The record-union., 1896-06-07
PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT.
Psychological Theories Of Its Ancient
People.
The Tomb's Eternal Home-Description
of the Sepulcher of Cheops-Its
Grandeur and Dimensions.

Theorists have discovered or think
they have discovered many wonderful
properties about the Pyramids, but we
should not lose sight of the main fact
that they are merely vast heaps of
stone, exquisitely built indeed, that
mark the graves of monarchs who
wished to keep their mummied bodies
inviolate for all time.
The Egyptians built their houses for
the living of perishable brick; they
built their houses for the dead of i'm
mortal granite. There was a reason
for this, founded upon their theory of
human life and death.
They regarded man as composed of
several entities, each having its sep
arate life and functions. First, was
the body; then the ka, or double, which
was an ethereal duplicate, feature for
feature, of the corporeal form; then
was the soul, which was popularity rep
resented as a human-headed bird, and
after the soul came the luminous" a
spark from the divine fire.
BY process of embalmment they could
suspend for ages the decomposition of
the body, and by means of prayer and
were saved from the second death, thus
causing prolongation of existence.
EGYPTIAN PSYCHOLOGY.
The double" never left the body, but
the soul and the luminous" went forth
to follow the gods. returning, now and
then, to the resting place of the body.
Thus, the tomb was called the eternal
house. of the dead, compared with
which the houses of the living were but
wayside inns, and, therefore, if poss-
BILE, these eternal houses were built as
durable as all time.
The tomb must contain private room
for the soul, which was closed at the
time of burial not to be opened under
any circumstances. 1t must also con-
tain wide passage or reception-room,
where priests and friends made offer
ings for the dead. Indeed, the tomb
was looked upon as a permanent dwell
ing, and it was built to promote the
well-b being and insure the preservation
of the dead.
The construction of the Pyramids and
other imposing tombs illustrate this
idea and the success with which these
ancient Egyptians preserved the mortal
remains of their royal dead is seen in
the mummies that retain their facial
expressions after these thousands of
years.
THE PYRAMID OF LIGHTS.
The great Pyramid of Cheops, at
Gizeh, the most prodigious of all human
constructions, covers thirteen acres at
the base and weighs about 100000
tons. Originally it was $50 feet high,
and it is estimated that the materials
that were used for its construction
would build over 10000 eight-roomed
cottages and house a population of
80, 0,000
Like most of it's fellows, it stands ex-
actly square to the four corners of the
compass. The great limestone blocks,
some of them five feet broad and high
and thirty feet long, were brought from
distant quarries, and propelled, doubt
less, on rollers from the river along a
well-laid causeway to their present site.
Mechanical appliances, as we'll as the
art of cutting and polishing the hardest
stone, were familiar to these Egyptians
of 5000 years ago.
ITS COLOSSAL DIMENSIONS.
Twenty years. Herodotus tells us, the
great Pyramid was building, and, when
it was completed, instead of presenting g
the rough series of steps it does now,
the whole edifice was cased with shin
ing red syenite, brought from the first
cataract, 800 miles away, which caused
it to glisten so brightly that it was
known as the Pyramid of Lights -
Until the Arab conquest it preserved
this stone casing, so wonderfully joined
as to appear like one block from base to
summit.
In the inside everything was arranged
SO as to hide the exact place of the sar-
cophagus and thus battle all would be
spoilers of the royal tomb. 1t was ne
cessary first to discover the entrance
under the casing, which masked it, This
was found to be nearly in the middle
of the north face, at the level of the
eighteenth course, about forty five feet
from the ground.
When at last the casing was torn off
and the block of stone was displaced
which covered the entrance an incline
passage 41.2 inches wide and 47.6
inches high was revealed the lower part
Of which was cut in the stone This de-
scended for 317 feet, passed through an
unfinished chamber and ended 60 feet
further in blind passage
THE INTERIOR AND CONTENTS.
Although the spoilers were disap-
pointed here, by careful examination in
the roof, siXty-two feet distant from the
door, a block of granite was found
which shut from view another passa ge
Having passed this obstacle, they came
to an ascending passage which divides
into two brancheS-one running into a
limestone chamber in the center of the
pyramid; the other, continuing upward
becomes galley 14S feet long and %
feet high built of Mokattam stone so
polished and finely wrought that we
are told it was difficult to put a needle
or even a hair into the Joints.
Another difficulty must now be sur
mounted. The final passage leading to
the chamber of the sarcopha gus was
closed by a slab of granite, and further
on was a small vestlpu4e dIvlaed IN
equal spaces by four partitions of gran
ite which must be broken. When at
last it was reached, the royal sepulcher
was found to be granite chamber 10
feet high, 81 feet long and II feet wide.
Thus we may see how painstaking
these old Egyptians were to guard the
safety of the body of the great one