William Matthew Flinders Petrie

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 sizes are but small, varying from 23 to 88 ft. square at Gebel Barkal and 17 to 63 ft. square at Meroe. The interior is solid throughout, the windows which appear on the sides being useless architectural members (see Hoskin's Ethiopia, 148, &c.) . The structures sometimes called pyramids at Biahmu in the Fayum have no possible claim to such a name; they were two great enclosed courts with sloping sides, in the centres of which were two seated statues raised on pedestals high enough to be seen over the walls of the courts. This form would appear like a pyramid with a statue on the top ”

“ Excepting the list of kings and a panegyric on Rameses II., the subjects are not historical but mythological. The work is celebrated for its delicacy and refinement, but lacks the life and character of that in earlier ages. ”