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| Giza Pyramids and
Sphinx |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, facing
p. 158. |
Pyramids of Gizeh
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A Pyramid is simply a cairn or barrow, only its stones are laid regularly and
their edges are carefully finished, instead of being roughly thrown together.
The principle of the Pyramid is almost always the same. A rocky eminence on the
desert tract . . . was excavated for the reception of the king's sarcophagus,
and a sloping passage was cut to connect the royal sepulchre with the surface.
Over the sepulchre, both to protect it from the inroads of the sand and to mark
the spot, a large block of stones was erected, almost in the shape of a cube,
but slightly tapering towards the top . . . .If the king . . . continued to
reign, he . . . put other blocks round the base, so as to form a second stage,
upon which he erected another quasicube like the first . . . .The longer the
king lived the more numerous these stages became, so that it is possible to
gauge roughly the duration of a king's reign by the height of his burial cairn.
. . . The entrance to the tomb itself-generally a steep sloping passage, narrow
and low-was carefully concealed, and ingenious devices, portcullises, &c., were
resorted to in order to prevent the sarcophagus being removed. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, pp. 174-75.) |
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The King's Chamber |
Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 54. |
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The dimensions of the pyramid of Cheops-the
great pyramid-have been variously estimated,
but the most accurate measurements ever
published were made by Mr. Petrie in 1880-2.
The original height he claims was four hundred
and eighty-one feet four inches, the actual
present height is four hundred and fifty-one
feet. The area of the original base was a
little more than thirteen acres, and its solid
contents have been calculated at eighty-five
million cubic feet . . . .The interior of the
pyramid has not yet been fully explored, but
there is in the heart of it a dark room known
as the King's Chamber. The principal
apartment, as far as yet explored, is
thirty-four feet six inches long, seventeen
feet two inches wide and nineteen feet one
inch high; the floor is one hundred and
forty-one feet from the base of the pyramid.
The chamber is lined with granite and roofed
with nine enormous slabs of granite, eighteen
and a half feet in length . . . .It contains
an empty and broken sarcophagus of granite on
which there is no inscription, but which
undoubtedly contained the body of the king who
built it. (Source: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 54.) |
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Source: Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 50. |
The Sphinx |
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What is the Sphinx? It is the body of a lion
couchant, with the head of a man-"a symbol of
animal power and of human intellect." The
whole figure was typical of kingly royalty and
set forth the power and wisdom of the Egyptian
monarch . . . .Miss Edwards says, "the sphinx
is purely an Egyptian monster and of
immemorial antiquity . . . .It is carved out
of the summit of the original rock from which
it has never been separated. Its body is over
one hundred feet long; its head is thirty feet
long and fourteen in width; the marks of paint
still remain on the face--on the eye-brows and
on the right cheek. The face is much
mutilated; the body is hidden by drifting
sands of the desert; the paws project some
fifty feet and in the space between was an
altar for sacrificial purposes." . . . From
that altar between his paws the smoke went up
into the gigantic nostrils now vanished from
the face. "The ancient Egyptians called him
'Neb,' 'Lord,' a name generally applied to the
gods in their popular pantheon, but specially
to the Sphinx alone." (Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, pp. 50-51.) |
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Temple of the Sphinx |
Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 52. |
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One Egyptologist boldly asserts that "the
substructions before the Sphinx are miscalled
the Temple of the Sphinx. It is not a temple;
it may be a mastaba or votive offering, it
looks most like a tomb." The constructions are
of plain and polished alabaster and red
granite, laid with simplicity. There are four
courts, rows of pillars, three principal
chambers and dark recesses and a well. The
chambers contain niches for the placing of
mummies and at the bottom of the well were
found three statues of King Kaffra, one of
which is the famous portrait statue in the
Gizeh Museum, and one is justified in
believing that there remain in this vicinity
immense quantities of mummies and ancient
treasures. It is the opinion of Miss Edwards
that here lies the necropolis of the kings of
the first and second dynasties buried
underneath a hundred feet of sand. (Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p.
52.) |
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See
Cairo,
Memphis,
Mummies,
Nile River,
Karnak Temple,
Luxor Temple,
Thebes West Bank, or
Elephantine
and Philae Islands |
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