Marathon, which was originally one of the four cities, founded by an Attic king, who gave it his name, is now little better than a village. The plain in which it is situated is, says Mr. Dodwell, "one of the prettiest spots in Attica, and is enriched with many kinds of fruit-trees: particularly walnuts, figs, pomegranates, pears, and cherries. On our arrival, the fine country girls, with attractive looks and smiling faces, brought us baskets of fruit. Some of them appeared unwilling to accept our money in return; and the spontaneous civility and good-humour of the inhabitants soon convinced us that we were in Attica, where they are more courteous to strangers than in other parts of Greece."
This city was but a small one, indeed it was often called a village; yet a deathless interest is attached to it; for just beside it was fought the battle between the Persians and the Athenians, which is, even at this day, more known and respected than any other recorded in history. We shall, therefore, give an abstract of the account of the battle, as it is stated in Rollin, and then show in what condition the city is at the present time.
Miltiades, like an able captain, endeavoured, by the advantage of the ground, to gain what he wanted in strength and number. He drew up his army at the foot of a mountain, that the enemy should not be able to surround him, or charge him in the rear. On the two sides of his army he caused large trees to be cut and thrown down, in order to cover his flanks, and render the Persian cavalry useless. Datis, their commander, was sensible that the place was not advantageous for him: but, relying upon thenumber of his troops, which was infinitely superior to that of the Athenians, he determined to engage. The Athenians did not wait for the enemy's charging them. As soon as the signal for battle was given, they ran against the enemy with all the fury imaginable. The Persians looked upon this first step of the Athenians as a piece of madness, considering their army was so small, and utterly destitute both of cavalry and archers; but they were quickly undeceived. Herodotus observes, that "this was the first time the Grecians began an engagement by running in this manner." The battle was fierce and obstinate. Miltiades had made the wings of his army exceedingly strong, but had left the main body more weak, and not deep; the reason of which seems manifest enough. Having but ten thousand men to oppose to such a numerous army, it was impossible for him either to make a large front, or to give an equal depth to his battalion. He was therefore obliged to take his choice; and he imagined that he could gain the victory in no other way than by the efforts he should make with his two wings, in order to break and disperse those of the Persians; not doubting, but when his wings were once victorious, they should be able to attack the enemy's main body in flank, and complete the victory without much difficulty.[350]The Persians then attacked the main body of the Grecian army, and made their greatest effort particularly upon their front. This was led by Aristides and Themistocles, who supported it a long time with an intrepid courage and bravery, but were at length obliged to give ground. At that very instant came up their two victorious wings, which had dispersed those of the enemy, and put them to flight. Nothing could be more seasonable for the main body of the Grecian army, which began to be broken, being quite borne down by the number of the Persians. The scale was quickly turned, and the barbarians were entirely routed. They all betook themselves to their heels and fled; not towards their camp, but to their ships, that they might escape. The Athenians pursued them thither, and set their ships on fire. They took, also, seven of their ships. They had not above two hundred men killed on their side in this engagement; whereas, on the side of the Persians, above six thousand were slain, without reckoning those who fell into the sea, as they endeavoured to escape, or those that were consumed with the ships set on fire. Immediately after the battle, an Athenian soldier, still reeking with the blood of the enemy, quitted the army, and ran to Athens to carry his fellow-citizens the happy news of the victory. When he arrived at the magistrate's house, he only uttered two or three words:—"Rejoice, rejoice, the victory is ours!" and fell down dead at their feet.
In an excavation, made in one of the tumuli, some years ago, were found a number of busts;—of Socrates, Lucius Verus, and Marcus Aurelius, with another of an unknown person, sculptured with great care, and happily finished.
The unknown bust is supposed to be that of Herodes Atticus, a native of this city, and greatly distinguished. His history is exceedingly curious. We take it from Sir George Wheler.
"He flourished about the time of the emperors Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. His grandfather Hipparchus, or as Suidas has it, Plutarchus, was well to pass in the world, but having been accused of some tyrannical practices, used towards the people, the emperor confiscated all his estates; so that his son, Atticus, fatherof this Herod; lived afterwards in Athens in a mean condition; until, having found a great hidden treasure in his own house, near the theatre, he became on a sudden very rich. He was not more fortunate in lending it, than prudent in getting it confirmed on himself; for well knowing, should it come to be discovered, he should be obliged to give an account of it to the emperor, he wrote thus:—'My liege, I have found a treasure in my house; what do you command that I should do with it?' The emperor answered him, 'That he should make use of what he had found.' But Atticus, yet fearing that he might be in danger of some trouble, when the greatness of the treasure should come to be known, wrote a second time to the emperor, professing ingenuously, that the treasure he had written to him about was too great a possession for him, and exceeded the capacity of a private man. But the emperor answered him again with the same generosity, 'Abuse, also, if thou wilt, the riches thou hast so accidentally come by; for they are thine.' By this means, Atticus became again extremely rich and powerful, having married a wife also that was very rich, whence it came to pass that his son and heir Herodes far surpassed his father both in wealth and magnificence, and became the founder of many stately edifices in sundry parts of Greece; and, dying, left by his will ten crowns to every citizen of Athens. Neither did he partake less of virtue and merit than he did of fortune; being very learned, and so eloquent, that he was called the tongue of Athens; having been the disciple of the famous Phavorinus. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, emperors of his time, made it their glory that they had been his auditors. His entire name was Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes; as I prove by an inscription that is at Athens, in the house of Signor NicoliLimbonia."—Thus far, Sir George Wheler. Chandler goes on to observe, that Herodes Atticus directed his freed-men to bury him at Marathon; where he died, at the age of seventy-six. But the Ephebi, or young men of Athens, transported his body on their shoulders to the city, a multitude meeting the bier, and weeping like children for the loss of a parent.
The antiquities of this plain resolve themselves into the tomb of the Athenians, the monument of Miltiades, and the tomb of the Platæans. Dr. Clarke found also many interesting relics, for an account of which we must refer to his Travels, in order that we may find space for some beautiful remarks, with which he closes his very agreeable account. "If there be a spot upon earth, pre-eminently calculated to awaken the solemn sentiments, which such a view of nature is fitted to make upon all men, it may surely be found in the plain of Marathon; where, amidst the wreck of generations, and the graves of ancient heroes, we elevate our thoughts towardsHim, 'in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday;' where the stillness of Nature, harmonizing with the calm solitude of that illustrious region, which once was a scene of the most agitated passions, enables us, by the past, to determine of the future. In those moments, indeed, we may be said to live for ages;—a single instant, by the multitude of impressions it conveys, seems to anticipate for us a sense of that eternity 'when time shall be no more;' when the fitful dream of human existence, with all its turbulent illusions, shall be dispelled; and the last sun having set, in the last of the world, a brighter dawn than ever gladdened the universe, shall renovate the dominions of darkness and of death."[351]
This city, situated in Arcadia, had one of the most illustrious persons of ancient times for its founder, Epaminondas. Its population was collected from various small cities and towns of Arcadia.
Soon after its establishment, the inhabitants sent to Plato for a code of laws. The philosopher was much pleased with so flattering an offer; but he ultimately declined sending them one, because he learned from a disciple, whom he had sent to Megalopolis, that the inhabitants would never consent to an equality of property.
In 232B. C., Megalopolis joined the Achaian league, and was taken and ruined by Cleomenes. At that period it was as large a city as Sparta. Its most valuable paintings and sculptures were conveyed to the Laconian capital, and great part of the city destroyed.
The Athenians, soon after, beginning to see the impropriety of not keeping up the balance of power in Greece, Demosthenes signalised himself greatly in endeavouring to persuade them to take part with the Megalopolitans. "It has been a perpetual maxim with us," said he, "to assist the oppressed against the oppressor. We have never varied from this principle. The reproach of changing, therefore, ought not to fall upon us, but upon those whose injustice and usurpation oblige us to declare against them."
"I admire the language of politicians," says Rollin. "To hear them talk, it is always reason and the strictest justice that determine them; but to see them act, makes it evident that interest and ambition are the sole rule and guide of their conduct. Their discourse is an effect of that regard for justice, which nature has implanted on the mind of man, and which they cannot entirely shake off. There are few that venture to declare against that internal principle in theirexpressions, or to contradict it openly. But there are also few who observe it with fidelity and constancy in their actions. Greece never was known to have more treaties of alliance than at the time we are now speaking of, nor were they ever less regarded. This contempt of religion, of oaths in states, is a proof of their decline, and often denotes and occasions their approaching ruin." The Athenians, moved by the eloquent discourse of Demosthenes, sent three thousand foot and three hundred horse to the aid of Pamanes. Megalopolis was reinstated in its former condition; and the inhabitants, who had retired into their own countries, were obliged to return.
Anacharsis, from whose travels we have gleaned so many interesting anecdotes, says:—"A small river, called the Helisson, divides the city into two parts, in both of which houses and public edifices have been built, and are still building. That to the north contains a tower, enclosed by a stone balustrade, and surrounded by some edifices and porticoes. A superb bronze statue of Apollo, twelve feet high, has been erected facing the temple of Jupiter. This statue is a present from the Philagians, who contributed with pleasure to the embellishments of the new city. Some private individuals have done the same. One of the porticoes bears the name of Aristander, who caused it to be built at his own expense. In the part to the south we saw a spacious edifice, in which is held the assembly of the ten thousand deputies, appointed to conduct the important affairs of the state. The city contains a great number of statues; among others, we saw the work of two Athenian artists, Cephisodorus and Xenophon, consisting of a group, in which Jupiter is represented, seated on a throne, with the city of Megalopolis in his right hand, and Diana Conservatrix on his left. The marble of which it is made is the production of the quarries of Mount Pentelicus, near Athens.
The theatre at Megalopolis was the largest in Greece. The circular part still remains; but the seats are covered with earth and overgrown with bushes. Part of the walls of the proscenium are also seen facing the Helisson, a small but rapid river, which flows a few yards to the east.
The remains of the temples are dubious; some masses of walls and scattered blocks of columns indicate their situations; without indicating the divinities to whose worship they were consecrated. The soil being much raised, Mr. Dodwell thinks that it may conceal several remains of the city.
There are several other ruins at the distance of a few miles from Megalopolis, which recent travellers have not been able to visit on account of the troubles which have lately prevailed in almost every part of the Morea[352].
Megara, a city of Achaia, formerly possessed such a multitude of objects for a stranger to see, that Pausanias, in his description of Greece, occupies no less than six chapters in the mere enumeration of them.
Megara was founded 1131B. C.It is situate at an equal distance from Athens and Corinth, and is built on two rocks. Its founder has been variously stated. Some have insisted that it was called after Megareus, the son of Apollo; some after Megarius, a Bœotian chief; and others after Megara, a supposed wife of Hercules. However this may be, certain, we believe, it is, that, under the reign of Codrus, the Peloponnesians having declared war against the Athenians, and miscarried in their enterprise, returned and took possession of Megara, which they peopled with Corinthians. It was originally governed by twelve kings, but afterwards became a republic. Theancient Megareans are said to have excelled in nothing but naval affairs. They were reckoned the worst people of Greece, and were generally detested as fraudulent and perfidious[353]. Their military acts were few, and not brilliant. They were bandied about by the Athenians and Corinthians, and had all the bad qualities of insolent slaves, or servile and dependent friends. Such having been the case, we are not surprised at what Tertullian says of the Megareans; viz., that they ate as if they were to die the next day, and built as if they were to live for ever. Megara, however, was not without some redeeming qualities, for it had at one time a school for philosophy, so highly distinguished, that Euclid was at the head of it.
Megara has been greatly distinguished from the circumstance of Phocion having been buried in its territories. The enemies of Phocion, not satisfied with the punishment they had caused him to suffer, and believing some particulars were still wanting to complete their triumph, obtained an order from the people, that his body should be carried out of the dominions of Attica, and that none of the Athenians should contribute the least quantity of wood to honour his funeral pile: these last offices were therefore rendered to him in the territories ofMegara. A lady of the country, who accidentally assisted at his funeral with her servants, caused a cenotaph, or vacant tomb, to be erected to his memory on the same spot; and, collecting into her robe the bones of that great man, which she had carefully gathered up, she conveyed them into her house by night, and buried them under her hearth, with these expressions: "Dear and sacred hearth, I here confide to thee, and deposit in thy bosom, these precious remains of a worthy man. Preserve them with fidelity, in order to restore them hereafter to the monument of his ancestors, when the Athenians shall become wiser than they are at present."
Megara still retains it name: it has been greatly infested by corsairs; insomuch that in 1676, the inhabitants were accustomed, on seeing a boat approaching in the daytime, or hearing their dogs bark by night, immediately to secrete their effects and run away. The Vaiwode, who lived in a forsaken tower, above the village, was once carried off.
Besides two citadels, Megara had several magnificent structures and ornaments. One was an aqueduct, distinguished for its grandeur and beauty; another for a statue of Diana, the protectress; and to these were added statues of the twelve great gods, of so much excellence, that they were ascribed to Praxiteles;—a group, consecrated to Jupiter Olympius, in which was a statue of that deity, with its face of gold and ivory, and the rest of the body of burnt earth. There were also a temple of Bacchus, and another of Venus; a third of Ceres, a fourth of Apollo, a fifth of Diana, and a sixth of Minerva; in which last was a statue of the goddess, the body of which was gilt, and the face, feet, and hands of ivory. There was, also, a chapel dedicated to the Night. Pausanias speaks, also, of several tombs; especially those of Hyllus, Alcmenes, Therea, and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.
In Wheler's time, Megara was a collection of pitiful cottages, whose walls were sometimes only the broken stones of her ruins, or clay dried in the sun, covered only with faggots; and these again spread over with earth above them*.
Chandler describes the site of Megara as covered with rubbish, amongst which were standing some ruinous churches; some pieces of ancient wall, on which a modern fortress has been erected. The village consisting of low, mean cottages, pleasantly situated on the slope of an eminence, indented in themiddle. Nearly the whole site of the ancient city he found green with corn, and marked by heaps of stones, and the rubbish of buildings. A few inscriptions, too, were seen: one of which relates to Herodes Atticus, signalising the gratitude of the Megareans, for his benefactions and good will. There was another on a stone:—"This, too, is the work of the most magnificent Count Diogenes, the son of Archelaus, who, regarding the Grecian cities as his own family, has bestowed on that of the Megarensians 100 pieces of gold towards the building of their towers; and also 150 more, with 2200 feet of marble, toward re-edifying the bath; deeming nothing more honourable than to do good to the Greeks, and to restore their cities."
The person here signalised was one of the generals of the emperor Anastasius, who employed him on a rebellion in Isauria,A. D.494.
Wheler also gives an inscription in "honour of Callimachus, Scribe and Gymnasiarch," and several others. Dr. Clarke also saw one, setting forth that, "under the care of Julius, the proconsul, and the prætorship of Aiscron, this (monument or statue) is raised by the Adrianidæ to Adrian."
Several other inscriptions have been found; one in honour of the Empress Sabina; and others in praise of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. There is another, too, in honour of a person, who had been several times conqueror in almost all the public games in Greece and Italy. There was, also (formerly), another inscription, still more honourable. This was on the tomb of a person named Choræbus, in which was related, in elegiac verse, the history of his having devoted himself to death, in order to free his native country (Thebes) from the evils of a pestilence[354].
The Earl of Sandwich mentions two statues of women, about eight feet high, without heads; and having no attributes to show for what they were designed.
Clarke says, that Ionic and Doric capitals, some of which are of limestone, and others of marble, lie scattered among the ruins, and in the courts of some of the houses. He procured, also, a few fragments of terra-cotta, of a bright red hue, beautifully fluted.
Chandler speaks of the remains of a temple of Minerva, near a large basin of water; on the sides of which are the remains of a bath, remarkable for its size and ornaments, and for the number of its columns.
The stone of Megara was of a kind unknown any where else in Hellas; very white, and consisting entirely of cockle shells; which, not being hard, may be reckoned among the causes of the destruction of Megara.
Another cause of destruction may be supposed to have originated in its locality; it being the great road leading to and from the peninsula, as well as its immediate situation between the two powerful enemies,—the Athenians and Corinthians,—with whom the Megareans had frequent contests concerning the boundaries of their respective territories. If its situation, however, was the cause of its destruction, it was, also, the one great cause of its consequence[355].
Megara is well known from the following anecdote. The city ofMegarabeing taken by Demetrius, the soldiers demanded leave to plunder the inhabitants; but the Athenians interceded for them so effectually, that the city was saved. Stilpon, a celebrated philosopher, lived in that city, and was visited by Demetrius, who asked him if he hadlost any thing?—"Nothing at all," replied Stilpon, "for I carry all my effects about me;" meaning by that expression, his justice, probity, temperance, and wisdom; with the advantage of not ranking any thing in the class of blessings that could be taken from him[356].
There are said to be in Upper Egypt thirty-four temples, still in existence, and five palaces. The most ancient have been constructed chiefly of sand-stone, and a few with calcareous stone. Granite was only used in obelisks and colossal statues. After the seat of empire was removed to Memphis, granite was made use of.
Memphis, according to Herodotus, was built (eight generations after Thebes) by Menes; but Diodorus attributes its origin to Uchoreus, one of the successors of Osymandyas, king of Thebes. To reconcile this want of agreement, some authors ascribe the commencement to Menes, and its completion and aggrandisement to Uchoreus, who first made it a royal city.
The occasion of its having been erected, is thus stated[357]:—A king of Egypt having turned the course of the Nile, which diffused itself over the sands of Lybia, and the Delta being formed from the mud of its waters, canals were cut to drain Lower Egypt. The monarchs, who till then had resided at Thebes, removed nearer the mouth of the river, to enjoy an air more temperate, and be more ready to defend the entrance of their empire. They founded the city of Memphis, and endeavoured to render it equal to the ancient capital; decorating it with many temples, among which that of Vulcan drew the attention oftravellers: its grandeur and sumptuousness of rich ornaments, each excited admiration. Another temple beside the barren plain was dedicated to Serapis, the principal entrance to which had a sphinx avenue. Egypt has always been oppressed with sands, which, accumulating here, half buried some of the sphinxes, and others up to the neck, in the time of Strabo; at present they have disappeared. To prevent this disaster, they built a large mound on the south side, which also served as a barrier against the inundations of the river, and the encroachments of the enemy. The palace of the kings and a fortress built on the mountain, defended it on the west; the Nile on the east; and to the north were the lakes, beyond which were the plain of mummies, and the causeway which led from Busiris to the great pyramids. Thus situated, Memphis commanded the valley of Egypt, and communicated by canals with the lakes Mœris and Mareotis. Its citizens might traverse the kingdom in boats; and it therefore became the centre of wealth, commerce, and arts; where geometry, invented by the Egyptians, flourished. Hither the Greeks came to obtain knowledge, which, carrying into their own country, they brought to perfection. Thebes, and her hundred gates, lay forgotten, and on the hill near Memphis, rose those proud monuments, those superb mausoleums, which alone, of all the Wonders of the World, have braved destructive time, and men still more destructive.
Strabo says, that in this city there were many palaces, situated along the side of a hill, stretching down to lakes and groves, forty stadia from the city. "The principal deities of Memphis," says Mr. Wilkinson, "were Pthah, Apis, and Butastis; and the goddess Isis had a magnificent temple in this city, erected by Amasis, who also dedicated a recumbent colossus, seventy-five feet long, in the temple ofPthah or Vulcan. This last was said to have been founded by Menes, and was enlarged and beautified by succeeding monarchs. Mœris erected the northern vestibule; and Sesostris, besides the colossal statues, made considerable additions with enormous blocks of stone, which he employed his prisoners of war to drag to the temple. Pheron, his son, also enriched it with suitable presents, on the recovery of his sight; and on the south of the temple of Palain, were added the sacred grove and chapel of Proteons. The western vestibule was the work of Rhampsinetus, who also erected two statues, twenty-five cubits in height; and that on the east was Asychis. It was the largest and most magnificent of all these propyla, and excelled as well in the beauty of its sculpture as its dimensions. Several grand additions were afterwards made by Psamaticus, who, besides the southern vestibule, erected a large hypæthral court, where Apis was kept, when exhibited in public. It was surrounded by a peristyle of figures, twelve cubits in height, which served instead of columns, and which were no doubt similar to those in the Memnonium at Thebes."
Diodorus and Strabo speak highly of its power and opulence:—"Never was there a city," observes the former of these, "which received so many offerings in silver, gold, obelisks, and colossal statues."
The first shock this city received was from the Persians[358]. Cambyses, having invaded Egypt, sent a herald to Memphis, to summon the inhabitants to surrender. The people, however, transported with rage, fell upon the herald, and tore him to pieces, and all that were with him. Cambyses, having soon after taken the place, fully revenged the indignity, causing ten times as many Egyptians of the primenobility, as there had been of his people massacred, to be publicly executed. Among these was the eldest son of Psammenitus. As for the king himself, Cambyses was inclined to treat him kindly. He not only spared his life, but appointed him an honourable maintenance. But the Egyptian monarch, little affected by this kind usage, did what he could to raise new troubles and commotions, in order to recover his kingdom; as a punishment for which he was made to drink bull's blood, and died immediately. His reign lasted but six months; after which all Egypt submitted to the conqueror.
When the tyrant came back from Thebes, he dismissed all the Greeks, and sent them to their respective homes; but on his return into the city, finding it full of rejoicing, he fell into a great rage, supposing all this to have been for the ill success of his expedition. He therefore called the magistrates before him, to know the meaning of these rejoicings; and upon their telling him that it was because they had found their god, Apis, he would not believe them; but caused them to be put to death, as impostors, that insulted him in his misfortunes. And when he sent for the priests, who made him the same answer, he replied, that since their god was so kind and familiar as to appear among them, he would be acquainted with him, and therefore commanded him forthwith to be brought to him. But when, instead of a god be saw a calf, he was strangely astonished, and falling again into a rage, he drew out his dagger, and run it into the thigh of the beast; and then upbraiding the priests for their stupidity in worshipping a brute for a god, ordered them to be severely whipped, and all the Egyptians in Memphis, that should be found celebrating the feast of Apis, to be slain. The god was carried back to the temple, where he languished for some time and then died. TheEgyptians say, that after this fact, which they reckon the highest instance of impiety that ever was committed among them, Cambyses grew mad. But his actions show that he had been mad long before.
The splendour of Upper Egypt terminated with the invasion of Cambyses. He carried with him not only conquest, but destruction. His warfare was not merely with the people, but with their palaces and temples.
At a subsequent period, Memphis was taken by Alexander. The account we give of that event is from the same author[359]. As soon as Alexander had ended the siege of Gaza, he left a garrison there, and turned the whole power of his army towards Egypt. In seven days' march he arrived before Pelusium, whither a great number of Egyptians had assembled, with all imaginable diligence, to recognize him for their sovereign. The hatred these people bore to the Persians was so great, that they valued very little who should be their king, provided they could but meet with a hero, to rescue them from the insolence and indignity with which themselves, and those who professed their religion, were treated. Ochus had caused their god Apis to be murdered, in a manner highly injurious to themselves and their religion; and the Persians, to whom he had left the government, continued to make the same mock of that deity. Thus several circumstances had rendered the Persians so odious, that upon Amyntas's coming a little before with a handful of men, he found them prepared to join, and assist him in expelling the Persians.
This Amyntas had deserted from Alexander, and entered into the service of Darius. He had commanded the Grecian forces at the battle of Issus; and having fled into Syria, by the country lyingtoward Tripoli, with four thousand men, he had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and immediately set sail towards the island of Cyprus, and afterwards towards Pelusium, which he took by surprise. As soon as he found himself possessed of this important city, he threw off the mask, and made public pretensions to the crown of Egypt; declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this, a multitude of Egyptians, who wished for nothing so earnestly as to free themselves from these insupportable tyrants, went over to him. He then marched directly to Memphis, when, coming to a battle, he defeated the Persians, and shut them up in the city. But, after he had gained the victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers together, they straggled up and down in search of plunder, which the enemy seeing, they sallied out upon such as remained, and cut them to pieces, with Amyntas their leader. This event, so far from lessening the aversion the Egyptians had for the Persians, increased it still more; so that the moment Alexander appeared upon the frontiers, the people, who were all disposed to receive that monarch, ran in crowds to submit to him. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with a secure protection, which Amyntas could not afford them; and, from this consideration, they all declared openly in his favour. Mazæus, who commanded in Memphis, finding it would be to no purpose for him to resist so triumphant an army, since Darius, his sovereign, was not in a condition to succour him, set open the gates of the city to the conqueror, and gave up eight hundred talents, (about £140,000,) and all the king's furniture. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt, without the least opposition.
On the founding of Alexandria by the Macedonianconqueror, Memphis lost the honour of being the metropolis of Egypt; and its history became so obscure, that little knowledge of it is preserved in history. We must, therefore, now content ourselves with stating to what a condition it is now reduced.
Of this celebrated city, which, according to Diodorus Siculus, was not less than seven leagues in circumference, and contained a multitude of beautiful temples, not one stone remains to tell the history; even the site on which it stood being disputed. "Is it not astonishing," says Savary, "that the site of the ancient metropolis of Egypt, a city containing magnificent temples and palaces, which art laboured to render eternal, should at present be a subject of dispute among the learned? Pliny removes the difficulty of past doubts—the three grand pyramids, seen by the watermen from all parts, stand on a barren and rocky hill, between Memphis and Delta, one league from the Nile, two from Memphis, and near the village of Busiris." Rennell, however, says, that Memf is on the site of Memphis; since Abulfeda describes it as being ashortday's journey from Cairo: Memf being only fourteen road miles from that city. M. Maillet says, "The most probable opinion is, that this superb city was built at the entrance of the town of mummies, at the north of which the pyramids are placed: the prodigious ruins which present themselves in this spot will serve for a long time as proofs of the greatness of that city, of which they are remains, and the incontestible evidences of its true position." Again, he says, that "out of so many superb monuments, &c., there remain only at present some shapeless ruins of broken columns of ruined obelisks, and some other buildings fallen to decay, which one still discovers at the bottom of the lake, when the increase of the Nile is too small to furnish it with its usual supply of water. Thiscircumstance has twice happened during my seventeen years' consulship, particularly in the year 1677, when the surface of the lake sank between eight and nine feet, and discovered at the bottom of this vast reservoir a kind of city, which excited the admiration of every one. This lake can never be dried up, or drawn off again as before; because they have neglected to keep up the canal which served to drain off the water. There are, also, some heaps of ruins in the plain of three leagues in width, that separates the northern from the southern pyramids, and in which this ancient city extended from the borders of the lake towards the Nile eastward. These are the faint traces of so much magnificence."
Dr. Shaw is of opinion that Djizeh, or Giseh, now occupies the site of Memphis; and that the city is entirely buried in soil. Other authorities, however, place it, and perhaps with greater probability, near the village of Menshee or Dashoo. Norden says: "If we give credit to some authors, the city of Memphis was situated in the place where at present stands the village of Gize, and I own that this opinion does not want probability. But if we attend to it carefully, we shall find it necessary to strike off a great deal of grandeur of that ancient capital of Egypt, or else raise extremely all the plains about it. In effect, Gize does not occupy half the space of Old Cairo, and the plains that extend all round never fail to be deluged at the time of the overflowing of the waters of the Nile. It is incredible, that they should have built a city, so great and famous, in a place subject to be under water half of the year; still less can it be imagined that the ancient authors have forgotten so particular a place."
Mr. Browne says: "I visited the pleasant site of the ancient Memphis on the left bank of the Nile, about two hours to the south of Kahira, in a plain aboutthree miles broad, between the river and the mountains. The land is now laid down in corn, with date-trees toward the mountains. Nothing remains except heaps of rubbish, in which are found pieces of sculptured stone. The spot has been surrounded by a canal. Its extent might be marked by that of the ground where remains are dug up, and which is always overgrown with a kind of thistle, that seems to thrive among the ruins. None of the fine marbles, which are scattered so profusely at Alexandria, are discoverable here; whether it be that they were never used, or were carried away to adorn other cities."[360]
But though the site of the city is not absolutely known, certain it is, that many wonderful erections in its neighbourhood denote its former grandeur, power, and magnificence. These are the Catacombs, the Sphinx, the lake of Mœris, and the Pyramids.
"The entrances into the Catacombs," says the Earl of Sandwich, "where the inhabitants of the neighbouring city of Memphis entombed their embalmed bodies, are near the last Pyramid of Sakara. The greatest part of the plain of Sakara is hollowed into subterraneous cavities, all cut out of the solid rock; not of a hard nature, but yielding to the least violence. The entrances are many in number; and are in form a square of three feet, and about twenty feet deep. The vaults contain embalmed bodies, scattered in confusion, and many of them broken in pieces. These have been taken out of their chests or coffins; and after having been ransacked in search of any idol of value, which are frequently found within the bodies, thrown aside by persons, who would not be at the trouble of carrying them away. The farther the recesses are penetrated, however, the bodies are much more entire, and everything less disturbed. These subterraneous passages are divided into many different chambers; in the sides of which are to be seen a multitude of perpendicular niches, of sufficient height to contain the bodies upright."
A little to the east of the second pyramid, is theSphinx, cut out of the same rock upon which the pyramids are built. The length is about twenty-five feet; and its height, from the knees to the top of the hand, thirty-eight feet.
"The sphinx," says Mr. Wilkinson, "stands nearly opposite the south end of the pyramid Cephren: between its paws were discovered an altar and some tablets; but no entrance was visible. Pliny says, they suppose it the tomb of Amasis;—a tradition which arose, no doubt, from the resemblance of the name of the king, by whose order the rock was cut into this form. But one author has gone farther, and given to Amasis the pyramids themselves. The cap of the sphinx, probably the pshent, has long since been removed; but a cavity in the head, attests its former position, and explains the mode in which it was fixed. The mutilated state of the face, and the absence of the nose, have led many to the erroneous conclusion, that the features were African; but by taking an accurate sketch of the face, and restoring the Egyptian nose, any one may convince himself, that the lips, as well as the rest of the features, perfectly agree with the physiognomy of a Pharaoh; for the reader must be aware, that this, and all other sphinxes, are emblematic representations of Egyptian kings."
Between the paws of the sphinx, a perfect temple was discovered, a few years ago, by the intrepid traveller Belzoni, on clearing away the sand by which it had been choked up for ages.
This figure was[361], a few years ago, at an expense of 800 or 900l.(contributed by some European gentlemen,) cleared from the sand which had accumulated in front of it, under the superintendence of Captain Caviglia.
The noblest and most wonderful of all the structures[362]or works of the kings of Egypt, was the lake of Mœris; accordingly, Herodotus considers it as vastly superior to the pyramids and labyrinth. As Egypt was more or less fruitful in proportion to the inundations of the Nile; and as, in these floods, the first general flow or ebb of the waters were equally fertile to the land; King Mœris, to prevent these two inconveniences, and correct, as far as lay in his power, the irregularities of the Nile, thought proper to call art to the assistance of nature; and so caused the lake to be dug, which afterwards went by his name. This lake was several thousand paces long, and very deep. Two pyramids, on each of which stood a colossal statue, seated on a throne, raised their heads to the height of three hundred feet, in the midst of the lake, whilst their foundations took up the same space under the waters; a proof that they were erected before the cavity was filled; and a demonstration that a lake of such vast extent, was the work of man's hands, in one prince's reign. This is what several historians have related concerning the Lake Mœris, on the testimony of the inhabitants of the country. This lake had a communication with the Nile, by a great canal, four leagues long, and fifty feet broad. Great sluices either opened or shut the canal and lake, as there was occasion.
When it is considered, that the object of this work was the advantage and comfort of a numerous people, all must agree, with M. Savary, that Mœris,who constructed it, performed a far more glorious work than either the labyrinth or the pyramids.
At present, this lake is of a much smaller extent: but this by no means proves that Herodotus and other writers were deceived in their calculations; for, considering the revolutions to which Egypt has been subject for a series of two thousand years, it might have undergone still greater changes.
For the period of nearly one thousand two hundred years, since which Egypt has fallen into the hands of barbarous nations, they have either destroyed, or suffered to perish, the chief part of this lake, and the canal belonging to it. The Mœreotis is dried up, the canal of Alexandria is no longer navigable, and the Mœris is only fifty leagues in circumference. "If," says an enlightened writer, "the Canal of Joseph was cleared out, where the mud is raised up to a vast height; if the ancient dykes were re-established; and the sluices of the canals of Tamich and Bouch restored; Lake Mœris would still serve the same purposes. It would prevent the devastation of the too great swellings of the rivers, and supply the deficiency of those that are inadequate. We should see it, as on former occasions, extending itself from Nesle and Arsinoe, to the Lybian mountains, and offering to astonished travellers what is no where else to be seen;—a sea formed by the hand of man."
The annihilation of Memphian palaces and temples indeed is almost compensated by the existence of the pyramids, which alone are sufficient to engage the attention of mankind. The three largest are situated at Gees, or Ghesa, and named from their founders,Cheops,Chephren, andMycerines; of these only we shall speak.
1. That ofCheops, the largest, is four hundred and forty-eight feet in height, and seven hundredand twenty-eight on each side of the base: that is, forty feet higher than St. Peter's, at Rome; and one hundred and thirty-three feet higher than St. Paul's, in London.
This pyramid, like the rest, was built on a rock, having a square base, cut on the outside as so many steps, and decreasing gradually quite to the summit. It was built with stones of a prodigious size, the least of which were thirty feet, wrought with wonderful art, and covered with hieroglyphics. According to several ancient authors, each side was eight hundred feet broad, and as many high. The summit of the pyramids, which, to those who viewed it from below, seemed a point, was a fine platform, composed of ten or twelve massy stones, and each side of that platform sixteen or eighteen feet long.
It is also remarkable that the four sides of this, and indeed of all the pyramids, face the cardinal points. The inside contained numberless rooms and apartments. There were expressed on the pyramid, in Egyptian characters, the sums it cost only in garlic, leeks, onions, and the like, for the workmen; and the whole amounted to sixteen hundred talents of silver; from whence it was easy to conjecture what a vast sum the whole must have amounted to.
Herodotus ascribes this pyramid to Cheops, a tyrannical and profligate sovereign. He barred the avenues to every temple, and forbade the Egyptians to offer sacrifice to their gods; after which he compelled the people at large to perform the work of slaves. Some he condemned to hew stones out of the Arabian mountains, and drag them to the banks of the Nile; others were stationed to receive the same in vessels, and transport them to the edge of the Libyan Desert. In this service a hundred thousand men were employed, who were relieved every three months. Tenyears were spent in the hard labour of forming the road on which these stones were to be drawn,—a work of no less difficulty and fatigue than the erection of the pyramid itself. This causeway is five stadia in length, forty cubits wide, and its greatest height thirty-two cubits; the whole being composed of polished marble, adorned with the figures of animals. Ten years were consumed in forming this pavement, in preparing the hill on which the pyramids are raised, and in excavating chambers under the ground. The burial-place which he intended for himself, he contrived to insulate within the building, by introducing the waters of the Nile. The pyramid itself was a work of twenty years; it is of a square form, every side being eight plethra in length and as many in height. The stones are very skilfully cemented, and none of them of less dimensions than thirty feet. Such is the account of Herodotus.
Pliny and Diodorus Siculus agree in stating that not less than three hundred and sixty thousand men were employed in the work[363].
The pyramid next in size was erected by Cephrenus, and is thence calledCephren: he was the son of Cheops. These two princes, who were truly brothers by the similitude of their manners, seem to have striven which of them should distinguish himself most, by a barefaced impiety towards the gods, and a barbarous inhumanity to men. Cheops reigned fifty years, and his son Cephrenus fifty-six years after him. They kept the temples shut during the whole time of their long reigns, and forbade the offering of sacrifices under the severestpenalties. On the other hand, they oppressed their subjects, by employing them in the most grievous and useless works; and sacrificed the lives of numberless multitudes of men, merely to gratify a senseless ambition of immortalising their names by edifices of an enormous magnitude and a boundless expense. It is remarkable, that those stately pyramids which have so long been the admiration of the whole world, were the effect of the irreligion and merciless cruelty of those princes.
The magnificent prospect from the top of this pyramid has been described by the French traveller, Savary, who visited Egypt in 1770, in glowing terms. After occupying seven hours in ascending to its summit, "the morning light," says he, "discovered to us every moment new beauties: the tops of gilded minarets, and of date-tree and citron groves, planted round the villages and hills; anon the herds left the hamlets; the boats spread their light sails, and our eyes followed them along the vast windings of the Nile. On the north appeared sterile hills and barren sands; on the south, the river and waving fields, vast as the ocean; to the west, the plain of Fayum, famous for its roses: to the east, the picturesque town of Gizeh, and the towers of Fostat, the minarets of Cairo, and the castle of Saladin, terminated the prospect. Seated on the most wonderful of the works of man, as upon a throne, our eyes beheld by turns a dreadful desert; rich plains in which the Elysian fields had been imagined; villages; a majestic river; and edifices which seemed the work of giants. The universe contains no landscape more variegated, more magnificent, or more awful."
The ancients knew little of the interior structure of these giant piles.[364]Herodotus, who lived 445 years before Christ, merely speaks of an entranceleading to the interior, by hearsay from the priests, who informed him that there were secret vaults beneath, hewn out of the natural rock. Strabo, who lived after the Christian era, only describes a single slanting passage which led to a chamber in which was a stone tomb. Diodorus Siculus, who lived forty-four years before Christ, agrees with this; and Pliny, who livedA. D.66, adds, that there was a well in the Great Pyramid, eighty cubits deep. This is all the ancients have said about the interior.
"The Egyptian priests, indeed, assured Aristides, a Greek traveller about two centuries before Christ, that 'the excavations beneath were as great as the height above.' And Ebn Abd Alkokim, an Arabic writer of the ninth century, says, that the builders 'constructed numerous excavated chambers, with gates to them, forty cubits under ground.' Other Arabian writers say, that these chambers contain chests of black stone, in which were deposited the sacred archives of king Saurid, who built the pyramid. Many discoveries (perhaps a burial-place under ground) obviously remain to be made.
"The same Arab historian, Alkokim, gives an account of the opening of this building under the Caliphate, from which time it has remained in the condition seen and described by all modern travellers, to the time of the Italian traveller Caviglia, who made a discovery of a new chamber and passages about ten years ago. 'After that, Almamon the Caliph (A. D.820) entered Egypt, and saw the Pyramids: he desired to know what was within, and therefore would have them opened. He was told it could not possibly be done. He replied, I will have it certainly done. And that hole was opened for him, which stands open to this day, with fire and vinegar. Two smiths prepared and sharpened theiron and engines, which they forced in: and there was a great expense in the opening it; and the thickness of the wall was found to be twenty cubits. Within they found a square well, and in the square of it there were doors: every door of it opened into a house (or vault), in which there were dead bodies wrapped up in linen. Towards the upper part of the pyramid, they found a chamber, in which was a hollow stone; in it was a statue of stone, like a man, and within it a man, upon whom was a breast-plate of gold, set with jewels, and on him were written characters with a pen, which no man can explain.'
"Greaves, an Englishman, who visited the Great Pyramid in 1648, described the passages thus opened, and then open, very accurately, and suspected that at the bottom of a well in the pyramid was the passage to those secret vaults mentioned by Herodotus; but he made no new discovery. Davison, who visited it in the middle of the eighteenth century, discovered some secret chambers and passages connecting the largest gallery with the central room, and an apartment four feet high over it. He descended the well 155 feet, but found farther progress blocked up. Caviglia was the first to discover the above suspected passage. After much trouble in clearing the narrow opening at the end of the first or entrance gallery of the pyramid, he found that it did not terminate at that point, as hitherto supposed, but proceeded downwards to the distance of two hundred feet. It ended in a doorway on the right, which was found to communicate with the bottom of the well. But the new passage did not terminate here: it went beyond the doorway twenty-three feet, and then took a horizontal direction for twenty-eight more, where it opened into a spacious chamber immediately under the central room.
"This new chamber is twenty-seven feet broad, andsixty-six feet long. The floor is irregular; nearly one half of the length from the eastern, or entrance end, being level, and about fifteen feet from the ceiling; while, in the middle, it descends five feet lower, in which part there is a hollow space bearing all the appearance of the commencement of a well, or shaft. From thence it rises to the western end, so that there is scarcely room between the floor and the ceiling to stand upright.
"On the south of this chamber is a passage hollowed out, just high and wide enough for a man to creep along upon his hands and knees, which continues in the rock for fifty-five feet, and then suddenly ends. Another at the east end commences with a kind of arch, and runs about forty feet into the solid body of the pyramid.
Mr. Salt, the late intelligent British Consul to Egypt, was so struck by this discovery, as to express his belief that the under-ground rooms were used for 'the performance of solemn and secret mysteries.'
"As to the second pyramid of Gizeh, the ancients knew less about it than they did of the first. Herodotus says it has no under-ground chambers, and the other ancient authorities are silent. But the enterprising Belzoni found its entrance, in the north front, in 1818, and discovered, at the same time, that it had been previously forced open by the Arabian Caliph, Ali Mehemet,A. D.782, more than a thousand years before. After forcing an entrance, and advancing along a narrow passage, one hundred feet long, he found a central chamber, forty-six feet long by sixteen wide, and twenty-three high, cut out of the solid rock. It contained a granite sarcophagus, (a tomb,) half sunk in the floor, with some bones in it, which, on inspection by Sir Everard Home, proved to be those of a cow. An Arabic inscription on thewalls implies that it had been opened in the presence of the Sultan Ali Mehemet[365]."
This pyramid was, as has been already said, opened by Belzoni. We shall select another account of this enterprise.
"According to Herodotus, (whose information has generally been found correct,) this pyramid was constructed without any internal chambers. M. Belzoni, however, believed the fact might be otherwise; and having reasons of his own for commencing his operations at a certain point, he began his labours, and with so much foresight as actually to dig directly down upon a forced entrance. But, even after this success, none but a Belzoni would have had the perseverance to pursue the labour required to perfect the discovery. It was by attending to the same kind of indications, which had led him so successfully to explore the six tombs of the kings in Thebes, that he was induced to commence his operations on the north side.
"He set out from Cairo on the 6th of February, 1818, went to the Kaia Bey, and gained permission; the Bey having first satisfied himself that there was no tilled ground within a considerable distance of Ghiza. On the 10th of February he began with six labourers in a vertical section at right angles to the north side of the base, cutting through a mass of stones and lime which had fallen from the upper part of the pyramid, but were so completely aggregated together as to spoil the mattocks, &c. employed in the operation. He persevered in making an opening fifteen feet wide, working downwards, and uncovering the face of the pyramid. During the first week there was but little prospect of meeting with anything interesting; but on the 17th, one of the Arabsemployed called out with great vociferation that he had found the entrance. He had, in fact, come upon a hole into which he could thrust his arm and a djerid six feet long. Before night they ascertained that an aperture was there, about three feet square, which had been closed irregularly with a hewn stone. This being removed, they reached a larger opening, but filled with rubbish and sand. M. Belzoni was now satisfied that this was not a real, but a forced passage. Next day they had penetrated fifteen feet, when stones and sand began to fall from above; these were removed, but still they continued to fall in large quantities, when, after some more days' labour, he discovered an upper forced entrance, communicating with the outside from above. Having cleared this, he found another opening running inward, which proved, on further search, to be a continuation of the lower horizontal forced passage, nearly all choked up with rubbish. This being removed, he discovered, about half way from the outside, a descending forced passage, which terminated at the distance of forty feet. He now continued to work in the horizontal passage, in hope that it might lead to the centre, but it terminated at the depth of ninety feet; and he found it prudent not to force it further, as the stones were very loose over-head, and one actually fell, and had nearly killed one of the people. He therefore now began clearing away the aggregated stones and lime to the eastward of the forced entrance; but by this time his retreat had been discovered, and he found himself much interrupted by visitors.
"On the 28th of February he discovered, at the surface of the pyramid, a block of granite, having the same direction as that of the passage of the first pyramid, that of Cheops; and he now hoped that he was not far from the true entrance. Next day he removed some large blocks, and on the 2d ofMarch he entered the true passage, an opening four feet high, and three feet and a half wide, formed by blocks of granite, and continued descending at an angle of about twenty-six degrees to the length of one hundred and four feet five inches, lined all the length with granite. From this passage he had to remove the stones with which it was filled, and at its bottom was a door or portcullis of granite, (fitted into a niche also made of granite,) supported at the height of eight inches by small stones placed under it. Two days were occupied in raising it high enough to admit of entrance. This door is one foot three inches thick, and, with the granite niche, occupies seven feet of the passage, where the granite work ends, and a short passage, gradually ascending twenty-two feet seven inches towards the centre, the descending commences; at the end of which is a perpendicular of fifteen feet. On the left is a small forced passage cut in the rock; and above, on the right, a forced passage running upward, and turning to the north thirty feet, just over the portcullis. At the bottom of the perpendicular, after removing some rubbish, he found the entrance of another passage, which inclined northward. But, quitting this for the present, he followed his prime passage, which now took a horizontal direction; and at the end of it, one hundred and fifty-eight feet eight inches from the above-mentioned perpendicular, he entered a chamber forty-six feet three inches long, sixteen feet three inches wide, and twenty-three feet six inches in height, for the greater part cut out of the rock; and in the middle of this room he found asarcophagusof granite, eight feet long, three feet six inches wide, and two feet three inches deep inside, surrounded by large blocks of granite, as if to prevent its being removed. The lid had been opened, and he found in the interior a few bones, which he supposed to be human; butsome of them having been since carried to England by Captain Fitzclarence, who was afterwards in this pyramid, and one of them (a thigh-bone) having, on examination by Sir Everard Home, been found to have belonged to a cow, it has been doubted whether any of them ever belonged to a human subject: but such a suspicion is premature, and without any solid foundation; since it appears, from an Arabic inscription on the west wall of this chamber, that this pyramid was opened by architects named Mahomet El Aghar and Othman, and inspected in the presence of the Sultan Ali Mahomet, the first Ugloch (a Tartaric title, as Uleg Bey, &c.). The length of time the pyramid remained open is not known; and it indeed appears to have been closed only by the fall of portions of the structure, and by the collecting of the sands of Libya. From this, and from the lid of the sarcophagus having been opened, and the remains of other animals being also found in the same sarcophagus, as is stated in other accounts, such an opinion does not even appear to be probable. On other parts of the walls are some inscriptions, supposed by M. Belzoni to be in Coptic.
"He now returned to the descending passage at the bottom of the above-mentioned perpendicular. Its angle is about twenty-six degrees. At the end of forty-eight feet and a half it becomes horizontal, still going north fifty-five feet; in the middle of which horizontal part there is a recess to the east eleven feet deep, and a passage to the west twenty feet, which descends into a chamber thirty-two feet long, nine feet nine inches wide, and eight and a half high. In this room were only a few small square blocks of stone, and on the walls some unknown inscriptions. He now returned to the horizontal part and advanced north, ascending at an angle of sixty degrees; and in this, at a short distance from the horizontal part, hemet with another niche, which had been formerly furnished with a granite door, the fragments of which were still there. At forty-seven feet and a half from this niche the passage was filled with large stones, so as to close the entrance, which issues out precisely at the base of the pyramid. All the works below the base are cut in the rock, as well as part of the passages and chambers.
"By clearing away the earth to the eastward of the pyramid, he found the foundation and part of the walls of an extensive temple which stood before it at the distance of forty feet, and laid bare a pavement composed of fine blocks of calcareous stone, some of them beautifully cut and in fine preservation. This platform probably goes round the whole pyramid. The stones composing the foundation of the temple are very large: one, which he measured, was twenty-one feet long, ten high, and eight in breadth[366]."
The pyramid ofMycerinusis one hundred and sixty-two feet in height, and two hundred and eighty on each side of the base. "If," says Diodorus Siculus, "it is less in size and extent than the others, it is superior to them in the costliness of the materials and excellence of the workmanship."
Of Mycerinus historians write in the following manner:—He was the son of Cheops, but of a character opposite to that of his father. So far from walking in his steps, he detested his conduct, and pursued quite different measures. He again opened the temples of the gods, restored the sacrifices, did all that lay in his power to comfort his subjects, and make them forget their past miseries; and believed himself set over them for no other purpose but to exercise justice, and to make them taste all the blessings of an equitable and peaceful administration. He heard their complaints, dried their tears, eased theirmisery, and thought himself not so much the master as the father of his people. This procured him the love of them all. Egypt resounded with his praises, and his name commanded veneration in all places.
"Men," says one writer, "have very justly reckoned these prodigious masses of earth and stone among the wonders of the world; nevertheless their use appears to us very trivial, or is unknown. The Egyptians seem to have been more desirous of exciting wonder, than of communicating instruction."—"The most probable opinion respecting the object of these vast edifices," says another writer, "is that which combines the double use of the sepulchre and the temple, nothing being more common in all nations than to bury distinguished men in places consecrated by the rites of divine worship. If Cheops, Suphis, or whoever else was the founder of the Great Pyramid, intended it only for his tomb, what occasion, says Dr. Shaw, for such a narrow sloping entrance into it, or for the well, as it is called, at the bottom;—or for the lower chamber with a large niche or hole in the eastern wall of it;—or for the long narrow cavities in the sides of the large upper room, which likewise is incrusted all over with the finest marble;—or for the two ante-chambers and the lofty gallery, with benches on each side, that introduce us into it? As the whole of the Egyptian theology was clothed in mysterious emblems and figures, it seems reasonable to suppose that all these turnings, apartments, and secrets in architecture, were intended for some nobler purpose;—for the catacombs or burying-places are plain vaulted chambers hewn out of the natural rock;—and the deity rather, which was typified in the outward form of this pile, was to be worshipped within."
"If thoughtlessness should condemn the immense and apparently useless labours of ancient Egypt," says a third, "so are they easily condemned, under the use of the ever-acceptable term tyranny, the ever-ready word of him who abuses all the power which he can command. Yet he who would eat must labour: it is the unvarying law, not of God alone, but of human society; the bond by which it is held together. The soil of Egypt was the possession of its singular government, and the labour of the people was the only manner in which they could demand or acquire a share of the produce: it was the only mode in which they ought to have possessed their portions. There is reason to believe that the soil had appropriated all the labour applicable to it; and commercial industry, as it then was, had probably done the same. An artificial invention to occupy labour became, therefore, imperiously necessary; and through this was Egypt peopled to an extent which seems to have been very great. The bearing of this fact on other cases, where, under a general law pervading all creation, conditions of labour have been attached to possession, must be obvious; and though tyranny had been the immediate cause, even thus does the Deity often direct the wickedness of man to his own good ends."
"I should, however," says a fourth, (Maupertuis,) "have been much better pleased had the kings of Egypt employed the millions of men who reared these pyramids in the air, in digging cavities in the earth of a depth answerable to the marvellous we find in the works of those princes."—"There have been many opinions expressed by learned men as to the object of these structures," says a fifth. One is, that they were the granaries of Joseph. This may be confuted by the smallness of the rooms, and the time required in building. Another, that they wereobservatories; which is accusing the builders of great absurdity, since the neighbouring rocks were better calculated for the purpose. The Arabians generally think that they were built by king Saurid, before the Deluge, as a refuge for himself and the public records from the Flood; but this opinion requires no answer. Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wroteA. D.71, ascribes them to his countrymen, during the captivity in Egypt. As sun-dials, they would have failed. Shaw and Bryant, who wrote in the middle of the last century, believed them to be temples, and the stone chest, a tank for holding water used for purification. Pauw, who lived at the same time with Shaw and Bryant, considers the Great Pyramid as the tomb of Osiris; and that Osiris having fourteen tombs for various parts of his dismembered body, fourteen pyramids must have been devoted to them, and the annual funeral mysteries connected with his death and resurrection. But the greater number of writers, ancient and modern, believe it to be the tomb of Cheops, the alleged builder. Improving on this notion, Maillet (1760) supposed that the chambers were built for the purpose of shutting up the friends of the deceased king with the dead body; and that the holes on each side of the central chamber of the Great Pyramid were the means by which they were to be supplied with food, &c: an opinion which would have appeared sufficiently ludicrous, if it had not been exceeded by that expressed by an old Moulah to Buonaparte, when in Egypt (1799), that the object was to keep the buried body undecayed, by closely sealing up all access to the outward air. Another ingenious theory ascribes them to the shepherd kings, a foreign pastoral nation which oppressed Egypt in the early times of the Pharaohs. However, this is, after all, but conjecture. The utmost uncertainty exists in all that concerns these gigantic, unwieldy, and mysterious buildings. Their builders, origin, date, and purposes, are entirely lost in the night of ages. As the sides of all the pyramids face the cardinal points, and of course give the true meridian of the places where they are situated, it would seem that their builders had made some progress inscientificknowledge; and the buildings themselves, under all circumstances, notwithstanding their plain exterior, clearly show the advanced state of art in those very early times.
When the traveller approaches[367]those vast monuments of human labour, the imagination seems to burst, as it were, the bands of ages, and the mind appears as if it had lived a thousand years. When the French were at Thebes, the whole army stopped among the ruins, and clapped their hands with delight: and when Buonaparte was about to engage the Mamelukes, who were advancing with loud cries, superbly accoutred, he called out to his army, "Behold! Yonder are the Pyramids; the most ancient of the works of men. From the summits of those monuments forty ages are now beholding us." The battle which ensued laid all Egypt at the feet of the French general.
We shall finish this account by selecting a passage from Rollin:—"Such were the famous Egyptian Pyramids, which, by their figure as well as size, have triumphed over the injuries of time and the barbarians. But what efforts soever men may make, their nothingness will always appear. These pyramids were tombs; and there is still to be seen in the middle of the largest, an empty sepulchre, cut out of one entire stone, about three feet deep and broad, anda little above six feet long[368]. Thus all this bustle, all this expense, and all the labours of so many thousand men, ended in procuring a prince, in this vast and almost boundless pile of building, a little vault six feet in length. Besides, the kings who built these pyramids had it not in their power to be buried in them, and so did not enjoy the sepulchre they had built. The public hatred which they incurred, by reason of their unheard-of cruelties to their subjects, in laying such heavy tasks upon them, occasioned their being interred in some obscure place, to prevent their bodies from being exposed to the fury and vengeance of the populace.