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View of ancient and modern Eygpt; with an outline of its natural history
View of ancient and modern Eygpt with an outline of its natural history Author:Michael Russell Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. Mechanical Labours of the Ancient Egyptians. The Magnitude of Egyptian Edifices—Their supposed Object connected with the Doctrine of the Metempsyc... more »hosis —Proposal made to Alexander the Great—Lake Moeris; Its Extent—The Narrative of Herodotus; Supported by Diodorus and Pomponius Mela—Opinion that the Nile originally flowed through the Valley of the Dry River—Facts stated by Denon; And by Belzoni—Lake Moeris not a Work of Art—The River of Joseph and Canals connecting it with the Nile.—Pyramids; Account by Herodotus; Researches of Davison; of Caviglia; of Belzoni; Dimensions of Pyramids—Sphinx; Exertions of Caviglia—Monolitiic Temple—Tombs—Reflections. The history of Egypt presents nothing more wonderful than the' magnitude and durability of the public works which were accomplished by her ancient inhabitants. Prodigal of labour and expense, her architects appear to have planned their structures for the admiration of the most/ distant posterity, and with the view of rendering the fame of their mechanical powers coeval with the existence of the globe itself. It has been suspected, indeed, that the omnipotent spirit of religion mingled with the aspirations of a more earthly ambition in suggesting the intricacies of the Labyrinth, and in realizing the vast conception of the Pyramids. The preservation of the body in an entire and uncorrupted state during three thousand years, is understood to have been connected with the mythological tenet that the spirit by which it was originally occupied would return to animate its members, and to render them once more the instruments of a moral probation amid the ordinary pursuits of the human race. The mortal remains, even of the greatest prince, could hardly have been regarded as deserving of the minute care and the sumptuous app...« less