If we compare the works of that epoch, which saw the erection of the great pyramids, in technical and artistic value with the remains which have come down from the time of the Amenemha and Sesurtesen--according to the chronology of Lepsius the two periods are separated by an interval of six centuries--we find in the great monuments of the first epoch, in their passages and chambers, a dexterity in the use of stone for building, which has never been surpassed. The sculptures exhibit broader and stouter forms, with more strongly-marked but well-shaped muscles. The ornaments consist of simple, straight lines, besides which scarcely any other adornment is found beyond the lotus leaf. The style is composed and full of repose; it remains nearer nature than in the later works. In the monuments of the time of the Sesurtesen and Amenemha the ornamentation has already become far richer. The pillars are massive, fluted, and crowned by a simple cube. The sculptured forms are taller and thinner; the work in relief, carried out with much industry and delicacy, displays at times very happy moments of natural grace and truth of expression, although perspective is entirely left out of sight. Such work is always carefully painted. The statues of limestone are also painted throughout; in those of granite, only the clothing, the eyes and the hair are coloured.[178] FOOTNOTES: [130] Diod. 1, 12, 45. [131] Herod. 2, 99. [132] Diod. 1, 50. He ascribes the foundation of the city to a later king, whom he calls Uchoreus. [133] Strabo, p. 808; Tac. "Ann." 2, 6. [134] Lepsius asserts that he found traces and remains of sixty-seven pyramids. "Briefe aus Ægypten," s. 65. [135] Lepsius, "Abh. der Berl. Akad." 1843, s. 177 ff. [136] Boeckh, "Metrologie," s. 236. [137] Herod. 2, 124-127, 134. [138] Diod. 1, 63, 64. [139] Brugsch, "Hist. d'Egypte," p. 35. [140] Cf. Strabo. p. 809. [141] Lepsius, "Chronologie," s. 248, 302. Gutschmid has supported the Herodotean inscription on the strength of papyri from the times of Ramses Miamen in Philologus, 10, 644; the "talents" in any case must be left for the dragoman. [142] Lepsius, "Denkmale," 3, 2, plate II. [143] De Rougé, "Monuments des six premières dynasties; Mémoires de l'Institut," 1856, 25, 265 ff. [144] Lepsius, "Denkmale," 3, 2, plate II. [145] Brugsch, "Hist. d'Egypte," p. 113. [146] Brugsch, "Zeitschrift für aegyptische Sprache," 1864, s. 61. [147] De Rougé, _loc. cit._ p. 257. [148] De Rougé, _loc. cit._ pp. 282, 283. [149] Herod. 2, 128. M. Büdinger ("Zur ægypt. Forschung Herodot's." s. 24) identifies this Philitis with the shepherd-king Salatis; cf. infra. [150] Cf. above, p. 59. Mariette, "Revue archéol." 1860, p. 18. [151] De Rougé, _loc. cit._ pp. 281, 307. [152] De Rougé, _loc. cit._ p. 267. [153] De Rougé, _loc. cit._ p. 328 ff. [154] "Revue archéolog." 1862, p. 279. [155] Brugsch, _loc. cit._ p. 53. [156] Rosellini, "Monumenti storici," 3, 33. Brugsch, "Hist. d'Egypte," p. 54.