Chapter VII: Letter V: The Pyramids of Gizeh, 17th January, 1843

The inscription which was composed in celebration of the king’s birthday has now become a stone monumental tablet, in the fashion of the old steles and Proskynemata,[10] and its contents are as follows; the nearer, indeed, it approaches the manner of the Egyptians, the less appropriate is it in German:

“Thus speak the servants of the King, whose name is the SUN AND ROCK OF PRUSSIA, Lepsius the scribe, Erbkam the architect, the Brothers Weidenbach the painters, Frey the painter, Franke the moulder, Bonomi the sculptor, Wild the architect: All hail to the Eagle, THE PROTECTOR OF THE CROSS, to the KING THE SUN AND ROCK OF PRUSSIA, to the Son of the Sun,[11] who freed his Fatherland, Frederick William the Fourth, the Philopator, the Father of his Country, the Gracious One, the Favourite of Wisdom and History, the Guardian of the Rhine, whom Germany has chosen, the Dispenser of Life. May the Most high God grant the King, and his Consort, the Queen Elizabeth, the Rich in Life, the Philometor, the Mother of her Country, the Gracious One, an ever new and long life on Earth, and a blessed habitation in Heaven through all Eternity. In the year of our Saviour, 1842, in the tenth month, on the fifteenth day, on the forty-seventh Birthday of his Majesty, on the Pyramid of King Cheops; in the third year, in the fifth month, on the ninth day of the reign of his Majesty; in the year 3164 from the commencement of the Sothis period under the King Menepthes.”

We left behind us the hieroglyphic inscription engraved on stone and painted with oil colour, occupying a space five feet broad and four feet high. The stone, specially polished and prepared for the purpose, is placed at a considerable height near the entrance into the Pyramid of Cheops.

It seemed to me fitting, that while the members of the Prussian expedition dedicated this tablet to the much-honoured Prince by whom they were sent hither, they should at the same time, for the sake of future travellers, leave behind them some traces of their activity on this field of Pyramids, where it was reserved for them to gather together the rich materials for the first chapter of the Scientific History of Nations.

Do not, however, believe that these are the important works which detain us here so long. Our journey has this advantage over previous ones—that spots like this are entitled to occupy us until they have been thoroughly ransacked. We already know that even the gigantic and magnificent ruins of the Theban plain can reveal nothing which can equal in interest the Memphitic times of the Old Monarchy.

We must, indeed, one day depart; but it will even then be with the conviction that we leave an infinite amount of interesting materials behind, which might still be obtained. I had already resolved on our departure several days ago, when suddenly a series of tombs, different in architecture, and in the style of the figures and hieroglyphics, with other titles, and besides, as was to be expected, with other _kings’ names_, again disclosed a new epoch.

It is still by no means conclusive how much has been gained in an historical point of view, or, at any rate, it is but dimly discerned, I was, however, in the right when, even in Europe, I proposed to reconstruct the 3rd Dynasty from the monuments. I have not yet found a single Shield which could be safely placed before the 4th Dynasty. It appears that the builders of the great Pyramids desired to assert their rights, to having formed the commencement of monumental history, although it is as clear as day that they were not the first to build and to inscribe their monuments. We have even now found many kings’ names hitherto unknown, and variations of other names; thus:

𓍹𓐼𓂓𓂓𓇋𓐽𓍺 KEKA.

𓍹𓐼𓅃𓇋𓐱𓂓𓅱𓐽𓍺 HERAKU.

𓍹𓐼𓅱𓄊𓐱𓋴𓂓𓆑𓐽𓍺 USESKEF.

𓍹𓐼𓆛𓈖𓇋𓐽𓍺 ANA.

The name which I had hitherto read AMCHURA, in the detailed and painted inscriptions, which throw no inconsiderable light on the figurative meaning of the hieroglyphical images, exhibits a decidedly different sign from the well-known group 𓇋𓌳𓄪𓐰𓐍𓅱 AMCHU, namely about the pronunciation of which I am still in the dark.

There is nothing to alter with respect to the assignment of the great Pyramids. It cannot be doubted, after our researches, that the second Pyramid really belongs to Schafra (more correctly Chafra, the Chephyren of Herodotus), as the first does to Chufu (Cheops), and the third to Menkera (Mykerinos, Mencherinos). I think I have now discovered the pathway up from the valley to the second Pyramid; it led directly to its temple, past the Sphinx, but it was probably destroyed at an early period. The number also of the Pyramids continues to increase. I have found three, in ABU ROASCH, in place of one hitherto known, and two fields of tombs. Two Pyramids once stood also at ZAUIET EL ARRIAN, a village which has now almost disappeared, and there is a great field of ruins adjoining to it. The careful researches, measurements, and notes of Perring, in his beautiful work on the Pyramids, save us much time and trouble. We are thus the more able to direct our attention to the private tombs, and their hieroglyphical representations, such as are wholly wanting in the Pyramids. But nothing is yet determined, nothing is ripe for definitive arrangement, though wide prospects open before us. Our portfolios swell; many things have been cast in plaster, and among them the great stele between the paws of the colossal Sphinx from the first year of Tuthmosis IV.