wings, as if sheltering and protecting the sovereign, who was 'Son of the Sun.'
Khafra's pyramid, called by him Ur, or the Great, is second in size only to that of Khufu. On the upper part of it the original casing-stone still remains.
The third of the pyramids of Ghizeh, that of Menkaura, though only about half the size of the other two, exceeded them both in costliness and splendour; it was cased from top to bottom in brilliant red granite, exquisitely finished.
These ancient pyramids have long ago been rifled for the sake of anything they contained of value, but in the red pyramid a sarcophagus was discovered made of black basalt, beautifully wrought. It was shipped for England, but lost off Gibraltar. Only the wooden case reached London, and was deposited in the British Museum, together with the bones that had been gathered out of poor Menkaura's resting-place, and which doubtless formed part of his skeleton.[1]
Of the monarchs of the succeeding dynasties*
- ↑ On the coffin-lid is a hieroglyphic inscription, which is interesting as showing at how early a period the departed spirit was regarded as one with Osiris. It runs thus: 'O Osiris, King of Egypt, Menkaura,
