The 3 Great Pyramids on
the Plains of Giza in Egypt
Very old, and yet, in their own inimitable way (even in their present ruinous condition), they're still evoking the same kind of awe and astonishment that a thunderstorm would bring in the Sahara Desert; still standing, still exuding their own peculiar brand of serenity and regalness, they still continue to serve as imobile and silent witnesses to the inevitable passage of time__sightless and silently, interminably tolling the hours, the days, centuries, in witnessing man's tenuous mortality.
And so it is, if we - in commencing this probe into the truth of the matter at hand - start at the point when the very first European(s) set eyes on the "Plains of Giza," people with a variety of backgrounds and interests have ventured to the Giza plateau. And the Great Pyramid, alone, has been "studied, measured, excavated, drawn, photographed and generally exploited, both inside and out, by eager treasure-seekers, savants, archaeologists, historians, mountain-climbers and hordes of the just plain curious. Everything that could be known about the Great Pyramid was known, it seemed, except for the still-puzzling question of how a society whose technology had not yet arrived at the wheel, was able to erect such a massive structure in the first place" (to quote one prominent Author on the subject). Now I wouldn't know how to begin to study - let alone cite here - the countless theories borne of minds having fertile imaginations, because today, in scouring the libraries and book stores (and the World Wide Web), you'll find that much has been written about the subject, "How were the Pyramids built?" And all of the answers to the question, scholarly and otherwise (with the exception of one notable explanation, which I'll get to a little later in this treatment of the subject), unfortunately, has been nothing but sheer nonsense.
And you know what? Because of some reason, a lot of so-called pragmatic Archaeologists, Pyramidologists, Egyptologists as well as a numbered few in the general public have gone that extra mile and formulated, shared and hold (quite seriously) unshakable opinions about the structures on the "Plains of Giza." Illogical, as they may be. Consequently, theories of construction are many and, even in this day and age, continue to be invented. But, in spite of what has been theorized and assumed by scholars and educators and non-educators alike, the construction of the three Great Pyramids continues to pose a super-mystery. And, in trying to solve the mystery (regarding the technology that was utilized by the Pyramid builders), the sheer weight of customary prejudices - within traditional archaeology in general and classical Egyptology in particular - has made it seem an impossible task__strangely, at least to me, ingrained preconceptions are ferociously guarded by scholars (religious and scientific alike).
Moreover, a case could also be made - so why not make it? - for other peculiarities. You see, in their search for answers to a mystery, apparently when some people really let loose and slip off the traditional tracks and dive headlong into their imaginations, weird things happen. So, along with the traditional way of thinking, also clouding the issue is a longstanding muddle and senseless speculations about ingenious implements (balloons, kites, things of that sort), supernatural scenarios (like levitation) and, of all things, some weird but benign, super-intelligent form of extraterrestrial intervention__all, in one way or another, attempting to address a perplexing dilemma. Simply stated: so far, everything fits into one big box, because the majority - if not all - of the solutions of construction are based upon some concept of carving, hauling and hoisting solid blocks of stone; but the "Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar" question is, "How could millions of massive stone blocks, weighing several tons, be raised to such great heights?" As one of those pesky factual points that lots of folks don't ever seem to notice, the question nags.
There are two sides to this story, though__ theoretical and real. But, in answering the question within this page (with the real answer), I must say that I am of a mind that's walking and operating in the "light" of a different mode__a mode that's made possible because it is subject only to the dictates of the Lord. And what's nailing my decision to follow the "script" of that mode and keeps me pretty much focused, are the subtle rhythms of the Hebrew Israelite "Scriptures." And I said that to say this: To the question, "How could millions of massive stone blocks, weighing several tons, be raised to such great heights?"__ the short, and truthful "Scriptural" answer is, they weren't. They, the massive stones (the multitude of "blocks" that were used to build the Pyramids of Giza), were NOT raised to great heights. In fact, solid blocks of stone(s) - on the "Plains of Giza" - were not raised to ANY height at all!
Take a moment to digest the statement.
But before we step outside the scholarly safe zone (the traditional way of thinking on how the Great Pyramids were built) and begin the actual details of "HOW THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT," let me share with you the views of a well known scholar on the subject of the "Great Pyramid (it's worth noting)." Because of what the gentleman is saying, you might want to read it very carefully (and slowly). Not taking anything for granted, I'm including his words just in case your're not aware of what a few (dissenting) Archeologists, Pyramidologists and Egyptologists are thinking - and saying - about the Great Pyramid's construction.
" The Great Pyramid, attributed to Khufu
(Cheops), was originally 481 feet, five inches tall (146.7 meters) and measured 755 feet
(230 meters) along its sides. Covering an area of 13 acres, or 53,000 square meters, it is
large enough to contain the European cathedrals of Florence, Milan, St. Peters,
Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's. Constructed from approximately 2.5 million limestone
blocks weighing on average 2.6 tons each, its total mass is more than 6.3 million tons
(representing more building material than is to be found in all the churches and
cathedrals built in England since the time of Christ).
The Great Pyramid was originally encased in highly polished, smooth white limestone and
capped, according to legend, by a perfect pyramid of black stone, probably onyx. Covering
an area of 22 acres the white limestone casing was removed by an Arab sultan in AD 1356 in
order to build mosques and fortresses in nearby Cairo. Herodotus, the great Greek
geographer, visited in the fifth century BC. Strabo, a Greco / Roman historian, came in
the first century AD. Abdullah Al Mamun, son of the Caliph of Baghdad, forced the first
historically recorded entrance in AD 820, and Napolean was spellbound when he beheld the
fantastic structure in 1798.
According to our present knowledge the Great Pyramid is mostly solid mass, its only known
interior spaces being the Descending passage (the original entrance), the Ascending
passage, the Grand Gallery, a mysterious grotto, an equally mysterious subterranean
chamber, and the two main chambers. These two chambers, called the King's Chamber and the
Queen's Chamber, have unfortunately retained the misleading names given to them by early
Arab visitors to the pyramid. It is an Arab custom to bury men in tombs with a flat roof
and women in rooms with a gabled roof; therefore, in the Great Pyramid, the flat-roofed
granite chamber became the King's Chamber, while the gabled, limestone chamber below
became the Queen's. Even those archaeologists who still stubbornly subscribe to the tomb
theory of the pyramid do not believe that a queen or anyone else was ever buried in the
limestone chamber. The King's Chamber is 10.46 meters east to west by 5.23 meters north to
south by 5.81 meters high (a series of measurements that precisely expresses the
mathematical proportion known as the Golden Mean, or Phi). It is built of enormous blocks
of solid red granite (weighing as much as 50 tons) that were transported by a
still-unknown means from the quarries of Aswan 600 miles to the south. Within the chamber,
in the western end, sits a large, lidless coffer (7.5 feet by 3.25 feet, with sides
averaging 6.5 inches thick) of dark black granite estimated to weigh more than three tons
(Figure 1, below).
FIG. 1: Inside the so-called Kings chamber and
the so-called coffer or sarcophagus.
When the Arab Abdullah Al Mamoun finally forced his entry into the chamber in AD 820 -
the first entry since the chamber was sealed in some long ago time - he found the coffer
entirely empty. Egyptologists assume that this was the final resting place of Khufu, yet
not the slightest evidence suggests that a corpse had ever been in this coffer or chamber.
Nor have any embalming materials, any fragments of any article, or any clues whatsoever
been found in the chamber or anywhere else in the entire pyramid that in any way indicates
that Khufu (or anyone else) was ever buried there. Furthermore, the passageway leading
from the Grand Gallery to the main chamber is too narrow to admit the movement of the
coffer; the coffer must have been placed in the chamber as the pyramid was being built,
contrary to the normal burial custom practiced by the Egyptains for three thousand years.
The foolishness of the common assumption, that the Giza plateau pyramids were built and
utilized by fourth Dynasty kings as funerary structures, cannot be overstated. It is a
matter of archaeological fact that none of the fourth Dynasty kings put their names on the
pyramids supposedly constructed in their times, yet from the fifth Dynasty onwards, the
other pyramids had hundreds of official inscriptions, leaving us no doubt about which
kings built them. The mathematical complexity, engineering requirements, and sheer size of
the Giza plateau pyramids represent an enormous, seemingly impossible leap in abilities
over the third dynasty buildings. Contemporary Egyptological explanation cannot account
for this leap, nor can they account for the clear decline in mathematics, engineering and
size of the constructions of the fifth dynasty. Textbooks speak of "religious
upheaval" and "civil wars," but there is no evidence whatsoever of these
having occurred.
The attribution to Khufu of the Great Pyramid is founded soley upon three very
circumstantial pieces of "evidence":
Pharaoh Khufu himself left no indication whatsoever that he built the Great Pyramid. He
did, however, claim to have done repair work on the structure. On the nearby
"Inventory" Stele (dating to about 1500 BC, but showing evidence of having been
copied from a far older stele contemporaneous with the fourth dynasty), Khufu tells of
discoveries made while clearing away the sands from the pyramid, of his dedication of the
monument to Isis, and of his building of the three small pyramids for himself, his wife,
and his daughters next to the Great Pyramid. Regarding the chalk marks found within the
pyramid, most hieroglyph experts now believe these to be forgeries left by their
"discoverer" Richard Howard-Vyse, rather than being quarry inscriptions left by
the original builders. Howard-Vyse was under pressure to equal the discoveries of his
rival, the Italian explorer Caviglia, who had found inscriptions in some of the tombs
around the Great Pyramid. Modern researchers now suspect that, in the battle for
oneupmanship, Howard-Vyse sought to overshadow his rival and gain renewed support for his
own projects with a similar but more spectacular "discovery", by forging quarry
inscriptions inside the Great Pyramid. In other words, no firm evidence in any way
connects the pyramids of the Giza plateau to the dynastic Egyptians.
Let us briefly consider a few matters concerning the construction of the Great Pyramid;
matters which clearly indicate that the builders of fourth dynasty Egypt did not have the
engineering capacity to erect the Great Pyramid (we do not have the capacity even today)
and that this structue was used for a purpose altogether different from mere burial.
The Great Pyramid is constructed with approximately 2,300,000 limestone and granite
blocks. Weighing between 2.5 and 50 tons each, these stone blocks had to be quarried from
the earth. Herein lies our first unsolved problem. In the Cairo museum one can see several
examples of simple copper and bronze saws, which Egyptologists claim are like those
utilized in the cutting and shaping of the pyramid blocks. These tools present a problem.
On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, copper and bronze have a hardness of 3.5 to 4,
while limestone has a hardness of 4 to 5 and granite of 5 to 6. The known tools would only
barely cut through limestone and would be useless with granite. No archaeological examples
of iron tools are found in early dynastic Egypt, yet even if they were, the best steels
today have a hardness of only 5.5 and thus are inefficient for cutting granite. Some years
ago Sir Flinders Petrie, one of the "fathers" of Egyptology proposed that the
pyramid blocks had been cut with long saw blades studded with diamonds or corundum. But
this idea presents problems too. The cutting of millions of blocks would require millions
of rare and expensive diamonds and corundum, which constantly wear out and require
replacement. It has been suggested that the limestone blocks were somehow cut with
solutions of citric acid or vinegar, yet these very slow-acting agents leave the surface
of the limestone pitted and rough, unlike the beautifully smooth surface found on the
casing stones, and these agents are completely useless for the cutting of granite. The
truth is, we have no idea how the blocks were actually quarried.
How the size of an adult male compares to the limestone blocks.
The unsolved problem of how the 2,300,000 very heavy blocks were transported to the
building site of the pyramid is even more mystifying. How were the blocks taken to the
nearly 500-foot height of the pryamids' summit? A Danish civil engineer, P. Garde-Hanson,
has calculated that a ramp built all the way to the top of the pyramid would require 17.5
million cubic meters of material, this representing more than seven times the amount of
material used for the pyramid itself, and a work force of 240,000 to build it in the time
allotted by Cheops' reign. But if this enormous ramp were built, it would then require a
force of more than 300,000 laborers as much as eight years to dismantle. Where would all
the ramp material have been placed, since it is not to be found anywhere near the Great
Pyramid? And what of manuevering the precisely carved blocks into place without damaging
the corners? Various lifting devices and levers have been proposed by modern engineers
(remember, no existing dynastic records, paintings, or friezes give any clue to this
mystery), but none solve the problem of how the 50-ton blocks of the main chamber were
lifted and positioned using an area where only four to six workers could stand, when the
strength of at least 2000 would be needed.
Next we come to perhaps the most extraordinary problem, that of the fashioning and
placement of the highly polished limestone casing stones that covered the entire pyramid.
The finished pyramid contained approximately 115,000 of these stones, each weighing ten
tons or more. These stones were dressed on all six of their sides, not just the side
exposed to the visible surface, to tolerances of .01 inch. They are set together so
closely that a thin razor blade cannot be inserted between the stones. Egyptologist Petrie
expressed his astonishment of this feat by writing, "Merely to place such stones in
exact contact would be careful work, but to do so with cement in the joint seems almost
impossible; it is to be compared to the finest opticians' work on the scale of
acres." Herodotus, visiting in the fifth century BC, reported that inscriptions of
strange characters were to be found on the pyramid's casing stones. In AD 1179 the Arab
historian Abd el Latif recorded that these inscriptions were so numerous that they could
have filled "more than ten thousand written pages." William of Baldensal, a
European visitor of the early fourteenth century, tells how the stones were covered with
strange symbols arranged in careful rows. Sadly, in 1356, following an earthquake that
leveled Cairo, the Arabs robbed the pyramid of its beautiful casing of stones to rebuild
mosques and fortresses in the city. As the stones were cut into smaller pieces and
reshaped, all traces of the ancient inscriptions were removed from them. A great library
of ageless wisdom was forever lost.
Still further evidence that the dynastic Egyptians did not construct the Great Pyramid may
be found in sediments surrounding the base of the monument, in legends regarding
watermarks on the stones halfway up its sides, and in salt incrustations found within.
Silt sediments rising to fourteen feet around the base of the pyramid contain many
seashells and fossils that have been radiocarbon-dated to be nearly twelve thousand years
old. These sediments could have been deposited in such great quantities only by major sea
flooding, an event the dynastic Egyptians could never have recorded because they were not
living in the area until eight thousand years after the flood. This evidence alone
suggests that the three main Giza pyramids are at least twelve thousand years old. In
support of this ancient flood scenario, mysterious legends and records tell of watermarks
that were clearly visible on the limestone casing stones of the Great Pyramid before those
stones were removed by the Arabs. These watermarks were halfway up the sides of the
pyramid, or about 400 feet above the present level of the Nile River. Further, when the
Great Pyramid was first opened, incrustations of salt an inch thick were found inside.
While much of this salt is known to be natural exudation from the stones of the pyramid,
chemical analysis has shown that some of the salt has a mineral content consistent with
salt from the sea. These salt incrustations, found at a height corresponding to the water
level marks left on the exterior, are further evidence that at some time in the distant
past the pyramid was submerged halfway up its height.
Let us turn our attention briefly to the matter of the purpose or multiple purposes of the
Great Pyramid, drawing for our discussion on both the exact measurements made by modern
scientists and the mythic legends of the remote past. A few facts:
FIG. 2: An extraordinary aerial photograph taken
by the Royal Air Force at exactly 6:00 P.M. (the true
time of the Pyramid) on the day of the equinox. The
shadow and the vertical line that is cast on the south
and north faces of the Great Pyramid (the pyramid
at the top in the photograph) precisely determines,
within twelve hours, the equinox.
What does all this mean? Why did the ancient builders of the Giza pyramids, whoever they
may have been, encode so much precise mathematical, geographic, and astronomical
information into their structures? What was the purpose of the Great Pyramid? While no
authoritative answer can presently be given to this question, two intriguing matters
suggest a direction for further inquiry and research. The first has to do with the
persistent legends that the Great Pyramid, and especially the main chamber, were used as
some sort of sacred initiation center. According to one legend, students who had first
undergone long years of preparation, meditation and metaphysical instruction in an
esoteric school (the mythic "Hall of Records" hidden deep beneath the desert
sands somewhere near the Great Pyramid and the Sphynx) were placed in the granite coffer
of the main chamber and left alone throughout an entire night. The coffer was the focal
point of the energies gathered, concentrated, aimed, and directed at the main chamber by
virtue of the precise mathematical location, alignment, and construction of the pyramid.
These energies, considered to be especially potent at certain precisely calculated periods
when the earth was in a particular geometric alignment with solar, lunar, and stellar
objects, were conducive to the awakening, stimulation, and acceleration of spiritual
consciousness in the suitably prepared adept. While it is now nearly impossible to spend
an evening alone in the coffer of the main chamber, it is interesting to read the reports
of those persons who have done so in the past. Mention will be made of experiences both
terribly frightening (perhaps because of the lack of any appropriate training on the part
of the experimenter) and also deeply peaceful, even spiritually illuminating. Napolean
himself spent a night alone in the chamber. Emerging pale and dazed, he would not speak of
his powerful experiences, only saying, "You would not believe me if I told you."
A second matter needing further inquiry from the scientific community studying the Great
Pyramid - and one that might help explain the subject just discussed - concerns the matter
of unexplained energetic anomalies frequently noticed and recorded in the main chamber.
In the 1920s, a Frenchman named Antoine Bovis made the surprising discovery that, despite
the heat and high humidity of the main chamber, the dead bodies of animals left in the
chamber did not decay but completely dehydrated. Thinking that there might be some
relationship between this phenomena and the position of the main chamber in the pyramid,
Bovis constructed a small-scale model of the pyramid, oriented it to the same direction as
the Great Pyramid, and placed the body of a dead cat at the approximate level of the main
chamber. The result was the same. As he had observed in the Great Pyramid, the cat's body
did not decay. In the 1960s, researchers in Czechoslovakia and the U.S., conducting
limited studies of the geometry of the pyramid, repeated this experiment with the same
results. They also found that the form of the pyramid somehow mysteriously kept foods
preserved without spoiling, sharpened dull razor blades, induced plants to germinate and
grow more quickly, and hastened the healing of animals' wounds. Other scientists, in
consideration of the high quartz content of the granite blocks in the main chamber and the
incredible pressures those blocks are subjected to, theorized that the main chamber may
have been the focal point of a powerful piezoelectric field; magnetometer measurements
inside the chamber indeed showed higher levels than the normal background geomagnetic
field.
Although much research remains to be done in these areas, legend, archaeology,
mathematics, and earth sciences seem to indicate that the Great Pyramid was a monumental
device for gathering, amplifying, and focusing a mysterious energy field for the spiritual
benefit of human beings. We do not know exactly how the pyramid and its main chamber were
used, and the geometric structure of the pyramid has been subtley altered by the removal
of the casing stones and the cap-stone. None-the-less, the Great Pyramid of the Giza
plateau still emanates great power as a transformational power place. It has done so for
uncounted thousands of years and seems destined to continue for ages to come. "
What you just read, was with the permission of Martin Gray and was taken from his web site, " Places of Peace and Power." You can read more about Martin Gray and his explorations by going to the (the following "Main index and index page"can only be accessed from the original website-->)Main index of his site, or to his index page.
Okay, now that you have had a few moments to see and, hopefully, reflect - at least to some degree - on what some of the dissenting minds in scholarship thinks about the Great Pyramid, let's get down to the business now of knowing a few things about it__by opening up a whole new way of thinking about the problematic question(s).
Morning's first light over the city that is presently called Cairo and
the Great Pyramids.
SO, "WHO" REALLY BUILT THE PYRAMIDS?  |
It is a sad indictment but, nevertheless, the truth, that Humanity has become boastful of its intellectual power, and, proudly aiming to be "as God," it has become uncommonly sensual and, alarmingly, quite devilish in its affairs. One of the consequences of this is that if we look at the museums around the world and at all the books intended for the instruction of the people, we find them confidently exhibiting and teaching a stone age, a bone age, a bronze age, and an iron age (to name a few), as marking the eras of man's coming up from monkeyhood or savagism to an ever-improving science and civilization.
But, with all due respect to some very brilliant minds, it's all theory__and all in vain. Because, in spite of what any of us may think about it, the tenor of truth is contained in the Scriptures. And so, as a check and to address this deplorable condition of humanity, a voice from the distant past is beginning to speak__over and against the falsities and corruptions of a degenerate and ever degenerating world.
You see, biding their time and awaiting the clarion call, sitting there quite peacefully and tolerantly, politely and mercifully, the Pyramids of Giza have been sleeping and waiting the day of awakening; awaiting the day when their great and real power would burst forth like a flash of lightning and illuminate not only a land but all the nations of the world. So, even though everything was built with such a thorough knowledge of geography, astronomy, science, mathematics and theology, the true way of viewing the Giza Plateau (in general) and the Great Pyramids (particularly) is not so much as to acquaint the world with scientific truths otherwise unknowable, but to show, as those truths begin to be known, that they were memorialized on earth by a nation of people ( who were chosen and inspired for the purpose ) before mere human science could possibly find them; that men, having monumental evidence of this fact, might not, in their vain conceit, exalt themselves against their true Maker, disown Providence, deny Revelation, and undertake to rule, summarily, the "Almighty" out of HIS universe.
So, in reiterating the message that I've stated elsewhere, on the "Main" pages of this web site (which is directed, specifically, to this vain and inhumane age of boastful science, self-deifying theorizings, and a too confident glorifying of the power and infallibility of man's reasoning), the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob was the Grand "Architect" and King Solomon - the wisest man to ever live, and the kind of vessel into which the hopes and dreams of a nation are poured - was the builder of everything that stands on the "Plains of Giza."
In light of that fact, it becomes easier to understand that King Solomon was more than qualified to organize and oversee the grand task of building the Giza complex. And so, it was the four hundreth and eightieth year after the Hebrew Israelites came out of Egypt that King Solomon and the unified "NATION" of Israel (a branch of the human family, a semitic people of different "hues," and inspired by a peculiar "faith") began to build the part of the Giza Plateau that, in those days, was called the "house" of the Lord (which was the Temple, bearing the "NAME" of GOD, and it is what we all, presently, call the Great Pyramid). In short, it was a nation of people who, at one time in the distant past, were unified; who, at one time, believed in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who, at one time in the past, possessed the epitome of knowledge and experience in engineering and construction techniques; and therefore, at one time in the past, were a people that was imbued with the single-minded perseverance to build the entire Giza "complex." And if you should want to read about this event, you can do so in your Bible at 1 Kings 6:1. (Here, to avoid any mixup in terminology between you and me, I want to make something CRYSTAL clear: Throughout this page, in various places, I have utilized a number of "Biblical" passages. But, in the construction of this web site - and this page - I actually worked from copies of the "Scriptures" that were written - by Hebrew Israelites - in the Hebrew, Aramaic and "Koine" Greek languages.)
UNDERSTANDING: THE BEGINNING |
In telling this story, what I must point out now is that, in reading the details in 1 Kings, everything that is being described is what was built underground. In short, after King Solomon decided to proceed with developing the area that had been designated, the entire Giza Plateau was mapped out and then excavated. And after the area was fully excavated, to insure that no unauthorized entry would be gained - or have access - to the completed construction, the exxcavation was plotted, graphed with intricate "grid" lines and a gigantic labyrinth (or maze, if you will),the granddaddy of all labyrinths, was carefully laid out and built. And it was there, in the midst of this labyrinth, that King Solomon laid out and built everything that you read about in 1 Kings. If the desire strikes you, you can read and get an idea of the labyrinth in the book of Proverbs (5:1-8; 6:23-25, 32; 7:4-5; 7:25-27; 9:14, 18). At this point, in this treatment of the Pyramids, describing the Giza Plateau as it was at that particular stage of development is actually getting ahead of what we're going to cover on this page but, in order to know what those Biblical passages in Proverbs are alluding to, it is necessary for us to grasp three points of importance:
FIG. 3: Close-up of the disfigured head of
the Great Sphinx.
FIG. 4: Head and body of the Great
Sphinx. Note the stone slab that is on
the breastplate between the two paws.
FIG. 5: A closer view of the head and the stone slab on the
breastplate of the Great Sphinx. Note the breastplate and the
remains of an alter in the foreground.
FIG. 6: A long view of the Great Sphinx.
FIG. 7: From the side, an artists' cut-away rendition of the
underground complex at the Great Sphinx and the hidden
connections to the three Pyramids
FIG. 8: Looking down on the sphinx complex is an artists'
rendition of the underground passageway connections
between the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids.
For clarity's sake, let's do a mini-recap, and state it this way: Set against the spectacular backdrop of the Sahara Desert, the Great Sphinx (in spite of its present extremely dilapidated state) and the Pyramids, form a magnificent harmonious pattern on the "Plains of Giza"__and the Sphinx, as is (which gives no hint of what it holds), is the "GUARDIAN" of the Giza Plateau. And to perform that task, and perform it well, the Great Sphinx was designed, constructed and still stands where the true entrance(s) to the three Great Pyramids AND the labyrinth are located. I don't want to leave you hanging with that statement so, in addition to that last Biblical passage in Proverbs, there is also this, which must be mentioned here, if only cursorily: To cast more light on the labyrinth, indeed, to cast a little more light on the entire Giza Plateau, we'll take a quick journey back in time__just a few years back.
In May, of 1954, a grave (I call it a grave, scholars, on the other hand, call it a boat-pit) was discovered near the south side of the Great Pyramid. When it was finally opened and examined, the boat-pit contained several items of a mysterious nature. (You can read all about this discovery and the details concerning the contents of the boat-pit in the book, "The Boat Beneath The Pyramid," by Nancy Jenkins.) One of the items in the boat-pit, the one that has drawn the most attention, was the remains of a boat__its timbers dismantled, and its 651 separate parts - which, when broken down into their component parts, amounted to 1,224 individual pieces - carefully arranged in thirteen layers, one over the other, exactly as they had been placed at the time of their burial. To date, as I said, and worthy of another mention, is the fact that scholars have attached more importance and, therefore, far more attention to the boat than to anything else that was present in the pit.
Truthfully, there is no denying that it was a tremendous discovery__after
all, it was a unique and precious survivor from the ancient world. So I can understand the
scholarly approach and facination with the boat, because nothing else quite like it has
ever been found; it was not just the oldest boat that had (has) ever been found, it was
also the largest and the best preserved ancient boat known to archaeology. You see, when
the pieces were finally removed from the pit, incredibly, the dismantled timbers were
found to be almost perfectly preserved. And, after years of patient, diligent and
meticulous work (largely, by the painstaking methods of Ahmed Youssef Moustafa, Chief
Restorer of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities), the boat was finally reconstructed
and restored, almost to its original condition__and it was a graceful and, in a way,
elegant type of construction, nearly forty-five meters long from stem to stern, and
solidly built of cedar from the distant mountains of Lebanon. And today, the restored boat
stands in a specially constructed museum just outside the Great Pyramid (Figures 9 and 10,
below).
FIG. 9: View aft along the port side of the reconstructed
boat inside the special climate-controled museum
FIG. 10: Another view looking aft__from the other side.
And yet, even though the boat is a very important relic of history, of all the items found in the boat-pit, it is the item of, shall I say, of least significance. In its time, there was nothing special about it, because it - and many more just like it - was simply the means for transporting the stone that was used in constructing the Pyramids. Well, to be more exact (from the point of view of pure functionality), the boats were used to transport ALL of the building materials that was utilized on the Giza Plateau. So, the so-called "Royal" ship at Giza (presently, that's the title that scholarship has bestowed upon it) was nothing more, in its day, than an ordinary - everyday - work boat__plain and simple.
Now, on the face of it, I know that probably sounds like a ludicrous statement. "Huge blocks of stone, some weighing up to 60 tons or more, transported on that boat and others just like it? Ridiculous!" Unbelievable__but true. But I wont derail your thoughts and spoil it all by detailing the "HOW" of it all just yet.
Anyway, to continue, let's back up a little bit, to the point right after
the pieces of the boat were first removed from the boat-pit. Among other things that were
found on the floor of the pit, and among the last pieces that were removed, was three - in
archaeological terms, foreign - objects; a chunk of unworked black basalt, a narrow piece
of flint stone (some fifteen centimeters long, precisely flaked in the shape of a
double-edged knife or chisel), and a shard from a cheap, poorly baked, porous jug (Figure
11, below).
FIG. 11: The three so-called "foreign" objects in the
boat-pit. From left to right; the flint stone, the chunk
of black basalt and the shard of pottery.
One school of thought has it that these three objects were tools of some
kind and that they were accidently dropped in the pit by a careless worker. Uh, huh. It
sounds good and, as scholarly guesses go (whenever something doesn't exactly fit the
scene), it's a pretty neat explanation, too. Unfortunately, mundane things, more often
than not, are overlooked or simply classified as irrelevant by archaelogists. They like
the big stuff, like dinosaurs and mummies__you know, things you can manipulate and play
with. But, from a historical and informational standpoint, those three stones are
priceless__and a worker carelessly dropping them there, was hardly the case. Those three
objects of stone were no accident, they were placed, very carefully, where they were
found. But, at this point, we wont go into the significance of their presence in the
pit__a little bit later, though, we'll revisit the boat-pit and take another look - a
closer look - at the three pieces and see what kind of information they'll yield up. For
now, in passing, what is of interest to us (in getting back to the labyrinth) was, in a
blatant display of untidyness, littering the floor of the boat-pit. You see, what was
found on the floor was some ordinary rope__meters and meters of rope, far and above what
was needed to assemble - or, as it later turned out, to reassemble - the boat, all bundled
up in a heap of "coiled" confusion (Figure 12, below).
FIG. 12: Dozens of coiled rope that littered
the floor of the boat-pit.
This rope, just as it lay, was a physical "PARABLE." Now I could be wrong, of course, but I think you already know how a Scriptural parable goes; in essence, you're speaking about - or presenting - one thing but, in actuality, you really mean something else. Well, that holds true in the case here, too; with the coiled heap of rope, the something else that Solomon is alluding to, happens to be some important information that concerns the labyrinth. In short, this is NOT your ordinary walk-in-the-park type of labyrinth at Giza. No, sir. If you didn't already know about it, ordinary labyrinths are designed with a secret pattern to it__ designed in such a way as to cause a person to get confused, lose his bearing and get lost, but allow the initiated person (anyone that knows the secret route) to get through it easily. But, in the case here, the coiled confusion of rope is telling us that a labyrinth of confused passageways is present and awaiting the unwary - or, can I say, the uninitiated? - at Giza, and that by no means of human intelligence can one figure, guess, or determine by any other means, the way out.
Gentle reader, with that said, the most important thing you ought to know about the labyrinth at Giza is that, honeycombed with its intricate system of passageways that twist and turn and bend without reason, that leads to sudden, inexplicable u-turns and dead-ends (in essence, really lead to nowhere), it is one that contains NO WAY OUT. I suppose you could say it's tantamount to a person being dead. And I think the saying goes, "Once you're dead, you're dead"__and there is no coming back from the dead to tell anybody about the environment. At least, not yet, as far as I know. And so it is with this labyrinth; once you're in it, you're in it, and there's NO WAY to escape and warn anyone about it. In fact, no way to come back and tell anyone that it even exists. Now, time permitting, if you look in your Bible, in what is called the New Testament, the existence of the labyrinth and the dire consequences of entering it is the meaning of the "Message" that the Lord is giving us in the parable at Luke 16:19-31.
But, take heart, all is not lost: according to the buried message in the
Scriptures, the Pyramids on the "Plains of Giza" are the places that the Lord
wants all of us to visit (and enter), and there is really nothing to fear. Because, as a
Divine statement and "Gift" from the Heavens, the secret is knowing how to enter
the place(s), the correct way, and avoid the horrible mistake of entering the labyrinth.
The secret here, you see (if you want to call it that), begins with understanding the
"sets" of doorways that are located beneath the Great Sphinx
("Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Matthew 7:13-14)
For a good depiction of the "sets" of doorways, (the
following "click Here"can only be accessed from the original
website-->) click Here
(or use the "Site Map" at the bottom of this page) and go to the
"door" page on this web site.
Before we leave this part on the labyrinth, there is one more little thing: Although the correct passageways for entering the Pyramids are interwoven with passageways of the labyrinth, they are NOT integrated. Which is to say, if you're smart enough to suspend your intelligence, and simply follow prior - and written - instructions, you will be in a passageway (one, of three) that leads to one of the Pyramids__and there is No way for you to inadvertently enter into the labyrinth (Proverbs 12:28; 13:13-14; 15:24). And on the other hand, if, by whatever - strange? - reason (the appealing power of logic and rationality, perhaps) you should enter the labyrinth, be forewarned: There is no way to correct the situation and enter into a passageway that leads to any one of the Pyramids (Proverbs 12:15; 14:12). To repeat: In NO WAY are the correct and incorrect passageways interactive. Period. Simple, yet profound. And a nice device, I think, in terms of separating the sheep from the goats. Oh, by the way; just in case you're thinking that, if you should realize (or think) that you have made a mistake and you're actually in the labyrinth, and you think you can do an about-face and retrace your steps, PERISH THE THOUGHT__that sort of thing is not going on. Waiting the opportunity to play their role here - as they will - are Forty-five "doorways" that are actually entrances to forty-five passageways that lead directly into the labyrinth, and once you're in a passageway to the labyrinth it becomes ONE-WAY. In other words, once a person passes through a doorway which, in essence, is entering a passageway to the labyrinth, one must always proceed forward__you cannot, I repeat, you cannot retrace your steps and go out the way you entered. You see, the ingenuity that was incorporated in the design here, would furrow the brow and cause the jaw to drop__ because THIS labyrinth, at Giza (with the Lord as the Divine architect and King Solomon - an enlightened mind, an exhaustion of the genius of the most subtle - as the builder), is a dynamic World that is beyond the limits of our imagination.
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