Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

ARCHITECTURE.
437
History, selves, and shall scarcely know whether to reprobate most tecture before referred to, unless every examnle exhi
the insolent tyranny which commanded, or the stupid ser- biting that tendency were itself referred to a date noste
vihty of the people which executed, the undertaking, rior to that assigned to Cheops and Cephron which can*
None but sacerdotal despots would ever have undertaken not be done in accordance with the assertions of M
them, and none but a stupid fanatical people would ever Champollion as to the structures of Thebes Elenhantina*
have built them....The most honourable reason that can and Nubia generally. ’ ^ ’
be assigned for their erection is the emulation of man to From its immense size, the dimensions of the great nv
excel the works of nature in immensity and duration, and ramid of Gizeh, at Memphis, are variously given by the
in this project he has not been altogether unsuccessful, various persons who have measured it. M. Nouet who
The mountains near the pyramids are not so high, and was of the French commission in Egypt, and had perhaps
have suffered more from time than the pyramids them- the best means of ascertaining the truth, states its base' to
selves.”1 But Memphis itself was of late foundation in com- be a square whose side is 716 French or 768 English feet
parison with other cities on the Nile. According to Pro- in length, which is about the extent of the great square
fessor Heeren,2 civilization descended by the Nile from of Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields in London; and its^height 421
Ethiopia with the caste of priests who brought with them French or 452 English feet, or about one-third as high
the worship of Ammon, Osiris, and Phtha (the Jupiter, again as St Paul’s cathedral. It is built in regular cours'es
Bacchus, and Vulcan of the Greeks), and “ the spread of or layers of stone, which vary in thickness from two to
this worship, which was always connected with temples, three feet, each receding from the one below it to the
affords the most evident vestiges of the spread of the number of 202; though even this is variously stated from
caste itself; and those vestiges, combined with the records that number to 260, as indeed the height is given by
of the Egyptians, lead us to the conclusion that this caste various modern travellers at from 444 to 625 feet. And
was a tribe which migrated from the south, above Meroe, the ancient writers differ as widely, both among them-
in Ethiopia, and, by the establishment of inland colonies selves and with the moderns. On the top course the area
around the temples founded by them, gradually extended is about 10 English feet square, though it is believed to
and made the worship of their gods the dominant religion have been originally two courses higher, which would
in Egypt. Proofs of the accuracy of this theory,” he as- bring it to the smallest that in regular gradation it could
serts, “ may be deduced from monuments and express be. It is a solid mass of stone, with the exception of a
testimonies concerning the origin of Thebes and Ammon narrow corridor leading to a small chamber in its centre;
from Meroe ; that it might indeed have been inferred and a larger ascending corridor or gallery, from about half
from the preservation of the worship of Ammon in this the distance of the first to another larger chamber at a
last place.” The same author goes on to say, that “ Thebes considerable distance, vertically above the former, in
was, if not the most, one of the most, ancient cities which there is a single granite sarcophagus, not more than
of Egyptand that “ Memphis and other cities of the large enough for one body, putting the intention of the
vale of the Nile are knowm to have been founded from structure clearly beyond doubt. The other pyramids dif-
Thebes.” Now Thebes exists to the present time in the fer from that of Cheops (as the largest is called) in size,
ruins of her magnificent temples, the works of the Pha- and slightly in form and mode of construction, some having
raohs, but without the vestige of a pyramid, so that it the angles of the steps or courses of stone worked away
may be concluded that none was ever built there; and to an inclined plane, and some not diminishing in a right
Memphis may be said to exist in the everlasting pyramids line. One of the middle-sized pyramids is unlike all the
of Gizeh and Saccharah, which occupy two of its extre- rest, in being neither smooth nor in small steps, but in six
mities; but no indication remains of the existence of a large benches or stages, apparently of equal height, and di¬
temple of any kind: indeed the exact site of the city minishing gradually. But the circumstance which most dis-
cannot be determined except by the pyramids. Flerodo- tinguishes it is, that it is constructed of rude unshapen
tus, however, speaks of temples at Memphis, particularly blocks of stone, cemented together with a very large pro¬
of that of Vulcan or Phtha; but certainly no vestige of portion of mortar. Another is of unburnt brick, and has
such has existed for a long period of time within that vi- consequently become ruinous and mis-shapen,
cinity. Memphis was a great and ancient capital, and The famous labyrinth, of which Herodotus speaks as
why should it not retain some evidence of the existence having been built by the twelve kings of Egypt, beyond
of temples in it? But Thebes was a greater and more an- the lake Mceris, is believed by Denon, after examination
cient capital, and indeed the metropolis of all Egypt; and of the described site, to be little better than fabulous, and
why has it no pyramids ? These things are equally un- that the historian was imposed on by the priests, from
accountable and inexplicable, affording groundwork for whom he derived most of his information. He says, in-
almost any theory, but giving perfect support to none, deed, that he saw and examined it himself; but his de-
Mr Hamilton, in his JEgyptiaca, before quoted, places scription is so vague, that an architect who should endea-
Memphis considerably further south, where some ruins vour to make a design from it, would be greatly embarrass-
have been discovered which may be thought to give a ed. As we can therefore derive no information from it
colour to his supposition. But the ruins are of very in- with regard to architecture, it need not be further dis-
considerable extent, and are all prostrate, so that nothing cussed here. It has been suggested as probable, and in-
can be positively determined by them; and the statement deed the opinion has been maintained, that the pyramids
of Pliny as to the relative distances of the Nile and the stand over immense substructures; that their areas are
city from the pyramids of Gizeh being proved to be cor- occupied by chambers, in which maybe found the arcana
rect in the one, may be admitted in the other. If Hero- of Egyptian lore, of which they are the depositories. If
dotus s account of the building of the pyramids be receiv- it really be so, may not the labyrinths just referred to
ed, they are of comparatively modern date, the oldest hav- have been under the pyramid, which the historian says
ing been constructed several generations after the time was constructed at the point where the labyrinth termi-
of Sesostris, under whom Thebes attained its highest nates, instead of near it? His expression is so ambiguous,
degree of splendour; but this would leave unaccounted that it leaves room for a suggestion of the kind,
for the tendency to pyramidal forms in Egyptian archi- Of the domestic architecture of the Egyptians we have
History.
' Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, p. 77. Par V. Denon.
2 Manual cf Ancient History, p. 58.