Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1911-05-11
RIDDLE or SPHINX NAY
BE SOLVED AT Lass

II
happy end probably, soon after he hat
finished his fathers tomb, and wher
his pyramid was only half begun.
III the baths Of Story lead but 20 the
grave. the kin = ut Egyspt We're deter
mined upon 40 ,sntMpusinga burial place
These pyramids are their tomhs, butt
20 reflect their ponp and power The
names given % the pyramids show az
the purpose OF the builders-for thew
are The Glory OF Iheops' Great Is
Cephren,' and 'Mycerinus Is Divine
ITO understand cur excavations a:
Gi1eh II is necessary to know thar
every Egyptian grave serves two pur-
II poses and consists OF two essential
parts, The body lies Ia a chamber un-
der ground, walled up against decay.
and with IL are the pots and pans tins
weapons. adornnents, and garments
inst the deceased needed in life. Above
ground was mound OF brick or ma
sonry where the living might visit the
dead web ofgeiings and prayers,
Thus il happened that the pyramids
contained not only the burial place Of
a king. bat also had on the side nearest
the valley e chapel for offerings and
rites. Now. the pyramids with their
temples are high up on rock plateaus
SO il may have been tor convenience
that still a second temple was built
down below. on the edge OF the valley,
and connected with the upper temple
by a causeway.
sixty years ago the existence or val
\ ley temples VAS unknown. In 1858 Ma
riette found wonderful granite tenn
pie close beside the Sphinx, He chris
tened IL the Temple of the Sphinx. took
/ from Il nine statues Of Cephren. tnclud-
ing the famous diurite statue ia the
Cairo museum land the work stopped
there. For S9 Years the pyramid field
Il kTRKtTFaAaA
Then. IN 1904, the director OF the
Egyptian department OF antiquities un-
expecEedly granted to private individ-
uass the right TO explore at Gizeh. and
\ in iaoS, when these concessions ex-
pired, he acted favorsbiy on the apph-
cations Of Professor Steindorfg. OF Leip-
zig Professor Schiaprelli. OF Turin.
and myself The Italians took the First
L pyramid. the Germans the second and
waa satisfied with the Third.
Il turned my attention first. how
ever, 60 the great cemetery west OF the
First Pyramid. This had been divided
\ into three strips and we had drawn the
northern one. Ii proved the most I'm
/ portant We found The tombs of many
royal sons and daughters OF Cheopa.
and unearthed the wonderful Itinerary
STEELE ct Nep-eTn- nofrit. We also found
the burial places Of the priests Of The
lCity OF the Pyramid. to whom were In
trusted the rites and offerings Later
we easily identified the great royal
cemetery OF Cephren. near the Second
Pyramid
Eve were able to show also that both
these cemeteries had fallen into decay
and had been cogerti with sand by the
end OF the sixth dynasty. That Is. the
tiFRt lines for the royal cemetery were
laid cut about 2ae0 ii c. and BY $500
III. Cs-4a0 YEARS aater--the last offering
had been Iestie, the last priest had gone
away. and the great cemetery lay q
waste. much a. Ii Was the DAY we gave
the word 70 our gangs TO dig.
I'm isDe-OT we turned our attention
60 excaTatlnG the upper or Pyramid
Temple OF MyeerinnS ~ this temple
We found, among other things the love-
ii alabastef statue OF Mycerinus. The
head was outside the temple. but few
inches under the surface. near a path
over which naany travellers have trod.
q stick or parasnl might have re-
i vealed lt-and yet there II lay unknown
through the centuries
Professor Reisner paused. az though
70 picture some bespectacled and
with middle west umbrella his most
precious treasure. and then continued:
In the meantime the Germans had
come upon the valley temple OF 4 later
pyramid. and Il was obvious that tho
famous Sphinx Temple was the valley
~.
Cephren.
We began the search FOR the valley
temple of the Third Pyramid IN the
summer Of 1885, Inside OF 4 week M
uncovered the ruins or q mud brick
building -Four exquisite slate triads
were disclosed, and as we investigated
room after room priceless treasures
were revealed
The bases DE- alabaster statues. ana
the ruins of Others scattered on the
iloor by vanRdals dead these many cen
turtles, were found In other rooms
were unfinished statuettes. copper
weapons, and many vessels OF alahas-
ter. crystal, slate. and other stones.
BY April, 1910 we had finished our
excavations OF the valley temple. ard
|. come upon the edge OF town in front
oT y. There we came upon the beauti-
fAl pair statue Of Mycerinus ana his
queen, IN hard dark slate. This was
almost miraculously preserved. M 4
glance at Il proves. and II had lain
waiting through the years until one az
OAR men lifted stone and in doing so
revealed the profile OF . queen.
II am OFTEN asked, How came II that
such beautiful objects we're found Id d
poor mud- brick tenpleY AS d matter
of fact these great masterpieces were
not made for mud brick temple but
for costly temple which would have
ontdone that Of the Sphinx If il had
r&eA Hu{Sn0us
Our work had disclosed three tenn
pies one Of magnificent granite begun
~ Mycerinus and intended to hold fhe
treasures we discovered. But he ala
not finish II. nor was his son Shepses-
knf able to do ans and the latter placed
them IN the second the poor little tenn
pae or mud. brick w here We found
1hen- The third temple was bnilt by
pepy II. of the sixth dynasty
II The professor showed an nlabasfer
bead of little Shepses-ka whose nvra-
mid building WAS 40 soon interrupted
81 hg death.
Probably from the first ne was har-
TA&Sed by seditl0ns and revoItS He
couldn't finish his fathers tomb. huf
Mastered en- with his own-the pyramid
only begun. the foundation Of which
Stili stands. He didn't finish even
That. ha1H needed II long before IL was
done. Probably ha died violent
death BY the hand of his successor sd
TAG throne.
The care with which the temples 81
AKyrer1nus were exravA4ed enabled -
IN unrArea the history OF the constrnc-
II ton ard the decay II different build
in@s ca the site. The positive PROOF
H vas given that our statues were 81 the
II fourth dynasty ard thar IL the fourth
8xnaStE pyramids had valley temples.
q Thus the final nr0nf xsvx Hal5x<nra1 enc