The Pyramid Builders.
There is no longer any need to trust to the scanty notices of these
early times that occur in writings of later date. Egyptian inscriptions
now tell their own story; the monuments begin to speak. In the valley
of Wady Maghara, in the peninsula of Sinai, carved upon the rocky
precipice, is to be seen King Senefru himself, in the act of striking
down an enemy; the accompanying inscription gives the name and titles
of the sovereign, and designates him the conqueror of the Mentu, the
‘foreigners of the East.’
In these rocky valleys rich mineral treasures had been discovered,
valuable copper ore, besides the blue and green precious stones so much
prized in Egypt. These mines were explored and worked by labourers sent
from Egypt, and the district gradually passed into possession of its
kings.
Fortresses were erected and soldiers stationed there to protect the
workmen, and temples were erected that all might be carried on under
the protection of the gods. This treasure-yielding district was
jealously watched and guarded by the Egyptians, who were thus often
brought into collision with neighbouring tribes. Nor is Senefru’s
tablet by any means the sole record of battle and of conquest, for
his successors left many such memorials there. It is not, however, by
these alone, or by these principally, that their name and fame has been
preserved to modern days.
[Illustration: THE SPHINX.]
The rocky platform at the foot of the Libyan hills is of unequal
breadth; at one spot, near Memphis, it widens considerably, and forms
a sort of promontory jutting out into the plain. It was here that the
pyramids of Ghizeh rose in their stupendous majesty. Not far off a huge
block of limestone rock, bearing probably some accidental resemblance
to an animal at rest,[11] was transformed by the skill of the royal
architect into the colossal image of a mysterious being—a lion with
the head of a man wearing the crown and insignia of an Egyptian
monarch—symbol of strength, intellect, and royal dignity. He lay in
solemn repose, gazing ever towards the east, where arose each morning
Horus of the horizon (Hor-em-khu), the bright deity he represented. To
the south of the Sphinx (as the Greeks afterwards called the mystic
creature), Khufu, successor of Senefru, erected a temple to Isis,
‘Queen of the Pyramids,’ and to the north a temple to Osiris, ‘Lord of
the unseen world,’—thus consecrating the whole of that vast city of the
dead to the threefold guardianship of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, names so
nearly associated in the Egyptian mind with death, the unseen world,
and life triumphant and immortal.
Whilst the great image of Horus was being shaped, and the temples
of Osiris and Isis were building, Khufu was by no means unmindful of
his own sepulchral monument. The colossal pile,—which he named ‘Khut’
(Splendour of Light),—is known to us by the name of the ‘Great Pyramid.’
The building of these royal tombs, the pyramids, was the work of a
lifetime. A square was first formed, the corners of which were exactly
north, south, east, and west; course upon course was added as the years
went by, but it could be finished off at any given moment. The angles
were then filled in with granite or limestone, fitted with absolute
exactness, and the whole sloping surface was beautifully polished. As
King Khufu reigned for fifty-seven years, it is no wonder that his
sepulchral monument should have attained such gigantic proportions. To
form any idea of what the pyramids must once have been, we must restore
these polished casing-stones which are now all but gone, and have
probably been used in the building of Cairo. Now, ‘their stripped sides
present a rude, disjointed appearance,’ but then, the first and second
were of ‘brilliant white or yellow limestone, the third all glowing
with the red granite from the First Cataract,’ five hundred miles away.
‘Then you must build up or uncover the massive tombs, now broken or
choked up with sand, so as to restore the aspect of vast streets of
tombs, out of which the Great Pyramid would arise like a cathedral
above smaller churches. Lastly, you must enclose two other pyramids
with stone precincts and gigantic doorways; and, above all, you must
restore the Sphinx as he was in the days of his glory.’[12]
Narrow passages lead into the heart of the mighty mass of Khufu’s
pyramid, which rises on a base of 764 feet to the height of 480 feet.
When the traveller has climbed, or crept, to the centre he finds
himself in a chamber, the walls of which are composed of polished red
granite. Nothing is left there now to tell of the royal builder but
his empty sarcophagus, and his name and titles, amongst other scrawls,
written by the masons in red ochre on the walls.
Khafra, the successor of Khufu, is made very real to us by the
wonderful statue of him which was found uninjured amongst a number
of other broken ones of the same monarch, in a deep well near his
burial-place. It is of a bright greenish stone, and admirably executed.
The king’s features are life-like and benign. A hawk, symbol of Ra, not
seen in our illustration, stands behind, and embraces his head with
its wings, as if sheltering and protecting the sovereign, who was ‘Son
of the Sun.’
Khafra’s pyramid, called by him Ur, or the Great, is second in
size only to that of Khufu. On the upper part of it the original
casing-stone still remains.
The third of the pyramids of Ghizeh, that of Menkaura, though only
about half the size of the other two, exceeded them both in costliness
and splendour; it was cased from top to bottom in brilliant red
granite, exquisitely finished.
These ancient pyramids have long ago been rifled for the sake of
anything they contained of value, but in the red pyramid a sarcophagus
was discovered made of black basalt, beautifully wrought. It was
shipped for England, but lost off Gibraltar. Only the wooden case
reached London, and was deposited in the British Museum, together with
the bones that had been gathered out of poor Menkaura’s resting-place,
and which doubtless formed part of his skeleton.[13]
[Illustration: The Pyramids of Khufu and Khafra.]
Of the monarchs of the succeeding dynasties there is little to be said.
The names of many of them are found recorded in the valleys of Sinai as
‘conquerors of the Mentu,’ and they were each and all pyramid builders.
The names of their pyramids are known, but only a few of them have been
identified.
Recent investigation of the pyramids of Sakkara has brought to light
the sepulchres of the last king of the fifth dynasty—Unas—and of Pepi
and Merienra of the sixth dynasty, together with their shrivelled
remains. From the corpse of the last-named king not only the ornaments,
but the coverings and bandages, had been torn away.
Some rays of light are thrown upon the times of Pepi and Merienra
by an inscription that was found at Abydos, in the tomb of one Una,
who was Governor of the South. In the reign of Teta, first king of
the sixth dynasty, Una, then a young man, had been already intrusted
with important offices. He was crown-bearer, superintendent of the
storehouse, and registrar of the docks. Under Pepi he rose to yet
higher dignity and influence. ‘His Majesty gave me the rank of “King’s
friend;” I was royal scribe and chief over the treasury, and priest
of the royal pyramid. No secret was withheld from me; he allowed me
to hear all that was said. By his orders I brought a white stone
sarcophagus from the land of Ruau. It was embarked safely and brought,
together with the doors, cover, and pedestal, in a great boat belonging
to the palace.
‘But now His Majesty was summoned to drive back the Amu and the
Herusha,[14] who were threatening the land. He levied soldiers from
beyond the southern frontier, and recruited negroes from very many
places. He placed me at the head of these troops. I summoned captains
and rulers from every part that they might train and drill the negro
forces. I was the representative of the king; everything fell upon me
alone, for there was no man above me but Pharaoh himself. To the utmost
of my power I laboured; I wore out my sandals in going hither and
thither. Never was any army better officered or disciplined. It marched
without let or hindrance until it arrived at the land of the Herusha.
It laid waste the country, burning the villages, and cutting down vine
and fig-trees; many thousands of the foe were taken prisoners.
‘Five times was I sent to subdue revolts among the Herusha until the
land was completely conquered. King Merienra made me Governor of the
South, and bestowed high dignity upon me in his household.
‘I was charged to bring the sarcophagus and statue for the pyramid of
Merienra, and I transported them in boats. I also quarried a great slab
of alabaster for the king in seventeen days. I constructed a boat of
100 feet in length, and 50 in breadth. But there was not water enough
to tow it in safety. Therefore I excavated four docks in the land of
the south, and next year at the time of the inundation I disembarked
in safety both the alabaster slab and all the granite required for the
pyramid Kha-nefer[15] of Merienra. Then for those docks I erected a
building in which the spirits of the king might be invoked, even of the
king Merienra, by whose command all had been done that was done.
‘The beloved of his father, the praised of his mother, the delight of
his brethren, the chief, the Governor of the South, the truly devoted
to Osiris—Una.’
FOOTNOTES:
[11] The face of the Sphinx is 30 feet long and 14 wide. Its body 140,
and its front paws 50 feet long. Between the paws was a small sanctuary.
[12] Stanley’s _Sinai and Palestine_.
[13] On the coffin-lid is a hieroglyphic inscription, which is
interesting as showing at how early a period the departed spirit was
regarded as one with Osiris. It runs thus: ‘O Osiris, King of Egypt,
Menkaura, living for ever! born of Heaven, offspring of Seb. May thy
Mother Nut (Heaven) stretch herself over thee, and cover thee in her
Name of Heavenly Mystery. May she render thee divine, destroying all
thine enemies, O King Menkaura, living for ever!’
[14] Tribes inhabiting the desert beyond the north-east frontier of
Egypt.
[15] The Beautiful Rising.