The great pyramid passages and chambers

CHAPTER I.

THE ORIGIN, PURPOSE, AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID.

F the seven ancient wonders of the world, the Great Pyramid of Gizeh in the land of Egypt, because it is the oldest building in the world and because of its immense size, has been universally recognized as standing pre-eminent,

it has also proved itself the most enduring, for it is the only one of the seven which remains. For forty-one centuries it has kept silent watch over the Delta of the Nile, at the southern apex of which it stands ; and each succeeding generation has asked itself the question: For what purpose was it built, and who was the architect ? Many have been the theories put forward in the past to answer this question, but all of them so inconclusive that, although the ¢rue answer has within recent years been brought to light by a few patient investigators, the lines of the Italian poet Petrocchi well expresses the attitude of men’s minds in general toward this great monument“T ask'd of Time: ‘To whom arose this high Majestic pile, here mouldering in decay ?’ He answer'd not, but swifter sped his way, With ceaseless pinions winnowing the sky. To Fame I turn’d: ‘Speak thou, whose sons defy The waste of years, and deathless works essay " She heaved a sigh, as one to grief a prey, And silent, downward cast her tearful eye. Onward I pass’d, but sad and thoughtful grown, When, stern in aspect, o’er the ruin’d shrine I saw Oblivion stalk from stone to stone. ‘Dread power!’ I cried, ‘tell me whose vast design—’ He check'd my further speech, in sullen tone! ‘Whose once it was, I care not; now ‘tis mine!”

2 Among the theories which have been advocated, it has been claimed that the Great Pyramid was a temple to the Sun and Moon, a building on which to burn sacred fire,a granary for Joseph, a place of refuge from a second deluge, a place of refuge when the heavens should fall, an astronomical observatory, etc., but the theory which has found most favour is that which claims that it is a gigantic mausoleum, Concerning all the pyramids of Egypt, and particularly the Great Pyramid, the Rev. Andrew Thomson, D.D., wrote in his well-known work, In the Holy Land,—“ And who built those titanic structures, and what was the design of their builders? These are questions that have been repeated since the Father of history, more than two thousand years ago,