ffin (Gen. 1.
26), was not deposited in the chamber, but in an excavation under one of
the walls, which was carefully closed up after the coffin had been
placed inside it. The chamber was used by the relations for sacred
rites, sacrificial feasts, and the like, held in honour of the deceased,
especially on the anniversary of his death and entrance into Amenti. The
early Egyptians indulged, like the Chinese, in a worship of ancestors.
The members of a family met from time to time in the sepulchral chamber
of their father, or their grandfather, and went through various
ceremonies, sang hymns, poured libations, and made offerings, which were
regarded as pleasing to the departed, and which secured their protection
and help to such of their descendants as took part in the pious
practices.

Sometimes a tomb was more pretentious than those above described. There
is an edifice at Meydoum, improperly termed a pyramid, which is thought
to be older than Sneferu, and was probably erected by one of the
"shadowy kings" who preceded him on the throne. Situated on a natural
rocky knoll of some considerable height, it rises in three stages at an
angle of 74 deg. 10' to an elevation of a hundred and twenty-five feet. It
is built of a compact limestone, which must have been brought from some
distance. The first stage has a height a little short of seventy feet;
the next exceeds thirty-two feet; the third is a little over twenty-two
feet. It is possible that originally there were more stages, and
probable that the present highest stage has in part crumbled away; so
that we may fairly reckon the original height to have been between a
hundred and forty and a hundred and fifty feet The monument is generally
regarded as a tomb, from its situation in the Memphian necropolis and
its remote resemblance to the pyramids; but as yet it has not been
penetrated, and consequently has not been proved to have been
sepulchral.

[Illustration: PYRAMID OF MEYDOUM.]

A construction, which has even a greater appearance of antiquity than
the Meydoum tower, exists at Saccarah. Here the architect carried up a
monument to the height of two hundred feet, by constructing it in six or
seven sloping stages, having an angle of 73 deg. 30'. The core of his
building was composed of rubble, but this was protected on every side by
a thick casing of limestone roughly hewn, and apparently quarried on the
spot. The sepulchral intention of the construction is unquestionabl