PYRAMIDS 



PYRENEES 



505 



also entered into the architecture of the tomb of 

 Sardanapalus at Tarsus, and of the Mausoleum of 

 Artemisia at Halicaruassus. A small pyramid, the 

 sepulchre of C. Cestius, imitated from the Egyptian 

 in the days of Augustus, still exists within the 

 wall of Aurelian at Koine. Temples and other 

 monuments of pyramidal shape are found in India, 

 China, Cambodia, Java, the Polynesian Islands, and 

 elsewhere. The Toltecs and Aztecs erected temples 

 in Mexico, called Teocalli (q.v.), or abodes of gods, 

 of pyramidal shape, with steps or terraces by which 

 to ascend and reach an aliar, generally placed on 

 the summit, where human sacrifices and other rites 

 were performed. These, however, are not true 

 pyramids, the pure and simple form of which is 

 restricted to Egypt. The pyramidal form entered 

 extensively into the architecture of the Egyptians, 

 and appears on the tops of obelisks and tombs as 

 a kind of roof. Small models of pyramids, with 

 inscribed adorations to the sun, or having royal 

 names, were also placed in the tombs. 



See Lepsius, Ueber den Bau der Pyramiden (1843); 

 Wilkinson, Tojxxjr. of Thebet 1835); Vyse, Operations 

 carried <m at Gizth in 1837 (1842) ; W. Flinders Petrie, 

 The Great Pyramid ( 1888 ). Ingenious fancies about the 

 supposed metrological and astrological purport of the 

 pyramids are given in Piazzi Smyth's Our Inheritance in 

 the Great Pyritmid ( 1864). and K. A. Proctor's The Great 

 Pyramid (1882). The astronomical data afforded by the 

 orientation of temples and pyramids were in 1891 sub- 

 jected to thorough investigation by Mr Nonnan Lockyer. 



Pyramids, a game played on a billiard-table. 

 Fifteen red balls are placed on the table in the form 

 of a pyramid, the apex of the pyramid l>eing on the 

 winning spot, with the base nearer to the top of the 

 table. There is also a sixteenth white ball, which 

 is used by both players when striking. The object 

 of the players is to hole the pyramid balls. The 

 first stroke is from hand ; the succeeding strokes 

 are played from where the white ball stops, un- 

 less the striker runs in, when his adversary plays 

 from hand. Also, when only two balls remain 

 on the table, the white and the red are played 

 with alternately. When a player holes a pyra- 

 mid ball he scores one, and plays again on 

 any ball he likes. If a player runs in or gives a 

 miss, one is deducted from his score, and a red ball 

 is replaced on the table on the winning spot, or 

 as near in a straight line beyond it as it will go 

 without touching another ball ; if the player has 

 made no score, he owes one, and the lirst red ball he 

 holes is placed on the table. When all the red 

 balls are holed, the lower score is deducted from 

 the higher, and the difference is the number of 

 lives won. The game is generally played for so 

 much a life, with a stake on the pool equal to the 

 value of three lives. The lives are not paid for 

 when taken (as at pool), but the difference in the 

 scores is recorded on a slate marking-board at the 

 conclusion of each game. 



The principal varieties of pyramids are shell out 

 and snooker. Shell out is pyramids played by more 

 than two persons. The only differences are that, 

 if a player runs in or misses, one is deducted from 

 his score, but no ball is replaced on the table, and 

 that the last ball scores two. At snooker, in ail<li- 

 tion to the pyramid balls, some of the pool balls 

 (beginning with the yellow) are placed on various 

 spots on the table. A red pyramid hall must first 

 \>e played on, and, if it is holed, the striker must 

 then play on a pool ball. The pool balls score two, 

 three, four, five, and six respectively, according to 

 the order of their colours on the ^narking-board ; 

 running in or missing when playing on a pool ball 

 scores correspondingly against, the amount being 

 added to the opponent's score. When a pool ball 

 is holed, it is replaced on its original spot, and the 

 triker must next play on a pyramid ball. When 



all the pyramid balls have been holed, the pool 

 balls are played on in the order of their colours, 

 but are not then replaced when holed. 



A great point is to avoid being snookered i.e. 

 to play on a pyramid ball so that if holed a pool 

 ball is left open, and vice versa. If a player is 

 snookered, his adversary adds to his score the 

 value of the nearest pool ball. Some rules compel 

 the striker to name the ball played at, when, if he 

 fails to hit it, he is snookered off that. The rules 

 of snooker vary much in different rooms. 



Pyraiims and Thisbe. The tragical his- 

 tory of these two lovers is told by Ovid in the 4th 

 book of his Metamorphoses. They were natives of 

 Babylon, and tenderly attached to each other, but, 

 as their parents would not hear of their marriage, 

 they baa to content themselves with clandestine 

 interviews by night. On one occasion they 

 arranged to meet at the tomb of Ninus, where 

 Thislie, who was first at the trysting-spot, was 

 startled to discover a lioness. She immediately 

 ran off, but in her terror and haste dropped her 

 garment, which the fierce animal, that had just 

 torn an ox in pieces, covered with blood. Soon 

 after Pyramus appeared, and, seeiii" his mistress's 

 robe, came to the conclusion she had been mur- 

 dered, whereupon he killed himself. Thisbe now 

 returned, and, beholding her lover lying dead on 

 the ground, put an end to her own life. The 

 story was a favourite one during the middle ages. 

 Bottom pronounces it ' a very good piece of work 

 and a merry ' in A Midsummer Night's Dream. 



Pyrenees, the mountain-chain that divides 

 France from Spain, stretches across from the 

 Mediterranean to the south-east corner of the Bay 

 of Biscay, a distance of 270 miles ; the breadth of 

 the system varies between 15 and 70 miles, and the 

 area it covers measures 13,000 sq. m. The Pyre- 

 nees form a regular and continuous chain, divisible 

 into three portions, the Western, the Central, and 

 the Eastern Pyrenees. The first-named division 

 extends eastwards from the Bay of Biscay to the 

 Port de Canfranc (or Col de Somport), a carriage- 

 road that crosses the chain at an elevation of 5380 

 feet, and leads from Oloron to Saragossa. This 

 division is the lowest in the entire chain, its aver- 

 age height being 3300 to 4300 feet. Here two 

 passes give access to Spain, that, of St Jean Pied de 

 Port (or Koncesvalles) and that between Bayonne 

 and Elizondo ; the railway from Bayonne to San 

 Sebastian passes the end of the chain close to the 

 sea. The Central Pyrenees, extending from the 

 Port de Canfranc to the Col de la Perche, this 

 connecting the valley of the French Tet (dept. 

 Pyrenees-Orientales) with the valley of the Spanish 

 Segre (prov. Lerida), contain the highest peaks and 

 the most imposing mountain-masses of the entire 

 system, as Pic de Nethou (in Maladetta), 11,168 

 feet; Mont Perdu, 10,998; Vignemale, 10,794; 

 Marbore, 10,673; and Pic du Midi, 9466. The 

 summits of the Eastern Pyrenees, which extend 

 eastwards from the Col de la'Perche (5300 feet), the 

 second pass over the lofty chain, range between 

 6500 and 7500 feet ( Puigmal, 9545; Canigou, 9138); 

 and, although the altitude decreases as they 

 approach the Mediterranean, they still reach 2100 

 feet in the Alberes close to the sea. This portion 

 is crossed by the old Roman road from Perpignan 

 to Figueras and pierced by the railway tunnel for 

 the line l>etween the same two towns. The frontier 

 between France and Spain coincides generally with 

 the line of highest summits in the main chain ; the 

 principal exception is that at Maladetta the frontier 

 strikes north so as to include within the bound- 

 aries of Spain the valley of Aran, which geographi- 

 cally belongs to France. On both north and south 

 the mountains sink down to the plains in a series 



