5 8 The ancient Situation 



At the inun- Herodotus ' has furniflied us with another Expreffion which 

 failed 'along ixiav pcrhaps further illuftrate this Matter, ^t the Time of 



Side of the •' ^ ^ r -i r a 7 



TyramUs. fjjQ Inundatton, fays he^ they do not Jail jrom Naucratis to 

 Memphis J hy the common Channel of the River ^ viz. hy Cerca- 

 fora and the -point of the Delta, but over the Tlain along the 

 Side (rap' cwTOs Uu^[uShii) of the Tyramids. For the main Stream, 

 being exceedingly rapid at this Time, would render the Navi- 

 gation to Memphis, thatWay, very long and tedious ; whereas, 

 by taking the Advantage of the Inundation, and failing, upon 

 fmoother Water, under the Lihjan Mountains, they would 

 arrive, with greater Eafe, on the Backfide of the City, over- 

 againji or along the Side oj the Tyramids. An Expreffion which 

 may likewife account for the Situation that Tliny gives them 

 betwixt Memphis and the Delta : inafmuch as at this Time, 

 and under thefe Circumftances, they were, in Fa6t, lituated 

 between thofe Places. 

 Thevyramids And that thefe Tyramids, the Tyramids of Geeza, as they 

 the FyTw/are commonly called, are the Memphitic Tyramids, fo famous 

 the fame, "in Antiquity, the fame that are meant all along by the Authors 

 I have quoted, will appear manifeft from their refpedlive De- 

 fcriptions of them. For they are always taken Notice of toge- 

 ther with Memphis. The ancient Defcriptions of them, both 

 with Regard to their Numbers, Dimenfions &c. agree likewife 

 with the modern ; which is a further Proof Thus Herodotus 

 tells us, {Eut. p. 1 5" 5-.) that they were three in Numher ; that 

 the large ft had fever al fuhterraneom Chambers in it ; that 

 the next in Bignefs had none ; and that the fmalleft was co- 

 vered with Ethiopic Marble. This Diodorti6 Siculus (l.i. f. 64. 

 obferves to be black, like the Thebaic Marble, as it actually is. 

 Strabo (p. j'yy.) gives us the fame Number, and the like Circum- 

 ftances with Regard to their Magnitudes ; he mentions the 

 Entrance likewife into the greateft •, and that the fmalleft was 

 part of it covered with black Marble. The great Tyramid is 

 further fpecified by the many Knobs oj petrified Lentils^ as he 

 calls them, which lay fcattered along the Side of it, and which 



i».» (o^ 70 h^u tS Aj^w 19 fTRgji lif^yJati^M mhit. Eut. p. I40. Ed. Steph. 



are 



