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| Title | Page 12 |
| Creator | Holland, Frederick Whitmore, 1837-1880.
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| Description | Sinai and Jerusalem; or, Scenes from Bible Lands: Illustrated by Twelve Colored Photographic Views, Including a Panorama of Jerusalem, With Descriptive Letterpress. |
| Caption | BRICK PYRAMIDS AT DASHOUR. the modern appliances of machinery, the building of such a monument would appear an Herculean undertaking; and it is almost impossible to conceive how they can have been erected at all in the time of the early Kings of Egypt. This has never been satisfactorily explained. The real object for which the Pyramids were built appears to be as uncertain as the names of the builders, and the dates at which they lived. But the chambers and sarcophagi found within several that have been opened, show that they served for tombs: it has also been supposed that they were intended for astronomical purposes. They all stand round about the ruins of the ancient town of Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, and were probably the sepulchres of its Kings. There are several groups of Pyramids, varying in size: two of those, at Dashour, which are represented in the accompanying picture, are built of crude, or sun-dried bricks. It has been suggested that they were the work of the children of Israel, whom " the Egyptians made to serve with rigour, and made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick" (Exodus i. 13, 14); but there is nothing to support such a supposition. Yet still, as one looks at them, one cannot help recalling to mind the bondage of the Israelites; for those bricks, if not actually made by their hands, are of the same kind that they were compelled to make, and are, very probably, even older than their time. They serve, too, to explain the cruel command of King Pharaoh, that their work should be increased by straw being withheld from them (Exodus v. 7). Chopped straw, or chaff, is always used in the East to mix with the clay employed in making sun-dried bricks. As we use hair with plaster, so the Egyptians use straw in making bricks, to bind the clay together, and make it more solid. An examination of the ancient bricks proves that they were made in exactly the same way. Hence we can easily understand how much the labour of the children of Israel was increased, when no straw was given them, and " the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble instead of straw" (Exodus v. 12). |
| Date | 1870 |
| Publisher | London: Printed by Jas. Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City. |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) | Palestine -- Description and travel.
Sinai Peninsula -- Description and travel.
Jerusalem -- Description and travel.
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| Subject (Geographic) | Palestine
Sinai Peninsula
Jerusalem
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| Original Item Location | http://library.uh.edu/record=b3601783~S11 |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Use and Reproduction | This image is in the public domain and may be used freely. If publishing in print, electronically, or on a website, please use the citation button above. To request higher resolution images, please use the Request High Res button above. |
| File name | meast_201009_038.jpg |
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