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ὁκόσον δή τι: the words that follow seem to show that this phrase implies uncertainty on the part of H.; cf. i. 157. 2. He is confirmed by the monuments (Breasted, A. R. i. § 180) in saying that one of the three small pyramids near the Sphinx, to the south-east of the Great Pyramid, is that of the daughter of Cheops; Vyse, 2. 183, says its workmanship is similar to that of the Great Pyramid.

The rest of the story is a fable, to cast discredit on the pyramid-builders (cf. i. 93 and ii. 121 for similar stories as to the ‘Tomb of Alyattes’ and as to Rhampsinitus). As Maspero points out (Ann. des É. G., 1875, p. 21) the story-tellers of Memphis took the great names of history and ‘made them odious and ridiculous’. He compares the romance of Setné (or Satni) for a similar motive, i. e. the sacrifice of a woman's honour to obtain an end otherwise unattainable. In this tale too Rameses II (under one of his names) and Menephtah both figure, but the latter has become a distant ancestor instead of a son (ib., 1878, p. 171, where the story is given almost in full, pp. 142-69). H. himself may have heard it in Egypt.

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