William Matthew Flinders Petrie

“ Buildings will generally yield up their builder's foot or cubit when examined (Inductive Metrology, p. 9) . Vases may also be found bearing such relations to one another as to show their unit of volume. And coins have long been recognized as one of the great sources of metrology,—valuable for their wide and detailed range of information, though most unsatisfactory on account of the constant temptation to diminish their weight, a weakness which seldom allows us to reckon them as of the full standard. ”

“ The waste heaps from the great pyramid were similarly tipped out over the cliff on its northern side. Thus the rubbish added to the broad platform which set off the appearance of the pyramids; and it has remained undisturbed in all ages, as there was nothing to be got out of it. The third pyramid, that of Menkaura, was cased around the base with red granite for the sixteen lowest courses. The design of it has been enlarged at one bound from a small pyramid (such as those of the family of Khufu) to one eight times the size, as it is at present, the passages needed therefore to be altered. ”

“ It belonged to the tomb of the great viceroy of the Sudan under Tahutmes III, named Nehi; he built the temple in the island of Sai, and carved the S. grotto of Ibrim. The work of this ushabti shows the taste of that time in the slender, delicately carved, and finely formed hieroglyphs.
A limestone Osiride figure (Pl. II, 2) of Tahutmes I was found in the ruins of the temple of Amenhotep II; the work however seems to belong to the time of the earlier king, and it seems as if it might well have been brought from his tomb, and be an early type of royal ushabti. ”

“ Whether a much higher temperature would not be more conducive to accuracy is a question; 92°, or 1/3 of the thermal unit, would be so near the temperature of the observer's skin and breath that measures and balances could be approached with less production of error; and such a heat does not at all hinder accurate observing. The French temperature of 32° F. for standards has abandoned all other considerations in favour of readily fixing the temperature in practice by melting ice. ”

“ My man Ali Suefi was even more valuable than before, as he was not only proof against all the blandishments of the local rascals—the Abd er Rasuls and others—but harassed them in any attempt to get at the other workers, and saved us a large part of our results. Of course I put him on to all the best places, and he got about half of all the bakhshish of the season as his reward. When you have an honest man, make it worth his while to continue so. ”

“ Volumes are always most accurately defined by their weight of water, as weighing can be more accurately done than measuring. If the volume is hollow, it may be filled with water and closed with a sheet of plate glass, or if solid the body may be weighed in water and out, the difference giving the weight of its volume of water. ”

“ The history of the city begins in the late prehistoric age, it having been founded by the pre-Menite kings (Petrie, Abydos, ii. 64) , whose town, temple and tombs have been found there. The kings of the Ist dynasty, and some of the IInd dynasty, were also buried here, and the temple was renewed and enlarged by them. Great forts were built on the desert behind the town by three kings of the IInd dynasty. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the XXXth dynasty, and the cemetery was used continuously. ”

“ The roofing is sometimes, perhaps usually, of more than one layer; in Pepi's pyramid it is of three layers of stone beams, each deeper than their breadth, resting one on another, the thirty stones weighing more than 30 tons each. In the king's chamber (Gizeh) successive horizontal roofs were interposed between the chamber and the final gable roof, and such may have been the case at Abu Roash (Howard Vyse) .
The passages which led into the central chambers have usually some lesser chamber in their course, and are blocked once or oftener with massive stone portcullises. ”

“ While in cemeteries, only one tomb in ten repays the work; and it is the rare one tomb in a hundred that compensates for the ninety blanks and nine scanty results.
2. The region of the work was about half a mile long, and a furlong wide, along the desert edge of the western shore of Thebes. This ground reached from behind the Kom el Hettan to near the temple of Tahutmes III. When I went there in December, 1895, the temples already known in this ground were those of Tahutmes IV, and Ramessu II, and between them the chapel of Uazmes, discovered in 1887 ”

“ The first type is always used for accurate purposes. Units of surface are always directly related to standards of length, without any separate standards. Volume is either determined by the lineal dimensions of a space or a solid, or, for accurate purposes, by the mass of water contained in a volume at a given temperature, which again is measured either by liquid measure, or, more accurately, by weight. ”

“ By the IIIrd Dynasty this dwarf wall had expanded into a solid mass of brickwork, about 280 by 150 ft. and 33 ft. high. This was the mastaba type of tomb, with a long sloping passage descending to the chamber far below it. This pile of brickwork was then copied in stonework early in the IIIrd Dynasty (Saqqara) . It was then enlarged by repeated heightening and successive coats of masonry. And lastly a smooth casing was put over the whole, and the first pyramid appeared (Medum) . ”

“ The total length of the chain standard is − .019 inch from the truth. There is also a public balance provided at Greenwich observatory, which shows the accuracy of any pound weight placed upon it, For important scientific standards comparisons are made gratuitously, as a matter of courtesy, by the officials of the Standards Office, 7 Old Palace Yard, Westminster. The most delicate weighings are all performed in a vacuum case with glass sides, which is so constructed that the weights can be exchanged from one arm to the other without opening the case, so as to obtain double weighings. ”

“ The construction of the step-pyramid or cumulative mastaba has been noticed above; its passages are very peculiar and intricate, winding round the principal chamber, which is in the centre, cut in the rock, very high, and with a tomb-chamber built in the bottom of it, which is closed with a great plug of red granite, a circular stopper fitting into a neck in the chamber roof. A doorway faced with glazed tiles bearing the name of King Neter-khet of the IIIrd Dynasty existed here; the tiles were taken to Berlin by Lepsius. The other pyramids of Saqqara are those of Unas, Pepi, Haremsaf, &c. ”

“ I should add that although the general direction of these temples is facing south-east, yet for convenience they are assumed to face east, in accord with the general north to south direction of the Nile Valley, and all directions are described in accord with the temples facing east and backing west. It will be noticed that the plans of buildings are all to a uniform scale, so that they can be compared together. ”

“ When in the air all bodies placed in the balance must, for accurate purposes, have their volume known; and the weight of an equal volume of such air as they are weighed in must be added to their apparent weight to get their true weight. The weight of air displaced by a pound of the following materials is given in grains, at temperature 62° F., barometer 30 inches,—also with barometer 29 inches (temperature 62°) , and with temperature 32° (barometer 30 inches) , to illustrate the variation [4] (allowing for contraction of the material as well) :—
The above is for London at sea-level ”

“ Temperature and the Atmosphere.—All the serious difficulties of weighing and measuring result from these causes, the effects of which and their corrections we will briefly notice. In measurement, since all bodies expand by heat, the temperature at which any measure or standard bar represents the abstract unit requires to be accurately stated and observed, the accuracy of optical observation being about equal to 1/100 of a degree F. of expansion in a standard. ”

“ Very soon we had to enclose a space in front of the galleries to hold our collections of pottery, pieces of sculpture, and stacks of ushabtis.
3. At first I brought up some of our best men from Koptos, and took on many of the Qurneh people for the work. But as soon as we began to find antiquities, it was evident that the previous engagements of these local workers to the various dealers of Thebes took precedence of their engagement to me. ”

“ I, II, III, V, VI, of "Le Musée Égyptien," about half of them belong to the earlier age, down to Tahutmes III (Pls. I, II, V a, VI b, d) ; while others are of the later part of the XVIII dynasty (III, VI c) and probably early XIX dynasty (V b, d; VI a) . ”

“ The great pyramid (fig. 3) of Gizeh (Khufu's) is very different in its internal arrangements from any other known. The pyramid covers upwards of 13 acres, and is about 150 ft. higher than St Paul's Cathedral. As compared with St Peter's, Rome, it covers an area which is as 29 to 11, or nearly three times as much, and it is 50 ft. higher. The greater number of passages and chambers, the high finish of parts of the work, and the accuracy of construction all distinguish it. The chamber which is most normal in its situation is the subterranean chamber ”

“ Masses are compared by the Balance (q.v.) , which may be made to indicate a 100,000,000th of the mass. They may also be estimated, not by their attractive force being balanced by an equal mass, but by the elasticity of a spring; this, which is the only true weighing-machine showing weight and not mass, is useful for rough purposes, owing to its quick indication ”

“ Beyond these already described there are no true pyramids, but we will briefly notice those later forms derived from the pyramid. At Thebes some small pyramids belong to the kings of the XIth Dynasty; the tomb-chamber is in the rock below. The size is under 50 ft. square. These are not oriented, and have a horizontal entrance, quite unlike the narrow pipe-like passages sloping down into the regular pyramids (see Mariette, in Bib. arch. trans. iv. 193) . In Ethiopia, at Gebel Barkal, are other so-called pyramids of a very late date. They nearly all have porches ”

“ The cemetery of private persons begins in the Ist dynasty with some pit tombs in the town. It was extensive in the XIIth and XIIIth dynasties and contained many rich tombs. In the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties a large number of fine tombs were made, and later ages continued to bury here till Roman times. ”

“ In Egypt the cubit lengthened 1/170 in some thousands of years (25, 44) . The Italian mile has lengthened 1/100 since Roman times (2) ; the English mile lengthened about 1/300 in four centuries (31) . The English foot has not appreciably varied in several centuries (25) . Of weights there are scarce any dated, excepting coins, which nearly all decrease; the Attic tetradrachm, however, increased 1/50 in three centuries (28) , owing probably to its being below the average trade weight to begin with. ”

“ Priests of the various pyramids are continually mentioned during the old kingdom, and the religious endowments of many of the priesthoods of the early kings were revived under the Egyptian renaissance of the XXVIth Dynasty and continued during Ptolemaic times. ”

“ For public use there are a series of end-standards exposed on the outer wall of Greenwich observatory; and a length of 100 feet, and another of 66 feet (1 chain) , marked on brass plates let into the granite step along the back of Trafalgar Square. As this is a practically invariable earth-fast standard, and most convenient for reference, it is important to know the minute errors of it, as determined by the Standards Department. ”

“ The legal theory of the metric system of weights and measures is— (A) the standard metre, with decimal fractions and multiples thereof; (B) the standard kilogramme, with decimal fractions and multiples thereof; (C) the litre (with decimal fractions and multiples) , declared to be a cube of 1/16 metre, and to contain a kilogramme of water at 4° C. in a vacuum. ”