WHAT MYSTERIES DOES IT CONCEAL?
Even today, almost five thousand years after its completion, the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt is a
It was intended to be recognised from a great distance, and the closer you come, the more you are drawn into its spell. The Great Pyramid was probably built around 2580 BC on the instructions of Pharaoh Cheops, on the Giza plateau southwest of modern Cairo, capital of Egypt. It is the largest of a trio of pyramids at the Giza site. But to this day, even with the most modern scientific methods, experts have not been able to solve all the mysteries of this impressive building.
Built on a square ground plan with a side length of 230 m, and an original height of almost 47 m (138 m today), it covers an area of over 5 ha and has a volume of around 2,600,000 m3. The number of stones used is enormous, and each one weighs several tons.
Herodotus based his ideas on the assumption that the Egyptians had constructed wooden machines to assemble the blocks in sections - from the base of the pyramid to its top. Diodorus thought it more likely that the Egyptians had built earth ramps to haul the stones into place.
The quest for the answer
During the Middle Ages, people believed that the builders of the pyramids were able to float or use flying carpets. In modern times, archaeologists have come to rely on written texts, which are considerably more reliable.
Historians and archaeologists believe that the pyramids were built asmonumental burial chambers for the kings of 3rd to the 13th dynasties (about 2670- 50BC). Also, each pyramid always seems form part of an extended complex of an extended complex of funeral architecture.
Some think the geometry of the pyramid reflects the technological know-how that the Egyptians
had acquired up to the time of the biblical floods. Others, however, want to see in it a prophetic code for the most important dates in world history.
New perspectives
Those who desperately try to find secrets where there are none can easily find themselves in a position where they miss the real mystery. For a long time, serious Egyptologists have confirmed again and again that the Great Pyramid is really a shrine.
Three chambers, which are connected to one another by means of a network of underground passages, have so far been identified .
The largest, the King's Chamber, contains the coffin in which the mortal remains of Pharaoh Cheops could have lain. Today the coffin is empty, but it might have been ransacked by the Muslim leader, Caliph AIMamun,who entered the holy chambers inthe 9th century. It is true
that there are cracks in the ceiling of this room which stem from the time prior to the death of Cheops; surely the pharaoh would not have wanted to be buried in a place that was threatened
by collapse? If the corpse did not find its last resting place in this room, the pyramid could have been a giant cenotaph - an empty royal shrine - buitt for the honour of the departed pharaoh alone.
Even after so many centuries of digging and exploration, the Pyramid of Cheops still harbours plenty of surprises: in recent years, a German engineer, Rudolf Gantenbrink, probed the secrets of some of the narrowest passages - as yet unreachable by human explorers - with the help of a
remote-controlled robot camera. Gantenbrink discovered an enormous door at the end of a shaft. But he was never able to find out what lies hidden behind the door.
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