History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
Worship was rendered to this Pharaoh in a temple constructed a little in
front of the eastern side of the pyramid, but of which nothing remains
but a mass of ruins. Pharaoh had no need to wait until he was mummified
before he became a god; religious rites in his honour were established
on his accession; and many of the individuals who made up his court
attached themselves to his double long before his double had become
disembodied. They served him faithfully during their life, to repose
finally in his shadow in the little pyramids and mastabas which
clustered around him. Of Dadûfri, his immediate successor, we can
probably say that he reigned eight years;* but Khephren, the next son
who succeeded to the throne,** erected temples and a gigantic pyramid,
like his father.
* According to the arrangement proposed by E. de Rougé for
the fragments of the Turin Canon. E. de Rougé reads the name
Râ-tot-ef, and proposes to identify it with the Ratoises of
the lists of Manetho, which the copyists had erroneously put
out of its proper place. This identification has been
generally accepted. Analogy compels us to read Dadûfrî, like
Khâfrî, Menkaurî, in which case the hypothesis of de Rougé
falls to the ground. The worship of Dadûfrî was renewed
towards the Saite period, together with that of Kheops and
Khephren, according to some tradition which connected his
reign with that of these two kings. On the general scheme of
the Manethonian history of these times, see Maspero, _Notes
sur quelques points de Grammaire et d’Histoire dans le
Recueil de Travaux_, vol. xvii. pp. 122-138.
** The Westcar Papyrus considers Khâfri to be the son of
Khûfû; this falls in with information given us, in this
respect, by Diodorus Siculus. The form which this historian
assigns--I do not know on what authority--to the name of the
king, Khabryies, is nearer the original than the Khephren of
Herodotus.
He placed it some 394 feet to the south-west of that of Kheops; and
called it Ûîrû, the Great. It is, however, smaller than its neighbour,
and attains a height of only 443 feet, but at a distance the difference
in height disappears, and many travellers have thus been led to
attribute the same elevation to the two. The facing, of which about
one-fourth exists from the summit downwards, is of nummulite limestone,
compact, hard, and more homogeneous than that of the courses, with
rusty patches here and there due to masses of a reddish lichen, but
grey elsewhere, and with a low polish which, at a distance, reflects the
sun’s rays. Thick walls of unwrought stone enclose the monument on
three sides, and there may be seen behind the west front, in an oblong
enclosure, a row of stone sheds hastily constructed of limestone and
Nile mud.
[Illustration: 187.jpg THE NAME OF KHEOPS DRAWN IN RED ON SEVERAL BLOCKS
OF THE GREAT PYRAMID]
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