The mystery of the Great pyramid : traditions concerning it and its connection with the Egyptian Book of the dead : with numerous illustrations

MYSTERY OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

The fabled wealth, however, proved to be of no more substance than a dream, and nothing was discovered save empty passages and chambers, and an empty coffer in the (so-called) King’s Chamber (see Note N). In order to appease. the discontent which arose at the arduous labour and great cost incurred to no purpose, Al Mamoun had a large sum of money, equal to what had been expended, buried in the furthest part of the excavated passage. Its pretended discovery allayed the discontent, and satisfied the populace’s credulity, while the Caliph’s curiosity was at the same time satisfied, and all further search abandoned.

More than one Arab writer, however, has said that a body was found by Al Mamoun in the (supposed) sarcophagus in the King’s Chamber, one describing it as “a statue resembling a man (mummy case), and in the statue a body with a breastplate of gold and jewels, bearing characters written with a pen which no one understood ”’. Another version describes the discovery of “a stone trough in which lay a stone man with a breastplate of gold adorned with precious stones; beside him a sword of inestimable value and an emerald vase; on his head a carbuncle brilliant as the sun, having characters which no man can read ”’,

It is significant, however, that all these tales about the finding of a body by Al Mamoun in the Great Pyramidand which are often quoted in support of the tombic theory—emanate from Arab sources, sources which Sir Gardner Wilkinson, as far back as the first half of last century, pointed out were very unreliable. This distinguished Egyptologist, indeed, was one of the earliest to cast doubts upon the Great Pyramid being a tomb. It seems much more likely that, like the sum of money Mamoun was supposed to have discovered in its recesses as a result of his laborious excavations, these tales were all

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