Evening star., 1927-10-23
BY WILL DURANT, Ph. d..
Author of
''The Story of Philosophy"
The Story of Civilization :

wood. Diodorus Siculus describes them
working naked in the mines. Every
where they toiled, that Egypt raight
have food, and pyramids and kings.
y II y
Kings.
Where there are pawns there must
be kings. Kings were never so plenti-
full as in Egypt; they are so common
there that we lump them into dy-
nasties, and, even so, their history Is
the dullest story in the world. Yet
they gave Egypt order, boon un-
felt by those who have had it long.
"I made the woman Of Egypt" said
Rameses III, "go with uncovered ears
to the place which she desired, for
no stranger. nor any one upon the
road, mOlested her. ! took
man out of his misfortune and gave
him breath. / rescued him from the
oppressor who was of more account
than he. set each man in security
in his town; settled the land in
the place where it was laid waste"
1t was one side of the royal story:
the other side was war. The history
of Egypt begins with Menes, who won
his way to fame in the way dear to
crowds by coming out Of the South.
Conquering the Delta, and forging
South and North for the first time
into one kingdom. Menes built a cap
ital near Memphis GO miles upstream
from Cairo), and established the
first dynasty there in 3400 b. C. CThe
wise reader will insert the word
about" before all dates in Egyptian
history) After him comes a dreary
desert Of dynasties, with tragic relief
supplied chiefly by war; in the third
dynasty (29S0-2900 B. C.) King Kha.
sekhem boasts of taking captive
"47 ,209 rebels" Nevertheless it was
In this dynasty that King Zoser be-
gan the characteristic architecture Of
Egypt with his 'step-pyramid" at
Memphis. 1t was. like every pyramid
a tomb; but, unlike it's predecessors,
it was made Of stone, not brick. and
rose to a height of 200 feet in five
stages, each smaller than the one be-
meath. From this quaint structure
came the pyramidal form Of Egypt's
most famous monuments.
Toward 1900 B. G. the figure of
Cheops Tor Khufu) emerges dimly
from the chaos of kings. We know
him only as the builder Tor master
of the builders) Of the first and great.
est pyramid, which stands with three
others in the cemetery" Of Gizeh,
outside the modern Cairo. Here stones
have been piled Pelion upon Ossa as
If they were the most abundant OF
Egypt's natural resources; 100000
blocks, averaging 21a tons in weight,
measuring in all one-seventh OF a mile
in length, one-tenth of a mile in
width, 4S1 feet in height, and in area
525, 900 square feet. The mass Is
to leave space for the royal tomb.
And every stone was fitted to the
next with indistinguishable joints. 1t
was miracle of masonry.
\ \ n \
Historians have marveled at the me-
chanical skill, the economic organiza-
ton. the royal wealth and power re-
vealed by this monstrous InausOleum,
and philosophers have marveled al, the
patience of the 100000 laborers who
remained tied to this heavy mass for
20 years. Herodotus has preserved
for US an inscription which he found
on one of the Pyramids recording the
quantity of radishes, onions and garlic
consumed by the workmen who built
it. Strong food was necessary for
such toll. -
That is all we know of Cheops, and
of Chephren Tor Khafre), who fol-
lowed him and Dedefre on the throne,
we know again only the story of his
Pyramid. It stands near Cheops', just
smaller than that colossal tomb,' and
part of the granite casing which once
adorned 1t survives at the top to sug-
gest how the Pyramids looked in their
primeval glory. Smaller still is the
Pyramid of Chephren's successor, My
eerinus, and its cover is no longer of
proud granite, but Of prosaic brick. as
If the food of wealth that poured into
Egypt with the copper Of Sinai had
trickled into a thinner stream.
Nearby the Sphinx looks calmly at
Uontinled on Fourth Page.)