Manual of Egyptian archæology and guide to the study of antiquities in EgyptFor the use of students and travellers . Fig. 146.—Section oflo^al tomb of BetKhsiXW:.~ Egypt R(.starch Account, :. west measuring 395 x 351 feet. It is 196 feet lowest step, with its sloping sides, is 37J feethigh, and the succeeding steps each recede about7 feet. It is built entirely of limestone from thesurrounding desert plateau. The stone is smalland badly quarried, the courses are concave, on thesame method of construction as that employed forquays and fortresses. An examination of the wallswhe
Manual of Egyptian archæology and guide to the study of antiquities in EgyptFor the use of students and travellers . Fig. 146.—Section oflo^al tomb of BetKhsiXW:.~ Egypt R(.starch Account, :. west measuring 395 x 351 feet. It is 196 feet lowest step, with its sloping sides, is 37J feethigh, and the succeeding steps each recede about7 feet. It is built entirely of limestone from thesurrounding desert plateau. The stone is smalland badly quarried, the courses are concave, on thesame method of construction as that employed forquays and fortresses. An examination of the wallswhere they are broken shows that the external face STEP PYRAMID OF SAQQARA. ^S of each step has two coverings, each with its regularrevetment. The building forms a solid mass, andthe chambers are cut out in the rock below thepyramid. The most important of the four entrancesis on the north side, and the passages form a perfectlabyrinth dangerous to enter. Colonnades, galleries,chambers, all lead to a central pit, at the bottom ofwhich a hiding-place is contrived, no doubt intended v-»~ ,^. 147.—Step p3Tamid of Saqq? to contain the most valuable objects of the funeraryoutfit. The stone pyramid of Zowyet el Aryan has recentlybeen examined by Dr. Reisner, and proves to bealso a step pyramid, apparently of the ThirdDynasty. The next advance we note in this development ofthe royal tombs is the pyramid of SeneferCi, lastPharaoh of the Third Dynasty, and the predecessorof Khufu. His pyramid is at Medum. It consistsof three square stages with sloping sides resemblingthree mastabas placed one above another (fig. 148).Like the step pyramid of Saqqara, it is a cumulative 156 TOMBS. mastaba. The entrance is on the north, about 53 feetabo\e the sand (fig. 149). At a distance of 60 feet thepassage enters the rock. At 174 feet it runs levelfor 40 feet, when it stops and rises perpendicularlyfor 21 feet, and then opens on the floor of the set of beams and ropes which are still in pla
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