Visit to the Pyramids

None of the numerous travellers who visit in our days the ancient kingdom of the Pharaohs, will fail to admire the gigantic and durable monuments of these shepherd kings. The most singular circumstance is, that time, which preserves traditions more easily than works raised by the hand of man, has not transmitted any precise information respecting the primitive object of these astonishing edifices. Herodotus himself, who saw them above twenty centuries before us, contents himself with giving some vague data, which are rather suppositions than historical facts. The majority of ancient authors are not agreed either on the time or object of their erection: Aristotle, speaking of the pyramids, pretends that they were erected by tyrants, in order to employ the people and prevent them from revolting. The supposition which is most generally credited, and is founded on the well-known taste of the ancient Egyptians for magnificent sepulchres, is that which considers the pyramids as the mausoleums or tombs of their founders. It is, however, probable that these singular edifices likewise served for the initiations, and perhaps for the religious ceremonies, of these shepherds who invaded Egypt, and were attached to the Sabaean worship. It is well known that the dynasty of the shepherd kings maintained itself in Egypt during several centuries, and that they chose Memphis for their capital, whereas the ancient Sacerdotal government was established at Thebes.

Being desirous to behold with our own eyes the colossal grandeur of these edifices, of which a just idea cannot be formed except by being placed at their foot, we fixed a day for the excursion, with a numerous company, and all the ladies of Mr. Rosetti’s family. As these ladies had to pass through a great part of the city and feared the fatigue of their large black silk cloaks, which cover half the face, they chose the Mameluke costume, and, without well knowing why, I followed their example. Camels, carrying tents and provisions, had been sent before us early in the morning. Our little caravan, consisting of eight gentlemen in the European dress, five ladies in the Turkish costume, followed by some janissaries, negro slaves, and the Arab guides running by our side, set out, mounted on asses, in the finest weather.

Having never before worn the Mameluke dress, I found myself extremely embarrassed in passing through the streets of Cairo, as I observed that we excited the attention and curiosity of the crowd, who doubtless were surprised to see five Turks among this European company. My companions, to whom I did not dare to speak, participated in my embarrassment, and we felt quite relieved when we reached the country. We then passed through old Cairo, a kind of suburb, distant about half a league from the city, and cast a look at the beautiful aqueduct, which is of the time of the Caliphs, and has a picturesque effect.

We embarked at this place to cross the Nile, and admired on the passage the charming isle of Rhoda, formed by two arms of this river, and adorned with the richest vegetation; then passing through a grove of palms which grows on the ruins of ancient Memphis, our road led through fields and pastures, intersected by numerous ditches and canals for watering the land, till nature, becoming more and more sterile and destitute of all vegetation, we came to the entrance of a sandy desert which we had to cross to reach the Pyramids.

The sheik of the Pyramids, accompanied by several Arabs of the tribe inhabiting the desert round them, and who claim the right of guiding strangers to them, came to meet us, and received us, as it were, on the frontiers of his dominions. It was formerly very dangerous to make even a short excursion in the environs of Cairo, on account of the tribes of wandering Arabs, who made no scruple of plundering and massacreing travellers. Lord Valentia, who was here fifteen years before us, had found it necessary to have an escort of a hundred soldiers, whereas, under the government of Mahomet Ali, we enjoyed this pleasure in perfect security.

When we first saw these monuments at a distance, they did not appear to us of colossal size, and it was not till we were quite near them, that we were able to judge of the immensity of their dimensions, by the objects of comparison round them. A silent wonder, or rather dread, seizes the soul at the sight of this gigantic pile of stones, which seems as if placed by enchantment in the middle of the Desert. When we reflect how many thousand hands laboured to erect these edifices, and how much knowledge the ancients must have possessed in the employment of mechanical means, not only to convey these enormous blocks of stone, but also to raise them to such a height, we are struck with astonishment at the sight of such an undertaking, and make painful reflections on the in-utility of most of the works of man.

I entered the largest of the Pyramids, that of Cheops. The other ladies did not wish to follow me, as the vaulted and winding passage, which leads to the interior of the building, is very fatiguing: in some places you are obliged to creep through a very narrow opening; in others the steps are so steep, that I never could have mounted them without the assistance of my two Arabs. Notwithstanding my disguise, these good people had doubtless guessed who I was, as they paid great attention to me, encouraging, and continually warning me of the dangerous passages we had to traverse; some Arabs preceded us with torches; the obscurity of this subterraneous vault, the singular effects of light on the dark and expressive countenances of my guides, the cries of the night birds and bats, to which these gloomy and solitary retreats serve as a refuge, the impure air which we breathed, made me almost fancy that I was the sport of some dream, in which the scenes of the wonderful lamp of Aladdin unfolded themselves to my view. We, however, reached the great apartment in the interior of the Pyramid, without seeing the king of the Gnomes, and I found only a very plain open sarcophagus, which is supposed to have been the tomb of one of the Pharaohs. If these Pyramids were destined for initiation into the mysteries¹, I can conceive that the singularity of this subterraneous passage may have served to exalt the imagination of the initiated, and, that by means of the obscurity which prevails in it, the terror which the place excites might be enhanced. I own, that I felt when I came out, a very lively sensation of pleasure at seeing the blue firmament and the light of day. I was so fatigued that it was impossible for me to go to the top of the Pyramid, from which there is said to be a most extensive prospect. My husband, however, who ascended it, told me that the view from it was by no means so beautiful as Savary and other travellers had pretended, on account of the chains of arid mountains, and the deserts of sand which surround them, We afterwards went round the other Pyramids, and the day beginning to draw to a close, we retired to our tents, which the Arabs had taken care to pitch near the great Pyramid. Here we found the Kiaschef of Gizeh, the chief of this village and the district surrounding it; he was a person of some consequence, and having been informed of our arrival, had come to receive us and pay his respects. He brought with him several sheep, which were killed on the spot, roasted, and served whole.

This Kiaschef, who piqued himself on his knowledge of the manners of the world, and on being above all prejudices, took part in the entertainment, and made no scruple to drink of the wine which we had brought with us. I was amused at the awkward manner in which he used our knives and forks; the Turks not daring to make use at their meals of any instrument of this kind, they, consequently, avail themselves of their fingers, so that the Kiaschef forgetting now and then the character which he sustained, of being a man of bon ton, helped himself with his bands, then recollecting himself, took his knife and fork. His nephew whom we repeatedly invited to take part in our entertainment, did not venture to comply, out of respect to his uncle, but remained standing the whole time. Mrs. Rosetti’s mother, who, being a native of the Levant, had many acquaintances among the Turkish ladies, and also knew the wife of the Kiaschef, told me that the latter had informed her that she had lately made a present to her nephew, I believe on occasion of his birthday, of a beautiful Circassian slave. This anecdote, which has nothing remarkable in it, is mentioned here only as a proof of the singularity of the manners and customs of a people, who consider beings endowed with sensibility and reason, merely as objects of ostentation.

Pyramids of Gizeh.jpg

Night having set in, we left our tent to enjoy the picturesque effect of the Pyramids during bright moonlight. They rose towards the spangled firmament, like the giants in the fable, while their shadows extended far over the white and sandy tract which surrounds them.
The fires of our Arabs, our scattered tents added to the singularity of our situation, diffused a peculiar and mysterious charm over this nocturnal scene.

The following day, after having, for the first time in my life, passed a night as it were in the open air, we bade adieu to these wonders of the world, and arrived early and without any accident at Cairo.

from Recollections of Egypt
by Baroness von Minutoli, 1827

Notes

¹ What renders this supposition still more probable, is the internal construction of the great Pyramid of Saccara, of which my husband discovered the entrance. This pyramid contains a great number of passages and corridors, and several chambers, in the walls of which were incrusted convex pieces of porcelain of various colours, which, when seen by torch-light, must have a pretty effect. There are also hieroglyphics above several doors, a circumstance which has not hitherto been remarked in the other Pyramids. The largest of these chambers, the walls of which were blackened by the smoke of the torches, contained, instead of a sarcophagus, a small sanctuary, formed of several blocks of stone, placed one upon another, into which a man could easily enter, and from which the voice of the oracle was probably made to issue. It is to be regretted that the sand of the desert blocked up the entrance to this Pyramid a short time after the operations which my husband had caused to be undertaken there. Five-and-twenty Arabs had worked there during two-and-twenty days. In order to reach the interior, they were obliged to descend into a well fifty feet deep. This passage was extremely dangerous; for a short time after my husband first went down, the side of the well fell in, and it was so choked up, that it took more than eight days to clear it again. If any persons had been inside of the Pyramid at such a moment they must have perished by a cruel death.