distant Pyramids of Lischt and Meidûm. The last especially interested
me extremely, as it has solved in a general manner some enigmas in the
structure of the Pyramids, which had long occupied my mind.[14] As an
exception to the general rule, it lies almost in the lower plain, in the
immediate neighbourhood of Bahr Jussuf, and is only just removed out of
reach of the inundation; but it rises up so high and stately from the
flat surface of the surrounding country, that it attracts notice even
from a great distance. Its square, sharp-angled tower-like centre, which
diminishes slightly at the summit, namely, at an angle of 74°, rises
from an envelopment of rubbish, which surrounds it almost half-way up,
to the height of 120 feet. Another hundred feet higher, there succeeds a
platform, from which rises a more slender tower of moderate height, in
the same angle, which again, in the centre of its flat upper surface,
bears the remains of a third elevation. The walls of the principal tower
are for the most part smoothly polished, but have stripes at intervals
that have been left rough, the cause of which are first appeared almost
inexplicable; but on more minute examination, I also found in the
interior of the half-destroyed building which surrounds the base, some
rising walls that were smooth, and having the same angle as the tower; in
front of these, again lay other walls, which followed one upon another
like scales. At length it occurred to me that the whole building had
proceeded from a small Pyramid, which had been erected in stages of about
forty feet high, and then first increased and heightened simultaneously
on all sides, by superimposed coverings of stone, from fifteen to twenty
feet in breadth, till at length the great steps were filled up so as to
form one common flat side, giving the usual pyramidal form to the whole.
This gradual growth explains the enormous magnitude of particular
Pyramids, beside so many other smaller ones. Each king began the building
of his Pyramid as soon as he ascended the throne; he only designed a
small one, to ensure himself a complete tomb, even were he destined to
be but a few years upon the throne. But with the advancing years of his
reign, he increased it by successive layers, till he thought that he was
near the termination of his life. If he died during the erection, then
the external covering was alone completed, and the monument of death
finally remained proportionate to the duration of the life of the king.
If, in the course of centuries, all the other conditions which determine
our calculations had equally remained, then, as by the rings of a tree,
we might even now have been able to calculate the years in the reigns of
particular kings, by the coatings of the Pyramids.
On the other hand, the great enigma of the bearded giant Sphinx still
remains unsolved! When, and by whom, was the colossal statue erected, and
what was its signification? We must leave the reply to more fortunate
successors. It is almost half-covered up with sand, and the granite
stele, above eleven feet high, which stands between the paws, and which
in itself forms the back wall of a small temple, which is here inserted,
was totally invisible. Even the immense excavations made by Caviglia, in
the year 1818, had long disappeared, so as not to leave a trace behind.
By means of between sixty to eighty persons labouring for whole days
together, we almost reached the base of the stele, a drawing of which I
caused immediately to be made, as well as an impression on paper, and
also a plaster cast, in order to set it up one day in Berlin. This stele,
on which the Sphinx is itself represented, was erected by TUTHMOSIS IV.,
and dates from the first year of his reign. Thus, he must have found
the Colossus already there. We are accustomed to regard the Sphinx, in
Egypt, as a portrait of the king, and generally indeed, for that of a
particular king, whose features it is said to represent; therefore, with
the single exception, as far as I am aware, of one female sphinx, which
represents the wife of King Horus, they are always andro-sphinxes. In the
hieroglyphic written character, the Sphinx is called NEB (the Lord), and
forms _e. g._ the middle syllable in the name of the King NECTANEBUS.
But what king does our Colossus represent? He stands in front of the
second Pyramid, that of Schafra (Chephren), not exactly in the axis, yet
parallel with the sides of the temple, which stands before it, and in
such a manner, as if the rock beside the Sphinx on the northern side was
intended as its counterpart. Sphinxes, rams, statues, and obelisks, used
besides always to stand in former times in pairs before the entrances
of the temples. But what a powerful impression would have been made on
the approaching worshipper by two such giant watchmen, between which the
ancient pathway led up to the Temple of Chephren. They would have been
worthy of that period of vast colossal monuments, and in due proportion
with the Pyramid which rises up behind. I cannot deny that this connexion
would be most satisfactory to me. What other motive would have induced
the Theban kings of the 18th Dynasty, who are alone to be thought of
in the New Monarchy, to adorn the Memphitic Field of Death with such a
wonder of the world, if entirely unconnected with what surrounds it. In
addition to this, upon the steles of Tuthmosis, the name of King CHEPHREN
is inscribed in a line, which farther on is almost entirely broken away;
a portion of his Name-Shield, unfortunately quite isolated, has been
still preserved, therefore undoubtedly it had some sort of reference to
the builder of the Pyramid which is situated behind it.
On the other hand, indeed, the question arises: If King Chephren was
represented here, why does not the image bear his name? It is rather
designated as HAREM-CHU (Horus in the Horizon), that is, as the image of
the Sun-god, the emblem of all kings, and also HARMACHIS in one of the
Greek inscriptions which have been found in front of the Sphinx. It does
not appear to me altogether improbable that Pliny’s fable is founded on
this, who makes a King Amasis (Armasis) be buried in the Sphinx;[15] for
we surely cannot suppose it was a real sepulchre. Another consideration
to be borne in mind is that I have not in general met with the image of
the Sphinx in that oldest period of the builders of the Pyramids; yet too
much stress need not be laid on this; the form of the Sphinx is not often
found, even in inscriptions or representations, in the New Monarchy. In
short, the true Œdipus is still wanting for this king of all sphinxes.
He who can clear away the inexhaustible sand-flood which is again burying
that very field of tombs, and who can expose to view the base of the
Sphinx, the ancient pathway to the temple, and the surrounding hills,
might soon venture to decide this question.
The enigmas of history are in this land associated with many enigmas and
wonders in nature, which I must not leave wholly unnoticed. I must at
least describe to you the most recent.
I had descended into a mummy-pit with Abeken, that we might open some
sarcophagi we had discovered, and I was not a little astonished, on
stepping out, to find myself in an actual snow-storm of locusts, which
almost darkening the sky, moved above our heads in hundreds of thousands
from the desert in the south-west towards the valley. I fancied it was
a single flight, and in haste called the others out of the tombs, that
they might witness the Egyptian wonder before it had passed away. But
the flight continued, indeed the workmen said, it had even begun an hour
previously. We now observed for the first time, that the whole country,
far and wide, was covered with locusts. I sent a servant into the desert
to find out the breadth of the flight. He ran for about a quarter of an
hour, then returned, and said that still as far as he had been able to
see, he could discover no termination. I rode home, still in the midst
of the storm of locusts. They fell down in heaps on the border of the
fruitful plain; and so it lasted the whole day through, till evening,
and so on the next, from morning till night, to the third, indeed to
the sixth day, and even longer, but in less numerous flights. The day
before yesterday, a storm of rain seems for the first time to have beaten
down the rear-guard, and destroyed them in the desert. The Arabs make
great smoking fires in their fields, they rattle and scream all day
long to protect their crops from the unexpected invasion. But it will
avail them little. These millions of graminivorous winged insects cover
even the adjacent sandy plain like a new living vegetation, to such a
degree, that scarcely anything is to be seen of the ground; and when
they swarm up from any point, they fall down again on whatever is in
the immediate neighbourhood; exhausted by their long journey, in their
eagerness they fill their hollow stomachs, and, as if conscious of their
enormous numbers, they appear to have lost even all fear of their natural
enemies, man, animals, smoke, and noise. But what is most wonderful to
me, is their origin from the naked desert, and the instinct which has
led them from some oasis across the inhospitable sandy sea, to the rich
pastures of the Nile valley. The last time that this land-plague of
Egypt exhibited itself to a similar extent was above fourteen years ago.
The people say that it is sent by the comet which we have observed in
the south-west for the last twelve days, and which now, in the hours of
evening, since it is no longer outshone by the moon, again stretches its
magnificent tail of fire across the heavens. The zodiacal light, which is
so rarely seen in the north, has also been visible of late almost every
evening.
I have only now been enabled completely to conclude my account with
Gizeh, and to combine the historical results. I have every reason to
rejoice over it; the 4th and 5th Dynasties are completed, with the
exception of one king. I have just received the somewhat illegible
drawing of a stone which has been built into a wall in the village of
Abusir, representing a series of kings of the 4th and 5th Dynasties upon
their thrones, and, as it appears, in chronological order. I intend to
ride there myself to see the original.
LETTER VIII.
_Saqâra, the 13th April, 1843._
I hasten to communicate to you an event which I should not like you to
hear for the first time from other quarters, perhaps with alterations
and exaggerations. Our camp, a few days ago, was attacked and plundered
during the night by an armed band; yet none of our party were seriously
injured, and nothing that is irreparable was lost. The affair therefore,
is over, and the consequences may only prove a useful lesson to us. But I
must first go back several days in my journal.
On the 3rd of April, his R.H. Prince Albert (of Prussia) returned to
Cairo from Upper Egypt. The following day I visited the city, and laid
before the prince a portion of our labours, in which he especially took
a lively interest as he had already seen more of this land of wonders
than we ourselves, and the field of Pyramids alone he had still left
unvisited. On his first arrival in Cairo, I was absent on an excursion of
several days to the Faiûm, with Abeken and Bonomi. The prince returned
at the very time of the celebration of some of the chief festivals of
the Mahometans, which, had he not been there, I should probably have
neglected to attend. On the 6th, the entrance of the returning caravan
of pilgrims from Mecca was welcomed by a solemn festival, and, some days
later, the birthday of the Prophet, “MULID E’ NEBBI,” was celebrated,
one of the most original feasts of the entire East. The principal actors
in it are dervishes, who spend the day in processions, and perform
their horribly extatic dances, called _sikrs_, in the evening, in tents
illuminated by coloured lamps, which are erected in the avenues of
the Ezbekîeh. Between thirty and forty of this religious sect place
themselves in a circle, and, keeping time, begin first slowly, then
gradually more vehemently, to throw the upper part of their bodies, which
are naked, backwards and forwards into the most violent distortions, like
people who are possessed. At the same time, they ejaculate in a rhythm,
with a loud screaming voice, their Prophet’s saying, LA ILAHA ILL’ ALLAH
(“There is no God but Allah”), which, gradually stammered out lower and
more feebly, is finally almost rattled in the throat, till at length,
their strength being entirely exhausted, some fall down, others withdraw
reeling, and the broken circle is, after a short pause, replaced by
another.
What a fearful, barbarous worship, which the astonished multitude,
great and small, people of condition and those of inferior rank,
contemplate with seriousness or in stupid veneration, and in which they
themselves not unfrequently take an active part. The god who is appealed
to is evidently much less the object of adoration than the appealing,
raptured saints themselves; for the crazy and the simple, or men and
women who are physically disordered in other ways, are very generally
held sacred by the Mahometans, and are treated with great reverence. It
is the demoniacal force in nature, acting without being comprehended,
and therefore regarded with fear, which is worshipped by the natural
man wherever he perceives it, because he feels that it is connected
with, yet not under the control of his mental faculties; first, in the
mighty elements, then in the wonderful instincts of animals—to us dark,
yet subject to a law; finally, in the still more exciting, extatic, or
generally abnormal psychological conditions of his own race. We must
indeed, regard the Egyptian worship of animals—in as far as it was not
merely a symbolic embodiment of deeper and more refined ideas—as resting
on the same basis of a universal worship of nature; and the adoration
paid to men with disordered intellects, which appears occasionally in
other nations also, may be considered as a remarkable offset from that
tendency. Whether such conditions really exist at the present time, or
whether, as among the dervishes, it is produced artificially, and is
intentionally cherished, will not be detected by the multitude; and
besides, for the individual case, it is indifferent. An uncomfortable
feeling of fear creeps over us in such a neighbourhood, and we feel it
necessary to avoid uttering any expressions, or even to give a sign of
disgust, or to betray that we see through it, lest we should direct the
brutal outbursts on ourselves.
The festival, which lasts nine days, closes with a peculiar ceremony
called DOSEH, the Trampling, but which I could not bear to look at. The
sheikh of the Saadîeh dervishes rides to the chief sheikh of all the
dervishes in Egypt, El Bekri. On the way thither, a great number of these
holy people, and others who do not consider themselves inferior to
them in piety, throw themselves flat on the ground, face downwards, and
in such a manner that the feet of one always lies close to the head of
another. The sheikh then rides over this living carpet of human bodies,
and his horse is obliged to be led on each side by a servant, to compel
it to make this march, unnatural even to the animal. Each body receives
two treads from the horse; the greater number spring up again unhurt, but
whoever comes away seriously, or, as sometimes occurs, mortally injured,
has, besides, this disgrace, that it is believed that on the previous day
he had either misunderstood or neglected to say the proper prayers and
charm-formularies, which were alone able to protect him.
On the 7th April, Erbkam and I accompanied the prince to the Pyramids,
first of all to those of Gizeh. The Pyramid of Cheops was ascended, and
the interior was visited. In order to exhibit the beautiful tomb of
Prince Merhet, I caused it to be re-opened. We next proceeded to our camp
at Saqâra.
Here we heard that during the previous night a daring robbery had been
committed in Abeken’s tent. He was sleeping in it, on his return from
Cairo, beside a burning light, when his full portmanteau, pistols, and
other objects lying near, were purloined. It was only while the thief
was making his retreat that a noise was heard by the slumbering guards,
composing the night-watch, immediately behind the tent; the darkness,
however, hindered all pursuit.
After the prince had also seen the most beautiful tomb of Saqâra, we
rode across the plain to Mitrahinneh, to visit the mounds of ruins at
Memphis, and the half-buried colossal granite statue of Ramses Miamun
(Sesostris)[16], the face of which is still preserved almost without a
blemish. It was late in the evening before we again reached Cairo, after
a day’s journey of sixteen hours, hardly interrupted even by short
pauses for repose; but the unusual exertion seemed rather to heighten
than to depress the prince’s cheerful enjoyment in travelling.
The following day we visited the mosques of the city, which are
remarkable, partly by their splendour, and in part, also, are peculiarly
interesting for the history of architecture in the middle ages, as
the earliest general application of the pointed arch is here visible.
The questions which relate to this most characteristic department of
architecture, the so-called gothic style, interested me so deeply a few
years ago, that even here I could not forbear following my old pursuit.
The pointed arch is found in the oldest mosques, even as far back as the
ninth century. Upon the conquest of Sicily by the Arabs, the new form
of arch was transported to that island, where, in the eleventh century,
it was found by the Normans, the next conquerors, and was still more
generally adopted. Without entering into further details, it seems to
me scarcely possible to indicate any historical connexion of the Norman
pointed arch of Palermo with our style of pointed arch of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries. The acceptance of such a connexion would be
still more difficult for the explanation of the rows of pointed arches
to be found already much earlier in Germany, which are sporadic, but
still according to rule; those, for example, in the cathedral of Naumburg
as early as the eleventh century, and in Memleben even in the tenth.
Theorists do not indeed admit this yet, but I am still waiting for a
refutation of the argument I have brought forward.[17]
The Nilometer on the island of Roda, which we visited after the mosques,
also contains a series of pointed arches, belonging to the original
building, which dates as far back as the ninth century, proved by the
Cufic inscriptions, which have been carefully examined by those who are
learned in these matters.
Egypt, however, does not only lay claim to the oldest application,
therefore, perhaps to the invention, of the _pointed arch_, but also to
that of the _round arch_. Near the Pyramids there are a number of tombs
having stone vaulted roofs, whose single blocks exhibit the correct
concentric cut. These belong to the 26th Manethonic Dynasty of the
Psammetici, that is, to the seventh and sixth centuries before Christ,
and are therefore coeval with the _Cloaca Maxima_ and the _Carcer
Mamertinus_ in Rome. But we have also found tombs with vaulted roofs made
of Nile mud bricks, which go back as far as the time of the Pyramids.
Now, contrary to the opinion of others, I deny that the brick arch, whose
single bricks with their parallel surfaces, are only made concentric by
the wedge of cement, presupposes a more intimate acquaintance with the
actual principle of the arch, and more especially with its qualities of
support; and, as a proof of this, we never meet with a concentric joined
arch before the time of the Psammetici, but frequently an apparently real
arch, in like manner cut out of horizontal layers of stone. But wherever
the brick arch was very ancient, we may there most naturally place the
development of the concentric stone arch, which is met with at a later
period at that very place, contemporaneous at least with its appearance
in other countries.
On the following morning I was intending to accompany the prince into the
interesting institute of M. Lieder, when Erbkam arrived unexpectedly from
our camp. He reported that during the previous night, between two and
three in the morning, a number of shots had been suddenly fired in the
immediate neighbourhood of our tents, and that at the same time a body of
more than twenty people had broken into the camp. Our encampment is on a
narrow flat space in front of the rock-tombs, which are excavated about
half-way up the precipitous sides of the Libyan valley, and the great
accumulation of rubbish has formed a broad terrace before them. It was
only accessible on one side, by a cleft, which passes our terrace from
above, downwards. It was from this point that the attack was made. They
first fell upon the tent in which we all take our meals, and which also
serves the purpose of a drawing-room, which soon fell down. Then followed
the other great tent, in which Erbkam, Frey, Ernest Weidenbach, and
Franke, were sleeping. This was also torn down, and covered its inmates,
who, in the general confusion, extricated themselves with difficulty
from the ropes and canvas. Besides all this, the arms had been taken the
day before into one tent, for the reception of the prince, and had been
arranged and secured to the central pole, so that no one had them at
hand. The watchmen—cowardly fellows—who knew that by the orders of the
police here, they would incur punishment, were anything of the sort to
befal us, even should they not be to blame, had immediately run off on
all sides, uttering loud cries, and have not yet returned. The robbers
now laid hold of the chests and boxes which stood nearest to them, rolled
whatever they could seize down the hill, and soon disappeared across the
plain. Their muskets were evidently not loaded with ball, for no one had
been wounded by them; they had, however, attained their object, which was
to increase the confusion. E. Weidenbach, and some of our servants, had
alone been wounded in the head and shoulders, though not dangerously, by
the butt-ends of their muskets, or by bludgeons. The purloined articles
must, however, have bitterly disappointed the expectation of the robbers,
for the great trunks scarcely contained anything but European clothes,
and other things, which no Arab can use. A number of coloured sketches
are most to be regretted—the Sunday studies, up to the present time, of
the very able artist Frey.
We know besides, very well, from whence this attack has proceeded. We
dwell on the frontier of the territory of Abusir, an Arab village which
has been long under evil report, situated between Kafr el Batran, at the
foot of the Pyramids of Gizeh, and Saqâra. By ARABS (Arab. pl. ʾUrbân)
I mean, according to the custom of this country, those inhabitants who,
as we are informed, only settled at a later period in the Nile valley,
and having obtained certain privileges, founded some villages here. They
are distinguished by their free origin, and their more manly character,
from the FELLAHS (Fellahʿ, pl. Fellahʿîn), the original peasants of
the land, who, enervated by their centuries of bondage, have reached a
low point of degradation, and who were not, besides, able to withstand
the encroachment of Islam. The name of BEDOUIN (Bedaui, pl. Bedauîn)
belongs alone to the ever free son of the Desert, who only roves about
the borders of the inhabited country. In the vicinity of the Pyramids
there are now a number of Arab villages. To these, also, belong the three
places I have mentioned. Since our place of encampment was within the
territory of the Sheikh of Abusir, a young, handsome, and enterprising
man, he had a certain claim to supply us with the necessary number of
well-paid watchmen. I, however, preferred to place ourselves under the
protection of the more trustworthy, and more powerful Sheikh of Saqâra,
whom I had known before, and within whose district the principal field
of our labours is situated. This determination deprived the people of
Abusir of a reward, and us of their friendship, as I had already observed
for some time past, without vexing myself any further about it. They had
manifestly taken the opportunity at the present time, when I was absent
in Cairo with several servants, to execute this prank. The footmarks were
traced through the plain to Abusir, and a little clever boy probably
served as a spy, the grandson of an old Turk from the Mameluke times, the
only friend in Abusir, with whom we sometimes exchanged visits. It must
have been also by means of this boy, who often came to our camp, that
the first theft was committed in Abeken’s tent, with which he was well
acquainted.
The attack was a serious affair, and its consequences might be important,
if it remained unpunished. I went immediately with M. von Wagner to
Scherif Pascha, the minister, whose business it was to find out the
offenders.