Histories

And so evil a man was Kheops that, needing money, he put his own daughter in a brothel and made her charge a fee (how much, they did not say). She did as her father told her, but was disposed to leave a memorial of her own, and asked of each coming to her that he give one stone;

and of these stones they said the pyramid was built that stands midmost of the three, over against the great pyramid; each side of it measures one hundred and fifty feet.

The Egyptians said that this Kheops reigned for fifty years; at his death he was succeeded by his brother Khephren, who was in all respects like Kheops. Khephren also built a pyramid, smaller than his brother's. I have measured it myself.

It has no underground chambers, nor is it entered like the other by a canal from the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile, but the river comes in through a built passage and encircles an island, in which, they say, Kheops himself lies.

This pyramid was built on the same scale as the other, except that it falls forty feet short of it in height; it stands near the great pyramid; the lowest layer of it is of variegated Ethiopian stone. Both of them stand on the same ridge, which is about a hundred feet high. Khephren, they said, reigned for fifty-six years.

Thus, they reckon that for a hundred and six years Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt was in great misery and the temples so long shut were never opened. The people hate the memory of these two kings so much that they do not much wish to name them, and call the pyramids after the shepherd Philitis, who then pastured his flocks in this place[*](This is the form which Hdt. gives to the story of the rule of the “shepherds” (Hyksos) in +Lower Egypt [31,31] (region), Egypt, Africa Lower Egypt, perhaps from 2100 to 1600 B.C. ).

The next king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, they said, was Kheops' son Mycerinus. Disliking his father's doings, he opened the temples and let the people, ground down to the depth of misery, go to their business and their sacrifices; and he was the most just judge among all the kings.