PYRAMID, in architecture : this form we derive from the Egyptians, a people who conceived and executed unparallel ed works, which are, however, more re markable for their strength and durabili ty than elegance of and beauty of execution. According to Hcrodotus, the people alluded to considered the py ramidal form as emblematic of human life, the broad base representing the coin, mencement, and the gradation, to a point, the termination of our existence in the present state; hence they used it . , for sepulchral purposes : it would be ab surd to contradict this assertion, as the period of their erection is too remote for enquiry, with any probable success ; but there is another obvious for the adoption of the shape, which of all others is most decidedly calculated to re sist the operations of time. Admitting a monarch to have conceived an idea of . rendering his tomb almost everlasting, it was impossible to invent an outline less liable to injury from the assaults of wind and rain, and the very disposition of the stones made it impossible that it should fall even through the operations of an earthquake, besides the immense extent of their bases, and the solidity of the workmanship made it highly improbable that his successors, or the people, would be at the trouble and expense of destroy ing it through disrespect to his memory ; this circumstance, perhaps, united with the former consideration, were sufficient, inducements for the selection of the py ramid for monuments.
Some authors derive the word from the Greek for wheat and its receptacle, and those assert that pyramids were original ly built by the Patriarch .1oseph as gra naries; others derive it from the Word fire, thinking that the pyramidal shape resembles the ascent of flame.
There are several pyramids in Egypt, but those at Gizeh arc the most gigantic; and the most enormous, or the great py ramid, is situated near Memphis. Hero (lotus says he was informed the latter co vered the remains of Cheops, and an other adjoining those of his brother Ce phrenes, who succeeded him ; the first only having inner galleries, or passages. Although much dependence cannot be placed upon the further accounts of this ancient writer, it seems highly probable that 100,000 men may have been con stantly employed, for 20 years, in erect big the immense pile, and that Cheops became detested by the people, who were thus taken from more useful em ployments, as well as by the bulk of the population, who found the taxes de manded of them appropriated to a pur pose utterly unproductive of future ad vantage.
When 1%1. Savary visited the pyramids of Gizeh, the country was under the. go vernment of its present natives, whose kiaschil, or governor, for the above dis trict, exacted a small tribute from travel lers, and in return provided them with an escori, as a protection against the Arabs, who seized every opportunity to plunder them. The gentleman just mentioned, accompanied by some friends, and the guards furnished by the kiaschil, depart ed from Gizeh at an hour after midnight, and were soon after gratified with a view of the two greatest pyramids, on the sum mits of which the moon shone with full splendour ; as they approached them, they assumed the appearance of vast pointed rocks, penetrating the clouds. At half an hour past three in the morning, the company prepared to enter the passages of the great pyramid, by taking off great part of their clothing, and each taking a lighted torch in his hands, thus prepar ed, they began a long descent, which, at last, became so much contracted, that the party were compelled to crawl upon their hands and knees ; this terminating, they commenced an ascent nearly under the same uncomfortable circumstances, except that they proceeded on their knees, and made use of their hands against the sides to facilitate their progress, and this mode of getting forward was necessary, as the stone at the bottom of the passage did not afford sufficient level tor a firm step ; when in this dismal gallery they were so imprudent as to discharge a pis tol, the report of which long echoed and re-echoed through the place, and alarmed numbers of bats, who darted against them and extinguished some of their torcbes. Succeeding in their efforts, they arrived at the upper termination of the second pas sage, where they passed through a very small door into a large oblong apartment, entirely composed of granite, seven enor mous blocks of which formed the ceiling.