PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 82, 5 April 1924, Page 16

PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH

BUHjT ALMpST ENTIRELY OF '■•• . : LIMESTONE. ■.••■.'

The. Pyramids of Gizeh date from the beginning of the third millennium, 8.C., or fifteen hundred years earlier than the time of Tutankhamen. They take their name from the modern Village •of Gizeh. which, lies on the left bank of the Nile, half-way to. Cairo. The Gizeh. pyramids, says the", "Christian' Science Monitor," mark'^ the .most important of a number of pyramid fields^ which lie on the edge of the low ' desert . plateau to the' west of the Nile, and, extend frkm. Abouv Rpasn to vMeidoum, '■ a distance of over forty miles'. :^ ■ .' .■'-...' The Thirdv-.Eyramid, though •. standing more than two'hundred feet high, to-day, has less J/han^h'alfithe height- of'the First (Great}'..or Second-Pyramids'. v Tit? pyramids were/.-built-alniost. entirely.'of limpstone, ..wM^acameCfroni quarries "in thc~ Mokattam "hills -just/babk 'of .Cairo, on from '■Turai'Va' little,-to -the south: The outer, casings were'-of. dressed-'limestone. triangiilar in 'section, thus 'fitting into tho "steps" as ■ they- appear to-day, and forming a perfectly smooth surface. Mucli of this leasing; fs still iri! position, at. the top of the' Second Pytamfd.'That more dni?-s.;not .remain is'due-in large part to the fact thajj.the.pyramids were.used as a -sort 'of ''quarry' for-.'the 'buildings ctf inedii".w.Hl,■'.Cairo.''• In the' Third Pyramid tie I'.vv.i':;' vn\vs of ;ith'e';' casing 'were of ! nink !£i'i!i:.;.te, which, was .^brought down V.i-j. ,> j!b' : Two.:liiindre'd- .'miles' from the ;;l Assiian. . ..This- was. easily. ;iccoiij>!.is!i;;d ;iC tlui timo.of1 high. Nile, v;!i;.-iri!i« Kvuat-irviiiiitn blocks-were loadc:i tni iv;ft.f 'ri-id lioutec! down the liver and !icrJ~:!-.tliH'irtuiulalcd fields almost 1 to- ilu; rlt::iiv <>r i!i n '|jyi-i!!iii.l itself.' Be^ side . li.!c> j)'\ riaai-l "i-t"::il iJiree ' smaller oiiea. .-''-..■ * •: .-.'■.•..-■ :

Tliu 'j'l-.i-;d P.yrumid lies, very closa to.tht: t-.-.i-;iY:in .route between Cairo and the I'-iiyou'iu, ;i fertile .area lying among the"Libyan ■ lulls a few miles-west of tho i\'ile valley: Jt ,"b watered by a stream whidi diverges from: the Nile and flo\ys -into this .Fayoum basin through a narrow 'opouing in the hills.'.-" :.

. Tho 'members of. this. little caravan— camels as v.;ell as men—doubtless welcome Ihe siglit of gre'eit fields1 whicH they_ now see for the .first time since leaving the Fayoum " two days before, and are glad -to. know that, ere sunset they will be> at tlieir, journey's end.. .