The Sphinx and Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt
Collection: Middle East

Title

The Sphinx and Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt

Subject

Great Sphinx (Egypt)

Egypt

Description

On verso:
No. 283. THE SPHINX AND PYRAMID, CAIRO, EGYPT.
For thousands of years the Egyptian Pyramids have been an object of wonder and curiosity. They were built between 2500 and 2000 before Christ, and were intended as monuments and tombs. Each was commenced over a small sepulchral chamber excavated in the rock, and the work went on during the lifetime of the king for whom it was built. There are about 40 pyramids in five groups. The largest one was built by Cheops. It took 100,000 men working 10 years to make a road 3,000 feet long, on which to transport the stone from the quarry, and the same number of men 20 years more to complete the pyramid itself. Its base was originally 768 feet square, its height, 482 feet (now reduced to 750 and 451 feet respectively). The content of solid masonry has been estimated at 82,111,000 cubic feet. On the north face, 49 feet above the ground, is the entrance to the passage which leads to the sepulchral chamber. The passage is about 4 feet high, 31/% feet wide and 320 feet long.
The sphinx, consisting of a human head on the body of a lion, in a recumbent posture, about 160 feet long and 63 feet high, cut out of one stone, except the forepaws, which are of masonry, is probably a purely symbolical figure.
A8523

Hand tinted

Creator

[Ingersoll, T. W. (Truman Ward)]

Source

Canton Township Carnegie Library, Canton KS, USA

Publisher

Canton Township Carnegie Library, Canton KS, USA

Format

image/jpeg

Language

English

Type

Stereographs

Identifier

283



Citation
[Ingersoll, T. W. (Truman Ward)], “The Sphinx and Pyramid, Cairo, Egypt,” Digital Canton, accessed November 21, 2024, https://canton.digitalsckls.info/item/585.
Original Format

Stereograph

Physical Dimensions

7 x 3.5 inches