Ohfervations in Egypt. 41 ^ 



'Diodorus' inlh-uds us, that Sefoflris ere6lcd two Ohdisks ^tTixs obciisk 



11 1 /->.i-i- was irohablj 



Hello polh ^ which were an hundred and twenty Cubits \\\<^^^crMcd by 

 and eight broad. We learn alfo from Tl'iny\ that Sochis and "''''' 

 Ra^mfes created each of them four ; whereof thofe of Socbis 

 were forty eight, and thofe o'i Ramifes, forty Cubits only in 

 Height. The Breadth of the loweft Part of This, I am fpeak- 

 ing of, is fix Foot, and the whole Height, according as I mea- 

 fured it by the Proportion of Shadows, was no more than fixty 

 four ; though other Travellers have found it upwards of feventy. 

 Provided then we could know, which of the above-mentioned 

 Pillars This remaining one fliould be, together with the exa6l 

 Height of it, we might thereby compute the Quantity of iMud, 

 that hath been left upon the adjacent Soil, fmce the Time it 

 was ereded. Now thofe that were raifed by Sefoflris , are 

 vaftly too high, as thofe of Ramifes are too low, to make any 

 Pretenfions to it. For with Regard to the former, even grant- 

 ing the Pillar, 1 am defcribing, to be feventy Foot high, yet ftill 

 as the much greater Part of it muft remain under Ground, 

 This will exceed, by far, any Acceffion of Mud or Ruins, that 

 could poffibly have been accumulated, in the Time, above the 

 Foundation of it. Ramifes'sOhelishs, being only forty Cubits 

 (i. e. fixty Foot) high, are even fhorter than This is found to be 

 by Obfervation. In all probability therefore. This, which I am 

 defcribing, muft be the furviving Obelisk of thofe that were 

 eredled by Socbis, whofe Height, by taking in alfo what may 

 be allowed for the Pedeftal, will anfwer in Grofs, to fuch Ac- 

 cidents and Alterations, as have happened to the Soil o^ Egypt 

 fmce the Eredlion of it. But further Notice will be taken of 

 This in another Place. 



There is no Point in Hiftory that hath been fo often, and^^^^Py^'^^is 

 at the fame Time fo varioully treated of, as That which relatesyi^'^"^^ 

 to the Tyramids of Mempbis. The Antients abound with a 

 Diverlity of Accounts and Defcriptions concerning them ; whilft 

 the Moderns, after a much longer Courfe of Obfervations, 

 have yet notwithftanding rather multiplied the Difficulties, 

 than cleared them. 



^ I Ta.?' h nKiWTiiKfi Silv Tit :3^7(li A-mnixai 4 lui^ytaidi, JCstTti toi- x^oisuov 19 iw /MVTficw, oCMcrKovt 

 ivtSxxe /Jo {MvoKi^ouf, TV fAr ■J^a.-i®' oktu, tb i/.m& ^■^av iK3.Tiv. D'lod. 1. I. p. 38. 2 In iiipra 

 dida urbc (Solis) Socbis inftituit qiiatuor numero ( Obelifcos ) quadragcnum odoniim cubi- 

 torum iiingitudine: Ramifes autcm is, quo regnante 7//aw captum eft, quadraginta cubico- 

 rum. f/i«. 1, ^6. cap. 8. 



M 111 m m m Tlie 



