The Century illustrated monthly magazine . arthed towards the closeof last season (1889) showed the temple tohave been in existence as far back as the timeof the fourth dynasty, one block being sculp-tured with the ka-name of Khufu,- the builderof the Great Pyramid, and the other with thethrone-name of Khafra,^ the builder of thesecond pyramid of Gizeh. The date of theGreat Temple of Bubastis is thus carried backto a point some six hundred years earlier thanthe first estimate, and its period extended overnearly 3900 years. To write the history of this temple, which ithas cost so much time, lab
The Century illustrated monthly magazine . arthed towards the closeof last season (1889) showed the temple tohave been in existence as far back as the timeof the fourth dynasty, one block being sculp-tured with the ka-name of Khufu,- the builderof the Great Pyramid, and the other with thethrone-name of Khafra,^ the builder of thesecond pyramid of Gizeh. The date of theGreat Temple of Bubastis is thus carried backto a point some six hundred years earlier thanthe first estimate, and its period extended overnearly 3900 years. To write the history of this temple, which ithas cost so much time, labor, and money toexcavate, is impossible. The data are too im-perfect ; the gaps are too many and too wide;the destruction wrought by time, flood, andthe hand of man has been too complete. Theruins tell their own tale; but they tell it im-perfectly. The wreck of the great stone bookis there, but more than half its pages are gone, 1 Circa B. c. 3650. 2 Khufu (Cheops), circa B. C. 4206. 3 Khafra (Chephren), circa B. c. XXXIX.— LEGS AND THkONh, OF KA IAN and whether we indeed possess a fragment ofthe first of those pages, or even of the last, whoshall say ? The ka-name of Khufu registersthe earliest fixed point from which it is possibleto reckon ; but was Khufu the founder of thebuilding ? Is it not more probable that thesite was already occupied, as at Denderah, bya prehistoric sanctuary which Khufu, in likemanner, rebuilt ? Rebuilder or founder, thatmighty autocrat who arrogated to himself the labor of an age in piled stones put hismark upon the structure, and it has survivedto this day. Khafra, though he left his pyra-mid and his magnificent red granite chapelwithout a line of inscription, gave his cartoucheto the temple, thus showing that he had carriedon, or completed, the work of Khufu. Thencomes the first great blank. Six hundred yearsgo by, and Pepi Merira — a pious king, whofeared and honored the gods — follows Khafrain the royal roll of Bubastis. With
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Keywords: ., bookauthornicolayj, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1890
