This Cheops, The Egyptians Said, Reigned Fifty Years; And After He Was
Dead His Brother Chephren Succeeded To The Kingdom.
This king followed
the same manner of dealing as the other, both in all the rest and also
in
That he made a pyramid, not indeed attaining to the measurements of
that which was built by the former (this I know, having myself also
measured it), and moreover there are no underground chambers beneath
nor does a channel come from the Nile flowing to this one as to the
other, in which the water coming through a conduit built for it flows
round an island within, where they say that Cheops himself is laid:
but for a basement he built the first course of Ethiopian stone of
divers colours; and this pyramid he made forty feet lower than the
other as regards size, building it close to the great pyramid. These
stand both upon the same hill, which is about a hundred feet high. And
Chephren they said reigned fifty and six years. Here then they reckon
one hundred and six years, during which they say that there was
nothing but evil for the Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed
and not opened during all that time. These kings the Egyptians by
reason of their hatred of them are not very willing to name; nay, they
even call the pyramids after the name of Philitis the shepherd, who at
that time pastured flocks in those regions. After him, they said,
Mykerinos became king over Egypt, who was the son of Cheops; and to
him his father's deeds were displeasing, and he both opened the
temples and gave liberty to the people, who were ground down to the
last extremity of evil, to return to their own business and to their
sacrifices: also he gave decisions of their causes juster than those
of all the other kings besides. In regard to this then they commend
this king more than all the other kings who had arisen in Egypt before
him; for he not only gave good decisions, but also when a man
complained of the decision, he gave him recompense from his own goods
and thus satisfied his desire. But while Mykerinos was acting
mercifully to his subjects and practising this conduct which has been
said, calamities befell him, of which the first was this, namely that
his daughter died, the only child whom he had in his house: and being
above measure grieved by that which had befallen him, and desiring to
bury his daughter in a manner more remarkable than others, he made a
cow of wood, which he covered over with gold, and then within it he
buried this daughter who as I said, had died. This cow was not covered
up in the ground, but it might be seen even down to my own time in the
city of Sais, placed within the royal palace in a chamber which was
greatly adorned; and they offer incense of all kinds before it every
day, and each night a lamp burns beside it all through the night.
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