The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
But the names of the builders of the three largest pyramids, which these
interpreters mentioned to the Greeks, are confirmed by the monuments. In
the deep chamber of the largest pyramid there is no sarcophagus; in the
upper of the two chambers which lie in the axis of the pyramid there has
been found, it is true, a simple sarcophagus of red granite, but it
bears no inscription. Above these chambers, however, there are certain
small spaces left open, with a view no doubt of diminishing the pressure
of the stone-work upon them, and on the walls of these spaces is written
the name, Chufu, Chnemu Chufu, in hieratic characters.[142] The same
name frequently recurs in the tombs surrounding this pyramid, in which,
according to the inscriptions, the wives, sons, officers, and priests of
Chufu were buried; and among them the scribe of the buildings of the
kings and the priest of Apis, who was at the same time keeper of the
gates and of the palace. In this inscription the pyramid of Chufu is
called "Chut." On a monumental stone found in the Apis tombs--now in
Cairo--we read, "The living Horus, the King of Egypt, Chufu, has built a
temple to Isis near the temple of the Sphinx, north of the temple of
Osiris, and has erected his pyramid beside the temple of Isis."[143]
Chufu himself is not found in Egypt, but in the peninsula of Sinai he is
pictured in relief on the rocks in the Wadi Maghara. He is represented
as lifting his war-club against an enemy whom he has forced upon his
knee and seized by the head-dress with the left hand.[144] In an
inscription in the same valley, the oldest which we possess, his
predecessor Snefru claims to have subjugated these regions.
In the second pyramid, in the chamber under the surface, a sarcophagus
of granite has been discovered on the floor without any inscription. But
in the inscriptions on the graves, especially on the grave of the
architect of King Chafra, his pyramid is mentioned as "the great
pyramid." Between the paws of the Sphinx which stands to the north of
the second pyramid, hewn out of the living rock, is a monumental stone,
on which is read the name Chafra,[145] and in the ruins of a temple
lying near the Sphinx--the same without doubt which is mentioned in the
stone at Cairo--seven statues have been exhumed, the inscriptions on
which prove that they represent "the Master and Gold Horus, Chafra, the
good god, the lord of the crown," _i.e._, King Chafra himself.[146] And
lastly, the inscriptions on the tomb of a woman whose name is read as
Mertitef, prove that she was the chief favourite of Snefru and of Chufu,
and had been united to Chafra.[147] Hence Chafra must have succeeded
Chufu, and the "great" pyramid built by him can hardly have been any
other than that which now holds the second place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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