The courses retreat slightly, with the exception of the fifth, which projects considerably beyond the line of the fourth and still more beyond that of the sixth.

The whole effect is less that of a pyramid than of a stele or pillar, the width at top being not very much smaller than that at the base.

The monument is a solid mass, and is not a square but a rectangular oblong, the broader sides measuring fourteen feet and the narrower about eight feet six inches.

Two out of the eight courses are of the nature of substructions, being supplemental to the rock, which supplies their place in part; and it is only recently that they have been brought to light by means of excavation.

Hence the earlier travellers speak of the monument as having no more than six courses.