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Diodorus Siculus (56 BC) From Book I, 63.4-64.14: (ref: 16)

'The eighth King, Chemmis of Memphis, ruled fifty years and constructed the largest of the three pyramids, which are numbered among the Seven Wonders of the World. These pyramids, which are situated on the side of Egypt which is towards Libya, are one hundred and twenty stades from Memphis and fourty-five from the Nile, and by the immensity of their structures and the skill shown in their execution they fill the beholder with wonder and astonishment. For the largest is in the form of a square and has a base length on each side of seven plethora (7 plethra = 246.26m) and a height of over six plethora (6 plethra = 211.08m (ridge)); it also gradually tapers to the top, where each side is six cubits long. The entire construction is of hard stone, which is difficult to work but lasts forever; for though no fewer than a thousand years have elapsed, as they say, to our lifetime, or, as some writers have it, more than three thousand four hundred, the stones remain to this day still preserving their original position and the entire structure undecayed. It is said that the stone was conveyed over a great distance from Arabia and that the construction was effected by means of mounds, since cranes had not yet been invented at that time; and the most remarkable thing in the account is that, though the constructions were on such a great scale and the country round about them consists of nothing but sand, not a trace remains either of any mound or of the dressing of these stones, so that they do not have the appearance of being the slow handiwork of men but look like a sudden creation, as though they had been made by some god and set down bodily in the surrounding sand. Certainly Egyptians would make a marvel out of these things, saying that, inasmuch as the mounds were built of salt and saltpeter, when the river was let in it melted them down and completely effaced them without the intervention of man's hand. However, there is not a word of truth in this, but the entire material for the mounds, raised as they were by the labour of many hands, was returned by the same means to the place from which it came; for three hundred and sixty thousand men, as they say, were employed on the undertaking, and the whole structure was scarcely completed in twenty years.

Upon the death of this King his brother Cephren succeeded the throne and ruled fifty-six years; but some say that it was not the brother of Chemmis, but his son Chabreys, who took the throne. All writers, however, agree that it was the next ruler who, emulating the example of his predecessor, built the second pyramid, which was the equal of the one just mentioned in the skill displayed in its execution but far behind it in its size, since its base length on each side is only a stade (1 stade = 211.08m). And an inscription on the larger pyramid gives the sum of money expended on it, since the writing sets forth that on vegetables and purgatives for the workmen there were paid out over sixteen hundred talents. The smaller bears no inscription but has steps cut into one side. And though the two kings built the pyramids to serve as their tombs, in the event neither of them was buried in them; for the multitudes, because of the hardships which they had endured in the building of them and the many cruel and violent acts of these kings, were filled with anger against those who had caused their sufferings and openly threatened to tear their bodies asunder and cast them in despite out of the tombs. Consequently each ruler when dying enjoined upon his kinsmen to bury his body secretly in an unmarked place.

After these rulers Mycerinus, to whom some give the name Mencherinus, a son of the builder of the first pyramid, became king. He undertook the construction of a third pyramid, but died before the entire structure had been completed. The base length of each side he made three plethora (3 plethra = 105.54m), and for fifteen courses he built the walls of black stone like that found at Thebes, but the rest of it he filled out with stones like that found in the other pyramids. In size this structure falls behind those mentioned above, but far surpasses them in the skill displayed in its execution and the great cost of the stone; and on the north side of the pyramid is an inscription stating that its builder was Mycerinus There are also three other pyramids, each of which is one plethrum (1 plethrum = 35.18m) long on each side and in general construction is like the others save in size; and these pyramids, they say, were built by the three kings named above for their wives.

It is generally agreed that these monuments far surpass all other constructions in Egypt, not only in their massiveness and cost but also in the skill displayed by their builders. And they say that the architects of the monuments are more deserving of admiration than the kings who furnished the means for their execution; for in bringing their plans to completion the former called upon their individual souls and their zeal for honour, but the latter only used the wealth which they had inherited and the grievous toil of other men. But with regard to the pyramids there is no complete agreement among either the inhabitants of the country or the historians; for according to some the kings mentioned above were their builders, according to others they were different kings; for instance, it is said that Armaeus built the largest, Amosis the second, and Inaros the third. And the last pyramid, some say, is the tomb of the courtesan Rhodopis, for some of the monarchs became her lovers, as the account goes, and out of their passion for her carried the building through to completion as a joint undertaking.'

Strabo c. 24 BC. (Extract from (16). Taken from 'The geography of Strabo' (Trans. By H. L. Jones) (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons) Vol. III, p. 84-5).

On proceeding forty stadia from the city, one comes to a kind of mountain-brow; on it are numerous pyramids, the tombs of kings, of which three are noteworthy; and two of these are even numbered among the seven wonders of the world, for they are a stadium in height, are quadrangular in shape, and their height is a little greater than the length of each of the sides; and one of them is only a little larger than the other. High up, approximately midway between the sides, it has a movable stone, and when raised up there is a sloping passage to the vault. Now these pyramids are near one another and on the same level; but further on, at a greater height of the hill, is the third, which is much smaller than the two, though constructed at much greater expense; for from the foundation almost to the middle it is made of black stone, the stone from which mortars are made, being brough from a great distance, for it is brought from the mountains of Aetheopia; and because of its being hard and difficult to work into shape it rendered the undertaking very expensive. It is called 'Tomb of the courtesan', having been built by her lovers the courtesan whom Sappho the Melic poetess calls Doricha, the beloved of Sappho's brother Charaxus, who was engaged in transporting lesbian wine to Naucratis for sale, but others give her the name Rhodopis. They tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was founding the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, became the wife of the king, and when she died was honoured with the above mentioned tomb.

The section concerning the 'moveable stone' has been variously translated. The following is a modern translation (ref lost), which supports the idea that the stone 'door' was a similar mechanism as that found in the 'South pyramid of Dashur' (See Petrie). "The Greater (Pyramid), a little way up one side, has a stone that may be taken out , (exairesimon, exemptilem) which being raised up (arqentoV, sublato) there is a sloping passage to the foundations."

Extracts from Pliny 'The Elder' - c. 20 AD.  - (Natural History, Book 36)

Chapter. 16. (12) - MARVELLOUS WORKS IN EGYPT. THE PYRAMIDS. - We must make some mention, too, however cursorily, of the Pyramids of Egypt, so many idle (1) and frivolous pieces of ostentation of their resources, on the part of the monarchs of that country. Indeed, it is asserted by most persons, that the only motive for constructing them was either a determination not to leave their treasures to their successors or to rivals that might be plotting to supplant them, or to prevent the lower classes from remaining unoccupied. There was great vanity displayed by these men in constructions of this description, and there are still the remains of many of them in an unfinished state. There is one to be seen in the Nome of Arsinoïtes; two in that of Memphites, not far from the Labyrinth, of which we shall shortly have to speak; and two in the place where Lake Mœris was excavated, an immense artificial piece of water, cited by the Egyptians among their wondrous and memorable works: the summits of the pyramids, it is said, are to be seen above the water. The other three pyramids, the renown of which has filled the whole earth, and which are conspicuous from every quarter to persons navigating the river, are situate on the African (2) side of it, upon a rocky sterile elevation. They lie between the city of Memphis and what we have mentioned as the Delta, within four miles of the river, and seven miles and a-half from Memphis, near a village known as Busiris, the people of which are in the habit of ascending them.

Notes:-

1. Ajasson thinks that they were intended as places of sepulchre for the kings, but for the concealment, also, of their treasures.

2. Or left-hand side to those coming down the stream. He alludes to the three great Pyramids of Giza, not far from Cairo. There are numerous other pyramids to be seen in Egypt.

CHAP. 17. - THE EGYPTIAN SPHINX. - In front of these pyramids is the Sphinx (1), a still more wondrous object of art, but one upon which silence has been observed, as it is looked upon as a divinity by the people of the neighborhood. It is their belief that King Harmaïs was buried in it, and they will have it that it was brought there from a distance. The truth is, however, that it was hewn from the solid rock; and, from a feeling of veneration, the face of the monster is coloured red. The circumference of the head, measured round the forehead, is one hundred and two feet, the length of the feet being one hundred and forty-three, and the height, from the belly to the summit of the asp on the head, sixty-two (2).

The largest (3) Pyramid is built of stone quarried in Arabia: three hundred and sixty thousand men, it is said, were employed upon it twenty years, and the three were completed in seventy-eight years and four months. They are described by the following writers: Herodotus, (4) Euhemerus, Duris of Samos, Aristagoras, Dionysius, Artemidorus, Alexander Polyhistor, Butoridas, Antisthenes, Demetrius, Demoteles, and Apion. These authors, however, are disagreed as to the persons by whom they were constructed; accident having, with very considerable justice, consigned to oblivion the names of those who erected such stupendous memorials of their vanity. Some of these writers inform us that fifteen hundred talents were expended upon radishes, garlic, and onions (5) alone.

The largest Pyramid occupies seven (6) jugera of ground, and the four angles are equidistant, the face of each side being eight hundred and thirty-three (7) feet in length. The total height from the ground to the summit is seven hundred and twenty-five feet, and the platform on the summit is sixteen feet and a-half in circuit. Of the second Pyramid, the faces of the four sides are each seven hundred and fifty-seven feet and a-half in length (8).The third is smaller than the others, but far more prepossessing in appearance: it is built of Æthiopian stone (9), and the face between the four corners is three hundred and sixty-three feet in extent. In the vicinity of these erections, there are no vestiges of any buildings left. Far and wide there is nothing but sand to be seen, of a grain somewhat like a lentil in appearance, similar to that of the greater part of Africa, in fact.

The most difficult problem is, to know how the materials for construction could possibly be carried to so vast a height. According to some authorities, as the building gradually advanced, they heaped up against it vast mounds of nitre (10) and salt; which piles were melted after its completion, by introducing beneath them the waters of the river. Others, again, maintain, that bridges were constructed, of bricks of clay, and that, when the pyramid was completed, these bricks were distributed for erecting the houses of private individuals. For (11) the level of the river, they say, being so much lower, water could never by any possibility have been brought there by the medium of canals. In the interior of the largest Pyramid there is a well, eighty-six cubits deep, which communicates with the river, it is thought. The method of ascertaining the height of the Pyramids and all similar edifices was discovered (12) by Thales of Miletus; he measuring the shadow at the hour of the day at which it is equal in length to the body projecting it.

Such are the marvellous Pyramids; but the crowning marvel of all is, that the smallest, but most admired of them--that we may feel no surprise at the opulence of the kings--was built by Rhodopis, (13) a courtesan! This woman was once the fellow-slave of Æsopus the philosopher and fabulist, and the sharer of his bed; but what is much more surprising is, that a courtesan should have been enabled, by her vocation, to amass such enormous wealth.

Notes -

(1) It still exists, though the face is mutilated. It was disinterred from the sand by Belzoni, but is now again nearly covered. According to Cavaglia, the signature of the Historian Arrian was found inscribed on one of the fore-paws, when it was disinterred.

(2) This reading is, perhaps, preferable to the LXI. s, (61 1/2) of the Bamberg MS. The head and neck, when uncovered, were found to be 27 feet in height.

(3) Built by King Cheops, according to Herodotus, B. ii.

(4) All these writers are mentioned in the list of authors at the end of the present Book.

(5) For the use of the workmen. There is, probably, no foundation for a statement so exact as this; as it would be very singular that such a fact should continue to be known, and the names of the builders be buried in oblivion.

(6) According to modern measurement, the sides of its base measure at the foundation 763 feet 4 inches, and it occupies a space of more than 13 acres. Its perpendicular height is 480 feet.

(7) Other readings are 883, and 783.

(8) Differing very considerably from the modern measurement. These variations may possibly arise, however, from a large portion of the base being covered with sand.

(9) It was entirely coated with marble from the Thebaid; which, however was removed by the Arabs in the middle ages. In the vicinity there is a fourth pyramid, but of such small dimensions that some of the Egyptian obelisks exceed it in height.

(10) "Nitrum." See B. xxxi. c. 46.

(11) From this reason being given, it would almost appear that these "bridges" in reality were aqueducts, for conveying the water, in order to melt the mounds of salt and nitre.

(12) A very improbable story, as Ajasson remarks; as if the method of ascertaining the heights of edifices was unknown to the sages of Egypt, and the constructors of the Pyramids!

(13) Herodotus, B. ii. cc. 134, 5, takes great pains to prove the absurdity of this story; and there is little doubt that the beautiful courtesan has been confounded with the equally beautiful Egyptian Queen, Nitocris, who is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have built the third pyramid. As to the courtesan having been a fellow-slave of the fabulist, Æsop, it is extremely doubtful.
 

225 A.H. (836 AD) - Papyrus of Abou Hormeis. (Extract from Ref: 24 with notes by Dr. Sprenger) (Note - Pre Al-Mamun).

            'It is said, that in a tomb at the monastery of Abou Hormeis, a body was found wrapped round with a cloth, and bearing upon the breast a papyrus, inscribed with antient Coptic characters, which could not be deciphered until, a monk, from the monastery of Al Kalmun in the Faioum, explained it as follows. (Note - The story is related by Masoudi, but this relation of it by Al Kodhai is given, because he was a cadi in Egypt; and mentions the persons by whom the tradition had been handed down from former times) "In the first year of King Diocletian, an account was tken from a book, copied in the first year of Kung Philippus (Note - Moses of chorine, seems to allude to this account when he mentions that Valaraces sent to his brother Arsaces (the governor of Armenia), a learned man called Mariba to enquire into the antient history of Armenia. This person is supposed to have found, amongst the archives of Nineveh, a book, translated from Chaldaic into Greek by order of Alexander the Great, which contained historical records of the most remote antiquity. Valaraces ordered them to be inscribed upon a column; and the author derived from this monument a considerable part of this history. Cedrenus also says, upon the authority of an apocryphal work ascribed by the Egyptians to Hermes, that Enoch, foreseeing the destruction of the earth, had inscribed the science of astronomy upon two pillar; the one composed of stone to resist the operation of water, the other of brick to withstand that of fire. Cedrenus was a monk, and lived about 1050) - from an inscription of great antiquity written upon a tablet of god, which tablet was translated by two brothers-Ilwa and Yercha (Note - A French author (?) remarks, that it is possible that in the two hundred and twenty-fifth year of Ilegra an Arabic version was found of a Greek translation of an antient MS, which may have related to celestial observations and to the construction of the pyramids; and also that the two larger pyramids may, from their relative positions, have been called "eastern" and "western", and the third, from the dark colour of the granite, termed "painted". He conceives that treasures, statues, and mummies, may have been found in them. He remarks that the fonder of the great pyramid is called Surid, son of Shaluk; of the second, Herdjib; and of the third, Kemses, son or nephew of Surid: an account which agrees with the Greek historians. He observes, that the entrances, which have been discovered, are on the northern sides, and about twelve metres above the bases of the pyramids; but that at the time of the Caliph Al-Mamoun, as the accumulation of rubbish must have been less, the subterraneous passages, mentioned by the Arabian historians, may have been more apparent; and he conceives that their accounts are, to a certain degree, founded on fact) - at the request of Philipus, who asked them, how it happened that they could understand an inscription, which was unintelligible to the learned men of his capital? They answered, because hey were descended from one of the antient inhabitants of Egypt, who was preserved with Noah in the ark, and who, after the flood had subsided, went into Egypt with the sons of Ham, and dying in that country left to his descendants, (from whom the two brothers received them), the books of the antient Egyptians, which had been written one thousand seven hundred and eighty five years before the time of philippus, nine hundred and fourty-six years before the arrival of the sons of Ham in Egypt, and contained the history of two thousand three hundred and seventy-two years; and that it was from these books that the tablet was formed (785+2372 = 4057 years before year one of Philippus ?). The contents of the book were: 'We have seen wht the stars foretold; we saw the calamity descending from the heavens, and going out from the earth, and we were convinced that the waters would destroy the earth, with the inhabitants and plants. We told this to the King Ben Shulak: he built he pyramids fro the safety of us, and also as toms for himself and for his household. When Surid died, he was buried in the eastern pyramid; his brother Haukith, in the western; and his nephew Krwars, in the smaller - the lower part of which is built with granite, but the upper with a stone called Kedan'. The pyramids are described to have had doors with subterraneous porticoes or passages one hundred and fifty cubits in length. The entrance to the eastern pyramid is said to be on the side next to the sea, and that of the strong pyramid towards the Kiblah;and vast treasures and innumerable precious things are mentioned to have been enclosed in these buildings. Then the two brothers calculated what time had elapsed from the flood to the day when the translation was made by them for King Philip; and it appeared to be one thousand seven hundred and fourty-one years, fifty-nine days, and twenty three 59/400 hours."

            "In this manner were the pyramids built. Upon the walls were written the mysteries of science, astronomy, geometry, physics, and much useful knowledge, which any person, who understands our writing, can read. The deluge was to take place when the heart of the lion entered the first minute of the head of cancer, at the declining of the star. The other indications were the sun and moon entering into the first minute of the head of Aries and Saturn, in the first degree and twenty eight minutes of Aries; and Jupiter, in the twenty-ninth degree twenty-eight minutes of Pisces; and Hermes, i.e. Mercury, in the fifth degree and three minutes of the Lion." (Note- This statement was translated from the Coptic into Arabic 225 A.H., supposed to be four thousand three hundred and twenty-one years after the construction of the pyramids ( = 836AD = 4321 - 836 = 3485 BC) an account of the appearance of the heavens when the waters subsided, is also included).

 The Coptic Accounts. - The following is a note in the margin of (Ref: 24), made by a Dr. Sprenger in relation to the Coptic accounts.

'It is said that, in the reign of Ahmed Ben Touloun, who conquered Egypt about 260 A.H. (Note = 871 AD - Al-Mamun 850 AD? which means that these MSS were written after the pyramid had been opened.), a learned old man, above one hundred years old, and of either Coptic of Nabathaen extraction, lived in upper Egypt. This person had visited many countries, and was well informed of the ancient history of Egypt, and was, by order of Ahmed Ben Touloun, examined before an assembly of learned Mohametans; and Masoudi's account of the pyramids is said to have been given upon the authority of this learned man. Masoudi also mentions certain persons who were, by profession, guides to the pyramids, with little or no variation, for above a thousand years; and they appear to have repeated the traditions of the ancient Egyptians, mixed up with fabulous stories and incidents, certainly not of Mohametan invention. The history, however, although evidently incorrect, yet seems well worthy of credit' (24).

Masoudi - (Abu'l Hassan Ma'sudi) Died 956 AD (345 A.H) (Extract from Ref: 24).

The Akbar-Ezzeman MS, by Masoudi, and in the Bodleian, at Oxford, was so much decayed, that recourse has been had to the works of other authors, who have given the same account in nearly the same words - namely, to Makrizi, who quotes from Usted Ibrahim Ben Wasyff Shah; to Soyuti; to a MS (No. 7503) in the British museum, entitled "The Odour of Flowers", or "The Wonders of Different Countries", by Mohammed Ben Ayas; to a Turkish "History of Egypt" MS. (7861) in the British Museum, written 1089 AH; and to Yakut, MS in the Bodleian Library.

Masoudi's account professes to relate the Coptic tradition which says, "That Surid, Ben Shaluk, Ben Sermuni, Ben Termidun, Ben Tedresan, Ben Sal, one of the kings before the flood, built the two great pyramids; and, notwithstanding they were subsequently named after a person called Sheddad Ben Ad, that they were not built by the Adites, who would not conquer Egypt, on account of the powers, which the Egyptians possessed by means of enchantment; that the reason for building the pyramids was the following dream, which happened to Surid 300 years previous to the flood. It appeared to him, that the earth was overthrown, and that the inhabitants were laid prostrate upon it; that the stars wandered confusedly from their courses, and clashed together with a tremendous noise. The king, although generally affected by this vision, did not disclose it to any person but was conscious that some great event was about to take place. Soon afterwards in another vision, he saw the fixed stars descend upon the earth in the form of white birds seizing the people, enclosing them in a cleft between two great mountains, which shut upon them. The stars were dark, and veiled with smoke. The king awoke in great consternation, and repaired to the temple of the sun, where, with great lamentations, he prostrated himself in the dust. Early in the morning he assembled the chief priests from all the nomes in Egypt, a hundred and thirty in number; no other persons were admitted to this assembly, when he related his first and second vision. The interpretation was declared to announce, "that some great event would take place."

The high priest, whose name was Philimon or Iklimon, spoke as follows:-"Grand and mysterious are thy dreams: The visions of the king will not prove deceptive, for sacred is his majesty. I will now declare unto the king a dream I also had a year ago, but which I have not imparted to any human being." The king said, "Relate it, O Philimon." The high priest accordingly began:- " I was sitting with the king upon the tower of Amasis. The firmament descended from above till it overshadowed as a vault. The king raised his hands in supplication to the heavenly bodies, whose brightness was obscured in a mysterious and threatening matter. The people ran to the palace to implore the kings protection; who in great alarm again raised his hands towards the heavens, and ordered me to do the same; and behold, a bright opening appeared over the king, and the sun shone forth above; these circumstances allayed our apprehensions, and indicated, that the sky would resume its former altitude; and fear together with the dream vanished away."

The king then directed the astrologers to ascertain by taking their altitude whether the stars foretold any great catastrophe, and the result announced an approaching deluge. (Note - according to Makrizi, fire was to proceed from the sign Leo, and to consume the world). The king ordered them to enquire whether or not this calamity would befall Egypt; and they answered, yes, the flood would overwhelm the land, and destroy a large portion of it for some years.

He ordered them to enquire if the earth would again become fruitful, or if it would continue to be covered with water. They answered that its former fertility would return. The king demanded what would happen. He was informed that a stranger would invade the country, kill the inhabitants, and seize upon their property; and that the Nile, would take possession of the kingdom; upon which the king ordered the pyramids to be built, and the predictions of the priests to be inscribed upon columns, and upon the large stones belonging to them; and he placed them with his treasures, and all his valuable property, together with the bodies of his ancestors. He also ordered the priests to deposit within them, written accounts of their wisdom and acquirements in the different arts and sciences. (Note - On the margin of Makrizi's MSS, we read that the inscriptions of the priests were on the ceilings, roofs etc, of the subterraneous passages). Subterraneous channels were also constructed to convey to them the waters of the Nile. He filled the passages with talismans, with wonderful things, and idols; and the writing of the priests containing all manner of wisdom, the names and properties of medical plants, and the sciences of arithmetic and of geometry; that they might remain as records, for the benefit of those, who could afterwards comprehend them.

He ordered pillars to be cut, and an extensive pavement to be formed. The lead employed in the work was procured from the West. The stone came from the neighbourhood of Es Souan. In this way were built the Three Pyramids at Dashoor, the Eastern, the Western and the coloured one. (Note - Makrizi and Soyuti do not mention Dashoor, so that the author probably alluded to the [pyramids of Gizeh, as Dashoor is only inserted in a MS in the Bodleian).  In carrying on the work, leaves of papyrus, or paper, inscribed with certain characters, were placed under the stones prepared in the quarries; and upon being struck, the blocks were moved at each time the distance of a bowshot (about one hundred and fifty cubits), and so by degrees arrived at the pyramids. Rods of iron were inserted into the centres of the stones, that formed the pavement, and, passing through the blocks placed upon them, were fixed by melted lead. Entrances, with porticoes composed of stones fastened together by lead, were made forty cubits under the earth: the length of every portico being one hundred and fifty cubits. The door of the eastern pyramid was one hundred cubits eastward from the centre of the face, in which it was placed, and was in the building itself.  The door of the westward pyramid was one hundred cubits westward, and was also in the building. And the door of the coloured pyramid was one hundred cubits southward of the centre, and was likewise in the building. The height of each pyramid was one hundred royal cubits, equal o five hundred common cubits. The squares of the bases were the same. They were begun at the eastern side. When the buildings were finished, the people assembled with rejoicing around the king, who covered the pyramids with coloured brocade, from the top to the bottom, and gave a great feast, at which all the inhabitants of the country were present.

He constructed, likewise, with coloured granite, in the western Pyramid, thirty repositories for sacred symbols, and talismans formed of sapphires, for instruments of war composed of iron which could not become rusty, and for glass, which could be bent without being broken; and also for many sorts of medicines, simple and compound, and for deadly poisons.

In the eastern pyramid were inscribed the heavenly spheres and figures representing the stars and planets in their forms, in which they were worshipped.

The king, also, deposited the instruments, and the thuribula, with which his forefathers had sacrificed to the stars, and also their writings; likewise, the position of the stars, and their circles; together with the history and chronicles of time past, of that, which is to come, and of every future event, which would take place in Egypt. He placed there, also, coloured basins (for lustration and sacrificial purposes), with pure water, and other matters.

Within the coloured pyramid were laid the bodies of the deceased priests, in sarcophagi of black granite; and with each was a book, in which the mysteries of his profession, and the acts of his life were related. There were different degrees among the priest, who were employed in metaphysical speculations, and who served the seven planets. Every planet had two sects of worshippers; each subdivided into seven classes. The first comprehended the priests, who worshipped, or served seven planets; the second, those who served six planets; the third, those who served five planets; the fourth, those who served four planets; the fifth, those who worshipped three planets; the sixth, those who served two planets; the seventh, those who served one planet. The names of these classes were inscribed on the sides of the sarcophagi (The names are given in the MS of Masoudi, but they cannot be made out); and within them were lodged books with golden leaves, which each priest had written a history of the past and a prophecy of the future. Upon the sarcophagi were, also, represented the manner, in which arts and sciences were performed, with the description of each process, and the object of it. The king assigned to every pyramid a guardian: the guardian of the Eastern pyramid was an idol of speckled granite, standing upright, with a weapon like a spear in his hand; a serpent was wreathed around his head, which seized upon and strangled whoever approached, by twisting round his neck, when it again returned to its former position upon the idol. The guardian of the western pyramid was an image made of black and white onyx, with fierce and sparkling eyes, seated on a throne, and armed with a spear; upon the approach of a stranger, a sudden noise was heard, and the image destroyed him. To the coloured (that is, the third pyramid) he assigned a statue, placed upon a pedestal, which was endowed with the power of entrancing every beholder till he perished. When everything was finished, he caused the pyramids to be haunted with living spirits; and offered up sacrifices to prevent the intrusion of strangers, and of all persons, excepting those, who by their conduct were worthy of admission. The author then says, that, according to the Coptic account, the following passage was inscribed, in Arabic, upon the pyramids. "I, Surid, the king, have built these pyramids, and have finished them in sixty-one years. (Not - Makrizi says "in sixty years" and states that he had endeavoured to find them, but in vain) Let him, who comes after me, and imagines himself a king like me; attempt to destroy them in six hundred. To destroy is easier than to build. I have clothed them in silk: let him try to cover them with mats".

It is added, that the spirit of the northern pyramid had been observed to pass around it in the shape of a beardless boy, with large teeth, and a sallow countenance; that the spirit of the western pyramid was a naked woman, with large teeth, who seduced people into her power, and then made them insane, she was to be seen at mid-day and at sunset: and that the guardian of the coloured pyramid, in the form of an old man, used to scatter incense around the building with a thuribulum, like that used in Christian churches.

The standard Coptics account end here.

"There was a king named Saurid, the son of Sahaloe, 300 years before the Deluge, who dreamed one night that he saw the earth overturned with its inhabitants, the men cast down on their faces,  the stars falling out of the heavens, and striking one against the other, and making horrid and dreadful cries as they fell.  He thereupon awoke much troubled.  A year after he dreamed again that he saw the fixed stars come down to the earth in the form of white birds, which carried men away, and cast them between two great mountains, which almost joined together and covered them; and then the bright, shining stars became dark and were eclipsed.  Next morning he ordered all the princes of the priests, and magicians of all the provinces of Egypt, to meet together; which they did to the number of 130 priest and soothsayers, with whom he went and related to them his dream.  

"Among others, the priest Aclimon, who was the greatest of all, and resided chiefly in the king's Court, said thus to him: - I myself had a dream about a year ago which frightened me very much, and which I have not revealed to any one.  I dreamed, said the priest,  that I was with your Majesty on the top of the mountain of fire, which is in the midst of Emosos, and that I saw the heaven sink down below its ordinary situation, so that it was near the crown of our heads, covering and surrounding us, like a great basin turned upside down; that the stars were intermingled among men in diverse figures; that the people implored your Majesty's succor, and ran to you in multitudes as their refuge; that you lifted up your hands above your head, and endeavored to thrust back the heaven, and  keep it from coming down so low; and that I, seeing what your Majesty did, did also the same.  While we were in that posture, extremely affrighted, I thought we saw a certain part of heaven opening, and a bright light coming out of it; that afterwards the sun rose out of the same place, and we began to implore his assistance; whereupon he said thus to us: "The heaven will return to its ordinary situation when I shall have performed three hundred courses".  I thereupon awaked extremely affrighted."

"The priest having thus spoken, the king commanded them to take the height of the stars, and to consider what accident they portended.  Whereupon they declared that they promised first the Deluge, and after that fire.  Then he commanded pyramids should be built, that they might remove and secure in them what was of most esteem in their treasuries, with the bodies of the kings, and their wealth, and the aromatic roots which served them, and that they should write their wisdom upon them, that the violence of the water might not destroy it."

Coutelle - Napoleon's Expedition. (1799-1801). Extract from Coutelle with notes from Pochan (16).

The Galleries. - The first gallery, 22.363 metres long (38) to where it now ends, wasn't really closed off  (filled in) except at its entrance If the first passage had been closed off along its entire length, there would be signs that the stones had been torn out along the sides and the ceiling; these have remained, on the contrary, perfectly smooth.

The second gallery, or Ascending passage, whose slope is 27° (39), is 33.134 metres long and has the same height and width as the first gallery. It (the second gallery) is still closed off at its entrance by a large granite block having the same dimensions as the passage. The difficulty of breaking through such hard rock in so small a space meant conceiving and executing a plan to proceed by breaking through the softer stones forming the mass on the right side of this passage, parallel with it; this attempt was successful. In getting around this obstacle, one enters the second passage (40); reaching the end, one finds oneself on a sort of landing.

The entrance to the well is to the right. Here, transecting the plane of the great Ascending passage begins the Horizontal passage, equal in height and width to the two other passages traversed; it is 38.791 metres long and leads to the lower chamber, (41) which is covered by discharging stones arranged in the shape of a roof. This chamber, commonly referred to as the 'Queens Chamber', measures 5.793 metres long by 5.022 metes wide, with a height of 6.307 metres at the entrance; it is constructed of limestone similar to the type used in the galleries, and taken from the same quarries.

            The excavation one notices to the left upon entering does not indicate any particular construction; it is simply where the Arabs tore up stones while searching for reputed treasures.

From the outer entrance of the Horizontal passage or the landing that proceeds it, one climbs back up onto the extension of the second passage, in a gallery 40.508 metres long, 8.11 metres high, and 2.091 metres wide. On each side is a banquette 571 millimeters high and 501 millimeters wide. The sunken ramp between the banquettes is the same width as the other three galleries and has the same slope as the second gallery. Each banquette contains 28 holes placed equidistantly along its length; they measure 325 by 162 millimeters, and their vertical depth ranges 162 to 216 millimeters.

The lateral walls of this gallery, formed by eight corbelled courses, form a kind of arch ending in a ceiling having the same width as the sunken ramp between the two banquettes. It is constructed of the same type of tone as that found in the previous galleries. Wax dripping from torches, smoke, and the effect of the visitors rubbing their hands along the walls has given the galleries a sheen and hue that have led many travellers to believe that the galleries were constructed of granite.

Having reached the top of this gallery, on a landing that is 1.557 metres deep and has the same height and width as the gallery, one passes through an opening 1.049 metres wide and 2.955 metres deep. Along its sides the vestibule contains three grooves that were apparently meant to hold granite blocks destined to close off the entrance to the sepulchral chamber.

In the middle, opposite the gallery, and along its axis, an opening 1.047metres wide, 1.110 metres high, and 2.563 metres long provides access to the sepulchral chamber, known as the 'King's chamber' the chamber to which all the building operations and the entire pyramid itself seems to have been directed.

This chamber, as well as the entire area starting from the entrance to the vestibule, is constructed of large, perfectly dressed and polished granite blocks. Its dimensions are: height, 5.858 metres; length along the north side, 10.467 metres; south side, 10.472 metres; length along the west side, 5.235 metres; east side, 5.200 metres. The south side overhangs by 18 millimeters, which reduced the ceiling's width accordingly. The largest dimension of this chamber is that of east-west.

The granite sarcophagus lying north-south at the west end of this chamber measures 2.301 metres long by 1.002 metres wide and 1.137 metres high; its thickness is 6 inches. (42) The lid, which was probably broken (no fragments have been found), must have been 162 to 217 millimetres thick, judging from the proportions of the whole sarcophagi I have found elsewhere in Egypt.

Before entering the vestibule, we noticed an opening at the top of the grand gallery, in the wall to the left, but we did not know where it might lead We had scarcely entered a passage 731 millimetres high and 650 millimetres wide when a swarm of bats descended upon us, trying to get out. For a long time we were forced to lie flat on a layer of dust and bat dung, as we were deafened by the whirring of their winged paws and suffocated by the pungent odour that they leave in the places they inhabit. WE were obliged to shield our faces in order to protect ourselves from their claws, and to cover our lamps, one of which soon went out nonetheless. We finally succeeded in crawling a distance of 8.385 meters and reached a space where no light had penetrated for many centuries.

We were then right above the sepulchral chamber; but the space, as long and wide as that chamber, I only 1.002 meters high. The granite stones forming the ceiling as well as the four walls have only been dressed, not polished; and the stones forming the floor (and consequently the ceiling of the sepulchral chamber) are rough on this side and of varying heights, from 54 to 135 millimetres. The floor is entirely covered over with a layer of bat dung which is perfectly level along its entire surface; its thickness ranges from 14 centimetres on top of the highest stones to over 28 centimetres on top of the lowest stones, so that the total coating is about 21 centimetres thick along the entire floor, as well as in the passage.

There can be no doubt as to the reason for building the double ceiling; it was installed solely to create a relieving mechanism, similar to the one at the pyramids entrance, so that the sacred chamber would not collapse under the weight above it.

This precaution was not entirely pointless: many stones in this second ceiling are cracked not far from their bearings, and the granite blocks supporting them are split along their edges from the weight of the relieving stones placed at the edge of this ceiling and the weight of the stones above it.

The Well.  - The well, whose opening is found on the landing at the entrance to the Horizontal Gallery, particularly attracted our attention. We were interested in discovering what motive there could have been for making such an irregularly shaped excavation in the bedrock and overcoming the difficulties inherent in so arduous a task as breaking up and carrying out fragments of a hard stone to a depth of about 65 meters in a space as narrow as 596by 650 millimetres. A few months before beginning my research I had already descended into the well with Mr. Alibert, by means of a rope attached to a piece of wood placed across the upper part. I was carrying - along with a lamp - a compass, a thermometer, and instruments for measuring depth and slope; but I had not been able to calculate the length of rope necessary for an unknown depth. The part of the well that should have been the easiest to descend, since it is carved in the form of steps along a slope less steep than that of the rest of the well, was obstructed by a granite block and two large limestone blocks that left a width of only 271 millimetres (and a somewhat larger breadth) in which to pass. Having overcome this difficulty and reached the end of my rope, I still had not reached the bottom. However, it was difficult to deliberate with my feet precariously lodged in small irregular holes 30 or 40 millimetres deep, one hand occupied, and a lamp in my mouth; moreover, I found myself in a nearly perpendicular shaft surrounded by air that, hardly circulating at all, grew each instant less suitable for breathing. The difficulty of the endeavor increased my desire to succeed: I did not waver.

With my head pressed against the upper part, one hand gripping one of the sides, and with me feet wedged in the small notches below, I ventured to descend. The goal I proposed to reach might still have been far below; the space might have suddenly enlarged; if I had lost the point of support sustaining me, I would have been hurled to the bottom with no way of climbing back up - assuming I were in any condition to do so. It was luck, and not some impossible calculation, that came to my aid; I had only 14.5 meters more to descend, and the shaft remained the same size. (43)

I reached the end, but not at the point where the workers had stopped. The bottom was filled with dirt and pebbles; I filled up one of my pockets with them and took all the measurements I needed. But my lamp was already growing dim, my breathing laboured; the Reaumur thermometer registered 25 degrees, and, although dressed in simple cloth pants and jacket, I was drenched in sweat.

In order to climb back up, I had used the same method I had used in descending; once I had grabbed onto the rope and headed for the entrance, still 33 metres distant; it seemed as if the rest were downhill.

While descending, I had stopped at a sort of grotto found above the steep part of the well; that is, in the second vertical part. This excavation had been made by removing pebbles, bits of which still remained stuck to the arch; there were more underfoot. I rested there (and) compared the pebbles I was carrying with these pebbles and ascertained that the pebbles at the bottom of the well derived from the excavation of this grotto.

I then formulated the plan of removing the pebbles from the well and putting them back where they had come from. It seemed quite likely that once the grotto had been filled in, I would not be far from the point where the workers had stopped, and that I might discover the reason for so arduous a task. I suppose that while digging the well they encountered a mass of pebbles and dirt, about 4 feet (1.40 metres) thick, between two courses of stone. In order to prevent a cave-in, they built a wall around these four sides, using quarry stones about 8 inches (0.216 metres) thick. The first people to descend the well broke into this wall in the hope of finding something valuable behind it. They threw the dirt and pebbles that they removed down the well, filling it to a height proportional to the quantity removed. This explains the excavation, at the end of which is found the stone course that apparently corresponds to the pyramids base.

We observed that whereas the outer facing is very carefully drafted and the courses are perfectly horizontal, the inner courses are made up of irregular blocks, just as they came from the quarry, and that the spaces resulting from these incongruities were filled in with pebbles and a crude mortal made of stone chips; it is possible that in order to economize on stones, the builders intentionally left spaces between the courses and filled them in with pebbles mixed with dirt; this would not affect the solidity of a mass as enormous as the Great pyramid.

One of our first projects was to descend to the grotto and to place one of our Turks at the bottom (of the well) and another at the entrance with an interpreter. I'd had some small buckets 22 centimetres wide and 40 centimetres deep made; the worker crouched at the bottom to fill one; which would be raised and emptied in the grotto as the other basket was being lowered.

After climbing back up, we remained in the well a while in order to position our workers and distribute tasks. We had brought in several lamps and absorbed a large quantity of oxygen. A little while later the interpreter, pale and trembling, came to inform us that the lamp at the bottom had gone out by itself, and that the workers had climbed up full of fear, saying that the devil was in the well but was in league with the French, since he lamps had burned as long as we were there. We raised their wages by a couple of parats and made it clear that they would have to go back as soon as the lamps began to burn higher. On the following days they were able to work for about four hours in the morning and three in the evening, after a four - or - five hour rest to allow for a change of air.

Occasionally one of us would go to see the workers, and we had already cleared 16 to 17 metres, still in the limestone bedrock and along the same width. We had progressed to over 16 metres below the level of the Nile (44) when military operations recalling the members of our party to their various corps forced us to suspend work.

As my main concern here is the material aspect of the monuments, I will not discuss the various opinions held concerning the extraordinary excavation. Everything leads one to believe that it was carried out before the construction of the pyramid was completed. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine how the workers could possibly have cut through hard rock in so narrow a space, or how they could have transported the debris to the outside by way of the galleries difficult to traverse because of their narrow dimensions and steep slope. The number of men and quantity of lamps that would have been necessary would have soon used up so much oxygen that it would have been impossible to work for more than a few hours without a change of air.

Notes: (by A. Pochan)

(38). 21.15 metres down the plumb line of the Ascending passage, which is obstructed by three granite blocks. Thus, in 1801, the Descending passage was obstructed by debris from the tunnel dug around the granite plugs. This tunnel was certainly not made by Al-Mamun, but it alerted his stonemasons to the position of the Ascending passage so that they were able to determine the location of the hole currently being used as an entrance. In my opinion, this tunnel was made long before Al Mamun came along; it must date from the Seventh, Eighth, or Ninth dynasty.

(39). Actually 26° 34', corresponding to tan ½.

(40). 'Al Mamun's' hole was not cleared until 1917. The members of the Commission d'Egypte Expedition were unaware of its existence.

(41). Coutelle and Gratien le Pere were unable to reach the subterranean chamber, known as the 'unfinished chamber', because the descending passage and the 'well' were obstructed by debris from excavations. The length of 23.363 metres is that of the descending passage down to the point where it was broken into beneath the level of the three granite blocks closing off the Ascending passage.

 (42). That is, 0.162 metres. (It is actually 0.154 metres).

(43). The 'well's' vertical depth, from the level of the Grand gallery's lower landing (the level of the floor of the Queen's chamber) down to where the 'well' opens on the west wall of the Descending passage, is 48.10 metres. Its real length is 57.50 metres. In order to appreciate Coutelle's exploit fully, one has to attempt the descent oneself; it is, even today, not at all easy or without risk.

            In fact, I myself, along with one of my colleagues at the Lycee du Cairo, experienced the same misfortune as Colonel Coutelle. Having attached the end of a 50-metre long rope to the well's entrance, we proceeded to descend; soon our flashlights could no longer pierce the thick cloud of dust raised by our descent. As we came to the end of the rope, our feet searched in vain for the floor at the bottom of the 'well'. We had to seek, by feeling bout wit our toes, notches capable of supporting our weight, and to thusly descend 8 metres before finding solid ground beneath our feet. We left the pyramid looking like baker's apprentices, covered from head to foot with a layer of dust several millimetres thick, and it took us several hours to clear out our nostrils and bronchial passages.

(44). Here Colonel Coutelle makes a mistake. According to the Survey of Egypt, the altitude of the pyramids plateau is 59.60 metres above the Mediterranean, and the Nile's average bed is 10 metres, the average water level being 12.25 metres and high water 20.63 metres. The bottom of the well is located 26.70 metres beneath the pyramid's plateau; the floor of the Subterranean chamber are located, respectively, 22.90 and 18.90 metres above the present level of the Nile.

            Taking into account the average alluvion coefficient of 0.130 metres per century, it can be estimated that the bed of the Nile in Cheops' time was 8.50 metres lower than it is at present. The subterranean chamber, known as the 'Abandoned chamber', was thus 27.60 metres above the bed of the Nile and 25.15 metres above the average flood level in Cheops' time.

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Extracts from Petrie (1882).

On the Greek Historians - 'The accuracy of the descriptions of the Greek travellers deserves notice, as they are often much more accurate in their facts than modern writers. Herodotus* states the base of the Great Pyramid to be 8 plethra, or 800 feet, and it is actually 747 Greek feet; so that he is as accurate as he professes to be, within about half a plethron. The height he states to be equal to the base; and the diagonal height of the corner (which would certainly be the way of measuring it, and was the later Egyptian mode of reckoning) is 19/20 of the base, or quite as close as the statement professes. The name of the builder is given almost unaltered, Kheopa for Khufu. In describing the Second Pyramid, he states it to be 40 feet less in height than the Great Pyramid; the difference is not quite so great, but the historian's error is only 1/27 of the whole height. He is quite correct in saying that the foundations were of Ethiopian stone, i.e., red granite. Of the Third Pyramid, the statement, apparently so precise, that the base was 280 feet seems in error. It is over 340 Greek feet, and such a difference could hardly be a mere oversight. It is just possible that this measure refers to the base of the limestone part, which [p. 160] was about 275 of such feet as go 800 in the Great Pyramid base. Of the Third Pyramid casing, he says that "half of it consists of Ethiopian stone"; and actually about; 7/16 of the casing was of granite. The Rhodopis story seems akin to the ruddy Nitokris of Manetho; and there is a curious possibility of the whole description of Nitokris having been transferred from the Pyramid itself to the ruler who built it'.

* The accuracy with which Herodotus states what he saw, and relates what he heard; the criticism he often applies to his materials; and the care with which he distinguishes how much belief he gives to each report; all this should prevent our ever discrediting his words unless compelled to do so.

On the Great Pyramid - 'The first work that needed to be done (and that quickly, before the travellers' season set in) was to open the entrance passage of the Great Pyramid again to the lower chamber. The rubbish that had accumulated from out of Mamun's Hole was carried out of the Pyramid by a chain of five or six men in the passage..... In the passage we soon came down on the big granite stone which stopped Prof. Smyth when he was trying to clear the passage, and also sundry blocks of limestone appeared. The limestone was easily smashed then and there, and carried out piecemeal; and as it had no worked surfaces it was of no consequence. But the granite was not only tough, but interesting, and I would not let the skilful hammer-man cleave it up slice by slice as he longed to do; it was therefore blocked up in its place, with a stout board across the passage, to prevent it being started into a downward rush. It was a slab 20.6 thick, worked on both faces, and one end, but rough broken around the other three sides; and as it lay flat on the floor, it left us 27 inches of height to pass down the passage over it. Where it came from is a complete puzzle; no granite is known in the Pyramid, except the King's Chamber, the Antechamber, and the plug blocks in the ascending passage. Of these sites the Antechamber seems to be the only place whence it could have come; and Maillet mentions having seen a large block (6 feet by 4) lying in the Antechamber, which is not to be found there now. This slab is 32 inches wide to the broken sides, 45 long to a broken end, and 20.6 thick; and, strangely, on one side edge is part of a drill hole, which ran through the 20.6 thickness, and the side of which is 27.3 from the worked end. This might be said to be a modern hole, made for smashing it up, wherever it was in situ; but it is such a hole as none but an ancient Egyptian would have made, drilled out with a jewelled tubular drill in the regular style of the 4th dynasty; and to attribute it to any mere smashers and looters of any period is inadmissible. What if it came out. of the grooves in the Antechamber, and was placed like the granite leaf across that chamber? The grooves are an inch wider, it is true; but then the groove of the leaf is an inch wider than the leaf. If it was then in this least unlikely place, what could be the use of a 4-inch hole right through the slab? It shows that something has been destroyed, of which we have, at present, no idea.

Soon after passing this granite, we got into the lower part of the entrance passage, which was clear ne