions which befel the Hebrews, after 

 the death of Joseph, that they were compelled to labour in Imild- 

 ing pyramids (Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib, ii. c. 9) ; and the cu- 

 rious memorial, as given by the Jewish historian, is sustained by 

 collateral evidence in the book of Moses. The principal labour 

 of the Israelites is described in Exodus (v. 16) to be a daily 

 task of making bricks, without being allowed a requisite portion 

 of straw for their manufacture. Tlie mere circumstance of 

 600,000 persons being employed at the same time in making 

 bricks, affords of itself a proof that the building for which these 

 materials were required could be of no ordinary magnitude. This 

 happened, too, after the death of one of the kings of Egypt 

 (Exod. ii. 23), at which time, it is said, they began '' to sigh 

 ly reason of their bondage." It is therefore very probable 

 that the pyramid at which they laboured was the sepulchre of 

 this king: this is a matter of conjecture; although it may be 

 added, that one of the pyramids near Saccara is built of Iricks 

 conlaiiiing chopped straw. [It is called Kiouhe-el-Menshieh, 

 the hicks of Mens hie h.'] The fact for present attention is the 

 record preserved by Josephus, which attributes to the Israelites 

 the origin of certain pyramids in Egypt: and for other evi- 

 dence, 



