Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

ANCIENT ENGINEERING. 9 tallest Tanis obelisks were less than 50 feet high. The statue must therefore have towered some 65 feet above all its surroundings, and have been visible for many miles across the plain.” Then there are the Pyramids, those mar- vellous aggregations of massive stones which still rank among the world’s chief wonders. The Great Pyramid has a base 764 feet square, and originally rose 480 feet into the air—ex- ordinary London square ; or, if cut into one- foot cubes, would reach for nearly 17,000 miles —a distance equal to about two-thirds of the earth’s circumference at the Equator. This Pyramid is remarkable for more than its mere size. Many of the stones which it includes must weigh between 40 and 60 tons. The granite blocks roofing over the central sepulchral chamber are nearly 19 feet long, from 3 to 4 feet deep, and 2 feet broad ; and, at carnac. stones weigh upwards of 40 tons. Their purpose is unknown. Photo, L. Ie Rouzic, Carnac. ceeding the height of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, by 120 feet; that of the Capitol at Washington by nearly 200 feet. The Great The weight of this mass, some Pyramid ß »40,000 tons, renders it the Egypt greatest of all stone-built erec- tions. Professor Rawlinson has made the interesting calculation that its material would build a city containing twenty- two thousand houses such as are found in an moreover, these stones are fitted together with the nicest care, besides showing in their arrangement a full understanding of the necessity for constructing an arch - shaped roof to withstand the pressure of the huge superincumbent mass. Then again, in the building of the Pyramids it was not merely a question of hauling stones to the site ; they had in some cases to be elevated nearly 500 feet above the base.