PYRAMID. 



modern writerg. Herodotus (lib. ii.) makes the bafe of 

 it to be 800 Grecion feet long; Diodorus (lib. i.) 700; 

 Strabo (lib. xvii.) lofs than 600 ; and Pliny (lib. xxxvi. 

 c. 12.) 883 feet. Among the moderns, Sandys fou.:d it 

 to be 300 paces; Bellonius 324; Greaves 693 Englifh 

 feet ; Le Bruyn 704 French feet, or 750 £ngli(h feet ; 

 Profper Alpinus 750 French feet ; Thevenot 682 ; Nie- 

 buhr 710 ; Chazelles 704.80 Englifli feet. In order to re- 

 concile thefe differences. Dr. Shaw obferves, that none of 

 the fides of this pyramid are e.Kaftly upon a level ; fo that 

 it !6 difficult to find a true horizontal bafe ; befides, it is irn- 

 poflible to fay how much the drifts of fand, to which it is 

 expofed, may have been accumulated above the foundation 

 of it ; and, therefore, all calculations depending upon the 

 time and circumftances of the fituation, when they were 

 made, muft be exceedir.gly precarious. The perpendicular 

 altitude of it, according to Greaves, is 499 feet ; but its 

 oblique height is equal to the breadth of the bafe, or 693 

 feet. The whole area of the bafe contains 480,249 fquare 

 feet, or i It?,'^„2t Enghfh acres. The height, according 

 to Herodotus, is 800 French feet ; according to Strabo 625 ; 

 accordino- to Diodorus Siculus 600 and a fraction ; as itated 

 by Le Bruyn 616 ; by Profper Alpinus 625 ; by Thevenot 

 520; by Niebuhr 440. The afcent to the top of the py- 

 ramid is by Heps, the lowermoil being near four feet high 

 and three broad ; the fecond of the fame dimenfions, but 

 retiring inward from the firft near three feet ; and in the 

 fame manner the third row is placed upon the fecond, and 

 the reit in the fame order to the top, which terminates in a 

 fmall flat or fquare ; and they are fo difpofed, that a hne 

 ftretchcd from the bottom to the top would touch the angle 

 of every ftep. Thefe fteps are called by Herodotus little 

 altars, on account of their form ; and their number has 

 been varioully afEgned ; Greaves Hates them at 207 ; Mail- 

 let at 208 ; Pococke at 2 1 2 ; Belon at 250 ; Thevenot at 208, 

 and Chazelles at 498.222 Enghfti feet. For a defcrip- 

 tion of the infidc of this pyramid, we mull refer to Greaves, 

 Savary, &c. ubi infra. 



This pyramid, being that already defcribed, is lituated 

 on a rocky hill, in the fandy defert of Libya, about a 

 quarter of a mile from the plains of Egypt, above which 

 the rock rifes 100 feet or more, with a gentle and eafy 

 afcent. Upon this advantageous elevation, and fohd bafis, 

 the pyramid is erefted : the height of the fituation adding 

 to the beauty of the work, and the folidity of the work 

 affording it a liable fupport. 



We may here obferve, that the fides of this pyramid 

 ftand exaftly facing the four quarters of the world, and 

 confequently mark the true meridian of the place : which 

 precife pofition could not' have been well owing to chance, 

 but was, probably, the effeft of defign and art ; and this 

 is faid to be confirmed by the pofition of the tomb itfelf, 

 which lies within it. We may hence infer that the Egyp- 

 tians had made an early progrefs in aftronomy. 



The fecond pyramid itands at about a bow-(hot from 

 the firfl, towards the fouth of this. Herodotus fays, 

 after having meafured both, that it falls (hort of the 

 Other in magnitude ; that it has no fubterraneous cham- 

 bers, and that the Nile is not conveyed into it by a 

 channel, as into the former, but that it is of an equal alti- 

 tude. Diodorus informs us, that it refembles the firil in 

 its architeft ure, but is inferior to it in magnitude ; each 

 fide of the bafe containing a itadium, or 600 Grecian feet in 

 length, fo that by his computation each fide is lefs than 

 that of the former in length by 100 feet. Pliny makes the 

 difference to be greater by 46 feet. Thevenot makes it 



but 63 1 feet fquare. Strabo fuppofes thefe pyramids to be 

 equal, and Greaves alTures us, that the bafes of both are 

 ahke, and that the iieight is not inferior to that of the firft. 

 This pyramid has no entrance like the other, and is built of 

 white Itones, not near fo large .3 thofe of the firll : the 

 fides do not rile with gradations, but are fmooth and equal, 

 and the whole fabric, except on the fouth fide, is quite en- 

 tire. On the N. and \V. fides of this fecond pyramid are 

 two very llately and elaborate pieces of architecture, about 

 30 feet in depth, and about 1400 in length, cut o.it of the 

 rock in a perpendicular dire&ion and fquared by achiliel ; fup- 

 pofed to be defigned for the lodgings of the Egyptian priefts. 

 The third pyramid (lands at about the diftance of a fur- 

 long from tlie fecond, on an advantageous rifing of the rock, 

 fo that at a diftance it appears equal to the tormer, though 

 it be much lefs and lower. Herodotus fays that it is 300 

 feet on every fide, and to the middle, built of Ethiopic 

 marble. Diodorus gives the fame dimenfions of its bafe, 

 and adds that the walls were raifed fifteen ftories with black 

 (lone, like Thebaic marble, and the rell rii]i(hed with iuch 

 materials as the other pyramids arc built with ; that this 

 piece of work, though it be exceeded by the two former 

 in magnitude, yet far excels them in rcfpeft to the (Iructure, 

 art, and magnificence of the marble ; and that on the fide 

 towards the north, the name of Mvcerinus, the founder, is 

 engraved ; but this infcription has been defaced by time. 

 Phny writes to the fame edecl, except that he makes this 

 pyramid 363 feet between the angles. 



Dr. Shaw apprehends, that neither of thefe pyramids vras 

 ever finilhed, fuppofing that the ileps already mentioned 

 fhould have been filled up with prifmatical (tones, fo that 

 each fide of the pyramid might be fmooth and level, like 

 that of Ceilius at Rome. 



But fron- the defcription of Maillet and Savary, the firft 

 pyramid appears to have been covered with a coating of 

 marble, and thus fini(hed on the outfide, but clofed ; and 

 that it has been fiuce forcibly opened, and the ilones which 

 (hut thL paflage and were of an enormous fize have been re- 

 moved. This paflage was compofed of marble, and the 

 Ilones which form its four fides are of the fined white and 

 hardeft marble. For other particulars we refer to Greaves, 

 Maillet, and Savary. 



The ancients inform us, that the flones of the pyramids 

 were brought from the rr.ountains of Arabia, and Hero- 

 dotus (lib. ii. c. 124.) has defcribed the manner in which 

 they were conveyed ; but Dr. Shaw imagines, that they 

 were taken from the fpot where they were employed ; and 

 he obferves, that the greatell of them, efpeclally, is not 

 an entire heap of hewn (tones, becaufe that portion of it, 

 which lies below the horizontal feftion of the entrance, 

 may probably be no more than an incruflation of the na- 

 tural rock on which it is founded. Dr. Bryant conjeftures, 

 that, like the fphynx, which (lands direflly in the front of 

 the fecond pyramid, they were immenfe rocks which ilood 

 upon the brow of the mountain ; that the Egyptians cafed 

 them over with large iiones, and brought them by thefe 

 means to a degree of fymmetry and proportion. At the 

 fame time they filled up the unneceflary interftices with rub- 

 bi(h and mortar, and made chambers and apartments, as 

 the intervals in the rock allowed, being obliged to humour 

 the indirect turns and openings in the original mafs to exe- 

 cute what they propofed. This he infers from the narrow- 

 nefs and unneceflary floping of the paflages, which are 

 often very clofe and ileep, and alfo from the. fewnefs of 

 the rooms in a work of fo immenfe a ihudure. That the 

 pyramids were built upon a rock in the place where they 

 10 now 



