Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/320

 230 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. commemorate the j^riests devoted to their service, and in those tombs at Memphis, Abydos, and Thebes where the pyramid, placed upon rectangidar figures of various heights, is used as a terminal element. Neither in the small number of pyramids which have come down to us comparatively intact, nor in those which are represented in reliefs, is there the smallest sign of a trun- cated summit or of any platform which could by any possibility have borne a statue. We may say the same of those small pyramidions which have been found in such great numbers in tombs and which fill our museums. It is Well known that these are votive offerings in Fig. 154. — Pyramidlou ; Louvre. connection with the worship of the sun. " The principal figure," says M. de Rouge, " is generally shown in a posture of adoration, with his face turned to the sun. On his left hand is the invocation to the rising, and on his right that to the setting sun. These arrangements are modified in various ways, but they are always upon the same genera lines as the orientation of the tombs themselves." ^ These minute pyramids also end in a point whether they be of basalt, granite, or calcareous stone, and it is natural that we should look upon them as the faithful reproductions ^ Notice sonunaire des Alonuments Egyptiens exposes dans Ics Galeries du Loui've (4th edition, 1865, p. 56).