Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/343

313 THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS 313

it is called, or, according to other, altar-wise. After laying the stone for the base, they raised the remain- ing stones to their places by means of machines formed of short wooden planks. The first machine raised them from the ground to the top of the first step. On this there was another machine, which re- ceived the stone upon its arrival and conveyed it to the second step, whence a third machine advanced it still higher. Either they had as many machines as there were steps in the pyi-amid, or possibly they had but a single machine, which, being easily moved, was transferred from tier to tier as the stone rose — both accounts are given, and therefore I mention both. The upper portion of the pyramid was finished first, then the middle, and finally the part which was lowest and nearest the ground. There is an inscription in Egyptian characters on the pyramid which records the quantity of radishes, onions, and garlic consumed by the laborers who constructed it; and I perfectly well remember that the interpreter who read the writ- ing to me said that the money expended in this way was 1600 talents ^ of silver. If this, then, is a true record, what a vast sum must have been spent on the iron tools used in the work and on the feeding and clothing of the laborers, considering the length of time the work lasted, w^hich has already been stated, and the additional time — no small space, I imagine — which must have been occupied by the quarrying of the stones, their conveyance, and the formation of the underground apartments. (^Book 11.^ ChajJters

1 $1,600,000.