ing the Great Pyramid, and that ten years were occupied in
constructing a causeway by which to convey the stones to the place and
in conveying them there. 'Cheops reigned fifty years; and was succeeded
by his brother Chephren, who imitated the conduct of his predecessor,
built a pyramid--but smaller than his brother's--and reigned fifty-six
years. Thus during one hundred and six years, the temples were shut and
never opened.' Moreover, Herodotus tells us that 'the Egyptians so
detested the memory of these kings, that they do not much like even to
mention their names. Hence they commonly call the pyramids after
Philition, a shepherd who at that time fed his flocks about the place.'
'After Chephren, Mycerinus, son of Cheops, ascended the throne, he
reopened the temples, and allowed the people to resume the practice of
sacrifice. He, too, left a pyramid, but much inferior in size to his
father's. It is built, for half of its height, of the stone of
Ethiopia,' or, as Professor Smyth (whose extracts from Rawlinson's
translation I have here followed) adds 'expensive red granite.' 'After
Mycerinus, Asychis ascended the throne. He built the eastern gateway of
the Temple of Vulcan (Phtha); and, being desirous of eclipsing all his
predecessors on the throne, left as a monument of his reign a pyramid of
brick.'

This account is so suggestive, as will presently be shown, that it may
be well to inquire whether it can be relied on. Now, although there can
be no doubt that Herodotus misunderstood the Egyptians in some matters,
and in particular as to the chronological order of the dynasties,
placing the pyramid kings far too late, yet in other respects he seems
not only to have understood them correctly, but also to have received a
correct account from them. The order of the kings above named
corresponds with the sequence given by Manetho, and also found in
monumental and hieroglyphic records. Manetho gives the names Suphis I.,
Suphis II., and Mencheres, instead of Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus;
while, according to the modern Egyptologists, Herodotus's Cheops was
Shofo, Shufu, or Koufou; Chephren was Shafre, while he was also called
Nou-Shofo or Noum-Shufu as the brother of Shofo; and Mycerinus was
Menhere or Menkerre. But the identity of these kings is not questioned.
As to the true dates there is much doubt, and it is probable that the
question will long continue open; but the determination of the exact
epochs when the several pyr