* The second pyramid was opened to Europeans in 1816 by Belzoni.  The exact date of the entrance of the Arabs is given us by an inscription, written in ink, on one of the walls of the sarcophagus chamber:  “Mohammed Ahmed Effendi, the quarryman, opened it; Othman Effendi was present, as well as the King Ali Mohammed, at the beginning and at the closing.”  The King Ali Mohammed was the son and successor of Saladin.

Of Khephren’s sons, Menkauri (Mykerinos), who was his successor, could scarcely dream of excelling his father and grandfather;* his pyramid, the Supreme—­Hiru** —­barely attained an elevation of 216 feet, and was exceeded in height by those which were built at a later date.*** Up to one-fourth of its height it was faced with syenite, and the remainder, up to the summit, with limestone.****

* Classical tradition makes Mykerinos the son of Kheops.  Egyptian tradition regards him as the son of Khephren, and with this agrees a passage in the Westcar Papyrus, in which a magician prophesies that after Kheops his son (Khafri) will yet reign, then the son of the latter (Menkauri), then a prince of another family.

     ** An inscription, unfortunately much mutilated, from the
     tomb of Tabhuni, gives an account of the construction of the
     pyramid, and of the transport of the sarcophagus.

     *** Professor Petrie reckons the exact height of the pyramid
     at 2564 +-15 or 2580 +- 2 inches; that is to say, 214 or 215
     feet in round numbers.

**** According to Herodotus, the casing of granite extended to half the height.  Diodorus states that it did not go beyond the fifteenth course.  Professor Petrie discovered that there were actually sixteen lower courses in red granite.

For lack of time, doubtless, the dressing of the granite was not completed, but the limestone received all the polish it was capable of taking.  The enclosing wall was extended to the north so as to meet, and become one with, that of the second pyramid.  The temple was connected with the plain by a long and almost straight causeway, which ran for the greater part of its course* upon an embankment raised above the neighbouring ground.  This temple was in fair condition in the early years of the eighteenth century,** and so much of it as has escaped the ravages of the Mameluks, bears witness to the scrupulous care and refined art employed in its construction.

* This causeway should not be confounded, as is frequently done, with that which may be seen at some distance to the east in the plain:  the latter led to limestone quarries in the mountain to the south of the plateau on which the pyramids stand.  These quarries were worked in very ancient times.

** Benoit de Maillet visited this temple between 1692 and 1708.  “It is almost square in form.  There are to be found inside four pillars which doubtless supported a vaulted roof