ARCHITECTURE. 1? 
King Meeris seems to have been the first to erect buildings in pyramidal 
form; for on digging the lake which is called after his name, he built some 
large structures of this kind in the very middle of it (pl. 6, jig. 1). Much later, 
about 1000 s.c., Cheops built the largest pyramid near Memphis, the present 
Gizeh ; the second was built by his brother Chephrenes; the third by Myceri- 
nus, son of Cheops; and Asychis, his successor, erected the fourth. These, to- 
gether with three smaller pyramids dedicated to the queens of the above-men- 
tioned kings, and to the daughter of Cheops, are known as the group of Gizeh 
(fig. 2). The pyramids at Sakkarah and in the other places were built about 
the same time with the others. In the neighborhood of the group of Gizeh 
is situated the far-famed colossal Sphinx (jig. 6). ig. 3 shows a section of 
the largest pyramid at Memphis. The pyramids were constructed either of 
bricks or of stone. The fourth pyramid, and those in the lake Maris, 
belong to the former class, and have been almost destroyed; the latter, 
which was originally 240 feet high, being now not more than 180. The 
majority of them were constructed of limestone, which was found in the 
vicinity, or of Trojan or Ethiopian granite. Some of them exhibit pieces of 
yellow andred marble. With very few exceptions, the edges of the pyramids 
are directed towards the four quarters of the heavens. The proportion 
between the extension of the base and the height seems to have been strictly 
regulated; the line from the base to the top is not alwaysstraight, being in 
some instances curved, in others broken by terraces of different heights ; 
the one near Sakkarah having six terraces of equal height. Some of them 
run to a point at the apex, while the tops of others are formed by platforms 
of different sizes. The dimensions of the pyramids are also equally various. 
According to the report of Girard, the pyramid of Cheops was 699 feet, 9 
inches long at the base, and 425 feet, 9 inches high; the pyramid of 
Chephrenes, 655 feet base, by 398 feet in height; those of Sakkarah are a 
little smaller. | 
Herodotus informs us that it required the labor of 100,000 men during 
ten years to construct the embankment for the transportation of the stone 
blocks to the pyramid of Cheops, and afterwards the same number during 
twenty years to erect the pyramid itself. The latter operation was conducted 
by first building one terrace, and then raising all the materials for the next one, 
up tothis; the angles between the terraces being filled up, and the surface of 
the pyramid smoothed afterwards. The construction of the large pyramid of 
Memphis (jig. 6, view, jig. 3, section) is as follows: The first course of stones 
rests upon the main rock, and was imbedded in it to the depth of seven or eight 
inches. The rock was then cut so as to form a plinth, five feet high, which is 
100 feet above high water of the Nile. Above the first course of stones are 
twenty others cut into steps 94 inches wide to one foot rise. The two unper- 
most courses have been destroyed; and the whole height, plinth and top 
included, is nearly 450 feet, the base being 716 feet in length. Each block 
is fitted into the adjoining one without the least irregularity, the lower stone 
receiving in a groove two inches deep, a projection of the upper one 
of the same size. The four angles of this pyramid point exactly to the four 
quarters of the globe, a thing not easily done even at the present day; it 
ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPZDIA.—VOL, IY. 2 17 
