A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volumes 1 and 2, 3rd ed.: From the Earliest Times to the Present DayFergusson, James
History
A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volumes 1 and 2, 3rd ed.: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day
Fergusson, James
Architecture -- History
The Hawara Pyramid, on the north of the Labyrinth, and erected by the
same King Amenemhat III., has been examined by Mr. Petrie and described
by him.[48] As the rock on which it was built was little more than
hardened sand, a pit was excavated, into which a monolithic chamber of
granite, brought from Upper Egypt, and weighing 100 tons, was lowered.
The sarcophagus and two other coffins having been placed in it, the
chamber was covered over with three granite beams, 4 feet thick, one of
which was raised in a hollow chamber, and supported there till after the
King’s death and the deposit of his body in the sarcophagus. Round the
granite monolith were built walls which carried two courses of stone
blocks, the lower horizontal, the upper courses sloping one against the
other, as in the Great Pyramid. The rest of the pyramid was constructed
in brick, and to prevent the brickwork settling down and splitting on
the pointed roof-stones, an arch of five courses of brick, measuring 3
feet deep, was thrown across, resting on bricks laid in mud between the
arch and the stonework. The brickwork above the arch was laid in sand,
and the whole pyramid covered with a casing of limestone. The size of
the pyramid Mr. Petrie calculates to have been about 334 ft. wide and
191 ft. high.
A second pyramid belonging to this dynasty, and erected by Osirtasen
II., has also been examined and described by Mr. Petrie.[49] This
pyramid (Illahun) is of peculiar construction, being partly composed of
the natural rock dressed into form to a height of 40 feet, above which
rose the built portion, which was different from that of any other
pyramid, being built with a framing of cross walls. The walls ran right
through the diagonals up to the top of the building, and had offset
walls at right angles to the sides, the walls being of stone in the
lower part, and brick above; the filling-in between the walls was of mud
and brick, and the whole pyramid, brick, stone, and rock, was covered
with a casing of limestone.
AN EGYPTIAN TOWN.
[Illustration: 14. Plans of Houses, Kahun.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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