Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/296

 2o6 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. a greater show with less labour. Mycerinus, however, did not fear to increase his task by rearing his pyramid over a depression in the plateau. There is no less diversity in the external aspects of the pyramids. We are most familiar with the shapes of the great pyramids at Gizeh (Fig. 130 and PI. I, 2); their images have been multiplied to infinity by engraving and photography, but we make a great mistake when we imagine all the royal tombs at Memphis to be built upon this one model. They do not all present the same simplicity of form, the same regular slope from summit to base, or the smooth and polished casing which distin- guished those great monuments when they were in complete ic i2 -TT-* ' — ±r FiG. 132. — Section of the pyramid of Cheops ; from Perring. preservation. The southern pyramid of Dashour otters us one of the most curious variations upon the original theme (Fig. 133). Its anofle-ridofes are not unbroken straight lines from base to summit. The slope of its faces becomes less steep at about half their height. The lower part of its sides make angles of 54° 41'' with the horizon, while above they suddenly fall back to an angle of 42° 59'. This latter slope does not greatly differ from the 43° 36' of the other pyramid in the same neighbourhood. No indication has vet been discovered as to the builder of this pyramid. A second variation, still more unlike the Gizeh type, is to be