Pluto and copyright by Underwood lit Underwood 



THK FIRST ATTEMPT AT A PYRAMID: SAOOARA, EGYPT 



According to the Greek historian, Manetho, this was the first stone building in the world. 

 It was built by the architect Imhotep as a burial place for his master Zeser or Neterkhet, a 

 king of the third d3masty. On the east and west sides the base measures 396 feet, the other 

 two sides being 352 feet, while the height is about 195 feet. The chambers and passages 

 within this step-pyramid are lined with blue and green glazed tiles, which bear the king's 

 name and titles. This building represents the transition between the so-called "Mastaba" 

 tombs in which the earlier kings were buried and the true pyramid of later date. 



that lesson once for all. The people of 

 the world's childhood were less imagina- 

 tive and more truthful than we had sup- 

 posed, and a legend on the surface of 

 history means a historical fact buried 

 somewhere beneath if only you can un- 

 earth it. 



THE SEMI-MYTHICAE KINGS PROVE TO BE 

 REAE 



So it has proved to be with these 

 shadowy kings of the earliest Egyptian 



dynasties. Manetho's fables about one 

 of them being slain by a hippopotamus, 

 while in the reign of another the Nile 

 flowed with honey, may be mere fables ; 

 but the men were there, and their royalty 

 was a very real and tangible thing. Since 

 the early nineties investigations have 

 been carried out by de Morgan at Na- 

 qada and elsewhere, and by Amelineau, 

 and especially by Petrie at Abydos, 

 which have resulted in the discovery of 

 the tombs of many of these ancient roy- 



959 



