um.

[Illustration: 167.jpg THE PYRAMID OF MEDUM]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the plans of Flinders Petrie,
_Medum_, pl. ii.

The pyramid, like the mastaba,* represents a tumulus with four sides,
in which the earthwork is replaced by a structure of stone or brick. It
indicates the place in which lies a prince, chief, or person of rank in
his tribe or province. It was built on a base of varying area, and was
raised to a greater or less elevation according to the fortune of the
deceased or of his family.**

* No satisfactory etymon for the word _pyramid_, has as yet
been proposed: the least far-fetched is that put forward by
Cantor-Eisenlohr, according to which _pyramid_ is the Greek
form, irupauc, of the compound term "piri-m-uisi," which in
Egyptian mathematical phraseology designates the _salient
angle_, the ridge or height of the pyramid.

** The brick pyramids of Abydos were all built for private
persons. The word "mirit," which designates a pyramid in
the texts, is elsewhere applied to the tombs of nobles and
commoners as well as to those of kings.

The fashion of burying in a pyramid was not adopted in the environs of
Memphis until tolerably late times, and the Pharaohs of the primitive
dynasties were interred, as their subjects were, in sepulchral chambers
of mastabas. Zosiri was the only exception, if the step-pyramid of
Saqqara, as is probable, served for his tomb.*

* It is difficult to admit that a pyramid of considerable
dimensions could have disappeared without leaving any traces
behind, especially when we see the enormous masses of
masonry which still mark the sites of those which have been
most injured; besides, the inscriptions connect none of the
predecessors of Snofrui with a pyramid, unless it be Zosiri.
The step-pyramid of Saqqara, which is attributed to the
latter, belongs to the same type as that of Medum; so does
also the pyramid of Rigah, whose occupant is unknown. If we
admit that this last-mentioned pyramid served as a tomb to
some intermediate Pharaoh between Zosiri and Snofrui--for
instance, Huni--the use of pyramids would be merely
exceptional for sovereigns anterior to the IVth dynasty.

The motive which determined Snofrui's choice of Medum as a site, is
unknown to us: perhaps he dwelt in that city of Heracleopolis, which in
course of time frequently becam