| Pyramids Essay, Research Paper
The Egyptians believed that their kings were gods. Even after they had died, the
rulers continued to affect daily life through their supernatural powers. In his new life in
the underworld, the king would need everything he needed while alive, and he needed his
home to last for eternity.
While alive, Egyptian kings lived in palace of mud-brick, wore linen roves, and
slept in wooden beds. In their gentle climate, more substantial comforts were not
needed. But eternity last a whole lot longer than life. So the tombs of the kings needed
to be durable and well-supplied. The tombs also needed to protect the body and its
supplies and gifts from thieves. They also were the focus of the Egyptian religion and so
needed to be extremely visible. The massive stone pyramid met all these criteria.
However, there was still the problem of supplying the king with essentials. Since
entombing a never-ending supply of food and servants was not very practical, the
Egyptians decided on the principal of “substitution by means of a representation.” Since
the dead king now existed in spirit, rather than physical form, he was not bound by
physical limitations. A picture or word could feed him as well as a real slab of meat.
Servants did not have to be killed and laid around his tomb; statues could take their
place.
Because the king was a god to his people, they needed to be able to come and
worship him. But if his body were accessible to the whole nation, the king and his
treasures would be too accessible to robbers. So, instead they built a statue resembling
the king which they placed in a temple open to the public. His ka, or spirit could leave
the tomb and come live in his statue for awhile. This way, the people’s prayers and gifts
could still be delivered while keeping him safe.
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Herodotus, a Greek who wrote about the building of the pyramids long after they
had been built, claimed that the Great Pyramid took tens of thousands of men and in just
twenty years to make. But even if those figures are not accurate, the construction of the
pyramids was an amazing feat. The Egyptians had not learned to use the wheel or the
pulley and so lifted all of the stones using ramps. The cut stone was edged along the
ramps on rollers, lubricated by only milk or water. We do not know how many people
died as laborers for the pyramids, but we do know that most Egyptians would have been
eager to participate in the building: because the king would become a god who could
bless or curse their lives; they wanted to make sure he was comfortable and cared for and
able to come back and help them.
On the rocky plateau of Giza, ten miles southwest of the center of Cairo, stands
the Great Pyramid, the most majestic and most mysterious monument ever erected by the
hand of man (Adams). The Great Pyramid is the largest stone building on earth, and the
last surviving wonder of the ancient world. Its base covers just over thirteen acres, and it
is composed of some 2.3 million blocks of granite and limestone, weighing from 2.5 to
seventy tons apiece, which rise in two hundred and three layers to the height of a forty-
story building. The Pyramid was originally covered with twenty one acres of polished,
marble-like casing stones, which, shining resplendently beneath the sun’s rays, earned for
it the ancient title “The Light.”
The Pyramid is an unrivaled feat of engineering and craftsmanship. It is aligned
with the four cardinal points more accurately than any contemporary structure, including
the Meridian Building at Greenwich Observatory in London. The three hundred and fifty
foot long descending passage is so straight that it deviates from a central axis by less
than a quarter of an inch from side to side and only one tenth of an inch up and down.
The casing stones, some of which weighed over sixteen tons, are so perfectly shaped and
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squared that the mortar-filled joint between them is just one fiftieth of an inch.
Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie described such phenomenal precision as the “finest
opticians work on a scale of acres”; work of this caliber is beyond the capabilities of
modern technology. The casing stones show no tool marks and the corners are not even
slightly chipped. The granite coffer in the King’s Chamber is cut out of a solid block of
hard red granite. Manufacturing engineer Christopher Dunn rejects the theory that it
could have been cut and hollowed using bronze saws set with diamond cutting points,
because when pressure was applied, the diamonds would have worked their way into the
much softer copper, leaving the granite virtually unscathed. In his opinion, the evidence
shows that the Egyptians possessed ultra-modern tools, including an ultrasonic tubular
drill that could cut granite five hundred ties faster than modern drills (Stecchini).
In addition to the Great Pyramid, there are two other large pyramids and six small
ones on the Giza plateau. Most Egyptologists believe that the Great Pyramid was built
about four thousand and six hundred years ago by Khufu, the second king of the fourth
dynasty. His son and successor, Djedefre, is thought to have begun the pyramid at Abu
Roash, five miles northwest of Giza; little remains of it today. The next king, Khafre,
another of Khufu’s sons, is believed to have built the Second Pyramid of Giza, the second
largest stone building in the world, and Menkaure, the smaller Third Pyramid. Although
these two pyramids are very impressive, they do not match the craftsmanship of the Great
Pyramid. Menkaure may have been preceded by Nebka, who is thought to have planned
the large, unfinished pyramid at Zawyat Al Aryan, a few miles south of Giza (Edwards).
The Great Pyramid of Giza is so enormous and yet of such immaculate
workmanship that its construction would tax the skills and resources even of today’s
technology to breaking point. Standing on the boundary of the Sahara Desert and the
fertile Nile, this colossal monument has been called ” a masterpiece of technical skill and
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engineering ability”, “the greatest single building ever erected by mankind” (West). The
conventional belief that the Pyramid was built in just twenty years by tens of thousands of
peasants using only simple tools to serve as a grandiose tomb for a megalomaniac
pharaoh, King Khufu, who lived about four thousand and six hundred years ago. To
complete the Pyramid in only twenty years would require laying one block of stone every
two minutes.
Closely connected with the mysteries of the Great Pyramid is the Great Sphinx,
the most spectacular sculpture on earth. Carved out of the natural rock of the Giza
plateau, the Sphinx is two hundred and forty feet long, sixty six feet high, and thirteen
feet and eight inches at its widest. Orthodox Egyptologists believe that it was carved
during the reign of Khafre, around 2550 BC. It is supposedly a portrait of him, though
some people think it has more of a female appearance, or that the features resemble those
of sub-Saharan Africans. There is now strong scientific evidence that the Sphinx
predates the reign of Khafre by many millennia (West). Following a detailed
examination of the severe, undulating erosion on the body of the Sphinx, Dr. Robert
Schoch, together with other geologist and geophysicists, concluded that the Sphinx has
been weathered Mainly by rainfall before the Sahara became a desert, and must therefor
be at least seven to nine thousand years old.
The great pyramids of Egypt were built following a second migration to Egypt
some eighty to hundred thousand years ago (Dick). Blavatsky quotes an ancient
Commentary which says that the great pyramids were built at the beginning of a
processional cycle, “when Dhruva was at his lowest culmination, and the Krittika looked
over his head to watch the work of the giants”, and she identifies the polestar in question
as Polaris. Dick interpreted this obscure statement to mean that the first pyramids were
built when Polaris, the polestar at the time the Commentary was written, was furthest
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from the actual pole at the time the Pyramid was built, and was on the same meridian
both with the latter and Alcyone, the latter being higher than the pole (Dick). He
calculated that the last time such an event occurred was eighty six thousand, nine
hundred and sixty years ago, during the Age of Cancer, in which it appears a total of
three times. This is in agreement with Blavatsky’s statement that “the Egyptians have on
their Zodiacs irrefutable proofs of records having embraced more than about eighty seven
thousand years” (Purucker).
Calculations by Stellar reveal a number of potentially significant astronomical
alignments for the great pyramids during the processional cycle that began eighty six
thousand, nine hundred and sixty years ago. There appears to have been a master plan
from the very beginning, because in the case of pyramids that seems to have been built in
several stages, the features that indicate the completion dates belong to an earlier phase
of construction.
The great pyramids include the two huge pyramids at Dahshur, seventeen miles
south of Giza, which are usually attributed to Khufu’s father Sneferu. Just as the position
of the three Giza pyramids reflects that of the three stars of Orion’s Belt, so the Bent and
Red Pyramids of Dahshur correspond to Aldebaran and Epsilon Tauri respectively, with
the Nile representing the Milky Way. The Bent Pyramids is so called because its lower
part has a steeper slope than its upper part. This symbolizes duality, as do the two
entrances, which lead to two separate sets of chambers (West). Furthermore, both
entrance passages change their angle of descent part-way. The lower part of the pyramid
may have been built eighty six thousand, five hundred years ago, when the vernal
equinox passed from Cancer into Gemini, and the lower part of the northern descending
passage was aligned with Nekkar, the then polestar, in the constellation Bootes (West).
The “Second” Pyramid of Giza is unique in having two northern entrances.
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Again, this is a sign of duality, and there may be a link with Gemini. the Bottom few
courses of this pyramid, up to a height of about thirty feet, are built of gigantic blocks,
similar to the core masonry blocks used in the megalithic Giza temples, which were
quarried from around the Sphinx. Since the temple alongside the Second Pyramid is
linked to a temple near the Sphinx by a causeway, the lower part of the pyramid was
probably built at the same time as the Sphinx. Several writers, including the astronomer
Sir Norman Lockyer, have suggested that the Spins is half lion, half virgin, and
symbolizes the junction of the constellations Leo and Virgo. Significantly, at the same
time as the summer solstice passes from Virgo into Leo, the spring equinox passes from
Gemini into Taurus. The last time this event occurred was around six thousand, five
hundred and eighty years ago, but if we go back a further three processional cycles, we
arrive at an epoch eighty four thousand, three hundred and forty years ago. At this time
the lower descending passage of the Second Pyramid would have been aligned with
Lambda Bootes, the previous polestar of the era (Lockyer).
Alnitak, the star represented by the Great Pyramid, coincided with the vernal
equinox eighty three thousand, eight hundred and sixty year ago, and at this time the
Pyramid’s descending passage would have been aligned with the then polestar, Alkaid.
The lower part of the Pyramid may date from this time, including the subterranean
chamber and the descending passage. The Second Pyramid may have been completed
around eighty three thousand, seven hundred and seventy years ago, when Alnilam, the
star that it represents, coincided with the vernal equinox, and its upper descending
passage was aligned with Alkaid. Some seventy years later, Mintaka, the star represented
by the Third Pyramid, coincided with the equinox and the descending passage pointed at
Alkaid. According to an ancient Arab inscription, when the Great Pyramid and Second
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Pyramid were built, the Lyre was in Cancer. At the dates mentioned here, the celestial
meridian of Vega, the brightest star in the Lyre, would have intersected the ecliptic in
Cancer and Capricorn. The causeway leading to the Great Pyramid and Second Pyramid
point fourteen degrees to the north and south of due east respectively, and at this epoch,
this exactly one-third of the angle between due east and the sunrise points at the summer
and winter solstices (Lockyer).
The construction of the Red Pyramid of Dahshur may have begun around eighty
two thousand, seven hundred and ten years ago, when Aldebaran coincided with the
vernal equinox, and the descending passage was aligned with the then polestar, Mizar.
The upper part of the Bent pyramid may have been built about two hundred years later,
when Epsilon Tauri coincided with the vernal equinox and the upper part of the northern
descending passage was aligned with the polestar, Alioth. The combined angle of the
lower and upper parts of the unique western descending passage of this pyramid equals
the number of degrees that the equinox would have moved through the zodiac during the
long period between the pyramid’s commencement and completion.
The bulk of the Great Pyramid may have been built toward the end of the
processional cycle that began eighty six thousand, nine hundred and sixty years ago.
What is commonly called the Grand Gallery was in ancient times known to some as the
Hall of the Orbit, and Dick suggested that given the extraordinary astronomical
knowledge of the Pyramid’s builders, it was probably built to lie in the exact plane of the
earth’s orbit at that time. The ascending passage to the Hall of the Orbit is inclined at
about twenty six point seven degrees Celsius, and the Hall of the Orbit at about twenty
six point twenty two degrees Celsius, corresponding to a tilt of the earth’s axis of thirty
three point fifty four degrees Celsius and thirty three point thirty nine degrees Celsius
respectively. The former tilt refers to a date of about sixty seven thousand, eight hundred
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years ago, and the latter to a date of about sixty six thousand, one hundred and eighty
years ago.
Sixty seven thousand, eight hundred years ago the summer solstice occurred in
Capricorn, the Goat. One of the oldest gods of Egypt is Khnum, who is depicted with a
goat’s head, and is associated with Capricorn. A goat also appears in the hieroglyphs
reading “Khnum-Khufu”, sometimes abbreviated to “Khufu”, which appears on some of
the stone blocks used in the Great Pyramid, and are usually assumed to refer to the
fourth-dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Capricorn is found at the head of the rectangular zodiac
in the Temple of Dendera. The present temple dates from the first century BC, but it is
built on the site of a succession of earlier temples. It is oriented seventy one point five
degrees north of east, and according to an ancient inscription, when the original temple
was laid out, the king directed his gaze to Ursa major (Lockyer). the latitude of Dendera
is the same as the angle of the ascending passage of the Great Pyramid, and at the date
represented by this angle, Dubhe, the brightest star in Ursa Major, was about seventy one
point five degrees from the celestial pole. At this time the earth’s north pole would have
pointed near to the neck of Cygnus. Dick suggests that the Pyramid was built in space
towards which the sun appears to be moving. Astronomers estimate that the solar apex is
currently located near the border of the Lyre and Hercules.
Far from being an “idle and silly display of royal wealth” (Wake), or “a dead end
in massive stone construction” (Blavatsky), the Great Pyramid was a majestic temple of
initiation and stands as en enduring monument to the wisdom of the initiated adepts who
designed it and supervised its construction. The pyramid shape symbolizes the
emanation of matter from spirit; it “conveys the idea that all things had their origin in
spirit-evolution having originally begun from above and proceeded downward”
(Blavatsky). It is interesting to note that the Great Pyramid was never entirely completed.
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Pyramids were generally crowned with a granite or basalt capstone, sometimes gilded to
represent the sun. The capstone of the Great Pyramid, however, is missing, and there is
evidence to suggest that it was never added. Another novel feature of the Pyramid is the
existence of four corner sockets cut into the bedrock a little outside the original corners;
the Pyramid was therefore built slightly smaller than the full design. The unfinished
Pyramid can be regarded as a symbol of our unfinished evolution (Blavatsky).
Similar symbolism can be found on the reverse side of the United States seal,
which shows a pyramid without the capstone, with a blazing eye in a triangle above it;
the inscription at the top means “he has looked with favor on the beginnings”, and the one
at the bottom means “a new order of ages”. This design, which has appeared on the
dollar bill since nineteen thirty five, reflects the desire of the founders of the United
States to establish a new order in the west (Judge). The four corners of each side of the
truncated pyramid can be interpreted as symbolizing the lower quaternary, the four lower
aspects of the sevenfold human constitution, which constitute the limited, personal self.
The eye in the triangle above it is the eye of Hours, standing for the upper triad, the three
aspects of our spiritual self. The aim of human evolution is to “so purify the Lower
Quaternary that it shall vibrate in unison with the Upper Triad” (Blavatsky). That is, to
refine our lower nature so that it can manifest the nobler qualities of our higher self, our
inner Buddha or Christ (Blavatsky).
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