CHEOPS, the name of an Egyptian king Khufu, called Cheops by Herodotus, Chembes by Diodorus, Souphis by Manetho, and Saophis by Eratosthenes. He was the second king of the fourth dynasty of Manetho, and the builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, 120 stadia distant from Memphis and about 45 from the Nile. According to Diodorus, each side was 7 plethra long, and the height 6 plethra; or according to Herodotus, each side of the base was 8 plethra in extent, and the height the same. The former sides are supposed to have been each 764 feet long, their present dimensions being about 746 feet, while the actual present height is 450 feet, and the angle of the casing stones 51° 5 0', according to the measurements of Perring. This wonder of the ancient world, the sepulchre of the monarch, was constructed at great expense and suffering, 100,000 men, changed every three months, being employed by forced labour ten years in constructing the causeway by which the blocks of stone were transported from the Tourah quarries, in the Arabian chain, to a quay on the banks of the Nile, where they were transported by boat from the other bank. Immense expense was entailed in the execution of this Cuatly sepulchre, and according to a popular but improbable tradition, Cheops was compelled through want of money to sacrifice the honour of his daughter to complete the task. Other popular tales, according to the gloss or extract of Manetho, depicted him as impious towards the gods, closing the temples and stopping the worship, but subsequently repenting, and writing a sacred book much esteemed by the Egyptians. His name was supposed to mean wealthy, or having much hair. The monumental information about Cheops does not confirm the Greek historians; on the contrary, it records the construction of ...