Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/75

 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. I7 3. EXAMPLES. THE SPHINX (No. 4), whose date is unknown, is situated near the great pyramids, in the centre of an ancient stone quarry, and is a natural rock cut to resemble a Sphinx, wnth rough masonry added in parts. An Egyptian Sphinx (No. 100) had the head of a king, a hawk, a ram, or more rarely a woman, on the body of a lion. The dimensions of the Great Sphinx, which represents a recum- bent lion with the head of a man, are as follows : it is 65 feet high by 188 feet long, the face is 13 feet 6 inches vde, and the mouth 8 feet 6 inches long. Greatly mutilated, it is still a marvel, as it has been throughout the ages. The symbol for an insoluble problem, it is, and probably ever will be, a mystery. It was excavated in 181 6 by Captain Caviglia, who found a temple between the paws, and it has since been examined by Mariette and Maspero. THE PYRAMIDS of Gizeh, near Cairo, all erected during the fourth dynasty (B.C. 3gg8-B.c. 3721), form one of several groups within the necropolis of the ancient capital city of Memphis, and rank among the oldest monuments of Egyptian architecture. The other groups are those of Abu-Roash, Zawiyet-el-Aryan, Abusir, Sakkara, and Dashiir. These were built by the kings as their future tombs, the governing idea being to secure immortality by the preservation of the mummy, till that time should have passed, when, according to their belief, the soul would once more return to the body. Their construction has been described by many writers, including Herodotus. The Great Pyramid (Nos. 4 and 5 c, d), by Cheops (Khufu) (B.C. 3733-B.c. 3700) ; the Second Pyramid (No. 4), by Cephron (Khafra) b.c. 3666-B.c. 3633) ; the Third Pyramid by Mycerinos (Menkhara) (b.c 3633-B.c. 3600), are the best known examples. The Great Pyramid of Cheops is square on plan, 760 feet each way, its area being about 13 acres, i.e., twice the extent of S. Peter, Rome, or equal to the size of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, The faces of the pyramid are equilateral triangles laid sloping and meeting in a point. The sides face directly north, south, east and west, as in all the pyramids, and they make an angle with the ground of 51 degrees 50 minutes. The original height was 482 feet. The entrance (No. 5 c), which is on the northern side, is 47 feet 6 inches above the base, and is now reached by means of an earthen embankment. The passage to which it F.A. c