Les pyramides de Guizeh qualifiées, par un ouvrage de vulgarisation du XIXe s., de “très mauvaises applications” des forces du travail et des moyens financiers

L’auteur de Egypt : a familiar description of the land, people and produce, 1839, dont j’ai extrait le texte qui suit, n’a pas donné son nom.
Quel qu’il soit, il a démontré qu’il avait étudié son sujet, en prenant appui sur des références majeures, dont Hérodote bien sûr, mais aussi Richardson, Belzoni, Caviglia... Par contre, c’est vraiment à très grands traits qu’il décrit à la fois l’extérieur et l’intérieur des pyramides, ainsi que leur environnement et la technique de leur construction. Sous sa plume, c’est bien d’un ouvrage de vulgarisation pour le moins sommaire qu’il s’agit. Les connaisseurs resteront sur leur faim.
J’ai toutefois retenu ce texte pour ses derniers développements, où l’auteur s’est livré à une comparaison risquée entre la démesure et la relative inutilité des pyramides et quelques constructions modernes. Pourquoi les pharaons ont-ils vu si grand, qui plus est sans prendre en considération le bonheur de leur peuple, alors que des édifices plus petits que les imposantes pyramides auraient répondu aux mêmes fonctions ? Comparer la construction des pyramides à celle du métro et des égouts londoniens : on reconnaît bien là le célèbre pragmatisme britannique !

 

“The pyramids of Gizeh are the largest and most curious. They stand upon a bed of rock some hundred and fifty feet above the desert, and may, consequently, be seen at immense distances. Approaching them from Upper Egypt, the author of "Scenes and Impressions" (*) was continually deceived, by believing himself within a field's length of these stupendous monuments ; when, before reaching their base, he had to ride four miles. So extremely clear is the air in this country, that such objects, though at a distance, are seen with the distinctness of close approximation.
Why these stupendous piles were raised, or for what purpose intended, has never been discovered. Of the innumerable conjectures this mystery has given rise to, the belief that they were designed as monuments for the dead, seems the most probable. (1)
These edifices are believed to be the most ancient amongst the peculiar structures of the kind in Egypt. The dimensions of the principal one (that of Cheops) are seven hundred and fifty-two feet at the base, which, being nearly square, would give about three thousand feet for its four sides ; its altitude is four hundred and sixty feet (2) ; higher than St. Peter's at Rome by twenty-three feet, and higher than St. Paul's at London by one hundred and sixteen. The exterior of the pyramids is built in steps, of which there are in the largest, two hundred and six.
An adequate idea of the vast magnitude of this stupendous work (which covers eleven acres of ground) may be conceived, by supposing the whole of Lincoln's Inn Fields filled up with masonry towering to the sky, the base of the great pyramid nearly coinciding in dimension with that area. (...)
The summit consists of six stone blocks, and is about thirty feet square.
The quantity of stone used to build this pyramid has been recorded as six millions of tons ; or more than three times the quantity employed for that vast undertaking, the Breakwater, thrown across Plymouth Sound. Its solid contents being more than 85,000,000 cubic feet, or above 3,148,147 cubic yards.
We have the authority of Herodotus (Bibl. Hist. ii. 125) for stating that the pyramid was originally cased or plastered over. "For, he says, the sums expended in radishes, onions, and garlic, for the workmen, were marked in Egyptian characters on this pyramid, and amounted - for I well remember what the interpreter who explained those pyramids said - to 1600 talents of silver" (345,600 l.). A hundred thousand men were employed for twenty years in raising this enormous pile.
It has been argued, not without show of probability, that the children of Israel assisted in the construction of these pyramids during the captivity, made so "bitter with hard bondage".  It is certain that afterwards, during their sufferings in the desert while flying from Egypt, they speak with desire of the "onions and garlic" freely afforded them by their task-masters, and so particularly mentioned by Herodotus as a portion of the food supplied to the builders of the pyramids.
In continuation of the same passage in Herodotus, we are told that the great pyramid was made in the form of steps, for the convenience of building. One tier having been laid, stones for the next were raised upon it by "machines contrived of short pieces of wood", and so on till the summit was gained. The structure was then finished by a facing of polished stones ; this work commencing at the top, and ending at the base. The cement which was used was composed of thin lime and a very little sand, and has held the stones together so firmly for succeeding ages, "that, says Dr. Richardson, it stands with the security of a mountain, the most indestructible pile that human ingenuity ever reared".
The outer casing has been removed, the ascent being now by no means regular or easy. "It is a mistake to suppose there are steps, the passage is performed over blocks of stone and granite, some broken off, others crumbling away, and others, which having dropped out altogether, have left an angle in the masonry ; but all these are very irregular. Occasionally the width and height of the stones are equal, but generally the height greatly exceeds the width ; in many parts the blocks are four feet high." (3) The first tier of stones is even with a man's chest.
Admittance to the interior of the great pyramid is gained upon the sixteenth step, on the side towards the north. After traversing several passages the traveller arrives at one on an inclined plane, which leads to a sort of landing-place, where, in a small recess, is the orifice of what has been named "the well." This celebrated excavation consists of two shafts, connected, about mid-way, by a low narrow gallery. (...) A continuation of the same passage leads to the “queen's chamber" ; above is " the king's", in which stands an empty sarcophagus ; immediately over which is "Davidson's chamber”, so named in honour of its discoverer.
The second, or pyramid of Cephrenes, standing close to the great pyramid, is not so large. The secret of its entrance defied all efforts at discovery, till the enterprise and perseverance of Belzoni explored the opening. A chamber was found in the interior that contained a sarcophagus, in which were the bones of a bull, an object of degrading worship amongst the ancient Egyptians.
About three hundred paces from the second pyramid is the gigantic statue of the Sphynx, a fabulous monster which the Egyptians took such delight in delineating. This enormous statue had been overthrown ; and, till lately, only the head, neck, and a portion of the back were visible above the sand ; which, having been cleared away by M. Belzoni, two temples were found; one between its legs, the other, hollowed out in one of its paws. The circuit of this monster's head round the forehead was, we are informed by Pliny, one hundred and two feet, the whole length of the figure one hundred and forty-three, the height from the belly to the top of the head, sixty-two feet.
Besides the pyramids of Gizeh, those of Abousir, Sakkarah, and Dashour, are placed at various distances from each other over a space of twenty leagues, on declivities that slope towards the river. A French (**) gentleman (M. Caviglia) who resides near the pyramids of Gizeh, and to whom the world is indebted for much valuable information regarding them, has confidently stated his belief, that there is a subterranean communication between the pyramids of Gizeh and those of Sakkarah.

In contemplating these immense results of human labour, time, and wealth ; their immensity, and the various uncertainties and mysteries in which their history is shrouded, may impress us with notions and feelings concerning them considerably to the disadvantage of modern edifices and national works of later date ; but their utter uselessness (so far as regards their size) ought to check this kind of veneration ; for, even supposing them to have been designed for any of the various purposes conjecture has assigned to them, a greater number of smaller buildings would have answered the same uses : hence one must only look upon them as great misapplications of labour and capital. A comparison with the works of any modern city will make this the more evident. London, for example, is paved to the very outskirts with stone brought from Scotland. Imagine the same time, material, and labour, to have been employed in raising pyramids, would they not have equalled the stupendous piles of Egypt ? The subways of London, the sewers, water and gas-pipes, &c., also present an amount of labour and ingenuity immeasurably superior to the most wonderful monuments of ancient industry ; besides adding to the comforts and consequently the happiness of mankind, which is more than can be attributed to the temples, pyramids, or sphynxes of Egypt.”

(1) In "A Dissertation on the Pyramids of Egypt" (1833), the following conjectures are collected from various authors : granaries for storing corn ; retreats of safety in the event of another flood, or too great a rise of the Nile ; monuments to memorialize great events ; temples for consulting oracles ; observatories for astronomical purposes ; altars devoted to gods ; and, afterwards, the tombs and depositories of kings. To these we must add the fanciful theory of Dr. Clarke, who contends that the pyramids were built in honour of the patriarch Joseph.
(2) According to the calculations given in the Description de I'Égypte, published by the French Government. The Greek historian Herodotus gives seven hundred and forty-six feet for the base, and four hundred and sixty-one feet for the height.
(3) Narrative of a Journey from Calcutta to Europe by way of Egypt, by Mrs. C. Lushington.

(*) Sans doute s’agit-il de Moyle Sherer.
(**) Erreur manifeste de l’auteur : Caviglia était bien Italien.

Sur cet auteur, deux autres "morceaux choisis" dans l'Égypte entre guillemets :

"On ne peut se former qu’une idée bien imparfaite de l’étendue immense des ruines de Thèbes" (Giovanni Battista Belzoni)

Premières impressions de Giovanni Battista Belzoni, lors de son arrivée à Thèbes

 

Inventaire de la Grande Pyramide : Lord Lindsay (XIXe s.) sur les pas de Caviglia

Illustration extraite de l'ouvrage de Lord Lindsay

Lord Alexander Crawford Lindsay, comte de Crawford (1812-1880), était un grand voyageur. En compagnie de son ami et proche M. Ramsay, il entreprit, en 1836-1837, un périple qui mena les deux voyageurs en Terre sainte, via l’Égypte où ils purent visiter le site de Guizeh. Sur place, un guide particulièrement bien informé les attendait : Caviglia en personne.
Le texte qui suit est extrait de Letters on Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land, 2 vol., 1838. En réalité, le récit qui y est consacré à la Grande Pyramide ne nous apprend rien que nous ne sachions déjà. Lord Lindsay y fait simplement état de quelques-uns des travaux d’exploration entrepris par Caviglia, qu’ils soient déjà réalisés ou en cours.
Un détail mérite, me semble-t-il, une attention particulière : comme de nombreux autres voyageurs ayant visité l’intérieur de la pyramide de Khéops, Lord Lindsay note que le couloir ascendant et la Grande Galerie sont des parcours particulièrement difficiles, et même “périlleux”, car les pierres y sont polies et glissantes comme du verre (“polished and slippery as glass”). Par contre, lesquels de ces voyageurs se sont demandé la raison d'un tel état de la pierre ? Ma lecture a sûrement été incomplète, mais pour l’heure, je ne vois aucun nom à proposer. Et pourtant, les pierres ne sont pas devenues glissantes par hasard. L’usure qu’elles ont subie a dû avoir une cause liée à une phase du chantier de construction de la pyramide.
On sait les réponses qui ont été apportées depuis à ce constat. Mais sans doute, du temps de Lord Lindsay, était-il trop tôt pour se poser pareille question.

Grande Galerie (photo Edgar Brothers, extraite du site de Jon Bodsworth)

“The entrance is on the northern face of the [Great] Pyramid, on the sixteenth step, though you can ride up to it, such immense mounds of fallen stones have accumulated at the base. A long low passage, most beautifully cut and polished, runs downwards, above 260 feet, at an angle of 27 degrees, to a large hall, sixty feet long, directly under the centre of the Pyramid, cut out of the rock, and never, it would appear, finished. This was discovered by Caviglia ; the passage, before his time, was supposed to end half way down (1), being blocked up with stones at the point where another passage meets it, running upwards at the same angle of 27, and by which you might mount in a direct line to the grand gallery, and from that to the king's chamber, where stands the sarcophagus, nearly in the centre of the pile, were it not for three or four blocks of granite that have been slid down from above, in order to stop it up.
By climbing through a passage, forced, it is supposed, by the Caliph Mamoun, you wind round these blocks of granite into the passage, so that, with the exception of ten or twelve feet, you do in fact follow the original line of ascent ; we descended by it. Close to the opening of this passage on the grand gallery is the mouth of a well, or shaft, about 200 feet deep, by which we ascended from the neighbourhood of the great lower hall. Two or three persons had descended it before Caviglia's time, but he cleared it out to the full depth that his predecessors had reached, and believing it went still deeper, hearing a hollow sound as he stamped on the bottom, he attempted to excavate there, but was obliged to desist on account of the excessive heat, which neither he nor the Arabs could stand.
Think, then, what his delight must have been, when, in the course of clearing the passage, which, as I mentioned to you, leads directly from the entrance to the great lower hall, smelling a strong scent of sulphur, and remembering he had burnt some in the well to purify the air, he dug in that direction, and found a passage leading right into the bottom of the well, where the ropes, pickaxes, &c. &c., were lying that he had left there in despair, on abandoning the idea of further excavation in that direction as hopeless !
Up this well, as I said, we climbed, holding a rope, and fixing our feet in holes cut in the stone ; the upper part of the ascent was very difficult, and bats in numbers came tumbling down on us ; but at last we landed safely in the grand gallery, a noble nondescript of an apartment, very lofty, narrowing towards the roof, and most beautifully chiselled ; it ends towards the south, in a staircase, if I may so term an inclined plane, with notches cut in the surface for the feet to hold by ; the ascent is perilous, the stone being as polished and slippery as glass ; before ascending, however, we proceeded by another beautifully worked passage, cut directly under the staircase, to a handsome room, called the queen's chamber. Returning to the gallery, we mounted the inclined plane to the king's chamber, directly over the queen's. The passage leading to it was defended by a portcullis, now destroyed, but you see the grooves it fell into. His majesty's chamber is a noble apartment, cased with enormous slabs of granite, twenty feet high ; nine similar ones (seven large and two half-sized) form the ceiling.
At the west end stands the sarcophagus, which rings, when struck, like a bell. From the north and south sides, respectively, of this room, branch two small oblong square passages, like air-holes, cut through the granite slabs, and slanting upwards, the first for eighty feet in a zigzag direction, the other for one hundred and twenty. 

 Conduit nord de la chambre du Roi (cliché Jon Bodsworth)

It is Caviglia's present object to discover whither these lead. Being unable to pierce the granite, he has begun cutting sideways into the limestone, at the point where the granite casing of the chamber ends ; he has reached the northern passage at the point where it is continued through the limestone, and is cutting a large one below it, so that the former runs like a groove in the roof of the latter, and he has only to follow it as a guide, and cut away till he reaches the dénouement. " Now," said Caviglia, " I will show you how I hope to find out where the northern passage leads to."
Returning to the landing-place at the top of the grand staircase, we mounted a rickety ladder to the narrow passage that leads to Davison's chamber, so named after the English consul at Algiers, who discovered it seventy years ago ; it is directly above the king's chamber, the ceiling of the one forming, it would appear, the floor of the other. The ceiling of Davison's chamber consists of eight stones, beautifully worked, and this ceiling, which is so low that you can only sit cross-legged under it, Caviglia believes to be the floor of another large room above it, which he is now trying to discover. To this room he concludes the little passage leads, that branches from the south side of the king's chamber. He has accordingly dug down into the calcareous stone at the further end of Davison's chamber, in hopes of meeting it : once found, it will probably lead him to the place he is in quest of.
And now, I am sure, if I have been happy enough to inspire you with a tithe of the interest with which I followed every winding of the Pyramid and of our cicerone's mind - itself a most extraordinary labyrinth - you will be glad to hear that there seems every probability of his soon reaching the little passage. Leaving a servant in the excavation, descending to the king's chamber, and shouting at the hole, the man answered by striking on the stone -distinct strokes - as satisfactory a reply as could be wished for.”

(1) Yet it would appear to have been open in Abd'allatif’s time :" Cette ouverture mène à des passages étroits, à des conduits qui s'étendent jusqu'à une grande profondeur, à des puits et à des précipices, comme l’assurent les personnes qui ont le courage de s'y enfoncer ; car il y a un grand nombre de gens qu'une folle cupidité et des espérances chimériques conduisent dans l'intérieur de cette édifice. lis s'enfoncent dans ses cavités les plus profondes, et arrivent enfin à un endroit où il ne leur est plus possible de pousser plus avant. Quant au passage le plus fréquenté, et que l'on suit d'ordinaire, c'est un glacis qui conduit vers la partie supérieure de la pyramide, où l'on trouve une chambre carrée, et dans cette chambre un sarcophage de pierre." On a second visit, he plucked up courage to enter the pyramid in company with a large party, but he shall tell his own story : " Dans une autre visite que je rendis aux pyramides, j'entrai dans ce conduit intérieur avec plusieurs personnes, et je pénétrai jusqu'aux deux tiers environ ; mais ayant perdu connaissance par un effet de la frayeur que m'inspirait cette montée, je redescendis à demi mort." (Relation, &c., p. 175) (...)

Une synthèse, à la fin du XIXe siècle, des travaux de fouilles effectués sur le site de Guizeh

De M. A. Matthey, on ne sait rien sinon qu’il était conférencier et archéologue... ce qui représente déjà une bonne référence. Au cours des “séances” qu’il donna à Genève et Lausanne, sans doute peu avant 1869, sur le thème des explorations modernes en Égypte, il résuma le résultat des fouilles opérées sur le sol égyptien par les Vyse, Caviglia, Belzoni et Mariette.
De ces leçons, mémorisées dans l’ouvrage Explorations modernes en Égypte - Huit séances données à Genève et à Lausanne, 1869, je n’ai pas repris, pour éviter des doublons avec ce qui a déjà été publié dans ce blog, le détail des découvertes réalisées par les égyptologues cités ci-dessus. J’ai simplement retenu quelques considérations plus générales ou conclusions où l’auteur se contente de s’abriter derrière l’autorité scientifique des découvreurs. Sage précaution...

“L'époque monumentale la plus ancienne de l'Égypte est celle des pyramides, ouvrage de la IVme dynastie ; trop d'éléments manquent encore à la science égyptologique actuelle, pour qu'il soit possible d'assigner une date certaine à la construction de ces œuvres immenses. Tout ce qu'on peut dire aujourd'hui c'est que les savants les plus autorisés et en même temps les plus réservés, affirment qu'ils restent au-dessous de la vérité, en assignant aux grandes pyramides, une durée de 25 ou 30 siècles avant J.-C. (...)
Les pyramides sont des tombeaux, c'est un point aujourd'hui parfaitement établi. D'après les croyances égyptiennes, l'âme devait un jour rejoindre la momie et ressusciter le corps ; il fallait donc mettre à l'abri de toute profanation cette précieuse dépouille. Aussi la chambre du sarcophage ne fut rendue accessible que par des couloirs étroits, difficiles, obstrués par des pierres énormes ; et toutefois, en dépit de toutes ces précautions, ces tombes si bien cachées, furent violées et pillées par les Arabes ; on n'a retrouvé aucune trace des corps des rois Chéops et Chéphren.
On voit en face de la seconde pyramide une énorme tête saillir hors du sol : les Arabes l'appellent le père de la terreur. Cette tête appartient à un gigantesque Sphinx dont le corps est enseveli sous les sables. Ce colossal monument n'était qu'un rocher naturel, dont la forme générale rappelait vaguement celle d'un Sphinx ; les Égyptiens complétèrent l'œuvre de la nature, bouchèrent les vides, et, au moyen d'un revêtement de maçonnerie, composé de petites pierres, ils donnèrent à cet informe noyau une grandeur, une grâce vraiment étonnante. (...)
Qu'était, aux yeux des Égyptiens, cette statue colossale ? Grâce aux découvertes de M. Mariette, on peut aujourd'hui répondre à cette question. Les sculptures et les inscriptions attestent que le Sphinx était un dieu. M. Mariette retrouva son nom Hor-emKhu, c'est-à-dire Horus à l'horizon ; il est facile d'identifier ce nom avec celui d'Armachis qui se lit sur une des inscriptions grecques dans le temple ; le colosse était donc l'image du soleil personnifiée sous la forme d'un Sphinx.
De tous les monuments de l'antiquité, le grand Sphinx, malgré les mutilations qu'il a subies, est peut-être celui qui a le plus généralement excité l'admiration. Quelques voyageurs, tout en admirant la tête, ont cru y reconnaître un caractère africain, cette erreur est due à la mutilation d'une partie du nez.

Photo Marc Chartier

Cette tête est un chef-d'œuvre ; son regard contemplatif, la douce expression de sa bouche, modelée avec une finesse d'exécution étonnante, la simplicité des diverses parties, donnent à l'ensemble une grandeur saisissante. (...)
M. Ampère prend le grand Sphinx pour un portrait colossal du roi Toutmès IV (XVIIIme dynastie) ; c'est une erreur : le Sphinx était un animal imaginaire, composé d'un corps de lion et d'une tête d'homme ; c'était suivant les Grecs le symbole de la force unie à l'intelligence.
Mais cette explication ne donne pas le sens vrai du symbole. Ce qui est certain, d'après M. Mariette, c'est que le Sphinx représente toujours, sous la forme d'un lion androcéphale (corps de lion et tête d'homme) le roi qui l'a fait exécuter. On connaît, nous dit le même archéologue, une seule exception à cette règle: c'est le grand Sphinx des pyramides. Qu'originairement cette statue ait représenté le roi Chéphren (IVme dynastie), son constructeur, c'est ce qui est possible ; mais sous la XVlIIme dynastie, elle est l'image d'Armachis (une des formes du dieu Soleil). M. Mariette a trouvé dans le sable, près du monument, deux fragments d'un proscynème (acte d'adoration) adressé au Sphinx. Il y est représenté sur un autel, et la tête ornée d'un large disque solaire. Or, il existe sur la tête du colosse des traces d'usure, semblables à celles que ferait le frottement d'une corde ; cet indice suffit à M. Mariette pour comprendre l'usage de ce trou, profond de plus d'un mètre, qui se voit sur le sommet de la tête. Chaque année, à certaines fêtes, les décorateurs officiels hissaient sur la tête du Sphinx un disque à ailes et le fixaient dans le trou en question. (...)
Dans une des chambres de cet édifice, M. Mariette retira d'un puits, qui devait servir aux ablutions sacrées, neuf statues en brèche verte, qui y furent probablement précipitées dans un jour de révolution. De ces neuf statues, sept sont mutilées, les deux autres sont dans un état parfait de conservation ; elles représentent un roi assis dans la pose traditionnelle ; la tête est ombragée de l'épervier aux ailes déployées ; deux lions debout forment les bras du fauteuil. Quelle fut la joie de M. Mariette quand il déchiffra le cartouche royal gravé sur le socle de ces statues et qu'il lut le nom de Chafra, le fondateur de la seconde pyramide ! (...)
L'architecture de cette époque produit les pyramides, c'est-à-dire des merveilles.
Quand on considère la conception grandiose des plans, l'énormité des blocs de granit, amenés des extrémités de l'Égypte, la coupe des pierres si précise et si savante, l'excellence étonnante de l'appareillage de ces masses gigantesques, et l'exacte orientation des faces pyramidales, on se demande comment dans une si haute antiquité se trouve un avancement si parfait dans l'art de construire, et l'on est forcé de reconnaître que de longues générations ont dû s'écouler avant l'époque qui a vu s'élever les pyramides. (...)
Messieurs, j'insiste sur ces découvertes, elles méritent toute notre attention ; quand on creuse dans le sol des pyramides, on touche pour ainsi dire aux couches géologiques de l'histoire de l'humanité. Eh bien ! loin de trouver un état de barbarie on découvre, non sans surprise, une civilisation et un développement des arts qu'on était bien loin de soupçonner.”

La “prodigieuse antiquité des pyramides et leurs mystères encore non résolus”, selon Edward Joy Morris (XIXe s.)

Dans son ouvrage Notes of a tour through Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Arabia Petraea, to the Holy Land, édité en 1847, l’homme politique et diplomate américain Edward Joy Morris (1815-1881) commence le récit de sa découverte des pyramides de Guizeh sur des impressions somme toute très banales, en dépit, bien sûr, de la majesté des lieux : ascension de la Grande Pyramide (le “must”, à une certaine époque, de tout voyage touristique en Égypte), extase devant le panorama qui se découvre au sommet du monument, référence obligée à Hérodote...
La relation devient par contre plus personnelle, voire mystique, lorsque l’on apprend que l’auteur a tenu à passer une nuit entière sur la plate-forme qui couronne la pyramide, pour mieux s’imprégner de l’histoire et de la densité émotionnelle du site.
Poursuivant sa visite à l’intérieur du monument, il se livre alors à des conjectures sur ses éléments stucturels, notamment sur l’existence supposée ou probable d’espaces jusqu’alors inexplorés : autres “appartements” communiquant avec la chambre du Roi, galeries souterraines et cavernes donnant sur la grande “avenue” en pierres conduisant au Nil...
Une fois encore, la Grande Pyramide se manifeste, aux regards attentifs au moindre détail, sous deux niveaux de lecture : d’une part, ses structures immédiatement visibles à tout un chacun, et, d’autre part, des espaces dont l’existence, au moins supposée ou probable, est déduite d’une certaine logique “architecturale”. C’est le cas, entre autres, de l’”entrée” (entrance) de la chambre du Roi qui, différente de celle qu’empruntent actuellement tous les visiteurs, communiquerait avec d’”autres appartements” :”Pour autant qu’elle existe, cette entrée est hermétiquement fermée, et rien, si ce n’est un tremblement de terre, ne pourrait l’ouvrir.”

Cliché Edgar Brothers (source : Jon Bodsworth)

“On landing at Gizeh, the pyramids, though several miles distant, appeared to be directly before us. In three hours, after a ride across the intervening plain, we arrived at the base of the rocky elevation on which the pyramids are erected. Here begins the desert, the pyramids marking the limit of cultivable land. A number of Bedouins, who live around the pyramids, came running to us and offering their services as guides.
Ascending the rocky foundation of the pyramids, we stood at their base, and here for the first time, we had some idea of their mass and size. Standing at the base of the great pyramid of Cheops, and looking up its sides, it seemed to lean against the sky ; we were too eager to scale the summit to stand long at the base. We ascended at one of the corners ; a Bedouin, mounted upon the stone above, extended his hand to the person ascending, while another aided him with a lift of his shoulder from below.
The pyramids being built with receding layers of stone, a ledge of about three feet in width is left upon each layer, which affords a secure landing-place. In this manner the ascent was easily made in fifteen minutes. Instead of an apex hardly wide enough to stand upon, we found the apex of the pyramid of Cheops a flat square at least fifteen feet broad. A large stone is in the centre, indicating that the original sharp apex of the pyramid has been destroyed, which, of course, has diminished its height.
According to Herodotus, the pyramids were originally covered with a smooth coat of cement, which rendered it impossible to ascend them. The broken, jagged sides of the pyramids show that several attempts have been made to destroy them, a labour which one of the Arabian caliphs found a task equal only to the power of those who built them.
The view from the top of the pyramids extends over the whole breadth of the valley of the Nile, from the Mokattam mountains back to Cairo, to the Lybian desert. While we were on the pyramids the sun went down. My companions descended to sleep in tents at some distance on the plain, while I remained on the top of the pyramid, having resolved to pass the night there. I retained the shiek of the Bedouins and two of his men, and sent down another to bring up the pipes and coffee I had brought from Cairo. The promise of a backsheesh silenced their protestations and fears. The Bedouins kindled a fire with charcoal under the lee of the stone, and made us some excellent coffee, after their manner. Washing the coffee down with a bumper of claret to the memory of old Cheops, we lit our pipes, the Bedouins leaving me to contemplate the darkening landscape, while they, gathered in a group, indulged in suspicious surmises as to my object in sleeping on the pyramids. The last ray of light was gradually fading from the horizon, and the landscape was every moment becoming darker and darker.(...)

Un intéressant “débat” avec Hérodote
The solitude was as profound as that which reigned within the chambers of the pyramid beneath us. Across the plain, as day declined, the villages were indicated only by flitting lights and the baying of dogs. By midnight the moon was in the zenith, and the heavens presented a brilliant host of planets and stars, such as the old astronomers had probably gazed upon from this very spot. The Bedouins were all asleep, so burying myself in the folds of a Greek capote, I turned my back against the stone and fell asleep. The bull Apis, Cheops, the transmigration of souls, with speculation on Egyptian theology and oxology, occupied my dreams, and I was engaged in a very interesting dispute with Herodotus, touching the architects of the pyramids, when the Bedouin sheik awoke me, and told me the sun was rising. The earth was yet robed in the twilight of morning. The horizon in the quarter of the sun was streaked with pencilings of light, while the rest of the heavens were almost perfectly dark. As the sun approached the edge of the horizon, light shot around it ; in a moment more the top of the sun's orb was visible, and instantaneously afterwards he wheeled up with a majestic bound, and poured a flood of light over heaven and earth. It was as magnificent as the first sun that rose upon the first morning, when " God said let there be light, and there was light."
Immediately afterwards I descended, and rejoined my companions with no other unpleasant effects from my night's sleep on the top of the pyramids than a purse enlightened by a liberal backsheesh, and a rather uneasy appetite.

Cliché Edgar Brothers (source : Jon Bodsworth)

L’intérieur de la Grande Pyramide et ses “autres appartements”
Having made the ascent of the pyramid of Cheops, we next turned our attention to the interior. This pyramid stands on a platform of rock a hundred and fifty feet above the surrounding desert, and near fifty more above the valley of the Nile. We found the entrance in the centre of the north side. Several Arabs accompanied us as guides. We clambered up to it, about thirty feet above the base. We proceeded down the passage, (...) groping our way along, each preceded by a guide holding a taper. Haying descended this passage to some depth, we struck another passage which ascends into the body of the pyramid at a rather sharp angle. We followed this until our way was obstructed by a rock, which overhangs the mouth of the well. Climbing over this impediment, we came to the point whence a long horizontal gallery branches off to the Queen's chamber. We continued our way however up the passage, leading with a gentle inclination to the King's chamber. After considerable toil, we arrived at the great chamber of the pyramid. The guides had brought with them a large quantity of tapers, but their united illumination gave us but a faint idea of the size and appearance of the chamber. We could see, however, that the ceiling and walls, like the passages we had just traversed, were lined with immense slabs of Syene granite, and porphyry polished to an extraordinary brilliancy. They were so compactly joined together, as to present a surface of uniform smoothness, having the appearance of one entire block of stone. The chamber being in the centre of the pyramid, is supposed to communicate with other apartments. The entrance, if there be any, is hermetically closed, and nothing less than an earthquake will ever rend it open.
In the middle of the apartment we observed the sarcophagus, broken and mutilated. This apartment is thirty-seven feet two inches long, seventeen feet two inches wide, and nearly twenty feet in height. One of the Arabs discharged a pistol while we were in it. The reverberation was deafening. The sound seemed to gather force as it rolled through the many chambers of the pyramid ; echo followed echo, until the din became appalling, now lulling, then again breaking forth into a louder roar, as it rushed into some new chamber. At last, with one explosive peal of thunder, it burst its way out and ceased. These multiplied echoes indicate that there are other chambers in this pyramid not yet discovered.

Chambre de la Reine, chambres de décharge, puits, chambre souterraine
The Queen's chamber, which is directly beneath the one we had just visited, is of smaller dimensions, but finished with the same compact masonry, and polished granite, as that of the King's. These were the only chambers we entered, the access to even these being attended with much difficulty. We were obliged to grope our way along in the dark, on our hands and feet, half choked with the dust which our progress excited, not knowing whither we were going, but following blindly at the heels of our Bedouin guides.
A new chamber was discovered several years ago, directly above the King's, of small dimensions, by Mr. Davidson, the British consul at Cairo. And, in 1836, Caviglia opened three new chambers directly above this, the largest of which is more than thirty-eight feet long. The chambers, as far as opened in this pyramid, are directly above each other, the object of which succession Colonel Vyse supposes to have been to lessen the superincumbent weight of one upon the other.
The well, the mouth of which we crossed at the termination of one of the galleries, has been descended to the depth of one hundred and fifty-five feet, without attaining the bottom. Caviglia found a shaft which conducted towards the foundation of the pyramid, where he entered a large chamber sixty feet long. This chamber is in the centre of the pyramid, directly beneath the upper chambers. In it is the mouth of a well, which has been opened, but it is supposed to lead below the level of the Nile, to subterranean passages, or probably to some canal which is connected with the Nile, and served as an auxiliary in the religious solemnities enacted in these subterranean caverns. Caviglia found many passages leading from this chamber, in different directions, sealed up however, at some distance from the opening, by blocks of stone. Should a perfect exploration ever take place of the wells of the pyramid, and these lateral passages, it would be found that they communicate with the adjoining pyramid of Cepheres ; and as there are the same kind of subterranean galleries in that pyramid of an equally intricate labyrinthine course, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that they communicate with the neighbouring pyramid of Mycerinus.

 Illustration de 1882

Les trois fonctions de la pyramide
The whole rock beneath the pyramid is excavated into subterranean galleries and caverns, which once, probably, opened upon the great avenue of stone which conducted to the Nile, at the head of which stood the Sphynx.
We know enough to conclude that the pyramids were erected for a triple object, as mausolea for the kings, astronomical observatories, and for the celebration of religious mysteries ; and in my humble opinion, their founders had in view the combination of these three objects. A few facts are sufficient to sustain this hypothesis. The sarcophagi found in them are evidence of their destination as royal sepulchres. The exact position of the four corners of the pyramids with reference to the four cardinal points of the compass, the uniform angle of 26° of the sloping channels of entrance, and the observation made by Caviglia, that the polar star, during his exploration of the pyramid of Cheops, was to be seen from the bottom of the first galley, and that it passed over it during his stay at the pyramid, all these facts indubitably prove the adaption of the pyramids to astronomical purposes. That they were in some manner connected with the religion of the Egyptians it is reasonable to conjecture, from the mysterious nature of that religion, its dark and secret ceremonies, secluded from the eye of the vulgar in gloomy temples, and hidden caves, and the perfect adaptation of the subterranean chambers, vaults, and galleries, beneath the pyramids, to its rites and ceremonies.

Selon Caviglia, des galeries souterraines relient les différentes pyramides
The pyramid of Cephrenes is several hundred feet distant from the great pyramid. This pyramid was opened by Belzoni. It contains several chambers of great beauty. It is better preserved than the pyramid of Cheops, part of the original cement on the outside still remaining.
Beyond this again, on the same level, is another pyramid, and several miles distant, nearly in a line with the pyramids of Gizeh, on the edge of the desert, are the pyramids of Sakkarah and Abousir. The pyramids of Sakkarah are quite inferior structures to those of Gizeh, being loosely built of small stones, and of very meagre dimensions in height and extent. The pyramid of Cheops towers above all, while the others gradually diminish in height, as they recede from the great pyramid. Caviglia is of the opinion that all these pyramids are connected by subterranean galleries. The hollow sound which the earth gives back to the footstep, between these pyramids, would seem to give a show of plausibility to such an opinion. This underground communication would traverse a distance of nearly ten miles ! Connect this reasonable hypothesis, and the time and labour necessary for the excavation of such immense works beneath the earth, with the absence of hieroglyphics, or any signs of writing in the pyramids, and you may have some idea of the prodigious antiquity of the pyramids and their yet undeveloped mysteries.

Illustration de W.H. Bartlett

Le sourire du Sphinx
In the midst of all this mystery and contusion sits the gigantic figure of the Sphynx, smiling placidly and benignly, and seeming to exult in the baffled curiosity of the bewildered traveller. The head and neck alone remain above the sand, a height of about thirty feet. (...) The outlines of the face indicate it to be a sculpture of much merit, though it may be justly doubted whether it ever possessed so much beauty and expression as is ascribed to it by the ancient authors. With the aid of a ladder, we ascended to the head, where four of us sat down together to breakfast. The whole figure of the Sphynx was cleared of the sand which now surrounds it by Belzoni. Between the legs he found a tablet and altar, which appeared to be stained with the blood of sacrifices. On one of the paws of the legs, which stretched out fifty feet from the body, he found a temple. This gigantic figure, when thus fully exposed to view, must have been very imposing. A doorway is said to have anciently existed between the legs of the Sphynx, which gave entrance to the subterranean vault beneath, which formed part of the labyrinthine chambers and galleries that traverse the earth between the pyramids.”

Selon Henry Salt (XIXe s.), la chambre souterraine de la Grande Pyramide devait être “richement ornée et peut-être utilisée pour le déroulement de quelques mystères secrets”

L’artiste et voyageur britannique Henry Salt (1780-1827) eut une carrière de diplomate en Égypte, comme consul général de son pays. Durant son séjour sur les rives du Nil, il s’ingénia à (faire) collecter de nombreux objets d’art pour alimenter le département des antiquités égyptiennes au British Museum.

Son intérêt pour l’égyptologie se manifesta également par le soutien qu’il apporta aux travaux de fouilles entrepris par Belzoni et Caviglia.
Accompagnant ce dernier, qui explorait alors les entrailles de la Grande Pyramide, il put ainsi effectuer une visite approfondie de la chambre souterraine, sur laquelle il donna le commentaire suivant, que j’ai extrait de l’ouvrage The life and correspondence of Henry Salt, par J.J. Halls, vol. 2, 1834 :

“Before I quit this chamber, I must observe that though it now bears so rude and unfinished an appearance, yet, after comparing it very carefully with many other subterranean chambers that have been disfigured by the effects of time and the rude hands of curious inquirers, I cannot help entertaining an opinion that it was once highly ornamented, and perhaps used for carrying on some secret mysteries. I confess that I had flattered myself, before it was cleared out, that it would be found to correspond with the one described by Herodotus as containing the tomb of Cheops, and into which, according to the usual interpretation of the passage, was introduced a canal from the Nile ; but after the necessary examination, I was reluctantly compelled to relinquish the idea from there being no inlet for the water to enter, and from finding that the Nile, according to the late French observations, does not rise to within thirty feet of its level when the river stands at its highest elevation. From an expression, however, in Strabo, that the entrance leads directly down to the chamber in which stood the ' thua,' there seems some reason to believe that the new chamber was the only one open in his day : a circumstance confirmed by Pliny's making mention only of what he calls a 'well' at eighty-six cubits below the surface, which also very nearly agrees with the actual depth of this chamber.
It was left for a Mussulman to discover the real sanctuary and to despoil the tombs of their contents. Al Hamoun, the son of Haroun al Raschid, prompted by the treasure-searching spirit of the age, effected this laborious undertaking, and though the difficulties could not have amounted to what the prosing genius of Maillet has supposed, yet they might well have defied any efforts except those of a sovereign enthusiastic in the pursuit. The Arab authors of best repute have recounted the details of this discovery, and every circumstance, in the present aspect of the pyramid, serves to confirm their veracity.”


À ce texte, l’éditeur de l’ouvrage apporte le commentaire suivant :
“It seems difficult to conjecture on what grounds Mr. Salt entertained the above opinion, as the details of his description certainly appear to favour the supposition of this chamber being merely an unfinished excavation. The commencement of a well in its central compartment, the long passage literally "leading to nothing", and the fact of no vestige of ornamental remains being found among the rubbish with which it was filled, all tend to confirm the notion that the apartment must have been left originally in an incomplete state.”