Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/407

Rh A R CHI T E C T U R E 385 with great probability that the structures of Egypt are the oldest specimens of architecture in the world. The origin of the structures themselves has been matter of some discus sion. By several writers it has been thought that the rock- cut caves of Upper Egypt were the earliest efforts of archi tectural design, and furnished models for the enormous piles raised along the banks of the Nile. An examination of these caves, however, will show clearly that the very reverse is the case, and that the carvings of the excavations are imitated from the above-ground buildings. The oldest works of the Egyptians, according to Hero dotus, were the embankment of the Kile by Menes, the foundation of the city of Memphis, and the commencement of a temple to Vulcan. Next we learn from Manetho, as cited by Eusebius, that Venephes, the fourth king of the first dynasty, built some pyramids at a place called Cocho- uien, but this is all we know of them. Eusebius further records that Tosorthus, or Sosorthus, the second king of the third dynasty, found out how to build with polished or smooth stone (nal TIJV Sia ^ecrraJv XiOiav ot/&amp;lt;oSo/x^v cvpero). at The next structure of which we have notice is the Great amid. Pyramid, the most gigantic work in the world one which never has been, and perhaps never will be surpassed. At this time the Egyptians must have reached a proficiency in the mechanical arts of which we can form no conception. They seem to have been able to quarry rocks of the hardest stone, even granite to transport them to great distances to raise huge blocks, vast monolith obelisks, that would puzzle our engineers with their best tackle and, more wonderful still, they appear to have had the power not only of polishing granite, but of carving on that most stubborn material with the utmost facility, large surfaces and even huge statues being covered with hieroglyphics of the most minute kind and of the highest finish. It is impossible to discover how this was done, for though Herodotus (ii. 124, 125) tells us they had iron tools, it was long before the con version of that metal into steel had been found out; and with all the best modern tools of steel, it is difficult and costly to carve even plain letters in granite. According to the account of Herodotus, the occasion of the erection of this great work was the caprice of a king, Cheops, who is sup posed to be the Suphis of Syncellus, and the Chembes of Diodorus. This king was a tyrant of the very worst kind ; he closed all the temples throughout Egypt, forbade every sort of religious observance, and forced all his subjects to labour for him as he pleased. Among other whims, he determined to build this pyramid as a tomb for himself. The stones were quarried in the Arabian mountains, and none were less than 30 feet long. They were then con veyed by the Nile to a newly -constructed road, three-quar ters of a mile long, GO feet broad, and in a cutting of 48 feet. This road, of polished stone, and carved with figures, took ten years to complete. Twenty years were spent in building the pyramid itself. The site of this extraordinary structure is at Ghizeh, in the neighbourhood of Cairo. The base was, Herodotus tells us, 8 plethra (about 808 English feet) square, and the height the same. This, however, is not the case, the (Ireek author having probably measured the sloping edge. The dimensions are variously given by the various persons who have measured it. M. Nouet, who was of the French commission in Egypt, and had perhaps the best means of ascertaining the truth, states its base to be a square whose side is 71 G French or 768 English feet, and gives the height as 421 French or 452 English feet, The dimen sions of the pyramid in its original state, as given by Colonel Vyse, are 7G4 feet length of base, 720 feet slant side, and 4SO feet high. According to Sir Henry James (Xofes t- the Great Pyramid, 1869), the side of the base is 760 feet : while Professor Piazzi Smyth gives this as 7G3 81, and the height as 48G 25G7. The pyramid thus covers upwards of 13 acres, and is about 150 feet higher than St Paul s cathedral. As compared with the largest building ui the Fro. 12. Section of Great Pyramid. Ghizeh. From Vyse s Pyramids of FIG. 13. Entrance to Great Pyramii of Gizeli. world, St Peter s, Rome, the Great Pyramid covers an area which is as 58 to 22, or nearly three times as much, and is 50 feet higher. Like almost all the other pyramids, its sides face the cardinal points, and it is entered from the north by a descending passage, which leads to a few small chambers or cells, the largest of which is but 177 feet wide. In one of these a solitary sarcophagus was found. The pyramid appears to be a solid mass of stone, and is built in regular courses or lay ers, which vary in thick ness from 2 to 5 feet, each receding from the one below it to the number of 202 ; though even this is variously stated from that number to 2 GO, as indeed the height is given by various modern tra vellers at from 444 to G25 feet. And the ancient writers differ as widely both among themselves and from the moderns. On the top course the area is about 10 English feet square, though it is be lieved to have been originally two courses higher, which would bring it to the smallest that in regular gradations it could be. This vast erection, on which the labours of 100,000 men were bestowed for twenty years, and which con tains 85 millions of cubic feet of stone, must have cost (reckoning quarrying, transport FIG. 14. Part Section of Gre.t Pyramid. From Vyse. twice by land and once by river squaring, hoisting, and setting at 2s. per foot) something like 8i millions of English money. IT. - 49