THE PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES OF GIZEH Drawing by F. Petrie W.M FLINDERS PETRIE with an update by ZAHI HAWASS THE PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES OF GIZEH. GREAT PYRAMID. SMALL PYRAMIDS. PE.R1 BOLUS. SMALL PYRAMIDS. THIRD PYRAMID. PERlBOLUS. EXCAVATION. SEGOND PYRAMID. THE NINE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. FROM THE SOUTH . THE PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES OF GIZEH. BY W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, Author of "Inductive Metrology," "Stonehenge," "Tanis," &c. NEW AND REVISED EDITION. HISTORIES & MYSTERIES OF MAN LTD. LONDON, ENGLAND 1990 Printed in the U.S.A. © Zahi Hawass Further Titles in Series include: I) BALLAS by J. E. Quibell II) The RAMESSEUM by J. E. Quibell & The Tomb of PTAHHETEP by F. L. L. Griffith III) EL KAB by J. E. Quibell IV) HIERAKONPOLIS I by J. E. Quibell V) HIERAKONPOLIS II by F. W. Green and J. E. Quibell VI) EL ARABAH by J. Garstang VII) MAHASNA by J. Garstang VIII) TEMPLE OF THE KINGS AT ABYDOS by A. St. G. Caulfield IX) The OSIREION by Margaret Alice Murray X) SAQQARA MASTABAS I by Margaret Alice Murray SAQQARA MASTABAS II by Margaret Alice Murray HYKSOS & ISRAELITE CITIES Double Volume by Petrie & Duncan ANCIENT RECORDS OF EGYPT by James Henry Breasted ANCIENT RECORDS OF ASSYRIA by David Luckenbill THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED by Sir Isaac Newton STONEHENGE by Petrie. Updated by Gerald Hawkins TELL EL HESY (LACHISH) by W. M. Flinders Petrie A HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE by Alexander Badawy For further details please write for catalogue to HISTORIES & MYSTERIES OF MAN LTD. The Glassmill 1, Battersea Bridge Road London SW11 3BG ENGLAND ISBN 1-85417-051-1 THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS WORK WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A VOTE OF ONE HUNDRED POUNDS FROM THE GOVERNMENT-GRANT COMMITTEE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 1883. CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE PREFACE ix CHAP. V.—NOTES ON OTHER PYRAMIDS. INTRODUCTION X Abu Roash.—Pepi's at Sakkara.— Dahshur.—Mastaba-Pyramids . 53 CHAP. I.—OBJECTS AND METHODS. Need of fresh measurements.—Stay CHAP. VI.—HISTORICAL NOTES. at Gizeh.—Assistance obtained. —Instruments.—Methods of mea­ Climate in early times.—Men. .. ra surement.—Excavations . i of Abu Roash.—Pyramid builders of Gizeh. — Brick Pyramids. — Tablet of the Sphinx.—Destruc­ CHAP. II.—THE GREAT PYRAMID. tion of buildings . .60 The base. — Levels. — Angle. — Casing. — Basalt pavement. — CHAP. VII.—ARCHITECTURAL IDEAS. Trenches. — Trial passages. — Angles of the Pyramids. — Accre­ Doorway. — Entrance passage. tion theory of building.—Doors — Subterranean chamber. — of the Pyramids . .68 Ascending passage. — Queen's Chamber. — Gallery. — Ante­ chamber. — King's Chamber. — CHAP. VIII.—MECHANICAL METHODS. Coffer. — Upper chambers.— Nature of tools employed on hard Summary of internal positions . 10 stone.—Examples of sawing.— Tubular drilling. — Turning. — Rate of working . -74 CHAP. III.—SECOND AND THIRD PYRAMIDS. CHAP. IX.—HISTORY AND DESIGN OF Outside of Second Pyramid.—Walls THE GREAT PYRAMID. around it.—Inside of Second Nature of the site. — Source of Pyramid.—Outside of Third Pyra­ stone.—Organization of labour.— mid.—Walls around Third Pyra­ Preparation of site.—Planning of mid.— Inside.—Orientations of courses.—Raising the stones.— the Pyramids . .32 Tools and chips.—Deterioration of work.—Plans altered.—Closing CHAP. IV.—THE GRANITE TEMPLE, of Pyramid.—A second coffer.— ETC. Violation of Pyramid.—Inscrip­ tions on Pyramid.—Destruction of Position. — Description. — Work­ Pyramid.—Summary of probable manship.—Original appearance. theories 80 —Date.—Constructions near the Great Pyramid.—Diorite . 43 INDEX LIST OF PLATES. FRONTISPIECE—THE NINE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH, FROM THE SOUTH. I. PLAN OF TRIANGULATION OF THE PYRAMIDS, ETC. II. ENDS OF THE ROCK TRENCHES ; SECTION OF TRIAL PASSAGES. III. PLAN OF THE GRANITE TEMPLE. IV. SECTIONS OF THE GREAT AND SECOND PYRAMIDS, AND MAS- TABA-PYRAMIDS. V. PASSAGES OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. VI. SOCKETS AND CASING OF GREAT PYRAMID. VII. MOUTHS OF PASSAGES AND CHANNELS ; AND CASING OF GREAT PYRAMID. VIII. SPECIMENS OF SAWING, DRILLING, AND TURNING ; FROM GIZEH, ETC. Vlll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE first edition of this work having been exhausted in a few months, the present edition makes its appearance so soon as my other researches in Egypt will allow of my attending to it. But in thus reissuing it, there did not seem any necessity to reproduce a quantity of matter which was only of technical interest to surveyors or mathe­ maticians ; or to provide again the many incidental details of accuracy which are requisite to render a scientific memoir of permanent value. Those students of the subject who really require to know how every result has been obtained, will probably be already furnished with the full edition, and, if not, can refer to it in libraries ; and any critical remarks on the details of the work should be based on the original memoir, and not on this edition, which is intended for more general reading. In many cases I have summarized the results of long tables into a few lines, but nothing which could be considered readable has been omitted from this edition. BROMLEY, KENT, W. M. F. P. January, 1885. INTRODUCTION. THE present work rests upon several different methods of in­ quiry, which are not often brought together; and hence different parts of its treatment appeal to different classes,—to the antiquary and the engineer,—the historian and the architect. An investigation thus based on such different subjects is not only at a disadvantage in its reception, but also in its production. And if in one part or another, specialists may object to some result or suggestion, the plea must be the difficulty of making certain how much is known, and what is believed, on subjects so far apart and so much debated. The combination of two apparently distinct subjects, is often most fertile in results ; and the mathematical and mechanical study of antiquities promises a full measure of success. The object is to get behind the workers, and to see not only their work, but their mistakes, their amounts of error, the limits of their ideas ; in fine, to skirt the borders of their knowledge and abilities, so as to find their range by means of using more comprehensive methods. Modern inquiry should never rest content with saying that anything was " exact"; but always show what error in fact or in work was tolerated by the ancient worker, and was considered by him as his allowable error. The materials of the present volume have been selected from the results of two winters' work in Egypt. Papers on other subjects, including the Domestic Remains, Brickwork, Pottery, and travellers' graffiti, each of which were examined with special reference to their periods, have been published by the Royal Archaeological Insti­ tute. The mechanical methods and tools employed by the Egyptians were discussed at the Anthropological Institute, and are more sum­ marily noticed here. The lesser subjects being thus disposed of, this volume only treats of one place, and that only during one period, which was the main object of research. Though, in describing various features, reference has often been made to the publications of Colonel Howard Vyse * (for whom Mr. Perring, C.E., acted as superintendent), and of Professor C. Piazzi " Operations at the Pyramids," 3 vols. 1840. X INTRODUCTION. xi Smyth,* yet it must not be supposed that this account professes at all to cover the same ground, and to give all the details that are to be found in those works. They are only referred to where necessary to connect or to explain particular points ; and those volumes must be consulted by any one wishing to fully comprehend all that is known of the Pyramids. Colonel Vyse's volumes are most required for an account of the arrangements of the Second and smaller Pyramids, of the chambers in the Great Pyramid over the King's Chamber, of the negative results of excavations in the masonry, and of various mechanical details. Professor Smyth's vol. ii. is required for the measurements and description of the interior of the Great Pyramid. While the scope of the present account includes the more exact measurement of the more important parts of the Great Pyramid, of the outsides and chambers of the Second and Third Pyramids, and of the Granite Temple; also the comparison of the details of some of the later Pyramids with those at Gizeh, and various conclusions, mainly based on mechanical grounds. The reader's knowledge of the general popular information on the subject, has been taken for granted; as that the Pyramids of Gizeh belong to the first three kings of the fourth dynasty, called Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, by themselves, and Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus, by Greek-loving Englishmen ; that their epoch is variously- stated by chronologers as being in the third, fourth, or fifth millen­ nium B.C.; that the buildings are in their bulk composed of blocks of limestone, such as is found in the neighbouring districts ; that the granite used in parts of the insides and outsides was brought from Syene, now Assouan ; and that the buildings were erected near the edge of the limestone desert, bordering the west side of the Nile valley, about 150 feet above the inundated plain, and about 8 miles from the modern Cairo. One or two technical usages should be defined here. All measures stated in this volume are in Imperial British inches, unless expressed otherwise ; and it has not been thought necessary to repeat this every time an amount is stated ; so that in all such cases inches must be understood as the medium of description. Azimuths, wherever stated, are written + or —, referring to positive or negative rotation, i.e., to E. or to W., from the North point as zero. Thus, azimuth —5', which often occurs, means 5' west of north.