So that if a wall of (three metres) about 9-1/4 feet in height, and a foot in thickness, were built with the materials of these pyramids, we should have a wall— miles. 1. from the great pyramid in length 1626 2. from Chephren or Cheops 1167 3. from Mycerinus 117 The stones, therefore, of the three pyramids would form such a wall 2910 miles in length, or one sufficient to reach from Alexandreia to the coast of Guinea. _Letronne._ [855] This is a palpable error, and greater than that of Herodotus, who makes the base equal to the height. The ratio of the height to the base in the great pyramid was as 0·627 to 1; and in the second, as 0·640 to 1. Diodorus approaches nearest of all to the truth, as he makes this ratio to be as 6 to 7 or as 0·817 to 1. Strabo should rather have said, “the sides are rather greater than the height;” but all that he says respecting the pyramids is vague and inexact. [856] ἐν ὕψει μέσως πως μιᾶς τῶν πλευρῶν· μιᾶς is adopted, although not introduced into the text, by Kramer; μέσως πως is connected with ἐν ὕψει, and not with τῶν πλευρῶν, in the sense of “moderately,” in which it is also used in b. xi. c. ii. § 18. “The kings who succeeded to the possession of the country, (μέσως ἔπραττον) were moderately successful.” The moveable stone has been taken away, and the aperture is at most at about one-twelfth the whole height of the pyramid from its base. [857] Chembes the Memphite built the largest of the three pyramids, which are reckoned among the seven most remarkable works in the world. They are situated by the side of Libya, distant 120 stadia from Memphis, and 45 from the Nile. These works, by their size and by the artifice and labour employed in their construction, strike the beholder with astonishment and wonder. The base of the largest, the plan of which is quadrilateral, is seven plethra on each side; the height is more than six plethra; the pyramid gradually contracts towards the top, of which each side measures six cubits, and the whole is built of hard stone. Its construction must have been accompanied with great difficulty, but its permanence will be eternal; for although, it is said, not less than a thousand years have passed away to our day (some even say more than 3400 years) since they were built, yet the stones still remain, preserving their original position, and their whole arrangement uninjured by time. The stone is said to have come from a great distance in Arabia, and the process of building was carried on by raising mounds of earth; for at that period no machines had been invented. But it is most marvellous that although such an immense undertaking has been completed, and the whole country around is composed of sand, not a single trace remains of the mounds raised, nor of the fragments of stone broken off by the workmen: indeed the pyramids do not seem to have been raised by the