The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
In the sepulchral chamber of the third pyramid, it is known in the
inscriptions as "Har," _i.e._, "the supreme," the sarcophagus of King
Menkera with his mummy has been discovered. It is made of blue basalt,
and bears the following inscription:--"O Osiris, King Menkera, ever
living one; begotten of the sky, carried in the bosom of Nut, scion of
Seb (p. 55). Thy mother Nut is outstretched over thee, in her name of
the mystery of the sky may she deify thee and destroy thy enemies, King
Menkera, ever living one."[148]
It is therefore an ascertained fact that Chufu, Chafra, and Menkera were
the builders of the three great pyramids. In the mouth of the Greeks the
name Chufu passed into Cheops, and by a farther change into Suphis. The
name Chemmis in Diodorus has arisen out of the name Chnemu in the form
Chnemu Chufu; from Chafra naturally arose Chephren, Kephren, and
Chabryes. In the list of kings in Eratosthenes, the fourteenth successor
of Menes is Saophis; Eratosthenes allows him a reign of twenty-nine
years. His successor, who has a reign of twenty-seven years, bears the
same name. The second Saophis is followed by Moscheres with a reign of
thirty-one years. Manetho's list gives the name Suphis to the
twenty-seventh king after Menes, and he is said to have reigned
sixty-three years. Then follows a second Suphis, with a reign of
sixty-six years, and this king is succeeded by Menchres, who reigned
sixty-three years. On the first Suphis in Manetho's list the excerpt of
Africanus remarks: "This king built the largest pyramid, which Herodotus
assigns to the time of Cheops;" in the excerpt of Eusebius, both in the
Greek text and the Armenian translation, this remark is made on the
second Suphis. Hence we can have no hesitation in identifying the Cheops
and Chephren of Herodotus, the Chemmis and Kephren of Diodorus, with the
first and second Saophis and Sufis of the lists, the Chufu and Chafra
of the inscriptions; and the Mycerinus of Herodotus and Diodorus is
beyond doubt the same as the Moscheres of Eratosthenes, the Mencheres of
Manetho, and the Menkera of the sarcophagus in the third pyramid. In the
national tradition of the Egyptians, as received by the Greeks, Cheops
and Chephren were called brothers, and this is no doubt mainly due to
the fact that the monuments of these two kings surpassed all the other
pyramids, and were of nearly the same height and size. It is impossible
that Cheops should have reigned fifty years, and his brother Chephren
who succeeded him, fifty-six years, as Herodotus and Diodorus tell
us--the inscription quoted above makes the same woman the favourite of
the predecessor of Chufu, of Chufu, and Chafra also; even more
impossible is it that the first Suphis should have reigned sixty-three
years, and the second sixty-six, as given in the list of Manetho, if
they were brothers; or that Mycerinus, whom Herodotus as well as
Diodorus calls the son of Cheops, should have succeeded Chephren with a
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