. A history of art in ancient Egypt . Fig. 151.—Portcullis closed. Another incfenious arrangement which demands our notice isthat of those discharging chambers to which we have alreadyalluded. These chambers were explored, not without trouble, Du Barry de Merval, Etiides sur TArchitechire Egyptiemie, ])p. 129, 130. The Tomb under the Ancient Empire. 22 I by Colonel Howard Vyse and J. L. Perring, who at once compre-hended their use. The roof of the sarcophagus-chamber consistsof nins slabs of fine red granite, like those which form the wallsof the same chamber. They are i8 feet 9 inches long an
. A history of art in ancient Egypt . Fig. 151.—Portcullis closed. Another incfenious arrangement which demands our notice isthat of those discharging chambers to which we have alreadyalluded. These chambers were explored, not without trouble, Du Barry de Merval, Etiides sur TArchitechire Egyptiemie, ])p. 129, 130. The Tomb under the Ancient Empire. 22 I by Colonel Howard Vyse and J. L. Perring, who at once compre-hended their use. The roof of the sarcophagus-chamber consistsof nins slabs of fine red granite, like those which form the wallsof the same chamber. They are i8 feet 9 inches long and theirends rest upon the side walls of the chamber. In spite of theirthickness and of the hard nature of the rock of which they arecomposed, it was feared that they might give way under theenormous weight of the masonry above, for the floor of the. Fig. 152.^Transverse section, in perspective, through the sarcophagus-chamber and thedischarging chambers ; from the elevation of Perring. chamber is still nearly 340 feet below the actual apex of thepyramid. This danger was met in the fashion figured above. As the structure grew above the roof of the mummy-chamber,five small chambers were left, one above the other, to a totalheight of 56 feet, which would relieve the fiat ceiling of themummy-chamber of the weight to be placed above it. Thefirst four of these chambers were of similar shape and had flatroofs, but the roof of the fifth was formed of sloping slabs, 222 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. meeting In a ridge, and giving the chamber a triangular section(see Fig. 152). Thanks to this succession of voids immediatelyover the main chamber, and to the pointed arch which surmountsthem, the vertical pressure of the superstructure is dischargedfrom the chamber itself and distributed over the lateral partsof the pyramid. These precau
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