The world famous Egyptian pyramid of Cheops inside is like a "Russian nesting doll" and consists of three pyramids of three pharaohs. The veil of secrecy is lifted over one of the seven wonders of the World. Any creation of human hands has a meaning.
"Everything that arises must have some reason for its occurrence, for it is absolutely impossible to arise without a reason." This is what the ancient Greek philosopher and sage Plato said in the 4th century BC. e. in his book Timaeus.
All secrets are overcome by knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained or created. As a "tool for creation" we will take our common sense, logic of thinking and knowledge of ancient people who used ideas about the world at that distant time.
“That which is comprehended with the help of reflection and reasoning is obvious, and there is an eternally identical being; and that which is subject to opinion ... arises and perishes, but never really exists. " (IV century BC, Plato, "Timaeus").
Russian doll
What suggests that the Cheops pyramid is a semblance of a "Russian nesting doll" containing two more pyramids inside, one inside the other? To confirm the conclusion about the trinity of the Cheops pyramid, let us start with the facts and consider the sectional diagram of the pyramid.
First, there are three burial chambers in the Cheops pyramid. Three! From this fact it follows that the pyramid at different times had three owners (three pharaohs). And each had its own separate burial chamber. After all, few living people come up with the idea to prepare their own tomb in three "copies". In addition (as can be seen from the size of the pyramids) their construction is quite laborious for our time. Moreover? archaeologists have already established that for their wives the pharaohs built the pyramid-tombs separately and of a much smaller size.
Egyptian historians have established that long before the construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt in the 4th millennium BC. and earlier, pharaohs were buried in structures called mastabs. Below in the picture is the appearance of the ancient crypt (mastaba) of Shepseskaf in Saqqara. It consists of underground and above-ground parts.
The pharaoh's mummy was located deep underground in an underground hall. In the ground part there was a prayer room with a statue of the pharaoh. The soul of the deceased pharaoh moved into this statue after death (according to the idea of the ancient Egyptian priests). The halls in the ground room of the mastaba could be interconnected (or isolated from each other). Above these underground halls of stone blocks, a low, trapezoidal truncated pyramid was erected.
Under the pyramid of Cheops there is an underground passage (4) at the end of which there is a vast unfinished underground hall (5). From the hall there is also an exit (12) upward, which was made according to the burial theory for the passage of the pharaoh's soul to the above-ground part of the mastaba.
According to the plan of the section of the Cheops pyramid, it can be concluded that if there is an underground hall (5) and there is a passage upward from it (12), then the upper prayer room of the mastaba should be in the center and slightly lower than the middle burial chamber (7). If, of course, by the beginning of the construction of the second pharaoh of his pyramid over the mastaba, these premises were not heaped up with stone, destroyed and survived to this day.
This conclusion (about the presence of internal halls of mastaba in the center of the Cheops pyramid) is confirmed by the observations of French researchers - Gilles Dormaion and Jean-Yves Verdhart. In August 2004, examining the floor in the middle burial chamber (7) with sensitive gravitational devices, they discovered an unknown void of impressive dimensions below the floor at a depth of about four meters, the purpose of which at that time they had no versions.
According to the plan of the section of the pyramid, a narrow inclined almost vertical shaft (12) goes up from the underground burial pit (5). This passage should connect to the overground mastaba prayer room. At the exit from the mine, at ground level under the base of the pyramid, there is a small grotto (expanding up to 5 meters in length). Apparently, in ancient times, digging up this grotto, they were already looking for a way to the inner halls of the mastaba. It has been established that his walls consist of more ancient masonry, not belonging to the pyramid Cheops. The passage ascending from the underground hall and the ancient stonework are nothing more than the belonging of the first mastaba. From the extension in the shaft (12) to the center of the pyramid there should also be a passage to the ground halls of the mastaba. This passage was most likely walled up by the builders of the second inner pyramid.
In appearance and according to archaeologists, the underground burial chamber (5) remained unfinished. The state of the prayer rooms in the upper above-ground part of the mastaba (which is the first of three in the pyramid of Cheops) is to be determined by opening a passage in them.
The height of the first inner truncated pyramid (mastaba) according to the pyramid cut should be no more than 15 meters.
The presence of an unfinished burial structure (mastaba), located in the most advantageous place (on the top of a stone plateau in the town of Giza), served as an excuse for the second (before Cheops) unknown pharaoh to use this mastaba to build his pyramid over it.
In favor of the fact that the plateau in Gizi was previously "inhabited" by ancient mastabs, the fact of the presence of the "Sphinx" there also speaks. The purpose of the "Sphinx" is a tomb (mastaba) in the form of a lion sculpture. The age of the "Sphinx" (the deity into which, according to the theory, the soul of the pharaoh should move) is estimated to be much older than the pyramids (about 5-10 thousand years).
In Egypt, by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, the Egyptian priests had a new worldview about the place of residence of the soul after death.
In this regard, the burials of the pharaohs in the mastabas were replaced by more majestic structures - stepped pyramids, and later by “smooth” hewn pyramids. According to the ideas of the priests, after death, the soul of a person flew away to life on the stars, kindred to their souls. "The one who will live the time he has meted out properly, will return to the abode of the star with the same name." Plato, Timaeus.
The burial chamber (7), belonging to the second inner pyramid (in the plan of the cross-section), is located above the prayer part of the first mastaba. The corridor (6) ascending to it is laid along the wall of the mastaba, and the horizontal corridor (8) along its roof. Thus, these two corridors to the chamber (7) show the approximate overall dimensions of the first ancient internal truncated trapezoidal mastaba pyramid.
Second and third pyramids
This can be judged by the length of two outgoing from the chamber (7) in opposite directions, the so-called (in the modern concept) "ventilation ducts". These channels (one to the north and the other to the south) in a section of 20 by 25 cm, approximately 10-12 meters do not reach the border of the outer walls of the third pyramid.
The modern name of the channels "air ducts" is, of course, incorrect. The deceased pharaoh did not need ventilation ducts. The canals had a completely different purpose. Channels - a pointing path directed to the sky, oriented with great accuracy (up to a degree) to the stars, where, according to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the soul of the pharaoh will settle after death.
The northern channel was oriented towards the star "Kokhab" in the constellation "Ursa Minor". At that time, due to the precession (displacement of the Earth's axis), "Kohab" was the "Pole Star" around which the firmament revolved. It was assumed that after death, the pharaoh becomes one of the stars in her environment in the northern part of the sky.
The southern channel was aimed at the Sirius star. In Egyptian mythology, "Sirius" was associated with the name of the goddess Sopdet (protector and patroness of all the dead).
At the time the second pyramid was built, both channels from the burial room (7) reached the edge of the outer walls and were open to the sky. The burial chamber of the second inner pyramid of the pharaoh, perhaps, was also incomplete (judging by the lack of its interior design).
It is possible that the top of the second pyramid was not fully completed (for example, there was a war, the pharaoh was killed, died prematurely from illness, an accident, etc.). But, in any case, the second pyramid was erected no lower than the level of the height of the canals ("air ducts") emanating from the burial chamber (7) to the outer walls.
The second inner pyramid reveals itself not only as tightly closed canals and its own separate burial chamber, but most of all appears outward as a walled up central entrance (1) into the Cheops pyramid.
Obviously, it is immediately striking that the entrance, tightly walled up with huge granite blocks, is buried in the body of the third pyramid (about the same 10-12 meters as the channels from the second burial chamber).
During the construction of the third pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops, there was no point in lengthening this external entrance to the second pyramid. Therefore, after the increase along the perimeter of the walls at the third pyramid, the entrance turned out to be "recessed" inside.
The entrance gates of all buildings are always made somewhat outside the structures, and not buried in the depths of the structure. Approximately the same entrance, but brought out, is also at the pyramid of Khafre.
Cheops - the third owner of the pyramid
Archaeologists and historians, according to the deciphering of the hieroglyphs, have established that the pyramid of Cheops was built not by slaves (as was believed earlier), but by civilian builders, who, of course, had to pay well for hard work. And since the volume of construction was huge, it was more profitable for Cheops to take an unfinished pyramid than to build a new one from scratch. The favorable location of the unfinished second pyramid, which was located at the very top of the plateau, was also important.
Cheops began construction of the third pyramid by dismantling central part second pyramid. In the resulting "crater" at a height of about 40 meters from the ground, a pre-chamber (11) and a third burial chamber of the pharaoh (10) were built. The passage to the third burial chamber only needed to be extended. The ascending tunnel (6) was continued in the form of a large 8-meter high cone-shaped gallery (9).
The conical shape of the gallery does not resemble the initial part of the ascending narrow passage. This indicates that the tunnel was not built at the same time and due to different external conditions.
After the third pyramid of Cheops was expanded on the sides, adding 10-12 meters on each side, the outgoing channels at the second pyramid from the chamber (7), respectively, turned out to be closed.
If the burial chamber (7) turned out to be empty, then the builders of the third pyramid made no sense to lengthen the old canals. Outside, the canals were laid with new rows of wall blocks of the third pyramid, and from the inside in the chamber (7), the outgoing canals were also walled up. In the burial chamber (7), the walled up channels were discovered by treasure hunters (researchers) when the walls were tapped only in 1872.
In September 2010, English and German researchers let a tracked robot into one of the narrow “air ducts” from the second burial chamber (7). Having climbed to the end, he rested on a 13 cm thick limestone slab, drilled through it, inserted a video camera into the hole, and from the other side of the slab at a distance of 18 cm, the robot saw another stone barrier. Having rested at a dead end, the search for scientists ended in nothing. The stone barrier is nothing more than the blocks of the third pyramid.
The builders of the third pyramid of Cheops from the third burial chamber of the pharaoh laid new channels (10) for the "flight of the soul" to the stars.
If you look closely at the section of the pyramid, then the two pairs of channels (to the north and south) from the second and third chambers are not parallel! This is one of the "keys" to unraveling the mystery of the Cheops pyramid.
The channels of the upper third chamber are rotated clockwise by 5 degrees relative to the channels of the second chamber. The northern pair of canals has inclination angles of 32 ° and 37 ° (difference 5 °). The southern pair of channels, oriented to the star "Sirius", has inclination angles of 45 ° and 39 ° (difference 6 °). Here the increase of 1 degree can be attributed to the proper motion of the planet "Sirius" in its orbit. The discrepancy in the tilt angles of the channels by 5 degrees is not accidental. Egyptian priests and builders very accurately recorded the position of the stars in the sky and clearly laid the direction of the channels to the stars (with an accuracy of minutes and seconds).
Then what's the deal
And the point here is that the axis of rotation of the Earth every 72 years is shifted by 1 degree, and every 25,920 years, the axis of the Earth, rotating at an inclination like a whirligig, makes a full circle of 360 degrees. This astronomical phenomenon is called precession. The full rotation time of the Earth's axis of 25,920 years was called by Plato the “Great Year”.
When the Earth's axis shifts by 1 degree in 72 years, then the angle of view in the direction of all the stars (including the Sun) also changes by 1 degree. If the displacement of each pair of channels differs by 5 degrees, then it is easy to calculate that the difference between the construction of the second pyramid (unknown pharaoh) and the third pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops is 5 x 72 = 360 years.
Egyptian historians say that Pharaoh Cheops (another pronunciation is Khufu) ruled in 2540-2560 BC. Counting "degree" years ago, we can say exactly when the second inner pyramid was built. Thus, the second pyramid was built in 2800-2820 BC.
In the pyramid of Cheops, in a single place under the ceiling (on powerful vaulted granite slabs above the third burial chamber) there is a personalized hieroglyph made by workers who left their mark: "Builders, friends of Pharaoh Khufu." No other mention of the name Cheops (Khufu) or the belonging of other pharaohs to the pyramid has yet been found.
Most likely, the third pyramid of Cheops was completed and used for its intended purpose. Otherwise, the pyramid of Cheops would not have been "sealed". That is, a plug of several granite cubes would not have been lowered into the ascending passage (6) from above and from the inside along an inclined plane. With these stone cubes, the pyramid was tightly closed to everyone for more than three thousand years (until 820 AD).
The ancient Egyptian name for the Cheops pyramid is read by hieroglyphs, as - "Horizon of Khufu". The name is literal. The angle of inclination of the side face of the pyramid is 51 ° 50 ′. This is the angle at which the Sun rose exactly at noon on the days of the autumn-spring equinox. The sun at noon, like a golden "crown", crowned the pyramid. Throughout the year, the Sun (the ancient Egyptian God - Ra) walks in the sky above in summer, below in winter (just like the pharaoh in his dominions) and always the Sun (pharaoh) returns to his "home". Therefore, the angle of inclination of the walls of the pyramid indicates the way to the house of the “Sun God”, to the “house of the pyramid” of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) - “the son of the Sun God”.
The edges of the walls are arranged from an angle of view to the Sun, not only in this pyramid. In the Khafre pyramid, the angle of inclination of the sides of the walls is slightly more than 52-53 degrees (it is known that it was built later). In the pyramid of Mykerin, the slope of the faces is 51 ° 20'25 ″ (less than that of Cheops). Until now, historians did not know whether it was built before the pyramid of Cheops or later. Now, taking into account the open "degree time" of the Earth's precession, the smaller angle of inclination of the walls indicates that the pyramid of Mikerin was built not later, but earlier. In relation to the "degree age scale", a difference in the slope of the walls of 30 minutes corresponds to 36 years. In later Egyptian pyramids, for example, the pyramid of Pharaoh Khafre, accordingly, the slope of the faces should be greater.
In Sudan (see the picture) there are many pyramids, the angle of inclination of the sides of which is much steeper. Sudan to the south of Egypt and the Sun on the day of the spring-autumn equinox there is higher above the horizon. This explains the great steepness of the walls of the Sudanese pyramids.
In 820 A.D. The Baghdad caliph Abu Jafar al-Mamun, in search of the untold treasures of the pharaoh at the base of the Cheops pyramid, made a horizontal breach (2), which tourists use to enter the pyramid at present. Breaking through before the start ascending corridor(6), where they rested on granite cubes, which went around on the right and, thus, penetrated into the pyramid. But, according to historians, they found nothing but “dust in half of the palm” inside. If there was anything of value in the pyramid, it was taken by the servants of the Caliph. And what was left, then everything was taken out for the subsequent time - 1200 years.
Judging by the appearance of the gallery (9), 28 pairs of ritual statues stood along its walls in rectangular recesses. However, the exact purpose of the grooves is not known. There are two facts that there were statues. The first - the eight-meter height of the gallery made it possible to erect statues. Second, there were large round peeling marks on the walls from the mortar with which the statues were attached to the walls.
I will disappoint those who were determined to find "miracles" in the design of the Egyptian pyramids.
Over a hundred pyramids have been discovered in Egypt today, and they all differ from each other. The pyramids have different angles of inclination of the faces oriented to the Sun (since they were built at different times), there is a pyramid with a "broken side" at a double angle, there are stone and brick pyramids, smoothly faced and stepped, there is a base not square, but rectangular, for example, Pharaoh Djoser.
There is no unity even among the neighboring pyramids at Gizah. The pyramid of Mikerin (the smaller of the three) at the base is not oriented strictly to the cardinal points. No importance has been attached to the exact orientation of the sides. In the main pyramid of Cheops, the third (uppermost) burial chamber is not located in the geometric center of the pyramid and not even on the axis of the pyramid. In the pyramids of Khafre and Mikerin, the burial chambers are also off-center. If the pyramids had some kind of secret secret, law or knowledge, "golden ratio" and so on, then all the pyramids would be uniform. But there is nothing like this in the pyramids. Below in the pictures are Egyptian pyramids of various shapes.
Former Minister of Archeology of Egypt and the main current expert on the ancient Egyptian pyramids Zahi Hawass says: “Like any practitioner, I decided to check the statement that food does not deteriorate in the pyramid. Divided a kilogram of meat in half. He left one part in the office, and the other in the Cheops pyramid. The part in the pyramid deteriorated even faster than in the office. "
What else can you look for in the Cheops pyramid
Perhaps you can find the above-ground prayer room of the first pyramid - mastaba. It would be worthwhile to drill down several holes in the floor of the second (7) burial chamber until the bottom of the inner cavity is found.
Then from the grotto (12) find a walled-up passage to the halls (or lay it). For the pyramid, this will not have any damage, since there was originally a connecting entrance from the burial underground chamber to the above-ground mastaba room. And it just has to be found. After the discovery of the interior of the mastaba, it is possible that it will become known about the pharaoh - the owner of the first truncated trapezoidal mastaba pyramid.
Mastaba-Sphinx is also of great interest on the Gizi plateau. The stone body of the ancient Sphinx is located from west to east. Burials were also made from west to east. Presumably, the Sphinx is an integral part of an overground structure (mastaba) - the tomb of an unknown pharaoh.
Searches in this direction would expand the boundaries of knowledge of the history of ancient Egypt. It is possible that even more early civilization, for example, the Atlanteans, whom the Egyptians deified, considering them their progenitors, and referred to their ancient ancestors as the predecessor gods.
An identification study of American forensic scientists concluded that the face of the Sphinx does not look like the faces of the statues of the Egyptian pharaohs, but has distinctly Negroid features. That is, the ancient ancestors of the Egyptians, including the legendary Atlanteans, had Negroid facial features and African origin.
It should be noted here that the Egyptian legend about the ancestors of the Atlanteans is indirect evidence of proximity to Egypt.
Probably, the burial chamber and the mummy of the ancient pharaoh of Negro origin is located under the front paws of the Sphinx, as the American psychic Edgar Cayce said about it. In this case, there must be a passage upward from the underground hall - a path for the transmigration of the "soul" of the pharaoh and subsequent life in the body of the statue of the Sphinx (according to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians).
The Sphinx is a lion (symbol of royal power) with a human head and the face of a pharaoh. It is possible that the face of the discovered pharaoh's mummy (after plastic restoration) will be like “two drops of water” similar to the face of the Sphinx.
By analogy with the construction (of the late pyramids over the early ones), we can say that many other Egyptian pyramids had more than one owner. In this regard, confusion is revealed with the life of the pharaohs and the time of the construction of their pyramids.
For example, Pharaoh Mikerin ruled later than Cheops, but his pyramid in the angle of inclination of the walls, in accordance with the calculations for the "years of precession", was started 36 years earlier than the pyramid of Cheops. How can this be? The answer to this question is this - they began to build the pyramid earlier (before Mikerin), but it was finished later, when the angle of inclination of the started lower walls could no longer be changed.
There is a large vertical gap on one of the side walls of the Mikerin pyramid. Getting to the pharaoh's treasures in the burial chamber inside the pyramid, the robbers dismantled part of the wall from top to bottom. In the resulting "vertical section" of the section of the internal blocks of the pyramid, the following was revealed - from a certain, clearly defined border, the upper blocks are not stacked tightly and not as neatly as the lower ones. This confirms that the pyramid was being completed and that later builders did not monitor the quality of the laying of the indoor blocks so carefully.
At the same time, judging by the two underground halls under the pyramid of Mikerin (which belong to the burials of the pharaohs during the construction of the mastabs), the burial construction was started many centuries earlier. Such a confusion of times suggests that inside the pyramid of Mycerin, as well as in the pyramid of Cheops, there should be ground prayer rooms of the original mastaba belonging to the more ancient burial of the pharaoh. And in the body of the pyramid there should also be a chamber-tomb of the later burial of Pharaoh Mikerin.
The "curtain" of the centuries-old mystery over the secret of the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops has been lifted. It remains to enter the open door.
This requires permission from the Egyptian authorities, which they are very reluctant to give to research scientists.
The secret loses its attractive power when it is revealed.
But, despite this, the interest of tourists in the majestic structures of the ancient world, which have survived to this day, does not disappear.
How the pyramid of Cheops was built
Another confirmation of the trinity of the Cheops pyramid. In 2009, the French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin, and later and with the support of Egyptologist Bob Brier of the American University of Long Island, observing how roads are built in the mountains, put forward a similar erroneous assumption. about the construction technology of the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops. About the fact that stone blocks were brought to the pyramid by dragging, around its walls along inclined ramps and corridors, as if along a serpentine mountain road. It's a long and arduous journey. Following this, Jean-Pierre Houdin began to look for evidence for his hypothesis.
In support of his hypothesis, he accepted the research of a group of engineers from the French Academy of Sciences, who in 1986 scanned the interior of the Cheops pyramid for several months for detection inside its hidden cavities. French researchers found wide stripes with a lower, by about 15%, density along the perimeter of the pyramid at different heights (see above the picture of gravimetry of the Cheops pyramid). Plots with a density from 1.85 to 2.3 tons per 1 cubic meter are highlighted in different colors on it.
The French scientists could not explain why there are rarefied stripes along the walls of the pyramid, and therefore the results of the study in the subsequent in the scientific world did not receive any discussion.
In June 2012 in Russia, engineer Vladimir Garmatyuk revealed the "secret" of the Cheops pyramid. Evidence is given that the pyramid, like a "Russian nesting doll" inside, consists of three pyramids of three pharaohs from different times. When it became known that inside the Cheops pyramid (the third from the beginning of construction) there is an older (360 years earlier) second pyramid (see the picture - a recessed entrance to the second closed pyramid).
And there is an even more ancient first truncated pyramid (mastaba, which reveals itself in the underground hall under the pyramid and other signs), then strips of material with a lower density inside the Cheops pyramid found their explanation. The stripes show and confirm the separation of the bodies of the second and third pyramids.
How and how to explain it
For structural strength, the outer layer of the pyramid was laid out of hewn tightly packed blocks. Hence and high density the outer layer of the walls. Whereas the inner rows of the pyramids are made up of roughly fitted, uncouth blocks. Therefore, the density of the inner rows of the pyramid is less.
See, for example, the picture below - the "insides" of the Pepi II pyramid from South Sakkara. Outside the pyramid are densely laid hewn blocks, and inside are ordinary stones, mined from a horizontal cleavage of layered limestone deposits.
It is possible that the same thing is inside the Cheops pyramid (of course, not in the central part, where the burial chambers of the pharaohs are located), a mound of stones, rubble and sand, delivered to the pyramid in baskets, was used as a volume filler. After all, this significantly reduced the cost and accelerated the construction of the pyramids. A mound of stones is easily explained by the same vast sparse spaces that were discovered in 2017 by French and Japanese physicists when examining the interior of the pyramid with muon telescopes.
With an accurate measurement of the plane of the side faces of the Cheops pyramid, it is noticeable that they have some depression inward (to a depth of one meter). Indeed, for 4.5 thousand years since the construction of the pyramid, there have been many earthquakes, which over and over again gradually shake down its contents. And from this, the walls (since there is bulk material inside the pyramid), due to the lower density, fell somewhat inside.
According to the gravimetry of the Cheops pyramid (white) stripes along the perimeter of the walls of the second pyramid have a density of 1.85-2.05 tons per cubic meter. This just suggests that there is a mound of stone.
The third (visible today external) pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops increased on the sides and in height the second (internal) pyramid by 10 - 12 meters. The inner rough-hewn blocks of the third pyramid are laid along the dense, hewn outer walls of the second pyramid. Therefore, French researchers of gravimetry in 1986 recorded a difference in the density of the material inside the pyramid, it is it (the difference in density) that creates the appearance of a "serpentine". This circumstance was noted by French researchers, but could not explain.
Other arguments of Jean-Pere Houdin and Bob Brayer, cited as proof of the assumption about the "serpentine" construction of the pyramid, each separately has its own explanation. Researchers in 2009 did not yet know that the Cheops pyramid consists of three different pyramids. For example, the longitudinal stripes of stone blocks of the same color on the faces of the Cheops pyramid, interpreted by them as "dusty roads" from the transportation of blocks, are explained by the uniform color of stones mined in a quarry from one layer of rock.
The third pyramid was built up with stone blocks evenly along the height and perimeter on the walls of the second pyramid, like “cream on the cake”. The stone was mined in one place, and therefore there is a similarity of blocks in color. In what order the stone blocks were mined, in this order they were laid in the walls. When the blocks were taken in another place, then their color was slightly different.
Or another of their arguments - a small pothole-depression on the edge near the top of the pyramid, which they called a transport corridor. The pothole could have been made after the construction of the pyramid, for example, as an unsuccessful attempt to get inside. Or the pothole could have been made like:
- guardhouse of guards for signaling,
as a sentry post for religious, hermitic, cult or other purposes.
The fact that the Cheops pyramid consists of three different pyramids, separated by hundreds of years of construction time, means that it was built by more than one generation of people, and there was no such great construction “in one breath”.
This significantly softens the mind-boggling problem of the laboriousness of building the pyramid, but does not negate and in no way diminishes the grandeur of the undoubtedly greatest construction of the ancient Egyptian civilization in the history of mankind.
The most ancient wonder of the world that we can admire even now is the pyramid of Cheops. Shrouded in myths and legends, the Egyptian pyramid was the largest and tallest structure for many millennia. Khufu (another name for the pyramid) is located in Giza, the most popular tourist destination.
History of the pyramids
The pyramids in Egypt are practically the main attraction of the country. There are many hypotheses related to their origin and construction. But they all agree on one important conclusion of the pyramid in Egypt - these are impressive tombs for the great inhabitants of the country (in those days they were the pharaohs). The Egyptians believed in the afterlife and further life after death. It was believed that only a few are worthy of continuing their life path after death - these are actually the pharaohs of their families and slaves, who were constantly next to the rulers. Images of slaves and servants were painted on the walls of tombs so that after their death they could continue to serve their king. According to the ancient religion of the Egyptians, man had two inner souls, Ba and Ka. Ba - left the Egyptian after his death, and Ka always acted as a virtual double and waited for him in the world of the dead.
So that the pharaoh did not need anything in the afterlife, food, weapons, kitchen utensils, gold and much more were left in the tomb of the pyramid. In order for the body to remain unchanged and wait for the second soul of Ba, it was necessary to preserve it. This is how the birth of body embalming and the need to create pyramids arose.
The rise of the pyramids in Egypt dates back to the construction of the pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser 5 millennia ago. The outer walls of the first pyramid were in the form of steps, which symbolized the ascent to heaven. The building was 60 meters high with many corridors and several tombs. Djoser's chamber was located in the underground part of the pyramid. Several more passages were made from the royal tomb leading to small chambers. They contained all the accessories for the further afterlife of the Egyptians. Closer to the east, chambers were found for the entire family of the pharaoh. The structure itself was not so huge in comparison with the pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops, whose height is almost 3 times greater. But it is with the pyramid of Djoser that the history of the emergence of all Egyptian pyramids begins.
Very often in the photo of the Cheops pyramid, you can see two more nearby pyramids. This famous pyramids Herfen and Mekerin. It is these three pyramids that are considered the most important treasures of the country. The height of the Cheops pyramid significantly distinguishes it from the rest near the standing and other pyramids of Egypt. Initially, the walls of the structure were smooth, but after a long period of years they began to crumble. If you look at modern photos of the Cheops pyramid, you can see the relief of the facade and its unevenness, formed over the millennia.
The birth of the Cheops pyramid
According to the official version, the pyramid of Cheops was erected in the fall of 2480 BC. Date of occurrence of the first ancient miracle light, many historians and researchers dispute, citing arguments in favor of their arguments. Building Great pyramid lasted about 2-3 decades. More than one hundred thousand inhabitants of ancient Egypt and the best craftsmen of that time took part in it. First of all, a large road was built for the delivery of building materials, then underground passages and a mine. Most of the time was spent on the construction of the upper part of the pyramid - the walls and internal passages and tombs.
There is a very interesting feature of the building: the height of the Cheops pyramid in its original form and the width was 147 meters. Due to the sands filling the base of the structure and sprinkling of the facing part, it has decreased by 10 meters and now it is now 137 meters in height. The giant tomb was built mainly from huge, weighing about 2.5 tons of limestone and granite blocks, which were carefully polished so as not to lose the ideal shape of the structure. And in the tomb of the most ancient pharaoh, granite blocks were found, the weight of which reached almost 80 tons. According to the calculations of Egyptologists, it took about 2,300,000 huge stones, which cannot but impress us all.
The doubts associated with the construction of the pyramid were that in those dark times there were no special machines and devices at all capable of lifting and ideally folding heavy blocks under a certain slope. Some believed that more than a million people took part in the construction, others that the blocks were lifted by a lifting mechanism. Everything was so thought out and as perfect as possible that without the use of concrete mortar and cement, the stones were laid in such a way that it was completely impossible to insert even thin paper between them! There is an assumption that the pyramid was not created at all by people, but by aliens or another force unknown to man.
We are based specifically on the fact that the pyramids are still the creation of people. In order to quickly remove a stone of the required size and shape from the rock, its outlines were made. A conventional shape was carved, and a dry tree was inserted into it. It was regularly watered with water, the tree grew from moisture, and under its pressure a crack was formed in the rock. Now the large block was removed and given the required shape and size. The stones for construction were redirected along the river by huge boats.
A massive wooden sled was used to lift the heavy boulders up. On a gentle rise, the stones were lifted one after another by their teams of hundreds of slaves.
Pyramid device
The entrance to the pyramid was originally not where it is now. It was in the form of an arch and was located on the north side of the building more than 15 meters high. In an attempt to rob the great tomb in 820, a new entrance was made, already at a height of 17 meters. But Caliph Abu Jafar, who wanted to enrich himself with the loot, did not find any jewelry and valuable things and left with nothing. It is this passage that is now open to tourists.
The pyramid consists of several long corridors leading to the tombs. Immediately after the entrance, there is a common corridor that diverges into 2 tunnels leading to the central and lower parts of the pyramid. The chamber below is not completed for some reason. There is also a narrow loophole, behind which there is only a dead end and a three-meter well. Climbing up the corridor, you will find yourself in the Great Gallery. If you take the first left and walk a little, you will see the chamber of the Vladyka's wife. And along the corridor above there is the largest one - the tomb of the pharaoh himself.
The beginning of the gallery is interesting because there is a long and narrow almost vertical grotto. There is an assumption that he was there and was even before the base of the pyramid itself. From both tombs of the pharaoh and his wife, narrow passages about 20 centimeters wide are made. Presumably they were made to ventilate the chambers. There is another version that these passages and corridors are pointers to the stars: Sirius, Alnitaki and Tuban, and that the pyramid served as a place for astronomical research. But there is another opinion - according to the belief in the afterlife, the Egyptians believed that the soul returns from heaven through the channels.
There is one important and interesting fact - the construction of the pyramid was carried out strictly at one angle of 26.5 degrees. There is every reason to believe that the inhabitants of antiquity were very well versed in geometry and the exact sciences. That only are proportional smooth corridors and ventilation ducts.
Not far from the pyramid itself, Egyptian cedar boats were found during excavations. They were made of pure wood without a single nail. One of the boats of the ball is divided into 1224 parts. Restorer Ahamed Yussuf Mustafa managed to collect it. To do this, the architect had to spend as many as 14 years, such a high patience in the name of science can only be envied. The assembled boat can be admired today in the bizarre museum. It is located on the south side of the Great Pyramid.
Unfortunately, inside the pyramid itself, you cannot shoot videos and photographs. But on the other hand, you can take many incredible pictures in the background of this creation. Various souvenirs are also sold here, so that an excursion to these enchanting places can remind you of yourself for a long time.
The photos of the Cheops pyramid certainly do not reflect all the greatness and uniqueness of this structure .. With us you will plunge into history and look at the world with different eyes!
Along the eastern edges, tourists cannot ignore one of the greatest mysteries of history - the Cheops pyramid. The only surviving miracle of the Ancient World, of the seven existing ones, arouses the interest of scientists, archaeologists, historians, astrologers and simply fans of secrets. To the questions of the family: "Where are the pyramids of Cheops?" or “Why is it worth visiting?”, we will be happy to answer in our article.
What are the dimensions of the Cheops pyramid?
To fully understand the greatness of this architectural masterpiece, it is enough to imagine its dimensions. Just imagine, this is a huge structure weighing about 6.4 million tons, located in Giza, the Republic of Egypt. The height of the Cheops pyramid, even after erosion by the wind, reaches 138 meters, the size of the base reaches 230 meters, and the length of the side rib is 225 meters. And it is with this pyramid that the greatest mysteries are connected. Egyptian history, over which scientists from all over the world are fighting.
The secret of the Cheops pyramid - who built it and why?
The most widespread theory is that the pyramid was erected as a tomb for Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu (as the Egyptians themselves call him). The adherents of this theory confirm their guesses by the pyramid model itself. Three tombs are located on the 53 thousand square meters base, one of which contains the Great Gallery.
However, opponents of this version emphasize that the tomb intended for Cheops is not decorated in any way. Which is strange, since, as you know, the Egyptians were adherents of pomp and wealth in the design of the tombs of their rulers. And the sarcophagus itself, which was intended for one of the greatest pharaohs in Egyptian history, is not completed. The unfinished edges of the stone box and the missing lid indicate that the craftsmen did not take the burial issue too seriously. In addition, the remains of Cheops himself were not found during any excavations.
Video - How was the Cheops pyramid built?
The version with the tomb is replaced by the version that the pyramid is an astronomical structure. Striking mathematical calculations and the ability to see constellations in the night sky through corridor-type mines provide astronomers with reasons for discussion.
Archaeologists and scientists around the world are trying to unravel the truth of the Khufu pyramid at Giza. However, based on the facts already obtained, it can be said with confidence that the author of the project was Hemion, a close relative and, concurrently, the court architect of Cheops. Under his strict guidance for 20 years, from 2560 BC. and until 2540 BC, more than three dozen builders, architects and laborers built a pyramid from huge granite blocks.
Some Egyptians and lovers of the occult sciences perceive the pyramid as a religious object. They see a mystical pattern in the intersections of corridors and catacombs. But this idea has no sufficient basis, as well as the version of alien intervention. So, a certain circle of researchers-ufologists claims that only with the help of alien creatures it was possible to build such a colossal piece of architectural art.
What should a tourist know?
Tourists and admirers of Arab culture are only amused and inspired by the difference of versions and the general uncertainty that revolves around the pyramid of Cheops. Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the foot of the granite structure to touch the history. And the locals are happy about this - all conditions for educational excursions have been created for visitors.
Twice a day, at 8 and 13 o'clock, a group of up to 150 people comes to the pyramid. Inside, they enter through a passage located on the north side. But, having finally arrived at the place of a kind of pilgrimage, not all visitors are ready for what the Cheops pyramid is inside. The long, low, laterally compressed passage in some foreigners causes a fit of claustrophobia. Sand, dust and stale air can cause asthma.
But for those who conquered themselves and withstood the passage inside the pyramid, all the architectural greatness of Egyptian culture is revealed. The massive walls, the Great Gallery, the overall sense of antiquity and authenticity are what captivates guests.
On the south side, at the exit, tourists are invited to get acquainted with the exhibits, which are the fruits of many years of excavation. Here you can also look at the Solnechnaya Ladya - one of the largest floating vehicles discovered in the entire history of archaeological activity of mankind. Here you can also buy souvenirs and memorable figures, T-shirts and so on.
Those staying late into the evening will be lucky enough to see the light show. The organizers, under the spotlights, create a unique, slightly mystical atmosphere, and tell mysterious stories about the pyramid and Egyptian culture.
Another point worth paying attention to visitors to the Cheops pyramid is the issue of photography and video filming. Inside the building itself, there is a ban on any shooting, as well as on the desire of some people to climb the pyramid itself. But, leaving the tomb and buying a souvenir, you can take countless pictures from any angle. In the photo, the pyramid of Cheops will sparkle with new colors and amaze with its geometric shapes.
However, you should be as vigilant as possible and not give your gadgets to strangers, other tourists and, especially, locals. Otherwise, you risk either never seeing your camera at all, or parting with an impressive amount in order to get it back.
From a purely practical point of view, there is nothing strange about this. As you know, in any tourist center the world local population prefers to make a profit at any cost. Hence the inflated prices, and the tendency to fraud, and a large number of pickpockets. Therefore, you should be as vigilant as possible.
Pyramid of Cheops: interesting facts
The pyramid of Cheops is a wonderful and amazing creation. She is an object of admiration for scientists, artists, writers, filmmakers and many other people who are not afraid to solve mysteries. And before heading to Giza to the granite massif, you should familiarize yourself with the stories about it. There are dozens of movies for this on the web. Such as, for example, the documentary "The Solution to the Mystery of the Pyramid of Cheops" directed by Florence Tran. In it, the author tries to consider as broadly the idea of construction, the riddle of creation and the true purpose of the pyramid of the great pharaoh.
Interestingly, despite the unfinished sarcophagi and the lack of unambiguous information about the architect of the Cheops pyramid, the inner mines are the biggest mystery. According to experts, reaching a width of 13 to 20 centimeters, the shafts run along the sides of the main rooms and have a diagonal exit to the surface. What is the specific purpose of these mines is still not known. Either it is ventilation, or secret passages, or a kind of air gap. Until now, science has no specific information on this matter.
Video - Facts about the Cheops pyramid
As well as about the process of building the pyramid. Materials for one of the Seven Wonders of the World were delivered from a nearby quarry. But it is still not known how large boulders weighing up to 80 tons were delivered to the construction site. Here again a lot of questions arise about the level of technological progress of the Egyptians. Or to the question of magic or higher intelligence.
What is the Cheops pyramid in reality? Tomb? Observatory? An occult object? Message from alien civilizations? This we, perhaps, will never know. But each of us has a chance to go to Giza and, having touched the history, put forward our hypothesis.
, vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all Pharaoh's construction sites." For more than three thousand years (before the construction of the Cathedral in Lincoln, England, around 1300), the pyramid was the tallest building on Earth.
It is estimated that construction, which lasted twenty years, ended around 2540 BC. e. The existing methods of dating the time of the beginning of the construction of the pyramid are divided into historical, astronomical and radiocarbon dating. In Egypt, the date for the start of construction of the pyramid of Cheops is officially established and celebrated - August 23, 2560 BC. e. This date was obtained using the astronomical method of Keith Spence (University of Cambridge). However, this date should not be considered a true historical event, since its method and the dates obtained with its help were criticized by many Egyptologists. The existing three other dating methods give different dates - Stephen Hack (University of Nebraska) 2720 BC. BC, Juana Antonio Belmonte (University of Astrophysics at Canaris) 2577 BC e. and Pollux (Bauman University) 2708 BC. e. The radiocarbon method gives a range from 2680 BC. e. to 2850 BC e. Therefore, the established "birthday" of the pyramid has no serious evidence, since Egyptologists cannot agree on the exact year in which construction began.
Statistical data
- Height (today): ≈ 138.75 m
- Side slope angle (now): 51 ° 50 "
- Side Rib Length (originally): 230.33 m (estimated) or about 440 royal cubits
- Side rib length (now): about 225 m
- The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m
- Base area (initially): ≈ 53,000 m2 (5.3 ha)
- Lateral surface area of the pyramid (initially): ≈ 85,500 m²
- Base perimeter: 922 m
- The total volume of the pyramid without deduction of cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
- Total volume of the pyramid minus all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m³
- Average volume of stone blocks: 1.147 m³
- Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 t
- The heaviest stone block: about 35 tons - located above the entrance to the "King's Chamber".
- The number of blocks of the average volume does not exceed 1.65 million (2.50 million m³ - 0.6 million m³ of the rock base inside the pyramid = 1.9 million m³ / 1.147 m³ = 1.65 million blocks of the specified volume can physically fit in the pyramid, without accounting for the volume of the solution in the interblock seams); attributing to a 20-year construction period * 300 working days a year * 10 working hours a day * 60 minutes an hour leads to a speed of laying (and delivery to the construction site) - about a block of two minutes.
- According to calculations, the total weight of the pyramid is about 4 million tons (1.65 million blocks x 2.5 tons)
- The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rock eminence with a height of about 12-14 m in the center and occupies, according to the latest data, at least 23% of the original volume of the pyramid
About the pyramid
The pyramid is called “Akhet-Khufu” - “Horizon of Khufu” (or more precisely “Relating to the sky - (this is) Khufu”). Consists of limestone and granite blocks. It was built on a natural limestone hill. After the pyramid has lost several layers of cladding, this hill is partially visible on the east, north and south sides of the pyramid. Despite the fact that the Cheops pyramid is the tallest and most voluminous of all Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Sneferu nevertheless built the pyramids in Meidum and Dakhshut (Broken Pyramid and Pink Pyramid), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.
The pyramid was originally faced with a harder white limestone than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - the pyramidion (ancient Egyptian - "Benben"). The facing shone in the sun with a peach color, like "a shining miracle, to which the sun god Ra himself seemed to have given all his rays." In 1168, the Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. The inhabitants of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.
Pyramid structure
The entrance to the pyramid is at a height of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch, but this is a structure that was inside the pyramid - the true entrance has not survived. The true entrance to the pyramid was most likely closed with a stone plug. A description of such a cork can be found in Strabo, and its appearance can also be imagined based on the preserved slab that closed the upper entrance to the Broken Pyramid of Sneferu, the father of Cheops. Today, tourists enter the pyramid through a 17-meter break, which was made in 820 by the Baghdad caliph Abdullah al-Mamun 10 meters lower. He hoped to find there the untold treasures of the pharaoh, but found there only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.
Inside the Cheops pyramid there are three burial chambers, one above the other.
Burial "pit"
A 105 m long descent corridor at an incline of 26 ° 26'46 leads to a horizontal 8.9 m long corridor leading to the chamber 5 ... Located below ground level in a rocky limestone foundation, it remained unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14 × 8.1 m; it is stretched from east to west. The height reaches 3.5 m, the ceiling has a large crack. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in section) stretches southward for 16 m, ending in a dead end. Engineers John Shae Perring and Richard William Howard Vyse at early XIX centuries cleared the floor in the cell and dug a well 11.6 m deep, in which they hoped to find a hidden burial room. They were based on the testimony of Herodotus, who asserted that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a channel in a hidden underground chamber. Their excavations have led nowhere. Later research showed that the chamber was left unfinished, and that the burial chambers were arranged in the center of the pyramid itself.
Several photographs taken in 1910Interior
Interior
Interior
Interior
Interior
Interior
Interior
The Ascending Corridor and the Queen's Chambers
An ascending passage ( 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery ( 9 ).
At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite "plugs", which from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell out during the works of al-Mamun. Thus, for the previous 3 thousand years, it was believed that there were no other rooms in the Great Pyramid, except for the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Mamun did not manage to break through these plugs and he simply gouged a bypass in the softer limestone to the right of them. This passage is still used today. There are two main theories about plugs, one of which is based on the fact that the ascending passage has plugs installed at the beginning of construction and thus this passage was sealed by them from the beginning. The second claims that the current narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the funeral of the pharaoh.
An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the plugs are now located, in the full-size, albeit shortened, model of the pyramid's passages - the so-called test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is the vertical tunnel. Since no one has been able to move the traffic jams so far, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open.
In the middle of the ascending passage, the structure of the walls has a peculiarity: in three places so-called "frame stones" are installed - that is, the passage, square along the entire length, pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown. In the area of the frame stones, the walls of the passage have several small niches.
A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southern direction. The walls of this horizontal corridor are made of very large limestone blocks, on which false "seams" are applied, imitating masonry from smaller blocks ... There are sand-filled cavities behind the western wall of the passage. The second chamber is traditionally called the "Queen's Chamber", although, according to the ceremony, the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. The “Queen's Chamber”, faced with limestone, measures 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. There is a high niche in the east wall of the cell.
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Drawing of the Queen's Chamber ( 7 )
Niche in the wall of the Queen's Chamber
Corridor at the entrance to the Queen's Hall (1910)
Entrance to the Queen's Chamber (1910)
Niche in the Queen's Chamber (1910)
The ventilation duct in the queen's chamber (1910)
Ascending tunnel corridor ( 12 )
Granite plug (1910)
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Ascending tunnel corridor (on the left - covering blocks)
Grotto, Great Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers
Another offshoot from the lower part of the Great Gallery is a narrow, almost vertical shaft, about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended for the evacuation of workers or priests who were completing the "sealing" of the main passage to the "King's Chamber". Approximately in the middle of it there is a small, most likely natural extension - "Grotto" of irregular shape, in which several people could fit at most. Mainsail ( 12 ) is located at the "junction" of the stone masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on a limestone plateau, lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially fortified with ancient stonework, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, given the fact that the mine was hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular cross-section, the question arises of how the builders managed to get to the Grotto.
The Great Gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross-section, with slightly tapering upward (the so-called "false vault") walls, a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. In the middle of the Great Gallery almost along the entire length there is a square depression, regular in cross-section measuring 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of indentations of unclear purpose. The deepening ends with the so-called. "Big step" - a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1 × 2 meters at the end of the Great Gallery, directly in front of the manhole into the "hallway" - the Antechamber. The site has a pair of similar to the ramp depressions, depressions in the corners of the wall (28th and last pair of depressions BG). Through the "hallway" the manhole leads to the burial "Tsar's Chamber" faced with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is located. The sarcophagus lid is missing. The ventilation shafts have mouths in the "Tsar's Chamber" on the southern and northern walls at a height of about one meter from the floor level. The mouth of the southern vent mine is badly damaged, the northern one appears intact. The floor, ceiling, walls of the chamber do not have any decorations or holes or fasteners of anything related to the time of the construction of the pyramid. The ceiling slabs have all burst along the southern wall and do not fall into the room only due to the pressure of the overlying blocks by the weight.
Above the "Tsar's Chamber" there are five unloading cavities discovered in the 19th century with a total height of 17 m, between which there are monolithic granite slabs about 2 m thick, and above there is a gable limestone ceiling. It is believed that their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the "King's Chamber" from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was found, probably left by workers.
Interior of the Grotto (1910)
Drawing of the grotto (1910)
Drawing of the connection of the Grotto with the Great Gallery (1910)
Tunnel Entrance (1910)
Tunnel Entrance (1910)
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View of the Great Gallery from the entrance to the premises
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Large gallery
Great Gallery (1910)
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"Big step"
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Pharaoh's Camera Drawing
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Pharaoh's chamber
Pharaoh's Chamber (1910)
The interior of the lobby in front of the Tsar's chamber (1910)
Channel "ventilation" at the southern wall of the king's room (1910)
Ventilation ducts
From the "Tsar's Chamber" and "Tsarina's Chamber" in the northern and southern directions (first horizontally, then obliquely upward) there are so-called "ventilation" channels 20-25 cm wide. At the same time, the channels of the "Tsar's Chamber", known since the 17th century, through, they are open both from below and from above (on the pyramid's edges), while the lower ends of the channels of the "Queen's Chamber" are separated from the wall surface by about 13 cm, they were discovered by tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface of about 12 meters. The upper ends of the channels of the "Queen's Chamber" are closed with stone "Gantenbrink Doors", each with two copper handles. The copper pens were sealed with plaster seals (not preserved, but traces remain). In the southern ventilation mine, the "door" was discovered in 1993 with the help of a remote-controlled robot "Upuaut II"; the bend of the northern shaft did not allow this robot to find the same "door" in it. In 2002, with the help of a new modification of the robot, a hole was drilled in the southern "door", but behind it was a small cavity 18 centimeters long and another stone "door". What lies next is still unknown. This robot confirmed the presence of a similar "door" at the end of the northern channel, but it was not drilled. In 2010, a new robot was able to insert a serpentine camera into a drilled hole in the southern "door" and discovered that the copper "handles" on the other side of the "door" were decorated in the form of neat hinges, and individual signs in red ocher were applied on the floor of the "ventilation" shaft. Currently, the most widespread version is that the purpose of the "ventilation" ducts was of a religious nature and is associated with the Egyptians' ideas about the soul's journey beyond the grave. And the "door" at the end of the canal is nothing more than a door to the afterlife. That is why it does not come out to the surface of the pyramid.
Tilt angle
It is not possible to accurately determine the initial parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently mostly dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact tilt angle. In addition, its symmetry itself is not perfect, so there are deviations in the numbers with different measurements.
Research into the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea of the "Golden Ratio" and the number pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: for example, the ratio of the height to half of the base perimeter is 14/22 (height = 280 cubits, and base = 220 cubits, half-perimeter of the base = 2 × 220 cubits; 280/440 = 14/22). For the first time in world history, these values were used in the construction of the pyramid in Meidum. However, for the pyramids of the later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have ratios of height to the base, like 6/5 (Pink pyramid), 4/3 (Khafren's pyramid) or 7/5 (Broken pyramid).
Some of the theories consider the pyramid to be an astronomical observatory. It is argued that the corridors of the pyramid accurately point towards the "polar star" of that time - Tuban, the ventilation corridors of the south side - to the star Sirius, and from the north side - to the star Alnitak.
Concavity of sides
As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this feature of architecture.
Pharaoh's boats
Near the pyramids, seven pits were discovered with real ancient Egyptian boats taken apart. The first of these vessels, named "Solar Boats" or "Solar Boats", was discovered in 1954 by the Egyptian architect Kamal el-Mallah and archaeologist Zaki Nur. The boat was made of cedar and did not have a single trace of nails for fastening the elements. The boat consisted of 1224 parts, they were assembled by the restorer Ahmed Youssef Mustafa only in 1968.
Boat dimensions: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m.
On the southern side of the Cheops pyramid, a museum of this boat is open.
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One of the two solar boat pits. East End pyramids
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The location where the Solar Boat was discovered
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Boat Museum on the South Side of the Pyramid
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Solar boat Cheops, discovered near the pyramid in 1954.
Pyramids of Queens of Cheops
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Descent to the Henoutsen burial chamber
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Burial chamber Henoutsen
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Literature
- Ionina N.A. 100 great wonders of the world. - Moscow., 1999.
- Voytech Zamarovsky... Their Majesties are pyramids. - Moscow., 1986.
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An excerpt characterizing the Pyramid of Cheops
- What are you talking about the militia? He said to Boris.- They, your lordship, preparing for tomorrow, for death, put on white shirts.
- Ah! .. Wonderful, incomparable people! - said Kutuzov and, closing his eyes, shook his head. - Peerless people! He repeated with a sigh.
- Want to smell gunpowder? He said to Pierre. - Yes, a pleasant smell. I have the honor to adore your wife, is she healthy? My halt at your service. - And, as is often the case with old people, Kutuzov began to look around absentmindedly, as if forgetting everything he needed to say or do.
Obviously, remembering what he was looking for, he beckoned Andrei Sergeich Kaisarov, his adjutant's brother, to him.
- How, how, how is Marina's poetry, how is poetry, how? That on Gerakova he wrote: “You will be a teacher in the building ... Tell me, tell me,” Kutuzov began, obviously intending to laugh. Kaisarov read ... Kutuzov, smiling, nodded his head to the beat of the poetry.
When Pierre walked away from Kutuzov, Dolokhov, moving up to him, took his hand.
“I am very glad to meet you here, Count,” he said to him loudly and not embarrassed by the presence of strangers, with particular decisiveness and solemnity. - On the eve of the day on which God knows which of us is destined to stay alive, I am glad to have the opportunity to tell you that I regret the misunderstandings that were between us, and I wish you had nothing against me. I ask you to forgive me.
Pierre, smiling, looked at Dolokhov, not knowing what to say to him. Dolokhov, with tears coming into his eyes, hugged and kissed Pierre.
Boris said something to his general, and Count Bennigsen turned to Pierre and offered to go with him along the line.
“It will be interesting for you,” he said.
“Yes, very interesting,” said Pierre.
Half an hour later, Kutuzov left for Tatarinova, and Bennigsen and his retinue, including Pierre, drove along the line.
From Gorki, Bennigsen went down the high road to the bridge, which the officer from the mound had pointed out to Pierre as the center of the position, and on which there were rows of mown grass that smelled of hay on the bank. They drove across the bridge to the village of Borodino, from there they turned to the left and past a huge number of troops and cannons they drove to a high mound, on which the militiamen were digging the ground. It was a redoubt that did not yet have a name, later called the Raevsky redoubt, or the kurgan battery.
Pierre did not pay much attention to this redoubt. He did not know that this place would be more memorable for him than all the places in the Borodino field. Then they drove through the ravine to Semyonovsky, in which the soldiers were pulling the last logs of huts and barns. Then downhill and uphill, they drove forward through broken rye knocked out like hail, along the newly paved artillery road along the thrusts of arable land to the flush [a kind of fortification. (Note. Leo Tolstoy.)], Also then still digging.
Bennigsen stopped at the flushes and began to look ahead at the (formerly ours yesterday) Shevardinsky redoubt, on which several horsemen could be seen. The officers said that Napoleon or Murat was there. And everyone looked eagerly at this bunch of horsemen. Pierre also looked there, trying to guess which of these barely visible people was Napoleon. Finally the horsemen left the mound and disappeared.
Bennigsen turned to the general who approached him and began to explain the entire situation of our troops. Pierre listened to Bennigsen's words, straining all his mental powers to understand the essence of the upcoming battle, but with grief felt that his mental abilities were not sufficient for this. He didn't understand anything. Bennigsen stopped speaking, and noticing the figure of Pierre listening, he suddenly said, addressing him:
- You, I think, are not interested?
“Oh, on the contrary, it’s very interesting,” Pierre repeated, not entirely truthfully.
With a flush, they drove even further to the left along a road winding through a dense, low birch forest. In the middle of this
forest, a brown hare with white legs jumped out on the road in front of them and, frightened by the stomp of a large number of horses, was so confused that it jumped along the road in front of them for a long time, arousing general attention and laughter, and only when they shouted at him in several voices, he rushed to the side and disappeared into the thicket. After driving two versts through the forest, they drove into a clearing where the troops of Tuchkov's corps were stationed, which was supposed to defend the left flank.
Here, on the extreme left flank, Bennigsen talked a lot and passionately and made, as it seemed to Pierre, an important military order. In front of the location of Tuchkov's troops was an elevation. This elevation was not occupied by troops. Bennigsen loudly criticized this mistake, saying that it was insane to leave the commanding ground unoccupied and place troops under it. Some generals expressed the same opinion. One, especially with military fervor, spoke of the fact that they had been put here for slaughter. Bennigsen ordered in his own name to move the troops to the height.
This order on the left flank made Pierre even more doubtful about his ability to understand military affairs. Listening to Bennigsen and the generals condemning the position of the troops under the mountain, Pierre fully understood them and shared their opinion; but precisely because of this, he could not understand how the one who placed them here under the mountain could have made such an obvious and gross mistake.
Pierre did not know that these troops were not deployed to defend the position, as Bennigsen thought, but were placed in a hidden place for an ambush, that is, in order to be unnoticed and suddenly strike the advancing enemy. Bennigsen did not know this and moved the troops forward for special reasons, without telling the commander-in-chief about it.
Prince Andrey on this clear August evening on the 25th was lying, leaning on his arm, in a broken shed in the village of Knyazkov, on the edge of the location of his regiment. Through the hole in the broken wall, he looked at a strip of thirty-year-old birches with chopped-off lower branches going along the fence, at the arable land with heaps of oats smashed on it and at the bushes, over which the smoke of the fires - the soldiers' kitchens - could be seen.
No matter how cramped and no one needed and no matter how hard his life now seemed to Prince Andrey, he, just like seven years ago in Austerlitz on the eve of the battle, felt agitated and irritated.
Orders for tomorrow's battle were given and received by him. There was nothing more for him to do. But thoughts were the simplest, clearest and therefore terrible thoughts did not leave him alone. He knew that tomorrow's battle should have been the most terrible of all those in which he participated, and the possibility of death for the first time in his life, without any relation to everyday life, without considerations of how it would affect others, but only because attitude towards him, towards his soul, with liveliness, almost with certainty, simply and horribly, presented itself to him. And from the height of this performance, everything that previously tormented and occupied him suddenly lit up with a cold white light, without shadows, without perspective, without distinction of outlines. His whole life seemed to him like a magic lantern, into which he looked for a long time through glass and under artificial lighting. Now he suddenly saw, without glass, in the bright daylight, these ill-painted pictures. “Yes, yes, these are those false images that excited and admired and tormented me,” he said to himself, going over in his imagination the main pictures of his magic lantern of life, now looking at them in this cold white light of the day - the clear thought of death. - Here they are, these roughly painted figures, which seemed to be something beautiful and mysterious. Glory, the public good, love for a woman, the fatherland itself - how great these pictures seemed to me, what a deep meaning they seemed to be fulfilled! And all this is so simple, pale and rough in the cold white light of that morning, which, I feel, is rising for me. " The three main griefs in his life in particular held his attention. His love for a woman, the death of his father and the French invasion that captured half of Russia. “Love! .. This girl, who seemed to me full of mysterious powers. How I loved her! I made poetic plans about love, about happiness with her. Oh dear boy! He said aloud angrily. - How! I believed in some kind of ideal love, which should have kept it faithful to me for a whole year of my absence! Like the tender dove of a fable, she should have wither away in separation from me. And all this is much simpler ... All this is terribly simple, disgusting!
My father also built in Bald Hills and thought that this was his place, his land, his air, his peasants; but Napoleon came and, not knowing about his existence, like a chip from the road, knocked him down, and his Bald Mountains and his whole life collapsed. And Princess Marya says that this is a test sent from above. What is the test for when it is no longer and will not be? never again! He's not there! So who is this test? Fatherland, death of Moscow! And tomorrow he will kill me - and not even a Frenchman, but his own, as yesterday a soldier unloaded a gun near my ear, and the French will come, take me by the legs and by the head and throw me into a hole so that I do not stink under their noses, and new conditions will arise. lives that will also be familiar to others, and I will not know about them, and I will not be. "
He looked at the strip of birches with their motionless yellowness, greenery and white bark, glistening in the sun. "To die, so that they would kill me tomorrow, so that I would not be ... so that all this would be, but I would not be." He vividly imagined the absence of himself in this life. And these birches with their light and shadow, and these curly clouds, and this smoke of fires - everything around him was transformed and seemed to be something terrible and threatening. Frost ran down his back. Getting up quickly, he left the barn and began to walk.
Voices were heard from behind the barn.
- Who's there? - Prince Andrew called out.
The red-nosed captain Timokhin, the former company commander of Dolokhov, now, after the loss of officers, the battalion commander, timidly entered the barn. Behind him came the adjutant and the treasurer of the regiment.
Prince Andrew hastily got up, listened to what the officers had to give him in the service, gave them some more orders and was about to let them go when a familiar, whispering voice was heard from behind the shed.
- Que diable! [Damn it!] - said the voice of a man bumping against something.
Prince Andrew, looking out of the shed, saw Pierre approaching him, who stumbled on a lying pole and almost fell. Prince Andrey was generally unpleasant to see people from his world, especially Pierre, who reminded him of all those difficult moments that he experienced on his last visit to Moscow.
- That's how! - he said. - What are the fates? I didn’t wait.
While he was saying this, there was more than dryness in his eyes and the expression on his whole face - there was hostility, which Pierre immediately noticed. He approached the barn in the most animated state of mind, but seeing the expression on Prince Andrey's face, he felt embarrassed and awkward.
“I came… so… you know… I came… I'm interested,” said Pierre, who had already so many times that day meaninglessly repeated this word “interesting”. - I wanted to see the battle.
- Yes, yes, but what do the freemasons say about the war? How can you prevent it? - said Prince Andrey mockingly. - Well, Moscow? What are mine? Have you finally arrived in Moscow? He asked seriously.
- We've arrived. Julie Drubetskaya told me. I went to see them and did not find them. They went to the Moscow region.
The officers wanted to take their leave, but Prince Andrey, as if not wanting to remain face to face with his friend, invited them to sit and drink tea. Benches and tea were served. The officers looked, not without surprise, at the fat, huge figure of Pierre and listened to his stories about Moscow and the disposition of our troops, which he had managed to drive around. Prince Andrey was silent, and his face was so unpleasant that Pierre turned to the good-natured battalion commander Timokhin than to Bolkonsky.
- So you understand the whole disposition of the troops? - Prince Andrey interrupted him.
- Yes, that is how? - said Pierre. - As a non-military man, I cannot say that completely, but I still understood the general disposition.
- Eh bien, vous etes plus avance que qui cela soit, [Well, you know more than anyone else.] - said Prince Andrew.
- A! - said Pierre with bewilderment, looking through his glasses at Prince Andrey. - Well, how do you say about the appointment of Kutuzov? - he said.
“I was very happy about this appointment, that's all I know,” said Prince Andrey.
- Well, tell me, what is your opinion about Barclay de Tolly? In Moscow, God knows what they said about him. How do you judge him?
“Just ask them,” said Prince Andrey, pointing to the officers.
Pierre, with a condescending questioning smile, with which everyone involuntarily turned to Timokhin, looked at him.
“They saw the light, your Excellency, as the Most Serene Highness did,” Timokhin said timidly and incessantly looking back at his regimental commander.
- Why is it so? - asked Pierre.
- Yes, at least about firewood or feed, I will report to you. After all, we were retreating from Sventsyan, don't you dare touch a twig, or a senz there, or something. After all, we are leaving, he gets it, isn't it, Your Excellency? - he turned to his prince, - don't you dare. In our regiment, two officers were put on trial for such cases. Well, as His Serene Highness did, it just became about it. They saw the light ...
- So why did he forbid?
Timokhin looked around in embarrassment, not understanding how and what to answer such a question. Pierre turned to Prince Andrew with the same question.
“And so as not to ruin the land that we left to the enemy,” said Prince Andrew, maliciously mockingly. - This is very basic; you should not be allowed to plunder the region and to accustom the troops to looting. Well, in Smolensk, he also reasoned correctly that the French could bypass us and that they had more strength. But he could not understand that, - suddenly, as if in a thin voice that had escaped, Prince Andrey cried out, - but he could not understand that we were fighting there for the Russian land for the first time, that there was such a spirit in the troops that I had never seen before, that we fought off the French for two days in a row, and that this success had multiplied our strength tenfold. He ordered to retreat, and all efforts and losses were wasted. He did not think about treason, he tried to do everything as best as possible, he thought it over; but from this it does not work. He is no good now precisely because he thinks everything over very thoroughly and carefully, as every German should. How can I tell you ... Well, your father has a German lackey, and he is an excellent lackey and will satisfy all his needs better than you, and let him serve; but if your father is ill at death, you will chase the lackey away and with your unfamiliar, awkward hands will begin to follow your father and calm him down better than a skillful but stranger. And so they did with Barclay. While Russia was healthy, a stranger could serve her, and there was an excellent minister, but as soon as she was in danger; you need your own, dear person. And in your club they thought he was a traitor! By slandering him as a traitor, they will only do what, then, ashamed of their false reproach, they will suddenly turn the traitors into a hero or a genius, which will still be more unfair. He is an honest and very neat German ...
“However, they say he is a skillful commander,” said Pierre.
“I don’t understand what a skillful commander means,” said Prince Andrei with a sneer.
- A skillful commander, - said Pierre, - well, the one who foresaw all accidents ... well, he guessed the thoughts of the enemy.
“Yes, it’s impossible,” said Prince Andrei, as if about a long-decided case.
Pierre looked at him in surprise.
“However,” he said, “they say that war is like a chess game.
- Yes, - said Prince Andrey, - only with that small difference that in chess you can think as much as you like over every step, that you are out of the conditions of time, and with the difference that a knight is always stronger than a pawn and two pawns are always stronger one, and in war one battalion is sometimes stronger than a division, and sometimes weaker than a company. The relative strength of the troops is unknown to anyone. Believe me, ”he said,“ that if everything depended on the orders of the headquarters, I would have been there and make orders, and instead I have the honor of serving here in the regiment with these gentlemen, and I think that it is from us that tomorrow will depend, not on them ... Success has never depended and will not depend either on position, or on weapons, or even on numbers; and least of all from the position.
- And from what?
- From the feeling that is in me, in him, - he pointed to Timokhin, - in every soldier.
Prince Andrey glanced at Timokhin, who was looking at his commander in dismay and bewilderment. Contrary to his former restrained silence, Prince Andrew now seemed agitated. He, apparently, could not resist expressing those thoughts that suddenly came to him.
- The battle will be won by the one who is determined to win it. Why did we lose the battle at Austerlitz? Our loss was almost equal to that of the French, but we told ourselves very early that we had lost the battle - and we lost. And we said this because we had no reason to fight there: we wanted to leave the battlefield as soon as possible. "If you lose - well run!" - we ran. If we hadn't said this until evening, God knows what would have happened. We won't say that tomorrow. You say: our position, the left flank is weak, the right flank is stretched, - he continued, - all this is nonsense, none of this. And what do we have to do tomorrow? One hundred million of the most varied accidents, which will be solved instantly by the fact that they or ours ran or run, that they kill that one, they kill another; and what is being done now is all fun. The fact is that those with whom you traveled around the position not only do not contribute to the general course of affairs, but interfere with it. They are busy only with their own little interests.
- At such a moment? - Pierre said reproachfully.
“At such a moment,” repeated Prince Andrey, “for them this is only such a moment in which one can dig under the enemy and get an extra cross or ribbon. For me tomorrow is this: the 100,000-strong Russian and 100,000-strong French troops have come together to fight, and the fact is that these two hundred thousand are fighting, and whoever will fight angrily and feel less sorry for himself will win. And if you want, I'll tell you that no matter what, no matter what is confused up there, we will win the battle tomorrow. Tomorrow, whatever it is, we will win the battle!
“Here, your Excellency, it’s true, true,” said Timokhin. - Why feel sorry for yourself now! The soldiers in my battalion, believe me, did not drink vodka: not such a day, they say. - All were silent.
The officers got up. Prince Andrew went out with them behind the shed, giving the last orders to the adjutant. When the officers left, Pierre went up to Prince Andrei and was just about to start a conversation, when the hooves of three horses began to clatter along the road not far from the shed, and looking in this direction, Prince Andrei recognized Volzogen and Clausewitz, accompanied by the Cossack. They drove close, continuing to talk, and Pierre and Andrei involuntarily heard the following phrases:
- Der Krieg muss im Raum verlegt werden. Der Ansicht kann ich nicht genug Preis geben, [War must be transferred to space. This view I cannot praise enough (in German)] - said one.
“O ja,” said another voice, “da der Zweck ist nur den Feind zu schwachen, so kann man gewiss nicht den Verlust der Privatpersonen in Achtung nehmen. [Oh yes, since the goal is to weaken the enemy, private losses cannot be taken into account (DE)]
- O ja, [Oh yes (German)] - confirmed the first voice.
- Yes, im Raum verlegen, [transfer to space (German)] - repeated Prince Andrew, snorting viciously, when they drove by. - Im Raum then [In space (German)] I have a father, and a son, and a sister in the Bald Mountains. It doesn't matter to him. This is what I told you - these gentlemen Germans will not win the battle tomorrow, but will only spoil how much their strength will be, because in his German head there are only arguments that are not worth a damn, and in his heart there is nothing that only and you need for tomorrow - what is in Timokhin. They gave all of Europe to him and came to teach us - glorious teachers! His voice screamed again.
"So you think tomorrow's battle will be won?" - said Pierre.
“Yes, yes,” said Prince Andrei absentmindedly. “One thing I would do if I had power,” he began again, “I would not take prisoners. What are prisoners of war? This is chivalry. The French have ravaged my house and are going to ravage Moscow, and they have insulted and insulted me every second. They are my enemies, they are all criminals, according to my ideas. And Timokhin and the whole army think the same. We must execute them. If they are my enemies, they cannot be friends, no matter how they talk in Tilsit.
- Yes, yes, - said Pierre, looking at Prince Andrey with shining eyes, - I absolutely, completely agree with you!
The question that had worried Pierre from Mozhaiskaya Mountain all that day now seemed to him completely clear and completely resolved. He now understood the whole meaning and all the significance of this war and the forthcoming battle. Everything that he saw that day, all the significant, stern expressions that he caught a glimpse of, lit up for him with a new light. He understood that latente, as they say in physics, the warmth of patriotism that was in all those people whom he saw, and which explained to him why all these people calmly and as if frivolously prepared for death.
“Don't take prisoners,” continued Prince Andrew. “That alone would change the whole war and make it less brutal. And then we played war - that's bad, we are generous and the like. This magnanimity and sensitivity - like the generosity and sensitivity of a lady, with whom she becomes sick when she sees a calf being killed; she is so kind that she cannot see the blood, but she eats this calf with gusto with sauce. They talk to us about the rights of war, about chivalry, about parliamentarianship, to spare the unfortunate, and so on. All nonsense. In 1805 I saw chivalry, parliamentary affairs: we were cheated, we were cheated. They rob other people's houses, send fake banknotes, and worst of all, they kill my children, my father and talk about the rules of war and generosity to enemies. Do not take prisoners, but kill and go to death! Who came to this as I did, with the same suffering ...
Prince Andrey, thinking that he did not care whether or not they took Moscow as they took Smolensk, suddenly stopped in his speech from an unexpected convulsion that seized him by the throat. He walked several times in silence, but his eyes glittered feverishly, and his lip trembled when he began to speak again:
- If there was no generosity in the war, then we would go only when it is worth going to certain death, as now. Then there would be no war for the fact that Pavel Ivanovich offended Mikhail Ivanovich. And if the war is like now, so is the war. And then the intensity of the troops would not be the same as it is now. Then all these Westphalians and Hessians, led by Napoleon, would not have followed him to Russia, and we would not have gone to fight in Austria and Prussia, without knowing why. War is not a courtesy, but the most disgusting thing in life, and one must understand this and not play war. This terrible necessity must be taken strictly and seriously. This is all: throw away the lie, and war is so war, not a toy. And then war is the favorite pastime of idle and frivolous people ... The military class is the most honorable. And what is war, what is needed for success in military affairs, what are the customs of a military society? The purpose of the war is murder, the weapons of war are espionage, treason and its encouragement, ruining the inhabitants, robbing them or stealing for the food of the army; deception and lies called military tricks; the morals of the military class - the absence of freedom, that is, discipline, indolence, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, drunkenness. And despite the fact - this is the upper class, revered by all. All the kings, except for the Chinese, wear a military uniform, and the one who killed the people more is given a great reward ... They will converge, like tomorrow, to kill each other, they will kill, injure tens of thousands of people, and then they will serve thanksgiving prayers for having beaten many people (of which the number is still being added), and they proclaim victory, believing that the more people are beaten, the greater the merit. How God looks from there and listens to them! - Prince Andrey shouted in a thin, squeaky voice. - Oh, my soul, lately it has become hard for me to live. I see that I have begun to understand too much. And it is not good for a person to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ... Well, but not for long! He added. “However, you are asleep, and a pen for me too, go to Gorki,” Prince Andrey suddenly said.
The Pyramid of Cheops is a rare case in Egyptology when we can be sure who the monument belongs to. Often the ancient monuments of Egypt were appropriated by later rulers. The technology of appropriation was very simple - the name of the pharaoh-builder (cartouche) simply got lost with the inscriptions in the temple or in the tomb, and another name was knocked out.
This phenomenon was very common. Take, for example, the famous Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Until 1922, when archaeologist Howard Carter dug up, Egyptologists doubted the existence of this ruler. There was almost no written evidence about him, everything was destroyed by subsequent pharaohs.
In the 19th century, archaeologists often used very barbaric research methods. In the pyramid of Cheops, explosions of gunpowder were used to search for secret rooms. You can still see traces of such methods on the surfaces of structures (see photo on the left).
During such research, small chambers were found above the main burial chamber. Explorers rushed there in hopes of finding treasures, but of course there was nothing but dust.
These rooms, only 1 meter high, had a purely technical purpose. These are unloading chambers, they protect the ceiling of the burial chamber from collapse, remove mechanical stress. But it was on the walls of these unloading chambers that scientists discovered inscriptions made by ancient builders.
These were block markings. As we now put a label on the product, so the ancient Egyptian foremen marked the blocks: "Block such and such for the pyramid of Khufu, produced then, laid then and then." These inscriptions cannot be fake, they prove that this structure was built by Cheops.
A little about Pharaoh Cheops
In the last paragraph we used the name “Khufu”. This is the official Egyptian name for this pharaoh. Cheops is the Greek interpretation of his name, and not the most common one. Other pronunciations of "Cheops" or "Kiops" are more common.
The name “Khufu” is more widespread in the world. If you are going on an excursion to Giza with a Russian-speaking guide, then there will be no problems, he will be aware of this phonetic difference. But, if you communicate with locals or tourists from other countries, we recommend using the name “Khufu”.
Although Pharaoh Khufu is one of them, it will not be possible to write much about him. We know very little about him.
In addition to the fact that this pyramid was built, we know that Khufu organized expeditions to develop useful resources on the Sinai Peninsula. That's all. To this day, only two artifacts have survived from Khufu - a giant pyramid 137 meters high and a small ivory figurine only 7.5 centimeters high (pictured on the right).
Pharaoh Cheops remained in the people's memory as a tyrant ruler who forced people to work on grandiose construction. We can read about this in the works of the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt and recorded the stories of the priests.
Surprisingly, his father Pharaoh Sneferu remained in the people's memory as a very kind ruler, although he built as many as three pyramids (s) and overextended the country twice as much as Cheops.
