TheMessageoftheSphinx

AlsobyRobertBauvalTheOrionMystery(withAdrianGilbert)

AlsobyGrahamHancock

JourneyThroughPakistanEthiopia:TheChallengeofHunger

AIDS:TheDeadlyEpidemicLordsofPoverty

AfricanArk:PeoplesoftheHornTheSignandtheSeal:AQuestfortheLostArkoftheCovenantFingerprintsoftheGods:TheEvidenceofEarth’sLostCivilization

TheMessageoftheSphinxAQuestfortheHiddenLegacyofMankind

GrahamHancockRobertBauval

ThreeRiversPressNewYork

Copyright©1996byGrahamHancockandRobertBauval

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying,recording,orbyanyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.

PublishedbyThreeRiversPress,201East50thStreet,

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OriginallypublishedinGreatBritainbyWilliamHeinemannLtd.,andintheUnitedStatesbyCrownPublishers,Inc.,in1996.

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TothememoryofmyfatherGastonBauval,whorestsinthelandofEgypt.RobertG.BauvalTo my friend, John Anthony West, for his twenty years of

courageousworktoprovethegeologicalantiquityoftheSphinx,andfor the vast implications of the evidence that he has put before thepublic. ‘The truth is great andmighty,’ as the ancient texts say. ‘IthathneverbeenbrokensincethetimeofOsiris.’

GrahamHancock

Contents

Contents.6LineIllustrations.10Acknowledgements.12PartI14Chapter1.15Enduringmemories.16Stillnessandsilence.17Chapter2.19Undatable,anonymous.22Onesyllable.23Context25Watererosion.26Notfloodwaters.27Rainfall28Arudeinterruption.29Whendiditrain?30Jurystillout32Chapter3.34Impossibleengineering.36How,why,when?39Memorialsmighty.42Notpurelysymbolicboats.45ThePyramids.46Highprecision.48Chambersandpassageways.52Innerspace.55Thestonesofdarknessandtheshadowofdeath.56Veryinterestingdevelopments.58Labyrinth.60Themysteryoftheshafts.61Chapter4.66Observatory.67TargetingStars.69TheCompanionsofOsiris.73Aperfectmatch.74Risingstars.77Lionontheground,lioninthesky.78Motiveinthetexts.85Fundamentalquestions.88PartII90Chapter5.91TrancingtheHallofRecords.93TheScholar95Proofunderthepaws.96

Anomalies.97Afallingout98Granitestructures.99Themappingsurveys.100Pullingaway.101LunchwithMr.Cayce.104Correspondence.106Chapter6.107Doublestandard.108Theironplateaffair111Scientificanalysis.112TheBritishMuseum’sview..114Stargate.115Unknowndarkdistance.117Links.119TheBritishMuseumandthemissingcigarbox.121Chapter7.124Planninganadventure.125Diversionanddelay.126UpuantII128Problemswithpermits.128Discovery.129Muchado,thennothing.131Politicalgames.132BreakfastwithGantenbrink.133Selectgroups.133Burial134PartIII136Chapter8.137Cosmicenvironment138Astronomicalessence.139Otherworld.140Starsrisingwiththesun.141Cosmicriver143KingdomofOsirisinthesky.144‘FirstTime’145GoldenAgeandtheentryofevil147Shabakatexts.149Treasuretrail150Sphinxgod.151RoadsofRostau.155Chapter9.158Celestialreflections.158Astronomer-priests.159LivingimageofAtum..161Atum,ReandHorakhti162Horus,Dweller-in-the-Horizon.165The‘TwoHorizons’ofHeliopolis.166Strangesilence.168SearchingforHorakhti169

Geographicalandcosmologicalcontext170Chapter10.173ChildoftheSun,sonofOsiris.174SeventydaysfromHorakhti176TheHighRoadandtheLowRoad.181Subterraneanworld.184Tunnel186Stargate.187TheSplendidPlaceofthe‘FirstTime’188PartIV.194Chapter11.195Threeeras.197Highinitiates.198FollowingtheWayofHorus.199Chapter12.202Guardiansofrecords.203Memoriesofthedawn.204Wisdomandknowledge.206Heliopolitanorigins.207Cycleofthephoenix.209Ancestorgods.210Chapter13.213Shiningones.213Legacy.215Godsandheroes.216Timebridge.217Followingthevernalpoint218Chapter14.220Journeyintime.221Becomingequipped.223Unification.225Highandfar-offtimes.227Chapter15.230Separation.230Doubles.231Link-up.232Ridingthevernalpoint234Secretspell235Specialnumbers.237Seekersaftertruth.241Chapter16.242Anti-cipher242Durablevehicles.244Hintsandmemories.245Thelanguageofthestars.247Thought-tools.248Chapter17.251Fine-tuningLeo.252Settingstars.253Sirius.255

Cross-quartercauseways.258Treasuremap.266Conclusion.271Osirisbreathes.273Appendix1.276Astateofperfectorder279Maat281Jugglingforbalance.283ThreeWiseMen.285Appendix2.288Appendix3.294Appendix4.300Appendix5.304Furtherdevelopments.304TheGreatPyramid.304TheGreatSphinx.305TheEdgarCaycelegacy.308MarsandGiza:311SelectedBibliography.314

LineIllustrations

1.ProfileoftheGreatSphinxfromthesouth.2.OverheadviewoftheprincipalmonumentsoftheGizanecropolis.3.TheGreatSphinxandthearchitecturalcomplexthatsurroundsit.4.Theartificial‘HorizonofGiza’.5.GeodeticlocationoftheGreatPyramidofGiza.6.Cross-sectionoftheGreatPyramidofEgypt.7.InternalcorridorsandpassagewaysofthethreePyramidsofGiza.8.PrincipalinternalfeaturesoftheGreatPyramid.9.Detailofthecorridors,chambersandshaftsoftheGreatPyramid10.ThecomplexinternaldesignoftheGreatPyramid.11.TheKing’sandQueen’sChambersandtheirfourshafts.12.DetailsoftheQueen’sChamberanditsshafts.13.Queen’sChamberwallandshaftmouth.14.ConstructiondetailsoftheGreatPyramidshafts.15.ThesummersolsticeasseenfromGiza.16.Thetrajectoryofthesunonthesummersolstice.17.Thetrajectoryofthesunontheequinox.18.Thetrajectoryofthesunonthewintersolstice.19.ThehorizonofGizaandthemeridianoftheGreatPyramid.20.Culmination(meridian-transit)ofOrion’sbeltcirca2500bc.21.OrionandOsiris.22.ThestellaralignmentsoftheGreatPyramid’sfourshafts.23.Orion’sbeltcrossingthemeridianoftheGreatPyramidin2500bc.24.Thesky-groundimageofGiza-Orion’sbeltin10,500bc.25.The10,500bc‘lock’withGiza.26.Artist’simpressionofOrion’sprecessionalcycleatmeridian.27.ThetrajectoryofOrion’sbeltthroughouttheages.28.Pre-dawnatthespring(vernal)equinoxin10,500bc.29.SuperimposedimagesoftherisingofLeoin2500bcand10,500bc.30.Sunriseatthespring(vernal)equinoxin10,500bc.31.Artist’simpressionofthe‘FirstTime’ofOsiris-Orion.32.‘Sah’(Osiris-Orion),the‘FarStrider’.33.DetailofQueen’sChambershaft.34.TheMemphitenecropolis.35.SunriseatsolsticesandequinoxesasseenfromGiza.36.TheskyregionoftheDuat.37.MapoftheapexregionoftheNileDelta.38.The‘LandofSokar’intheFifthDivisionoftheDuat.39.TheFifthDivisionoftheDuat.40.ThesummersolsticeasseenfromGizacirca2500bc.41.TheDenderahZodiac.42.Horakhti,‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’.43.Artist’simpressionof‘reconstructed’Sphinx.

44.TheDuatsky-regionatdawnthroughouttheyear,circa2500bc.45.The‘solar’HoruscrossingtheMilkyWay.46.The‘solar’HorusinthepawsofLeo.47.The‘astral’KingdomofOsirisinRostau.48.TheHorus-KingbeingledintotheGreatPyramid.49.The‘astral’GreatPyramidanditsstargates.50.TherisingofLeoatthesummersolsticecirca2500bc.51.Thesummersolsticecirca2500bc.52.TheHorus-KingstatuebetweenthepawsoftheSphinx.53.Osiris-Orionshowingthewaytohis‘Followers’,theHorus-Kings.54.Artist’simpressionofthe‘MansionofthePhoenix’.55.Osiris-Orion,Isis-SiriusandtheHorus-Kings.56.Greatconjunctionoftheancientskiesatthespring(vernal)equinoxcirca10,500bc57.Thesky-Duatandtheground-DuatofOsiris.58.The‘drift’ofOrionfrom10,500bcto2500bc.59.ThesettingofOrion’sbeltandthe‘satellite’pyramidsofthe‘horizon’ofGizain10,500bc.60.Artist’simpressionofthe‘FirstTime’ofSirius,intheepochof10,500bc.61.ThecourseofthesunthroughouttheyearasviewedfromthelatitudeofGiza.62.The14degreenorthofeastalignmentoftheKhufucausewayatthenorthcross-quartersunrise.63.Thedueeast(equinox)alignmentoftheMenkaurecauseway.64.The14degreesouthofeastalignmentoftheKhafrecausewayatthe‘south’cross-quartersunrise.65.TherisingofLeoandthe‘south’cross-quartersunrisein10,500bc.66.Hor-em-akhet(Sphinx)gazingatHorakhti(Leo)atthe‘south’cross-quartersunrisein10,500bc.67.ProfileoftheGreatSphinxinthe‘ground-horizon’ofGiza.68.Theplace-timedatumof10,500bcunder‘Leo’.69.PossiblelocationsofanundergroundsystemofpassagewaysandchambersbeneaththeGreatSphinx.70.TheDjedpillarofOsiris,flankedbyIsisandNepthys.71. Sun-boaton thebackof thedouble-lionhieroglyph forAker;GreatPyramid lookingwest;Osirian

Djedpillarlookingwest.72.TheScalesofMaat.73.Cross-sectionsoftheGreatPyramidshowingthe‘balancing’ofthemonumentwiththestar-shafts.74. The‘scales’ofOrionatthe‘nadir’and‘apex’ofthecurrentPrecessionalCycleandtheagesofLeo

(10,500bc)andAquarius(2450ad).

Acknowledgements

RobertG.Bauval:Foremost, a special thanks to the readers. In the last two years I have

receivedhundredsoflettersofencouragementandgood-willandit’ssurenicetoknowyou’reallouttheresharinginthiscommonquestfortruth.I am immensely grateful for the patience and understanding of my wife

Michele,andmytwochildren,CandiceandJonathan.Particulargratitudegoestothefollowingrelatives,friendsandcolleaguesfor

their support: JohnAnthonyWest,ChrisDunn,BillCote,RoelOostra, Josephand Sherry Jahoda, Joseph and Laura Schor, Niven Sinclair, Marion Krause-Jach,PrincessMadeleineofBentheim,JamesMacaulay,RobertMakenty,LindaandMax Bauval, Jean Paul and Pauline Bauval, my mother Yvonne Bauval,GeoffreyandThérèseGauci,PatrickandJudyGauci,DenisandVerenaSeisun,Colin Wilson, Mohamed and Amin El Walili, Julia Simpson, Sahar Talaat,ProfessorKarl-KlausDittelandhiswifeRenate,HaniMonsef,MarkFord,PeterZuuring, Richard Thompson, Adrian Ashford, Dave Goode, Okasha El Daly,MohamadRazek,HeikeNahsen,IlgaKorte,GundulaSchulzElDowy,AntoineBoutros,ProfessorJeanKerisel,RoyBaker,MurryHope,WilliamHorsmanandCharlotteAmes.Iwould like toconveymywarm thanks toBillHamiltonandSaraFisherof

A.M.Heath&Co.,Ltd.,forputtingupwithmypleonasticways,TomWeldonandallthestaffatWilliamHeinemannLtd.,PeterSt.GinnaandBrianBelfiglioatCrownPublishingInc.,MelanieWalzandDorisJanhsenatPaulListVerlag,Udo Rennert of Wiesbaden, and Moheb Goneid and all the staff at theMovenpick-JolieVilleatGiza.Finally,IwanttopaytributetotheengineerandmyfriendRudolfGantenbrink

for opening theway for all of uswith his bold and daring exploration in theGreatPyramid.

RobertG.Bauval,Buckinghamshire,February1996

GrahamHancock:SpecialthanksandlovetoSantha,mywifeandpartner,mybestanddearest

friend.Loveandappreciationtoourchildren:Gabrielle,Leila,Luke,Ravi,SeanandShanti.Specialthanksalsotomyparents,DonaldandMurielHancock,whohavegivenmesomuch,andfor thehelp,adviceandadventurousspiritofmyuncle, James Macaulay. Many of the individuals named in Robert’sacknowledgements likewise deserve my thanks: they know who they are. Inaddition I take this opportunity to send my personal good wishes to RichardHoagland,LewJenkins,PeterMarshall,andEdPonist.

GrahamHancock,Devon,February1996

PartI

Enigmas

Chapter1

HorizonDweller‘Thereisscarcelyapersoninthecivilizedworldwhoisunfamiliarwiththeformandfeaturesofthe

greatman-headedlionthatguardstheeasternapproachtotheGizapyramids.’

AhmedFakhry,ThePyramids,1961

A gigantic statue,with lion body and the head of aman, gazes east from

Egypt along the thirtiethparallel. It is amonolith, carvedoutof the limestonebedrockof theGiza plateau, twohundred and forty feet long, thirty-eight feetwideacrosstheshoulders,andsixty-sixfeethigh.It isworndownanderoded,battered, fissured and collapsing. Yet nothing else that has reached us fromantiquity even remotely matches its power and grandeur, its majesty and itsmystery,oritssombreandhypnoticwatchfulness.ItistheGreatSphinx.OnceitwasbelievedtobeaneternalGod.Thenamnesiaensnareditanditfellintoanenchantedsleep.Ages passed: thousands of years. Climates changed. Cultures changed.

Religions changed. Languages changed. Even the positions of the stars in theskieschanged.Butstillthestatueendured,broodingandnuminous,wrappedinsilence.Oftensandengulfedit.Atwidelyseparatedintervalsabenevolentrulerwould

arrangetohaveitcleared.Therewerethosewhoattemptedtorestoreit,coveringparts of its rock-hewnbodywith blocks ofmasonry. For a long period itwaspaintedred.ByIslamictimesthedeserthadburiedituptoitsneckandithadbeengivena

new, or perhaps a very old, name: ‘Near to one of the Pyramids,’ reportedAbdel-Latifinthetwelfthcentury,‘isacolossalheademergingfromtheground.ItiscalledAbul-Hol.’AndinthefourteenthcenturyEl-MakriziwroteofamannamedSaim-ed-Dahrwho‘wantedtoremedysomeofthereligiouserrorsandhewenttothePyramidsanddisfiguredthefaceofAbul-Hol,whichhasremainedinthatstatefromthattimeuntilnow.Fromthetimeofthisdisfigurement,also,thesandhasinvadedthecultivatedlandofGiza,andthepeopleattributethistothedisfigurementofAbul-Hol.’

1. Profile of theGreat Sphinx from the south showing restoration blocks along the paws andflanksandextensiveweatheringonthecorelimestonebody.

Enduringmemories

Abul-Hol, theArabic name for theGreatSphinxofEgypt, is supposedbymosttranslatorstomean‘FatherofTerror’.An alternative etymology, however, has been proposed by the Egyptologist

SelimHassan.During theextensiveexcavations thatheundertookon theGizaplateauinthe1930sand‘40sheuncoveredevidencethatacolonyofforeigners—‘Cananites’—had resided in this part of Lower Egypt in the early secondmillenniumbc.TheywerefromthesacredcityofHarran(locatedinthesouthofmodern Turkey near its border with Syria) and they may perhaps have beenpilgrims.Atanyrateartefactsandcommemorativestelaeprovethattheylivedinthe immediatevicinityof theSphinx—worshippingitasagodunder thenameHwl.[1]In the Ancient Egyptian language, bw means ‘place’. Hassan therefore

reasonably proposes that Abul-Hol, ‘is simply a corruption of bw Hwl, “thePlace ofHwl”, and does not at all mean “Father of Terror”, as is generallysupposed’.[2]Whenspeakingof theSphinx, theAncientEgyptians frequentlymadeuseof

theHarranianderivationHwl,buttheyalsoknewitbymanyothernames:Hu,[3]

for example, and Hor-em-Akhet—which means ‘Horus in the Horizon’.[4] Inaddition,forreasonsthathaveneverbeenfullyunderstood,theSphinxwasoftenreferredtoasSeshep-ankhAtum,‘thelivingimageofAtum,[5]afterAtum-Retheself-created sun-god, the first and original deity of the ancient Egyptianpantheon. Indeed, the very name ‘Sphinx’ that has haunted the collectivesubconsciousoftheWesternworldsinceClassicaltimes,turnsouttobenomore

thanacorruption—throughGreek—ofSheshep-ankh.In thisway,with subtlety, a number of very archaic ideas, once held by the

ancient Egyptians, have survived for thousands of years.[6]Would we not befoolish, therefore, to ignore entirely the lingering tradition that associates theSphinxwithagreatandterribleriddle?

Stillnessandsilence

Crouchinginthemassivehorseshoe-shapedtrenchofbedrockoutofwhichitwascarved,thestatuelooksold:afierceandraddledtoweringmonster,higherthanasix-storeybuildingandaslongasacityblock.Itsflanksarelean,deeplyscalloped by erosion. Its paws, now covered with modern repair bricks, aresubstantially worn away. Its neck has been clumsily shorn up with a cementcollar intended to keep its grizzled head in place. Its face, too, is bruised andbattered,andyetitsomehowseemssereneandageless,unpredictablyportrayingdifferent moods and expressions at different times and seasons, coming alivewithpatternsoflightandshadowcastbyscuddingcloudsatdawn.Wearing the elegant nemes head-dress of an Egyptian Pharaoh, it gazes

patientlyintotheeast,asthoughwaitingforsomething—waitingandwatching,lostinits‘stillnessandsilence’(inthewordsoftheRomannaturalistPliny),andtargetingforevertheequinoctialrisingpointofthesun.Howlonghasitstoodhereinspectingthehorizon?Whoseimagedoesitportray?Whatisitsfunction?Inour search for answers to thesequestionswehave foundourselvesdrawn

intostrangeandunexpectedareasofresearch.Likesoulsonthewayofthedead,we have had to pass through the dark kingdom of the ancient Egyptianafterworld, to navigate its narrow corridors, flooded passageways and hiddenchambers,andtoconfrontthefiendsanddemonslurkingthere.Usingcomputersimulationswe have journeyed back in time to stand beneath skiesmore than12,000 years old, andwatchedOrion cross themeridian at dawn as Leo roseresplendentintheeast.Wehaveimmersedourselvesinarchaicrebirthtextsandmyths and scriptures and found amongst them the veiled remnants of aremarkable ‘astronomical language’ that can, without too much difficulty, bereadandunderstoodtoday.Through clues expressed in this language we believe that we are able to

identifywithcertaintywhoandwhattheSphinxreallyis.Moreover,asweshallsee in Parts III and IV, this identification appears to open a window on a

forgotten episode in human history when the waters of a great deluge wereebbing andmen sought to transform themselves into gods. In our opinion thestakesarehigh.Indeedwethinkitpossible that theSphinxandthe threegreatPyramids may offer knowledge of the genesis of civilization itself. Ourimmediate aim in Parts I and II, therefore, is to undertake a complete re-evaluationofallthesetitanicmonuments,ofthescholarshipthathassurroundedthemduring the past century or so, and of their numerous neglected, geodeticandgeologicalandastronomicalqualities.Once these factors are taken into account a new Rosetta Stone begins to

emerge, expressed in architecture and time, in allegories and symbols, and inspecific astronomical directions and co-ordinates that tell the seeker where tolookandwhathemighthopetofind.MeanwhiletheGreatSphinxwaitspatiently.Keeperofsecrets.Guardianofmysteries.

Chapter2

TheRiddleoftheSphinx‘Sphinx,mythological creaturewitha lion’sbodyandhumanhead ...Theearliest andmost famous

exampleinartisthecolossalrecumbentSphinxatGiza,Egypt,datingfromthereignofKingKhafre(4thdynasty,c.2575-2465bc).ThisisknowntobeaportraitstatueoftheKing...’

EncyclopaediaBritannica

There is a belief that theGreat Sphinx ofGizawas fashioned during that

periodofEgyptianhistoryclassifiedasthe‘OldKingdom’ontheordersoftheFourth Dynasty Pharaoh named Khafre whom the Greeks later knew asChephrenandwho reigned from2520-2494bc.This is theorthodoxhistoricalviewandreaderswill find it reported inallstandardEgyptological texts, inallencyclopaedias,inarchaeologicaljournalsandinpopularscientificliterature.Inthese same sources it is also repeatedly stated as fact that the features of theSphinxwerecarvedtorepresentKhafrehimself—inotherwords,itsfaceishisface.Thus, for example, Dr. I. E. S. Edwards, a world-renowned expert on the

monumentsoftheGizanecropolis,tellsusthatalthoughthefaceoftheSphinxhasbeen‘severelymutilated’:‘itstillgivestheimpressionofbeingaportraitofKhafreandnotmerelyaformalisedrepresentationoftheking.’[7]In a similar vein Ahmed Fakhry, professor of ancient history at Cairo

University,informsusthat:‘asitwasfirstconceived,theSphinxsymbolisedtheking,anditsfacewascarvedinKhafre’slikeness.’[8]Theonlyproblem—atanyratewithoutaccesstoatimemachine—isthatnone

ofus,notevendistinguishedEgyptologists,isreallyinapositiontosaywhetherornot theSphinx isaportraitor likenessofKhafre.Since thePharaoh’sbodyhasneverbeenfoundwehavenothingtogoonexceptsurvivingstatues(whichmightormightnothavecloselyresembledthekinghimself).Thebestknownofthese statues, an almost unsurpassablemasterpiece of the sculptor’s art carvedout of a single piece of black diorite, now reposes in one of the ground-floorroomsof theCairoMuseum. It is to this beautiful andmajestic representationthatthescholarsmakereferencewhentheytellus—withsuchconfidence—thattheSphinxwasfashionedinKhafre’slikeness.This confidence was particularly apparent in an article in the prestigious

NationalGeographicmagazinewhichappearedintheUSinApril1991,anda

similaronethatappearedinBritainintheCambridgeArchaeologicalJournalinApril1992.[9]ThearticleswerewrittenbyProfessorMarkLehner,ofChicagoUniversity’sOriental Institute,who used ‘photogrammetric data and computergraphics’to‘prove’thatthefaceofthegreatSphinxwasthatofKhafre:

ZahiHawass,DirectorGeneralof theGizaPyramids, invitedme to joinhis excavation [around theSphinx]in1978.DuringthenextfouryearsIledaprojecttomaptheSphinxindetailforthefirsttime.Weproduced front and side views with photogrammetry, a technique using stereoscopic photography ...Computershavetakentherecordsfurther.Mapsweredigitizedtomakea3-Dwireframemodel;some2.6millionsurfacepointswereplottedtoput‘skin’ontheskeletonview.WehaveconstructedimagesoftheSphinxasitmayhavelookedthousandsofyearsago.Tocreatetheface,I triedmatchingviewsofothersphinxesandpharaohstoourmodel.WiththefaceofKhafre,theSphinxcamealive...[10]

It all sounds technically very impressive and persuasive.After all,who intheir right mind is going to argue with ‘2.6 million surface points’ based on‘stereoscopicphotography’and‘photogrammetry’?Behindthetechnicaljargon,however,thetruthisratherlessawe-inspiring.A

closereadingshowsthatallthatLehnerdidinorderto‘reconstruct’thefaceoftheSphinxwastoprepareacomputerizedthree-dimensionalwireframeskeletonon which he then superimposed the face of Khafre. This is admitted in theNationalGeographicarticle,whichreproducesaphotographofthedioritestatueofKhafreabovethefollowingcaption:‘Theauthor[Lehner]usedthisfaceforthecomputerreconstructionoftheSphinx.’[11]SowhatMarkLehner reallydidwas toremodel the faceof theSphinxona

computeraccording tohisownpreferences—inmuch the sameway that someancientEgyptianshadprobablydoneseveraltimesbeforehimonthefaceofthestatue itself. The present features of the Sphinx, in other words, are nomorelikely to be those of Khafre than they are to be those of a number of otherPharaohs—Thutmosis IV, forexample,orAmenhotep,orRamesses II (who islastknown,asLehneradmits, tohave‘extensivelyreworked’themonumentataround 1279 bc).[12] The simple, honest truth is that during the thousands ofyears of theSphinx’s existence, oftenwith only its head protruding above thesand, almost anyone could have worked on its face at almost any time.Moreover, Lehner’s own photogrammetric study has thrown up at least onepieceof evidencewhich is highly suggestive ofmajor recarving: theSphinx’shead,hewrites, is‘toosmall’ inproportiontothebody.Hetellsusthatthisisbecause it is an early prototype of the later very popular (and alwaysproportionate) sphinx form, and speculates that ‘theFourthDynastyEgyptiansmaynot[yet]haveworkedoutthecanonofproportionsbetweentheroyalheadwiththenemesheaddressonthelionbody’.[13]Hedoesnotconsidertheequallyvalidandmore intriguingpossibility that theheadwasoncemuch larger—and

perhapsevenleonine,andthatitwasreducedinsizebyrecarving.Probably relevant in this regard is an additional observation that Lehner has

made:‘asubtlediscrepancy’exists‘betweentheaxisofthehead[oftheSphinx]and that of the facial features’[14]—theheadbeingorientatedperfectly todueeast,andthefeaturesswivelledsomewhattothenorthofeast.Onceagainthisisanerrorthatisconsistentwiththerecarvingofamucholder

andheavilyerodedstatue.Anditisconsistent,too,asweshallseelaterinthischapter,withnewgeologicalevidenceconcerningtheSphinx’santiquity.Settingthesemattersaside for themoment,however, it seemsclear that themere factthatMarkLehnerisabletograftanimageofKhafreontothebatteredvisageoftheSphinxbymeansofthe‘ARL(AdvancedResearchLogic)ComputerandtheAutoCAD(release10)graphics application’,[15] provesnothingmore than thatwith good computer graphics you can make anyone’s face look like anyoneelse’s face. ‘The same computer technique,’ in the words of one outspokencritic,‘couldbeusedto“prove”theSphinxwasreallyElvisPresley...’[16]Itwaspartlyinanattempttoresolvethisimpassethatagroupofindependent

researcherstooktheunusualstepofbringingadetectivetoEgyptin1993.Thedetective in question was Lieutenant Frank Domingo, a senior forensic artistwith the New York Police Department, who has been preparing ‘identikit’portraits of suspects for more than twenty years. As a man who knows andworks with faces every day of his professional life, he was commissioned tomake a detailed study of the points of similarity and difference between theSphinx and theKhafre statue.Months later, after returning to his lab inNewYorkwhereheundertookcarefulcomparisonsofhundredsofphotographsofthetwoworks,Domingoreported:

After reviewing my various drawings, schematics and measurements, my final conclusion concurswithmyinitialreaction,i.e. thatthetwoworksrepresenttwoseparateindividuals.Theproportionsinthefrontal view, and especially the angles and facial protrusion in the lateral views convincedme that theSphinxisnotKhafre...’[17]

Soontheonehandwehaveatopforsenicexpert,FrankDomingo,tellingusthat the Sphinx’s face does not representKhafre’s face.And on the otherwehave Mark Lehner, the Egyptologist computer buff, saying that only withKhafre’sfacedoestheSphinx‘comealive’.

Undatable,anonymous

Whyisthereroomforsuchwidelyvaryingopinionsconcerningtheworld’sbestknownandmostintensivelystudiedancientmonument?

In1992,intwodifferentforums,MarkLehnermadesomewhatcontradictorystatementswhichhintattheanswertothisquestion:1. AttheannualmeetingoftheAmericanAssociationfortheAdvancementof

Sciencehesaid:‘ThereisnodirectwaytodatetheSphinxitselfbecausetheSphinxiscarvedrightoutofnaturalrock.’[18]

2. In theCambridge Archaeological Journal he wrote: ‘Although we arecertainthattheSphinxdatestotheFourthDynasty,weareconfrontedbyacompleteabsenceofOldKingdomtextswhichmentionit.’[19]

Todealwiththefirstpointfirst,itisasimplematteroffactthatnoobjectivetestpresentlyexistsfortheaccuratedatingofrock-hewnmonuments.[20]Manypeopleareundertheerroneousimpressionthattheradio-carbontechniquecouldbeused,butthisisnotso:itisonlyapplicabletoorganicmaterials(inwhichitmeasuresthequantityoftheisotopeCarbon-14thathasdecayedsincethedeathoftheorganisminquestion).SincetheSphinxismadeofcarvedrockitcannotbedatedbythismethod.This brings us to the second point. Stone monuments can be dated with

reasonable accuracy if there are contemporary texts which refer to theirconstruction.Ideally,inthecaseoftheSphinx,whatonewouldrequirewouldbean inscription carved during the Fourth Dynasty and directly attributing themonument toKhafre.AsMarkLehner admits,however,nocontemporary textreferringtotheSphinxhaseverbeenfound.Inallhonesty, therefore,whatconfrontsusatGiza isanentirelyanonymous

monument, carved out of undatable rock, about which, as the forthrightEgyptologistSelimHassanwrotein1949,‘nodefinitefactsareknown’.[21]

Onesyllable

Why, therefore, do Mark Lehner and other influential modern scholarscontinue to link the Sphinx to Khafre and to insist that ‘The Old KingdomFourthDynastydatefor[its]origin...isnolongeranissue’[22]?One reason is a single syllable carved on the granite stela which stands

between the monument’s front paws and which has been taken as proof thatKhafrebuilt theSphinx.Thestela,which isnotcontemporarywith theSphinxitself, commemorates heroic efforts by the Pharaoh Thutmosis IV (1401-1391bc) toclear theSphinxcompletelyofencroachingsandanddescribes the lion-bodiedstatueas theembodimentof ‘agreatmagicalpower thatexisted in thisplace from thebeginningof all time’.[23]The inscription also contains, in line

13,thefirstsyllable—Khaf—ofthenameKhafre.Thepresenceofthatsyllable,inthewordsofSirE.A.WallisBudge,is:‘veryimportantforitprovesthat...the priests of Heliopolis who advised Thutmosis to undertake the work ofclearingawaythesandfromtheSphinxbelievedthatitwasfashionedbyKhafre...’[24]ButdoesthesyllableKhafreallyprovesomuch?When the stela was excavated by the Genoese adventurer Gian Battista

Caviglia in 1817, line 13—which has now entirely flaked away—was alreadybadlydamaged.Weknowofitsexistencebecause,notlongaftertheexcavation,theBritishphilologistThomasYoung,a leadingexpert in thedeciphermentofancientEgyptian hieroglyphs,was able tomake a facsimile of the inscription.Forline13histranslationreadsasfollows:‘...whichwebringforhim:oxen...and all young vegetables; andwe shall give praise toWenofer ...Khaf ... thestatuemadeforAtum-Hor-em-Akhet....’[25]OntheassumptionthatKhafwasKhafre’sname,YoungaddedthesyllableRe

between square brackets to show that a lacuna had been filled in.[26] In 1905,however, when the American Egyptologist James Henry Breasted studiedYoung’sfacsimileheconcludedthatamistakehadbeenmade:‘ThismentionofKingKhafre has beenunderstood to indicate that theSphinxwas theworkofthisking—aconclusionwhichdoesnotfollow;[thefacsimileof]Younghasnotraceofacartouche...’[27]In all the inscriptions of ancient Egypt, from the beginning to the end of

Pharaonic civilization, the names of kings were always inscribed inside oval-shaped signs or enclosures known as ‘cartouches’. It is therefore extremelydifficulttounderstandhowonthegranitestelabetweenthepawsoftheSphinxthenameofaspowerfulakingasKhafre—orindeedofanyotherking—couldhavebeenwrittenwithoutitspre-requiredcartouche.Besides,evenifthesyllableKhafwasintendedtorefertoKhafre,itspresence

doesnotnecessarilyimplythathebuilttheSphinx.Itisequallypossiblethathewas being commemorated for some other service. For example, like manyPharaohsafterhim(RamessesII,ThutmosisIV,AhmosesI,etc.,etc.[28])—andperhapslikemanybeforehimtoo—isitnotpossiblethatKhafrewasarestoreroftheSphinx?Asithappens,thisperfectlylogicaldeductionandotherslikeitwerefavoured

byanumberoftheleadingscholarswhopioneeredthedisciplineofEgyptologyat around the end of the nineteenth century. Gaston Maspero, for example,Director of theDepartment ofAntiquities at theCairoMuseum, an acclaimedphilologistofhistime,wrotein1900:

The stela of the Sphinx bears, on line 13, the [name] ofKhafre in themiddle of a gap ... There, Ibelieve, is an indicationof [a renovation and clearance]of theSphinx carriedout under this prince, andconsequentlythemoreorlesscertainproofthattheSphinxwasalreadycoveredwithsandduringthetimeofhispredecessors...[29]

Thisviewissupportedbythetextofanotherroughlycontemporarystela,theso-called ‘InventoryStela’—also found atGiza but arbitrarily assumed by themajority of modern Egyptologists to be a work of fiction—which states thatKhufusawtheSphinx.SinceKhufu,thesupposedbuilderoftheGreatPyramid,wasKhafre’spredecessor,theobviousimplicationisthatKhafrecouldnothavebuilttheSphinx.[30]Encouragedbythistestimony,Masperoatonepointwentsofar as to propose that the Sphinx could have existed since the times of the‘Followers of Horus’, a lineage of pre-dynastic, semi-divine beings whosememberswerebelievedbytheancientEgyptianstohaveruledforthousandsofyears before the ‘historical’ Pharaohs.[31] Later in his career, however, theFrenchEgyptologistmodifiedhisopiniontoconformwiththegeneralconsensusandstatedthattheSphinx‘probablyrepresentsKhafrehimself’.[32]ThatMasperoshouldhavefeltcompelledtorecanthishereticalviewsonthe

SphinxtellsusmoreaboutthepowerofpeerpressurewithinEgyptologythanitdoesaboutthequalityofevidenceconcerningtheantiquityandattributionofthemonumentitself.Indeed,theevidenceunderpinningtheprevailingconsensusisextremely slim, resting not so much on ‘facts’ as on the interpretation thatcertainauthoritieshavechosenatone timeoranother togive toparticularandusually highly ambiguous data—in this case the solitary syllable of Khafre’snameontheThutmosisstela.Very few seniormembers of the profession have been as honest about such

mattersasSelimHassan.Inhisclassic1949studyoftheSphinx,fromwhichwehavealreadyquoted,heissuedthispertinentwarning:

ExceptingforthemutilatedlineonthegranitestelaofThothmosisIV,whichprovesnothing,thereisnotasingleancientinscriptionwhichconnectstheSphinxwithKhafre.Sosoundasitmayappear,wemusttreatthisevidenceascircumstantialuntilsuchatimeasaluckyturnofthespadewillrevealtotheworlddefinitereferencetotheerectionofthisstatue...[33]

Context

Since Hassan wrote there has been no such ‘lucky turn of the spade’.NeverthelesstheconventionalwisdomthattheSphinxwasbuiltbyKhafre,circa2500bc,remainssostrongandsoall-pervasivethatoneassumestheremustbesomething else behind it other than the disputed resemblance to the statue of

Khafre in the Cairo Museum and the contradictory opinions of scholarsconcerningahalf-ruinedstela.According toMarkLehner, there is indeed somethingelse—akindofmagic

bulletwhichheclearly regardsaspowerfulenough tokillanynigglingdoubtsandquestions.TodaytheDirectoroftheKoch-LudwigGizaPlateauProject,andformer Director of the now completed Giza Mapping Project, Lehner isrecognizedasaworldexpertontheSphinx.Wheneverhefireshismagicbulletat theoccasional ‘heretics’whohavesuggested that themonumentmightbealotolder than2500bc, therefore,hedoessofromapositionofgreat influenceandauthority.Thenameofhismagicbulletiscontextand,atthe1992annualmeetingofthe

AmericanAssociation for theAdvancementofScience,wherehewasselectedastheofficialspokesmanofEgyptologytoputtheorthodoxpointofviewinadebateonthetrueageoftheSphinx,hemadeextensiveuseofthis‘bullet’:

TheSphinxdoesnotsitoutaloneinthedeserttotallyupforgrabsasto‘howoldistheSphinx?’.TheSphinxissurroundedbyavastarchitecturalcontextwhichincludesthePyramidofKhufu[betterknownasthe Great Pyramid], the Pyramid of Khafre [‘the second Pyramid’] and the Pyramid of Menkaure,[34]pharaohsoftheFourthDynasty.EachpyramidhasalongcausewayrunningfromaMortuaryTempleonitseasternside,downtotheleveloftheNileflood-plain,whereaValleyTempleservedasanentrancetothepyramidcomplex...

Officials and relatives of the pharaohs built their tombs in cemeteries east and west of the KhufuPyramid,andsoutheastofthepyramidsofKhafreandMenkaurerespectively.DiggingatGizafornearlytwo centuries, archaeologists have retrieved an abundance of material [dating to the Fourth Dynasty].Hundreds of tombs have yielded the mortal remains and artifacts of people who composed the stateadministrationofthePyramidAge...WearediscoveringevidenceoftheworkingclassandeverydaylifeofthesocietythatbuilttheSphinxandpyramids...WehaveevidenceoftheruinsofanancientcityspreadoutalongthevalleyfortheentirelengthoftheGizaPlateau.AllthisispartofthearchaeologicalcontextoftheSphinx...[35]

Lehnergoesontosaythatthereareseveralspecificreasonswhythiscontextpersuadeshimthat‘theSphinxbelongstoKhafre’sPyramidcomplex’:

ThesouthsideoftheSphinxditchformsthenorthernedgeoftheKhafrecausewayasitrunspasttheSphinx and enters Khafre’s Valley Temple. A drainage channel runs along the northern side of thecausewayandopensintotheuppersouth-westcorneroftheSphinxditch,suggestingtheancientquarrymenformedtheditchaftertheKhafrecausewaywasbuilt.Otherwisetheywouldnothavehadthedrainemptyintotheditch.Khafre’sValleyTemplesitsonthesameterraceastheSphinxTemple.ThefrontsandbacksoftheTemplesarenearlyaligned,andthewallsofbotharebuiltinthesamestyle...[36]

TheevidenceforthetwoTemples,thecausewayandthesecondPyramidallbeing part of one architectural unitwith theSphinx is indeed compelling.Butusing this evidence to support the conclusion that Khafre built the Sphinx is

ratherlessso.Whatitignoresisthepossibilitythattheentire‘unit’couldhavebeenbuiltlongbeforeKhafre’stimebyasyetunidentifiedpredecessorsandthenreused—perhapsevenextensivelyrestored—duringtheFourthDynasty.It is this possibility—not precludedby any inscriptions andnot ruled out by

any objective dating techniques—that has made the Sphinx the subject of anincreasinglyvirulentcontroversyduringthe1990s...

Watererosion

Theoriginsofthiscontroversygobacktothelate1970swhenJohnAnthonyWest, an independent American researcher, was studying the obscure anddifficult writings of the brilliant French mathematician and symbolist R. A.Schwaller de Lubicz. Schwaller is best known for his works on the LuxorTemple,butinhismoregeneraltext,SacredScience(firstpublishedin1961),hecommentedonthearchaeologicalimplicationsofcertainclimaticconditionsandfloodsthatlastafflictedEgyptmorethan12,000yearsago:

Agreatcivilizationmusthaveprecededthevastmovementsofwater thatpassedoverEgypt,whichleads us to assume that the Sphinx already existed, sculptured in the rock of thewest cliff atGiza thatSphinxwhoseleoninebody,exceptfortheheadshowsindisputablesignsofaquaticerosion.[37]

Schwaller’s simple observation,whichnobody appeared to have taken anynotice of before, obviously challenged theEgyptological consensus attributingthe Sphinx to Khafre and to the epoch of 2500 bc. What West immediatelyrealizedonreadingthispassage,however,wasthat,throughgeology,Schwallerhadalsoofferedaway‘virtuallytoprovetheexistenceofanother,andperhapsgreatercivilizationantedatingdynasticEgypt—andallotherknowncivilizations—bymillennia’:[38]

IfthesinglefactofthewatererosionoftheSphinxcouldbeconfirmed,itwouldinitselfoverthrowallacceptedchronologiesofthehistoryofcivilization;itwouldforceadrasticre-evaluationoftheassumptionsof‘progress’—theassumptionuponwhichthewholeofmoderneducationisbased.Itwouldbedifficulttofindasingle,simplequestionwithgraverimplications...[39]

Notfloodwaters

Westisrightabouttheimplications.IftheweatheringpatternsontheSphinxcan be proved to have been caused by water—and not by wind or sand asEgyptologists maintain—then there is indeed a very serious problem withestablished chronologies. In order to understand why, we need only remind

ourselvesthatEgypt’sclimatehasnotalwaysbeenasbonedryasitistodayandthattheerosionpatternstowhichWestandSchwalleraredrawingourattentionare unique to the ‘architectural unit’ that Lehner and others define as the‘context’oftheSphinx.Fromtheircommonweatheringfeatures—whicharenotshared by the othermonuments of theGiza necropolis—it is obvious that thestructuresmakingupthisunitwereallbuiltinthesameepoch.Butwhenwasthatepoch?West’sinitialopinionwasthat:Therecanbenoobjectioninprincipletothewater-erosionoftheSphinx,sinceitisagreedthatinthe

past,Egyptsufferedradicalclimaticchangesandperiodicinundations—bytheseaand(inthenotsoremotepast)bytremendousNilefloods.ThelatterarethoughttocorrespondtothemeltingoftheicefromthelastIceAge.Currentthinkingputsthisdateataround15,000bc,butperiodicgreatNilefloodsarebelievedtohave taken place subsequent to this date.The last of these floods is dated around 10,000 bc. It follows,therefore,thatifthegreatSphinxhasbeenerodedbywater,itmusthavebeenconstructedpriortothefloodorfloodsresponsiblefortheerosion...[40]

Thelogic is indeedsound‘inprinciple’.Inpractice,however,asWestwaslatertoadmit,‘floodorfloods’couldnothavebeenresponsibleforthepeculiarkindoferosionseenontheSphinx:

TheproblemisthattheSphinxisdeeplyweathereduptoitsneck.Thisnecessitates60-footfloods(ataminimum)overthewholeoftheNileValley.Itwasdifficulttoimaginefloodsofthismagnitude.Worse,ifthetheorywascorrect,theinnerlimestonecore-blocksoftheso-calledMortuaryTempleattheendofthecausewayleadingfromtheSphinxhadalsobeenweatheredbywater,andthismeantfloodsreachingtothebaseofthePyramids—anotherhundredfeetorsooffloodwaters...[41]

Floodwaters,then,couldnothaveerodedtheSphinx.Sowhathad?

Rainfall

In 1989 John West approached Professor Robert Schoch of BostonUniversity. A highly respected geologist, stratigrapher and paleontologist,Schoch’sspecialityistheweatheringofsoftrocksverymuchlikethelimestoneoftheGizaplateau.Clearly,saysWest,hewasamanwho‘hadexactlythekindofexpertiseneededtoconfirmorrebutthetheoryonceandforall’.[42]Schochwasatfirstscepticalof theideaofamucholderSphinxbutchanged

hismindaftermakinganinitialvisittothesitein1990.Althoughhewasunableto gain access to the Sphinx enclosure he could see enough from the touristviewingplatformtoconfirmthatthemonumentdidindeedappeartohavebeenweathered by water. It was also obvious to him that the agency of thisweatheringhadnotbeenfloodsbut‘precipitation’.‘Inotherwords’,Westexplains,‘rainwaterwasresponsibleforweatheringthe

Sphinx,notfloods...Precipitation-inducedweatheringtookcareoftheproblemin a single stroke. The sources I was using for reference talked about thesefloodsinconjunctionwithlongperiodsofrains,butithadn’toccurredtome,asa non-geologist, that the rains, rather than the periodic floods,were the actualweatheringagent...’[43]Aswehavenoted,Schochgotnocloser to theSphinxonhis1990visit than

thetouristviewingplatform.Atthisstage,therefore,hisendorsementofWest’stheorycouldonlybeprovisional.Why had the geologist from Boston not been allowed inside the Sphinx

enclosure?The reason was that since 1978 only a handful of Egyptologists had been

granted that privilege, with all public access closed off by the Egyptianauthoritiesandahighfencebuiltaroundthesite.With thesupportof theDeanofBostonUniversity,Schochnowsubmitteda

formalproposaltotheEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization,requestingpermissiontocarryoutapropergeologicalstudyoftheerosionoftheSphinx.

Arudeinterruption

It took a long time, but because of his eminent institutional backing,Schoch’s proposal was eventually approved by the EAO, creating a brilliantopportunitytogettothebottomoftheSphinxcontroversyonceandforall.JohnWest immediately set about putting together a broadly based scientific team,includingaprofessionalgeophysicist,Dr.ThomasL.Dobecki,fromthehighlyrespectedHoustonconsultingfirmofMcBride-Ratcliff&Associates.[44]Therewerealsotobeotherswhojoined‘unofficially’:anarchitectandphotographer;twofurthergeologists;anoceanographerandapersonalfriendofJohnWest’s,film-producer Boris Said.[45] Through Said,West had arranged to ‘record theongoingworkinavideodocumentarywhichwouldhavewidepublicappeal’:[46]

SincewecouldexpectnothingbutoppositionfromacademicEgyptologistsandarchaeologistsawayhad tobe found toget the theory to thepublic, if andwhenSchochdecided theevidencewarranted fullgeologicalsupport.Otherwiseitwouldsimplybeburied,possiblyforgood...[47]

As away of getting the theory of an ancient rainfall-erodedSphinx to thepublic,West’s filmcouldhardlyhavebeenmoresuccessful.When itwas firstscreenedonNBC television in theUnitedStates in theautumnof1993 itwaswatchedby33millionpeople.But that is another story. Back in the Sphinx enclosure the first interesting

result came fromDobecki,whohad conducted seismographic tests around the

Sphinx. The sophisticated equipment that he had broughtwith him picked upnumerous indications of ‘anomalies and cavities in the bedrock between thepawsandalongthesidesof theSphinx’.[48]Oneof thesecavitieshedescribedas:

afairlylargefeature;it’saboutninemetresbytwelvemetresindimension,andburiedlessthanfivemetres in depth. Now the regular shape of this—rectangular—is inconsistent with naturally occurringcavities...Sothere’ssomesuggestionthatthiscouldbeman-made.[49]

Withlegalaccesstotheenclosure,Westrecalls,Schoch,too:wasswiftlydroppingconditionals...ThedeeplyweatheredSphinxanditsditchwall,andtherelatively

unweathered or clearly wind-weatheredOldKingdom tombs to the south (dating from aroundKhafre’speriod)werecutfromthesamememberofrock.InSchoch’sviewitwasthereforegeologicallyimpossibleto ascribe these structures to the same time period.Our scientistswere agreed.Onlywater, specificallyprecipitation,couldproducetheweatheringwewereobserving...[50]

Itwasat thiscrucialmoment,while themembersof the teamwereputtingtogether the first independent geological profile of the Sphinx, that Dr. ZahiHawass; the EgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization’sDirector-General of theGizaPyramids,felluponthem,suddenlyandunexpectedly,liketheproverbialtonofbricks.The team had obtained their permission from Dr. Ibrahim Bakr, then the

Presidentof theEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization.What theyhadnotknown,however,wasthatrelationsbetweenBakrandHawasswerefrosty.NeitherhadtheyreckonedwithHawass’senergyandego.Fumingthathehadbeenbypassedbyhissuperior,heaccusedtheAmericansoftamperingwiththemonuments:

I have found out that their work is carried out by installing endoscopes in the Sphinx’s body andshooting films for all phases of thework in a propaganda ... but not in a scientificmanner. I thereforesuspendedtheworkofthisunscientificmissionandmadeareportwhichwaspresentedtothepermanentcommissionwhorejectedthemission’sworkinfuture...[51]

Thiswas putting itmildly. Far from ‘suspending’ theirwork,Hawass hadvirtuallythrowntheAmericanteamoffthesite.Hisinterventionhadcometoolate,however,topreventthemfromgatheringtheessentialgeologicaldatathattheyneeded.

Whendiditrain?

BackinBoston,Schochgotdowntoworkathislaboratory.Theresultswereconclusiveandafewmonthslaterhewasreadytostickhisneckout.IndeedtoJohnWest’sdelighthewasnowpreparedfullytoendorsethenotionofarain-erodedSphinx—withallitsimmensehistoricalimplications.

Schoch’scase,inbrief—whichhasthefullsupportofpalaeo-climatologists—rests on the fact that heavy rainfall of the kind required to cause thecharacteristic erosion patterns on the Sphinx had stopped falling on Egyptthousandsofyearsbeforetheepochof2500bcinwhichEgyptologistssaythatthe Sphinx was built. The geological evidence therefore suggests that a veryconservative estimate of the true construction date of the Sphinx would besomewherebetween‘7000to5000bcminimum’.[52]In 7000 to 5000 bc—according to Egyptologists—the Nile valley was

populated only by primitive neolithic hunter-gatherers whose ‘toolkits’ werelimitedtosharpenedflintstonesandpiecesofstick.IfSchochisright,therefore,thenitfollowsthattheSphinxanditsneighbouringtemples(whicharebuiltoutof hundreds of 200-ton limestone blocks) must be the work of an as yetunidentifiedadvancedcivilizationofantiquity.TheEgyptologicalreaction?‘That’s ridiculous’, scoffed PeterLecovara, assistant curator of theEgyptian

DepartmentinBoston’sMuseumofFineArts.‘Thousandsofscholarsworkingfor hundreds of years have studied this problem and the chronology is prettymuchworkedout.Therearenobigsurprisesinstoreforus...’[53]Other ‘experts’ were equally dismissive. According to Carol Redmont, for

example, an archaeologist at the University of California’s Berkeley campus:‘There isnoway thiscouldbe true.Thepeopleof that regionwouldnothavehad the technology, thegoverning institutionsor even thewill tobuild such astructurethousandsofyearsbeforeKhafre’sreign.’[54]AndtheredoubtableZahiHawass,whohadtriedtonipthegeologicalresearch

inthebudinthefirstplace,hadthistosayabouttheSchoch-WestteamandtheirunorthodoxconclusionsconcerningtheantiquityoftheSphinx:

Americanhallucinations!Westisanamateur.Thereisabsolutelynoscientificbaseforanyofthis.Wehaveoldermonumentsinthesamearea.Theydefinitelyweren’tbuiltbymenfromspaceorAtlantis.It’snonsenseandwewon’tallowourmonuments tobeexploitedforpersonalenrichment.TheSphinxis thesoulofEgypt’.[55]

JohnWestwasnotintheleastbitsurprisedbytherhetoric.Inhislongandlonely quest to mount a proper investigation into the age of the anonymousSphinx many such brickbats had been thrown at him before. This time, withSchoch’sheavyweightsupport—and themassiveexposureof thewholematteronNBCtelevision—hefeltvindicatedatlast.FurthermoreitwasclearthattheEgyptologistswererattledbytheintrusionofanempiricalsciencelikegeologyintotheirnormallycosyandexclusiveacademicterritory.West,however,wantedtotakethematteragooddealfurtherthanSchochwas

preparedtogoandfeltthatthegeologisthadbeentooconservativeandlenientinhis‘minimum’estimateof7000to5000bcfortheageoftheSphinx:‘HereSchoch and I disagree, or rather interpret the samedata somewhat differently.Schochverydeliberatelytakesthemostconservativeviewallowedbythedata...However I remainconvinced that theSphinxmustpredate thebreak-upof thelastIceAge...’[56]Inpractice thismeansany timebefore15,000bc—ahunch thatWestsays is

based on the complete lack of evidence of a high culture inEgypt in 7000 to5000bc.‘If theSphinxwasasrecentas7000-5000bc,’heargues,‘I thinkweprobably would have other Egyptian evidence of the civilization that carvedit.’[57] Since there is no such evidence, West reasons that the civilizationresponsiblefortheSphinxanditsneighbouringtemplesmusthavedisappearedlong before 7000-5000 bc: ‘The missing other evidence is, perhaps, burieddeeperthananyonehaslookedand/orinplacesnoonehasyetexplored—alongthebanksof theancientNileperhaps,whichismilesfromthepresentNile,orevenatthebottomoftheMediterranean,whichwasdryduringthelastIceAge...’[58]Despite their ‘friendlydisagreement’as towhether theerosionof theSphinx

indicatedadateof7000to5000bc,oramuchmoreremoteperiod,SchochandWestdecided topresentanabstractof their researchatGiza to theGeologicalSociety of America. They were encouraged by the response. Several hundredgeologistsagreedwiththelogicoftheircontentionsanddozensofferedpracticalhelpandadvicetofurthertheinvestigation.[59]Evenmorerefreshingwasthereactionfromtheinternationalmedia.Afterthe

GSAmeeting articles appeared in dozens of newspapers, and the issue of theSphinx’s agewaswidely covered by television and radio. ‘Wewere over thefifty-yardlineandheadingdownfield,’recallsWest.[60]AsforthematterofhisdifferenceofopinionwithSchochaboutthedatingof

themonument,hehonestlyconcedesthat‘onlyfurtherresearchwillresolvethequestion’.[61]

Jurystillout

Since 1993 the Egyptian government, on the advice of WesternEgyptologists, has not permitted any further geological research or seismicinvestigationstobeundertakenaroundtheSphinx.Thisissurprisinginviewofthe momentous implications of Schoch’s findings and all the more surprisingbecausehisoriginal evidencehasnotyetbeenconvincinglychallenged inany

forum. On the contrary, as the years have gone by, the Boston geologist haswithstood the rigours of scientific peer review, several times successfullydefending his contention that the distinctiveweathering visible on theSphinx,andon thewalls of its enclosure—acombinationofdeepvertical fissures androlling, undulating, horizontal coves—is ‘a classic, textbook example of whathappens to a limestone structure when you have rain beating down on it forthousandsof years ...[62]When set in the context of ourknowledgeof ancientclimates at Giza, he adds, this represents abundant evidence ‘that the GreatSphinxpredatesitstraditionalattributionofcirca2500bc...I’mjustfollowingthesciencewhereit leadsme,andit leadsmetoconcludethattheSphinxwasbuiltmuchearlierthanpreviouslythought.’[63]OfcourseitcannotbesaidthatRobertSchochhasprovedthatthemonument

datesbacktotheepochof7000to5000bc.NorhasJohnWestprovedtheevenearlier date that he favours. But then again neither has orthodox EgyptologyprovedthattheSphinxbelongstoKhafreandtotheepochof2500bc.Inotherwords,byanyrationalandreasonablecriteria,thejuryisstillouton

thetrueattributionandantiquityofthisextraordinarymonument.TheriddleoftheSphinxisstillunsolved.Andasweseeinthenextchapter,it

isariddlethatencompassestheentireGizanecropolis.

Chapter3

MysteryPileduponMystery‘Itissaidthatthestone[usedintheconstructionofthePyramidsofGiza]wasconveyedoveragreat

distance...andthattheconstructionwaseffectedbymeansofmounds...Themostremarkablethingisthat,thoughtheconstructionswereonsuchagreatscaleandthecountryroundaboutthemconsistsofnothingbutsand,notatraceremainseitherofanymoundorofthedressingofthestones,sothattheydonothavetheappearanceofbeing the slowhandiworkofmenbut look likea suddencreation, as though theyhadbeenmadebysomegodandsetdownbodilyinthesurroundingsand.’

DiodorusSiculus,BookI,firstcenturybc

TheGizanecropolis,siteoftheGreatSphinxandthethreegreatPyramidsof

Egypt, is, by any standards, an extraordinary architectural and archaeologicalpuzzle. This is not only because of the many remarkable physical andengineering characteristics of the principal Pyramids and temples, but alsobecauseallofthesemonumentsareessentiallyuninscribedandanonymous.Likethe Sphinx, therefore, they are difficult to date by objective means. Like theSphinx,too,theirattributiontospecificPharaohsbyEgyptologistsisnecessarilybaseduponasomewhatarbitraryinterpretationofcontextualclues.The three great Pyramids, for example, are conventionally assigned as the

tombsofKhufu,KhafreandMenkaure—threePharaohsoftheFourthDynasty.Yet no Pharaoh’s body has ever been found in any of these monuments andwhile there are some so-called ‘quarry marks’—crudely daubed graffiti—incavities above the roof of the ‘King’s Chamber’ in the Great Pyramid, thesewritings,asweshallseeinPartII,arenotparticularlyhelpfulinconfirmingtheorthodoxidentificationwithKhufu.Therearenoother textsofanykindin theGreatPyramid,orinthePyramidsattributedtoKhafreandMenkaure.Thethreesmall‘satellite’PyramidslinedupalongtheeasternfaceoftheGreatPyramid,and the threeother satellitePyramids lyingnear the south-westernedgeof thesite, are similarly bereft of inscriptions. Some Fourth Dynasty artefacts werefound inside these six ‘satellite’ structures but there is noguarantee that theseartefactsarecontemporarywiththemonuments.

2.OverheadviewoftheprincipalmonumentsoftheGizanecropolis.

The same problem applies to the statues ofKhafre andMenkaure thatwerefoundinthelatter’s‘Mortuary’Templeandtheformer’s‘Valley’Temple.Thesestatues are the only evidence supporting the attribution of these otherwiseanonymousanduninscribededificestothetwoPharaohsinquestion.Inalllogic,however, they only suggest that attribution. They certainly do not confirm it.KhafreandMenkaure,inotherwords,mighthavebuiltthetemples.Butitisalsopossiblethattheytookoverpreexistingstructureswhichtheyhadinheritedfromanearlier time,and that theyadapted, renovatedandfurnished thesestructureswith theirownstatues inorder tosuit theirownpurposes.Afterall,wedonotattribute thebuildingofLondon’sTrafalgarSquare toNelson just becausehisstatuestandsthere.BythesametokenEgyptologistscouldbegoingtoofarwhenthey attribute the building of theValleyTemple toKhafre on the basis of his

statuefoundthere.Indeed, this isanobservation that is true for theGizanecropolisasawhole.

TheundoubtedconnectionthatithaswiththeFourthDynastyisnotindispute,buttheprecisenatureofthisconnectionremainsunproven.Tobesure,therearehugequantitiesofunmistakableandheavilyinscribedFourthDynastymastabatombslyingeastandwestoftheGreatPyramidandwestoftheSphinx,butthecontention that the Pyramids themselves are ‘tombs and tombs only’ isguesswork.Itcouldbethecase,ashashappenedelsewhereintheworld,thatanancient and sacred site designed and built for one purpose was subsequentlytakenoverand reused foranother ratherdifferentpurpose.Wemight imagine,forexample, that thePyramidsandtheotherprincipalmonumentssurroundingthemwere originally intended to fulfil purely ritual, ceremonial and religiousfunctions and that the practice of burying the dead there—principally FourthDynasty queens and nobles judging by the identifiable remains that havesurvived—was a later adaptation effectedbypeoplewhowereunconnected tothegenesisofthesitebutwhosoughttobeinterredinaplacethatwasimbuedwithancientprestigeandsanctity.AWesternanalogyisthepracticeofburyingtheremainsofparticularlyfavouredindividualsundertheflagstonesofmedievalcathedrals—a practice that continues to this day, but that does not lead us toconclude that thesecathedralsare tombsoreven that theywerebuiltprimarilyforthepurposesofburial.

Impossibleengineering

ApproachingGizafromtheeast,throughthemodernArabvillageofNazlet-el-Sammam,onecomesfirsttotheGreatSphinx—whichrearsitsgrizzledheadaboveanuglybus-parkandacrowdoftouristshopsandcafés.Fortunatelythegroundhasbeenclearedforadistanceofabouttwohundredmetresinfrontofthemonument,givinganopenviewof theenormousandunusualarchitecturalcomplexthathassurroundeditsincetimeimmemorial.This complex consists of the so-called ‘Sphinx Temple’ and the ‘Valley

TempleofKhafre’,theformerlyingimmediatelytotheeastoftheSphinx,anddirectly overlooked by it, the latter lying a little to the south of the SphinxTemple, separated from it by a narrow corridor but in direct alignment—abitliketwochunky,detachedhousesstandingsidebyside.Thelayoutofthesemonuments,andtherelationshipthatbothofthemhaveto

the Sphinx and its enclosure, are best appreciated from the plans andphotographs reproducedherewith.TheValleyTemple is the largerof the two,beingalmostsquareandmeasuringapproximately130feetalongeachside;the

SphinxTempleismorepronouncedlyrhomboidalwithsidelengthsofabout100feet.Originally around 40 feet high, both monuments are built out of massive

limestone core-blocks and both were at one time fitted with inner and outercasings of granite. These casings and much of the core masonry have beenremoved from the Sphinx Temple, leaving it in a very dilapidated state. Bycontrast theValleyTempleisstill largelyintact.Bothmonumentsareroofless,lackingtheiroriginalceilingbeams.InthecaseoftheValleyTemple,however,sixteenoriginalinteriorcolumnsandarchitravesremaininplaceintheT-shapedcentralhall,creatinggracefulpatternsoflightandshadow.Theunifyingfeaturesoftheseancientandanonymousstructuresarethestark,

undecoratedausterityofthebuildingstyle,andtheusethroughoutofponderousmegaliths—many of which are estimated to weigh in the range of 200 tonsapiece.[64]Therearenosmallblockshereat all: every singlepieceof stone isenormous—theleastofthemweighingmorethan50tons—anditisdifficulttounderstandhowsuchmonsterscouldhavebeenliftedandmanoeuvredintoplaceby the ancient Egyptians. Indeed, even today, contractors using the latestconstruction technology would face formidable challenges if they werecommissioned to produce exact replicas of the SphinxTemple and theValleyTemple.

3.TheGreat Sphinx and the architectural complex that surrounds it: SphinxTemple,ValleyTemple,Causeway(foreshortenedandnottoscale)andMortuaryTemple.

Theproblemsaremanifoldbutstemmainlyfromtheextremely largesizeoftheblocks—whichcanbeenvisagedintermsoftheirdimensionsandweightasaseriesofdiesellocomotiveenginesstackedoneontopoftheother.Suchloadssimplycannotbehoistedbythetypical towerandhydrauliccranesthatwearefamiliarwithfrombuildingsitesinourcities.Thesecranes,whicharepiecesofadvancedtechnology,cangenerally‘pick’amaximumloadof20tonsatwhatiscalled ‘minimum span’—i.e. at the closest distance to the tower along the‘boom’or ‘arm’of the crane.The longer the span the smaller the load and at

‘maximumspan’thelimitisaround5tons.Loads exceeding 50 tons require special cranes. Furthermore, there are few

cranes in theworld today thatwould be capable of picking 200-ton blocks ofquarried limestone. Such craneswould normally have to be of the ‘bridge’ or‘gantry’type,oftenseeninfactoriesandatmajorindustrialportswheretheyareused to move large pieces of equipment and machinery such as bulldozers,military tanks,orsteelshippingcontainers.Builtwithstructuralsteelmembersandpoweredwithmassiveelectricmotors, themajorityof thesecraneshavealoadlimitofunder100tons.Inshort,acommissiontoputtogetheratempleoutof200-tonblockswouldbeamostunusualandverytaxingjob,evenformodernheavy-loadandcranespecialists.In the United States there are presently only two land-based cranes of the

‘counterweight and boom’ type able to handle loads in the 200-ton range.RecentlyonewasbroughtintoaLongIslandconstructionsitetolifta200-tonboilerintoafactory.Thecranehasaboom220feetlong(atoneendofwhichis160-tonconcretecounterweightwhichkeepsitfromtippingover).Acrewof20menhadtoworkforsixweekstopreparethegroundbeforetheboilercouldbelifted.[65]The biggest technical challenge of building a replica of the Valley Temple

would be the need to lift hundreds of such weights and to do so within thephysical limitations of the Giza site. In order to overcome that challenge theidealcranewouldhavetobeofthegantryorbridgetype,mademobilebybeingmountedonsteeltracks—whichwouldhavetobesetupwithin,oraround,theconfinedareaofthetemplestructureitself.Not surprisingly,when the crane engineer responsible for lifting the 200-ton

boiler on Long Island was shown photographs and given technical detailsconcerningtheblocksoftheValleyTemple—andaskedwhetherhethoughtthathecouldhoistsimilarblocksintoplacewithhiscrane—hereplied:

I’mlookingatwhatyou’reshowingmehere,andlookingatthedistancesinvolved.Idon’tknowifwewouldbeabletopickthe200-tonblocksfromthepositionsthatIseeavailabletous...Inmybusinesswepickheavyloads,andwelooktoseehowheavyloadswerepickedbyotherpeoplebeforeus.Andseeinghowtheymovedtheseheavyblocks,200-tonblocks,thousandsandthousandsofyearsago,Ihavenoideahowtheydidthisjob.It’samysteryandit’llprobablyalwaysbeamysterytome,andmaybetoeverybody.[66]

How,why,when?

Mysteryornot,theValleyTempleandtheSphinxTemplestandatGizaas

mutetestimonytothefactthatcertainbuildersinantiquitydidknowhowtopick200-ton loads, and did have the technical wherewithal to do the job.Furthermore,althoughitisreasonablycertainthattheydidnotdoitwithgantryoranyothersuchcranes,weareindarknessastohowtheydiddoit.Confrontedby such questions Egyptologists tend to speak in vague and general terms of‘earthramps’and‘unlimitedmanpower’.[67]Engineers,howeverarerequiredtobemorespecificandtoaddressthemselvestotheissuesoftheprecisekindsoframps that would have been required—up which such big blocks could havebeendragged—andtheprecisenumbersofmenthatwouldhavebeenneededtodragthem.NodetailedtechnicalstudieshaveeverbeenundertakenatGizaconcerningthe

logisticsofbuildingtheSphinxandValleyTemples.ThePyramids,however—which Egyptologists also believe were built with ramps—have been studiedquitecloselybyanumberofhighlyqualifiedarchitectsandengineers.[68]Whatthese studies have indicated is that the maximum feasible gradient for aconstructionrampupwhichheavyloadscouldbehauledbymenonfootis1in10.[69]InthecaseoftheGreatPyramid,whichoriginallyreachedaheightof481feet,thiswouldhavecalledforaramp4800feetlongandalmostthreetimesasmassiveasthePyramiditself.[70]Ofcourse, suchaproblemdoesnot applywhere theSphinxTempleand the

Valley Temple are concerned because their original constructed height wasmuch lower than that of the Pyramids and they therefore could have beenapproachedbyrelativelyshort1-in-10ramps.Thefearsomemassandweightofthemany200-tonblocksfound in these temples,however, rulesout theuseofanyrampmadeofmaterialslessstablethanthelimestoneashlarsofthetemplesthemselves.[71]Letusassume,then,thatsolidstonerampswereusedandthenlaterdismantled

and cleared away. The question now becomes: how many men would berequiredtohaulhundredsof200-tonblocksupsuchramps?Togetthisproblemintoperspectiveitishelpfultorealizethatablockof200tonsrepresentsaloadroughly equivalent to 300 family-sized automobiles (each with an averageweightofthree-quartersofaton).Again,wedonothaveatechnicalstudyontheSphinxandValleyTemplesto

referto.Fortunately,however,arelevantstudyhasbeenundertakenattheGreatPyramidwhere theFrenchmaster engineer JeanLeherouKerisel, a consultantfor the building of the CairoMetro, worked out the logistics of hauling intoplacethe70-tonblocksthatwereusedintheconstructionoftheso-calledKing’sChamber.Accordingtohiscalculationsthejobcouldjustabouthavebeendone

—althoughwithenormousdifficulty—withteamsof600menarrangedinranksacross a verywide ramp buttressed against one face of the Pyramid.[72] Fromthisitfollowsthatteams1800menstrongwouldhavebeenrequiredtohaultheValleyTempleblocks.Butcould1800menhavebeeneffectivelyharnessedtosuch dense and relatively compact loads (the maximum dimensions of eachblockare30feetby10feetby12feet)?Andmoretothepoint,sincethetemplewalls do not exceed 130 feet along each side, how likely is it that such largeteamscouldhavebeenorganized toworkefficiently—oratall—in the limitedspaceavailable?Assumingaminimumofthreefeetofhorizontalspaceperman,eachrankofhaulerscouldnothavecontainedmorethanfiftymen.Tomakeupthe total of 1800menneeded tomove a200-tonblock, therefore,wouldhavecalledfornolessthanthirty-sixranksofmenpullinginunison,tobeharnessedtoeachblock.The potential complications thatmight have arisen aremind-boggling. Even

assuming they could all have been overcome, however, the next question thatpresentsitselfisperhapsthemostintriguingofall.Why?Whybother?Whyspecifytemplesbuiltoutofunwieldy200-tonblockswhenitwouldhave

beenmucheasier,muchmorefeasibleandjustasaestheticallypleasing,tousesmallerblocksofsaytwoorthreetonseach?There are really only two answers. Either the people who designed these

hulkingedificeshadknowledgeofsometechniquethatmadeiteasyforthemtoquarry, manipulate and position enormous pieces of stone, or their way ofthinkingwas utterly different fromour own—inwhich case theirmotives andpriorities are unlikely to be fathomable in terms of normal cross-culturalcomparisons.Wealsoneedtoaskwhentheworkwasdone.As noted earlier, the Sphinx Temple and the Valley Temple are both

anonymous monuments. And although it is certain that use was made of thelatter for Khafre’s funerary rituals, there is no proof that he built it. On thecontrary, ifProfessorRobertSchoch’sgeologicalevidence iscorrect, then it isquite certain that Khafre did not build either of these structures. This is sobecausetheSphinxitselfwasmadebyhewingadeephorseshoe-shapedtrenchout of the bedrock of theGiza plateau, leaving a central corewhichwas thencarved into shape, and because geologists have been able to prove that thelimestonemegalithsused inboth temples came from the trenchandwere thusquarriedatthesametimeastheSphinx.[73]Itthereforefollows,iftheSphinxis

indeed thousandsofyearsolder thanEgyptologists think it is, that the templesmustalsobethousandsofyearsolder.Whatwemay be looking at here are the fingerprints of highly sophisticated

and perhaps even technological people capable of awe-inspiring architecturalandengineeringfeatsatatimewhennocivilizationofanykindissupposedtohaveexistedanywhereonearth.Supportive of this possibility is the fact that the megaliths of the temples

demonstrate precisely the same apparent precipitation-induced weatheringfeatures as the Sphinx itself. And it is of interest to note that the survivinggranitecasingblocksseemtohavebeencarvedon their inner faces to fitoverthelimestonecore-blocksatatimewhenthesewerealreadyheavilymarkedbyerosion.Since thegranite casinghas the lookofotherOldKingdomEgyptianarchitecture(whilethelimestonecore-blocksdonot)thismaybetakenasfurtherevidenceof the theory that anancient, reveredandmuch-eroded structurewasrestoredandrenovatedbytheOldKingdomPharaohs.RobertSchochcertainlyfavours this view. ‘I remain convinced,’ comments the Boston Universitygeology professor, ‘that the backs of the Old Kingdom granite facing stoneswerecarvedtomatchorcomplementtheearlierweatheringfeaturesseenonthesurfacesofthecorelimestoneblocksofthetemples.’[74]

Memorialsmighty

The famous black diorite statue of Khafre that now stands in the CairoMuseumwas found upside down in a twenty-foot deep pit in the floor of theantechamberthatleadsintotheValleyTemple’sT-shapedcentralhall.Walkingthrough this hall, hemmed in by immensely strong and thick limestone andgranitewalls,thevisitorwilleventuallycometoahigh,narrowpassagewayonthenorth-westernsideofthestructure.Thispassageleadsoutoftherearofthetemple, along the southern side of the Sphinx trench—where it overlooks theSphinx—andthencejoinswiththemassive‘causeway’thatrunsformorethan1000 feet up the slope of the Giza plateau linking the Valley Temple to theMortuaryTempleandthencetotheeasternfaceofthesecondPyramid.Thecauseways—oneforeachofthethreePyramids—areimportantfeaturesof

theGizanecropolis, thoughallhave fallen intoanadvancedstateofdisrepair.Some 20 feetwide, and varying in length fromquarter of amile up to half amile,theyeachoriginallylinkedaMortuaryTempletoaValleyTemple.Today,however,theonlyrelativelyintactcomplexisthatattributedtoKhafredescribedabove. In thecaseof the thirdPyramid, theValleyTemple isnowcompletely

gonebut themegalithic ruinsof theMortuaryTempleare still inplace. In thecaseoftheGreatPyramidtheonlyremainingpartoftheMortuaryTempleisitsbasalt floor,while the ruinsof theValleyTemple—ifany survive—areburiedunderthevillageofNazlet-el-Sammam.Thethreecauseways,liketheMortuaryandValleyTemples,arefashionedout

ofhugeblocksoflimestone.Indeedalloftheseprodigiousstructuresareclearly‘of a piece’ from a design point of view and seem to have been thework ofbuilderswhothoughtlikegodsorgiants.Thereisaboutthemanoverwhelming,weary,achingsenseofantiquityanditiscertainlynothardtoimaginethattheymightbetheleavingsofalostcivilization.InthisregardweareremindedofTheSacred Sermon, a ‘Hermetic’ text of Egyptian origin that speakswith awe oflordlymen‘devotedtothegrowthofwisdom’wholived‘beforetheFlood’andwhosecivilizationwasdestroyed:‘Andthereshallbememorialsmightyoftheirhandiworksupon theearth, leavingdim tracebehindwhencyclesare renewed...’[75]

4.Theartificial‘HorizonofGiza’.

Thereisanotherfeatureofthecauseways,ofintenseinteresttous,whichweshallexploreindetailinPartsIIIandIV—theirorientation.ThecausewayoftheThirdPyramid,likethegazeoftheSphinx,istargeteddueeast.Thecausewayofthe secondPyramidpoints 14degrees southof due east.The causewayof theGreatPyramidpoints14degreesnorthofdueeast.Thearrangementisprecise,geometrical, obviously deliberate, with each significant structure bearing adesignedrelationshiptoeveryotherstructure—andthewholecontainedwithinalarge, circular artificial ‘horizon’ that is apparently centred on the apex of thesecondPyramidwithitsrimlyingjusttothewestoftherumpoftheSphinx.OrthodoxEgyptological opinion concerning the causeways is that theywere

ceremonial roads. Notwithstanding the fact that they are technologicalmasterpieces which could only have been built with an enormous expense ofingenuity and effort at the direction of skilled surveyors and architects, theassumption is that they were used just once for the funerary journey of thePharaoh’s corpse from Valley Temple to Mortuary Temple where his finalembalmingritualstookplace.Perhapsso.AsweshallshowinPartsIIIandIV,however,therearefeaturesof

these causewayswhich suggest that theymay have been usedmany times bymanydifferentPharaohsandthattheyhavetheirtechnicalandsymbolicoriginsin events that occurred long before the dawn of the historical civilization ofEgypt.

Notpurelysymbolicboats

Inthe1850sSirRichardFrancisBurton,theBritishexplorerandadventurer,visited Egypt and the Pyramids of Giza. He noted some odd ‘rhomboidaldepressions’lyingparalleltotheeasternsideoftheGreatPyramid,closetotheend of its causeway, and made sketches of them which are now kept in theBritishMuseum.[76]Someyears later, in1881,SirWilliamFlindersPetrie, the‘Father of British Egyptology’, also saw these strange depressions but simplyreferredtothemas‘trenches’anddidnotbothertohavethemcleared.[77]In1893,buried inpitsneara relativelyobscurepyramidonanother site, the

famousFrenchEgyptologistdeMorgandiscoveredsixlargewoodenboats,butlittle was made of this. In 1901 another French Egyptologist, Chassinat,discovereda‘rhomboidalpit’nearthepyramidofDjedefraatAbuRoash.Afternotingthat itverymuchresembledthepitsatGizanear theGreatPyramid,hewrote:‘theirpurposeisunknown,asisthecasehere.’[78]AncientEgyptianfunerary textsarestrewnwithreferences toboats—notably

thevarioussolaranddivinevesselsonwhichthedeceasedhopedtovoyageinthe cosmic afterlife (the ‘boat ofmillions of years’ for example, the ‘bark ofOsiris’,andthe‘barkofRa’).Carvings,drawingsandpaintingsofsuch‘boats’and ‘barks’,with their characteristichighprowsand sterns, adorn thewallsofmanyanancienttombinEgyptandtheirsymbolicandreligiousfunctionswereunderstoodwellbefore thecloseof thenineteenthcentury.Nevertheless itwasonlywhen theGerman archaeologist LudwigBorchardt excavated an obviousand unmistakable boat made of bricks near the sun-temple and pyramids atAbusir,thatitwasrecognizedthatthemysterious‘rhomboidalpits’wereinfactboats—oratanyraterepresentationsofboats,orgravesforboats.Since Borchardt’s time, several other boat pits have been found—by Selim

Hassan in1933, for example, andbyWalterEmery in1937.Finally, in1954,Kamal el-Mallakh discovered something quite breathtaking—a partiallydisassembled cedarwood boat,more than 143 feet long, buried in a pit on thesouthsideof theGreatPyramid.Muchmorerecentlyanothervesselofsimilardimensions has been located in an adjacent pit. As yet unexcavated, it isapparentlytobestudiedbyaJapaneseconsortium.The fact that Egyptologists took a long time to notice that there were large

boatsburiedatGizadoesnotnecessarilymeanthattheiranalysisofthefunctionof these boats is completelywrong.The idea is that themajestic vesselswereintended in some ‘primitive’, ‘magical’, ‘superstitious’, ‘half-savage’ way toserveassymbolicvehiclesonwhichthesoulsofdeadPharaohscouldsail intoHeaven.ThisinterpretationisconsistentwiththeancientEgyptianfunerarytextsand there canbe little doubt that the boats—‘solar boats’ as theEgyptologistscall them—were indeed intended toplay apart in symbolic celestial journeys.AsweshallseeinPartsIIIandIV,however,itispossiblethattheprecisenatureand purpose of those journeys may have been much more complex andsignificantthanhashithertobeenrecognized.Meanwhile, standing in front of the ‘solar boat’ excavated from beside the

southfaceoftheGreatPyramidin1954itishardnottonotethemarksofwearandtearonthekeelandgangplankandthenumerousotherclearsignsthatthiselegantcedarwoodvessel,withitshighcurvingprowandstern,wassailedmanytimesonwater.[79]Ifitwaspurelysymbolic,whywasitused?And why was it necessary to have such an elaborate and technically

accomplished[80] craft for symbolic purposes? Wouldn’t a symbolic vessel—suchas thebrickboatsandboat ‘graves’ foundatotherPyramids—havedonejustaswell?

ThePyramids

Thedominant featuresof theGizanecropolisare,ofcourse, its threegreatPyramids—thoseconventionallyattributedtoKhufu,KhafreandMenkaure.Inasense they arewhat the entire, vast enterprise proclaims itself to be all about,what the causeways lead towards, what the ‘solar boats’ are buried beside.Sprawling diagonally across themeridian axis of the site, it is they, above allelse, that the geometrical ‘Horizon ofGiza’ appears to have been designed tocircumscribe. Nothing about them is accidental: their original constructedheights, their angles of slope, the measurement of their perimeters, even thepatterninwhichtheyarecarefullylaidoutontheground—allofthesethingsarepurposiveandladenwithmeaning.BecausewehavedescribedthePyramidsinsuchdetailinotherpublications[81]

—where we have also looked in depth into many of their technical andengineering puzzles—we will not trouble the reader with superfluous detailshere. Some basic statistics and a few points of analysis are, however,unavoidableatthisstage.TheGreatPyramidwasoriginally481.3949feetinheight(nowreducedtojust

alittleover450feet)anditsfoursideseachmeasuresome755feetinlengthatthe base. The second Pyramidwas originally slightly lower—with a designedheightof471feet—andhassidesmeasuringjustunder708feet in length.ThethirdPyramidstandssome215feettallandhasasidelengthatthebaseof356feet.When theywere built the secondPyramid and theGreatPyramidwere both

entirelycoveredinlimestonefacingblocks,severalcoursesofwhichstilladhereto the upper levels of the former. The Great Pyramid, by contrast, is todayalmost completely bereft of its casing. We know from historical accounts,however,thatitwasoncecladfrombottomtotopwithsmoothly-polishedTuralimestonewhichwasshakenloosebyapowerfulearthquakethatdevastatedtheCairoareainad1301.Thenewlyexposedcoremasonrywasthenusedforsomeyears as a crude local quarry to rebuild the shatteredmosques and palaces ofCairo.AlltheArabcommentatorspriortothefourteenthcenturytellusthattheGreat

Pyramid’s casingwas amarvel of architecture that caused the edifice to glowbrilliantly under the Egyptian sun. It consisted of an estimated 22 acres of 8-foot-thickblocks,eachweighingintheregionof16tons,‘sosubtlyjointedthatonewould have said that it was a single slab from top to bottom’.[82] A fewsurviving sections can still be seen today at the base of themonument.When

they were studied in 1881 by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, he noted withastonishment that ‘the mean thickness of the joints is 0.020 of an inch; and,therefore,themeanvariationofthecuttingofthestonefromastraightlineandfromatruesquareisbut0.01ofaninchonalengthof75inchesuptheface,anamountofaccuracyequaltothemostmodernopticians’straight-edgesofsuchalength.’Another detail that Petrie foundvery difficult to explainwas that the blocks

had been carefully and precisely cemented together: ‘To merely place suchstones in exact contact at the sideswould be carefulwork, but to do sowithcementinthejointseemsalmostimpossible...’[83]Also ‘almost impossible’, since the mathematical value pi (3.14) is not

supposedtohavebeencalculatedbyanycivilizationuntil theGreeksstumbledupon it in the third century bc,[84] is the fact the designedheight of theGreatPyramid—481.3949 feet—bears the same relationship to its base perimeter(3023.16 feet) as does the circumference of any circle to its radius. Thisrelationshipis2pi(i.e.481.3949feetx2x3.14=3023.16feet).Equally‘impossible’—atanyrateforapeopleliketheancientEgyptianswho

aresupposedtohaveknownnothingaboutthetrueshapeandsizeofourplanet—istherelationship,inascaleof1:43,200,thatexistsbetweenthedimensionsofthePyramidandthedimensionsoftheearth.Settingasideforthemomentthequestion ofwhetherwe are dealingwith coincidence here, it is a simple fact,verifiable on any pocket calculator, that if you take the monument’s originalheight(481.3949feet)andmultiplyitby43,200yougetaquotientof3938.685miles.Thisisanunderestimatebyjust11milesofthetruefigureforthepolarradius of the earth (3949 miles) worked out by the best modern methods.Likewise, ifyou take themonument’sperimeterat thebase(3023.16feet)andmultiply this figure by 43,200 then you get 24,734.94 miles—a result that iswithin170milesofthetrueequatorialcircumferenceoftheearth(24,902miles).Moreover,although170milessoundsquitea lot, itamounts, in relation to theearth’stotalcircumference,toaminus-errorofonlythreequartersofasinglepercent.

Highprecision

Such fine errors are within the general margins of tolerance found at theGreatPyramid.Indeed,althoughithasafootprintofover13acres,andconsistsof some six and a halfmillion tons of limestone andgranite blocks, the sheermass and size of this monster of monuments are not its most impressive

characteristics.Moreastoundingbyfaristheincrediblehigh-techprecisionthatisbuiltintoeveryaspectofitsdesign.Before going into the details, let us consider the implications of very fine

precisioninverylargemonuments.Ananalogywiththesimplewrist-watchhelps.Ifyouareafteranaccuracyof,

say,afewsecondsperweek,thenanordinaryquartzwatchcostingfiftydollarsorlesswilldothetrick.Ifyouwantaccuracytowithinafractionofasecondperyear,however,thenthequartzwatchwillnolongerserveandyouwillhavetoturntosomethingoftheorderofanatomicclock.Asimilar situationapplies in the construction industry. Ifyouarebuildinga

brickwallthatistoappearstraightwithinplusorminus1degreeper100metresand thewhole roughlydirectedduenorth, thenanygoodbricklayer shouldbeabletomeetyourspecification.However,ifyourrequirementisforawallthatisstraightwithin1arcminuteper100metresanddirectedexactlyduenorth,thenyouaregoingtoneedalasertheodolite,anordnancesurveymapaccurateto10metres,andahighlyqualifiedteamofprofessionalsincludinganexpertsetting-outengineer,anastronomer,asurveyor,severalmaster-masonsandaweekorsotoensurethattheprecisionyouareaimingforhasinfactbeenachieved.Such ‘atomic clock’ precision was achieved by the builders of the Great

Pyramidmorethan4500yearsago.Thisisnotamatterofhistoricalspeculation,oroftheory,butofplain,measurablefacts.Forexampletheearth’sequatorialcircumferenceof24,902milesworksoutat

around132millionfeet,withtheresultthatadegreeoflatitudeattheequatorisequivalent to approximately366,600 feet (i.e. 132million feet dividedby360degrees). Each degree is divided into 60 arcminutes,whichmeans that 1 arcminuterepresentsjustover6100feetontheearth’ssurface,andeacharcminuteisthenfurthersubdividedinto60arcseconds—withtheresultthat1arcsecondis equivalent to a distance of about 101 feet. This system of measuring bydegrees is not a modern convention but rather an inheritance of scientificthinking, connected to ‘base 60’mathematics, that dates back to the remotestantiquity.[85]Nobodyknowswhere,orwhen,itoriginated.[86]Itseems,however,tohavebeenemployedin thegeodeticandastronomicalcalculations thatwereusedtolocatetheGreatPyramid—forthemonumentispositionedbarelyamiletothesouthoflatitude30,i.e.almostexactlyonethirdofthewaybetweentheequatorandthenorthpole.[87]

5.GeodeticlocationoftheGreatPyramidofGizaonlatitude30degreesnorth(onethirdofthewaybetweentheequatorandthenorthpole)andatthecentreoftheworld’shabitablelandmasses.

It is unlikely that this choice of location could have come about by chance.Moreover,becausenosuitablesiteforsuchamassivestructureexistsamileorsotothenorth,itwouldbeinadvisabletoassumethatthefractionaloffsetfromthethirtiethparallelcouldhavebeencausedbyasurveyingerroronthepartofthePyramidbuilders.Thisoffset amounts to1arcminuteand9arc seconds—since thePyramid’s

true latitude is 29 degrees 58’ 51”. Interestingly, however, as a formerAstronomerRoyalofScotlandhasobserved:

‘If the original designer hadwished thatmen should seewith their bodily, rather than theirmentaleyes,thepoleoftheskyfromthefootoftheGreatPyramid,atanaltitudebeforethemof30degrees,hewouldhavehadtotakeaccountoftherefractionoftheatmosphere;andthatwouldhavenecessitatedthebuildingstandingnotatlatitude30degrees,butatlatitude29degrees58’22”.’[88]

Inotherwords themonument turnsout tobe situated less thanhalf anarcminute to the north of astronomical latitude 30 degrees, uncorrected foratmosphericrefraction.Any‘error’involvedisthusreducedtolessthanhalfofone-sixtieth of one degree—a hair’s breadth in terms of the earth’scircumferenceasawhole.

ThesameobsessiveconcernwithaccuracyisfoundintheorderlyevennessofthePyramid’sbase:[89]

LengthofWestside: 755feet9.1551inchesLengthofNorthside: 755feet4.9818inchesLengthofEastside: 755feet10.4937inchesLengthofSouthside: 756feet0.9739inches

Thevariationbetweenthelongestandshortestsidesisthereforelessthan8inches—aboutonetenthof1percent—quiteanamazingfeatwhenweconsiderthatwearemeasuringadistanceofover9000inchescarpetedwiththousandsofhugelimestoneblocksweighingseveraltonseach.ThereisnosignthattheancientPyramidbuilderswereinanywaydauntedby

the taskofmaintainingsuchfastidiousstandardsofsymmetryonsuchagrandscale. On the contrary, as though willingly seeking out additional technicalchallenges, they went on to equip the monument with corners set at almostperfectright-angles.Thevariationfrom90degrees is just0degrees00’02”atthenorth-westcorner,0degrees03’02”atthenorth-eastcorner,0degrees03’33”atthesouth-eastcorner,and0degrees00’33”atthesouthwestcorner.[90]This, itmustbeconceded, isnot just ‘atomicclock’accuracybut theRolex,

BMW,MercedesBenz,Rolls-RoyceandIBMofbuildingengineeringallrolledintoone.Andthereismore.It is fairlywell known that the Pyramidwas aligned by its architects to the

cardinalpoints(withitsnorthfacedirectednorth,itseastfacedirectedeast,etc.,etc.). Less well known is just how eerily exact is the precision of thesealignments—withtheaveragedeviationfromtruebeingonlyalittleover3arcminutes(i.e.about5percentofasingledegree).[91]Whysuchmeticulousness?Whysuchrigour?Why should even themostmegalomaniacal of Pharaohs have caredwhether

hismassive ‘tomb’was alignedwithin3 arcminutesof truenorth—or indeedwithin awhole degree of true north?To the naked-eye observer it is virtuallyimpossible to determine such a deviation. Indeedmost of us could not spot amisalignmentwithin3wholedegrees (180arcminutes), letalonewithin3arcminutes(andsomepeoplehave trouble tellingthegeneraldirectionofnorthatall).Sothequestionhastobeasked:whatwasallthisincredibleprecisionfor?Whydidthebuildersburdenthemselveswithsomuchextraworkanddifficultywhentheeffectsoftheiradditionallabourswouldnotbevisibletothenakedeyeanyway?Theymust,oneassumes,havehadapowerfulmotivetocreatewhatistrulya

miracleofthesurveyor’sart.Andwhatmakesthismiracleallthemoreremarkableisthefactthatitwasnot

performed on a perfectly flat area of ground, as onemight expect, butwith amassivenaturalmound,orhill,leftexactlyinthemiddleofthesiteonwhichtheGreatPyramidwasbeingerected.Estimatedtobealmost30feethigh—astallas

atwo-storeyhouse—andpositioneddeadcentreoverthebasearea(ofwhichitoccupies approximately 70 per cent), this primeval mound was skilfullyincorporatedintothelowercoursesofthegrowingedifice.Nodoubtitspresencehas contributed down the epochs to the structure’s legendary stability. It isextremelydifficult,however,tounderstandhowtheancientsurveyorswereabletosquarethebaseofthePyramidinitsearlyandmostimportantstageswiththemound so solidly in the way (squaring the base normally involves takingrepeateddiagonalmeasurementsacrossthecorners).[92]Allthatwecansayforsureisthatthebaseissquareandthatthemonumentislockedintothecardinalaxesofourplanetwithgreatcareandprecision.

6.Cross-sectionof theGreatPyramidofEgypt showing thenaturalmoundofbedrock that isknowntobebuiltintoitslowercourses.

7.InternalcorridorsandpassagewaysofthethreePyramidsofGiza.

Chambersandpassageways

ThesecondandthirdPyramidshaverelativelysimpleinternalchambersandpassageway systems—the former having one principal chamber just belowground level, positioned centrally under the apex of themonument, the latterhavingthreemainchambers,cutalittlemoredeeplyintothebedrockbutagainpositioned centrally under the apex of the monument. The entrances to bothPyramids are in their north faces and take the form of cramped passagewayssloping downwards at an angle of 26 degrees, before levelling off to joinhorizontalcorridorsunderthemonument.The internal structure of the Great Pyramid, by contrast, is much more

complex,withanelaboratearrangementofpassagewaysandgalleries—slopingupanddownagainat26degrees—andwith threeprincipal internal chambers.Oftheselatteronlyone,the‘SubterraneanChamber’,isbelowgroundlevel.Theother two—the so-called ‘Queen’sChamber’ and ‘King’sChamber’—arebothlocated in the heart of the monument’s superstructure at substantial altitudesabovetheground.The layout of these internal features is best appreciated from the diagram

printed on page 45. Chief amongst them, surmounted only by Davison’sChamber (and above that by the four so-called ‘relieving chambers’ whichcontain the ‘quarry marks’ mentioned earlier) is the—rectangular red-graniteroom,nowfamousasthe‘King’sChamber’.Itprovedtobecompletelydevoidofeithertreasuresorinscriptions,orthebodyofaking,whenitwasfirstenteredby Calif AlMamoun in the ninth century ad. Measuring 34 feet 4 inches inlength,17feet2inchesinwidth,and19feet1inchinheightitislocatedabout150 feet vertically above the base of the Pyramid. Itsmanymysteries are toowell known to require further elucidation here (and, besides, have beendescribedinsomedetailinourearlierpublications[93]).

8.Principal internal features of theGreatPyramid.The entrance in thenorth faceknownas‘Mamoun’sHole’was forcedbyArab explorers in the ninth century ad.At this time the exteriorfacingblocksofthePyramidwerestillintact,hidingthetrueentrancefromsight.

Connecting theKing’sChamber to the lower levels of themonument is theGrand Gallery, one of ‘the most celebrated architectural works which havesurvived from the Old Kingdom’.[94] Sloping downwards at an angle of 26degrees,itisanastonishingcorbel-vaultedhallfully153feetinlengthand7feetinwidthatfloor level.Its loftyceiling,28feetabovethevisitor’shead, is justvisible in the electric lighting with which the Pyramid has been equipped inmoderntimes.AtthebaseoftheGrandGalleryahorizontalpassage,3feet9incheshighand

127feet long, runsduesouth into the‘Queen’sChamber’.AgainfoundemptybyMamoun,thisisasmallerroomthantheKing’sChamber,measuring18feet10inchesfromeasttowestand17feet2inchesfromnorthtosouth.Reachingaheightof20feet5inches,theceilingisgabled(whereasitisflatintheKing’sChamber)andthereisalargecorbellednicheofunknownfunctionjustsouthofthecentrelineintheeastwall.

9.Detailofthecorridors,chambersandshaftsoftheGreatPyramid.

ReturningalongthehorizontalpassagewaytoitsjunctionwiththebaseoftheGrandGallerythevisitorwillnote,behindamodernirongrille,thenarrowanduninvitingmouthof the ‘Well-Shaft’—anearvertical tunnel, often less than3feet indiameter, thateventually joinsupwith theDescendingCorridor,almost100 feet below ground level.How the tunnelers, encysted in solid rock,wereabletohomeinsoaccuratelyontheirtargetremainsamystery.Mysterious,too,is the true function of all these odd systems of interconnecting ‘ducts’ whichleadbusilyhitherandthitherinsidethebodyofthemonument,likethecircuitsofsomegreatmachine.SlopingdownwardsfromtheGrandGallery,andextendingit inthedirection

ofthegroundatthecontinuingangleof26degrees,isanothercorridor.Known(from the point of view of those entering the Pyramid) as the AscendingCorridor, itmeasures 3 feet 11 incheshighby3 feet 5 incheswide andhas atotallengthofjustunder129feet.LeavingthePyramid,thevisitorisobligedtoape-walkuncomfortablydown theAscendingCorridoruntil thepointwhere itjoinsupwith ‘Mamoun’sHole’—the tunnel that theArabscut for their forcedentry in the ninth century—on the western side of two hulking red-granite‘pluggingblocks’whichmaskthejunctionwiththeDescendingCorridor.Atthebottom of this 350-foot-long corridor, off limits to all but bona fideEgyptologists (and those willing to bribe the increasingly hard-pressed anddemoralizedInspectorsandghafirsresponsiblefortheday-to-dayadministrationofGiza)isatrulyremarkablefeature—theSubterraneanChamberthatnestlesinsolidbedrockmore than100 feetbelow thesurfaceof theplateau (andalmost

600feetbelowthePyramid’sloftysummitplatform).

Innerspace

Thefirstthingthattheintrepidvisitorshoulddo,aftergainingaccesstotheDescending Corridor, is to climb up it a few feet in the direction of thePyramid’strueentrance.Nowcoveredwithanirongrille,thisentranceislocatedin the monument’s north face, nine courses above and 24 feet to the east of‘Mamoun’sHole’ (throughwhichallmembersof thepublicenter thePyramidtoday).Here,atthepointintheceilingoftheDescendingCorridorwherethemouthof

theAscendingCorridorwashewnupwards, it ispossibletoinspectthebottomendofthelowermostofthetwopluggingblocks.ItisasfirmlyjammedinplacetodayasitwaswhenMamoun’sdiggersfirstencountereditintheninthcentury,and it is easy tounderstandwhy its presence there encouraged them to tunnelround it into thesofter limestone,seekingawaypast theobstacleand into theupperreachesofwhateverlaybeyond.Perhaps thiswasexactlywhat thePyramidbuildershad ‘programmed’ those

earlyexplorerstodo.Afterall,ifyouseethatahugechunkofgranitehasbeenhauledintoplacetoblockwhatisobviouslyanupwards-slopingcorridor,thenitisonlyhumannaturetotrytogetintothatcorridor—whichMamoun’smendid.More than a thousand years later, tourists and archaeologists still follow the

trailthatthosepioneeringArabsblazedaroundthepluggingblocksintothemainnorth-south axis of the Pyramid’s system of passageways. And though therehave been all manner of hackings and tunnellings in search of furtherpassageways(in thefloorsandwallsof theKing’sandQueen’sChambers,forexample), the plugs at the base of the Ascending Corridor have neversubsequentlybeendisturbed.Thisisanunderstandableoversightifoneissatisfiedthatthesolefunctionof

these plugs was to block the Ascending Corridor in a north-south direction.Why, however, has no one ever tried to find out if anything lies behind theireastern aspect?[95] As well as having the same height and width as theAscendingCorridor, thus filling it completely, each of the plugs is about fourfeetinlength—andthuseasilylongenoughtoconcealtheentrancetoasecondand completely separate passageway system branching off at right anglestowardstheeast.ThereiscertainlyroomforsuchasecondsysteminsidetheGreatPyramid—

andformuchelsebesides. Indeed ithasbeencalculated thatasmanyas3700

fullyconstructedchambers,eachthesizeoftheexistingKing’sChambercouldbeaccommodatedwithinthemonument’svast‘innerspace’of8.5millioncubicfeet.[96]

Thestonesofdarknessandtheshadowofdeath

Havingexamined thepluggingblocks, thevisitor is facedbya longclimbdown the full 350-foot length of the Descending Corridor, initially throughmasonryandthenceintobedrock.Asthejourneyproceeds,theraysofsunlightpenetratingthebarredentrancetothenorthgrowprogressivelyweakerandonehas the sense of dropping like a deep-sea diver into the dark depths of amidnight-blackocean.The corridor, which every intuition proclaims to be a remotely ancient,

prehistoric feature, is 3 feet 11 inches high by 3 feet 6 incheswide andmayoriginallyhavebeencutintothe30-foot-tallrockymoundthatoccupiedthissitemillennia before the Pyramidwas built. It is unsettling, therefore, to discoverthatitismachine-agestraightfromtoptobottom.AccordingtoFlindersPetrie,thevariation along thewholepassage ‘is under 1/4 inch in the sides and3/10inchontheroof’.[97]Inadditionthereisonesegmentofthecorridor,150feetinlength,where‘theaverageerrorofstraightnessisonlyonefiftiethofaninch,anamazinglyminuteamount.’[98]With hunched back, the visitor continues down this long, straight corridor

slopingduesouthintothebedrockoftheGizaplateauatthenowfamiliarangleof 26 degrees. As ever greater depths are plumbed it is hard not to growincreasinglyconsciousofthetremendousmassoflimestonethatispiledaboveandoftheheavy,dusty,unfreshfugofthesubterraneanair—liketheexhalationof some cyclopean beast. Looking back apprehensively towards the entrance,one notices that the penetrating light has been reduced to a glimmering star-burst,highupandfaraway.Anditisnormal,atthispoint,tofeelaconcomitantglimmerofapprehension,aslighttugofanxietyattheextentofone’sseparationfromtheworldabove.

10. The complex internal design of the Great Pyramid. It is possible that many otherpassagewaysandchambersremaintobediscoveredwithinthegiganticmonument.

On thewest side of the corridor, quite near the bottom, is an alcove, againcoveredbyanirongrille,thatgivesaccesstotheverticalWell-Shaftandthenceto theGrandGallery and the upper chambers. Soon afterwards the 20-degreedescending slope levels off into a lowhorizontal passageway, running 29 feetfromnorth tosouth, throughwhich thevisitor isobliged tocrawlonall fours.Neartheendofthispassageway,againonthewestside,isanotheralcove,6feetlong and3 feet deep, that has been roughly hewnout of the bedrock and thatends in a blind, unfinished wall. Then, after a further 4 feet of crawling, thehorizontalpassagewayopensataheightofabout2feetabovefloorlevelintotheSubterraneanChamber.Wereitnotforasinglelow-wattageelectricbulbinstalledinmoderntimes,the

visitorwouldnowbe incompletedarkness.The light that thebulbcastshasagreenish, sepulchral hue, and what it reveals is a most peculiar room,considerablylarger thantheKing’sChamber,measuring46feetalongitseast-westaxis,and27feet1inchfromnorthtosouth,butwithamaximumheightofjust11feet6inches.[99]Intheapproximatecentreofthefloor,ontheeastside,is a railing surrounding a square pit reaching a depth of about 10 feet, andbeyondthat,penetratingthesouthwall,isasecondhorizontalcorridor,2feet4inches square, running due south into the bedrock for a further 53 feet andterminatinginablankwall.Lookingtotheright,onenotesthatthefloorofthewesternsideoftheChamberrisesupintoakindofchest-highplatform.Thishasbeenirregularlytrenched,creatingfourparallel‘fins’oflimestonerunningeast

to west, almost touching the relatively flat roof at some points but with aclearanceofuptosixfeetinothers.All these strange features conspire to create an oppressive, claustrophobic

atmosphereintheroomthatremindsthevisitorofhowfarbeneaththegroundhehasburrowed,andofhowinescapablyhecouldbeentombedhereifthereweretobeanyseriouscollapseofthemillionsoftonsoflimestoneabovehishead.

Veryinterestingdevelopments

Egyptological opinion concerning the Subterranean Chamber may besummarized as follows: (1) it is not a prehistoric feature, butwas built at thesametimeasthePyramid(i.e.around2500bc);(2)itwasinitiallyintendedtobetheburialplaceofKhufu;(3)thenthePharaohandhisarchitectschangedtheirminds, stoppedworkon it, and turned their attentions to themainbodyof thePyramid—where they built first theQueen’sChamber (also later ‘abandoned’accordingtothistheory)andthenfinallytheKing’sChamber.[100]If the Egyptologists are right then the excavation and removal ofmore than

2000 tons of solid rock in order to create theDescendingCorridor—rock thatfirst had to bemined and thenhauled to the surface from increasingly greaterdepths through that cramped,unventilated,26-degreechannel—wouldallhavebeen undertaken in vain. Vain, too, would have been the hewing out of theSubterraneanChamber itself, andalsoof its further shafts andpits. Indeed thewhole enterprise would, in retrospect, have been entirely pointless if the endresulthadmerelybeentoleave,atadepthofmorethan100feetbelowtheGizaplateau, an unfinished, rough-walled, low-ceilinged crypt—‘resembling aquarry’[101]—forwhichnobodywouldeverhaveanyuse.This obviously defies common sense. An alternative scenario does exist,

however,whichhasstimulatedthecuriosityofanumberofinvestigatorsduringthelasttwocenturies.AccordingtothisscenariotheChamberwasdeliberatelyleftunfinishedsoastohoodwinktreasurehuntersintobelievingthatithadbeenabandonedand thusconvince themof thepointlessnessof furtherexplorationsthere—aprettyeffectivemeansofkeepingcasualintrudersawayfromanyothercavitiesorconcealedpassagewaysthatmightbeconnectedtoit.Withsuchsuspicions inmind, theItalianexplorerGiovanniBattistaCaviglia

and the British adventurer Colonel Howard Vyse both felt inspired (between1830 and 1837) to drill holes into the bottom of the pit at the centre of theSubterraneanChamber.Theyextendeditsoriginaldepthof10feetbyafurther35feet(nowlargelyfilledin).

MorerecentlytheFrencharchaeologist,AndréPochan,hasdrawnattentiontoacuriouspassagefromtheGreekhistorianHerodotuswhovisitedEgyptinthefifthcenturybcandspentmuchtimeinterviewingpriestsandotherlearnedmenthere.Herodotus reports that hewas told quite specifically of the existence of‘underground chambers on the hill on which the Pyramids stand ... ThesechambersKingCheops[Khufu]madeasburialchambersforhimselfinakindofisland,bringinginachannelfromtheNile....’[102]PochanhascalculatedthatiftherereallyisachamberfedbyNilewaterunder

thePyramid,thenitwouldhavetobeatagreatdepth—atleast90feetbelowthepit. Likewise the Danish architect Hubert Paulsen has argued on the basis ofgeometrythatthemostprobableplaceforanyfurtherchambertobefoundintheGreatPyramid isunderneath thepit[103]—aviewthat isalsosupportedby thecalculationsoftheBritishgeometerRobinCook.[104]It is a French engineer, however, Professor Jean Kerisel, who has most

vigorouslypursuedthequestforconcealedsubterraneanchambers.ThecurrentPresidentoftheAssociationFrance-Egypte,hewasinthepitwithhisassistantson12October1992whenamajorearthquakeoccurred,demolishinglargepartsof Cairo. This experience, he stated later, gave the researchers ‘a few veryunpleasantmomentssome35metresundertheplateau’.[105]Happily,theSubterraneanChamberdidnotcollapseandKeriselandhisteam

were able to finish their work. This involved the use of two nondestructivetechniques: ground-penetrating radar and microgravimetry. The results wereinconclusive in the chamber itself but extremely promising in the horizontalpassagewaythatconnectsittotheendoftheDescendingCorridor.InKerisel’sownwords:‘astructurewasdetectedunderthefloorofthepassageway,whichcould be a corridor oriented SSE-NNWwhose ceiling is at the depth that theDescendingCorridorwouldhavereachedhaditbeenprolonged.’[106]Norwasthisall.Asecondveryclearanomaly,a‘massdefect’asKeriselcalls

it, ‘was detected on thewestern side of the passageway sixmetres before thechamberentrance.Accordingtoourcalculations,thisanomalycorrespondstoaverticalshaftatleastfivemetresdeepwithasectionofabout1.40x1.40metresveryclosetothewesternwallofthepassageway.[107]In short, what Kerisel believes he has identified off the Subterranean

Chamber’s entrance corridor is something that looks very much like acompletely separate passageway system, terminating in a vertical shaft. Hisinstrumentsmayhavemisledhim,or,ashehimselfadmits,hemaymerelyhavepickedupthetracesof‘alargevolumeoflimestonedissolvedbytheactionofundergroundwater—inotherwordsadeepcave’.[108]Alternatively,however,if

the ‘massdefect’ turnsout tobe aman-made feature, as he strongly suspects,then‘itmayleadtoveryinterestingdevelopments’.[109]

Labyrinth

ItshouldbeobviousthatacivilizationthatcouldbuilduptotheheightoftheGreatPyramid’ssummitplatform,thatcouldcreategiantstonestatuesmorethan240feetlong,andthatcouldliftthe200-tonblocksoftheValleyandMortuaryTemplesintoplace(formingintricatejigsaw-puzzlepatternsatheightsof40feetandmore above the ground)would not have experienced any insurmountabledifficultyinbuildingdownaswell.Onthecontrary,suchacivilizationcould,ifit had so wished, have hewn out underground complexes of immense size,connectedtooneanotherbylabyrinthsoftunnels.The possibility therefore cannot be ruled out that the SubterraneanChamber

undertheGreatPyramidcouldbejustoneofmanysuchdeeplyburiedfeatures.Indeed,asthereaderwillrecall,theseismologicalworkcarriedoutatGizaintheearly 1990s by the American geophysicist Thomas Dobecki did indicate thepresenceofalargeandapparentlyman-madehypogeuminthebedrockbeneaththe Sphinx.Ultimately only further excavations and research can shed furtherlight on thesematters.Meanwhile, however, there is a great deal of evidencefrom all parts of the necropolis which suggests that the creation of ambitiousrock-hewnstructures—bothaboveandbelowtheground—was, indeed,partofthestandardrepertoireofthePyramidbuilders.Theyalsoquitefrequentlychoseto mingle rock-hewn and built-up structures—as in the case of the tomb ofKhent-Khawes, a supposed Queen of Menkaure, which consists of a naturaloutcroppingsculptedinpyramidialformsurmountedbyacurioussarcophagus-shapedtemple.A more spectacular and conspicuous mixture of rock-hewn and built-up

featuresoccursatthePyramidofKhafre.Itstandsonanartificiallylevelled12-acre platform cut bodily out of the plateau—which slopes steeply fromnorth-westtosouth-eastatthispoint(i.e.itishigherinthewestandlowerintheeast).In consequence thenorth andwest sidesof thePyramidare enclosedwithin atrench that decreases steadily in height from about 20 feet at the north-westcornertoabout10feetatthesouthwestcorner—andtozeroatthenorth-eastandsouth-eastcorners.ThelowercoursesofthePyramiditselfonthenorthandwestsidesarecontouredoutofthecentralmoundofbedrockthatthebuildersleftinplaceafterhollowingout the trench.Ontheeastandsouthsides,however, theslopeoftheplateaufallsbelowthelevelchosenforthebaseofthePyramid.The

builderssolvedthisproblembybringingthousandsofenormousfillingblockstothe site—average weight about 100 tons each—to create an unshakablehorizontal foundation. They then went on to lay the first few courses of themonumentontheeasternandsouthernsidesusingthesameunwieldymegaliths.Thereafter they reverted to smaller blocks and in consequence a cleardemarcationlineisvisiblebetweenthetwotypesofconstruction.Likesomeofthe characteristics of the Sphinx and Valley Temples referred to earlier, thisdemarcation gives the impression not just of different building techniques butactuallyof twodistinctlydifferentstagesofbuildingseparatedbyanunknownintervaloftime.

Themysteryoftheshafts

ThereisoneotheranomalousfeatureoftheGizanecropoliswhichwehavenotyetmentionedbutwithwhichweshallclosethischapterasitleadsusontothenextstageofourinvestigation.ThisfeatureisconfinedtotheGreatPyramidandisuniqueinancientEgyptianarchitecture.Ittakestheformoffournarrowshafts—usually described by Egyptologists as ‘ventilation channels’—two ofwhichemanaterespectivelyfromthenorthernandsouthernwallsoftheKing’sChamberandtheothertwofromthenorthernandsouthernwallsoftheQueen’sChamber.Thefourshaftshaveanaveragecross-sectionof23x22cm.andlengthsthat

varyfromabout24metres(northernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber)toabout65metres (northern shaft of the King’s Chamber). They are all inclined to thehorizontalplaneofthePyramidandtheiranglesofslopevaryfrom32degrees28minutes (northern shaft of the King’s Chamber) to 45 degrees 14minutes(southernshaftof theKing’sChamber).Theshaftswereconstructed inastep-by-stepmannerasthePyramidroseinheight(i.e.theywerenotdrilledthroughthemasonryas somehave supposed)and they reveal theuseofverycomplexandsophisticatedengineeringandlevellingtechniques.It has been suggested that the reason for their inclination was to find the

‘shortest route’ to theoutsideof thePyramidand thishasbeen taken to implythat the ancient builders wanted to ‘save’ work and time. However, suchgeometrical logic goes very much against engineering logic—for the simplereason that building shafts on an incline would not save time or work at all.Quitethecontrary:noconstructionengineerorbuildercouldpossiblyagreethatthe‘shortestroute’isthebestrouteinthiscase—eventhoughitmayseemsotothose looking only at the geometry. The truth, as Egyptian architect Dr.AlexanderBadawyfirstnotedinthe1960s,isthattobuildinclinedshaftsrather

than to have simple horizontal channels leading to the outside of the Pyramidwould createmany difficulties—and especially sowhenwe consider the highprecisionandrigidconsistencyoftheinclinations.[110]

11.TheKing’sandQueen’sChambersandtheirfourshafts.NotethattheshaftsoftheQueen’sChamberwerenotoriginallycutthroughintothechamberbutstoppedshortseveralinchesfromtheinnerwalls.Theshaftswereopenedin1872bytheBritishengineerWaynmanDixon.

To build inclined shafts rather than horizontal ones entails five tediousoperations.First,thebasecoursemustbeprepared;thiscallsfortheshapingofspecialblockswiththeirupperfacesslopingtoserveasthe‘floor’ofeachshaft.Secondly,morespecialblockshavetobepreparedwithU-shapedinnerfacestoformtheprofile, i.e., the ‘walls’and‘ceilings’of theshafts.Thirdly,yetmorespecialblockshavetobecutwiththeirundersidesinclinedinordertocoverthesidesof theshafts.Fourthly, the topsof theshaftsmustbecoveredwithotherspecialblockswithslopingundersides.Fifthly,themainmasonrycoursesofthePyramidhavetobeintegratedwiththesespecialdesignfeaturesalongtheentirelengthsoftheshafts.

12.DetailsoftheQueen’sChamberanditsshafts.

Ifventilationwasreally theobjective thenthequestion thatmustbeaskedisthis:whyoptforsuchcomplicationsanddifficultieswhenaneffectiveflowofaircouldhavebeenprovidedforthechambersinamuchsimplerway?Fromanengineer’s point of view the obvious solution would have been to leave amasonry joint open—say 20 cm.—running horizontally from the top of eachchamberrighttotheoutsideofthemonument.Inthiscasenospecialcuttingofblocks would have been necessary, nor indeed any tedious alignments orlevellingwork.Inotherwords the‘shortest route’ isnotbyanymeans thebest routefor the

practical purposes of ventilation and, besides, it should be obvious that thePyramidbuilderswerenotinterestedintime/energy-savingschemes—otherwisetheywouldnothavefavouredsuchgigantic,multimillion-tonmonumentsinthefirstplace.Itthereforefollowsthatweareunlikelytoberewardedinseekinganexplanation for the precise north-south alignments of these steeply inclinedshafts in terms of a time/energy-saving rationale based on quaint geometricalfigures.

13.Queen’sChamberwallandshaftmouth.

AnydoubtoverthisissuecanberesolvedbyaclosestudyoftheshaftsoftheQueen’s Chamber. Unlike the King’s Chamber shafts, those in the Queen’sChamber (a) do not exit on the outside of the monument and (b) were notoriginally cut through theChamber’s limestonewalls. Instead the builders leftthelastfiveinchesintactinthelastblockoverthemouthofeachoftheshafts—thus rendering them invisibleand inaccessible toanycasual intruder.With thehelp of a steel chisel, they were finally discovered in 1872 by the BritishengineerWaynmanDixon, a Freemasonwhose curiosity had been aroused bytheshaftsintheKing’sChamberandwhodecidedtolookforsimilarfeaturesintheQueen’sChamber.

14.ConstructiondetailsoftheGreatPyramid’sshafts.Atleastfourdifferentkindsofblocks(A,B,CandD),continuingthefull lengthoftheshafts,wererequiredforthesuccessfulcompletionofthesemysteriousfeaturesofthePyramid.Theengineeringproblemswouldhavebeenimmense.Thenotion that the primarypurpose of the shaftswas for ventilation is disprovedby the fact that theQueen’sChambershaftswereoriginallyclosedatbothendsandbythecomplexityof thedesign—whichwouldnothavebeennecessaryifsimpleventilationhadbeentheobjective.

In later chapters we will be considering the implications of Dixon’s 1872discovery, and the follow-up to it. The point that we wish to make here,however,istheobviousonethatshaftswhichwereoriginallyclosedatbothendscould not possibly have been used, or intended, for ventilation. They must,therefore,havehadsomehigherpurpose—onethatwasthoughtbythebuilderstojustifytheenormouscare,skillandeffortinvolvedinconstructingthem.Asweshallsee,that‘higherpurpose’cannowbeidentifiedwithcertainty.

Chapter4

StarsandTime‘The various apparent movements of the heavenly bodies which are produced by the rotation and

revolution of the earth, and the effects of precession, were familiar to the Egyptians ... They carefullystudiedwhattheysaw,andputtheirknowledgetogetherinthemostconvenientfashion,associatingitwiththeirstrangeimaginingsandtheirsystemofworship...’

J.NormanLockyer,TheDawnOfAstronomy,1894

It ishumblingandawe-inspiring tostandatdawnbetween thepawsof the

GreatSphinxofEgyptandtolookupastherisingsunilluminatesitsface.Thecolossalstatueseemsancient—almostasold,onemightimagine,astimeitself.And,aswesawinChapter2,amountingbodyofgeologicalevidencesuggeststhat it is ancient—vastly older than the 4500 years allocated to it byEgyptologists and perhaps dating back as far as the last Ice Age when nocivilizationcapableoffashioningsuchamonumentissupposedtohaveexisted.Such notions are of course controversial and hotly disputed. Moreover, as

shouldbeobviousbynow,geologyisincapableofprovidinguswithaprecisechronologyandisparticularlylimitedbythepresentstateofourknowledgeofpalaeo-climatology. Indeed, the most we can say, on the sole basis of themonument’s erosion patterns, is that it does appear to have been carved at amuch earlier date thanEgyptologists believe but that its antiquity could rangeanywherebetween15,000bcand5000bc.Thereis,however,anothersciencewhich,providedoneessentialprecondition

isfulfilled,canprovideamuchmoreaccuratedating—towithinafewdecades—of uninscribed ancient stone monuments. This is the science ofarchaeoastronomy. The precondition upon which it depends for its successfulfunctioning is that themonumentsstudiedshouldhavebeenaccuratelyalignedtothestarsortotherisingpointsofthesunbytheirbuilders.

15.OnthesummersolsticeatthelatitudeofGizathesunrises28degreesnorthofeast,onthewinter solstice it rises 28 degrees south of east and on the equinoxes it rises due east. TheGreatSphinxofGizaisanastronomicalmonumentorientatedperfectlytowardsdueeastandthusservesasasuperbequinoctialmarkeror‘pointer’.

TheGreatSphinx fulfils thisprecondition. It lies exactlyalong theeast-westaxisoftheGizanecropoliswithitspatientandeternalgazesetperfectlytowardsdueeast.Itis,therefore,asuperb‘equinoctialmarker’:itseyestargettheexactpositionofsunriseatdawnonthespringequinox.Toclarifymattersalittle,astronomersspeakoffour‘cardinalmoments’inthe

year: the summer solstice—the longest day in thenorthernhemisphere—whenthe earth’s north pole points most directly at the sun, the winter solstice, theshortest day, when the pole points most directly away from the sun, and thespring and autumn equinoxeswhen the earth lies broadside-on to the sun andwhennightanddayareofequallength.OnthesummersolsticeatthelatitudeofGiza,thesunrisesabout28degrees

northofeast.Onthewintersolstice it risesabout28degreessouthofeast.Bycontrast, the main characteristic of the equinoxes (here and everywhere elsearound the globe) is that the sun always rises due east providing a sure andaccurategeodeticreferencetooneofthecardinaldirections.It is towards this reference point, with high precision, that the gaze of the

Sphinx is set—not by accident, but by design, and as part of a vast, archaicastronomicalplanofuncannyaccuracyandintelligence.

Observatory

Thousandsofyearsago,under theclear skiesofayoungerworld,Egypt’s

Giza plateaumust have been the ultimate observatory. From the high groundhalf a mile to the west of the Sphinx on which the three principal Pyramidsstand, therewouldhavebeena faultless360-degreeviewaroundanenormouscircularhorizon—aprospect thatwouldhave invitedobservationsof the risingand setting points of the sun throughout the year, and also of the rising andsettingpointsofthestars.Itiscertain,furthermore,whatevertheotherfunctionsofthenecropolis,thatitwasindeedusedforpracticalandpreciseobservationalastronomyofthekinddevelopedbynavigatorstopinpointthepositionsofshipson the open ocean. Like the ability to keep strictly to a chosen course, thefabulous accuracywithwhich the principalmonuments ofGiza are aligned totrue north, south, east and west could not have been achieved by any otherscience.[111]Details of these alignments have already been given in Chapter 3. It is

thereforesufficientheretoremindourselvesthattheGreatPyramidstandsatapointontheearth’ssurfaceexactlyonethirdofthewaybetweentheequatorandthenorthpole(i.e.astridelatitude30)andthatits‘meridional’(i.e.north-south)axisisalignedtowithinthree-sixtiethsofasingledegreeoftruenorth-south.ItisasmallbutsignificantpointthatthisalignmentismoreaccuratethanthatoftheMeridianBuildingattheGreenwichObservatoryinLondon—whichisoffsetby an error of nine-sixtieths of a degree. In our opinion, such precisionconstitutesa‘fact’whicharchaeologistsandEgyptologistshaveneverseriouslyconsidered,i.e.thattheGreatPyramid,withits13-acrefootprintandsixmilliontonsofmass,couldonlyhavebeensurveyedandsetoutbymasterastronomers.[112]

16.Thetrajectoryofthesunonthesummersolstice,withitsculminationpoint(highestaltitude)beingattainedatmeridiantransit.

17.Thetrajectoryofthesunontheequinox.

18.Thetrajectoryofthesunonthewintersolstice.

It isourconviction that this ‘astronomical factor’deserves tobegivenmuchgreater prominence than it has hitherto been accorded by Egyptologists.Moreover, thanks to the recent development of sophisticated star-mappingcomputerprograms, it ispossibleforus tosimulate theskiesoverGiza inanyepochduringthepast30,000yearsandthustorecreatethecelestialenvironmentinwhichthePyramidbuildersworked.Standingasitwerebeneaththoseancientskies,initiatedbymicrochipintothe

cosmicsecretof thechangingpositionsof thestars,certainfeaturesof thekeymonuments—featuresthatareofnosignificancefromthepurelyarchaeologicalorEgyptologicalperspective—begintotakeonapeculiarmeaning.

TargetingStars

LetusbeginwiththefourmysteriousshaftsemanatingfromtheKing’sandQueen’sChambersof theGreatPyramid, theengineeringaspectsofwhichweconsidered at the end of the previous chapter.Aswe have seen, two of theseshaftsarealignedperfectlytoduenorthandtheothertwoperfectlytoduesouth.They thus target, at varying altitudes, what astronomers refer to as the‘meridian’—animaginaryline‘dividingthesky’thatisbestenvisagedasahoopconnecting the north and south poles and passing directly over the observer’s

head.Itisastheycrossthisimaginaryline(‘transitthemeridian’)thatthestars(andalsothesun,moonandplanets)aresaidto‘culminate’—thatis,reachtheirmaximumaltitudeabovethehorizon.

19.ThehorizonofGizaandthemeridianoftheGreatPyramid.

20. Culmination (meridian-transit) of Orion’s belt circa 2500 bc. In this epoch the belt starscrossedthemeridianataltitude45degrees,targetedbythesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber.

21.For the ancientEgyptians the constellation ofOrion, andparticularly its three prominentbeltstars,werestronglyassociatedwithOsiris,thegodofresurrectionandrebirth.

22.ThestellaralignmentsoftheGreatPyramid’sfourshaftsintheepochof2500bc.

TheGreatPyramidhasnumerous featureswhich leaveuswithoutanydoubtthatitsdesignerspaidcarefulattentiontothestarsandtrackedtheirtransitatthemeridian.Themouthof theoriginalentrancecorridor, forexample, targets themeridianwith the precision of the barrel of an artillery piece.All the internalpassageways,too,runperfectlynorth-south,thusmakingthewholemonument,asmanyastronomershavenoted,anobvious‘meridionalinstrument’.[113]Mostconclusive of all, however, is the fine accuracy of the four shafts. Recentinvestigationshaveestablishedbeyondanyshadowofdoubt that incirca2500bc—the era recognized by Egyptologists as the ‘Pyramid Age’—each one oftheseshaftstargetedaspecialstarasitculminatedatthemeridian:

From the Queen’s Chamber, the northern shaft is angled at 39 degrees and was aimed at the star

Kochab (BetaUrsaMinor) in the constellationof theLittleBear—astar associatedby theancientswith‘cosmic regeneration’ and the immortality of the soul. The southern shaft, on the other hand, which isangledat39degrees30’,wasaimedatthebrightstarSirius(AlphaCanisMajor)intheconstellationoftheGreatDog.This star theancientsassociatedwith thegoddess Isis, cosmicmotherof thekingsofEgypt.[114]

FromtheKing’sChamber,thenorthernshaftisangledat32degrees28’andwasaimedattheancientPole star,Thuban (AlphaDraconis) in the constellationof theDragon—associatedby thePharaohswithnotionsof ‘cosmicpregnancyandgestation’.Thesouthernshaft,which isangledat45degrees14’,wasaimed at AlNitak (ZetaOrionis), the brightest (and also the lowest) of the three stars ofOrion’s belt—which the ancient Egyptians identified with Osiris, their high god of resurrection and rebirth and thelegendarybringer of civilization to theNileValley in a remote epoch referred to asZepTepi, the ‘FirstTime’.[115]

Because we can reconstruct the ancient skies over Giza with moderncomputerswecandemonstrate thespot-onalignmentsof the fourshafts to thefour starscirca2500bc.What the same computers also showus is that thesealignments were rare and fleeting, only valid for a century or so, before thecontinuous gradual change effected in stellar altitudes by the passage of timealteredthepositionsatwhichthestarstransitedthemeridian.This phenomenon, the result of a slow and statelywobble in the axis of the

earth,isknowntechnicallyasprecession.Overacycleof25,920yearsitcausesthe infinitely-extendednorthpoleofourplanet’s spin axis to traceout agreatcircleintheheavens.Themainastronomicaleffectsofthismotionare:1. an equally slow and stately change in the celestial north pole—which

sometimescoincideswitha‘polestar’(andsometimeswithemptyspace)asitprogresseseternallyaroundits25,920-yearcycle;

2. changes in the altitude of all stars above the horizon as they cross theobserver’smeridianatanygivenlatitude;

3. changesintheconstellationsagainstthebackgroundofwhichthesunrisesdueeastatdawnonthespringequinox(naturallyprecessionalsochangestheconstellationsthatmarktheautumnalequinox—andthewinterandsummersolsticesaswell).

Therateofprecessionalchange isconstantandpredictable foreachof thesekeyastronomicaleffectsandcanbecalculatedbackwardsandforwardsintimeacrosstheentirestar-field.Thismeans,forexample,thatifweweretoobserveaspecificbrightstar—sayAlNitakinOrion’sbelt—fromagivenplacetoday,andifweweretorecorditsaltitudeatthemeridian,thenprovidedsucharecordwasto be found and understood thousands of years hence it could be used todeterminetheepochor‘time’whentheoriginalobservationwasmade.Thesamelogiccanbeappliedtothefourmeridionalshaftsemanatingfromthe

King’sandQueen’sChambers.Theiralignmentsat2500bc—onfourstarsthatwereof ritual importancewithin the ‘Osiris cycle’ofbeliefs—cannotpossiblyhavebeenaccidental.Onthecontrary,itisobviousthatweareconfrontedherebytheproductsofaconsciousandcarefuldesign.Thisinturnmakesitequallyobvious that the Great Pyramidmust have some extremely strong connectionwith the epoch of 2500 bc—the approximate date at which all orthodoxEgyptologistsandarchaeologistsinfactbelieveittohavebeenbuilt.Inshort,thefourstar-shaftsserveasprecisetime-markersbywhich,intheory

at least, we should be able once and for all to confirm the date for theconstruction of the last-survivingwonder of the ancientworld. Thiswould behighly desirable since, in the absence of other objective means of dating themonument, controversy continues to linger over its exact age. However, thearchaeoastronomicalpictureisrathermorecomplicatedthanitseems.

TheCompanionsofOsiris

The complication arises from the strong correlation, first demonstrated inTheOrionMystery,between the threebelt starsof theOrionconstellationandtheground-planofthethreePyramidsofGiza.AnoverheadviewshowsthattheGreatPyramidandthesecondPyramidstretchoutalongadiagonalrunning45degrees to the southandwestof the former’seastern face.The thirdPyramid,however,isoffsetsomewhattotheeastofthisline.Theresultingpatternmimicsthe sky where the three stars of Orion’s belt also stretch out along a ‘faulty’diagonal.Thefirsttwostars(AINitakandAlNilam)areindirectalignment,likethefirstandsecondPyramids,andthethirdstar(Mintaka)liesoffsetsomewhattotheeastoftheaxisformedbytheothertwo.[116]The visual correlation, once observed, is obvious and striking on its own.

Additional confirmation of its symbolic significance, however, is provided bytheMilkyWay, which the ancient Egyptians regarded as a kind of ‘CelestialNile’ and which was spoken of in archaic funerary texts as the ‘WindingWaterway’.[117]IntheheavenlyvaultthebeltstarsofOrionlietothewestoftheMilkyWay,asthoughoverlookingitsbanks;onthegroundthePyramidsstandperchedabovethewestbankoftheNile.[118]Faced by such symmetry, and by such a complex pattern of interlocking

architectural and religious ideas, it is hard to resist the conclusion that thePyramids of Giza represent a successful attempt to build Orion’s belt on theground.ThismakesallthemoresensewhenwerecallthefirmidentificationoftheOrionconstellationwiththehighgodOsiris.

Butbearinginmindthechangesinducedbythephenomenonofprecessionwemustalsoask:‘Orion’sbeltwhen?’‘Orion’sbeltinwhatepoch?’

Aperfectmatch

From the evidence of the shafts we have seen how the Great Pyramid is‘precessionallyanchored’toOrion’sbelt in2500bc(becauseinthisepochthesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChambertargetedthemeridian-transitofAlNitak,theGreatPyramid’scelestialcounterpart).IfwesetourprecessionalcomputertoreconstructtheancientskiesoverGiza,however,turnourattentiontothepatternformed on the ground by all three of the Pyramids in 2500 bc, simulate thenightlypassageofthebeltstarsacrosstheroofofthecelestialsphereandbringthem to rest at the point ofAl Nitak’smeridian-transit (45 degrees above thesouthernhorizon,whereitistargetedbytheKing’sChambershaft),itbecomesapparentthatsomethingisnotquiteright.

23.Orion’sbeltcrossingthemeridianoftheGreatPyramidin2500bcwiththestarAlNitak,theGreat Pyramid’s celestial counterpart, in perfect alignment with the southern shaft of the King’sChamberatanaltitudeof45degrees.However,notehowthebeltstarsandtheMilkyWayappearoutofkilterandaskewinrelationtothegroundplanofthethreePyramidsandtheNile.Thesky-groundimagesare,ofcourse,similar,butthere isasensethat thesky imageneedssomehowtobe‘twisted’ inananticlockwisedirectiontogettheperfectmatch.Thiscanonlybeachievedbygoingbackintime—bylookingattheskyaboveGizainafarearlierepoch...

24.Theperfectmatch of sky-ground images is achieved in 10,500bcwhen the pattern of theMilkyWay and of the three stars ofOrion’s belt atmeridian transit is preciselymatched by thecourseoftheNileandthepatternofthethreegreatPyramidsontheground.

Weshouldexpecttoseeaperfectmeridian-to-meridianalignmentatthispoint.Insteadwenotice that thedominantaxisof the threestarsand theMilkyWaylies tilted conspicuously askew relative to the dominant axis of the threePyramidsandtheNile.Theselatter,ofcourse,arefixedintheirplaces.Whatisrequired, therefore, in order to achieve the ‘ideal’ sky-ground arrangement, issomehowto‘rotate’theheavensinananticlockwisedirection.Thevastcosmicengineoftheearth’saxialwobbleoffersusamechanismby

which this can be done: we need only instruct our computer to track theprecessionallyinducedmovementsofthestarsbackwardsintime.

As it does so,millenniumbymillennium,weobserve that the orientation ofOrion’s belt at culmination is slowly rotating anticlockwise and thusapproachingeverclosertoourdesiredmeridian-to-meridianmatch.Itisnotuntil10,500 bc, however—8000 years before the ‘Pyramid Age’—that the perfectcorrelationisfinallyachievedwiththeNilemirroringtheMilkyWayandwiththe three Pyramids and the belt stars identically disposed in relation to themeridian.[119]

Risingstars

Thereisafeatureofthis10,500bccorrelationwhichsuggestsstronglythatcoincidence is not involved. The pattern that is frozen into monumentalarchitectureintheformofthePyramidsmarksaverysignificantmomentinthe25,920-year precessional cycle of the three stars of Orion’s belt—one that isunlikelytohavebeenrandomlyselectedbythePyramidbuilders.To get a clear grasp of what is involved here let us call up a computer

simulationoftheskiesoverGizainourownepoch,circaad2000.LookingduesouthwenotethatAlNitakcrossesthemeridianatanaltitudeof58degrees06’abovethehorizon.This,asithappens,iswithin8minutesofthehighestaltitudethat this star will attain in its precessional cycle, i.e. 58 degrees 14’ (to bereachedataroundad2500).[120]Letusnowprojectour simulationbackwards in timeand recreate theskyas

wewouldseeitifwewerestandinginthesamepositionataround10,500bc—i.e. justunder13,000years,orhalfaprecessionalcycle,earlier. In thisremoteepochwe discover thatAlNitak crosses themeridian at an altitude of only 9degrees20’abovethehorizon.[121]

25.BymimickingtheskypatternofOrion’sbeltin10,500bcthethreegreatPyramidsofGiza

markaverysignificantmomentinthe20,000-yearprecessionalcycleofthesestars—thelowestpointintheirslideupanddownthemeridian,when(asseenfromthelatitudeofGiza)theyculminatedatanaltitudeof9degrees20minutesabovethehorizon(C).In2500bctheyculminatedataltitude45degrees(B).Inourownepoch,2000ad(A)theyareapproachingthehighestaltitudethattheywillattainintheirprecessionalcycle—58degrees06minutesabovethehorizonatmeridiantransit.

Itwill never fall lower, the epochof10,500bcmarks thenadirof the star’sprecessionallyinducedslideupanddownthemeridian(justastheepochofAD2500marks itszenith).Likeaslowlymovinglever inanarrowverticalslot, ittakes12,960yearstodescendfromtoptobottom,andafurther12,960yearstoascendfrombottomtotopagain.[122]Byexactlymimickingthedispositionofthebeltstarsintheskyin10,500bc

thelayoutofthePyramidsonthegroundthusnotonlysignifiesaspecificepochbut also rather precisely and surgicallymarks the beginning of a precessionalhalf-cycle.

Lionontheground,lioninthesky

AswaspointedoutinFingerprints,oftheGods,thesameroleisplayedbytheGreatSphinx—whichgazesdirectlyattheequinoctialrisingpointofthesuninanyandeveryepoch,past,presentandfuture,forever.

26.Artist’simpressionshowingtheprecessionalcycleofOrion’sbeltupanddownthemeridian.The pattern of the stars in 10,500 bcmarks the beginning, or ‘First Time’, of the cycle. It is thispatternthatisreproducedonthegroundbythethreegreatPyramidsofGiza.

27.TherisingpointsandtrajectoryofOrion’sbeltin(A)2000ad,(B)2500bc,(C)10,500bc.

This orientation provides us with an astronomical basis for dating the

monumentbecauseitisknownthattheattentionofastronomersinancienttimeswasparticularlyfocusedonthezodiacalconstellation—consideredtodefinetheastrological‘Age’—thatrosejustaheadofthesunintheeasternskyatdawnonthe spring equinox.[123] The same phenomenon of the earth’s axial precessionthat affects the altitude of stars at the meridian also affects these famousconstellations—Leo,Cancer,Gemini,Taurus,Aries,Pisces,Aquarius, etc., etc—theco-ordinatesofwhich,inrelationtotherisingpointoftheequinoctialsun,undergo slow but continuous precessionally induced changes. The result is ahard-to-observe astronomical phenomenon, known as the precession of theequinoxes, which manifests as a gradual circulation of the equinoctial pointaroundall twelve ‘houses’of thezodiac. In thewordsofhistoriansof scienceGiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechend,whoseessayHamlet’sMillisaground-breakingstudyofarchaicprecessionalmythology:

Theconstellationthatroseintheeast justbeforethesun(that is,roseheliacally)markedthe‘place’wherethesunrested...Itwasknownasthesun’s‘carrier’,andasthemain‘pillar’ofthesky....Thesun’spositionamongtheconstellationsatthevernal[spring]equinoxwasthepointerthatindicatedthe‘hours’oftheprecessionalcycle—verylonghoursindeed,theequinoctialsunoccupyingeachzodiacalconstellationforjustunder2200years.[124]

In our own epoch the sun on the spring equinox rises against the stellarbackgroundof theconstellationofPisces,as ithasdoneforapproximately thelast2000years.The‘AgeofPisces’,however, isnowapproachingitsendandthevernal sunwill soonpass out of the sector of theFishes andbegin to riseagainst the new background ofAquarius. To be precise, it takes exactly 2160years for the equinoctial point topass completely throughone constellationor‘house’ofthezodiac.With this process inmind, let us now reverseSantillana and vonDechend’s

‘precessional clock’. Passing back through theAge of Pisces (and theAge ofAriesthatprecededit)wefindthatintheepochof2500bc,whentheSphinxisconventionally assumed to have been built, it was the constellation of Taurusthathousedthesunonthespringequinox.Itisherethatthecruxoftheproblemlies.Tostatethecasebriefly:

1.TheSphinx,aswehaveseen,isanequinoctialmarker—or‘pointer’.2. Onasite that isasprofoundlyastronomicalasGizaonewouldnaturally

expect an equinoctialmonument dating from the ‘AgeofTaurus’ either tohavebeenbuiltintheshapeofabull,oratanyratetosymbolizeabull.TheSphinx,however,isemphaticallyleonineinform.

3. Itisasimplefactofprecessionthatonemustgobacktothe‘AgeofLeo’beginning at around 10,500 bc, in order to obtain the ‘correct’ sky-groundsymbolism. This, as it turns out, is the only epoch in which the due-east-facingSphinxwouldhavemanifestedexactly the right symbolic alignmenton exactly the right day—watching the vernal sun rising in the dawn skyagainstthebackgroundofhisowncelestialcounterpart.[125]

To clarify this latter notion, let us return to our computer simulation of theskiesoverGizain10,500bc,instructingtheprogramtorecreatethepositionsofthesunandstarsjustbeforedawnonthespringequinoxinthatepoch.AndletussetourdirectionofviewdueeastinlinewiththegazeoftheSphinx.Indeed,withtheaidofalittlevirtualrealityandpoeticlicense,letusimaginethatwearestanding between the paws of the Sphinx itself at that date—a date that wealreadyknowaccordsratherwellwiththegeologyofthemonument.Whatwewould see, occupying the portion of the sky intowhich the sun is

about to rise, would be the splendid zodiacal constellation of Leo—aconstellationthatverystronglyresemblesitsnamesakethelionandthusalsotheleonineSphinx.

28.Inthepre-dawnonthevernalequinoxin10,500bc,withthesunsome12degreesbelowthehorizon, the Great Sphinx would have gazed directly at his own celestial counterpart, theconstellationofLeo—whichexperiencedwhatastronomerscallitsheliacalrisingatthismoment.

29.SuperimposedimagesoftherisingofLeoin2500bc,whentheGreatSphinxispresumedbyarchaeologiststohavebeenbuilt,andin10,500bc.Itisonlyinthislatterepochthattheperfectsky-ground correlation is attained, at the heliacal rising of Leo, when the Sphinx would have gazeddirectlyathisowncelestialcounterpartinthepre-dawn.

Theminutes pass. The sky begins to lighten. Then, at the exact moment atwhichthetopofthesolardiscbreaksoverthehorizondirectlyaheadofuswemake a 90-degree right turn—so that we are now looking due south. There,culminatingatthemeridianataltitude9degrees20’,weobservethethreestarsofOrion’sbeltformingapatternintheskythatisidenticaltothegroundplanoftheGizaPyramids.Thequestionreduces to this: is itacoincidence,ormore thanacoincidence,

that the Giza necropolis as it has reached us today out of the darkness ofantiquity is still dominated by a huge equinoctial lion statue at the east of its‘horizon’ and by three gigantic Pyramids disposed about its meridian in thedistinctivemannerofthethreestarsofOrion’sbeltin10,500bc?

30.Themomentofsunriseonthevernalequinoxin10,500bc.AttheexactmomentthatthetopofthesolardiscbrokeoverthehorizondueeastindirectalignmentwiththegazeoftheSphinxthethreestarsofOrion’sbeltculminatedatthemeridianinthepatternthatismimickedonthegroundbythethreegreatPyramids.SphinxandPyramidsthusappearto‘worktogether’asanarchitecturalrepresentationofthisuniquecelestialconjunction.

Andisitalsoacoincidencethatthemonumentsinthisamazingastronomicaltheme park manage towork together—almost as though geared like the cog-wheelsofaclock—totellthesame‘time’?Throughouttheancientworldthemomentofsunrise,anditsconjunctionwith

othercelestialevents,wasalwaysconsideredtobeofgreat importance.[126]Atthe spring equinox in 10,500 bc, as should by now be obvious, a particularlyspectacular and statistically improbable conjunction took place—a conjunctioninvolving the moment of sunrise, the constellation of Leo and the meridiantransit of the three stars ofOrion’s belt. It is this unique celestial conjunction

(whichfurthermoremarksthebeginningofthe‘AgeofLeo’andthebeginningoftheupwardsprecessionalcycleofthebeltstars)thattheGreatSphinxandthethreePyramidsofGizaappeartomodel.Butwhyshouldtheancientshavesoughttocreateasimulacrumoftheskieson

thegroundatGiza?Or, to put the question another way, why should they have sought to bring

downtoearthanimageoftheheavens?

Motiveinthetexts

Thereexistsanancientbodyofwritings,compiledinGreekintheEgyptiancity of Alexandria in the early centuries of the Christian era, in which sky-ground dualisms form a predominant theme, linked in numerous convolutedwaystotheissueoftheresurrectionandimmortalityofthesoul.Thesewritings,the ‘Hermetic Texts’, were believed to have been the work of the ancientEgyptian wisdom god Thoth (known to the Greeks as Hermes), who in onerepresentative passagemakes the following remarks to his discipleAsclepius:‘Doyounotknow,Asclepius,thatEgyptisanimageofheaven?Or,sotospeakmoreexactly,inEgyptalltheoperationsofthepowerswhichruleandworkinheavenhavebeentransferreddowntoearthbelow?’[127]Thepurpose towhichthese powers were harnessed, in the Hermetic view, was to facilitate theinitiate’squestforimmortality.Curiously,preciselysuchaquestforpreciselysuchagoal—‘alifeofmillions

of years’—is spelled out in ancient Egyptian funerary textswhich supposedlypre-datetheHermeticwritingsbythousandsofyears.Inoneofthesetexts,ShatEntAmDuat—theBookofWhatisintheDuat—wefindwhatappearstobeanexplicit instruction to the initiate to build a replica on the ground of a specialareaoftheskyknownasthe‘hiddencircleoftheDuat’:‘Whosoevershallmakean exact copy of these forms ... and shall know it, shall be a spirit and wellequippedbothinheavenandearth,unfailingly,andregularlyandeternally.’[128]Elsewhereinthesametextwehearagainof‘thehiddenCircleintheDuat...

inthebodyofNut[thesky]’:‘Whosoevershallmakeacopythereof...itshallactasamagicalprotectorforhimbothinheavenanduponearth.’[129]We suspect that the ideas expressed in such utterancesmay hint at the true

motive for the construction of the huge astronomical monuments of the Gizanecropolis and may help us to find a coherent explanation for their precisealignments to the cardinal directions of the sky, their unique ‘star shafts’, andtheir intensecelestialsymbolism.Atanyrate,asweshalldemonstrate inParts

IIIandIV,itisafactthattheDuatsky-regiondescribedintheancientEgyptiantexts was dominated by the constellations of Orion and Leo—both of whichappear to have been ‘imaged’ on the ground at Giza (with the formeradditionally targetedby thesouthernshaftof theKing’sChamber in theGreatPyramid)—andby the starSirius,whichwas targetedby the southern shaft ofthe Queen’s Chamber. We also note in passing that the internal corridor,passageway and chamber systems of the Pyramids very closely resemblesurviving vignettes (painted on Eighteenth Dynasty tomb walls) of variousregions of the Duat. Of particular interest in this regard is the mysterious‘KingdomofSokar’inthe‘FifthDivisionoftheDuatinwhich‘travellersuponthewayoftheholycountry...enterintothehiddenplaceoftheDuat.’[130]AsweshallalsoseeinPartsIIIandIV,therearetherepeatedreferencesinthe

BookofWhatisintheDuat,andinnumerousotherfuneraryandrebirthtexts,toZepTepi, the ‘FirstTime’—the remoteepochwhen thegodswerebelieved tohave come to earth and established their kingdom in Egypt.[131] Those godsincludedThoth-Hermes, the ‘Thrice-Great’masterofwisdom, thegoddess IsiswhosecelestialcounterpartwasthestarSirius,andOsiris,the‘onceandfutureking’,whowaskilled, revengedbyhis sonHorus, and then reborn to live foreverasthe‘LordoftheDuat’.[132]

31.Artist’simpressionofthe‘FirstTime’ofOrion-Osiris.

32.ThecelestialcounterpartofOsiriswasOrion,aconstellationthattheancientEgyptiansknewasSah,the‘FarStrider’,anddepicted(asinthecentralregisterofthisvignettefromthetombofanancientEgyptianarchitectnamedSenmut)bymeansofthethreecharacteristicbeltstars.

ThecelestialcounterpartofOsiriswasOrion—aconstellationthattheancientEgyptiansknewasSah,the‘Far-Strider’andmostfrequentlydepictedbymeansofthethreecharactersticbeltstars.AndsinceOsiriswassaidtohaveruledinthe‘First Time’wewonderwhether this could be the reasonwhy the three greatPyramids ofGiza depict the three stars ofOrion’s belt as they looked 12,500years ago at what might reasonably be defined as their astronomical ‘FirstTime’—i.e.atthebeginningoftheircurrentupwardsprecessionalcycle?An even bigger question, upon which much of our investigation hinges,

concerns the identification of the Sphinx with the constellation of Leo—andspecificallywiththeconstellationofLeowhenitmarkedthespringequinoxin10,500bc.InPartsIIIandIVwewillfollowastronomicalclues,laidoutintheancientEgyptiantexts,whichstronglysupportthisidentificationandwhichofferintriguinghintsastoitsimplications.

Fundamentalquestions

If the monuments of the Giza necropolis were of no significance in thehumanstory thenproblemsin thestudyandinterpretationof thesemonumentswouldbeofnosignificanceeither.Butthissitecouldhardlybemoresignificant.Indeed,thereisasenseinwhichithasalwaysbeenwithus.Itisamarkerofourhistory—a memorial to the genesis of our civilization—and it may still havevitalinformationtogiveusaboutourselves.Morethananyotherancientplace,inotherwords,Gizaraises,andmightpossiblyanswer,alltheold,fundamentalquestions:whoweare,wherewecamefrom,perhapsevenwherewearegoing.ForthesereasonswecanhardlyaffordtobeindifferenttotheGreatSphinxandthethreegreatPyramids.Forthesereasonsthequalityofresearchthathasbeencarriedoutaroundthem—andthathasdefinedandexplainedthem—reallydoesmatter.AsweshallseeinPartIIthisresearchhasbecomestrangelytangledupwithan

ancienttraditionofquestforhiddenchambersandlostrecordsatGiza...

PartII

Seekers

Chapter5

TheCaseofthePsychic,theScholarandtheSphinx‘Therehasbeenonesystematicsearch,asortofdirectshotatfindingtheHallofRecords,whenthe

EdgarCayceFoundationfundedSRIInternational...’

Dr.MarkLehner,EdgarCayceFoundationandAREMagazineVentureInward,1985

ThereisatraditionwhichassertsthattheGizamonumentsstandasalastand

grand memorial to a highly advanced antediluvian civilization that wasdestroyedbya‘GreatFlood’.ThistraditionalsoholdsthatsomewhereatGiza,eitherbeneaththeGreatSphinxorwithintheGreatPyramiditself,isconcealeda‘HallofRecords’inwhichispreservedtheentireknowledgeandwisdomofthelostcivilization.Such ideasmaybeofveryarchaicorigin[133] andhavecontinued throughout

history to inspire investigationsatGiza. In the fourthcenturyad, forexample,the Roman Ammianus Marcellinus directed treasure-hunters to search for‘certainundergroundgalleries in thePyramids’, constructed as repositories forscrollsandbooksofpastagesandintended‘topreventtheancientwisdomfrombeinglostintheFlood.’[134]Likewise, many of the Arab chroniclers from about the ninth century ad

onwards seem to have had access to a common source of information whichcaused them toagree that theGreatPyramidwasbuilt ‘before theFlood’asarepository for scientific knowledge. Caliph AlMamoun, who forced a tunnelintothenorthernfaceofthemonumentinad820,didsooutofaconvictionthathewasenteringa relic fromantediluvian timeswhichhadbeenchargedby itsmaker with the secrets of ‘all profound science’, which could ‘conveyknowledge of both history and astronomy’,[135] andwhichwould be found tocontain‘asecretchamberwithmapsandterrestrialspheres’.[136]Inasimilarvein,anumberofancientEgyptianinscriptionsandpapyrimake

tantalizing statements about hidden chambers—the Chamber of Archives, theHall of Records, etc., etc.—which have been interpreted as references to ahypogeumbeneathor closeby theSphinx.[137]AndCoptic legends report that‘thereexistsasinglesubterraneanchamberunder theSphinxwithentrances toall three Pyramids ... Each entrance is guarded by statues of amazing

abilities.’[138]Inmodern times, ideas such as these havebeenkept verymuch alive in the

doctrinesofspeculativeFreemasonry[139]andintheteachingsofesotericschoolslike the AMORCRosicrucians of California and the Theosophical Society ofLondonandMadras.Inaddition,fromthe1920stothe1940s,almostidenticalnotionswereexpressedwithcuriousvehemencebytheAmericanpsychicEdgarCayce,knowntosomeasthe‘SleepingProphet’.Since an examination of ‘psychic intuitions’ would take us far beyond the

intended scope of this book we shall offer no opinions on the merits or thesourcesofCayce’s information.Whatwedofindrelevant toour investigation,however, is thathispronouncementsconcerningasupposedAtlantean‘HallofRecords’atGizahavequietlyspawnedamultimillion-dollarNewAgeindustrythathasembroileditselfdeeplywithmainstreamEgyptologicalresearchintothePyramidsandtheSphinx.We first learned about this unexpected involvement—unexpected because

psychicsandEgyptologists arenormallyaboutashard tomixaschickensandpolecats—whenreviewing thenumerousstudiesandexcavationsundertakenatGizabytheAmericanEgyptologist,MarkLehner.AsthereaderwillrecallfromPart I, ProfessorLehner has goneon record several timesduring the1990s tooppose the theory of a 12,500-year-old Sphinx—and any notion of a Hall ofRecords beneath it. During the 1970s and 1980s, however, he was directlyinvolved with the followers of Edgar Cayce and with their distinctive beliefsaboutthesecretsandmysteriesofGiza.

TrancingtheHallofRecords

The management of the Edgar Cayce ‘industry’ is largely entrusted to acorporationknownas theEdgarCayceFoundation (ECF),and to theaffiliatedAssociation for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), both of which areheadquartered in theUS coastal town ofVirginiaBeach. The first impressionthatmostvisitorsgetonarrivalhereisofasortofmedicalclinicorretirementhome locatedwith a calming viewof the ocean inmind.Thewindowsof theprincipal building,which aremade of opaque glass, are a little disconcerting.But reassurance is provided by a large black-and-white sign, visible from theparkinglot,whichreads:

A.R.E.EDGARCAYCEFOUNDATION

AtlanticUniversityVisitorCenterSchoolofMassage

BookstoreEdgarCaycewasborn inHopkinsville inKentucky in1877.At theageof

twentyhesufferedfromaspeechimpediment.Afterfruitlessattemptstohaveitdiagnosedbylocaldoctors,hediscoveredthathecouldputhimselfintoadeeptrance and somehow diagnose the disorder and dictate a remedy. Cayce wasurged to try his technique on others—with results that were so spectacularlysuccessfulthatwithinmonthshehadgainedanimmensereputationasa‘healer’with the gift of inner vision.All sorts of desperate people flocked toVirginiaBeachtobediagnosedbythe‘SleepingProphet’.In his trances Cayce would also give psychic ‘readings’ to his enthusiastic

followers—readings that were taken down in shorthand by a secretary.[140]Caycewouldalwaysclaimtohaveabsolutelynorecollectionofwhathappenedduring these trances, but the ‘readings’ show that he frequently spoke to hisfollowers about their ‘past lives’ in a remote epoch—the epoch of ‘Atlantis’,before and after the terrible deluge which supposedly destroyed that fabledcontinent. Altogether some 700 of Cayce’s ‘life readings’—now available onCD-ROM—expound in oneway or another on the so-called ‘Atlantean’ storywhichbeginswith‘humankind’sarrivalonearthsometenmillionyearsago,andendswiththesinkingofthelastremnantsofAtlantis[priorto]10,000bc’.[141]The essential message of these readings is that a number of ‘Atlanteans’

escapedthedestructionoftheircontinentandsomehowreachedtheNileValleyin Egypt in the eleventh millennium bc. Cayce himself claimed to be thereincarnationoftheirhighpriestRa-Ta.AccordingtoDr.DouglasG.Richards,director and researcher at the Atlantic University (which is part of the EdgarCayceFoundation):‘manywhoreceivedlifereadings[fromCayce]weresaidtohavebeenassociatedwithhiminthispastlife’inprehistoricEgypt.[142]One of the most persistent accounts given by Edgar Cayce during his deep

trancesconcerned:References and clues [which] indicate Egypt as a repository for records—records of Atlantis and

ancientEgyptduringthetimeofRa-Ta,whichmaysomedaybefound.Theyalsomentionagainandagaintombs and pyramids yet to be uncovered inEgypt, and give specific dates for the building of theGreatPyramid.[143]

The chronology that Cayce gave for this latter enterprise was ‘10,490 to10,390bc’.[144]Healsostated:‘...some10,500[years]beforethecomingoftheChrist ... therewasfirst thatattempt torestoreandadd to thatwhichhadbeen

begun andwhat is called the Sphinx ...’ Also at around 10,500 bc the Caycereadings state that a vast underground repositorywas established containing alibraryofwisdomfromthelostcivilizationofAtlantis:‘Thisinpositionlies,asthesunrisesfromthewaters,thelineofshadow(orlight)fallsbetweenthepawsof the Sphinx ... Between, then, the Sphinx and the river ...’[145] In anotherreading Cayce gave even more specific directions: ‘There is a chamber orpassage from the right forepaw [of the Sphinx] to this entrance of the recordchamber...’[146]According to the readings, theHall ofRecords is to be rediscovered and re-

enteredwhen‘the timehasbeenfulfilled’—which,Caycesuggested,wouldbeat or just before the close of the twentieth century, perhaps in 1998.[147] ThereadingsalludefrequentlytotheOldandNewTestamentsoftheBible,containnumerousreferencestoJesus,anddepicttherediscoveryoftheHallofRecordsasbeinglinkedinsomewaytoaseriesofeventsthatwillpreludethe‘SecondComing’ofChrist.[148]

TheScholar

The corporate history of the Association for Research and Enlightenment(ARE)beginsin1931,whenthemanagementofthenewlyfoundedinstitutewasentrustedtoEdgarCayce’seldestson,HughLynnCayce—whohadjustmajoredinpsychology.Hisfirsttaskwastoprovidearepositoryforhisfather’sgrowinglibrary of psychic ‘readings’, a sort of modern ‘Hall of Records’ in VirginiaBeach.This taskwaseventuallycompletedafterEdgarCayce’sdeath in1945.Meanwhile the ARE continued to expand and today has flourished into amultimillion-dollar organization with over 40,000 members world-wide.Unsurprisingly, however, despite a diversity of interests, its major thrustcontinues to be to prove the validity of the Edgar Cayce readings.What thisinvolvesinpracticeisaconcertedattempttofindtheso-called‘HallofRecords’ofAtlantiswhich,aswehaveseen, isbelievedtohavebeenpreservedatGizasince 10,500 bc under the Sphinx and which, as the prophet said, would beopened before the year 2000. As two of Cayce’s own children recentlyconfirmed:

OvertwentyyearsagotheECFbegantolaythegroundworkforwhatwouldlaterbecomeactualfieldwork in Egypt. The specific areas of interest were the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, and the immediatesurrounding areaknownas theGizaplateau.Thedriving force for this researchwasHughLynnCayce.Motivated by his father’s psychic readings, as well as a personal interest in archaeology, he turned hisenergiesandenthusiasmtoinitiatingsolidarchaeologicalresearchthatmightvalidatethem...[149]

In 1973Hugh Lynnmanaged to round up a group of sponsors whowerereadytofinancea long-termstrategy inEgypt.Firstandforemost thisentailedproviding an ‘academic scholarship ... plus a small stipend’ to a ‘giftedindividual’whocouldbecomearespectedEgyptologistandgaintheconfidenceoftheleadinglightsofthissternprofession.[150]

The ‘gifted individual’ chosen to receive the stipend wasMark Lehner,[151]until 1995 a Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago’s world-famous Oriental Institute. Often referred to in Edgar Cayce literature as ‘thescholar’,itappearsthatsometimein1973LehnerwasearmarkedbyHughLynnCayceforamissioninEgyptwhichwasenvisagedasfollows:

ThescholarcouldcompleteadegreeinCairoandgainfirst-handexperienceandmakecontactsinhisfield.FortheECF[EdgarCayceFoundation],suchsupportcouldcreatearealisticperspectiveonresearchefforts inEgypt,producecontacts,andleadeventuallytoresearchinvolvementinthisarea.Althoughthescholarwould be independent of the ECF, his presence in Egyptwould serve as an effective liaison orchannelfortheECFtodeveloplong-terminvolvementthere.[152]

Lehner arrived in Cairo in the fall of 1973 and studied at the AmericanUniversitynearAlTahrirSquare—fromwhencehegraduatedin1975withhighhonours:

AftergraduationtheEdgarCayceFoundationsupportedhimasaresearchfellowforseveralyearsinthedepartmentofanthropology.Duringthistime,thestudentnotonlycontinuedhisacademicstudies,butalsomade contactswithpeople andorganizationswell known for their research.These contactsmade itpossiblefortheECFtosponsor—directlyinsomecases,andpartiallyinothers—actualfieldresearch.[153]

Proofunderthepaws

In 1974 Lehner published a book, The Egyptian Heritage, which iscopyrightedtotheEdgarCayceFoundationandwhichbearsthesubtitle‘Basedon the Edgar Cayce Readings’. Its prime objective is to substantiate Cayce’sstatementsaboutthesupposed‘Atlanteanconnection’intheprehistoryofEgyptandthe‘HallofRecords’establishedatGizain10,500bc:

Accordingtothe[EdgarCayce}readings,itisalegacywhichwillsoonberediscovered,andwillbearprofound determinations—not only for the history of dynastic Egypt, but for the entire physical andspiritualepicofourevolutiononthisplanet,andfortheyearsyettopass.[154]

InTheEgyptianHeritageLehneralsoinformsusthat:Thereare1159EdgarCaycereadingswhichcontainreferencesandinformationontheRa-Taperiodin

Egypt.Thestorypresentedherehasbeenculledfromapproximately300ofthesereadings...Inpresentingcorrelative Egyptological data I will attempt to demonstrate that there are good empirical reasons forbelievingthattheRa-Tastoryis,infact,rootedintruth.Ofcourse,thefinalconfirmationliesbeneaththe

pawsoftheSphinxatGiza...[155]

Anomalies

NaturallytheprimeareaofinterestoftheECF/AREintermsof‘actualfieldresearch’was—andremains—scanning,drillingandexcavationinthevicinityoftheSphinxwheretheCaycereadingssaythatthe‘HallofRecords’islocated.In1973-4,whileMarkLehnerwasstillastudentattheAmericanUniversityin

Cairo, the first in a series of serious pioneering projects was launched, usingground-penetratingradarandotherhigh-techremotesensingequipmenttolocate‘anomalies’ under the bedrock beneath the Sphinx. These projects werechannelled through well-established academic institutions—the Ain ShamsUniversityinCairoandtheprestigiousStanfordResearchInstitute(SRI)intheUSA.[156]In 1977 theUSNational ScienceFoundation funded a project atGiza again

involving theSRI.This timeusewasmadeof severalnew techniques suchasresistivitymeasurements(frommetalrodsdrivenintotherockacrosswhichanelectric current was passed), magnetometry, and also the latest aerialphotographyandthermalinfraredimage-enhancingtechniques.AccordingtotheSRIteam’sofficial report: ‘SeveralanomalieswereobservedasaresultofourresistivitysurveyattheSphinx...Behindtherearpaws(north-westend)werantwotraverses.Bothtraversesindicateananomalythatcouldpossiblybeduetoatunnelalignednorth-westtosouth-east...’[157]Twoother‘anomalies’werenoted,deepinthebedrock‘infrontofthepawsof

theSphinx’.[158]According to ECF/ARE historians the 1973-4 and 1977 projects ‘paved the

way for work ... that would succeed in discovering hidden chambers’.[159]Exactly how andwhere is notmade clear.At any rate in 1978 the ECF/AREcollaborated with the SRI and provided funds (to the tune of aboutUS$50,000[160] ) for a more detailed survey of the Sphinx enclosure and thenearbySphinxTemple.The surveywas recorded in theSRI’s own records as‘TheSphinxExplorationProject’.Itentailedanextensiveresistivityscanoftheentire floor of the Sphinx and Sphinx Temple enclosures. Should any‘anomalies’ be found, it was agreed that the SRI was to confirm them withacoustic sounding techniques. The next step was to have holes cut into thebedrockwith precision drills throughwhich borescope cameras could then beinserted.

Severalanomaliesbeneaththebedrockwereindeedidentifiedandinspectedinthiswaybutprovedtobejustnaturalcavities.

Afallingout

Alsoin1978,USdrillingexpertsfromacompanycalledRecoverySystemsInternational (RSI) arrived at Giza with a telescopic diesel-powered drill andofficialpermits,under thedirectionofanAmericannamedKentWakefield, tobore a number of holes deep beneath the Sphinx.[161] There was more of aconnection between the SRI and the RSI than the anagram formed by theirinitials. Recovery Systems International, like the Edgar Cayce Foundation,apparently fundedsomeof theSRI’sprogrammeatGiza,andmadeuseof theSRI’sresistivityreadingstoguidetheplacementoftheirdrillholes.AccordingtoMarkLehner,whowasthereatthetime,RecoverySystemsInternationalwasprobablyorganized‘justforthisproject’.[162]Theequipment forRSI’sworkwasair-freighted toEgyptandbrought to the

sitewhereitwaspositionedintheSphinxTemple,directlyinfrontofthepawsoftheSphinxitself.Oneholewasbored,uneventfully.Asecondholewasthendrilled.MarkLehnerandKentWakefieldexaminedthisholewithaborescopeand saw only ‘Swiss-cheese-like solution cavities’ which form naturally inlimestone.Thesolidbottomoftheholewastappedwithaplumb-bobbyLehnerwhoconcludedthattherewasnothingunusualaboutit.[163]Immediately afterwards the projectwas stopped.According toMark Lehner

this abrupt halt was ‘due to lack of time [and] funds’.[164] Also it seems thatRecoverySystemsInternational‘didnotappreciateatall theCaycecomponentoftheproject’andthatthiseventuallyledtoa‘seriousfallingoutbetweenRSIandSRI’.[165]

Granitestructures

Shortly after this episode, in 1979, aswe shall see in further detail below,MarkLehnergotinvolvedwiththeAmericanResearchCenterinEgypt(ARCEforshort)—whichistheofficiallyregisteredAmericanEgyptologicalmissioninEgypt.[166]Ataboutthesametime,ZahiHawass,todaytheDirector-Generalofthe Giza Pyramids, was supervising excavations 165 feet to the east of theSphinxTempleandhitbedrockatadepthofonlysixfeet.Afewmonthslater,however—in 1980—Egyptian irrigation specialists checking for groundwaterdrilledinthesamearea,lessthan100feetawayfromtheHawassdig,andwere

able to go down more than 50 feet without impediment before their drill-bitsuddenly collided with something hard and massive. After freeing the drill,much to their surprise, they found that theyhadbrought to the surfacea largelumpofAswangranite.[167]No granite occurs naturally anywhere in the Nile Delta area where Giza is

located,andAswan—thesourceofallthegraniteusedbytheancientsatGiza—is located 500 miles to the south. The discovery of what appears to be asubstantial granite obstacle—or perhaps several obstacles—50 feet belowgroundlevelinthevicinityoftheSphinxisthereforeintriguingtosaytheleast.Addingto theintriguewerefurtherdiscoveries that theSRImadearoundthe

Sphinx in1982asa resultofyetanotherproject financedby theEdgarCayceFoundation.[168] Mark Lehner, who was once again present throughout,describedwhattheSRIdidasfollows:

They brought a very powerful acoustical sounder,which is a long pencil-shaped thing. They put itdownadrillhole.ThisiscalledImmersionDownholeAcoustics.Youhavetobeinwater.Sotheyputitdownintothewatertableanditsentoutsoundwavesinalldirections.Thentheyputdownalistener,likeastethoscope,andyougetasignalonanoscilloscopeifsoundwavesarecomingthrough;ifthey’renot,youdon’t.Youdiscover fissures thisway—ononesideof the fissure there’sno signalandon theother sidethereis.

Theyputthesounderunderneaththepaw[oftheSphinx]andalwaysgotagood,clearsignal—there’snoundergroundcavityblockingit.Andtheyput italongthepawbetweentheelbowandthatboxontheside,aroundtheoutsideoftheboxandintothecorner,andtherewasalwaysagoodsignal.

But,atmyprompting, theyput iton thebedrockfloor inside thebox—anditwasdead threeplaceswhere they put it down, as though there is some kind of opening or empty space underneath that wasblockingthesignal.ThatwastheverylastdayoftheSRIproject,andtheynevercheckedthatout.[169]

Since1982,weweresurprisedtolearn,almostnofurtherresearchhasbeenofficially authorized to investigate the numerous tantalizing hints of deeplyburied structures and chambers in the vicinity of the Sphinx. The singleexceptionwasThomasDobecki’sseismicworkintheearly1990s.AsreportedinPartI,thisresultedinthediscoveryofwhatappearstobealarge,rectangularchamberbeneaththeforepawsoftheSphinx.Dobecki’sinvestigationswerepartofthewidergeologicalsurveyoftheSphinxledbyProfessorRobertSchochofBostonUniversity—asurvey,asthereaderwillrecall,thatwasbroughtabruptlytoahaltin1993byDr.ZahiHawassoftheEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization.

Themappingsurveys

TheAmericanResearchCenterinEgypt(ARCE)hasseveraltimesreceivedECF-ARE financing for its programme of investigations atGiza.[170] In 1979,forexample,aproposalwasmadetotheARCEforafull-scalemappingsurveyinvolving theGreat Sphinx and its enclosure inwhich usewould bemade ofmodern photogrammetric techniques to record every detail, crack, fissure,contour and outline of the monument. When the survey went ahead, MarkLehner was appointed as its Field Director. Funders were the Edgar CayceFoundation, the Chase National Bank of Egypt and the Franzhein Synergygroup.[171]Mark Lehner completed the mapping survey in 1983 and by 1984 his

reputationwassealedasAmerica’s leadingexperton theSphinx.Hewas thenappointed Director of the newly established and much more extensive andambitious GizaMapping Project, again under the auspices of the ARCE, andwith some funding—again—coming from the Edgar Cayce Foundation andARE. The major financial contributors were the Yale Endowment forEgyptology, General Dynamics, the multimillionaire David Koch, and a LosAngeles real-estate tycoon named Bruce Ludwig.[172] More recently the GizaMapping Project has been superseded by theGiza Plateau Project which alsonumbersDavidKochandBruceLudwigamongstitsfundersandwhichisalsodirectedbyMarkLehner.[173]

Pullingaway

When, exactly,ProfessorLehnerbegan topull away from the influenceoftheEdgarCayceFoundationandcrossoverintothemainstreamofprofessionalEgyptologyanditsorthodoxyisnotespeciallyclear.However,somelightmaybe shed on thematter by an interview that he gave inAugust 1984 toRobertSmith, editor of the ARE magazine Venture Inward. The interview waspublishedintwopartsintheJanuary-Februaryissuesof1985.AskedabouthisworkatGiza,Lehnerexplained:

Thehistoryofmyinvolvementbeganin1972whenIwentonanAREtour.WestoppedinEgyptforaweekandIwentouttotheGizaplateauwithagroup,andthenIwentouttotheGizaPyramidsagainbymyselfandsatforawhileintheKing’sChamberoftheGreatPyramid.IwanderedaroundthecemeteriesthatareoutsidethePyramid,andsomethingpluggedintomeaboutthisplace.IvowedthatIwouldbebackinayear,andsoIwas.IwentbacktostudyattheAmericanUniversityinCairo.DuringthatyearbeforereturningtoCairo,IenthusiasticallyresearchedtheCaycereadingsonEgyptandputtogetherthebook,TheEgyptianHeritage.ThereadingsdescribenotonlyacivilizationinEgyptin10,500bc,butalso,precedingthat,thelostcivilizationofAtlantis,whichwasinitsfinaldays,accordingtotheCayceinformation,whentheSphinxandthePyramidswerebuilt...[174]

Lehner then explained how he had come to realize that ‘there’s a greatdisparitybetweenthedatingofthemonumentsbyprofessionalscholarsandthatgivenintheCaycereadings’.HeaddedthatforhiminvestigatingtheSphinxwas‘justafocusofageneralmetaphysicalandspiritualquest’.Thishadledhimtowork, he elaborated, ‘with the bedrock realities [and] ground truth’—realitiesthathadmadehimbracketallhisexpectationsandideasand‘justdealwithwhatthesitehastooffer’.[175]InVenture Inwardmagazine ofMay-June 1986, Robert Smith published an

illuminating report about a meeting that took place at the Edgar CayceFoundationattendedbyMarkLehner,CharlesThomasCayce(Presidentof theARE), James C. Windsor (President of the Edgar Cayce Foundation), EdgarEvans Cayce, and other ARE officials. On the agenda was the evaluation offutureECF/ARE activities atGiza. Setbacks andmounting scientific evidenceagainst theCayceprophesieshadcaused some toquestionwhether itwas stillworthwhilefundingprojectsthere.Ironically,muchoftheadverseevidencewasbeingturnedupbyLehner’sresearch.[176]RobertSmithrecountsthediscussionthattookplace:

‘Whatdowedonext?’askedEdgarEvansCayce,theyoungersonofEdgarCayceandamemberoftheBoardofTrustees.

‘Shouldwedrillmoreholes?’askedCharlesThomasCayce,presidentof theARE,andgrandsonofEdgarCayce.

NeitherhasgivenupthesearchforRa-Ta.Lehner,theyoungarchaeologistwhohasledthesearchatGizaforthepastdecade,wantstopressonwithittoo.

‘Youarenotasoptimisticnowabout theprospectsofvindicatingsomeof the things thatweresaidaboutthisareainthereadings,’notedJamesC.Windsor,PresidentoftheEdgarCayceFoundation.‘DoyouhaveanyinterestintheHallofRecords?Isitworthlookingfor?’

‘Oh,absolutely,’repliedLehner.‘Ithinkitis,butnotinastangibleawayasIusedtothink.’[177]

Lehner went on to explain at length why various archaeological andscientifictestshadfrustratedhishopesthattheCaycereadingsmightbelinkedtoasuitably‘tangible’reality.‘Whythencontinuethesearch?’wonderedRobertSmith.‘I have a sort of gut feeling that something is under the Sphinx and that

somethingisoutthereatthepyramidsinthewayofamystery,’saidLehner.‘Iliketothinkofitassomethingkindofpulsating.’[178]During themeeting at the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Charles Thomas Cayce

reportedly askedLehnerwhether itwould be possible to drill holes at regular

intervals in order to locate underground passages near the Sphinx, butLehnerfelt that the Egyptians would ‘balk’ at this idea. He suggested in passing,however, that a certain American oil company official, who at that time wasapparentlyworking for anAmericanmuseummight be interested in using his‘crackgeophysicalprospectingteam’forexplorationsbeneaththeSphinx.[179]Sincemaking these statements andproposals—because, he says, ofwhat the

sitehastaughthim—LehnerhasveeredfurtherandfurtherawayfromtheEdgarCayce influence. Today he repudiates any notion of an earlier civilisation in10,500bc.Indeed,socompletedoeshisconversionappeartohavebeenthatinarecentdenunicationofJohnWest’sgeologicaltheoriesconcerningtheSphinxhefelt compelled to state: ‘I believe we have a professional responsibility torespond to notions—like those of Cayce and West—that would rob theEgyptians of their own heritage by assigning the origins and genius of NileValleycivilizationtosomelong-lostagentlikeAtlantis.’[180]Lehnerdoesnotattempt todenyhisownformer involvementwith theEdgar

CayceFoundation,orwithideasaboutAtlantis,butseeksinsteadtofindwaystoreconcile the origins of his former interests in ‘mystical interpretations of thePyramids and the Sphinx’ with his present hardcore commitment to ‘bedrockrealities’.LehnercompareshissituationtothatofSirW.M.FlindersPetrie,whohadcometoEgyptinthe1880s‘totestthemystical“pyramidinch”againstthestoneofKhufu’spyramid’—and found the ‘pyramid inch’wanting.[181]Petrie,asweshallsee in thenextchapter,hadfollowed in thefootstepsofhis father,William,andthenotoriousAstronomerRoyalofScotland,PiazziSmyth—bothof whom passionately believed that the Great Pyramid had been built underdivineinspirationbytheIsraelitesduringtheirbondageinEgypt.[182]

LunchwithMr.Cayce

InMay 1994we flew toNewYork andmade ourway by car toVirginiaBeach in Norfolk, Virginia, where the headquarters of the Edgar CayceFoundation, and its partner organization the Association for Research andEnlightenment, are located.Wewanted to explore the unexpected connectionsthat this organization had at one time enjoyed with Mark Lehner, and werecurioustoknowhow—ifatall—theEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganizationandZahiHawass,Lehner’scolleagueatGiza,fittedintoallthis.MutualfriendsarrangedameetingforuswiththecurrentPresidentoftheARE

and theEdgarCayceFoundation,Mr.CharlesThomasCayce, thegrandsonofEdgarCayce.WewerealsotomeettwoprominentAREmemberswho,wewere

informed,hadcontributedtovariousprojectsatGizainthe1970sand1980sandtothemorerecentgeologicalinvestigationscarriedoutbyJohnWestandRobertSchoch.ThevenuewastheEdgarCayceFoundationandAREheadquartersonAtlantic

Avenue.Thereweweregreetedbycheerfulandfriendlystaff.Itwasanormalbusydayandwesawvisitorsofallagesbrowsinginthewell-stockedlibraryandbookshopandmakingtheirwaytovariouslecturesandmeditationclasses.Thegeneral atmospherewas a bit like that of the campus of a small university orcollege.We were taken for lunch by Mr. Cayce at the nearby Ramada Oceanfront

Hotel.Therewewere joined by the two seniorAREmemberswhohad comefromNewYorkandWashingtontomeetus.ThediscussionatthetablerangedwidelyandincludedwhatseemedtobeacompletelyopenandhonestreviewoftheARE’svarious initiativesatGizaover theprevious twodecades.EveryoneseemedtoknowMarkLehnerwell,andboththemanfromWashingtonandtheman from New York also spoke of Zahi Hawass in extremely personal andfriendlyterms.AtthispointwecouldnotavoidbringingupthematterofJohnWest’srecent

sensationalNBC television documentary,Mystery of the Sphinxwhich, aswesaw inPart I,Lehnerhad treatedwithdisfavourandwhichhadalsoprovokedthefollowingvigorousrebuttalfromZahiHawass:

The film indicates an attemptby thesepretenders toprove that the ageof theSphinxdatesback tofifteen thousandyears ... [and that] thebuildersof theSphinx, andconsequently thePyramidsandothergreatantiquities,werenottheancientEgyptiansbutotherpeopleofhighercultureandeducationthatcamefromthe ‘Atlantis’continentafter itsdestructionandputbeneath theSphinx thescientific recordsof thelostcontinent!ItisevidentthatthisJohnWestrepresentsnothingbutacontinuationoftheculturalinvasionofEgypt’scivilization.BeforehimwasEdgarCayceinVirginiawhopretendedhelivedinAtlantisfifteenthousand years ago and then fled toEgyptwith the recordswhich he buried near theSphinx before thedestructionofthecontinent!...[183]

Presentedlatein1993bytheHollywoodactorCharltonHeston,Mysteryofthe Sphinx had been partially financed by the ECF/ARE and their supporters,andhadverystronglyendorsed theview that theSphinx,andanumberof theothermonumentsontheGizanecropolis,mustdatebacktoatleasttheeleventhmillenniumbc.[184]AswereportedinPartI,itwasthissamedocumentarythathad also broken the news of Thomas Dobecki’s seismic surveys around theSphinx and his discovery of a large rectangular chamber buried deep in thebedrockbeneathitsfrontpaws.This,ofcourse,hadsuggestedtotheECF/AREthat there could be a connectionwithCayce’s ‘Hall ofRecords’.AsCharltonHeston remarked in his commentary: ‘the unexpected cavity detected by the

seismographwaslocatedpreciselywhereEdgarCaycesaiditwouldbe—underthefrontpawsoftheSphinx.’[185]WeaskedCharlesCayceandhistwocolleagueshowtheyfeltaboutHawass’s

angryanddismissivereactiontothefilmandhistalkof‘pretenders’.TheAREmen simply smiled and shrugged their shoulders. Theywere very

confident,theyinformedus,thateverythingwasworkingforthebest:nomatterwhat anybody said or did, the truth about Gizawas going to emerge and the‘Hall of Records’ was going to be discovered, just as Edgar Cayce hadprophesied.[186]Onthisnotewepartedcompany.

Correspondence

On15October1995,MarkLehnerwroteusafive-pageletterinresponsetoadraftofthischapterthatwehadaskedhimtoreview.[187]Inthesameletterheinformed us that he had recently resigned fromChicagoUniversity’sOrientalInstituteto‘devotemoretimetoresearchandwriting’.Healsonotifiedusthatheintendedtopublishabookon‘NewAgebeliefsandAncientEgypt’which,he said, would expound, in greater detail than we have done here, on hisinvolvementwithworkfundedbytheEdgarCayceFoundation.[188]OurcorrespondencewithLehnerwascareoftheHarvardSemiticMuseumin

thestateofMassachusetts.AswewritethesewordshiscolleagueinEgypt,Dr.Zahi Hawass, is supervising the excavation of a newly discovered ‘OldKingdom’templecomplexwithundergroundtunnelsimmediatelytothesouth-east of the Great Sphinx of Giza.[189] Interviewed in December 1995 for apossibletelevisiondocumentaryconcerningthemysteriesoftheSphinx,HawassledthefilmcrewintoatunnelbeneaththeSphinxitself.‘Really,’hesaid,‘evenIndiana Jones will never dream to be here. Can you believe it?We are nowinsidetheSphinxin this tunnel.This tunnelhasbeenneveropenedbefore.Noonereallyknowswhat’s inside this tunnel.Butwearegoingtoopenit for thefirsttime.’POSTSCRIPT: Further correspondencewithMark Lehner, giving his comments on this chapter, is

reproducedinAppendix3.

Chapter6

TheCaseoftheIronPlate,theFreemasons,theRelicsandtheShafts‘I ammore than convinced of the ... existence of a passage and probably a chamber (in theGreat

Pyramid)containingpossiblytherecordsoftheancientfounders...’

JohnDixon.LettertoPiazziSmythdated25November1871,commentingontheQueen’sChamberintheGreatPyramid

‘DeepinsidetheGreatPyramidliesadeadend[inthesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber].RudolfGantenbrinkcouldexplorebeyondit,butnoonewilllethim.’

SundayTelegraph,London,1January1995

Perhapsthemostexoticresearcherevertohavepronouncedonthemysteries

of the Pyramids was Charles Piazzi Smyth, a nineteenth-century AstronomerRoyal of Scotland. Like Edgar Cayce, he believed the Great Pyramid to besomehow linked to Biblical prophecies concerning the ‘Second Coming’ ofChrist. And like Edgar Cayce, too, his name turns up most unexpectedly inconnectionwithrecentremarkablediscoveriesatGiza.[190]Wewillseewhy,laterinthischapter.Meanwhile,asmanyreaderswillrecall

from the international news coverage it received at the time, high hopeswereraised in March 1993 of a possible hidden chamber deep within the GreatPyramid. Rudolf Gantenbrink, a Munich-based German engineer, had used atiny,hi-techrobotcameratoexplorethelongnarrowshaftsemanatingfromthenorthern and southern walls of the Queen’s Chamber and, at the end of thesouthern shaft (the one targeted on the star Sirius) had discovered a smallportcullis door complete with copper handles. Immediately after the find wasmade,Dr.ZahiHawass enthused to aGerman television team ‘inmyopinionthis is THE discovery in Egypt’ and expressed the hope that ‘records’ onpapyrus scrolls todowith the ‘religion’of thebuilders andmaybe the ‘stars’,mightbestashedawaybehindthetantalizingdoor.[191]Similarhopeswerealsoraised in The Times of London which, in addition, noted a curious link withEdgarCayceandthe‘HallofRecords’:

SECRET PASSAGE POSES PYRAMID MYSTERY: In the 1940s Edgar Cayce, the Americanclairvoyant, prophesied the discovery, in the last quarter of the 20th century and somewhere near theSphinx,ofahiddenchambercontainingthehistoricalrecordsofAtlantis.WhetherrecentdiscoveriesintheGreatPyramidofCheops[Khufu]haveanythingtodowiththatisfarfromcertain,butthediscoveryofa

smalldoor at the endof a long,hithertounexplored,8-inch square shafthas setmany speculatingaboutwhat,ifanything,mightliebehindit...’[192]

Aswewrite thesewords,more than three years after RudolfGantenbrinkmade his amazing discovery, no further exploration has been permitted insidethe southern shaft of theQueen’sChamber and themysterious portcullis doorremainsunopened.DuringthisperiodwenotethatDr.ZahiHawass(ratherlikehisfriendMarkLehnerovertheissueof10,500bc)hasexecutedaradicalvolte-face. Gone are the eulogies and the great expectations and he now asserts: ‘Ithinkthisisnotadoorandnothingisbehindit...’[193]

Doublestandard

The story of the Great Pyramid’s shafts, and the oddly contradictoryEgyptological responses towhatever is discovered in them—orwhatever newideas are proposed concerning them—goes back to the late 1830s when theBritishexplorerColonelHowardVyse‘satdownbeforetheGreatPyramidasata fortress to be besieged’. This comment, from one of his contemporaries,alludestoVyse’srenowneduseofdynamiteto‘explore’theGreatPyramid.[194]It might have been more appropriate, though less polite, to say that heconfronted the last survivingwonder of the ancientworld as though itwere awomantoberaped.Nevertheless,thefactremainsthatduringahecticseasonofexplorationsandintrusiveexcavations(1836-7),Vyseandhisteamdidmanagetomakewhatlookedliketwoextremelyimportantdiscoveries:

1.Asectionofflatironplate,aboutoneeighthofaninchthick,afootlongandfour inches wide, extracted from the masonry of the southern face of thePyramidat theexitpointof the southern shaftof theKing’sChamber (theshafttargetedonOrion’sbelt).

2. ‘Quarrymarks’daubed inside theso-calledrelievingchambersabove theKing’sChamber.Thesehieroglyphsarethefirstandonly‘inscriptions’everfound inside the Great Pyramid. They take the form of loosely scrawledgraffitiand include thenameofKhufu, theFourthDynastyPharaohwhomEgyptologistssupposetohavebeenthebuilderofthemonument.

The second find—the appearance of Khufu’s name—has been repeatedlyhailed by Egyptologists during the past 160 years as proof positive that theotherwiseanonymousPyramidwasindeedbuiltbythePharaohKhufu.Thefirst

—theironplate—hasbeendismissedasafraudandtheplateitselfnowliesinanarrowdrawer in theBritishMuseum,as ignoredandforgottenas theskullofPiltdownMan.[195]Suppose, however, that the Egyptologists have got things the wrong way

round?Supposethatit is the‘quarrymarks’thatareforgedandtheironplatethat is

genuine?In this case the tidy and well-worked-out chronology of the evolution of

Egyptiansociety,whichappears inall thestandardtextbooks,wouldbeshownto rest on frighteningly insecure foundations, the attribution of the GreatPyramidtoKhufuwouldreverttoundocumentedspeculation,andtheorthodoxdateoftheIronAgeinEgypt—placedbyEgyptologistsasbeingnotearlierthan650bc[196]—wouldhavetobepushedbackalmost2000years.We have argued elsewhere, and at length, that the quarry marks inside the

Great Pyramid could have been forged—and specifically that Howard Vyse,whohadspent£10,000onhis1836-7excavations(aprincelysuminthosedays)hadboththemotiveandtheopportunitytoforgethem.[197]Briefly:1. It is notable that themarkswere only discovered in the four ‘relieving

chambers’ opened by Vyse himself, and not in the chamber immediatelybelow these (and immediately above the ceiling of the King’s Chamber)whichhadbeenopenedbyapreviousexplorer,NathanielDavison,in1765.ItisalsonotablethatVyse’sdiaryentryforthedayonwhichhefirstopenedandaccessedthelowestof‘his’fourchambers(i.e.theoneaboveDavison’sChamber)reportsathoroughexaminationbutmakesnomentionwhatsoeverofanyhieroglyphsprominentlydaubedonthewallsinredpaint.Ontheverynextday,however,whenVysereturned to thechamberwithwitnesses, thehieroglyphswere suddenly there—almost as though they had been paintedovernight.[198]

2. AsoneofVyse’scriticshasperceptivelypointedout,‘theperspectiveandanglesatwhichtheinscriptionsweremadeshowsthattheywerepaintednotbythequarrymasonsbeforetheblocksweremoved,butratherbysomeoneworkinginthecrampedquartersofthe[relieving]chambersaftertheblockshad been placed in the Pyramid. Instructions for locating blocks in aconstructionproject[whichiswhatthequarrymarkspurporttobe]servenopurpose after the fact has been accomplished. Clearly theywere added bysomeoneelseandnotbythebuildersthemselves.’[199]

3. Therearehorrendous‘orthographic’problemswiththehieroglyphs.These

problemswerefirstpointedoutinthenineteenthcenturybySamuelBirch,aBritishMuseumexpertontheancientEgyptianlanguage.Althoughnobodyeither then or now has paid any attention to his comments, he made theimportant observation that the styles of writing expressed in the ‘quarrymarks’ are a strange anomalistic hotchpotch of different eras. Someof thecursiveformsandtitlesusedinthesesupposedlyFourthDynastyinscriptionsarefoundnowhereelseinEgyptuntiltheMiddleKingdom,about1000yearslater (when they become plentiful).Others are unknown until the Twenty-sixthDynasty(664-525bc).Perhapsmosttellingofall,however,istheuseof certain words and phrases in a completely unique and zany way thatoccursnowhereelseintheentiresprawlingcorpusofwritingsthathascomedowntousfromancientEgyptiantimes.Togiveanexample,thehieroglyphfor‘good,gracious’appearswherethenumber18ismeant.[200]

4. TherearedifficultieswiththenameKhufuitselfasitisgiveninthequarrymarks.Itcontainsamistake(adotsurroundedbyacircleinsteadofasimplefilled-in circle) that—like the usage of the ‘good, gracious’ hieroglyph—isrepeated on no other ancient Egyptian inscription. Interestingly, however,this samemistake in thewritingoutof thenameKhufuoccurs in theonlytwosourcebooksonhieroglyphsthatwouldhavebeenavailabletoVysein1837:LeondeLaborde’sVoyagede l’ArabiePetreeandSir JohnGardnerWilkinson’sMateriaHieroglyphica.[201]

5. Lastbutnotleast,evenifthequarrymarkswerenotforgedbyVyse,whatdo they really prove? Isn’t attributing the Great Pyramid to Khufu on thebasisofafewlinesofgraffitiabitlikehandingoverthekeysoftheEmpireState building to a man named ‘Kilroy’ just because his name was foundspray-paintedonthewallsofthelift?

We are frankly puzzled that such questions are never asked and, in general,thatEgyptologistsaresoreadytoacceptthequarrymarksas‘proofofKhufu’sownershipofthePyramid.Theirowncredulityonsuchmattersisofcoursetheirbusiness.Neverthelesswe think that it vergeson intellectual chicanery for thesamedubiousattribution toberegurgitatedagainandagain, inall thestandardtexts,withoutanycautionarynotesaboutthemanyproblems,anachronismsandinconsistencies that cast doubt on the authenticity and significance of Vyse’s‘discovery’.[202]Strangely, however, his other ‘discovery’, which Egyptologists today

unhesitatinglywriteoffasaforgery,giveseveryindicationofbeinggenuine—andhighlysignificant.Thiswas thediscoveryofa flat ironplateembedded in

themasonryofthePyramid’ssouthernface.

Theironplateaffair

Aswehaveseen,thetwomainchambersinthesuperstructureoftheGreatPyramid—theKing’sChamber and theQueen’sChamber—are each equippedwith two long, narrow shafts which bore deep into the solid masonry, onedirectednorthwardandtheothertothesouth.ThoseemanatingfromtheKing’sChamber cut right through to the outside. Those emanating from theQueen’sChamberstopsomewherewithinthecoreofthemonument.The existence of theKing’s Chamber shafts was first recorded byDr. John

Greaves,aBritishastronomer,in1636.Itwasnotuntil1837,however,thattheywereinvestigatedthoroughly—byColonelHowardVysewiththeassistanceoftwocivilengineers,JohnPerringandJamesMash.AnothermemberofVyse’steamwasMr.J.R.Hill,anobscureEnglishmanlivinginCairo,whoinMayof1837 was put in charge of clearing the mouth of the southern shaft (whichemergesat the102ndcourseofmasonryon thesouth faceof thePyramid). InaccordwithVyse’smethodselsewhere,Hillwasinstructedtouseexplosivesandwas thus responsible for the ugly vertical scarwhichmay be seen to this dayrunningupthecentreofthesouthsideoftheGreatPyramid.OnFriday,26May1837,afteracoupleofdaysofblastingandclearing,Hill

discovered the flat iron plate mentioned above. Vyse was soon afterwards totrumpet it in hismonumental opus,OperationsCarriedonat thePyramidsofGizehas‘theoldestpieceofwroughtironknown’,[203]butHillatthetimewascontenttowriteupthediscoveryintheproper,sobermanner:

Thisis tocertifythat thepieceof ironfoundbymenear themouthof theair-passage[shaft], inthesouthernsideoftheGreatPyramidatGizeh,onFriday,May20th,wastakenoutbymefromaninnerjoint,afterhavingremovedbyblastingthetwooutertiersofthestonesofthepresentsurfaceofthePyramid;andthatnojointoropeningofanysortwasconnectedwiththeabovementionedjoint,bywhichtheironcouldhavebeenplacedinitaftertheoriginalbuildingofthePyramid.IalsoshewedtheexactspottoMr.Perring,onSaturday,June24th.[204]

JohnPerring,acivilengineer,thusexaminedtheexactspotofthefind.WithhimwasJamesMash,alsoacivilengineer,andbothwere‘of theopinion thattheironmusthavebeenleftinthejointduringthebuildingofthePyramid,andthat it could not have been inserted afterwards’.[205] UltimatelyVyse sent themysteriousartefact,togetherwiththecertificationsofHill,PerringandMash,totheBritishMuseum.There,fromtheoutset,thegeneralfeelingwasthatitcouldnotbeagenuinepiece,becausewroughtironwasunknowninthePyramidAge,andthatitmustthereforehavebeen‘introduced’inmuchmorerecenttimes.

In1881theplatewasre-examinedbySirW.M.FlindersPetriewhofounditdifficult,foravarietyofcogentreasons,toagreewiththisanalysis:

Thoughsomedoubthasbeenthrownonthepiece,merelyfromitsrarity,[henoted]yetthevouchersforitareveryprecise;andithasacastofanummulite[fossilizedmarineprotozoa]ontherustofit,provingittohavebeenburiedforagesbesideablockofnummuliticlimestone,andthereforetobecertainlyancient.Noreasonabledoubtcanthereforeexistaboutitsbeingareallygenuinepiece...[206]

DespitethisforcefulopinionfromoneoftheoddballgiantsofEgyptologyinthelateVictorianAge,theprofessionasawholehasbeenunabletocopewiththeideaofapieceofwroughtironbeingcontemporarywiththeGreatPyramid.Such a notion goes completely against the grain of every preconception thatEgyptologistsinternalizethroughouttheircareersconcerningthewaysinwhichcivilizationsevolveanddevelop.

Scientificanalysis

Because of these preoccupations, no further investigations of anysignificancewereundertakenintotheironplateforanother108yearsanditwasnotuntil1989 that a fragment from itwasat last subjected to rigorousopticalandchemicaltests.ThescientistsresponsiblefortheworkwereDr.M.P.Jones,Senior Tutor in the Mineral Resources Engineering Department at ImperialCollege,London,andhiscolleagueDr.SayedElGayer,alecturerintheFacultyofPetroleumandMiningatEgypt’sSuezUniversity,whogainedhisPh.D. inextractionmetallurgyattheUniversityofAstoninBirmingham.[207]They began their study by checking on the nickel content of the iron plate.

Theirreasonfordoingthiswastoexcludethefaintpossibilitythatitmighthavebeen manufactured from meteoritic iron (i.e. iron from fallen meteorites—amaterialthatisknown,veryrarely,tohavebeenusedduringthePyramidAge).Ready-mademeteoritic ironof this sort, however, is always extremely easy toidentify because it invariably contains a significant proportion of nickel—typicallysevenpercentormore.[208]OnthebasisoftheirfirsttestJonesandElGayernoted:‘TheironplatefromGizaisclearlynotofmeteoriticorigin,sinceitcontainsonlyatraceofnickel.’Themetal,therefore,wasman-made.Buthowhaditbeenmade?Further tests proved that it had been smelted at a temperature between1000

and1100degreescentigrade.Thesetestsalsopickeduptheoddfact that therewere ‘traces of gold on one face of the iron plate’.[209] Perhaps, Jones andElGayerspeculated,itmightoriginallyhavebeen‘gold-plated,andthisgoldmaybe an indication that this artefact ... was held in great esteem when it was

produced’.[210]Finally,whenwasitproduced?Aftercompletinganextremelycarefulanddetailedstudy,thetwometallurgists

reported as follows: ‘It is concluded, on the basis of the present investigation,that the iron plate is very ancient. Furthermore, the metallurgical evidencesupports the archaeological evidence which suggests that the plate wasincorporatedwithinthePyramidatthetimethatstructurewasbeingbuilt.’[211]WhenJonesandElGayersubmittedtheirfindingstotheBritishMuseum,they

wereinforquiteasurprise.Insteadofbeingexcited,officialsfobbedthemoff:‘Thestructureof the ironplate isunusual,’concededPaulCraddockandJanetLang.‘Wearenotsureofthesignificanceororiginofthisstructurebutitisnotnecessarilyindicativeofgreatage.’[212]

TheBritishMuseum’sview

BecausetheironplateappearedtohavebeenremovedoriginallyfromwithinornearthemouthoftheKing’sChamber’s‘Orion’shaftitwasofgreatinterestto us.We decided to take a look at it. Through Dr. A. J. Spencer, AssistantCurator of the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the British Museum, wearrangedaviewingon7November1993.Wewerepermittedtohandletheplateandwereintriguedbyitsunusualweightandtexture.Wecouldalsohardlyfailto notice that under its surface patina the internal metal possessed a brilliantshine—whichwas revealed at the point where the fragment had been cleanlyslicedoffforElGayer’sandJones’sanalysis.Dr.SpencerrepeatedtheBritishMuseum’s official line—that the plate was not old but had been introduced,probably deliberately, in Vyse’s time—and that El Gayer and Jones’sconclusionswere‘highlydubious’.[213]Howandwhycouldtheconclusionsofsucheminentmetallurgistsbedeemed

‘highlydubious’,weasked?Dr. Spencer had no answer and Dr. Craddock, whom we spoke to on the

phone,didnotwishtoelaborate.AfewdayslaterwecalledDr.M.P.JonesandheardfromhimhowheandDr.

ElGayerhadexaminedtheplateinthelaboratoriesatImperialCollegeLondonin1989.Dr.JonesisnowretiredandlivesinWales.Whenweaskedhimwhathe thought of the British Museum’s view of his conclusions he was,understandably, rather irritated. He insisted that the iron plate was ‘very old’and,likeus,hefelt—sincethereweretwoopposingviews—thatthebestwaytoresolvethismatterwouldbefurthertestinginanindependentlaboratory.

Afterall, theimplicationsofman-madeironin2500bcaretremendous.Andthisisn’tjustamatterofredatingtheso-calledIronAge.Perhapsinawaymoreintriguingarethequestionsraisedastothefunctionthatanironplatemighthavehad,insidethesouthernshaftofthemainchamberintheGreatPyramid,manythousandsofyearsago.Couldtherebearelationshipbetweenthisplateandthestone portcullis door with copper ‘handles’ that Rudolf Gantenbrink had sorecentlydiscoveredattheendofthesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber—ashaftdirectedto‘Sirius-Isis’,theconsortof‘Orion-Osiris’?In their1989 report,ElGayerand Jonesnoted that theplatewasprobablya

fragment coming froma largerpiecewhichmightoriginallyhavecomposedasquareplatethatwouldhavefitted,likeasortof‘gate’,neatlyoverthemouthoftheshaft.

Stargate

In laterchapterswewillmakedetailed reference to the so-called ‘PyramidTexts’ of ancient Egypt. These texts take the form of extensive funerary andrebirth inscriptions carved on the tomb walls of certain Fifth—and Sixth-DynastypyramidsatSaqqara,abouttenmilessouthofGiza.EgyptologistsagreethatmuchifnotallofthecontentoftheinscriptionspredatesthePyramidAge.[214] It is thusunsettling todiscover in theseancient scriptures, supposedly thework of neolithic farmers who had hardly even begun to master copper, thatthereareabundantreferencestoiron.ThenamegiventoitisB’ja—‘thedivinemetal’—andwealwaysencounterit

indistinctivecontexts related inonewayoranother toastronomy, to the starsand to the gods.[215] For exampleB’ja is frequentlymentioned in the texts inconnectionwith the ‘four sonsofHorus’—presumably related in someway tostrange beings called the Shemsu Hor, the ‘Followers of Horus’ and‘TransfiguredOnes’,whomweshallalsobediscussinginlaterchapters.Atanyrate,theseverymysterious‘sonsofHorus’seemtohavebeenmadeofironortohave had iron fingers: ‘Your children’s children together have raised you up,namely [the four sons of Horus] ... your mouth is split open with their ironfingers...’[216]Ironisalsomentionedinthetextsasbeingnecessaryfortheconstructionofa

bizarre instrumentcalledaMeshtyw.Verymuchresemblingacarpenter’sadzeorcuttingtool,thiswasaceremonialdevicewhichwasusedto‘strikeopenthemouth’ of the deceased Pharaoh’s mummified and embalmed corpse—anindispensableritualifthePharaoh’ssoulweretobere-awakenedtoeternallife

amidstthecyclesofthestars.InthePyramidTextswethusfindahighpriestmakingthiscrypticstatement:YourmouthisingoodorderforIsplitopenyourmouthforyou...Oking,Iopenyourmouthforyou

withtheadzeofironofUpuaut,Isplitopenyourmouthforyouwiththeadzeofironwhichsplitopenthemouthsof thegods ...Horushassplitopen themouthof thiskingwith thatwherewithhesplitopen themouthofhisfather,withthatwherewithhesplitopenthemouthofOsiris...[217]

From such utterances, andmanymore like them, it is clear that iron wassomehowseenbythecomposersofthePyramidTextsasbeingimperativeintherituals aimed at ensuring new life—cosmic and stellar life—to the dead king.More importantly the above verse also connects themetal and its uses to theancientprototypeofallsuchritualsbymeansofwhichOsirishimself,Egypt’s‘OnceandFutureKing’,diedandwasthenrestoredtoimmortallifeasLordofthesky-regionofOrion.Thisregion,asweshallseeinPartIII,wasknownastheDuat.InitallthePharaohsofEgypthopedthattheywouldresideeternallyaftertheirowndeaths:

Thegateoftheearthisopenforyou...mayastairwaytotheDuatbesetupforyoutotheplacewhereOrionis...[218]

Oking...theskyconceivesyouwithOrion...theskyhasborneyouwithOrion...[219]

Oking,beasoullikealivingstar...[220]

Thegateoftheearth-godisopen...mayyouremoveyourselftotheskyandsituponyourironthrone...[221]

Theapertureoftheskywindowisopenedforyou...[222]

Thedoorsofironwhichareinthestarryskyarethrownopenforme,andIgothroughthem...[223]

What seems to be envisaged here, taken literally and reduced to the basiccommondenominators running throughall theaboveutterances, appears tobenothinglessthananiron‘stargate’intendedtoadmitOsiris,andallthedynastiesofdeadkingsafterhim,intothecelestialrealmsofthebeltofOrion.ButifthePyramidTextsaredescribingastargatethentheyarealsodescribingatimegate—for theyexpressnodoubt thatbypassing through the iron-dooredportalsoftheskythesoulofthedeceasedwillattainalifeofmillionsofyears,navigatingeternityinthevesselsofthegods.Naturally,therefore,byvirtueofitsoriginalpositionatorneartheendofthesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber,wearetemptedtowonderwhethertheneglectedironplateintheBritishMuseummighthave been connected with such amazingly sophisticated concepts and beliefsabout immortality and about the ability of ‘the equipped spirit’ to gain acompletemasteryoverdeathandtime.

We wonder, too, what might have been the function of other mysteriousobjects thatwerediscovered in theshaftsof theQueen’sChamberwhen thesewere first opened in 1872 byWaynmanDixon, an enterprising engineer fromNewcastle-upon-Tyne.

Unknowndarkdistance

UnliketheKing’sChambershafts,thoseintheQueen’sChamber(a)donotexitontheoutsideofthemonumentand(b)werenotoriginallycutthroughthechamber’slimestonewalls.Insteadthebuildersleftthelastfiveinchesintactinthe last block over the mouth of each of the shafts—thus rendering theminvisibleandinaccessibletoanycasualintruder.Thereaderwill recall thementionofCharlesPiazziSmythandhisprophetic

theoriesabouttheGreatPyramidatthestartofthischapter.Intheearly1860s,whenhewasformulatingthesetheories,hebefriendedacertainWilliamPetrie,an engineer, whose son, W. M. Flinders Petrie, was later to be universallyacclaimedasthefounderoftheacademicdisciplineofEgyptology.[224]WilliamPetriewasamongstthefirst‘Pyramidologists’oftheVictorianAgeto

give strong support toPiazzi Smyth’s notion that theGreat Pyramidmight besome sort of propheticmonument toMankind encoding aMessianic blueprintdesignedtoserveasanadvance-warningmechanismforthe‘SecondComing’ofChrist.[225] ‘There had been a time’,wrote ProfessorHermannBruck andDr.Mary Bruck in their authoritative biography of the Astronomer Royal, ‘whenFlindersPetrieandhisfatherhadwholeheartedlyconcurredwithmostofPiazziSmyth’sideas.’[226]Indeedasthesetwoeminentastronomersandauthorspointout, theyoungFlindersPetriesetout toEgypt in1880onhis famousstudyofthe Great Pyramid precisely because he wanted to ‘continue Piazzi Smyth’swork’.[227]Returning now to the shafts in theQueen’sChamber,wewere interested to

learn that their discoverer, the engineer Waynman Dixon—together with hisbrotherJohn—hadalsomaintainedveryclosetieswithPiazziSmyth.Indeed,ithadbeenthroughtheAstronomerRoyal’sdirectinfluencethattheDixonswereabletoexploretheGreatPyramidin1872anddiscoverthepreviouslyconcealedentrancestothenorthernandsouthernstar-shaftsintheQueen’sChamber.[228]Waynman Dixon’s curiosity had been aroused by the shafts in the King’s

Chamber which provoked him to look for similar features in the Queen’sChamber. This search, which took place some time early in 1872, wasundertaken with the full knowledge of Piazzi Smyth, who later described the

whole matter in his book. The story goes that after noticing a crack in thesouthernwalloftheQueen’sChamber—roughlywherehethoughtthathemightfindshafts—WaynmanDixonsethis‘carpenterandman-of-all-work’,acertainBillGrundy‘tojumpaholewithahammerandsteelchiselatthatplace.Sotoworkthefaithfulfellowwent,andwithawillwhichsoonbegantomakeawayintothesoftstoneatthispointwhenlo!afteracomparativelyveryfewstrokes,flopwentthechiselrightthroughintosomethingorother.’[229]The‘somethingorother’BillGrundy’schiselhadreachedturnedouttobe‘a

rectangular,horizontal,tubularchannel,about9inchesby8inchesintransversebreadthandheight,goingback7feet into thewall,andthenrisingatanangleintoanunknowndarkdistance...’[230]Thiswasthesouthernshaft.Next,measuringoffasimilarpositiononthenorthwall,WaynmanDixon‘set

theinvaluableBillGrundytoworktherewithhishammerandsteelchisel;andagain, after a very little labour, flop went the said chisel through intosomewhere;which somewherewas presently found to be a horizontal pipe orchannel of transverse proportions like the other, and, at a distance within themasonry of 7 feet, rising at a similar angle, but in the opposite direction, andtrendingindefinitelyfar...’[231]Togetherwithhisbrother John,WaynmanDixonmadeefforts toprobeboth

thenorthernandsouthernshafts—usingajointedrod,somethinglikeachimney-sweep’s rod, for this purpose.[232] Late-nineteenth-century technologywas notup to the job and a segment of the rod becamewedged in the northern shaft,where it still remains.[233] Before this happened, however, the Dixons foundthreesmallrelicsintheshafts.

33.DetailofQueen’sChambershaft.

Theseobjects—aroughstonesphere,asmall two-prongedhookmadeoutofsomeformofmetal,anda finepieceofcedarwoodsome12centimetres longwithstrangenotchescutintoit[234]—wereexportedfromEgyptinthesummerof 1872 and arrived safely inEngland a fewweeks later.[235]During the nextyearorsotheywerecommenteduponinbooks,andevenillustratedinscientificandpopularmagazinessuchasNatureandtheLondonGraphic.[236]Beforetheturnofthecentury,however,theyhaddisappeared.[237]

Links

Acuriousseriesoflinksexistsinvolvingallofthefollowing:•thediscoveryoftheQueen’sChambershaftswiththeirconstituentrelics;• the formation of the Egyptian Exploration Society (the EES, BritishEgyptology’smostprestigiousorganization);

• the foundation, at University College, London, of Egyptology’s mostprestigiousChair;

•BritishFreemasonry.In1872,whilsttheDixonbrotherswereexploringtheGreatPyramid,awell-

knownFreemasonandparliamentarian,SirJamesAlexander,proposedamotionto bring to Britain the incorrectly named ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’—a 200-ton

obeliskofPharaohThutmosisIIIwhichhadoriginallybeenerectedsome3500yearsagointhesacredcityofHeliopolis.[238]Fundingfortheprojectcamefromthe personal fortune of another Freemason, the eminent British dermatologist,SirErasmusWilson,[239] andSir JamesAlexander recommended that the civilengineer John Dixon—also a Freemason—should be engaged to collect theobeliskfromEgypt.OnthisbasisSirErasmusWilsonpromptlyrecruitedJohnDixon—andalsohisbrother,Waynman,whowasthenlivinginEgypt.[240]AfewyearslaterthesameErasmusWilsonwasresponsibleforthecreationof

theEgyptianExplorationSociety(theEES)andservedasitsfirstpresident.[241]Thenin1883,WilsonandtheVictorianauthorAmeliaEdwardsco-foundedtheimportant Chair in Egyptology at University College London—and it wasthrough Wilson’s personal recommendation that the young Flinders Petriebecamethefirstscholartooccupyit.[242]Perhapsallsuchconnectionsarenothingmorethanquaintcoincidences.Ifso,

thenitisprobablyalsoacoincidencethatintheseventeenthcenturythefounderof theAshmoleanMuseum inOxford, one of themost prestigious of today’sEgyptological research centres (which holds the coveted ‘Petrie Chair’), wasnone other than Elias Ashmole—the first man ever, according to Masonichistorians,tobeopenlyinitiatedonBritishsoilintothehithertosecretsocietyofFreemasonry.[243]We have no evidence that the Brotherhood is still a significant influence in

Egyptology today. Our researches into the pedigree of this insular discipline,however,did,inaratherobliqueway,leadtotherediscoveryoftwoofthethreemissing‘Dixon’relics.

TheBritishMuseumandthemissingcigarbox

ThesethreeitemsaretheonlyrelicsevertohavebeenfoundinsidetheGreatPyramid.Moreovertheplaceinwhichtheywerefound,i.e.thestar-shaftsoftheQueen’s Chamber, links them directly to one of the key aspects of our ownresearch. In the summer of 1993, therefore, 121 years after they had beendiscovered,weresolvedtotrytofindoutwhathadhappenedtothem.Going back through press reports, and the private diaries of the figures

involved,wefoundoutthatJohnandWaynmanDixonhadbroughttherelicstoEngland inacigarbox.Wealso learned, asnotedearlier, that theDixonshadbeen involved in bringing to England Cleopatra’s Needle. The obelisk waserectedontheThamesEmbankment,whereitstandstothisday.JohnDixonwasattheinaugurationceremonyandwasonrecordashavingburied‘alargecigar

box,contentsunknown’beneaththepedestalofthemonument.[244]The logic looked persuasive. JohnDixon brought the relics to England in a

cigarbox.JohnDixonbroughtCleopatra’sNeedletoEngland.AndJohnDixonburied a cigar box beneath Cleopatra’s Needle. Around that time the relicsdisappeared.ThestrongMasoniclinkinthisaffaircalledtomindawell-knownpracticeinoperativeandspeculativeFreemasonrywhichinvolvescertainritualswhen placing the corner-stones of Masonic monuments and edifices. Thispractice suggested the possibility that the relics from theGreatPyramid couldhave been hidden under Cleopatra’s Needle along with the other Masonicparaphernaliaandmemorabiliaknowntohavebeeninstalledthere.[245]Atanyrate,therelicsdidgenuinelyseemtohavedisappearedandtheexperts

whomwe consulted at the BritishMuseum said they had no ideawhere theycouldhavegoneto.WealsoconsultedProfessorI.E.S.Edwards,theMuseum’sformerKeeperofEgyptianAntiquities(1954-74)andaformervice-presidentoftheEES.Edwards isBritain’s foremost authority onGiza and the author of adefinitive text, The Pyramids of Egypt, first published in 1946 and reprintedvirtuallyeveryyearsincethen.Inalleditionsofthisbookwefoundthathehadmentioned Waynman Dixon and reported how the shafts in the Queen’sChamberwere discovered, but hadmade absolutely no reference to the relics.This,he toldus,wasbecausehehadno recollectionof themand therefore,ofcourse,noideaconcerningwhattheirultimatefatemighthavebeen.Likeourselves,however,ProfessorEdwardsknewofthelinkbetweenFlinders

Petrie,PiazziSmythand theDixons,andknew thatPetrie’sexplorationof theGreatPyramidhadimmediatelyfollowedthatoftheDixons.Oddlyenough,Petrie,too,makesnomentionoftherelicsinhisownfamous

bookPyramidsandTemplesofGizeh—thoughhedoesspeakoftheDixonsandthe shafts. But could he have referred to them elsewhere in his voluminouspublications? Edwards suggested that we ask Petrie’s biographer, theEgyptologistMrs.MargaretHackford-Jones, to research thematter in Petrie’sdiariesandprivatepapers.IfhehadmadeanymentionoftheDixonrelicsthenshewoulddefinitelybeabletofindit.ButathoroughsearchbyMrs.Hackford-Jonesbroughtnoresults.[246]Intheabsenceofviablealternatives,therefore,wewonderedwhetheritmight

notbeworthlookingtoseewhetherthethreecuriousobjectsmightnotstillbeinDixon’scigarboxunderneathCleopatra’sNeedle.ThestorywaspickedupbytheIndependent,aBritishnationalnewspaper,on

6 December 1993. Interviewed in the report, Professor Edwards statedcategorically thatneitherhenoranyoneelseheknewhadheardof theserelics

before.[247]Wewerethereforetakenbysurpriseon13December1993—onlyaweek after the article containing Edwards’s quote was published—when Dr.Vivian Davies, the Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum,casuallyannouncedinalettertotheIndependentthattherelics,stillinthecigarbox,wereinhisDepartment’skeep.[248]SowhyhadhisDepartmentnotadmittedtohavingthembefore?‘I think therehasbeena lotofmisunderstandingabout thiswholebusiness,’

soothedaMuseumPRspokesmanafewdays later. ‘Wedidn’tsaywedidnothavethem,wesaidwewerenotawareofhavingthem.’[249]Afterdoingsomemorediggingwediscoveredwhathadhappened.Therelics

(orrathertwoofthembecausetheonlycarbon-datableitem,thepieceofwood,wasmissing)hadnotbeenplacedunderCleopatra’sNeedle aswehadat firstconjectured. Instead they had remained in the hands of the Dixon family forexactlyahundredyears.Then,in1972,Dixon’sgreat-granddaughterhadtakenthem along to the British Museum and had generously donated them to theEgyptianAntiquitiesDepartment.Their receiptwas recorded in themeticuloushand of the Keeper himself—Dr. I. E. S. Edwards.[250] Thereafter the relicsseemed simply to have been forgotten and only resurfaced inDecember 1993because an Egyptologist named Dr. Peter Shore happened to read theIndependent’sstoryaboutoursearchforthem.NowretiredinLiverpool,ShorehadbeenEdwards’sassistantin1972.HerememberedthearrivaloftherelicsattheBritishMuseumandnowpromptlynotifiedtherelevantauthoritiesthattheyhadapotentiallyembarrassingincidentontheirhands.Wenaturallywondered how itwas possible thatmysterious relics recovered

from unexplored shafts inside the Great Pyramid of Egypt could have beentreatedwithsuch indifferencebyprofessionalEgyptologists.Tobecompletelyhonestwefounditverydifficulttoacceptthattheyreallycouldjusthavebeenforgotten for twenty-one years by the BritishMuseum’s Egyptian AntiquitiesDepartment.Whatwecouldnotunderstandatall,however,washowtheycouldhavestayed forgottenduringmostof1993aftera robothadexplored theverysameshaftsandfoundamuchpublicizedclosed‘door’deepwithinoneofthem.Indeed more than two weeks before the article in the Independent came out,RudolfGantenbrink,thediscovererofthe‘door’,hadvisitedLondonandgivenafulllectureattheBritishMuseumtoalargegroupofEgyptologists—includingProfessorEdwards,Dr.VivianDaviesandmanyotherswhoknewofoursearchfor the ‘Dixon’ relics. During the lecture, Gantenbrink showed and explaineddetailed video footage, taken by his robot, of the interior of the Queen’sChambershafts—i.e. theshafts inwhich therelicshadbeenfound.Aswellas

the‘door’attheendofthesouthernshaft,thefootagealsoclearlyshowed,stilllyingonthefloorofthenorthernshaft,butathigherlevelsthantheDixonshadbeen able to reach, at least two distinct objects—a metallic hook, and anapparentbatonofwood.[251]InthenextchapterweshalltakealookatGantenbrink’sexploration,andatthe

eventsthatleduptoandfollowedit.

Chapter7

TheCaseoftheRobot,theGermansandtheDoor‘Upuaut,awolfdeity...HewaschieflyreveredforhisroleasOpeneroftheWaystotheUnderworld,

showingthedeadsoulsthepaththroughthatdarkrealm...’

VeronicaIons,EgyptianMythology,1982

The introduction of a robot-camera into the narrowmouth of the southern

shaft of theQueen’sChamber inMarch 1993, and the subsequent spectaculardiscoveryofaclosedportcullis ‘door’200feetalong thatshaft,arenoteventsthatoccurredinavacuum.Onthecontrary,althoughmainstreamEgyptologistsprofesslittleinterestintheQueen’sChamber(whichtheygenerallyregardasan‘unfinished’,‘abandoned’andunimportantfeatureoftheGreatPyramid),quitealotofactivityhadtakenplacearounditduringthepreviousdecade.In1986,forexample,twoFrencharchitects,GillesDormionandJean-Patrice

Goidin,somehowmanagedtoobtainascientificlicencetoconductaspectacularexploration inside the Great Pyramid. Dormion and Goidin had persuadedcertain senior officials at theEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization that a ‘hiddenchamber’couldliebehindthewestwallofthehorizontalcorridorleadingtotheQueen’sChamber.Inararemove,theEAOgavepermissionforthedrillingofaseriesofsmallholestotestthetheory.Apparentlysomeevidencewasfoundofalarge ‘cavity’ which was filled with unusually fine sand—nothing more—butthiswasenoughtosendtheworldmediaintoafrenzyandtoturnDormionandGoidinintohotmediapropertiesforawhile.Egyptologistsfumedonthequiet.The project was eventually stopped and Dormion and Goidin were never toresumetheirworkintheGreatPyramid.[252]Thesamethinghappenedagainin1988whenaJapanesescientificteamfrom

WasedaUniversity took up the challenge. Theywere led by Professor SakujiYoshimura.ThistimetheJapaneseused‘non-destructivetechniques’basedonahigh-tech system of electromagnetic waves and radar equipment. They, too,detectedtheexistenceofa‘cavity’offtheQueen’sChamberpassageway,somethreemetresunderthefloorand,asitturnedout,veryclosetowheretheFrenchhaddrilled.Theyalsodetectedalargecavitybehindthenorth-westwalloftheQueen’sChamberitself,anda‘tunnel’outsideandtothesouthofthePyramid

whichappearedtorununderneaththemonument.Beforeanyfurtherexplorationor drilling could be done, the Egyptian authorities intervened and halted theproject.YoshimuraandhisteamwerenevertoreturntocompletetheirworkintheQueen’sChamber.[253]Itseemsodd,despiteall thebuzzconcerninghiddenchambersinthevicinity

of theQueen’sChamber, thatnobodyshouldhave takenacloser look into theQueen’sChamber’smysteriousandhithertounexploredshafts.Disappearingasthey do, one northwards and the other southwards, into the bowels of themonument, one would have thought that somebody would have had thegumptiontoinvestigatethem(usingvideo-camerareconnaissanceinsteadofallthese unsatisfactory and inconclusive drillings and radar scanning probes).Indeed,aswehavearguedelsewhere,thereismuchabouttheirconstructionanddesignthatcouldalmosthavebeendeliberatelycontrivedtostimulateandinvitesuchinvestigations.[254]Throughoutthe1980s,however,theconsensusofseniorEgyptologists was that the shafts, like the Queen’s Chamber itself, were‘abandoned’ featuresof theGreatPyramid.Nodoubt itwas thepowerof thisconsensus,andthebuilt-inreluctancetochallengeit,thatdiscouragedindividualEgyptologistsfrominterestingthemselvesintheshafts.Afterall,whatwouldbethepointofexploringobscurepartsofthePyramidthateveryoneknewhadbeen‘abandoned’duringconstruction.Asanon-Egyptologist,theGermanroboticsengineerRudolfGantenbrinkdid

notsufferfromsuchinhibitions.Early in1991hesubmittedaproposalfor thevideoscopicexaminationoftheshaftstotheGermanArchaeologicalInstituteinCairo.

Planninganadventure

Gantenbrink’s story, as he reported it to us inmany hours of documentedconversations, goes back to August 1990 when the Egyptian AntiquitiesOrganization commissioned the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo toinstallaventilationsysteminsidetheGreatPyramid.Thisprojectwouldmainlyinvolve the ‘cleaning’ of the two shafts of theKing’sChamberwhich (unlikethoseintheQueen’sChamber)emergeontheoutsidefacesofthepyramidandthuscouldbeofsomeconceivableuseforventilation.Aftercleaning,powerfulelectric fans would be installed in their mouths to boost the natural air-flowthroughthem.A few months after accepting the EAO’s commission for the ventilation

projectRainerStadelmann,theDirectoroftheGermanArchaeologicalInstitute,

received Rudolf Gantenbrink’s proposal for the exploration of the Queen’sChamber shafts using a high-tech miniature robot. This proposal, a copy ofwhich Gantenbrink has kindly supplied to us, is entitled VideoscopischeUntersuchung der sog. Luftkanale der Cheopspyramide (VideoscopicInvestigationoftheso-calledAirShaftsinthePyramidofCheops).[255]The proposal outlinesGantenbrink’s plans to build a special robot equipped

with two powerful lamps and a ‘CCDFarbvideokamera’with a special fixed-focus lens giving a full go-degrees angle of vision. The specifications of therobotwouldincludeapowerfulelectricmotorinorderforittobeabletotacklethe steep slopes of the shafts. The video camera and the motor would becontrolled from a console and monitor unit stationed inside the chamber andlinked to the robot by electric cables.Caterpillar trackswould be fixed aboveandbelowtherobot’schassisandadjustedwithtwosetsofpowerfulhydrolic-suspensionunits inorder toensureagoodgripon theceilingand floorof theshafts.There is nothing in the Videoscopische study about ventilation. What it

describes is unambiguously an exploration into the uncharted regions of theGreatPyramid,anadventureintheQueen’sChambershafts—a‘robot’sjourneyintothepast’.[256]Neverthelessthenextmovewaslogicalenough:StadelmannpassedovertheEAO’s‘ventilation’schemetoRudolfGantenbrink.Nor did Gantenbrink object. He had intended, in any case, to examine the

King’sChambershaftsatsomepointduringhisprojectandsawnodifficultyinfitting these shaftswith the electric fans called for by the ventilation scheme.Indeed the idea of getting involved in ventilating the Pyramid as well asexploring it rather appealed to him since it added a ‘conservation andrestoration’elementtohiswork.

Diversionanddelay

As planned, however, Gantenbrink began with the exploration of theQueen’s Chamber shafts. Assigned by theGermanArchaeological Institute toassistGantenbrink,andtoserveastheInstitute’sofficialrepresentativeonsite,wasUliKapp(who,coincidentally,hadalsoassistedMarkLehnerontheARCESphinx Project in 1979-80).[257] The start date was February 1992 and thedecision was made to tackle the southern shaft first[258] —the very shaft inwhich,inMarch1993,the‘door’wouldbediscovered.The initial exploration of the shaft was not as simple as Gantenbrink had

supposed.HehadtoadapttotheratheroppressiveconditionswithintheQueen’s

Chamberandfoundthatmanoeuvringthesturdylittlerobotinsidetheconfinedspaceof thenarrowandsteeplyslopingshaftwasdifficultandextremelyslowwork. By mid-May 1992, however, he had made considerable progress,penetrating to a depthof 70 feet.Furthermore, as hepeered curiously intohismonitorscreen,hecouldseetheshaftdisappearingintothedeep,darkdistancebeyond. Where did it lead to? Was it really ‘abandoned’ as the majority ofEgyptologists maintained,[259] or did it serve some yet unknown and greaterfunction?HithertoEgyptologistshadtheorizedthatthisshaftwouldnotbemorethan 30 feet long but now Gantenbrink had proved them wrong.What couldpossiblylieahead?The desire to continue was irresistible. But at this nail-biting stage he was

called toattend to the secondary ingredientofhisproject—the ‘ventilation’oftheGreatPyramidusingtheshaftsoftheKing’sChamber.Since these extend from the Chamber’s northern and southern walls right

throughtotheoutsideofthePyramid,GantenbrinkwasabletoinvestigatethemwithamuchsimplerdevicethanthatrequiredfortheQueen’sChambershafts.This device he named Upuaut I. Resembling a crude, miniature sledge, andmounted with a video camera, it could be hauled up and down the shafts bymeansofcableswithpulleysatbothends.UpuautIcouldonlylookattheKing’sChambershafts—whereitfoundlittle

ofinterest.Thecleaningjobwasdoneinaquaintermanner.GantenbrinkmadeuseofanoldaxlefromthewreckofanabandonedtruckinthenearbyvillageofNazlet-el-Sammam,whichheattached toacableandyankedupanddown theshaftstopushoutthedebrisandsandthathadpiledupinsidethem.Thisdonehearranged for sponsors to supplyand install electric fansand then informed theGermanArchaeologicalInstitutethathewouldnowprepareforthecontinuationof his exploration of the much more promising and mysterious ‘blind-ended’shaftsoftheQueen’sChamber.

UpuantII

GantenbrinkenthusiasticallyproposedtoStadelmannthathewoulddevelopanevenmorepowerful robot, tobenamedUpuaut II, inorder to launch the finalassault on the cramped and inaccessible shafts. This new machine would bespecially designed to overcome the difficulties encountered by its predecessor(theprototyperobot,usedinearly1992,nowdiscardedandjocularlynamed‘thefather of Upuaut’) in the first attempt to explore these shafts. Upuaut II,Gantenbrink had decided, would be smaller, smarter, and much stronger. He

opted to design it from scratch and to this end brought together a team ofengineeringandelectronicexperts,mostlyvolunteers,inaspeciallaboratoryinMunich.Whattheyweretocomeupwithduringthecourseofthenextyearwasamarvelofthespaceage.Thebodyoftherobotwasmadeofaparticularlylightbut robust aluminum used in aircraft components. A sophisticated laser wasincludedwhichcouldprobeanysmallandinaccessibleregionswithintheshaft.Hundredsofelectroniccomponentswereusedtoformtheelectronic‘brain’andguidancesystemoftherobot.Speciallydesignedmotorsandgearswerefittedtothe front and rear of the main body, and steel struts were added for extrastability. Even hydraulic high-pressure pistons were included, capable ofgeneratinga thrustof200kilograms toensure that the robotcouldbrace itselftightlywithintheshaft.Anewcameraunitwasalsodesignedthatcouldswivelnot only horizontally but also vertically to catch every conceivable angle ofview. Two powerful high-intensity bulbs, fitted on each side of the camera,would illuminate theway ahead. Finally a special eight-wheel drive system—fourgrippingthefloorandfourgrippingtheroofoftheshaft—wouldensurethattherobotcouldreachitsfinaldestination.

Problemswithpermits

Duringthelatterpartof1992andtheearlypartof1993,whileUpuautIIwasbeing designed and built in Munich, Rudolf Gantenbrink arranged for atelevisioncrewtocomewithhimtoEgypttofilmhisforthcomingexplorationoftheQueen’sChambershafts.Whenheand thecrew(including the film-makerJochen Breitenstein and an assistant, Dirk Brakebusch) arrived in Cairo on 6March1993,however, theexplorationand filmingweredelayedbysomethingthat at first appeared to be only aminor administrative problem: the GermanArchaeologicalInstitutehadnotyetobtainedthenecessaryfilmingpermitsfromthe Egyptian Antiquities Organization. When no permits were forthcoming,Gantenbrink reports that firstDr. Stadelmann and then he himself approachedZahiHawass, theEAO’sDirector-General of theGizaPyramids,whogranted‘verbalpermission’forthefilmingtogoahead.[260]Accordingly,theexplorationbegan.

Discovery

Mid-March 1993was a crucial period forRudolfGantenbrink in hisworkinsidetheGreatPyramid—allthemorecrucialbecause:(a)thewholeoperation

had cost him a great deal of money (including $250,000 in research-and-development costs for the robot alone); (b) it was being filmed at personalexpenseforacommercialdocumentaryand(c)adeadlineforthecompletionofthefilmhadbeensetforthelastweekofMarch.It was at around this time, says Gantenbrink, that Stadelmann recalled Uli

KappandwithdrewtheofficialsupportthattheGermanArchaeologicalInstitutehadpreviouslyaccordedtotheexplorationoftheshafts.Perhapsothermenwouldhave stoppedandgonemeeklyhomeat thispoint.

Gantenbrink is far from meek. Feeling that he was on the verge of abreakthrough, he decided that he was going to forge on—with or withoutStadelmann’ssupport.ThecrucialfigurewasnowZahiHawass,whosepersonalauthorityonthesite

provided the whole ‘official’ sanction and backing for Gantenbrink’s work.However, Hawass’s undocumented ‘verbal permission’ actually counted for agreat deal on theGiza plateau. Indeed it was as good as a signed and sealedmandate to the lowlyghafirsguarding the entrance to theGreat Pyramid andwas taken at face value not only by Gantenbrink and his team but also by ayoung inspector from theEAO,MuhammadShahy,whohadbeenassigned toworkwiththeGermans.[261]SoGantenbrinkreasonedthathewouldstillbeabletogoinandoutandwork

undisturbed in the Queen’s Chamber. This he successfully did, making rapidprogresswiththerobotintheexplorationofboththenorthernandthesouthernshafts.Earlyonthemorningof21March1993,justbeforestartingtheday’sworkas

usual,hepaidavisittoZahiHawassathisofficeontheGizaplateau.There,tohis consternation, he learned that theDirector of theGiza Pyramids had beensuspended from his post on account of an unrelated scandal concerning amissingFourth-Dynastystatue.[262](HawasswasnottobereinstatedasDirectoroftheGizaPyramidsuntilApril1994.)Thisunexpectedturnofeventscouldnothavecomeatamorevitalmoment—

for by 21 March 1993 Upuaut II was deep inside the southern shaft of theQueen’sChamberandwas,inGantenbrink’sopinion,veryclosetowhateverlayat the end. The exploration, however, was to go on. Destiny had fixed anamazingrendezvousforGantenbrinkonthenextday,22March,coincidentallythespringequinox.With him in the Queen’s Chamber on that fateful day were Jochen

Breitenstein, Dirk Brakebusch and Muhammad Shahy.[263] By 10 a.m.GantenbrinkhadmanagedtomanoeuvreUpuautIIadistanceof170feetupthe

shaft. At about 180 feet a sharp settlement in the floor of the shaft created adangerous obstacle that threatened to halt progress but that was eventuallysurmounted. Then, barely an hour later, at 11:05 a.m., after crawling a totaldistance of 200 feet into the shaft, the floor and walls became smooth andpolished and the robot suddenly—and one might almost say ‘in the nick oftime’—reachedtheendofitsjourney.Asthefirstimagesofthe‘door’withitspeculiarmetalfittingsappearedonthe

small television monitor in the Queen’s Chamber, Rudolf Gantenbrinkimmediately realised the massive implications of his find. This wasarchaeological history in the making[264] —an exciting and significant newdiscovery inside the world’s most famous and most mysterious ancientmonument.Anditwasinterestingtonotethatunderthelowerwesterncornerofthe ‘door’ therewas a littlegapbeneathwhich the red laser spotprojectedbyUpuaut was seen to disappear. The urge to look under the ‘door’ and seewhatever might lie beyond it must have been almost unbearable. The gap,however,wasfartoosmallforUpuaut’scameratobeabletopeerinto.Afibre-optic lenswouldneed tobeadded if thatwas tobedone,but rigging itwouldtakedays,perhapsevenweeks,toorganize.Aftertheinitialexcitementhaddieddown,Gantenbrink’sfirstinstinctwasto

makedoublycertainthattheuniquevideoimagesthathehadbeenlookingatonthescreenhadbeenproperlyrecorded.Oncehewassatisfiedthattherecordingswereexcellent,heandhisteampackedthetapes,togetherwiththerestoftheirgear,andreturnedtotheirbaseattheMovenpickHotel.For several days after 22 March nothing happened, with no official

announcement of any kind being made to the press by the GermanArchaeological Institute. The reason, it seems,was thatDr. Stadelmann couldnotmakeuphismindas towhat form,exactly, suchanannouncement shouldtake. During this hiatus, Gantenbrink and the film crew decided to return toMunich. They naturally took along all their equipment, including the twenty-eightvideotapesshotduringtheexploration.Afewdayslater,atthebeginningofApril1993,Gantenbrinksentusacopyofthetapeshowingthediscoveryofthe‘door’.WepassedthistapeontotheBritishmedia.

Muchado,thennothing

ThefirstmajorstoryappearedonthefrontpageoftheLondonIndependenton16April1993:

Archaeologistshavediscovered theentrance toapreviouslyunknownchamberwithin the largestofEgypt’s Pyramids. Some evidence suggests it might contain the royal treasures of the Pharaoh Cheops[Khufu], forwhomtheGreatPyramidwasbuilt4500yearsago.Thecontentsof thechamberarealmostcertainly intact.Theentrance isat theendofaslopingpassage65metres longbutonlyeight inches (20cm.)wideandeightincheshigh...AccordingtotheBelgianEgyptologistRobertBauval,thepassagepointsdirectlyattheDogstarSirius,heldbytheancientEgyptianstobetheincarnationofthegoddessIsis.Othersmall passages in the Pyramid appear to point to other heavenly bodies—theBelt ofOrion and the starAlphaDraconis,whichatthetimewasintheareanowoccupiedbythePoleStar...

ThereactiontotheIndependent’sfront-pagesplashwaselectrifying.Dozensof reporters from all over the world wanted to interview Gantenbrink withinhoursandthatsameeveningBritain’sChannel4TVNewscoveredthestoryindepth.Dr. I. E. S.Edwardsmade a rare appearance in this report and createdsomethingofasensationbytellingmillionsofexcitedviewersthat‘astatueofthekinggazing towards theconstellationofOrion’mightbe foundbehind themysterious‘door’.‘Butit’sawildguess—wehavenoprecedents,’hewasquicktoadd.Butwildguessornot,andstillwithnoclearstatementemanatingfromCairo,

theinternationalmediahadafieldday:‘PYRAMIDMAYHOLDPHARAOH’SSECRETS’ranthefrontpageofThe

AgeinMelbourne;‘SECRETCHAMBERMAYSOLVEPYRAMIDRIDDLE’shouted The Times in London; ‘NOUVEAU MYSTERE DANS LAPYRAMIDE’LeMondeannouncedexcitedlyinParis;‘PYRAMIDMYSTERY’reported the Los Angeles Times; ‘VIVE LA TECHNIQUE: PORTE POURKHEOPS!’criedLeMatininSwitzerland.[265]It was almost as though the cult of the Pyramid had suddenly come to life

again.Atanyratethestorycontinuedtorunformanymoreweeksindozensofregional newspapers and several international magazines.[266] Everyone, itseemed, wanted to know what was behind the little ‘door’, and why thePyramid’sshaftsweredirectedtowardsthestars...The first official riposte came from the German Archaeological Institute,

through Reuters in Germany, on 16 April 1993. Mrs. Christine Egorov,Stadelmann’s secretary—here presented as the Institutsprecherin—firmlypronouncedthattheveryideaofapossiblechamberattheendoftheshaftwasnonsense.TheQueen’sChamber’s‘air-channels’,sheexplained,didnotheadinthedirectionofanythingatallandthepurposeofGantenbrink’srobothadbeensolely‘tomeasurethehumidityofthePyramid’.[267]Soon afterwards, a second report went out on the Reuters wire, this time

quotingDr.Stadelmann: ‘I don’t knowhow this storyhappenedbut I can tell

youthisisveryannoying,’hefumed.‘Thereissurelynootherchamber...thereisnoroombehindthestone.’[268]

Politicalgames

In the years that followed Gantenbrink made repeated efforts to get hisexplorationof theQueen’sChambershaftsrestarted,arguingthat therewasnoneedtospeculateastowhetherornotthe‘door’wasreallyadoor,orwhethertheremightormightnotbeachamberconcealedbehindit:

I take an absolutely neutral position. It is a scientific process, and there is no need whatsoever toanswerquestionswithspeculationwhenquestionscouldbeansweredmuchmoreeasilybycontinuingtheresearch ...We have a device (ultrasonic) that would discover if there is a cavity behind the slab. It’snonsensicaltomaketheorieswhenwehavethetoolstodiscoverthefacts.’[269]

OneofthemainproblemsthatGantenbrinkfacedwasthathedidnotbelongto the Egyptological profession butwas regarded by the leading academics atGiza as a hired technician—which meant, by definition, that his views wereassumedtohavenomerit.Heexplainedhow,afterdiscoveringtheslab-doorinMarch1993,hehadbeenallbutignoredandthefindhandledwithindifference:‘I was scheduled to meet the Minister of Culture about the discovery, but itneverhappened.Apressconferencewasscheduled.Itneverhappened.’[270]Inlate1994,GantenbrinkannouncedinParisthathewaswillingtosupplythe

robottotheEgyptiansandeventrainanEgyptiantechnicianathisownexpenseso that the exploration could resume, but a few weeks later he was politelyrebuffedbytheEAO’sChairman,Dr.NurElDin:‘Thankyouforyouroffertotrain theEgyptian technician [NurElDinhadwritten] ...unfortunatelyweareverybusyforthetimebeing,thereforewewillpostponethematter.’[271]‘The search for truth’, Gantenbrink commented in January 1995, ‘is too

importanttoberuinedbyasillypoliticalgame.Myonlyhopeisthattheywillsoonreachthesameconclusions.’[272]

BreakfastwithGantenbrink

On 19 February 1995 we arrived in Egypt and the next morning hadbreakfastwithRudolfGantenbrinkattheMovenpickHotelinGiza.He had been in Egypt for most of the previous week, still trying to obtain

permission to resumehis explorationof theQueen’sChamber shafts, andwasreturning to Munich later that morning. During his visit, he told us, he hadfinallymanagedtohaveaface-to-facemeetingwithDr.NurElDin.

‘Whatwastheresponse?’weasked.Gantenbrink shrugged his shoulders: ‘Encouraging.’But he looked less than

encouraged.WethenaskedifhehadbeenbackinsidetheQueen’sChamberonthisvisit.‘No,’hereplied,‘Iprefernottogothere.’Hecouldnotbearthethought,hetoldus,ofreturningtothesiteofhisgreat

discoverywithouthisrobot,purposelessly, likea tourist. ‘Iwillgobackin theQueen’sChamberwithUpuautandcomplete theexplorationof theshafts,’hesaidproudly,‘orIwon’tgobackthereatall.’

Selectgroups

That samemonth—February1995—oneof themostprosperousandactivemembers of the Association for Research and Enlightenment spoke to us bytelephonefromtheUnitedStatesaboutplansthatwereinhandforfurtheringthequestfortheHallofRecordsattheGizanecropolis:

Thenextthreeyearsaregoingtobesuperyears...Wesortofhave‘96setupforourlittleexpeditionto the Sphinx—with underground radar. 1996 was when Zahi said we’d be able to go.We’ll do moreground-scanningandmostofallwe’regoingtoget toloveandunderstandthepeoplearoundus,andthevariousgroups,andworkwiththem...andIfigurethatby’98we’llhitsomething.[273]

We learnt in the same conversation that the same individual had beenkeeping a close watch on events surrounding the hidden door in the GreatPyramidduringthetwoyearssinceRudolfGantenbrink’sprojecthadgroundtoa halt.He claimed to have been informed that the Egyptian authoritieswouldsoonmakeanattempttoreachthedoorwiththeirownrobotinordertoinsertafibre-optic camera beneath it and to seewhatever lies beyond. Our informantalso said thathehadbeen invitedby ‘Zahi’ tobeamongst the selectgroupofwitnessespresent insidethePyramidwhenthismomenteventuallycomes:‘Hepromised me a one-month’s advance notice before they do anything ...Something’sdefinitelygoingtohappen.He’snotsurewhen.Hehaddelays—Ithinkwiththerobot—butthey’llgetitdone...’[274]Butwhatexactlywillgetdone?Bywhom?Withwhatmotive?Howcertainis

it that the publicwill be properly informed about any further discoveries thatmight be made? And how reliable and comprehensive are the orthodoxEgyptologicalinterpretationsofsuchdiscoverieslikelytobe?Onethingatanyrateseemscertain:RudolfGantenbrink,whoseinventiveness

anddaring led to the original discoveryof thedoor at the endof theQueen’sChamber’s mysterious southern shaft, is unlikely to be present. In September

1995itwasreportedtousthattheEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganizationhadissuednotificationtotheGermanauthoritiesadvisingthattheydidnotwishtopursuetheexplorationintheGreatPyramid.[275]

Burial

After reviewing the scholarlygoingsonconcerning thepossiblegeologicalantiquityoftheSphinxandthe‘anomalies’locatedinthebedrockbeneathit,thecaseoftheironplateinthesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber,andthecaseof the relics found in the shafts of the Queen’s Chamber, we are frankly notsurprised by the case of Gantenbrink’s ‘door’. Here, too, orthodox academicshave participated in the burial of research that promises new insights into theGiza monuments and—more than three years after the discovery—the ‘door’stillremainedunopened.We have no opinion as to whether or not it might lead to a ‘Hall of

Records’—‘records’onpapyrusscrollstodowiththe‘religion’ofthebuildersasZahiHawassspeculatedin1993duringhisyearofabsencefromhispostasDirector of the Giza Pyramids.[276] Our own research has convinced us,however, that the shaft in which Rudolf Gantenbrink made his remarkablediscoveryislinkedtoanarchaicsystemofbeliefsandritualsthatenvisagedthemonumentsoftheGizanecropolisasan‘imageofheaven’.InPartsIIIandIVwewillattempttodecodethisimageandlearnitsmeaning.

PartIII

Duality

Chapter8

TheCluesofDuality‘Newton...wasthelastofthemagicians...WhydoIcallhimamagician?Becausehelookedatthe

wholeuniverseandall that is in itasariddle,asasecret thatcouldbereadbyapplyingpure thought tocertainevidence,certainmysticclueswhichGodhadlaidabouttheworldtoallowasortofphilosopher’streasure hunt to the esoteric brotherhood. He believed that these clues were to be found partly in theheavens ... partly in certain papers and traditions handed down by the bretheren ... By pure thought, byconcentrationofmind,theriddle,hebelieved,wouldberevealedtotheinitiate...’

JohnMaynardKeynes,TheRoyalSociety,NewtonTercentenaryCelebrations,1947

WesawinPartsIandIIhowtheastronomicalcharacterofthearchitecture

oftheSphinxandoftheGizaPyramidshasfailedtointerestEgyptologistsandhasnotbeentakenintoaccountintheiranalysisofthefunctionandsignificanceof the monuments. This, in our view, has resulted in a number of seriousmisinterpretations of the available evidence—perhaps the most flagrantexamplesofwhich,atthelevelofphysicalexplorationandresearch,havebeenthe chronic neglect of the four astronomically aligned shafts of the GreatPyramid and the long and shockingperiodof inactivityover thematter of the‘door’inthesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber.We hinted at the end of Part I that the logic of all these shafts, and of the

ground-plan and symbolism of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, appears to beconnected to certainverypowerful religious andcosmological ideas set out inancient Egyptian funerary and rebirth texts and in the so-called ‘Hermetic’writings.These express the philosophy ‘as above, so below’ and advocate thedrawingdowntoearthofcosmicpowersasanessentialstepinMankind’squestforknowledgeof thedivineand immortalityof thesoul: ‘AndI, saidHermes,willmakeMankindintelligent,Iwillconferwisdomonthem,andmakeknowntothemthetruth.Iwillneverceasetobenefittherebythelifeofmortalmen;andthenwillIbenefiteachoneofthem,whentheforceofnatureworkinginhimisinaccordwiththemovementofthestarsabove.’[277]In the following chapters we will offer evidence to suggest that the

extraordinarymonumentsof theGizanecropolis arepart of agrand and long-forgottenschemetoinitiatecertainselectindividuals,themostrecentofwhomwere the Pharaohs of Egypt, into an esoteric cosmic wisdom linking earth toheaven bymeans of which they sincerely expected to transcend the limits of

death:Alltheworldwhichliesbelowhasbeensetinorderandfilledwithcontentsbythethingswhichare

placed above; for the things below have not the power to set in order the world above. The weakermysteriesmustyield to the stronger; and the systemof thingsonhigh is stronger than the thingsbelow.[278]

ThyprotectoristheStar-God...thysoulpassethon...thybodyisequippedwithpower...Thedoorsof thehidden landareopenedbefore thee ...Osiris, conquerorofmillionsofyears, comethunto thee ...[279]

Cosmicenvironment

The world view of the ancient Egyptians, which they appear to haveinherited intact and fully formed at the very beginning of their historicalcivilization some 5000 years ago, was profoundly dualistic and cosmological.The foundation of Pharaonic theocracy, the unification of the ‘TwoLands’ ofUpperandLowerEgyptintoonekingdom,thenotionsthattheyhadoftheirownpastandancestry, their lawsandcalendricalmeasures, thearchitectureof theirtemplesandpyramidcomplexes,andeventhelandofEgyptitselfandtheNile—all thesewerecosmologicalconcepts tothem.Indeed, theysawtheircosmicenvironment (thesky, theMilkyWay, thesunand thestars, themoonand theplanets,andalltheircycles)asbeingboundtogetherinperfectdualitywiththeirearthlyenvironment(theirlandandtheNile,theirlivingkingandhisancestors,andthecyclesoftheseasonsandepochs).Wesuspect that thehistoryofancientEgypt, totheextent that itwaswritten

downatallinpapyriandtabletsandinscriptions,wasfrequentlyexpressedinakindof‘cosmiccode’ritualisticallyandsymbolicallylinked—likethePyramidsthemselves—totheever-changingpatternsof thesky.Fromthis it follows thatwemustlooktothesky,justastheEgyptiansdid,ifwewishtounderstandtheideas that they were trying to communicate in their (on the face of things)extremely strange and problematic religious writings. These writings includemysterious and archaic texts aimed at guiding the afterlife journey of thedeceased, suchas theBookof theDead (which theancientEgyptiansknewasPer-Ém-Hru,theBookof‘ComingForthByDay’),theBookofTwoWays,theBookofGates,theBookofWhatisintheDuatandtheCoffinTexts.Oldestandmostenigmaticofallthesefuneraryandrebirthdocumentshowever,aretheso-calledPyramidTextswhichbegantobecopiedandcompiledfromoldersourcesin the second half of the thirdmillennium bc. These remarkable records havecome down to us in the form of lavish hieroglyphic inscriptions on the tomb

wallsofanumberofFifth—andSixth-DynastypyramidsatSaqqara,sometenmilestothesouthoftheGizanecropolis,andofferusahithertoneglectedkeyby means of which the secrets of the great Pyramids and the Sphinx can beunlocked.

Astronomicalessence

Alltheabove-nameddocuments,andmanymore,havebeentranslatedintomodern languagesduring thepasthundredyears,andallhavebeenstudiedbyscholars—the majority of whom would not dispute that they incorporate acomplexnetworkofastronomicalreferences,symbols,allegoriesandallusions.[280]Onlyahandfulofresearchers,however,haveconsideredthepossibilitythatthese astronomical characteristics could constitute the essence of the texts. InthisgroupthelateGiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechend,whosestudy,Hamlet’sMill,weencounteredinChapter4,havecommentedonthemannerinwhich the soul of the deceased Pharaoh was thought of as having travelledthroughtheskies:

... well-equipped ... with his Pyramid Text or Coffin Text, which represented his indispensabletimetableandcontainedtheordainedaddressesofeverycelestialindividualhewasexpectedtomeet.ThePharaohrelieduponhisparticulartextasthelessdistinguisheddeadrelieduponhiscopyofchaptersfromtheBookof theDead,andhewas prepared to change shape into the ... semblance ofwhatever celestial‘station’mustbepassed,andtorecitethefittingformulaetoovercomehostilebeings...[281]

Santillana and von Dechend also comment, somewhat witheringly, on thehopelessinadequacyofmanyofthetranslationsthatscholarsworkwithtoday—translationswhichtreattheastronomicalaspectsofthetextsasthoughtheyareofnoparticularrelevance:

SotheelaborateinstructionsintheBookoftheDead,referringtothesoul’scelestialvoyage,translateinto ‘mystical’ talk, andmust be treated as holymumbo jumbo.But then,modern translators believe sofirmlyintheirowninvention,accordingtowhichtheunderworldhastobelookedforintheinteriorofourglobe—insteadofinthesky—thateven370specificastronomicaltermswouldnotcausethemtostumble.[282]

The problem identified here is, we will demonstrate, a large and multi-faceted one which has led scholarly analysis of the texts into a blind alleythroughacompleteandconspicuousneglectof:(a)themostimportantreligiousconceptoftheancientEgyptians;(b)themostvitalfeatureoftheirlandandskyand(c)themostfundamentalelementoftheirspiritualandcosmologicalbeliefs.

Otherworld

In the earliest religious writings that have survived from ancient Egypt apowerful symbolic terminology is used to describe the cosmic ‘world of thedead’anditsfeatures.ThisworldisreferredtoastheDuat[283]—aconceptthatis routinely translated by modern Egyptologists as ‘the Underworld’ (orsometimesasthe‘Netherworld’).[284]InthePyramidTexts,however,theDuatisclearly a location in the starry sky—as many distinguished Egyptologists ofearliergenerationssuchasSelimHassan,SirE.A.WallisBudgeandKurtSethewereundoubtedlyaware.[285]Yeteventhesepioneersfailedtogettogripswiththe full implications and characteristics of the concept because they lackedfamiliaritywithastronomy.Forexample,inhisanalysisofthevariouswaysinwhichthewordDuatwas

inscribed in hieroglyphic characters throughout the whole span of Egyptianhistory, Selim Hassan makes the following comment: ‘If we consider theevidence afforded by the meaning of its name during the Old Kingdom [thePyramidAge],weshall see that theoriginalDuat, the futureUnderworld,waslocalized in the sky.’[286]He then cites the view ofKurt Sethe that ‘theDuatcouldbeeithertheredglowoftwilightwhichprecedesthedawn(i.e.the“falsedawn”) or the spacious region in the east of the skywhere this glow appears...’[287]Hassangoesontoquotefromline151ofthePyramidTexts:‘Orionhasbeen

envelopedbytheDuat;whilehewholivesintheHorizon(i.e.Re[thesun-god])purifies himself; Sothis [Sirius] has been enveloped by the Duat ... in theembraceof[their]fatherAtum.’In Hassan’s opinion: ‘This clearly shows how, as the sun rises and purifies

himselfintheHorizon,thestarsOrionandSothis[Sirius],withwhomtheKingisidentified,areenvelopedbytheDuat.Thisisatrueobservationofnature,andit really appears as though the stars are swallowed up each morning in theincreasingglowof thedawn.Perhaps thedeterminativeof thewordDuat, thestarwithinacircle,illustratestheideaofthisenvelopingofthestar.Whenonhisway to join the stars, the dead kingmust first pass by (or through) theDuatwhichwill serve toguidehim in the rightdirection.Thuswesee inUtterance610[ofthePyramidTexts]:“TheDuatguidesyourfeettotheDwelling-placeofOrion...TheDuatguidesyourhandtotheDwelling-placeofOrion.”...’[288]

Starsrisingwiththesun

Hassan’sassessmentofthecelestiallandscapeoftheDuatisonlyaccurateinasmuchasherealizesthatitisintheeast,thatthemomentofobservationisthe

predawn (which he calls ‘false dawn’, and that the constellation of Orion(Osiris), the star Sirius (Isis), the sun (Re), and some other cosmic featurerepresenting‘Atum’(the‘Father’oftheGods),arealltobefoundintheDuat.Because he is not conversant with basic celestial mechanics, however, andbecausehefailstosettherelevantlinesfromthePyramidTextsinthecontextoftheir time and their place, he then goes on to make a serious error ofinterpretation which has subsequently been compounded by numerous otherastronomicallyilliteratescholars:1. The time thePyramidTextswerecompiledwas theepochof2800bc to

2300bcapproximately.[289]

2.TheplaceofobservationoftheskywasjustsouthofmodernCairointheso-called‘Memphitenecropolis’ (namedafterMen-nefer, later ‘Memphis’, thefirsthistoricallyrecognizedcapitalofancientEgypt),wherestandthegreatPyramidsofGiza (andalso lesserOldKingdompyramids suchas thoseatAbuRoash,Abusir,Saqqara,DahshurandMeidum).[290]

3.TheerrorthatHassanmakesishisassumptionthatthestarsinquestion—i.e.OrionandSirius—areswallowedup‘eachmorning’inthe‘increasingglowofthedawn.’

34.The‘Memphitenecropolis’—PyramidfieldsfromAbuRoashtoDahshur.

35. Rising points of the sun at the solstices and equinoxes as observed from the Memphitenecropolis.Intheepochof2500bc—the‘PyramidAge’—theDuatwasobservedandconsideredtobeactiveonlyatthetimeofthesummersolsticewhenthestarsofOrionandSiriusroseheliacally(i.e.justaheadofthesun)atdawn.

Infactthereisonlyonetimeoftheyearwhenthis‘swallowing-up’occurs—atime that slowly alters down the epochs because of the earth’s precessionalmotion. The long and the short of it is that in the Pyramid Age the specificphenomenadescribedinthetexts,andaddressedbyHassan(phenomenaknowntechnicallyas the‘heliacalrisings’ofOrionandSirius, i.e. therisingsof thesestars just ahead of the sun at dawn) could only have been observed at aroundmidsummer—i.e. at the summer solstice.[291] TheDuat, in other words, wasconsideredbytheancientEgyptianstobeactiveonlyatthetimeofthesummersolstice when Orion and Sirius rose heliacally and not, as Hassan suggests,throughouttheyear.With these facts inmind, let us attempt to reinterpret the cosmicDuat, this

timeplacingitinitsproperastronomicalcontext.

Cosmicriver

OneofthemostsalientfeaturesoftheDuat,asitisdescribedintheancientEgyptian texts, is its relationship toagreat cosmic ‘river’ called the ‘WindingWaterway’. Several studies have confirmed beyond any serious doubt that the‘WindingWaterway’was themagicalbandof lightmeanderingacross theskythatweknowasthe‘MilkyWay’.[292]It isalsoevidentthattheancientpriest-astronomers who compiled the Pyramid Texts identified the terrestrialcounterpart of this ‘WindingWaterway’ in the sky as the River Nile and its

yearly flood, the ‘Great Inundation’,whichalsohappened tocoincidewith thesummersolstice:[293]

TheWindingWaterwayisflooded, theFieldsofRushesarefilledwithwater,andIamferriedoverthereontoyondereasternsideoftheSky,theplacewherethegodsfashionedme...[Orion’s]sisterisSothis[Sirius]...[294]

IhavecometomywaterwayswhichareinthebankoftheFloodoftheGreatInundation,totheplaceofcontentment...whichisintheHorizon...[295]

May you lift me and raise me to the Winding Waterway, may you set me among the gods, theImperishablestars...[296]

As Sir E. A. Wallis Budge rightly observed: ‘the Egyptians ... from theearliest times ...depicted to themselvesamaterialheaven [theDuat] ...on thebanks of a Heavenly Nile, whereon they built cities.’[297] And similarly thephilologistRaymondFaulkner,who translated thePyramidTextsandmuchofthe other religious literature of ancient Egypt into English, could not avoidmaking the obvious correlations between the ‘celestial river’, the ‘WindingWaterway’andtheMilkyWay.[298]

KingdomofOsirisinthesky

ThestarsofOrionandSiriusarelocatedontherightbankoftheMilkyWay,which—atthesummersolsticeinthePyramidAge—wouldhaveappearedasavertical‘cosmicriver’inthepredawnintheeast.To the ancient Egyptians, therefore, theDuat could not possibly have been

seen merely as some vague, blank, rose-tinted region somewhere over theeasternhorizon.Onthecontrary,itclearlyhadanextremelyspecificaddressinthesky—the‘DwellingPlace’of‘OrionandSirius’onthebanksofthe‘celestialNile’:

BefirmOOsiris-King[Orion]on theundersideof theskywith theBeautifulStar [Sirius]upon thebendoftheWindingWaterway...[299]

BetakeyourselftotheWaterway...MayastairwaytotheDuatbesetforyoutotheplacewhereOrionis...[300]

OKing, you are this Great Star, the companion of Orion, who traverses the sky with Orion, whonavigates[in]theDuatwithOsiris...’[301]

36.TheskyregionoftheDuatwiththestarsofOrionandSiriusrisingheliacallyjustaheadofthesunatdawnonthesummersolstice.Itwasatthistimeoftheyear,andatthismomentonly,thattheDuatwasconsideredtobe‘active’.NotethattheMilkyWayatthissamemomentappearedasavertical ‘cosmic river’ in the east.Also shown is the trajectoryof theOrion starsafter theirdawnrisinguntiltheirculminationatthemeridian.

With this starry landscape in mind, we can begin to conjure up a fairlydetailed image of the Duat, the ‘Kingdom of Osiris’ in the sky—a distinctpatternofstars,ataspecificcelestiallocation,thatcomescompletewithitsown‘cosmicNile’.Butwhenwasthiscosmickingdom‘founded’?

‘FirstTime’

Intheirmostprofoundandbeautifulreligioustexts,aswenotedinPartI,theancientEgyptiansspokeof‘the timeof thegods’,ZepTepi(literally the‘FirstTime’) with the unshakeable conviction that there had indeed been such anepoch.Inotherwords,theybelievedthatZepTepihadbeenanactual,historicalevent. In linewith their prevailingdualism they alsobelieved that it hadbeenprojectedand‘recorded’inthecatalogueofthestarrysky.Indeeditwasastorythatwasre-enactedendlesslyinthecosmicsettingbythecyclicaldisplaysofthecelestialorbsandtheconstellations.What theyhadinmind, inotherwords,wasakindofcosmic‘passionplay’,

expressed in the language of allegorical astronomy, in which each maincharacterwas identifiedwith a specific celestial body.Rewas the sun,OsiriswasOrion,IsiswasthestarSirius,Thothwasthemoon—andsoonandsoforth.Norwasthedramaonlyconfinedtothecelestialrealms;onthecontrary,asonemight expect in dualistic ancient Egypt, itwas also re-enacted on the ground,amidst the cosmic ambiance of the astronomical Pyramids ofGiza,where the

eventsofthe‘FirstTime’werecommemoratedformillenniainsecretritualsandliturgies.[302]Verylittle isknownabout these liturgies,orabout themyths theyexpressed.

AstheEgyptologistR.T.RundleClarkexplains:

The creation of the myths was founded on certain principles. These are strange and, as yet, onlypartiallyunderstood.Themostimportantelementseemstohavebeenasfollows:

(a)Thebasicprinciplesoflife,natureandsocietyweredeterminedbythegodslongago,beforetheestablishmentofkingship.Thisepoch—ZepTepi—‘theFirstTime’—stretchedfromthefirststirringoftheHighGodinthePrimevalWaterstothesettlingofHorusuponthethroneandtheredemptionofOsiris.Allpropermythsrelateeventsormanifestationsofthisepoch.

(b)Anythingwhoseexistenceorauthorityhadtobejustifiedorexplainedmustbereferredtothe‘FirstTime’.Thiswastruefornaturalphenomena,rituals,royalinsignia,theplansoftemples,magicalormedicalformulae, thehieroglyphicsystemofwriting, thecalendar—thewholeparaphernaliaof thecivilization ...[303]

RundleClarkhasalsorecognizedthatEgyptianart‘isnearlyallsymbolism’,that ‘the architectural arrangements and decoration were a kind of mythicallandscape’workeddowntothelastdetail,andthateverythinghadameaning:

Theshrine[tomborpyramidcomplex]ofthegod[theking],forinstance,wasthe‘Horizon’,thelandofgloriouslightbeyondthedawnhorizonwherethegodsdwelt.TheTemplewasanimageoftheuniverseasitnowexistedand,at thesametime,thelandonwhichitstoodwasthePrimevalMoundwhicharosefromthewatersof thePrimevalOceanatCreation ...At thecloseof thedaily templeservice, thepriestsraisedasmall figureofMaat (thegoddessofLawandOrder) in frontof thedivine image.ThisactwasmeanttoassertthatTightnessandorderhadbeenre-established,butitwasalsoarepetitionofaneventthattookplaceatthebeginningoftheworld...ofsomemythicalhappeninginthetimeofthegods...[304]

GoldenAgeandtheentryofevil

In later chapters we shall be returning to take a closer look at this ‘FirstTime’ of the gods. Here, however, it is sufficient to note that Zep Tepiwasregarded as a mysterious and wonderful golden age that had immediatelyfollowedCreation.Furthermore, in themindsof theancientEgyptiansat least,thisgoldenagehadnotoccurredinsomehard-to-findnever-neverlandliketheBiblical‘GardenofEden’but inafamiliarandunmistakablyrealphysicalandhistorical setting. Indeed it was their emphatic belief that the huge triangularregion just south of the apex of the Nile Delta encompassing Heliopolis,Memphis and Giza was the actual geographical location of the events of the‘FirstTime’—areal‘GardenofEden’,inshort,withrealgeographicalfeatures

andplaces.Itwashere,amidstthissacredlandscape,thatthegodsofthe‘FirstTime’weresaidinthetextstohaveestablishedtheirearthlykingdom.[305]AndwhatwastheculturalcharacterofthatKingdom?RundleClarkgivesthe

bestsummary:...all thatwasgoodorefficaciouswasestablishedontheprinciples laiddownin the‘FirstTime’—

whichwas,therefore,agoldenageofabsoluteperfection—‘beforerageorclamourorstrifeoruproarhadcomeabout’.Nodeath,diseaseordisasteroccurredinthisblissfulepoch,knownvariouslyas‘thetimeofRe’,‘thetimeofOsiris’,or‘thetimeofHorus’...[306]

37.ThehugetriangularregionjustsouthoftheapexoftheNileDeltaencompassingHeliopolis,MemphisandGizawasregardedbytheancientEgyptiansastheactualgeographicallocationoftheeventsofthe‘FirstTime’—asortofgeodetic‘GardenofEden’focusedonastronomicallatitude30degreesnorth.

ThegodsOsirisandHorus,togetherwithRe(inhiscompositeformasRe-Atum, the ‘Father’of thegods)were regardedby theancientEgyptiansas thesupremeexpressionsandexemplarsofthe‘blissfulepochofthe“FirstTime”’.[307]

Osiris they remembered in particular for having been the first to sit on the

throneofthisdivineKingdom,whichheruledjointlywithhisconsortIsis.[308]Thegolden age of plenty overwhich the royal couple presided (duringwhichagricultureandanimalhusbandryweretaughttohumansandlawsandreligiousdoctrinesweresetforthem)washoweverbroughttoanabruptandviolenthaltwhenOsiriswasmurderedbyhisbrother,Seth.Leftwithoutchild,IsisbroughtthedeadOsirisback to life for longenough to receivehisseed.Asa resultofthis union she, in due course, gave birth to Horus whose destiny it was towranglebackthe‘kingdomofOsiris’fromtheclutchesofhiseviluncleSeth.

Shabakatexts

In all its essential elements this is, of course, the story that we know asHamlet(whichhasafarolderpedigreethantheShakespeareplay[309]),anditisalso, in its most recent Hollywood manifestation, the story of the Lion King(brothermurders brother, bereaved sonof themurder victim takes revengeonhisuncleandsetstheKingdomtorights).The original Egyptian version of the story—the so-called ‘Memphite

Theology’—isfoundin texts inscribedonamonumentknownas the‘ShabakaStone’,nowintheBritishMuseum.[310]Herewereadhow,afteragreatquarrelbetweenHorusandSeth(inwhichHoruslostaneyeandSethatesticle)Geb,theearth-god (the father of Osiris and Isis), summoned the Great Council of theGods—the nine-member ‘Ennead’ of Heliopolis—and with them passedjudgementbetweenHorusandSeth:

Geb, lord of the gods, commanded theNineGods to gather to him.He judged betweenHorus andSeth;heended theirquarrel.HemadeSethkingofUpperEgypt,up to theplace inwhichhewasborn,whichisSu.AndGebmadeHoruskingofLowerEgypt,uptotheplaceinwhichhisfather[Osiris]wasdrowned[311]which is ‘Division-of-the-Two-Lands’.ThusHorus stoodover one region, andSeth stoodoveroneregion.TheymadepeaceovertheTwoLandsatAyan.ThatwasthedivisionoftheTwoLands...[312]

Letusnote inpassing thatAyan isnotamythicalplacebutwasanactual,physical location in ancient Egypt immediately to the north ofMemphis, theEarly Dynastic capital city.[313] The judgement that was made here was laterchanged,astheShabakaTextsgoontotellus:

ThenitseemedwrongtoGebthattheportionofHoruswasliketheportionofSeth.SoGebgavetoHorushis[Seth’s]inheritance,forhe[Horus]isthesonofhisfirstborn[Osiris]...

ThenHorusstoodoverthetwolands.HeistheuniteroftheTwoLands,proclaimedinthegreatname:

Ta-tenen, ‘South-of-his-Wall’, ‘LordofEternity’...He isHorus,whoaroseasKingofUpperandLowerEgypt,whounitedtheTwoLandsinthe[District]oftheWall[Memphis],theplacewheretheTwoLandswereunited...[314]

Treasuretrail

Whatwehavein thisamazingstoryisasortof treasuretrailofcluesas tohowtheancientEgyptiansthemselvessawthemythical-historicaltransferofthe‘deeds’orkeysof the ‘KingdomofOsiris’ toHorusby theGreatEnneadandGeb.It seems clear, for example, that thismomentous eventwas thought to have

takenplaceatAyan,immediatelytothenorthofMemphis,i.e.about10milesorsosouthofmodernCairo.[315]Andasfor thedeadOsiris, theShabakaTexts tellushowthegodwas taken

andburied‘inthelandofSokar’:Thisistheland...theburial[place]ofOsirisintheHouseofSokar...HorusspeakstoIsisand[her

sister]Nepthys:‘Hurry,grasphim...’IsisandNepthysspeaktoOsiris:‘Wecome,wetakeyou...’Theyheededintimeandbroughthimtoland.HeenteredthehiddenportalsinthegloryoftheLordsofEternity.ThusOsiriscameintotheEarth,attheRoyalFortress,tothenorthofthelandtowhichhehadcome.AndhissonHorusaskingofUpperEgypt,aroseaskingofLowerEgyptintheembraceofhisfatherOsiris...[316]

Where,what,andwhosewasthe‘landofSokar’?ItturnsouttohavebeenanepithetusedbytheancientEgyptianstodescribe

the extensive ‘Memphite necropolis’ incorporating the Pyramid-field of Giza.According to Sir E. A.Wallis Budge, for example: ‘The dominions of SokarweresituatedinthedesertsroundaboutMemphisandweresupposedtocoveralargeextentofterritory.’[317]I.E.S.Edwardstellsusthatthename‘Sokar’wasthatof‘thegodoftheMemphitenecropolis’—apredynasticdeityofthedead—andthat‘byPyramidtimesOsirishadbecomeidentifiedwithSokar’.[318]R.T.RundleClark then further complicates the picture by speaking of ‘Rostau, themodernGiza, the burial place ofMemphis and the home of a form of OsirisknownasSokar’.[319]What confronts us, therefore, appears to be a linked sequence of ideas

involving Osiris, Sokar, the ‘land of Sokar’ (identified with the Memphitenecropolis),andnow‘Rostau’,theancientEgyptiannameforthePyramid-fieldatGiza—anamethatisinfactcarvedinhieroglyphsonthegranitestela,whichweencounteredinPartI,thatstandstothisdaybetweenthepawsoftheGreatSphinx.[320]That same stela alsodescribesGiza inmoregeneral terms as ‘the

SplendidPlaceofthe“FirstTime”’andspeaksoftheSphinxasstandingbeside‘theHouseofSokar’.[321]Sothecluesonthetreasuretrail,aswellasOsiris,Sokar,thelandofSokarand

Rostau-Giza,nowalso include the ‘HouseofSokar’and leadusback towardsZepTepi,the‘FirstTime’.Bearingallthisinmind,letusreturnforafinallookattheMemphitetheology

asitisexpressedintheShabakaTexts.WefindHorusfirmlyinpossessionoftheearthly‘KingdomofOsiris’(which

hadofcoursebeenfoundedinthe‘FirstTime’)andwefindthebodyofOsirishimself safely installed in ‘the House of Sokar’.[322] Under these idealconditions,according to the texts, the spiritualized formofOsiriswas freed todepart to the sky—and to a specific location in the sky that we have alreadyidentified: ‘the place where Orion is’.[323] There it was held that he hadestablished theDuat—the cosmic ‘Otherworld’on the rightbankof theMilkyWay—asasortofcelestial‘KingdomofOsiris’fortheDead.[324]

Sphinxgod

SelimHassanactuallycallstheDuat‘theKingdomofOsiris’andshowshow‘Osiris is styled “Lord of the Duat” and the Osiris-King [i.e. the deceasedPharaoh]“acompanionofOrion”...’[325]Hethenprovidesapieceofincidentalinformationwhichaddstoourtrailofclueswhenhepointsout,onthebasisofcareful textual analysis, that the Duat appears in some way to be linked toRostau.[326]

38.Thepassageways,chambersandcorridorsofthe‘landofSokar’intheFifthDivisionoftheDuatasdepictedontombwallsbearacloseresemblancetothepassageways,chambersandcorridorsof theGreatPyramid.Could one of the functions of thePyramidhave been to serve as a kind of‘model’orsimulationoftheafterworldinwhichinitiatesunderwenttrialsandordeals?

Like other commentators,Hassan acknowledges that ‘the name ofRostau isappliedtotheGizanecropolis’.[327]Buthealso,atvariouspoints,definesRostauas ‘the Kingdom of Osiris in the tomb’,[328] and as ‘the MemphiteUnderworld’—i.e. theMemphiteDuat.[329] In thiscontextheexamines theso-called twelve ‘Divisions’ (or ‘Hours’) of theBookofWhat is in theDuatandshowsthatreferencestothe‘landofSokar’appearinthis text.Indeed, tobealittlemorespecific,hedrawsourattentiontoamostintriguingfact.ThelandofSokaroccupiestheFifthDivisionoftheDuat[330]and:‘ThecentreoftheFifth

Division[is]calledRostau.’[331]SoEgyptologists donot dispute thatwehave aRostauon the ground in the

formofthePyramid-fieldatGizaandaRostauintheskyintheformoftheFifthDivisionoftheDuat—aplace,asthereaderwillrecall,thatwasnotseenasan‘Underworld’bytheancientEgyptiansbutratherasaspecificcelestiallocationinOrion.Furthermore,aswenotedinpassinginPartI,thepassageways,chambersand

corridors of the land of Sokar—amply portrayed on tomb walls in survivingdepictions of the Fifth Division of the Duat—uncannily resemble thepassageways,chambersandcorridorsoftheGreatPyramidofGiza.Indeedtheresemblance is so close that it is permissible to wonder whether one of thefunctions of the Pyramid may have been to serve as a kind of model or‘simulation’ of the afterworld in which initiates underwent trials and ordealsintended to prepare them intellectually and spiritually for the terrifyingexperiencesandjudgementsthatthesoulwasbelievedtoconfrontafterdeath.Here, perhaps, was the testing ground for the ancient Egyptian ‘science of

immortality’elaboratedineveryutteranceandvignetteoftheprincipalfuneraryandrebirthtexts—thepurposeofwhichwastofacilitatethejourneyofthesoulthroughthedauntingtrapsandpitfallsoftheDuat.Additional food for thought in this regard is providedbySelimHassanwho

doesnotneglect tomention thatoneof thedistinguishing featuresof theFifthDivisionof theDuat is thepresence thereof agiant ‘double-lion’Sphinx-godnamedAker,whoseeminglyprotects the‘KingdomofSokar’.[332]Hassanalsopointsout that ‘aboveAker in this scene isa largePyramid’.[333]Hesays thatthis symbolism, when put in ‘conjunction with Aker in Sphinx form and thenameofRostau’, suggests that ‘theFifthDivisionwasoriginally a [complete]versionoftheDuatandhaditsgeographicalcounterpartintheGizanecropolis’.[334]

39. The Fifth Division of the Duat features a gigantic ‘double-lion’ Sphinx-god and a largePyramid.ComparethissymbolicimagerywiththeGreatSphinxandGreatPyramidseeninprofilefromthesouth-east.

Insupportofthisidea,HassanthenrefersustoanotheroftheancientEgyptianfunerarytexts,theso-calledBookofTwoWays,wherementionismadeof‘theHighlandofAker,whichistheDwellingPlaceofOsiris’andalsoof‘OsiriswhoisintheHighlandofAker’.[335]Hassansuggeststhat‘highlandofAker’maybea reference to theGiza plateau, ‘where is the earthlyRostau’.[336] Exactly thesame idea occurred to the American Egyptologist Mark Lehner in his 1974pamphlet,TheEgyptianHeritage.[337]Here,aftercompletingastudyofRostau,hewrote:‘itistemptingtoseethelionfiguresofAkerasarepresentationoftheSphinxatGiza.’[338]

RoadsofRostau

TheBookofTwoWaysisatextthatwascopiedontothefloorsandsidesofcoffins over a 250-year span (2050-1800 bc) during the Middle Kingdom.

Accordingtothearchaeo-astronomerJaneB.Sellersitwasdesigned‘toaidthesoulofthedeceasedtopassalongtheroadstoRostau,theGateinthenecropoliswhichgivesaccesstothe“PassagesoftheNetherworld”...’[339]TherelatedCoffinTexts(2134-1783bc)shedfurtherlightonthematterwhen

theystate:IhavepassedoverthepathsofRostau,whetheronwateroronland,andthesearethepathsofOsiris,

theyare[also]inthelimitofthesky...[340]

IamOsiris;IhavecometoRostautoknowthesecretsoftheDuat...[341]

Ishallnotbe turnedbackat thegatesof theDuat; Iascend to theskywithOrion ... IamonewhocollectshiseffluxinfrontofRostau...[342]

AsSellerspointsout,manyancientEgyptiantextsinsist‘thatthetopographyofRostau,thoughinthesky,isonwaterandonland.’[343]Shealsoproposesthat‘the paths byway ofwater’ could have been in that area of the sky that ‘weknow as the Milky Way’.[344] This idea seems highly plausible when weremember that the ‘cosmic address’ of theDuat is the ‘Kingdom ofOsiris inOrion’ on the right bank of the Milky Way. The logic of ancient Egyptiandualitythereforesuggeststhat‘thepathsbywayofland’shouldbefoundattheearthlyRostau.TheearthlyRostau is theGizanecropolis,[345] siteof the threePyramidsand

the Sphinx—so with all this talk of sky-ground dualities it would be almostperverse to ignore the four narrow ‘star-shafts’which emanate skywards fromtheKing’sandQueen’sChambersinsidetheGreatPyramid.The reader will recall that the southern shaft of the King’s Chamber was

directed at around 2500 bc to the centre of the constellation ofOrion—i.e. toOrion’s belt at its ‘culmination’ or ‘meridian transit’ 45 degrees above thehorizon.Strangely, at the crucial observationalmoment in the predawnon thesummer solstice—crucial, at any rate, to the ancientEgyptiansof thePyramidAge—computersimulationsindicatethatOrionwasseennotatthemeridianbutin the south-east, i.e. far to the left of the point in the sky targeted by thesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber.

40. Summer solstice in the epoch of 2500 bc: theDuat region. Note that Orion’s belt at thiscrucialobservationalmomentwasnutatthemeridianbutinthesouth-eastandthusfartotheleftofthepointintheskytargetedbythesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber.Theskyseemssomehowoutofkilterandonehastheuncomfortablefeelingthatthebeltstarsneedtobedrawnroundtothesouth,andspecificallytothemeridian,sothattheycaninterlockwiththeshaftthattargetsthem.

Looking at the simulation, everything seems out of kilter—dislocated—andonehastheuncomfortablefeelingthatthestarsofOrion’sbeltneedsomehowtobedrawnround to thesouth,andspecifically to themeridian, so that theycaninterlockwiththeshaftthattargetsthem.We suspect that for the ancient Egyptians this curious and unsettling

‘dislocation’oftheskyservedasthestimulusforanesotericjourneywhichwasundertakenonthegroundbythePharaohsthemselvesfollowingcelestialclues.As we shall see in subsequent chapters their quest may have been for

something of immense importance. But in order to understand why, wemustfirstfindoutwhotheSphinxis.

Chapter9

TheSphinxanditsHorizons‘TheSphinxhasaGenesis,andthatwasthelion...’

EgyptologistSelimHassan,TheSphinx,Cairo1949

‘[The constellation of] Leo resembles the animal after which it is named. A right triangle of starsoutlinethebacklegs...thefrontoftheconstellation,likeagiantbackwardquestionmark,definesthehead,mane,andfrontlegs.AtthebaseofthequestionmarkisRegulus,theheartofthelion...’

NancyHathaway,FriendlyGuidetotheUniverse,NY1994

EvenacasualreviewofthereligioustextsoftheancientEgyptiansleavesno

doubtthattheyregardedtheirearthlyenvironmentasasacredlandscapewhichthey had inherited from the gods. It was their absolute conviction that in theremote golden age called the ‘First Time’ Osiris had established a sort of‘cosmickingdom’intheMemphiteregionwhichhadbeenpassedontohissonHorus and thence through him, down the cycles of the epochs, to subsequentgenerationsofhuman‘Horus-Kings’—i.e.tothelivingPharaohsofEgypt.We have seen that the essence of this sacred ‘Kingdom of Osiris’ was the

peculiardualismwithwhichitwasconnectedtoanareaoftheskyknownastheDuat,closetoOrionandSiriusonthewesternsideoftheMilkyWay.Wehavealso seenhow the centre of theDuatwas calledRostau andhowRostau, too,existedinbothcosmicandterrestrialrealms:intheheavensitwascharacterizedby the three stars ofOrion’s belt and on earth by the three great Pyramids ofGiza.Lastbutnotleast,wehaveseenhowtheancientEgyptiansofthePyramidAgeparticularlyobservedtheDuatasitlayalongtheeasternhorizoninthepre-dawnatthetimeofthesummersolstice.Theimportantwordhereis‘horizon’.Itwillprovetobethekeytothemystery

ofwho—orwhat—theGreatSphinxreallyrepresents.

Celestialreflections

Withtheaidofcomputersimulations,andalittleimagination,letusjourneyto the epochof 2500bc,when thePyramidTextswere compiled, and set ourlocationatHeliopolisontheobservatoryplatformoftheastronomerpriests.Thetimeofyearisthesummersolstice,themomentofobservationisthepre-dawn,

andweare looking in thegeneraldirectionof theeasternhorizon.Thismeansthatwehaveour backs turned to theGizaPyramidswhich lie across theNilesometwelvemilestoourwest.LookingeastalsomeansthatwearelookingattheDuat.Andasourcomputer

reconstructs the skiesour eyes aredrawn to that regionof theDuatknownasRostauwhichmanifeststhecelestialcounterpartsofthethreegreatPyramids—thethreestarsofOrion’sbeltglimmeringinthepre-dawn.Havingregisteredthisimagewesetourdirectiontowardsthewest,towardsthe

Pyramids.Thebodiesofthedistantmonumentsarestillcloakedindarknessbutthefirsthintoftherisingsunlightsuptheircapstoneswithanastralglimmer...SowecanseethatthereisasenseinwhichtheGizanecropolisisitselfakind

of ‘horizon’—i.e. that its three pyramids form a reflection in the west of thethree‘starsofRostau’thatobserversin2500bcwouldhaveseenontheeasternhorizon of Heliopolis in the pre-dawn at the summer solstice. Perhaps this ispreciselywhatwasmeantbyanotherwisecrypticinscriptiononthegranitestelabetweenthepawsoftheSphinxwhichspeaksofGizanotonlyasthe‘SplendidPlace of the “First Time” ’ as we have seen, but also as the ‘Horizon ofHeliopolisintheWest’.[346]

Astronomer-priests

When the Pyramid Texts were compiled in the epoch of 2500 bc, thereligiouscentreofthePharaonicstatewasatHeliopolis—the‘CityoftheSun’,calledOnorInnubytheancients,whichnowliescompletelyburiedunder theAlMatareyasuburbofmodernCairo.[347]Heliopoliswastheearliestcultcentreof the sun-god Re in his form as Atum, the ‘Father of the Gods’. TheHeliopolitanpriestswerehighinitiatesinthemysteriesoftheheavensandtheirdominantoccupationwastheobservationandrecordingof thevariousmotionsofthesunandthemoon,theplanetsandthestars.[348]Much leads us to conclude that they benefited from a vast heritage of

experience based on such observations, accumulated over enormously longperiodsoftime.Atanyrate,theancientGreekandRomanscholars—whowereat least twomillenniacloser to theancientEgyptians thanweare today—wereconstantly in awe at the high knowledge andwisdom of theHeliopolitan andMemphitepriestsandespeciallyoftheirastronomicalscience.Forexample,asearlyasthefifthcenturybc,Herodotus(theso-called‘Father

ofHistory’)displayedgreatreverenceforthepriestsofEgyptandattributedtothemthediscoveryofthesolaryearandtheinventionofthetwelvesignsofthe

zodiac—which he says theGreeks later borrowed. ‘Inmy opinion,’ hewrote,‘theirmethodofcalculationisbetterthanthatoftheGreeks.’[349]InthefourthcenturybcthelearnedAristotle—whowastutortoAlexanderthe

Great—similarly recognized that the Egyptians were advanced astronomers‘whoseobservationshavebeenkeptforverymanyyearspast,andfromwhommuchofourevidenceaboutparticularstarsisderived’.[350]Plato,too,relateshowtheEgyptianpriestsobservedthestars‘for10,000years

or, so to speak, for an infinite time’.[351] Likewise Diodorus of Sicily, whovisitedEgyptin60bc,insistedthat‘thedispositionofthestarsaswellastheirmovements have always been the subject of careful observations among theEgyptians’andthat‘theyhavepreservedtothisdayrecordsconcerningeachofthesestarsoveranincrediblenumberofyears...[352]Perhaps most significantly of all, the Lycian Neoplatonist, Proclus, who

studied at Alexandria in the fifth century ad, confirmed that it was not theGreeksbut theEgyptianswhodiscovered thephenomenonofPrecession: ‘Letthose,whobelieveinobservations,causethestarstomovearoundthepolesofthe zodiac by one degree in one hundred years [meaning the Precession rate]towards the east, as Ptolemy andHipparchus did before himknow ... that theEgyptianshadalreadytaughtPlatoaboutthemovementofthefixedstars...’[353]ModernhistoriansandEgyptologists,whoareunanimousintheviewthatthe

Egyptians were poor astronomers,[354] choose to discount such statements asfrivolousoutcriesbymisinformedGreeksandRomans.Thesesamescholarsalldoaccept,however, that thepriestlycentreatHeliopoliswasalready remotelyancientat thedawnof thePyramidAgeandthat ithadbeensacredsince timeimmemorialtothesupremedeitynamedAtum,the‘Self-Created’.[355]SowhoorwhatexactlywasAtum?

LivingimageofAtum

Addressing the first annual meeting of the prestigious Egypt ExplorationFundon3July1883,theeminentSwissEgyptologistEdouardNavillehadthistosayaboutAtum:‘therecanbenodoubtthatthelionorthesphinxisaformofAtum...’[356]Navillewent on to citewhat he considered as sufficient evidence for such a

conclusion:Iwillciteonlyoneproof,thisisthedeityNefer-Atum.Thisdeitycanberepresentedwiththeheadofa

lion ... normally he has a human form, andwears on his head a lotus fromwhich emerge two straightplumes.Sometimesthetwoemblems[lionandhuman]areunitedandbetweentheheadofthelionandthe

plumethereisthebird[hawk]ofHorus.[357]

Thoughinitiallyaconfusingelement,weshallseethatthehawksymbolismof Horus crops up frequently in connection with this mystery and graduallybeginstotakeitsplaceintheoverallpatternthatwillemerge.Meanwhile,muchelseconfirmsthatAtum,theprimordialcreatorgod,wasregardedbytheancientEgyptiansasbeingprimarilyleonineorsphinx-likeinform.In the Pyramid Texts, for example, we frequently encounter the designation

Rwty,normallytranslatedasthe‘double-lion’[358]becausethehieroglyphicsignshows two lions either sideby sideor one above theother.[359] It is generallyaccepted,however,thatafinermeaningforthetermis‘thecreaturewhohastheformofa lion’or‘hewhoresembles the lion’,andthat thesignificanceof thedouble-lionhieroglyphisthatitemphasizesthedualandcosmicnatureofRwty.[360]TheEgyptologistLePageRenoufwrotethatRwtyrepresents‘asinglegodwitha lion’s faceor form’.[361]And forSelimHassan ‘Rwtywasagod in theformofalion’.InHassan’sviewthechoiceofthedouble-lionhieroglyphwasveryprobablylinkedinsomewaytothefactthat:‘sphinxesarealwaysfoundinpairswhenguardingtempledoor-ways,andthefunctionofRwtyisalsothatofaguardian.’[362]Moreover,inline2032ofthePyramidTexts,asHassanpointsout:‘itissaid

of theKing: “He is taken toRwtyand presented toAtum” ... [and] in the so-calledBook of theDead ... it says (Ch. 3, line 1): “OAtum,who appears asmasterofthelake,whoshinesasRwty”...’[363]Indeed, there are many such places in the texts where Rwty and Atum are

linked.One typicalpassagestates: ‘OAtum,spiritualizeme in thepresenceofRwty...’[364]Andelsewhereweread:‘Liftupthisking’sdoubletothegod,leadhimtoRwty,causehimtomountuptoAtum...TheKing’srankishighintheMansionofRwty.’[365]Such syncretism with Rwty strongly supports a ‘lion-like’ or ‘sphinx-like’

appearance forAtum.Weshould thereforenotbe surprised todiscover that inancient Egyptian religious artAtum is often depicted as a sphinxwearing thecharacteristic headgear of this god—a tall crownwith a plume and lotus.[366]FromsuchdepictionsmanyleadingEgyptologistshaveconcludedthattheGreatSphinxatGiza,thoughallegedlybearingthefaceofKhafre,mayalsohavebeenregardedasanimageofAtum.[367]Indeed,aswesawinPartI,oneofthemostenduring of the many titles by which the Sphinx was known to the ancientEgyptianswasSheshep-ankhAtum (literally ‘living image ofAtum’)[368]—soweneedbeinlittledoubtaboutthisidentification.

Atum,ReandHorakhti

Despite all of Atum’s well-known Lion-Sphinx characteristics, modernEgyptologists have a tendency to ignore his intense leonine symbolism whendiscussinghiscosmicattributes.Moreoftenthannottheyconfinethemselvestodishingoutcertainvaguegeneralities to theeffect thatAtumwas the‘sun-godandcreatoroftheuniverse’,andthathisname:‘...carriestheideaof“totality”inthesenseofanultimateandunalterablestateofperfection.Atumisfrequentlycalled“TheLordofHeliopolis”,themajorcentreofsunworship.Thepresenceofanothersolardeityonthissite,Re,leadstoacoalescenceofthetwogodsintoRe-Atum...’[369]EgyptologistRosalieDavidinformsusthatattheopeningofthePyramidAge

‘thegodRe[orRa]hadtakenoverthecultofanearliergodAtum...[thus]Re-Atum was now worshipped as the creator of the world according to theHeliopolitan theology, and his priests sought to distinguish his variouscharacteristics’.[370]Oneoftheseimportantcharacteristics,Daviesadds,wasRe’smanifestationas

‘Re-Horakhti’.[371] Since the literal meaning of Horakhti is “Horus-of-the-Horizon”,[372]itwouldseemthatwhatwearetoenvisageinthislatestpieceofancientEgyptiansyncretismisacoalescenceofthesun’sdiscwithsuchadeity.Furthermore,asastronomersandastrologersarewellaware,thediscofthesundoes, in fact, ‘coalesce’with (or ‘enter thehouse’of) certain stargroups—thetwelveconstellationsofthezodiac—atregularintervalsthroughouttheyear.Soitisreasonabletowonderwhether‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’i.e.Horakhti,couldinfactbeoneofthesezodiacalconstellations.The Egyptologist Hermann Kees also gave consideration to the subjects of

HeliopolisandHorakhti.Inthelightofwhatisabouttofollow,hisremarksareextremelyrelevant:‘TheparticularworshippeculiartoHeliopoliswasthatofthestars.From theworshipof the stars evolved theworshipofRe in the formof‘Horus-of-the-Horizon...’[373]Wesuggestthatthisconclusionisinthemaincorrect,thoughnotquiteinthe

mannerKeessawit.Webelievethatitwasnotmerelyfromageneral‘worshipofthestars’butratherfromanancientstellarimage—thatofaspecificzodiacalconstellation—thatthecompositedeityRe-Horakhtiwasderived.Horakhti is represented in ancient Egyptian reliefs as a man with a hawk’s

head,on topofwhich rests the solardisc.[374] In thiswayboth thegodHorus(symbolized by the hawk) and the sun in the ‘horizon’ are identifiedwith thePharaoh-King—regardedasthelivingembodimentofHorus.[375]TheOrientalist

LewisSpencenotedadditionallythatthelion‘wasidentifiedtothesolardeities,withthesun-godHorus[and]Re’.[376]Frequently,too,wefindcompositelion-hawkrepresentationsof theKinginancientdepictions.Forexample, thereisarelief from the sun-temple of Pharaoh Sahure at Abusir (Fifth Dynasty, circa2350bc)whichshowstheKingasawingedlionandalsoasalionwithahawk’shead.[377]

41.Thepathofthesun(theecliptic)passingthroughthetwelvezodiacalconstellationsastheyaredepictedinthefamousDenderahZodiacfromUpperEgypt.Thesun’sdisc‘coalesces’with(andissaidtobe‘housedby’)eachoftheseconstellations,oneaftertheother,monthbymonth,duringthecourseofthesolaryear.

42.Horakhti, ‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’,was frequentlydepicted in ancientEgyptian reliefs as amanwithahawk’sheadontopofwhichreststhesolardisc.

In summary, therefore, we seem to be looking at the various symbolicexpressionsof a lengthyprocess: in prehistoric times a primordial god,Atum,whose form was the lion or the Sphinx, was worshipped by the Heliopolitanpriests; then, in thePyramidAge,Atumwas ‘coalesced’withRe,whose formwas the sun’s disc, and finally with Hawk-headed Horakhti—Horus-of-the-Horizon—symbolizingtheHorus-King.The result was the syncretized deity Atum-Re-Horakhti whose combined

symbolismoriginatedfromtheleonineorSphinx-likeimageofAtum.Somehowthiscompositeor‘coalesced’imagewasthenmademanifestinthe‘Horizon’intheearlyPyramidAge.Inthatepoch,asthereaderwillrecall,thefocusoftheastronomer-priestswas

on the summer solstice,when theDuatwas active in the eastern sky. Inwhatzodiacal sign, seenon the easternhorizon,did this all important ‘coalescence’takeplace?

Horus,Dweller-in-the-Horizon

When Edouard Naville was excavating certain New Kingdom remains inEgypt’sdelta regionnorthofCairo in1882-3,hewasstruckby the fact thatalarge number of themonuments he uncoveredwere dedicated to a compositedeity he called ‘Atum-Harmarchis’. Associated with these monuments therewouldalwaysbeanaos,orsanctuary,containing‘asphinxwithahumanhead’

whichNavillestateswas‘awell-knownformofthegodHarmarchis’.[378]We are by now familiar with Atum. But who is this ‘Harmarchis’? Naville

notedthatinadditiontohisSphinxformhewasoftenrepresentedas‘agodwithahawk’shead,orasahawkwithasolardisc’—symbolswithwhichwearealsofamiliar—and that ‘Atum-Harmarchis was the god of Heliopolis, the mostancientcityofEgypt’.[379]‘Harmarchis’isaGraecianizedrenderingoftheancientEgyptianname,Hor-

em-Akhet, which means ‘Horus-in-the-Horizon’ or ‘Horus-Dweller-in-the-Horizon’.[380]Inotherwords,asshouldbeobviousbynow,itisaconceptthatisextremelyclosetoHorakhti,or‘Horus-of-theHorizon’—asclose,atanyrate,asthenuancebetween‘ofontheonehandand‘in’ontheother...Bothdeitiesarecalledhorizon-dwellers.Botharesometimesdepictedasaman

withtheheadofahawk.Bothhaveasolardiscontheirheads.[381]Indeedthereisnorealdifferencebetweenthematallexcept,asweshallsee,inthenatureofthe‘Horizon’inwhichtheyaresaidtodwell.ThereisoneotherthingaboutHor-em-AkhetandHorakhti,however,thatwe

need to take account of first. The names of these curiously composite andsyncretized lion-hawk-solar deities were both frequently, directly andinterchangeablyappliedtotheGreatSphinxatGiza.

The‘TwoHorizons’ofHeliopolis

The earliest surviving references to Hor-em-Akhet date from the NewKingdom, circa 1440 bc, and are found on a limestone stela of PharaohAmenhotepII, thebuilderofasmall temple thatcanstillbeseenon thenorthside of the Sphinx enclosure.On the stelaAmenhotepmakes reference to the‘Pyramids of Hor-em-Akhet’ which Selim Hassan takes as a sign, ‘that heconsideredtheSphinxtobeolderthanthePyramids’.[382]Hassanalsonotesthatthe stela specifically names the Great Sphinx both as Hor-em-Akhet and asHorakhti.[383]

43.Artist’simpressionof‘reconstructed’Sphinxshowingsouthprofile.

Inasimilarvein,inline9ofitsinscription,thegranitestelaofThutmosisIV—which stands between the paws of the Sphinx—refers to the Sphinx itself as‘Hor-em-Akhet-Khepri-Re-Atum’ and subsequently, in line 13, as ‘Atum-Hor-em-Akhet’,[384] but also refers toThutmosis as the ‘ProtectorofHorakhti’.[385]And it ison this samestela,as the readerwill recall, thatGiza isdescribedas‘the “Horizon” [Akhet] ofHeliopolis in theWest’—i.e. as a ‘reflection’ in theWestofwhatviewersinHeliopoliswouldhaveseenontheireasternhorizoninthepre-dawnofthesummersolstice.Itmayalsobeof relevance that the sonofThutmosis IV,Amenhotep III, is

remembered in ancient Egyptian annals as having built a temple in honour ofRe-Horakhti, and thatAmenhotep’s son, the notorious and enigmatic PharaohAkhenaten,raisedagreatobeliskatLuxorinhonourofRe-Hor-em-Akhet.[386]Akhenatenwasalso tonamehis famoussolar-cityAkhetAten, the‘Horizonofthe sun disc’.[387] And as Selim Hassan points out the Aten or sun disc wasfrequentlyidentifiedbytheancientEgyptianswiththeimageoftheSphinx.[388]Lastbutnotleast,whenAkhenatenascendedthethroneofEgypthechoseashismostprominentepithettheimpressivetitleof‘HighpriestofRe-Horakhti’.[389]It is therefore legitimate to inquire into what exactly is meant by the term

‘Horizon’ (Akhet) in the names Hor-em-Akhet and Horakhti. Are these twinbeings known as Horus-in-the-Horizon and Horus-of-the-Horizon to beassociatedwiththecelestialhorizon—whereskymeetsland?Oraretheytobeassociatedwiththe‘Horizon’ofHeliopolisintheWest,i.e.theGizanecropolis?Or is it not more likely that the texts are prompting us to consider two

‘horizons’atthesametime?Interestingly, Egyptologists often translate the names Hor-em-Akhet and

Horakhtiasmeaning‘Horus-of-the-Two-Horizons’.SirE.A.WallisBudge,forexample, identifies Re-Horakhti to Re-Harmarchis [Hor-em-Akhet] andtranslates both names as ‘Ra +Horus-of-the-Two-Horizons’.[390] Likewise the

orientalist Lewis Spence writes: ‘Horus-of-the-Two-Horizons, the Harmarchis[Hor-em-Akhet]oftheGreeks,wasoneofchiefformsofthesun-god...thuswefind Harmarchis worshipped principally at Heliopolis ... his best-knownmonumentisthefamousSphinx,nearthePyramidsofGiza.’[391]SoifHor-em-AkhetistheGreatSphinxinthewestern‘HorizonofGiza’,then

shouldwenotlookforHorakhti,his‘twin’,intheeasternhorizonofthesky?These are questions that we shall continue to pursue. Meanwhile, as

EgyptologistAhmedFakhryconfirms,thevariousstelaethatwehavereviewed,and numerous other inscriptions, leave no doubt that the Pharaohs of ancientEgypt knew and worshipped the Sphinx (and obviously, too, his celestialcounterpart) under the names Hor-em-Akhet and Horakhti.[392] Fakhry alsopointsoutsomethingelseofrelevance:bothnamesare‘appropriate’since‘theancientnecropolis[ofGiza]wascalledAkhetKhufu, the“Horizon”ofKhufu’.[393]

Strangesilence

BecausetheearliestsurvivingtextscontainingthetermHor-em-AkhetdatefromtheNewKingdom,itisthepresentconsensusofscholarsthattheancientEgyptiansoftheOldKingdomneverspokeoftheSphinx.AccordingtoJaromirMalekofOxfordUniversity, forexample:‘OldKingdomsourcesarestrangelyandsurprisinglysilentabout theGreatSphinxofGiza. Itwasonlysome1000yearsaftertheSphinxhadbeenmade...thatitwasmentioned...’[394]Couldthisreallybeso?HowcouldtheOldKingdomEgyptians,havingtaken

the trouble toconstruct thehugeGizanecropolisand therestof theMemphitemonuments,failtomakeanymentionoftheGreatSphinx?One possibility which deserves to be taken seriously is that they did not

mentionitbecausetheydidnotbuildit—butratherinheriteditfromafarearlierepoch.Evenonthisscenario,however,itstrainscredulitytosuppose,inalltheirprolifictexts,carvedonthewallsofnineroyalPyramidsoftheFifthandSixthDynasties,thattheywouldnotmakeasinglereferencetosomagnificentastatueoccupyingsocrucialasite.The other possibility which has to be considered, therefore, is that

Egyptologists could somehow have failed to recognize the name given to theSphinxinthePyramidTexts.Thereisoneveryobviouscontender.Aswehaveseen,theSphinxintheNewKingdomwasknownnotonlyasHor-

em-AkhetbutalsoasHorakhti.AndalthoughthenameHor-em-Akhetdefinitely

doesnotappearinthePyramidTextsitisasimplefactthatthenameHorakhtidoes, many times over. Indeed these archaic scriptures contain hundreds ofdirectmentionsofHorakhti, ‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’,[395] all ofwhich refer, asscholarsagree,‘tothegodrisingintheeastatdawn’.[396]Whattheyhaveneversuspected is the possibility that they may be confronted here by the ancientEgyptian dualistic way of referring to an earthly counterpart by means of itscelestialtwin.

SearchingforHorakhti

‘The doors of the sky are thrown open for Horakhti,’ states one typicalpassageinthePyramidTexts,‘thedoorsoftheskyarethrownopenatdawnforHorusoftheEast...’[397]Elsewhere,inline928,weread:‘goto...Horakhtiatthehorizon...Igouponthiseasternsideofthesky...’[398]Virtually unnoticed by Egyptologists, who write off all such utterances as

‘mystical mumbo-jumbo’, the Pyramid Texts also provide us with someextremelyimportantastronomicalclueswhentheytellus,againandagain,thatthedawnrisingofHorakhtiintheeastcoincideswiththetimeandplace‘wherethegodswereborn’.Forexample:

TheWindingWaterway is flooded, theFieldsofRushesare filled, that Imaybeferriedover to theeasternsideofthesky,totheplacewherethegodswereborn,andIwasborntherewiththem,asHorus,astheHorizonDweller[Horakhti]...[399]

...goto...Horakhtiatthehorizon...ontheeasternsideoftheskywherethegodsareborn.[400]

...thebirthofthegodsbeforeyou[Horus]inthefiveepagomenaldays...[401]

Makinguseoftheproperastronomicalkey,letustrytodecodethisalleged‘mysticalmumbo-jumbo’:

1. The‘placewherethegods[i.e.thestars]areborn’isaspecificdirectionasto where we are to observe Horakhti: the eastern horizon—where allheavenlybodiesrise.

2. Thetimeofyearatwhichwearetomakeourobservationsisalsoclearlyspecified:theso-called‘fiveepagomenaldays’,orfive‘daysupontheyear’.To understand this reference we need only remember that the ancientEgyptiancalendarwasbasedon360daysplusfiveextraorintercalcarydayswhich theycalled‘thedaysupon theyear’ (epagomenae inGreek).During

these five days fiveNeters or gods were said to have been born, two ofwhom—Osiris and Isis—were identified by the ancientEgyptianswith theconstellationofOrionandthestarSirius(alsocalledSothis).

3.LastbutnotleastthePyramidTextsalsospecifythetimeofdayatwhichthesky is to be observed—clearly dawn, since thiswaswhen the birth of thegodswassaidtohaveoccurred:BeholdOsirishascomeasOrion...thedawn-lightbearsyouwithOrion...yourthirdisSothis[Sirius]

...’[402]

Sothis[Sirius] isswallowedup[i.e. fades in thedawn]bytheDuat,pureandlivingin theHorizon.[403]

The reed-floats of the sky are brought down tome ... that Imaygo upon them toHorakhti at thehorizon.Igouponthiseasternsideoftheskywherethegodsareborn,andIambornasHorus,as‘HimoftheHorizon’...Sothisismy[companion]...[404]

Theskyisclear[islightingup],Sothislives...[405]

ItisSothis...whopreparesyearlysustenanceforyouinhernameof‘Year’...[406]

Geographicalandcosmologicalcontext

ThedayonwhichSothis-Sirius,afteraperiodofinvisibility,wasfirstseenrising with the sun at dawn (i.e. the event referred to by astronomers as the‘heliacal rising’of this star)was takenby theancientEgyptiansas thecosmicmarkerforthebeginningoftheirNewYear.Furthermoreitiscertainfromthepassagesquotedabove,andfrommanyother

referencesinthePyramidTexts,thatthedawnrisingofSothis-Siriuscoincidedwith the rising of ‘Horakhti’. This is an important piece of astronomicalinformation which helps us to identify who Horakhti is—or rather whichcelestialfigureherepresents.Wealsoknowfromhistoricalrecordsandfromcomputerreconstructionsthat

two major events—one celestial and the other terrestrial—coincided with theheliacal risingofSiriusduring thePyramidAge (circa2500bc).Thecelestialeventwasthesummersolstice.Andtheterrestrialevent,asthereaderwillrecallfromthepreviouschapter,was thestartof theNile’sannual flood—the‘GreatInundation’thatbroughtfertilitytotheland.[407]Oncethisgeographicalandcosmologicalcontextisfullytakenintoaccountwe

can see exactly what it is that the compilers of the Pyramid Texts weretransposingfromthegroundtotheskywhentheytellusthattheappearanceofHorakhtiatdawncoincidedintheirepochwiththestartofthe‘greatflood’:

TheWindingWaterwayisflooded,thatImaybeferriedthereontothehorizon,toHorakhti...Rehastakenmetohimself,tothesky,totheeasternsideofthesky,asthisHorus,astheDwellerintheDuat,asthisstarwhichilluminesthesky[which]ismysisterSothis...[408]

ThisisHoruswhocameforthfromtheNile...[409]

TheyrowHorus,theyrowHorusintheprocessionofHorusontheGreatFlood.Thedoorsoftheskyareopened,thedoorsofthefirmamentarethrownopenforHorusoftheEastatdawn...[410]

Also passage 1172 speaks of ‘theGreat Floodwhich is in the sky’ in theregionoftheDuat.So, to summarize, far from being ‘mumbo-jumbo’, the PyramidTexts go to

great lengths tomake it clear thatduring theepochof their compilation,circa2500bc,therisingofHorakhtiatdawncoincidedwiththesummersolstice,andwith theseasonof the inundation,at themomentwhen theDuat—thecelestialKingdomofOsiris-Orion—occupiedtheeasternportionofthesky.WecanalsodeducefromthetextsthatRe,i.e.thesun’sdisc,wasseensomehowtomergeorto unite—or ‘coalesce’—withHorakhti at the same time. This ismade amplyclearbythefollowingreading:‘RehastakenmetohimselftotheeasternsideoftheskyasthisHorus,asthe“DwellerintheDuat”.’[411]In otherwords,whatwe need to look for in order to identifyHorakhtiwith

certainty is an astronomical conjunction during the summer solstice in thePyramidAgewhenboththesunandsomeothersignificantcelestialbodywouldhavebeenseentooccupythesamespecificplaceontheeasternhorizon.Asweshallseeinthenextchapter,computersimulationsprovideuswiththe

meanstosearchforsuchaconjunction.Theyalsoenableustorelivethedramaof the Horus-Kings of ancient Egypt as they participated in an extraordinaryritual,physicallyre-enactingcelestialeventsobservedbytheastronomerpriestsof Heliopolis on their eastern horizon and reflected in the artificial western‘Horizon’ofHeliopolis,i.e.amongstthevastandeternalmonumentsoftheGizanecropolis.

Chapter10

TheQuestoftheHorus-King‘Egypt ...consideredlifetobeeverlastinganddeniedtherealityofdeath ...Pharaohwasnotmortal

butagod.ThiswasthefundamentalconceptofEgyptiankingship,thatPharaohwasofdivineessence,agodincarnated...It iswrongtospeakofthedeificationofPharaoh.HisdivinitywasnotproclaimedatacertainmomentinamannercomparabletotheconcretatioofthedeademperorbytheRomansenate.Hiscoronationwasnotanapotheosisbutanepiphany.’

HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,1948

‘ThefigureofOsirisisnotexclusivelyathomeinmythology...Eachking,atdeath,becomesOsiris,just as eachking, in life, appears “on the throneofHorus”; eachking isHorus ...ThequestionwhetherOsirisandHorusare...godsorkingsis,fortheEgyptian,meaningless.Thesegodsarethelatekingandhissuccessor;thesekingsarethosegods...’

HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,1948

Thewhole force, the impetus and the very raison d’être of the Pharaonic

statewas toprovideall the requiredceremonial settings thatwouldenable theHorus-King to undertake a sort of supernatural quest—a journey back in timeinto the earthly and cosmic realms of his ‘father’ Osiris. Indeed this was thesupremequestinaPharaoh’slifetimeandatitsendlaytheultimateHolyGrailintheformoftheastralbodyofOsiriswhichthekingcouldencounteronlyafterovercoming many dangers, difficulties and ordeals and after passing throughmany miracles and terrors. Once in the presence of Osiris the questor wouldbeseechhimto‘riseagain’andbestowimmortalitynotonlyonhimself,butonthe whole land of Egypt. This great ritual had to be performed by eachsuccessiveHorus-King,(perhapseveneachyear)ataspecifictimepreludingthe‘risingofOrion’.

ChildoftheSun,sonofOsiris

In his brilliant studyon theOsirian cosmicmyth,[412] the late professor ofEgyptologyatManchesterUniversity,R.T.RundleClark,wrotethat:‘Thekingwas the mediator between the community and the source of divine power,obtaining it through the ritual and regularizing it through his government. InEgypt therewere two sources of power—in the sky and in the tombwith theancestors.ThefirstlocationmadethekingthechildoftheSunGod;thesecond

locationmadehimHorus,thesonofOsiris...’[413]Letusreiterate this importantdualisticqualityof theHorus-King—’thechild

oftheSunGodandthesonofOsiris’—forinitliesthetruemysteryofthegreatOsirianandHorianritualsof thePyramidAge.Thepotentialpowersofnaturewithin the ‘dead’ Osiris remained ‘inert, asleep or listless, and completelypassive’untiltheHorus-Kingwasabletoundertakea‘journey’totheDuatand‘visithisfather’and‘openhismouth’,i.e.bringhimbacktolife.[414]Thisfinaland supreme act of filial devotionwould then release all the forces of naturewhich would in turn bring forth the flooding of the Nile and the growth ofvegetation—the forces, in short, that would fertilize and regenerate Egypt. InRundleClark’swords:‘Theologically, theresultofHorus’sministrationis thatOsiriscan“sendouthissoul”or“sethimselfinmotion”...ThetimeofOrioninthesouthernskyafterthetimeofitsinvisibilityisthesignforthebeginningofanew season of growth, the revival of nature in all aspects. Osiris has beentransformedintoa“livingsoul”...’[415]Sir E. A.Wallis Budge also explains how, from its earliest beginnings, the

PharaonicstatewasentirelycommittedtoprovidethecorrectceremonialsettingforeachsuccessiveHorus-Kingtobeabletoperformthe‘journey’intotheDuattovisitthetwofoldrealmofOsirisinthe‘horizon’:

[TheEgyptians]sparednopainsinperformingtheworkswhichtheythoughtwouldhelpthemselvesandtheirdeadtoputonimmortalityandtoarriveinthedominionsofhimwhowas‘theKingofeternityand the lord of everlastingness’. Every tradition which existed concerning the ceremonies that wereperformedonbehalfofthedeadOsirisbyHorusandhis‘sons’and‘followers’,atsomeperiodwhichevenso farbackas the IVthDynasty ...wasextremelyremote,wascarefullypreservedandfaithfully imitatedunder succeeding dynasties ... The formulae which were declared to have been recited during theperformanceofsuchceremonieswerewrittendownandcopiedforscoresofgenerations...’[416]

ThewholeemphasisontheKing’sperson,therefore,wasthathewasseenasthelinkbetweenthetwoDuals,oneintheskyandtheotheronland,bothmeantto contain the ‘KingdomofOsiris’ as itwas in the original ‘First Time’. Thegreat‘journeys’ofHorusthustookplacebothintheskyandonthegroundandran,asitwere,inparallel.Thisishowthedramaseemstohavebeenconceived:

1. IntheskytheHorus-Kingwasthe‘sonoftheSun’andhadtofollowthepathofthesundisc,crossthe‘cosmicriver’ontheSolar-barkandreachtheGateway that lead into the sky-Duat of his ‘father Osiris’ in the easternhorizon.[417]Hethenhadtotravelononeofthe‘roads’toRostau,thecentreoftheDuat,where(thenandnow)aretobefoundthethreestarsofOrion’s

belt.2. Ontheground theHorus-Kingwas thebodily ‘sonofOsiris’andhad to

follow the earthly path, cross the Nile on the solar boat and reach theGateway(thegreatSphinx)thatledintotheearth-Duatofhis‘fatherOsiris’inthewestern‘horizon’,i.e.thenecropolisofGiza.Hethenhadtotravelononeof the ‘roads’ toRostau, thecentreof theDuat,where (thenandnow)aretobefoundthethreegreatPyramidsofGiza.

In both these ‘journeys’ the Horus-King somehow had to be able to passthroughasortof‘timegateway’whichpermittedhimtoenterthetwofoldDuatrealms of Osiris—i.e. Rostau-Giza—as they were remembered from themythicalgoldenageofthegods:

[ThecouncilsaystoHorus]:Indeedthis journeyofyours ... isaswhen[thefirst]Horuswent tohisfatherOsirissothathemightbeaspiritthereby,thathemightbeasoulthereby...[418]

Indeed this journeyofyours, indeed these journeysofyours [skyand land]are the journeysof [thefirst]HorusinsearchofhisfatherOsiris...[419]

Fromsuchreferencesitisquiteobviousthattheeventscataloguedintheskyand on the land in the ‘twofold funeral regions ofOsiris’ are somehow set or‘frozen’ far back in the past in ‘the time of the gods’, the time ofOsiris andHorus—i.e.ZepTepi,the‘FirstTime’.Alsoobvious,aswehaveseen inpreviouschapters, is theway inwhich the

twofoldfuneralregionsofOsirisaresaidtoreflecteachotheratthetimeoftheheliacalrisingofSirius,the‘starofIsis’,thesister-wifeofOsirisandmotherofHorus—anastronomical eventwhichweknowcoincided in the earlyPyramidAgewiththeappearanceoftherisingsunatthesummersolstice(knownasthe‘birthofRe’).[420]ItwasatthispropitiousmomentthattheHorus-Kingsetouton his quest for the regeneration of Egypt by participating in a grand rebirthritualsimultaneouslyasthe‘sonofOsiris’andthe‘sonofRe’.Asthe‘sonofOsiris’heemergedfrom‘thewombofIsis’,i.e.thestarSirius,

[421]atdawnonthesummersolstice,i.e.thedayofthe‘BirthofRe’.Itwasthen—andthere—bothatthesky-horizonandontheearth‘horizon’thattheHorus-KingwasmeanttofindhimselfinfrontoftheGatewaytoRostau.GuardingthatGateway on the earth-horizon’ (i.e. at Giza) he would encounter the giganticfigure of a lion—the Great Sphinx. And guarding that Gateway in the sky-horizonhiscelestialcounterpartwouldfind...what?As usual, once we understand their profoundly astronomical nature, the

Pyramid Texts provide us with all the necessary co-ordinates to answer thisquestion. It is simply amatter of realizing that the ‘weird’ symbolic language

usedinthetexts—farfrombeingmumbo-jumbo—isinfactaprecisescientificterminologydressedupintheliturgicalclothingofacosmicdrama.[422]

SeventydaysfromHorakhti

It is well known, and not a matter of controversy even amongstEgyptologists,[423] that thewholeemphasisof theancientEgyptian rebirthcultwason theseventydaysof ‘invisibility’whichSirius, thestarof Isis,enduredeach year. These seventy days were seen as a cosmic preparation for astralrebirthand,notsurprisingly, theywerematchedto theperiodofembalminginthemummificationritualsofthedead.[424]Theculminationandcrescendoofthisseventy-day period camewith the first dawn reappearance, or rising, of Siriuswhich, as the reader will recall, occurred at around the time of the summersolstice during the Pyramid Age. This was when the astronomer-priests ofHeliopolisobservedwhatistechnicallyknownastheheliacalrisingofSiriusintheeast.[425]Sinceitwasbelievedthatallthepotentialpowersofnatureneededtocausethe

‘rebirth’ of the cosmic Horus-King were building up in the ‘womb’ of thegoddess Isis during these crucial seventy days, we can suppose that thebeginningoftheperiodmarkedthebeginningofthe‘journey’ofHorusintothe‘underworld’—when theDuatwas locked, as it were, below the horizon andthusdirectly‘underneath’theGizanecropolis.From this it follows thatwe are invited to find outwhere theHorus-King’s

celestial counterpart—i.e. the disc of the sun—stood in the sky some seventydaysprior to theheliacalrisingofSirius.ThePyramidTextsagaingiveus theclue.TheyspecifythatatthistimetheHorus-solar-Kingwastobefoundonthebanks of theMilkyWay just about to board the solar bark.[426]Rememberingthat theastronomicalobservations in the textsweremadeduringthemiddleofthe third millennium bc, let us try to decode this imagery using computersimulations.

44.PositionoftheDuatsky-regionatdawnatvarioustimesoftheyearintheepochof2500bc,thePyramidAge.TheDuatwasconsideredtobecomeactiveonlyatthesummersolsticeinmid-JunewhenthestarsofOrionandSiriusroseheliacally.Some70dayspriortothiscrucialobservationalmomenttheDuatwas‘locked’belowthehorizonandthus,inasense,directly‘underneath’theGizanecropolis.

We know, of course, that the ‘path’ of the sun (which astronomers call theecliptic)passesthroughtwelvedistinctconstellationsinthecourseofacompleteyear—theconstellationsofthezodiac.Circa2500bc,therefore,letusseewherethe sunwouldhavebeenalong theeclipticpath someseventydaysbefore theheliacal rising of Sirius. It would, we discover, have been near the head ofTaurus(theHyades)andpoisedontherightbankoftheMilkyWay.[427]Intheritualordramaperformedbytheking,isitnotpossiblethatthiscelestial

event was the source of the imagery of the cosmic Horus about to ‘board’ acosmic ‘bark’ with the sun-god in order to cross a waterway (the ‘WindingWaterway’,i.e.theMilkyWay):[428]

ThekingembarkswithReonthisgreatbarkofhis,henavigatesinittothehorizonwithhim...[429]

ThekingshallgoaboardthebarklikeReonthebanksoftheWindingWaterway...[430]

TheWindingWaterway is flooded ... youcross thereon to thehorizon, to theplacewhere thegodswereborn...yoursister[companion]isSothis...[431]

MayyoucrosstheWindingWaterway...mayyoufallintheeasternsideofthesky,mayyousitinthe...horizon...[432]

He[Horus]goesaboardthebarklikeReatthebanksoftheWindingWaterway...[433]

Aswewind the ancient skies a little forward in time on our computerwediscover that twenty-fivedaysafterbeingstationednear theHyades-Taurusontherightbankof thecosmicriver thesunhas indeed‘crossed’ theMilkyWayandisnow‘sailing’eastwardsalongtheeclipticpathinthedirectionofthegreatzodiacal constellationofLeo—seenas ahuge ‘crouching lion’ in the sky.We

arenowjustalittleoversixweeksawayfromthesummersolstice:Thereed-floatsoftheskyaresetdownformethatImaycrossonthemtothehorizon,toHorakhti...

toyondereasternsideofthesky...SummonsismadetomebyRe...asHorus,astheHorizonDweller...[434]

ThedoorsoftheskyarethrownopenforHorakhti...thedoors‘oftheskyarethrownopenatdawnforHorusoftheEast...[435]

...goto...Horakhtiatthehorizon...ontheeasternsideoftheskywherethegodsareborn.[436]

Following thisextremelyclearand specific instruction to ‘go toHorakhti’ atthehorizon(theretomeetthesunrise)wecontinueoureastwardjourneyalongthe ecliptic path with a sense that we are rapidly converging upon a vital‘station’inthequestoftheHorus-King.

45. Epoch of 2500 bc, the PyramidAge, seventy days before the summer solstice: an initiate

trackingthejourneyofthe‘solar’Horus,thediscofthesun,fromitsstationontheright‘bank’oftheMilkyWay.

46.Epochof2500bc,thePyramidAge:aninitiatetrackingthejourneyofthe‘solar’Horus,thediscofthesun,toitsconjunctionwithRegulus,theheart-starofLeo,atdawnonthesummersolstice.TheritualleavesnoroomfordoubtthattheenigmaticfigureofHorakhti,sofrequentlyreferredtointhePyramidTexts,isnoneotherthantheconstellationofLeo.

Theweekspassinsecondsonourcomputerscreenandwhenweatlast‘reachthe eastern side of the sky’—at the horizon, at the highly significantmomentwhen‘thegodsareborn’, i.e.at theexact timeofrisingof thestarSirius—wesee that a very powerful celestial conjunction has occurred: the sun (which isnowatthesummersolsticepoint)standsexactlybetweenthe‘paws’ofLeo.[437]ThesolardiscispositionednearthebreastofthecosmiclionwhereitseemstomergewiththebrightstarRegulus—the‘starofKings’.[438]

The great celestial ‘journey’ performed by the cosmicHorus-King along theeclipticpaththereforeturnsouttoleadquiteunambiguouslytooneveryspecificplaceintheheavenlylandscape:betweenthe‘paws’ofLeoandrightinfrontofits‘breast’.Theimplicationsareobvious.TheenigmaticfigureofHorakhti,whoseidentitywehavebeenattemptingto

establish,canbenoneotherthantheconstellationofLeo—thegiantcosmiclion,orsphinx,whostandsatthegatesofthesky-Duatandwhoassumesthenameof‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’.LetusnowtransposetheHorus-Kingtothelandandfollowhisjourneytothe

earthly‘Horus-in-the-Horizon’—bywhom,ofcourse,wemeanHor-em-Akhet,theGreatSphinxinthe‘horizon’ofGiza.

TheHighRoadandtheLowRoad

TheHorus-KingstandsontheeastbankoftheNile,neartheroyalresidence.[439]Aftercompletingcertainritualsheboardsagreat‘solarboat’[440]—perhapstheveryboat thatwasfound in1954buried inapitnear thesouthfaceof theGreatPyramid—andistakentothewestbankoftheriverinthevalleybeneaththeGizaplateau.Hedisembarks,makeshiswayuptotheTempleoftheSphinx,andwalksbetweenthepawsofthegreatstatuetostandinfrontofitsbreast.HeisnowattheGatewaytoRostau[441]andabouttoentertheFifthDivision

oftheDuat—theholyofholiesoftheOsirianafterworldKingdom.Moreover,heispresentedwithachoiceof‘twoways’or‘roads’toreachRostau:onewhichison‘land’andtheotherin‘water’.[442]

47.The‘astral’KingdomofOsirisinRostau.Artist’simpressionofthecorrelationofthethreeGizaPyramidsandthethreestarsofOrion’sbeltinZepTepi,the‘FirstTime’.

TheeminentGermanphilologist,AdolfErman,explains:WhoeverenterstherealmsofthedeadbythesacredplaceofRostauhas,aswelearnfromamapof

theHereafter,tworoutesopentohim,whichwouldleadhimtothelandoftheblessed,onebywater,theotherbyland.Botharezigzag,andatravellercannotchangefromonetotheother,forbetweenthemliesaseaoffire...Alsobeforeenteringuponeitheroftheseroutesthereisagateoffiretobepassed...[443]

Havingmade his choice, theHorus-King demands to be taken to see ‘hisfather’Osirisinhisastralform.AmediatororpriestreportstoOsirisandstates:

ItisnotIwhoasksthathemayseeyouinthisformofyourswhichhascomeintobeingforyou;OOsiris,someoneasksthathemayseeyouinthisformofyourswhichhascomeintobeingforyou;itisyoursonwhoasks...itisHoruswhoasksthathemayseeyouinthisform...alovingson...[444]

48.Artist’simpressionoftheoriginalHorusleadingthewayfortheHorus-Kinginitiateintotheplacewherethe‘Seat’ofOsirisistobefoundintheastralPyramidoffinalinitiation.

Horusthendeclarestothecouncilofthegods:Theskyquivers,theearthshakesbeforeme,forIamamagician,Ipossessmagic.IhavecomethatI

mayglorifyOrion,thatImaysetOsirisatthehead...[445]

Ihavecometoyou,myfather,Ihavecometoyou,Osiris...[446]

Next,inamosttellingmanner,thecouncilofthegodsissuesthefollowinginstruction:

OHorus,theKing[yourfather]isOsiris,thisPyramidoftheKingisOsiris,thisconstructionofhisisOsiris;betakeyourselftoit...[447]

And further lightmay be shed on the identity of the Osiris-Pyramid by apassage from theBook ofWhat is in the Duatwhich speaks of a mysterious‘district’intheDuat:‘whichis440cubitsinlengthand440cubitsinbreadth’.[448]Canitbeacoincidence,sincetheEgyptianroyalcubitisequivalentto20.6inches and 440 cubits therefore amounts to just over 755 feet, that thedimensionsgivenareidenticaltothoseoftheGreatPyramid’ssquarebase?[449]Atany rate, after passing throughmoreordeals and adventures, thequesting

Horus-KingfinallyreachesOsiris-Orionandfindshimlistless in the tenebrousunderworldofhisPyramid.Atthisvitaljuncture,thequestor’sroleistobidhis‘fatherOsiris’ toawakeandbereborn—i.e., indualisticastronomical terms, toriseanewintheeastatdawnasOrion:‘AwakeforHorus!...Raiseyourself!...The gates of theDuat are opened for you ... Spiritualize yourself ... May astairwaytotheDuatbesetupforyoutotheplacewhereOrionis...’[450]Where,then,nearorundertheSphinxcanwefindthe‘twoways’orthe‘two

roads’ofRostau?

AndwhyshouldtheHorus-Kingbemadetochoosebetweenthem?

Subterraneanworld

OneoftheancientnamesoftheGizanecropolis,aswehaveseen,wasAkhetKhufu—Kherit-Neter-Akhet-Khufu in full,usually rendered intoEnglishas ‘thenecropolis of the Horizon of Khufu’. In his dictionary of ancient Egyptianhieroglyphs, Sir E. A. Wallis Budge translates the word Kherit-Neter as‘cemetery,necropolis’.[451]SelimHassan,however,pointsoutthatKherit-Netercan have the alternativemeaning of ‘under, or belonging to a God’.[452] AndBudgeaddsthatKheritcanalsomean‘estate’andthattherootoftheword,i.e.Kher,canmean‘undersomething’,‘thelowerpart’or‘downwards’.[453]In addition, as Hassan also reminds us, Kherit ‘may be applied to the

Underworld[Duat],perhapsasalingeringmemoryoftheconceptionofRostauastheKingdomofOsirisinthetomb’.[454]Couldsuchnuancesimplymorethana lingering memory? In other words, is it not possible, as we have alreadysuggestedinPartI,thatunderthenecropolis-‘horizon’ofGizatherecouldbean‘estate’ of some kind—perhaps a network of subterranean chambers andpassageways?InhisHandbookofEgyptianReligion,theGermanEgyptologistAdolfErman

wrote that: ‘thecelebratedshrineRostau, thegatesof theways, leddirectly totheunderworld.Itispossiblethatpartofthisshrinehassurvivedintheso-calledTempleoftheSphinx...’[455]Furthermore,commentingontheword‘Rostau’,R.O.Faulkner,thetranslator

of the Pyramid Texts, says that this is also ‘the term for a ramp or slide formovingthesarcophagusintoatomb,transferredtoaregionofthebeyond’.[456]Dr. I.E.S.Edwards, on theotherhand, says that the causewaywhich links apyramid complex with its valley temple ‘was called “place of the haul” or“entrance of the haul” (Rostau) because it was the way along which sledgesbearingthebodyofthedeadkingandhispersonalpossessionswouldbehauledathisfuneral’.[457]Linking theValleyTemple near theSphinxwith the central Pyramid on the

Gizaplateau,asthereaderwillrecall,aretheremainsofanenormouscauseway.Might not this causeway or ‘road’ be one of the ‘ways’ to the heartland ofRostaudescribedintheancienttexts?Suchcauseways—thoughnowinallcasesfallenintoruin—wereoriginallyrectangulartunnelsroofedoverwithlimestoneslabs and decorated with star-spangled ceilings.[458] It is easy to see how

symbolism of this kindwould have been be appropriate in the context of theHorus-King’scosmicquesttofindtheastralformofOsiris.ThecausewayoftheSphinxrunstotheimmediatesouthofthemonumentat

about the level of its shoulder and thence slopesgentlyupwards in awesterlydirectiontowardsthegreat‘MortuaryTemple’ thatstandsoutsidetheeastfaceof the central Pyramid ofGiza. Being in every sense ‘dry’, itmakes sense toconsiderthiscausewayasbeingthe‘roadbyland’toRostau.Butwheremighttheother‘road’belocated—the‘waythroughwater’?There

maybeanimportantclueintheBookofWhatis intheDuat.Inthiseerie textthere is a depiction of the hermetically sealed chamber of the ‘Kingdom ofSokar’—Sokar-Osiris—which is also the Fifth Division of the Duat. Thedepiction shows a tunnel filled with water passing under the paws of a largeSphinx(seepage148).Thetunnelslopesgentlyupwardsleading,finally,totheSixthDivision.Interestinglyenough,aswesawinPartI,geologistsworkingaroundtheGreat

Sphinx in the early 1990s identified a large rectangular chamber and other‘anomalies’inthebedrockdirectlybeneaththemonument’spaws.Interestingly,too, it is well known that far below the Sphinx is an undergroundwatertablewhich has been constantly replenished since times immemorial by capillaryactionfromtheNile.[459]

Tunnel

Dr. Jean Kerisel, the eminent French engineer whose work in theSubterraneanChamber of theGreatPyramidwe are already familiarwith,[460]hasrecentlytakenthegeologicalevidencefurtherbysuggestingthattheSphinxmay stand over the entrance to a 700-metre-long tunnel leading to the GreatPyramid—atunnelthatwasoncefilledorpartiallyfilledwithwater.[461]Couldsuchatunnelbetheother‘way’thattheHorus-Kinghadtotaketo‘see

the astral form of his Father’, i.e. Orion? The fact that inside the King’sChamberoftheGreatPyramidis,indeed,astar-shaftpointeddirectlyatOrion’sbelt—the ‘Rostau’ in the sky—adds cogency to notions of some sort ofunderground access route thatmight have been used by initiates to journey insecretfromtheSphinxtotheinnerpassagesandchambersofthePyramid.Furthermore, in the Pyramid Texts we often hear of a ‘Causeway of

Happiness’ which is in the ‘North of the Field of Offerings’. And in thefollowingpassagetheHorus-Kingseemstobestandingattheentranceofsucha‘causeway’ at exactly the time Sirius is performing its heliacal rising, i.e.

‘HeraldingtheNewYear’70daysafterthesun’scrossingoftheMilkyWay:IamtheheraldoftheYear,OOsiris,IhavecomeonbusinessofyourfatherGeb[theearth-god]...I

speaktoyou,Ihavemadeyouenduring.‘CausewayofHappiness’isthenameofthiscausewaynorthoftheFieldofOfferings.StandUp,Osiris,andcommendmetothosewhoareinchargeofthe‘CausewayofHappiness’northoftheFieldofOfferingsjustasyoucommendedHorustoIsisonthatdayonwhichyoumadeherpregnant...[462]

The‘FieldofOfferings’hadacelestiallocationintheDuatsomewherenearOrion.[463] Dualistic logic therefore suggests that its earthly counterpart musthavebeenaplacewhere‘offerings’weremadebytheHorus-Kingwhenhewasabout to enter theGizanecropolis.With this inmind, it is surelyof relevancethat many of the New Kingdom sphinx stelae found at Giza, including thegranitestelaofThutmosisIVthatstandsbetweenthepawsoftheSphinxitself,do in fact show theHorus-Kingsmaking offerings in a temple in front of themonument.[464] Furthermore, as the text quoted above makes clear, the‘Causeway of Happiness’ ran to the north of the ‘Field of Offerings’. Anunderground ‘causeway’ running north-west from the temple of the SphinxwouldleadtotheGreatPyramid.SocouldKerisel’sboldhypothesisbe right?[465]Could suchanunderground

systemexistatGiza?

Stargate

Thesearequestions thatweshall return to inPart IV.Meanwhilewhatarewe tomake of themention of Isis and her pregnancy that also appears in theabovetext?InTheOrionMystery it has been shown that theGreat Pyramid’s so-called

Queen’sChambercouldhavebeenusedforasymbolic‘copulation’or‘seeding’ritualinvolvingthepersonoftheHorus-KingontheonehandandthegoddessIsis inherastralform(i.e. thestarSirius)ontheother.Intermsofsky-grounddualism the twomight havebeen thought of as being ‘connected’ through theChamber’s southern star-shaft, which was targeted on the meridian-transit ofSirius in thePyramidAge.[466]Thishypothesis isstrengthenedby thefact thatsuchacopulationritualisfoundclearlydepictedinthePyramidTextsandthatthemomentwhenOsiris supposedlymade Isis ‘pregnant’ is specifiedasbeingwhen Sirius crossed the meridian at dawn.[467] The texts also state of Osiris-Orion:‘YoursisterIsiscomestoyourejoicingforloveofyou.Youhaveplacedher on your phallus and your seed issues in her, she being ready as “Sothis”[Sirius]...’[468]

49. Artist’s impression of the ‘cosmic’Great Pyramid superimposing the star Sirius over thepositionofthe‘gate’intheSiriusstar-shaft.

WastheHorus-King,then,somehowmeanttofindhiswayunderandintotheGreatPyramidandthencetoitsupperchamberswiththeirstar-shafts?And what might really be the significance of Rudolf Gantenbrink’s recent

discovery,whichwehaveconsideredatlengthinPartII,ofamysterious‘gate’or ‘doorway’ deep inside one of those shafts—the very shaft that targeted themeridian-transitofSiriusinthePyramidAge?Lastbutnotleast,isitacoincidencethattheancientEgyptianwordsba,‘star’,

alsocarriesthemeanings‘gate’,‘foldingdoor’and‘greatdoorofheaven’?[469]Again,thesearemattersonwhichweshallhavetopostponefurtherconjecture

untilPartIV.Meanwhileletusreturntothequesttouniteskyandground—thuswinning the Grail of immortality—in which all the Horus-Kings of ancientEgyptparticipated.

TheSplendidPlaceofthe‘FirstTime’

We left the cosmic Horus-King standing in the sky with the solar discbetween the ‘paws’ of the celestial lion, the constellationofLeo—on the spotmarkedbythestarRegulus.In the PyramidAgeRegulus rose at approximately 28 degrees north of due

east.[470] It is from this spot therefore that the Horus-King in the sky must

somehowtravel—ononeofthe‘roads’toRostau—toreachOrion’sbelt.Now we transpose again to the Horus-King in his earthly form at Giza,

standingbetweenthepawsofthegreatSphinx.Itisthemomentofdawnonthesummersolsticeintheepochof2500bc,with

Leo rising at 28 degrees north of due east, and we immediately notice thatsomethingiswrongwiththesky-groundpattern.The Sphinx gazes due east, i.e. he does not gaze at Leo, his celestial

counterpart.

50.Epochof2500bc,thePyramidAge:therisingofLeoatthesummersolstice.NotethatinthisepochthegazeofHor-em-Akhet,‘Horus-in-the-Horizon’—i.e.theGreatSphinx—isnotinalignmentwithHorakhti, ‘Horus-of-the-Horizon’, i.e. theconstellationofLeo.Thereaderwill recall that this

samesenseofacurious‘dislocation’ofthesky-groundimagesatthesummersolsticein2500bcalsoappliestothethreegreatPyramidsandthethreestarsofOrion’sbelt.

51.Summer solstice in the epochof 2500bc.Artist’s impressionof theDuatregionasviewedfromtheHorizonofGiza.

And the causeway connecting the central Pyramid to the Sphinx complex isdirected14degreessouthofdueeast—i.e.fartotherightofthespotwherethecosmicHorus-King is supposedly at his station between the paws of Leo andreadytotraveltoRostau.Sowhy is the sky-image in the ‘wrongplace’ on the easternhorizon?Or to

express the problem the right way round, and in the correct dualistic

terminology, why is Hor-em-Akhet, Horus-in-the-Horizon—i.e. the GreatSphinx—not in alignment with Horakhti, Horus-of-the-Horizon, i.e. theconstellationofLeo?Why,too,isthecausewayoftheSphinxnotdirectedtotherisingsunsoasto‘link-up’theHorus-Kingwithhiscosmicsolarcounterpart?There is, it seems,acurious ‘dislocation’between thegroundand the skyat

thesummersolsticeintheepochof2500bc.Moreover,asthereaderwillrecallfromChapter 8, this sense of the entire arrangement being out of kilter is notconfined to the Sphinx and Leo in that epoch but involves the three greatPyramidsofGizaaswell.Itmaybethecasethatthesolutiontotheriddlehasallalongbeenstaringusin

the face. Inscribed on the granite stela that the Sphinx holds between its ownheavilyerodedpaws—astelathatwasplacedthereinhonourofThutmosisIV,amightyHorus-KingofEgypt—wereadthefollowingimpressiveroyaltitulary:

TheMajestyofHorus,MightyBullBegettingRadiance,FavouriteoftheTwoGoddesses,EnduringinKingshiplikeAtum,GoldenHorus,MightyofSword,RepellingtheNineBows,KingofUpperandLowerEgypt,SonofRe,Thutmosis ... given life, stability, satisfaction ... for ever.Live theGoodGod,SonofAtum,ProtectorofHorakhti,LivingImageoftheAll-Lord,Sovereign...,beautifulofFacelikeHisFather,whocameforthequippedwiththeformofHorusuponhim...SonofAtum,ofhisbody,Thutmosis...HeirofHorusUponHisThrone...[471]

Doesthissoundlikeamanwhodidnothaveaclue,assomeEgyptologistssuggest,[472]astowhatthegreatSphinxandtheothermonumentsofGizareallyrepresented?Surelynot.Sowhat,then,didthemajesticHorus-Kingdeclarethissacreddomaintobe?Inonesimple,powerfulphrase,asthereaderwillrecall,hestatedthatitwas

‘TheSplendidPlaceofthe“FirstTime”’.[473]Is itnot likely,whenheuttered thesewords, thatThutmosis, ‘HeirofHorus

Upon His Throne’, was repeating what every Horus-King before him haddeclaredtheGizaplateautobe?

52.Artist’s impressionof ‘reconstructed’SphinxshowingthestatueofaHorus-King,which isknowntohaveoncestoodbetweenitspaws,gazingatthecelestialcounterpartofthe‘SplendidPlaceoftheFirstTime’intheeasternhorizon.

Is it not likely that he called it ‘The Splendid Place of the “First Time” ’becausethatisexactlywhatitwasrememberedtobeintraditionsthathadbeenhandeddownfromremotest,almostincomprehensible,antiquity?Could this be why the sky of 2500 bc seems to be so badly out of kilter,

somehowskewedandtwisted,i.e.‘inthewrongplace’?Coulditbenotsomuchinthewrongplaceasatthewrongtime?Shouldwe set our computer to search for another time thatmightmatch the

monuments to the sky, a time long beforeThutmosis, long beforeKhafre andKhufu,the‘time’whenOsirisestablishedhiskingdomonearth—inotherwords,the‘FirstTime’?Whenwasthe‘FirstTime’?

PartIV

Map

Chapter11

TheUnseenAcademy‘TheEgyptiansbelievedthatinthebeginningtheirlandwasruledbyadynastyofgreatgods,ofwhom

Horus,thesonofIsisandOsiris,wasthelast.Hewassucceededbyadynastyofsemi-divinebeingsknownasthe“followersofHorus”,who,inturn,gaveplacetothehistoricalkingsofEgypt.’

SelimHassan,TheSphinx,Cairo,1949

Whenwasthe‘genesis’ofcivilizationinEgypt?Whendid‘history’begin?

AccordingtoT.G.H.James,formerlyKeeperofEgyptianAntiquitiesat theBritish Museum, and a representative voice of orthodox opinion on thesematters:‘Thefirsttrulyhistoricalperiodisthatwhichbeginswiththeinventionof writing and it is generally known as the Dynastic Period. It is a periodextendingfromabout3100bcto332bcanditderivesitsnamefromthethirty-onedynastiesintowhichthesuccessivekingsofEgyptweredividedinaschemepreserved in the work of Manetho, a priestly historian who lived during the[thirdcenturybc].TheunletteredcultureswhichflourishedinEgyptbeforethebeginningoftheDynasticPeriod,andwhichexhibitsomeofthecharacteristicswhichmark theearliestphasesofEgyptianculture in theDynasticPeriod, areknown as Predynastic ... Such traces of human life as are found in the NileValley dating from before the Predynastic Period are usually described in theterms used for European Prehistory—Palaeolithic, Mesolithic andNeolithic.’[474]So there we have it. Egyptian history—and civilization with it—began at

around3100bc.Beforethatthereweremerely‘unletteredcultures’(admittedlywith some ‘civilized’ characteristics), which were in turn preceded by ‘StoneAge’savages(‘Palaeolithic’meansliterally‘OldStoneAge’).Theway James puts it, the whole picture seems very clear-cut, orderly and

precise. He really makes it sound as though all the facts are now in handconcerningthePredynasticEgyptiansandtheirforebears,andthatnothingmoreremainstobediscoveredaboutanyofthem.Suchanodynenotionsof thepastarewidespreadamongstEgyptologistswho

again and again in their textbooks, and also in mass-market publications likeNational Geographic and Time-Life’s misleadingly named Lost Civilizationsseries, convey the comforting impression that the prehistory of Egypt is wellunderstood,organized,categorizedandsafelyputinitsplace(Jamesevenrefers

us toonespecificplace in theBritishMuseumwhereparticularenlightenmentapparently awaits us: the ‘SixthEgyptianRoom’with its definitive display of‘primitive toolsmadeby thePalaeolithic inhabitants ofEgypt’).[475]Likewise,ontheothersideoftheAtlanticaswesawinPartI,Dr.PeterLecovara,Curatorof the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, assures us that ‘thousands ofEgyptologists working for hundreds of years have studied this problem [theprehistoryofEgypt]andthechronologyisprettymuchworkedout.Thereisnobigsurpriseinstoreforus.’[476]Butiseverythingreallyasorderlyandaswellworkedoutasthe‘experts’say?

Andcanwereallybesosurethatthereis‘nobigsurpriseinstoreforus’?In our view Lecovara, James, and the many other scholars who share their

opinions, would do well to remember the advice of the late Labib Habachi,formerlytheEgyptiangovernment’sChiefInspectorofAntiquities,whowarnedin1984that‘Egyptologyisafieldinwhichchancediscoverymaydisproveanestablishedtheory’.[477]Inthelightofthispossibility,Habachi’ssuggestionwasthatEgyptologistsshouldavoidmaking‘unqualifiedstatements’andbehonestenoughto‘salttheircommentswith“probably”and“perhaps”.’[478]Certainlya littlemore ‘probably’and ‘perhaps’wouldbe inorderwhere the

PredynasticandearlierperiodsofEgyptianhistoryareconcerned.Farfromtheimpression conveyed to thepublic, the truth, as some scholars areprepared toadmit, is that ‘The state of knowledge of Egyptian prehistory in the latetwentiethcenturyisstillfragmentary’.[479]These are the words of Nicholas Grimal, Professor of Egyptology at the

SorbonneUniversityinParis,whoalsoconcedes:It has been clear since the SecondWorldWar not only that ‘prehistory’ before the Pharaohs was

expandingonahithertounsuspectedscale,butalsothatitappearedtobesodiverseandself-containedthatitwasdifficulttoregarditsimplyasa‘preparatory’stagefortheDynasticPeriod...[480]

TheprevailingEgyptologicalconsensus (towhichGrimal in this respectatleastisanexception)isunabletoofferanycoherenttheorywhichexplainsthese‘diverse’ and ‘self-contained’ characteristics of Egyptian prehistory, or thataccount for the very serious problems of apparent non-continuity between thePredynastic and the Dynastic Periods. The ancient Egyptians themselves,however,passeddownrecordstouswhichmaycontaintheanswertothewholemystery. These records provide detailed information concerning a period thatextends back many thousands of years before the sudden emergence of thePharaonicstateintheepochof3000bc.The only problem is that no one is prepared to take these records seriously.

Could this be because they conflict with the modern scholarly consensus on

Egyptianchronology?Readersmustmakeup theirownmindsbut,asweshallseebelow,elementsofthesamerecordswhichdoconformtothecurrenttheoryareacceptedandtakenseriouslybyEgyptologists.

Threeeras

AsT.G.H. James tells us in his remarks quoted earlier,modern study ofancient Egyptian chronology is largely based onManetho’sHistory of Egypt.TherespectedProfessorWalterEmeryputsthingsmuchthesamewaywhenhereports that thewritingsofManethoareof ‘immense importanceandform theframeworkonwhichEgyptianhistoryhasbeenbuilt’.[481]OneofthereasonsthatManetho’ssystemissodurableandremainsinuseby

Egyptologiststodayisthatithasagainandagainproveditselftobeaccurate.Heisknowntohavebasediton‘mucholderdocuments,orking-lists,towhich,asalearned priest he had access’.[482] Furthermore a number of documents in thiscategory—notablythePalermoStone,theTurinPapyrusandtheAbydosKing-List—havebeenfoundandtranslated.InthewordsofthelateProfessorMichaelHoffman, a leading expert onEgypt before the Pharaohs: ‘Archaeologists andEgyptologistshavediscoveredfivesuchlistswhich,despitesomediscrepancies,supportManethoingeneral.’[483]Looking at all the surviving sources, it is clear that three distinct eras of

kingshipwereremembered:

• The first erawaswhen theNeteru, (‘Neters’or ‘Gods’) ruled the land ofEgypt—anepochthatculminatedwiththekingshipofHorus,thesonofOsirisandIsis.

• Thencametheeraofthe‘FollowersofHorus’,theShemsuHor,(alsoknownbynumerousother titles and epithets)which took thedivineHorian lineageacross the ages and up to a human Pharaoh namedMenes (also known asNarmer or ‘King Scorpion’), the legendary ‘Unifier of the Two Lands ofUpperandLowerEgypt’.

• After Menes came the so-called ‘Dynastic’ Kings, whose names areindividuallycataloguedintheking-lists.EgyptologistsplacethereignofMenesincirca3000bcandregardhimasthe

first ‘historical’ king of ‘Dynastic’ Egypt.[484] They concede that a fewPredynastic‘chieftains’musthaveprecededhiminboththenorthandsouthof

thecountrybuttheyemphaticallyrejectanysuggestionthatthe‘Neters’andthe‘Followers of Horus’ catalogued in the king-lists (and referred to with someprominence by Manetho) could have been historical individuals. On thecontrary, the consensus view is that the Neters, being ‘Gods’, are obviousreligious fictions and that theShemsuHorare tobe regardedasnothingmorethan‘mythicalkings’whoruledinanequally‘mythicalkingdom’.So,scholarsacceptashistoryonlythebitsofManethoandthesurvivingking-

liststhatfittheirtheory—i.e.therecordsoftheDynasticPeriodfromMeneson—and devalue all references in those same records to earlier and moremysterioustimes.Writing in theCambridgeAncientHistory, forexample,ProfessorT.E.Peet

groups together all the ancientEgyptian sources concerning the chronologyofthe‘Gods’andthe‘FollowersofHorus’andthendismissestheentirecorpusofmaterial with the following throwaway remark: ‘From the historical point ofviewthereislittletobemadeofthis.’[485]Likewise,inKingshipandtheGods,hisdetailedstudyofthePharaonicstate,

the eminent Henri Frankfort, Professor of Preclassical Antiquity at theUniversityofLondon,hadthistosayaboutthe‘FollowersofHorus’:

... itappearsthat‘FollowersofHorus’isavaguedesignationforthekingsofadistantpast ...but itwouldseemunwisetotreatthetermasprimarilyofahistoricalnature.Foreachkingbecameatdeathoneof the corporation of ‘transfigured spirits’ ... [and]mergedwith that nebulous spiritual forcewhich hadsupportedthelivingrulersanddescendentsoftheThroneofHorussincetimeimmemorial.[486]

Highinitiates

We feel obliged to point out that this was not at all how the ancientEgyptiansviewed theirownhistory.For themtherewasneveranyquestionofmythical epochs or ‘nebulous spiritual forces’ lurking in the distant past. Forthem, to statematters plainly, the ‘Followers ofHorus’, and the geographicallandscapeinwhichtheyhad‘ruled’,wereunquestionablerealitiestowhichtheywere directly and inseverably connected. Indeed, if one takes the Egyptianaccountsandtraditionsseriouslywhatthe‘FollowersofHorus’begintosoundlike is a lineage of real, although ‘unnamed’ individuals whose function andduty,asHenriFrankforthimselfsuggested,was toprovide the‘spiritual force’behindthemonarchy(thoughbynomeansina‘vague’or‘nebulous’manner).The Egyptians’ own accounts also invite the conclusion that the role of these‘Followers’ may have been to carry down the ages a body of extraordinaryknowledgeharkingbacktotheevenmoremysterious‘timeoftheNeteru’—i.e.

the‘Gods’.From available primary sources, in other words, the overall picture that

emergesisthatthe‘FollowersofHorus’maynothavebeen‘kings’intheusualsenseofthewordbutratherimmenselypowerfulandenlightenedindividuals—high initiateswhowerecarefully selectedbyanéliteacademy thatestablisheditself at the sacred site of Heliopolis-Giza thousands of years before historybegan.There ismuch to suggest, too, that the ancientEgyptian texts are rightandthatPharaoniccivilizationmayindeedhaveoweditsuniquesparkofgeniustojustsucha‘brotherhood’linkedtojustsuchanarchaicandéliteacademy.So who might the Shemsu Hor really have been? And what were they

‘following’?

FollowingtheWayofHorus

Heliopolis—ancientOnorInnu—wastheoldestorganizedreligiouscentreinEgyptandmostprobablyintheworld.Situatedsome12milesnortheastoftheGizaplateau,andalreadyhoarywithageatthedawnofthePharaonicepoch,itisidentifiedbytraditionasthesourceofthesecretsofastralimmortalitywhichthe Pyramid builders claimed to have inherited. Indeed the title of the HighPriest ofHeliopolis, as Professor I. E. S. Edwards has recently demonstrated,was‘ChiefoftheAstronomers’,andtheregaliaofthisnotablewasaceremonialrobespangledwithfive-pointedstars.[487]

53.Osiris-Orionshowingthewaytohis‘Followers’,theHorus-Kings,whoarethecustodiansofhisdualkingdomintheDuat.

As we have already hinted in Part III, the dominant concerns of the elitist,‘scientific’ priests ofHeliopoliswerewith recording themotions of the stars,measuring and commemorating the passage of time, and peering into the

mysteriesoftheepochs.Ithaslongbeenknown,too,thattheycarefullystudiedthecycleofthesuninitsperceivedyearlycircuitalongthezodiacalpath.Andmorerecently,compellingevidencehasemergedthattheyalsofollowedthefarlongercosmiccycleofthe‘GreatYear’—namelytheprecessional‘drift’ofthestars causedby the earth’s axial ‘wobble’.The readerwill recall that this vastcycleof25,920yearswasmeasuredbytheslowrotationofthetwelvezodiacalconstellationsinrelationtothepointofsunriseonthevernalequinox—inshort,the ‘precessionof theequinoxes’ inwhichasuccessionofastrological ‘Ages’,each2160yearsinduration,wasbelievedtohavebeguntounfoldafterakindofspiritual and cultural ‘Big Bang’ known asZep Tepi—the ‘First Time’ of theGods.Toobserveandaccuratelymeasuretherateoftheprecessionoftheequinoxes

is a feat that could only have been achieved by scientifically minded,intellectually advanced and highly organized people with a long tradition ofprecise observational astronomy. Similarly, the building of the three greatPyramids of Giza was not the work of technological primitives only recentlyemergedfromtheStoneAge.Onthecontrary,ashistoriansofscienceGiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechendhavepointedout,suchaccomplishments‘shouldbeacogentreasonforconcludingthatseriousandintelligentmenwereat work behind the stage, men who were bound to have used a technicalterminology’.[488]Weshallarguethat‘seriousandintelligentmen’—andapparentlywomentoo

—wereindeedatworkbehindthestageofprehistoryinEgyptandproposethatone of the many names by which they were known was the ‘Followers ofHorus’.Wepropose,too,thattheirpurpose,towhichtheirgenerationsadheredfor thousands of years with the rigour of amessianic cult, may have been tobring to fruitionagreatcosmicblueprint.Andwehaveevidence that theslowunfolding and implementation of this plan somehow entailed tracking twoobservable ‘ways’ takenby thecelestialbodiesacross theages—‘ways’whicharebothconsequencesoftheearth’saxialprecession:

• Firstthe‘way’ofthestars:theseappearto‘drift’inthesensethattheirplaceand day of rising at the horizon changes, accompanied by correspondingchangesintheiraltitudeatthemeridian.

• Secondly the ‘way’ of the sun,which also appears to ‘drift’—in this case‘westwards’alongtheeclipticpathsothatthe‘pointer’ofthevernalequinoxappearsto‘sweep’slowlythrougheachoneofthetwelvezodiacalsignsevery

2160years.InthecodedastronomicallanguageoftheancientsofHeliopolis,wewillargue

that the notion of following the sun’s westward drift through the zodiactranslates as ‘Following theWayofHorus (the sun) across the ages’.Andwewill show that the ‘FollowersofHorus’ aremost likely tohaveacquired theirenigmatictitlebecauseitdescribedpreciselywhattheydidandstoodfor.Theywere, we suspect, astrologers and astronomers par excellencewho had beenfollowingandrecordingthepositionofthevernalpointacrosstheagesfromtheepochofthe‘FirstTime’totheepochofthehistoricalkingsofEgypt.Lastbutnotleast,wealsoproposeasahypothesisforfurthertestingthatata

well-defined and predetermined historical moment ‘written in the stars’ the‘FollowersofHorus’mayhavetakenstepstomobilizethenativeinhabitantsofEgypt,unitethemintoatheocraticstateandharnesstheirenergiestothefurtherfulfilmentofacosmicblueprintinwhichthegreatPyramidsonthewestbankoftheNileweretoplayapivotalrole...

Chapter12

Sagesand‘Followers’‘TheintroductiontothefirstEdfucosmologicalrecorddisclosesthetraditionthatthecontentsofthese

recordswerethe“wordsoftheSages”.Wearetoldthatthissacredbookwasbelievedtobea“CopyofthewritingswhichThothmadeaccordingtothewordsoftheSages”...’

E.A.E.Reymond,TheMythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,1969

It is a convention amongst modern scholars that myths do not count as

historical evidence—and, as we saw in the last chapter, this convention isparticularlystronglyadheredtobyEgyptologists.Yetthereareseveralwell-knowncasesinarchaeologywheremythsthathave

beendismissedas‘unhistorical’werelaterprovedtohavebeenentirelyaccurate.Oneexampleconcernstheworld-famousTroyofHomer’sIliad(agreatprose-poemcompiledfromearlieroralsourcescirca800bc).UntilnotlongagomostscholarswereconvincedthatTroywasa‘mythicalcity’—i.e.entirelyafigmentof Homer’s fertile imagination. In 1871, however, the ‘buccaneer’ GermanexplorerHeinrichSchliemannprovedorthodoxopinionwrongwhenhefollowedgeographicalcluescontainedintheIliadanddiscoveredTroyinwesternTurkeyneartheDardanelles(theancientHellespont)—exactlywhereHomerhadsaiditwas located.Schliemannand twoother intrepid researchers, theGreek scholarKalokairinosandtheBritisharchaeologistSirArthurEvans,thenwentontocapthis achievement by following up myths concerning the great ‘Minoan’civilization thatwas said to have existed on the islandofCrete.Thesemyths,too, were dismissed as unhistorical by orthodox opinion but were vindicatedwhen Schliemann and his team excavated the remains of a highly advancedculturenowfirmlyidentifiedasthatofthe‘Minoans’.[489]Similarly, in the Indian subcontinent, the great body of ancient Sanskrit

scriptures known as the Rig-Veda contains repeated references to a highcivilization,livinginfortifiedcities,thathadprecededtheAryaninvasionsmorethan 4000 years ago. Again these references were universally dismissed as‘mythical’—until, that is, the ruins of the great ‘Indus Valley’ cities such asHarappa andMoenjodaro began to be unearthed in the twentieth century andprovedtodatebackasfaras2500bc.[490]Inshort,therecordshowsthatwholecitiesandcivilizationswhichwereonce

classifiedasmythical(andthereforeofnohistoricalinterest)haveahabitagain

andagainof suddenlymaterializing from themistsofobscurityandbecominghistoricalrealities.CouldthesamethingbeabouttohappeninEgypt?

Guardiansofrecords

Amongst other peoples such as the Romans and the Greeks, who wereconsiderablyclosertoancientEgyptthanweare,itwasheldtobeaxiomaticthatthePharaohsandtheirpriestsweretheguardiansofaccuraterecordsconcerningcertain highly significant events that had taken place long, long ago. Indeedtheserecordswereactuallyseenandstudied,atthesacredcityofHeliopolis,bysuchdistinguishedvisitorsasHerodotus(fifthcenturybc),theGreeklawmakerSolon (640-560 bc) and his fellow countryman the scientist Pythagoras (sixthcentury bc).[491] From their reports derived the Greek impression of EgyptreportedbyPlato:[492]

WeGreeksare in realitychildrencomparedwith thispeoplewith traditions ten timesolder.Andasnothingofprecious remembranceof thepastwould longsurvive inourcountry,Egypthas recordedandkepteternallythewisdomoftheoldtimes.Thewallsofitstemplesarecoveredwithinscriptionsandthepriests have always under their own eyes that divine heritage ...The generations continue to transmit tosuccessivegenerationsthesesacredthingsunchanged:songs,dances,rhythms,rituals,music,paintings,allcomingfromtimeimmemorialwhengodsgovernedtheearthinthedawnofcivilization.[493]

We have already made frequent mention of Zep Tepi, the supposedlymythical ‘First Time’ of the Gods—a remote epoch with which the ancientEgyptiansassociatedtheoriginsoftheircivilization.Andinthelastchapterwenoted that Manetho’s fabledHistory, and a number of inscriptions known asking-lists, also refer back to distant golden ages when the gods, and thensubsequently the mysterious ‘Followers of Horus’, ruled in the Nile Valley.Beforeimmersingourselvesinthenextchapterinthetrulyimmensechronologyofwhichallthelistsspeak,ourobjectivehere,asPlatoprompts,istotakealookat the ‘walls of temples’—specifically at the so-called ‘BuildingTexts’ (circa200bc)inscribedonthewallsoftheTempleofEdfuthatstandsinUpperEgyptmidway between Luxor and Aswan. These texts, which contain a series ofextraordinaryreferencestothe‘FirstTime’,areacceptedbyscholarsastheonlysurviving fragments of a much more ancient, much larger, and much morecoherent body of cosmogonical literature—now long lost—that onceincorporated a complete ‘mythical history’ of Egypt, of its gods and of thetemples built to honour them.[494] In the texts, the ‘Followers of Horus’ areequatedandmergedwithother‘mythical’beings,sometimesseeminglydivine,

sometimeshuman,whoarealwaysportrayedas thebringersandpreserversofknowledgedowntheages—asanélitebrotherhooddedicatedtothetransmissionofwisdomandtothequestforresurrectionandrebirth...

Memoriesofthedawn

TheTempleofEdfuinitspresentformwaserectedoveratwohundred-yearperiod between 237 bc and 57 bc but incorporates parts of much earlierstructuresdatingbacktothePyramidAge(forexampleportionsoftheinnerandouterwesternenclosurewall).Moreover,likeallmajortemples,itwasbuilt‘onhallowedground’andthereattachestoitarecollectionofvastantiquityandofmomentousantecedents.[495]Thus,onthefaceofthings,theBuildingTextsappeartobenothingmorethan

ahistoryoftheEdfuTempleitself, togetherwithdescriptionsofitsroomsandhallsandoftheirritualpurposeandsignificance.[496]Acloserlook,however,asE.A.E.ReymondofManchesterUniversityhasdemonstrated,revealsasubtextwhichhints:

attheexistenceofcertainmythologicalevents...wherethefoundation,buildingandbringingtolifeofthe historical temple [of Edfu] is interpreted as happening in a mythical age. The historical temple isinterpreted as thework of the gods themselves, and as an entity of amythical nature. This ... seems toindicateabeliefinahistoricaltemplethatwasadirectcontinuation,projection,andreflexionofamythicaltemplethatcameintoexistenceatthebeginningoftheworld...[497]

Needlesstosaythe‘beginningoftheworld’isasynonymintheEdfuTextsforthe‘FirstTime’,alsoknownasthe‘EarlyPrimevalAge’.Inthisepoch,welearn,the‘wordsoftheSages’werecopieddownbythewisdom-godThothintoabookthatcodifiedthelocationsofcertain‘sacredmounds’alongtheNile.Thetitleofthislostbook,accordingtothetexts,wasSpecificationsoftheMoundsoftheEarlyPrimaevalAge,anditwasbelievedtohavecontainedrecordsnotonlyof all the lesser ‘Mounds’, or temples, but also of theGreat PrimevalMounditself,theplacewheretimehadsupposedlybegun.[498]Severalpointsofinterestarise:

1.The‘GreatPrimevalMound’hasrecentlybeenassociatedbyProfessorI.E.S.Edwardswith thenaturaloutcroppingof rock that isknown to lieunderthe Great Pyramid of Egypt and to have been incorporated into its lowercourses ofmasonry.[499] This analysis appears to reinforce the connectionsthatwehavealreadyestablished inPart Ibetween theGizanecropolis and

the‘FirstTime’.2. The‘Sages’referredtointheEdfuBuildingTextswereseveninnumber.

Theirspecialrolewasas‘theonlydivinebeingswhoknewhowthetemplesand sacred places were to be created’. And it was they who initiatedconstructionworkattheGreatPrimevalMound.Thiswork,inwhichThothalso participated, involved the setting out and erection of the original‘mythical’templeofthe‘FirstTime’.[500]

3. Alsoconstructedunder thedirectionof the ‘SevenSages’wasanedificespecified ashwt-ntr, ‘themansionof thegod’: ‘ “Speedyof construction”,mencalleditbyname.Thesanctuaryiswithinit,“GreatSeat”byname,andallitschapelsareaccordingtothenorm.’[501]

4. Whenalltheseworkswerecomplete‘themagicalprotection(swrmdw)ofthatsitewasmadebytheSages’.[502]

5. InthewholecorpusofancientEgyptianwritings,theEdfuBuildingTextspreserve theonly references to the ‘SevenSages’ thathavesurvived to thepresentday.Egyptologistshavethereforepaidlittleattentiontotheidentityofthesebeingsbeyondconcedingthatthattheyappeartohaveplayedapartin ‘amuchwider andmore general theory concerning the origin of sacreddomainsandtheirtemples’.[503]Inouropinion,however,thereissomethingnotableaboutthecontextinwhichtheTextsdescribetheSages.Thiscontextis marked by a preponderance of ‘Flood’ imagery in which the ‘primevalwaters’ (outofwhich theGreatPrimevalMoundemerged) aredepicted asgraduallyreceding.[504]WeareremindedofNoah’smountain-toponwhichtheArksettledaftertheBiblicalDeluge,andofthe‘SevenSages’(Apkallu)of ancient Babylonian tradition who were said to have ‘lived before theFlood’andtohavebuiltthewallsofthesacredcityofUruk.[505]LikewiseisitanaccidentthatinIndiantradition‘SevenSages’(Rishis)arerememberedtohavesurvivedtheFlood,theirpurposebeingtopreserveandpassdowntofuturegenerationsthewisdomoftheantediluvianworld?[506]

Inallcases theSagesappearas theenlightenedsurvivorsofacataclysmthatwipedtheearthclean,whothensetaboutmakingafreshstartatthedawnofanew age—which, in ancient Egypt, was referred to as the ‘First Time’. AsReymondconfirmsinhermasterlystudyoftheEdfuTexts:

thefirsteraknownbyourprincipalsourceswasaperiodwhichstartedfromwhatexistedinthepast.The general tone of the record seems to convey the view that an ancient world, after having beenconstituted,wasdestroyed,andasadeadworlditcametobethebasisofanewperiodofcreationwhichat

firstwasthere-creationandresurrectionofwhatoncehadexistedinthepast.[507]

Wisdomandknowledge

According to the Edfu Texts the Seven Sages and the other gods cameoriginally from an island,[508] the ‘Homeland of the Primeval Ones’.[509] Asnotedabove,thetextsareadamantthattheagencythatdestroyedthisislandwasa flood. They also tell us that it came to its end suddenly[510] and that themajorityof its ‘divine inhabitants’weredrowned.[511]Arriving inEgypt, thosefew who survived then became ‘the Builder Gods, who fashioned in theprimevaltime,theLordsofLight...theGhosts,theAncestors...whoraisedtheseedforgodsandmen...theSeniorOneswhocameintobeingatthebeginning,whoilluminedthislandwhentheycameforthunitedly...’[512]It was not believed that these remarkable beings were immortal. On the

contrary,after theyhadcompleted their tasks theydiedand theirchildren tooktheir places and performed funerary rites on their behalf.[513] In thisway, justlikethe‘FollowersofHorus’,thegenerationsofthe‘BuilderGods’,or‘Sages’,or ‘Ghosts’ or ‘Lords of Light’ described in the Edfu Texts could constantlyrenew themselves—thus passing down to the future traditions and wisdomsstemming fromaprevious epochof the earth. Indeed, the similaritiesbetweenthe‘SeniorOnes’ofEdfuand theShemsuHorofHeliopolitan traditionaresomarkeditishardtoescapetheconclusionthatbothepithets,andthenumerousothersthatexist,arealldescriptionsofthesameshadowybrotherhood.ThisimpressionisstrengthenedbytheconstantreferencesintheEdfuTextsto

the‘wisdomoftheSages’(wisdombeingoneof thedefiningcharacteristicsofthe‘FollowersofHorus’)and therepeatedemphasis that theirspecialgiftwasknowledge—including, but not limited to, the knowledge of architecture.[514]LikewiseitisnoteworthythattheSagesaresaidtohavespecifiedtheplansanddesignsthatweretobeusedforallfuturetemples—arolefrequentlyaccordedinothercontextstothe‘FollowersofHorus’.Forexample,thetempleofDendera(alittletothenorthofEdfu)isinscribedwithBuildingTextsofitsownwhichstate that the ‘great plan’ followed by its architects was ‘recorded in ancientwritingshandeddownfromthe“FollowersofHorus”’.[515]

Heliopolitanorigins

The earliest-surviving references to the ‘Followers of Horus’ occur in thePyramidTexts. It is thereforeunlikely tobe an accident that thenotion in theEdfu Texts of the Great Primeval Mound emerging from the waters of auniversaldelugecoincidesexactlywithimagerythathasalsobeenpreservedinthePyramidTextsinwhich,asE.A.E.Reymondsummarizes:‘TheEarthinitsearliestshapewaspicturedasamoundwhichemergedfromtheprimevalwater.This mound itself was then considered as a divine being, and as the originalterrestrialconfigurationonwhichthecreator,Atum,dwelt.’[516]Asiswellknown,thecompilationofthePyramidTextswasundertakenbythe

priestsofHeliopolis.[517]ItmaythereforebeofrelevancethatancientEgyptiantraditionsattributethefoundingofHeliopolistothe‘FollowersofHorus’—inaperiod long before the beginning of Dynastic times—and that there is anEgyptian papyrus, now in the Berlin Museum, which clearly suggests thatHeliopolisinsomeway‘existedbeforetheearthwascreated’.[518]Onceagain,thisinterlinkscloselywithacentralpropositionoftheEdfuTexts,namelythatthe ‘new world’ created by the Sages after the Flood was conceived of anddesignedbyitsmakersas‘theresurrectionoftheformerworldofthegods.’[519]Thereareotherlinkstoo.ForexamplewhatReymondcalls‘themanifestation

oftheresurrectionofthefirstholyworld’tooktheformintheEdfuTextsofanupright column or rod, ‘the Perch’ on which a great bird, the Divine Falcon,rested.[520]InHeliopolistherestoodapillar(indeedInnu,theEgyptiannameforHeliopolis, actuallymeans ‘pillar’[521] ) onwhich itwas believed that another‘Divine’ bird—the Bennu, or phoenix—periodically rested.[522] Andinterestingly the hieroglyph for Heliopolis—a column surmounted by a crossabove(orbeside)acircledividedintoeightparts[523]—isvirtuallyidenticaltoahieroglyphdepictingtheEdfu‘Perch’thatisreproducedbyFlindersPetrieinhisRoyalTombsoftheEarliestDynasties.[524]For all these reasons, and many others, Reymond concludes that ‘the Edfu

documentarysourcesoffer...oneargumentmoreinfavourofthetheorythattheritualoftheEgyptiantemplewasHeliopolitaninorigin...Weareoftheopinionthat the Edfu records preserve the memory of a Predynastic religious centrewhich once existed near to Memphis, which the Egyptians looked on as thehomelandoftheEgyptiantemple.’[525]What better candidate is there for that ‘Predynastic religious centre near to

Memphis’—that ‘homeland’ of the Egyptian temple—than the sacred city ofHeliopolisanditsassociatedPyramidsandotherstructuresontheGizaplateau?Moreover,asthereaderwillrecall,theGiza/Heliopoliscomplexliestothenorth

of ancientMemphis. In this light a well-known text on the inner face of theenclosurewallof the templeatEdfu takesonaspecialmeaning, for it tellsusthatthetemplewasbuilt‘atthedictatesoftheAncestors’accordingtowhatwaswritten in a certain ‘book’whichhad ‘descended from the sky to thenorthofMemphis’.[526]There is of course a sense in which the cosmic monuments of Giza could

themselvesbesaidtobeakindof‘book’writteninstoneand‘descendedfromthe sky’—for, as we now know, the three great Pyramids are the terrestrialcounterparts of the three stars of Orion’s belt and the Sphinx draws down toearththeregalimageofLeo,thecelestiallion.

Cycleofthephoenix

ThePrimevalMound,identifiedwiththeGreatPyramidandwiththenaturalmound of rock that is incorporated into the foundations of thatmonument, isenvisagedinthePyramidTextsasaplaceatonceofbirthanddeath,andalsoasaplaceofrebirth.[527]TheseideasfitwellwiththeancientEgyptianritualsfor‘awakeningOsiris’ andattainingastral immortality—andwith thequestof theHorus-King—thatwehavedescribedinearlierchapters.Theyalsoaccordwiththesensethatthetextsconveyofacyclicalrhythmatworkintheuniverseasthevast‘Mill’ofthezodiacgrindsoutthedestinyofworldages.In Heliopolitan theology, all these processes were grouped together,

summarized and expressed in a single image—the Bennu bird, the legendaryPhoenixwhichatcertainwidelyseparatedintervals‘fashionedanestofaromaticboughsandspices,setitonfireandwasconsumedintheflames.Fromthepyremiraculouslyspranganewphoenix,which,afterembalmingitsfather’sashesinaneggofmyrrh,flewwiththeashestoHeliopoliswhereitdepositedtheminthealtaroftheEgyptiansun-god,Re.Avariantofthestorymadethedyingphoenixfly to Heliopolis and immolate itself in the altar fire, from which the youngphoenix then rose ... The Egyptians associated the phoenix withimmortality.’[528]Sources vary as to the period of theBennu’s return, but in his authoritative

studyonthesubjectR.T.RundleClarkmentionsthefigureof12,954years.[529]Letusnotethatthisfigureaccordsverycloselywithahalf-cycleofprecession(wherethefullcycle,aswehaveseen,is25,920years).Assuch,‘thereturnofthephoenix’couldbeexpressedinastronomicaltermseitherasaslow‘sweep’of the vernal point through six houses of the zodiac—for example from thebeginning of Leo to the beginning of Aquarius—or, at the meridian, as the

numberofyearsrequiredforastartomovebetweenitsminimumandmaximumaltitudesabovethehorizon.Whenconsideringsuchco-ordinatesinthesky,weareimmediatelyreminded

oftheGizanecropolis—ofhowthegazeoftheGreatSphinxtargetsthevernalpoint on the eastern horizon, and of how the star-shafts of theGreat Pyramidlockintothemeridianwithmachine-ageaccuracy.Moreoveritcanhardlybeanaccident that the capstone or pyramidion placed on top of all pyramids wasknownintheancientEgyptianlanguageastheBenbenandwasconsideredtobeasymboloftheBennubird(andthusalsoofrebirthandimmortality).[530]Thesecapstones were replicas of the original Benben stone—perhaps a conical,‘orientated’meteorite[531]—whichwas said to have ‘fallen from heaven’ andwhich was kept in Heliopolis, perched atop a pillar in a Temple called the‘MansionofthePhoenix’.[532]Is it not apparent, therefore, that we are confronted here by a tightly knit

complex of interwoven ideas, all additionally complicated by masses ofEgyptian dualism, in which stone stands for bird, and bird for stone,[533] andbothtogetherspeakofrebirthandofthe‘eternalreturn’?The capstone is of coursemissing from the summit of theGreat Pyramid at

Giza.AndtheBenbenofHeliopoliswasalreadylonglosttohistorybythetimeoftheGreeks...[534]Willthesetreasures,too,soonerorlater‘return’?

54.Artist’simpressionofthe‘MansionofthePhoenix’inHeliopoliswithitsoriginalpillarandpyramid-shapedBenbenstone.

Ancestorgods

‘UnderlyingallEgyptianspeculation’,asR.T.RundleClarkhasobserved,‘is the belief that time is composed of recurrent cycles which are divinelyappointed ...’[535] There is furthermore a governingmoment amongst all thesecyclesandepochs—the ‘genesisevent’ that theEgyptianscalledZepTepi, the‘FirstTime’.Zepmeans‘Time’,Tepimeans‘First’.But Tepi also has other connotations. For example, it is the word for ‘the

foremostpointofaship’anditcanlikewisebeinterpretedas‘thefirstdayofaperiod of time’. Moreover, according to the astute analysis of Robert K. G.Temple: ‘The basic meaning of the word Tep is “mouth” ... and even morefundamentallythe“beginningorcommencementofanything”.’[536]Perhaps because of this persistent connection with the beginning of things,

Tepicanalsomean‘ancestors’.AndtheTepi-aui-qerr-en-petwere‘theancestor-godsofthecircleofthesky’.[537]AlsointhePyramidTextsTepi-auiisoneofthemany titlesbywhich theancestraldeitiesof the ‘earlyprimevalage’wereknown—the gods and Sages, or ‘Followers of Horus’, who were supposedlythere, at the dawnof civilization,when the phoenix alighted atop the pillar atHeliopolis, uttering agreat cry and setting inmotion the ‘time’ofourpresentepochoftheworld...Curiously,thehieroglyphicsignusedtodeterminetheTepi-auiisthebodyofa

large,slouchinglion,withonlythepaws,breastandheadshown.Andwefindasimilardevicebeingusedasthedeterminativeforaverysimilarclassofbeingscalled the Akeru, described in Wallis Budge’s Hieroglyphic Dictionary as agroupofgodssaidtobetheancestorsofRe.[538]The reader will recall from earlier chapters that one of the distinguishing

featuresoftheFifthDivisionoftheDuatisthepresencethereofagiantdouble-lionSphinx-godnamedAkerwhomEgyptologistMarkLehnersuggestsmaybe‘arepresentationoftheSphinxatGiza’.[539]SinceitisfromAkerthattheAkeruderivetheirname,itisnaturalthatthehieroglyphsshoulddepictthemeitherintheformofslouchinglions,oroftwolionsbacktoback,orofadouble-headedlion.[540]So the textsseemto inviteus toattach leoninecharacteristics to the ‘menor

godsofoldentimes’, to the‘Ancestors’,andto theSages.But theyalso invitesomething elsewhen, aswe shall see in the next chapter, they link thewholeconcept of ancestral dynasties of gods and spiritswith another closely relatedword,Akhu,meaning, variously, the ‘Shining Ones’, the ‘Star People’ or the

‘Venerables’.Inthiswaytheywillleadusbacktothetrailofthe‘FollowersofHorus’ and to the notion that for thousands of years—spanning both theprehistoric and the historic periods—the members of a hidden academy mayhavebeenatworkbehindthescenesinEgypt,observingthestarswithscientificrigourandmanipulatingmenandeventsaccordingtoacelestialtimetable...

Chapter13

FollowingtheStars‘The disposition of the stars as well as their movements have always been the subject of careful

observationamongtheEgyptians...theyhavepreservedtothisdayrecordsconcerningeachofthesestarsoveranincrediblenumberofyears,thisstudyhavingbeenzealouslypreservedamongthemfromancienttimes.’

DiodorusSiculus,BookV,firstcenturybc

ItshouldbeclearbynowthattheancientEgyptianshadverydistinctideas

aboutthelengthandscopeoftheirhistory,andthattheysetthe‘FirstTime’,the‘genesis event’ for their civilization, farback inwhat theEdfuBuildingTextscallthe‘EarlyPrimevalAge’.Justhowlongagothateventactuallytookplaceisnotan issue thatwillbeeasilyresolvedbecause thesurviving texts—theking-lists,theveryfewfragmentsofManetho’sHistorythathavebeenpreserved,andcertain travellers’ tales—are mostly incomplete and at times mutuallycontradictory. Moreover we are obliged to cut our way through a luxuriantjungle of diverse terminologies—Sages, Ancestors, Spirits of the Dead, the‘FollowersofHorus’,etc.,etc.—whichfurthercomplicatestheproblemoftryingtoarriveatacoherentpicture.Nevertheless,letusseewhatwecangleanfromtheseancientsources.Letustrytoputthejigsawpuzzletogether...

Shiningones

Amongsttheveryfewking-liststhathavesurvivedtothepresentday,theso-called‘TurinPapyrus’reachesparticularlydeeplyintothedarkabyssofthepast.Regrettably,more than half of the contents of this fragile document from thesecondmillennium bc have been lost because of the gross incompetencewithwhichitwashandledbyscholarswhenitwastransferred(inabiscuittin)fromthe collection of the King of Sardinia to its present home in theMuseum ofTurin.[541] The remaining fragments, however, offer occasional tantalisingglimpsesofanastonishingchronology.Of the greatest importance amongst these fragments is a badly damaged

vertical register in which the names and reigns of tenNeteru or ‘Gods’ wereoriginallygiven.Although inmostcases thedurationsof these reignsarenowillegible or completely broken away, it is possible to read the figure of 3126

yearsascribedtotheruleofthewisdom-godThothandthefigureof300yearsascribed to Horus, the last fully ‘divine’ king of Egypt.[542] Immediatelyafterwards comes a second vertical register devoted to the ‘Followers ofHorus’—the ShemsuHor—themost prominent of that general class of beingsvariously called ‘Ancestors’, or ‘Sages’ or ‘Ghosts’ or ‘Spirits’ whom theEgyptiansrememberedashavingbridgedthegapbetweenthetimeofthegodsand the time ofMenes (the supposed first king of the first historicalDynastycirca3000bc).[543]Againmuchoftheregisterismissing,butitslasttwolines,which seem to represent a summing-up, are of particular interest: ‘The Akhu,ShemsuHor,13,420years;ReignsbeforetheShemsuHor,23,200years;Total36,620years.’[544]

Thepluralword‘Akhu’isnormallytranslatedas‘Venerables’.[545]Yet,aswehinted at the end of the last chapter, a close examination of the full range ofmeaningsthattheancientEgyptiansattachedtoitsuggeststhatanotherandfarmore intriguing possibility exists—one that is concealed by so generalized anepithet. To be specific, the hieroglyphs for Akhu can alsomean ‘TransfiguredBeings’, ‘ShiningOnes’, ‘Shining Beings’ or ‘Astral Spirits’—understandablyidentified by some linguists with the stars.[546] And there are other shades ofmeaning, too, that cry out to be taken into account. For example in Sir E.A.Wallis Budge’s authoritativeHieroglyphicDictionary the following additionaldefinitionsareprovidedforAkhu:‘tobebright’,‘tobeexcellent’,or‘tobewise’and‘instructed’.[547]AndBudgefurtherinformsusthatthewordwasfrequentlyassociatedwith‘thosewhoreciteformulae’.[548]Suchdata,wesuggest,callsforarethinkofthetitle‘Venerables’asappliedto

the ‘Followers of Horus’ in the Turin Papyrus.[549] Rather than merely being‘venerable’,isitnotpossiblethatwhatwasmeanttobeconveyedbythewordAkhu in this context was a picture of vastly enlightened and learned people,apparentlywithsomeconnectiontoorinterestinthestars—inshortanéliteofhighlyinitiatedastronomer-philosophers?In support of this notion is the fact that the ‘Followers of Horus’ were

frequently linked in the ancient texts to another equally enlightened and‘shining’ class of ancestral beings called the ‘Souls of Pe’ and the ‘Souls ofNekhen’.[550]NowPeandNekhenwereactualgeographical locations inEgypt—the former in thenorth and the latter in the south.[551] Interestingly enough,however,asProfessorHenriFrankforthasconfirmed,the‘Souls’ofboththeseplaces were also frequently grouped collectively under yet another title, the‘SoulsofHeliopolis’,[552]whoweresaid‘toassisttheKing’sascenttoheaven,a

function commonly performed by the Souls of Nekhen and Pe ... A reliefdepictingthisfunctionshowstheSoulsofPeandNekhenin theact,while thetextcallsthemthe“SoulsofHeliopolis”.’[553]It is generally accepted that the term ‘Soul’—Ba—as used by the ancient

EgyptianshadstellarattributesconnectedtothenotionofeternallifeintheDuatto which all the historical Pharaohs aspired. Moreover, as Frankfort rightlypointsout,thePyramidTextsdoindeeddefinethedominantroleofthe‘Souls’ofPeandNekhen—andthusthe‘Souls’ofHeliopolis—asbeingtoensurethatwhenaPharaohdiedhewouldbe‘equipped’toascendtotheskyandfindhiswayintothecosmicKingdomofOsiris.[554]ThisinturncoincideswithwhatweknowoftheSagesofEdfuandthe‘FollowersofHorus’,bothofwhom,aswehave seen, may be identified with a single and originally Heliopolitan‘brotherhood’of temple-makerswhose functionwas toprepareand initiate thegenerationsoftheHorus-Kingsinordertobringaboutthe‘resurrection’ofwhatwasrememberedas‘theformerworldofthegods’.[555]

Legacy

ThenotionthatsomeformofinvisiblecollegecouldhaveestablisheditselfatHeliopolis thousandsofyearsbefore thePharaohs,andcouldhavebeen theinitiating force behind the creation and unfolding of ancient Egyptiancivilization, helps to explain one of the greatest mysteries confronted byEgyptology—namely the extremely sudden, indeeddramatic,manner inwhichPharaonicculture ‘tookoff’ in theearly thirdmillenniumbc.The independentresearcherJohnAnthonyWest,whosebreakthroughworkonthegeologyoftheSphinxwereportedinPartI,formulatestheproblemespeciallywell:

EveryaspectofEgyptianknowledgeseemstohavebeencompleteattheverybeginning.Thesciences,artistic and architectural techniques and the hieroglyphic system show virtually no signs of a period of‘development’; indeed,manyof the achievementsof the earliest dynastieswerenever surpassedor evenequalledlateron.ThisastonishingfactisreadilyadmittedbyorthodoxEgyptologists,butthemagnitudeofthemysteryitposesisskilfullyunderstated,whileitsmanyimplicationsgounmentioned.

How does a complex civilization spring full-blown into being? Look at a 1905 automobile andcompareittoamodernone.Thereisnomistakingtheprocessof‘development’.ButinEgypttherearenoparallels.Everythingisrightthereatthestart.

Theanswer to themystery isof courseobvious,butbecause it is repellent to theprevailingcastofmodernthinking,itisseldomseriouslyconsidered.Egyptiancivilizationwasnota‘development’,itwasalegacy.[556]

Mightnotthepreserversofthatlegacy,whoeventuallybequeathedittothePharaohsat thebeginningof theDynasticPeriod,havebeenthosereveredandsecretive individuals—the ‘Followers ofHorus’, theSages, theSeniorOnes—whose memory haunts the most archaic traditions of Egypt like a persistentghost?

Godsandheroes

In addition to the Turin Papyrus other chronological records support thenotionofanimmenselyancient‘academy’atworkbehindthescenesinEgypt.Amongst these, the most influential were compiled, as we saw earlier, byManetho(literally,‘TruthofThoth’),wholivedinthethirdcenturybcandwho‘rosetobehighpriestinthetempleatHeliopolis’.[557]TherehewrotehisnowlostHistoryofEgyptwhichlatercommentatorstelluswasdividedupintothreevolumesdealing,respectively,with‘theGods,theDemigods,theSpiritsoftheDeadandthemortalKingswhoruledEgypt’.[558]The ‘Gods’ it seems, ruled for 13,900 years.After them ‘theDemigods and

SpiritsoftheDead’—epithetsforthe‘FollowersofHorus’—ruledforafurther11,025 years.[559] Then began the reign of the mortal kings, which Manethodividedintothethirty-onedynastiesstillusedandacceptedbyscholarstoday.Other fragments from Manetho’s History also suggest that important and

powerful beings were present in Egypt long before the dawn of its historicalperiodundertheruleofMenes.ForexampleFragment3,preservedintheworksof George Syncellus, speaks of ‘six dynasties or six gods who ... reigned for11,985years’.[560]AndinanumberofsourcesManethoissaidtohavegiventhefigureof36,525years for theentiredurationof thecivilizationofEgypt fromthetimeofthegodsdowntotheendofthelastdynastyofmortalkings.[561]Aratherdifferenttotalofaround23,000yearshasbeenhandeddowntousby

theGreekhistorianDiodorusSiculuswhovisitedEgypt in the first centurybcand spoke therewith priests and chroniclers. According to the stories hewastold:‘AtfirstGodsandHeroesruledEgyptforalittlelessthan18,000years...Mortals have been kings of their country, they say, for a little less than 5000years.’[562]

Timebridge

An overview of all the available chronologies in context of other relateddocuments suchas thePyramidTextsand theEdfuBuildingTexts leaves two

distinct impressions. Despite the conflicts and confusions over the precisenumbersof years involved, anddespite the endless proliferationof names andtitlesandhonorificsandepithets:

• ItisclearthattheancientEgyptiansthoughtintermsofverylongperiodsoftime and would never have accepted the Egyptological view that theircivilization‘began’withtheFirstDynastyofPharaohs.

• Itisclearthattheywereawareofan‘influence’atworkintheirhistory—acontinuous, unbroken influence that had extended over many thousands ofyearsandthatwaswieldedbyanélitegroupofdivineandsemi-divinebeings,often associated with leonine symbolism, who were called variously ‘GodsandHeroes’, the ‘Spiritsof theDead’, the ‘Souls’, the ‘Sages’, the ‘ShiningOnes’, the ‘Ancestors’, the ‘Ancestor-Gods of the Circle of the Sky’, the‘FollowersofHorus’,etc.,etc.Itisclear,inotherwords,thattheancientEgyptiansenvisagedakindof‘time

bridge’, linking theworldofmen to theworldof thegods, today toyesterdayand‘now’tothe‘FirstTime’.Itisclear,toothatresponsibilityformaintainingthis‘bridge’wasattributedtothe‘FollowersofHorus’(bythisandmanyothernames).Anditisclearthatthe‘Followers’wererememberedashavingcarrieddown intact the traditions and secrets of the gods—always preserving them,permitting not a single change—until finally sharing them with the firstdynastiesofEgypt’smortalkings.

55.ItisclearthattheancientEgyptianswereawareofan‘influence’atworkintheirhistory—acontinuous,unbrokeninfluencethatextendedovermanythousandsofyearsandthatwaswieldedbyanélitegroupofdivineandsemi-divinebeings.

Followingthevernalpoint

The etymology of the ancient Egyptian term Shemsu Hor, ‘Followers ofHorus’, was studied by the Alsatian scholar R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz whoconcluded: ‘The termShemsuHor ... literallymeans ... “thosewho follow thepath ofHorus”, that is, the “Horianway”, also called the solarway ... TheseFollowersofHorusbearwiththemaknowledgeof“divineorigin”andunifythecountrywithit...’[563]The‘solarway’or‘pathofHorus’ is,ofcourse, theecliptic—that imaginary

way or path in the sky onwhich the sun appears to travel through the twelvesigns of the zodiac. As we saw in earlier chapters, the direction of the sun’s‘journey’duringthecourseofthesolaryearisAquariusàPiscesàAriesàTaurusàGeminiàCanceràLeo,etc.,etc.Thereaderwillrecall,however,thatthereisalsoanother, more ponderous motion, the precession of the earth’s axis, whichgraduallyrotates the‘ruling’constellationagainst thebackgroundofwhichthesun is seen to rise at dawn on the vernal equinox. This great cycle, or ‘GreatYear’,takes25,920solaryearstocomplete,withthevernalpointspending2,160years in each of the twelve zodiacal constellations.The direction ofmotion isLeoà Cancerà Geminià Taurusà Ariesà Piscesà Aquarius, etc., etc., i.e. thereverseoftheroutepursuedbythesunduringthecourseofthesolaryear.We suggest that the ‘Followers of Horus’ followed—in a very precise,

astronomicalsense—notonlytheannualpathofthesun,eastwardsthroughthezodiac,butalso,forthousandsofyears,thevernalpoint’srelentlessprecessionaldriftwestwardsthroughthesametwelveconstellations.Wealsosuggestthatthisshadowybrotherhood,whosemembersweresaidtohavecarriedthe‘knowledgeofdivineorigin’(whichtheywouldlateruseto‘unifythecountry’),mayhaveinterrelatedonanextremelyselectivebasiswiththemoreprimitiveinhabitantsoftheNileValleyintheprehistoricandPredynasticperiods,interbreedingwithchosenwomenand recruitingnewgenerations fromamongst thebrightest andthebestoftheiroffspring—butleavinglittleornotraceoftheirpresenceinthearchaeological record.We suggest, too, that around the beginning of the thirdmillennium bc something happened in the cosmic order of the night sky—somethinglongpreordainedandexpectedbytheirastronomers—thatcausedthe‘Followers’ to launch their grand attempt to initiate and ‘unify’ the historicalcivilizationofEgypt.Lastbutnotleast,wesuggestthatwhoevertheyreallymayhavebeen,itwasthe‘Followers’—theSages,theBuilderGods—whoprovidedthis nascent civilization with the injection of advanced technical knowledge,engineering,architecturalandorganizingskillsnecessaryfor thecompletionof

thevastcelestial‘temple’thatweknowtodayastheGizanecropolis...Inthenextchapterswewilltestsomeofthesehypotheses.

Chapter14

Space-TimeCo-ordinates‘Themindhaslostitscuttingedge,wehardlyunderstandtheancients.’

GregoiredeTours,sixthcenturyad

Inastronomicaltermsthe‘vernalpoint’isthe‘address’thatthesunoccupies

onthespringequinox—itsparticularpositiononthatparticulardayagainst thebackground of the zodiacal constellations that encircle the ecliptic (i.e. theperceived ‘path’of the sun).As a result of a cosmic coincidence these twelveprominentconstellationsaredistributedintheheavensintheplaneoftheecliptic(i.e.intheplaneoftheearth’sorbitaroundthesun)and,furthermore,arespacedout more or less evenly around it. The vernal point, however, is not fixed.Becauseofthephenomenonofprecession,aswehaveseeninearlierchapters,itgradually sweeps around the whole ‘dial’ of the zodiac at a precise andpredictablerate.Between 3000 bc and 2500 bc, the epoch in which Egypt appears to have

receivedthesuddensparkofgeniusthatinitiatedthemostbrilliantachievementsofthePyramidAge,thevernalpointwasstationedontheimmediateright(i.e.‘west’) bank of theMilkyWay, drifting almost imperceptibly slowly past thesmallgroupofstars,knownastheHyades,whichformtheheadofTaurus[564]—theBulloftheSky.What thismeans is that thevernalpointhadarrivedin thatregionof thesky

dominatedby theadjacentconstellationsofTaurusandOrion,andparticularlybythethreestarsofOrion’sbelt.Moreover,aswehaveseeninPartI,thethreegreat Pyramids of Giza—which stand on the west bank of the Nile—weredesignedtoserveasterrestrialmodels,or‘doubles’ofthosethreestars.Nowhereistheinterestingthing.IfweregardtheGizaPyramids(inrelationto

theNile) as part of a scaled-down ‘map’of the right bankof theMilkyWay,thenwewouldneedtoextendthat‘map’some20milestothesouthinordertoarrive at the point on the ground where the Hyades-Taurus should berepresented.HowlikelyisittobeanaccidentthattwoenormousPyramids—theso-called ‘Bent’ and ‘Red’PyramidsofDahshur—are foundat this spot?Andhow likely is it tobeanaccident, aswasdemonstrated inTheOrionMystery,thatthesiteplanofthesemonuments,i.e.theirpatternontheground,correlates

verypreciselywiththepatternintheskyofthetwomostprominentstarsintheHyades?[565]Wesuggestnoneofthisisaccidental,thatthe‘celestialsignal’which‘sparked

offtheincrediblePyramid-buildingprogrammeofEgypt’sFourthDynastywasprovided by the precessional drift of the vernal point into the Hyades-Taurusregion,andthatthe‘HyadesPyramids’ofDahshurwerethereforenaturallybuiltfirst.Such a theory provides a motive for the vast enterprise of Fourth-Dynasty

Pyramid construction (involving some 25million tons of stone blocks—morethan 75 per cent of all the stone that was quarried and shaped into Pyramidsduring the PyramidAge).[566] In addition, it accords fullywith archaeologicalevidencewhichsuggeststhatthetwosuperbPyramidsatDahshurwerebuiltbySneferu (2572-2551 bc), the founder of the Fourth Dynasty and the father ofKhufu.InotherwordstheBentandtheRedPyramidswereindeedbuiltbeforeanyofthegreatPyramidsofGiza[567]—whichisexactlywhatonewouldexpectifthedriftofthevernalpointintotheHyades-Tauruswasthetriggerthatsetthewholeenterpriseinmotion.Andthereissomethingelse.

Journeyintime

TheHyades-Taurusregion,togetherwithitsterrestrialanalogue,isidentifiedinthePyramidTextsasthestartingpointfortheHorus-King’s‘quest’—i.e.thatgreat dualistic journey, enacted both in the sky and on the ground, that wedescribed in Part III. As the reader will recall, the texts specifically andunambiguously instructHorus inhis solar form, i.e. the sun’sdisc, topositionhimself at this starting point and thence to ‘go to Horakhti’, i.e. to voyageeastwards towards the constellation of Leo. And we have seen how the sunactually does this, sailing along the ecliptic path during the solar year in thedirectionTaurusàGeminiàCanceràLeo.This order of the constellations therefore appears to define ‘forward’

movement in time and, at one level, the identifiable astronomical eventsdescribedinthetextsdoindeedunfoldinthe‘normal’forwarddirectionofthesolaryear(afterbeingstationednearTaurus,andthencrossingtheMilkyWay,the sun reaches Leo later in the year—i.e. later in time).Moreover this same‘normal’forwardmotionalsoappearstobemirroredintheritualperformedbytheHorus-Kingon theground: i.e.aftercrossing the riverNile it is inevitablethat the initiatewill arriveat thebreastof theGreatSphinx somewhat later in

time.ButinthePyramidTexts,andinthearrangementoftheGizamonuments—as

insomuchelsethathascomedowntousfromancientEgypt—everythingmaynotbequitewhatitseems.Anawarenessoftheeffectsofprecessiononthepartof the ‘Followers of Horus’ (and the later priests of Heliopolis) would haveincludedanintensefocusonthestellarbackgroundatthevernalequinoxandanunderstanding that the sun’s ‘journey’ towardsHorakhti-Leo, as calibrated atthis‘governingmoment‘of theyear,wouldbydefinitionhavebeena journeybackwards in time througha successionof ‘world-ages’—i.e. from theAgeofTaurus, circa 3000 bc (when the sun on the vernal equinox rose against thestellar background of the constellation of Taurus) to the Age of Leo, circa10,500bc,when thesunon thevernalequinoxroseagainst thebackgroundofthecelestiallion.SowhenwereadinthePyramidTextsthatthe‘FollowersofHorus’areurging

theHorus-King to travel fromTaurus toLeo it ispossible that theymayhavehadinmindsomethingrathercomplexandclever.Itispossible,inotherwords,thataswellasofferingthesun’sannualpaththroughtheconstellationsasakindof‘treasuretrail’fortheinitiatetofollowonhiswaytothebreastoftheSphinx,theymay also have offered him knowledge of its slow reverse motion at thevernal equinox—perhaps as his cue to embark on a different kind of journey,againsttheflowofprecessionandbacktothe‘FirstTime’.This ismore than speculation.Aswe saw at the end of Part III, theHorus-

King’sjourneytothebreastoftheSphinxwasundertakenatthesummersolsticeduringthePyramidAge(becauseinthatepochitwasatthesummersolsticethatthe great conjunction of the sun with Horakhti-Leo occurred). We also saw,however,thattheinitiatewhohadcorrectlyfollowedthe‘treasuretrail’setoutin the texts, andwho had reached theSphinx in the pre-dawn on the summersolstice, would immediately have become aware of a curious ‘dislocation’betweenskyandground.Hewouldhavenoticed, inparticular, that theSphinxgazeddueeastbutthathiscelestialcounterpart—Horakhti-Leo—wasrisingatapointonthehorizonlocatedsome28degreesnorthofdueeast.Hewouldalsohave noticed that the three great Pyramids of Giza precisely straddled themeridian but that their terrestrial counterparts, the three stars of Orion’s belt,hunglowinthesouth-easternportionofthepre-dawnsky,fartotheleftofthemeridian.Given the profoundly astronomical character of his religious frame of

reference he might well have felt a numinous urge to ‘put sky and groundtogether again’—i.e., so to arrange matters that the Sphinx would be gazingdirectlyatLeo in thepre-dawn,whilst, at the samemoment, the three starsof

Orion’sbeltwouldstraddlethemeridianintheprecisepattern‘specified’bythemeridionallayoutofthePyramids.Ifthatcouldsomehowbebroughtaboutthenthe monuments would truly represent ‘an image of heaven’[568] —as the oldHermeticdoctrinesteach—andthelandofEgypt‘whichoncewasholy,alandwhichlovedthegodsandwhereinalonethegodsdeignedtosojournonearth’,mightonceagainbecome,asitwasbefore,‘theteacherofMankind’.[569]ButhowcouldtheHorus-Kinghopetouniteskyandground?The onlywaywould be if hewere equipped to use precession—presumably

justasanintellectualtool—totravelbackwardsintime.For as the reader will recall there was a time when a unique celestial

conjunction involving themomentof sunrise, theconstellationofLeo,and themeridian-transitofthethreestarsofOrion’sbelt,didindeedoccur.Thattime,ofcourse,wasnearthebeginningoftheAgeofLeo,ataround10,500bc,[570]some8000yearspriortothePyramidAge.

Becomingequipped

The Utterances conventionally numbered 471, 472 and 473 in the ancientEgyptianPyramidTextscontaininformationofanextraordinarynature.Inviewoftheimportanceofthisinformation,wesetitoutinfullbelow:

I am the essence of a god, the son of a god, themessenger of a god, [says the Horus-King]. TheFollowersofHoruscleanseme,theybatheme,theydryme,theyreciteformetheSpell[formula]forHimwhoisontheRightWay,theyreciteformetheSpellofHimwhoAscends,andIascendtothesky.

IwillgoaboardthisBarkofRe[theSolarBark]...EverygodwillrejoiceatmeetingmeastheyrejoiceatmeetingRe[thesun]whenheascendsfromtheeasternsideoftheskyinpeace,inpeace.

Theskyquivers,theearthquakesbeforeme,forIamamagician,Ipossessmagic...IhavecomethatImayglorifyOrion,thatImaysetOsirisatthehead,thatImaysetthegodsupontheirthrones.

OMahaf,Bullofthegods[Taurus-Hyades],bringmethis[solarbark]andsetmeonyonderside...Thereed-floatsoftheskyaresetdownformebytheday-barkthatI[thesolarHorus-King]maygouponthemtoReattheHorizon.ThereedfloatsoftheskyarebroughtdowntomebythenightbarkthatImaygouponthemtoHorakhtiatthehorizon.Igoupontheeasternsideoftheskywherethegodsareborn,andIambornasHorus,asHimoftheHorizon...IhavefoundtheAkhuswiththeirmouthsequipped...

‘Whoareyou?’saythey[theAkhus],withtheirmouthsequipped.

‘IamanAkhuwithmymouthequipped.’

‘Howhasthishappenedtoyou,’saythey,theAkhuswiththeirmouthsequipped,‘thatyouhavecometothisplacemorenoblethananyplace?’

‘Ihavecometothisplacemorenoblethananyplacebecause:Thereed-floatsoftheskyweresetdown

forRe[thesundiscandtheemblemoftheHorus-King]thatRemightcross[theMilkyWay]onthemtoHorakhtiattheHorizon...’[571]

56.Artist’simpressionoftheuniquecelestialconjunctionthatoccurredatsunriseonthevernalequinoxintheepochof10,500bc.

TheseUtterancesappear todescribean importantpartof theHorus-King’sinitiatory journey—an ordeal of questions and answers based on astronomicalsciencewrapped up in esoteric symbols. The inquisitors are the ‘Followers ofHorus’, also known as the Akhus (the ‘Venerables’, the ‘Shining Ones’, the‘Transfigured Spirits’, etc., etc.). Moreover, as we would expect, the Horus-King’s cosmic journey begins in the Taurus-Hyades region of the sky, on therightbankoftheMilkyWay.andproceedsalongtheeclipticpathtoendatLeoi.e. ‘Horakhti’,at thehorizon.Here,at ‘thisplacemorenoble thananyplace’,theAkhusgreethim—indeedheclaimstohavebecomeanAkhuhimself—andgive him the final instructions or directions that hewill need to complete hisquest.Whatwehavetoconsideristhepossibilitythatthesefinalinstructionsmight

somehowhave‘equipped’ theHorus-King tomake thenecessary journeybackintime,tothe‘FirstTime’,andintothecosmicKingdomofOsiriswhenskyandgroundwereunitedinperfectharmony.

Unification

Asthereaderwillrecallfromthepreviouschapter,the‘FollowersofHorus’weresaidtohavepossessed‘aknowledgeofdivineorigin’thatwastobeusedto‘unifythecountry’.ItisthereforepresumablyofrelevancethatlargenumbersofancientEgyptianinscriptionsandpapyrimakereferencetoaneventknownas‘theUnitingof theTwoLands’—anevent that is eloquently related in the so-called Shabaka Texts (the ‘Memphite Theology’) whichwe have reviewed inPartIII.It is the scholarly consensus that the ‘Unification of the Two Lands’ was a

political and economic ‘federation’ between southern and northern Egypt,resulting from the military conquest of the latter by the former, whichsupposedlyoccurredataroundtheyear3000bc.[572]Thisconquest,asT.G.H.James informs us, ‘was effected by a King known to history as Menes. Nocontemporarymonumentbearsa royalname thatcanwithcertaintybe readasMenes,butheisgenerally identifiedwithKingNarmerwhoisshownwearingboththeredandwhitecrowns[respectivelyofnorthernandsouthernEgypt]onagreatpalette[nowintheCairoMuseum].WiththeunificationoftheKingdomsbeginsthehistoricperiodofEgypt.’[573]Alsosometimesreferredtoas‘KingScorpion’(afterasymbolthatappearson

anarchaicmace-head)wehavealreadymetMenes-Narmer.[574]Wehavenoted,too, the strange Egyptological double standard by which he is accorded thestatus of a genuine historical figure whilst his predecessors—mentioned withequal prominence in the king-lists and Manetho—are dismissed as ‘mythicalbeings’.Indeed, Egyptologists speak with such immense confidence of ‘the political

consolidation of Egypt around 3000 bc’ and of the ‘unification underNarmer’[575] that onewould suppose theywere in possession of bundles uponbundlesofancienttreaties,landdeedsandhistoricalrecords.Thetruth,however,asJameshalfadmits,isthatnothingisknownforsureaboutthesupposedfirstPharaohoftheFirstDynasty.Onthecontrary,thewholeofwhatwereadabouthim,includinghisidentificationwith‘Narmer’,isscholarlyspeculationbasedonidiosyncratic interpretationsof certain scenes—someofwhichdepict battles—that are carved on the so-called ‘Narmer Palette’ and on certain votivemace-headsfromHierakonpolis(anancientreligiouscapitalinsouthernEgypt).[576]Inshort,Egyptology’scase that ‘theUnificationof theTwoLands’ refers to

the political unification of northern and southern Egypt underMenes rests onthreecompletelyuninscribedartefactswhicharecarvedwithscenes thatmightbear such an interpretation—but that could also be interpreted in many otherways.ThesecuriousartefactstelluspreciouslittleaboutMenes-Narmerhimself,

[577]letalonewhathispoliticalandterritorialaspirations—orthoseofanybodyelse—might have been circa 3000 bc in Egypt. Semi-legendary or semi-historical, Narmer (orMenes or ‘King Scorpion’—take your pick) is thus thequintessential ‘King Arthur’ of Egyptology. And so, too, is his supposed‘Unification of Egypt’—which is also veiled in semi-mythical, semi-historicalconfusion,verymuchliketheconfederationofKingArthur’sRoundTable.[578]Moreover theconclusion thatMenes-Narmerwas the first ruler tohavebeen

involvedinthe‘UnificationoftheTwoLands’clashesrudelywiththebeliefsoftheancientEgyptiansthemselves.Theirrecordsandtraditionsmakeitclearthattherehadbeenearlier‘Unifications’inthe‘TimeoftheGods’—allgoingbacktotheoriginalKingdomofOsiris,the‘Kingdomofthe“FirstTime”’whichwastornasunderbySethandthenunifiedonceagainbyHorus.We do not think that this talk of ‘Unification’ was ever entirely to dowith

eventsthathappenedontheground.Althoughwedonotdisputethatsomeformofpoliticalunificationdidindeedtakeplaceataround3000bc,wesuspectthatindualisticEgyptawiderunderstandingofthewholeissuewillnotbepossibleunlesseventsintheskyaretakenintoaccountaswell.Buildingonearlierworkdone by Egyptologist and archaeoastronomer Jane B. Sellers,[579] we suggestthattheoriginalnotionof‘Unification’—towhichalllaterattemptsto‘UnifytheTwoLands’were directly related—had something to dowith the precessionaldriftofthestars...

Highandfar-offtimes

Inher landmarkstudyTheDeathofGodsinAncientEgyptSellerssetsoutpersuasive astronomical and textual evidence to show that the prehistoricEgyptians—atleastasfarbackas7300bc—hadobservedandtrackedtheslowprecessionally inducedchangesthatconstantlyrelocate thecosmic‘address’ofthe constellation of Orion. And she argues that, although political unity wascreditedtoMenes,therewasamucholdernotionofthe‘Unification’basednotoneventsonearthbutthoseobservedinthesky...[580]Indeed,shegoessofarasto claim thatMenesmerely brought to fruition a very ancient and archetypalvisionofcosmicdualitywhichsoperfectlyharmonizedwiththementalityoftheancient Egyptians ‘as to appear both inevitable and perennial’: ‘A dualmonarchyunitedundertheruleofonewasaformthatcamefromthemistsofdistantantiquity.Itwasaformthathadbeencreatedforgodsintheheavens,andhow inevitable itwas that an imitation of the cosmic order should prevail formenonearth.’[581]

Sellers supportsher casebydrawingon the lateHenriFrankfort’s studiesofancient Egyptian kingship. Like her, the former Professor of PreclassicalAntiquity at the University of London was firmly of the opinion that it was‘possible to view the unification of Egypt, not as the ephemeral outcome ofconflictingambitions,butas therevelationofapredestinedorder’.[582]Andhewasfurtherconvincedthat‘thedualmonarchycentredroundMemphisrealizedadivineplan’,thatthesocialandstateorderestablishedbyMenes-Narmerwaspresented ‘as part of the cosmic order’,[583] and that Menes-Narmer, inestablishinghimselfassolerulerofUpperandLowerEgypt,wasperforming‘anactinharmonywiththeEgyptiantendencytounderstandtheworldindualisticterms,“aseriesofpairsofcontrastsbalancedinunchangingequilibrium”...’[584]WhatSellerswasabletoaddtothis,asaresultofherownpowerfulinsights

into ancientEgyptian cosmology and observational astronomy,was the notionthat events taking place on the groundwere somehowdirectly conditioned byobservations of the sky—and also that what was observed in the sky wasdescribedmoreorlessaccuratelyincertain‘myths’:

Iampostulatingthecreationofspecificmythstodealwithdistressingalterationsinthesky,followedby an artificial duality, or symmetry, imposed, not just on the deities, but on geographical centres ofworship,andthisdualityremainedaconstantinEgyptianaffairsthroughoutitshistory.ItwasharkingbacktoawonderfulGoldenAge,nowlost,anagewhentheskieshadhadamagnificentbalance,andthereligionhadbeenfreshandnew...’[585]

TheGolden Age to which Sellers is referring is, of course,Zep Tepi, the‘FirstTime’.Andthe‘distressingalterationsinthesky’whichshebelievesthatcertain myths were created to explain were caused by the phenomenon ofprecession—specificallytheprecessionaldriftofthegreatconstellationofOrionawayfromthestationthatithadoccupiedatthe‘FirstTime’.[586]ThesearedaringanddangerousstepsforanotherwiseorthodoxEgyptologist

tohavetaken.Nevertheless,asweshallseeinthenextchapters,Sellerscouldbewronginunderstandingthemyths—bywhichshemeansprincipallythePyramidTexts and the Memphite Theology—merely as accounts fabricated bysuperstitious priests to ‘explain’ precessional drift. The possibility needs to beconfronted square on that elements of these ancient traditions, and themonumentsandritualsthataresoinextricablylinkedtothem,couldhavebeendeliberatelycontrivedasvehiclestocarryanelaborateandingenious‘message’fromapastepochotherwise long forgotten toa specificepoch in the future—from the ‘FirstTime’ to an astronomically defined ‘LastTime’[587]—perhapseven to theveryepoch inwhichweourselves live today.Perhapsbothepochsthuslinkedtogetheraresusceptibletoaccuratedatinganddecodingifonlythe

rightkeycanbefound.Andperhapswemayyetbeabletoreadandunderstandthegreatcosmicblueprintthatthe‘FollowersofHorus’soughttoimplement...Whoknowswhatmightresult?Theremight even come, to quote thewords ofGiorgio deSantillana, ‘some

kindof“Renaissance”outofthehopelesslycondemnedandtrampledpast,whencertainideascometolifeagain...Weshouldnotdepriveourgrandchildrenofalastchanceattheheritageofthehighestandfarthest-offtimes.’[588]

Chapter15

WhentheSkyJoinedtheEarth‘MyKingdomisnotofthisworld....’

John18:36

‘GreatistheCosmicOrder,forithasnotchangedsincethetimeofOsiris,whoputitthere...’

Ptahotep,ahighpriestofthePyramidAge

AccordingtotheCreationnarrativeof theancientEgyptians,Nut, theSky-

goddess, andGeb, the earth-god, joined in sexual union, butwere then rudelyseparated by the intervention of Shu, the god of air, atmosphere and dryness.Nevertheless the union did produce offspring in the form of Isis and Osiris,NepthysandSeth.Andinduecourse,aswehaveseen,Osirisbecametherulerof the idealized ‘Kingdom of the “First Time” ’, was murdered by Seth,experienced resurrection, and then finally ascended into the heavenswhere heestablishedthecosmic‘Kingdom’oftheDuat.Thereaderwillrememberthatacrucialroleineffectinghis‘astralrebirth’wasplayedbyHorus,hissonbythewidowIsis,thearchetypeforallthehistoricalHorus-KingsofancientEgypt—whorevengedhimselfonSethandlaterreunifiedthedividedKingdom.Itcanthusbesaidthatakindofcosmicblueprinttoestablish—orreestablish

—aunified ‘KingdomofOsiris’onearthhadbeendevised from theoutsetbythe ‘gods’ and thus long before the advent of ‘historical’ kingship byMenes-Narmeratthebeginningofthethirdmillenniumbc.

Separation

IntheShabakaTexts(whichexpresstheMemphiteTheology)wereadthatthedefeatofSethbyHoruswasfollowedbyaconvocationof thegods,undertheleadershipofGeb,whosatinjudgementoverthetwo‘contenders’.Initiallyeachonewasgivenauthoritytoruleoverhisownarea:‘ThesearethewordsofGeb toHorus [of thenorth]andSeth [of thesouth]:“Ihaveseparatedyou”—Lower andUpperEgypt ... ThenHorus stood over one region andSeth stoodoveroneregion...’[589]Later, however, as the reader will recall from Part III, Geb ‘gave to Horus

[Seth’s] inheritance’: ‘ThenHorusstoodover the land.He is theuniterof this

land...HeisHoruswhoaroseaskingofUpperandLowerEgypt,whounitedtheTwoLandsin[theregionofMemphis],—the“place”wheretheTwoLandswereunited...’[590]Thecuriousphrase ‘Ihaveseparatedyou’whichGebuttered, is symbolicof

the‘separation’thathe,too,hadenduredfromhisconsortthesky-goddess,Nut.With this in mind, should we not consider the possibility that the notions of‘UpperEgypt’and‘LowerEgypt’—thoughobviouslyrelatingatoneleveltothegeographicalsouthandnorthoftheearthlycountry—mightalsoatanotherlevelhavebeenintendedtosuggestgroundandsky?

Doubles

There is much in theMemphite Theology which supports the propositionthat the areas which were traditionally regarded as the southern and northernsacred regions of Osiris—Abydos andMemphis—were not only meant to beconsideredinterrestrialtermsbutalsoincosmicterms.Inparticular,ametaphorisrelayedaroundtheimageryofthehuge‘body’of

Osiris‘drifting’withthewatersoftheNilefromhissouthernshrineatAbydostoreachhisnorthernshrineinthe‘landofSokar’—i.e.theMemphitenecropolisingeneralandinparticulartheGizaplateauwhere,intheformofthethreegreatPyramids,wesuspectthatthe‘body’ofOsirisliesoutstretcheduponthesandtothepresentday...Atanyrate,thissamebasicimageryofOsirislyingonthewesternbankofthe

NilenearMemphisalsocropsupinthePyramidTexts,whichaddafurtherclue:‘They[IsisandNepthys]havefoundOsiris ...“whenhisnamebecameSokar”...’[591]Theterm‘whenhisnamebecameSokar’doesclearlyseemtoimplythatthe‘body’ofOsirismergedwiththelandofSokari.e.theMemphitenecropolis,andthathisimage—i.e.the‘astral’imageoftheOrionregionofthesky—wassomehowgraftedontoit.Theimpressionthatthis‘image’musthavesomethingto do with the Pyramids of Giza is then confirmed elsewhere in the PyramidTexts. In the following passage, for example, the Horus-King addresses the‘Lower Sky’ to which he ‘will descend to the place where the gods are’ anduttersthispowerfulandcrypticdeclaration:

IfIcomewithmyka[double],openyourarmstome;themouthsofthegodswillbeopenedandwillrequestthatIascendtothesky,andIwillascend.

AboonwhichGeb(earth)andAtumgrant:thatthisPyramidandTemplebeinstalledformeandfor

mydouble,andthatthisPyramidandTemplebeenclosedformeandformydouble...

AsforanyonewhoshalllayafingeronthisPyramidandthisTemplewhichbelongtomeandtomydouble,hewillhavelaidafingerontheMansion[Kingdom]...whichisinthesky...[592]

It is beyond the scope of this book to present a detailed treatise on theconcept of the ka—the ‘double’, the astral or spiritual essence of a person orthing—andofitsroleinancientEgyptianfunerarybeliefs.Muchconfusionhasbeengeneratedaroundthisimportantsubject.[593]Attheveryleast,however,itis certain that what confronts us in the ka is yet another example of theprevailing dualism in Egyptian thought. Moreover its use in context of theutterance quoted above reminds us that the ‘image’ ofOsiris ‘when his namebecameSokar’—i.e. theMemphitePyramidnecropolis—shouldatall timesbeconsideredashavingacosmicorcelestial ‘double’.And it shouldbeobvious,too,thatthis‘double’canonlybetheOsirianKingdomintheDuat—whichthePyramid Texts declare to be ‘the PlaceWhere Orion Is’. Indeed asMargaretBunson notes in her Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt: ‘Kas ... served asguardiansofplaces...OsiriswasalwayscalledthekaofthePyramids...’[594]OtherpassagesfromthePyramidTextssupportthisgeneralanalysis:OHorus,thisKingisOsiris,thisPyramidofthekingisOsiris,thisconstructionofhisisOsiris,betake

yourselftoit...[595]

Awake[Osiris]forHorus...spiritualizeyourself[i.e.becomeanastralbeing]...MayastairwaytotheskybesetupforyoutothePlaceWhereOrionIs...[596]

Live,bealive,beyoung...besideOrioninthesky...[597]

OOsiris-King,youarethisgreatstar,thecompanionofOrion,whotraversestheskywithOrion,who‘sails’intheDuatwithOsiris...[598]

Link-up

Strangely, despite the obvious sky-ground dualism and profoundlyastronomical‘flavour’oftheTexts,noscholarotherthanJaneB.Sellers[599]hasever given serious consideration to the possibility that references to the‘Unification’ of the ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower’ Kingdoms of Osiris might havesomethingtodowithastronomy.IndeedtheonlyEgyptologisteventogetcloseto such an unorthodoxway of thinkingwas SelimHassanwhen he observed:‘the Egyptians held the idea of the existence of more than one sky, possiblysuperimposed ... Certain lines in the Pyramid Texts strongly suggest that“Upper”and“Lower”Egypteachhaditsownparticularsky...i.e.thetwoskies

inoppositiontotheTwoLandsofUpperandLowerEgypt.’[600]In his monumental study of ancient Egyptian cosmology, Hassan also drew

attentiontoanintriguingpapyrus,nowkeptattheLouvreMuseuminParis,[601]whichsuggeststhatthe‘TwoSkies’inquestionwereconsideredasbeing‘onefortheearthandtheotherfortheDuat’.[602]‘Thesepluralskies’,wroteHassan,‘weresuperimposedoneabovetheother.’[603]Pursuing such lines of thought, we were to discover that similar ideas are

depictedintheCoffinTexts.Therereferenceismadetothe‘Upper’and‘Lower’landscapeswhicharesaid tobeboundto the‘TwoHorizons’—one in theeast(the sky) and one in the west (the earth i.e. the Memphite necropolis[604] ):‘Open!OSkyandEarth,OeasternandwesternHorizons,openyouchapelsofUpperandLowerEgypt...’[605]Thelanguageofallthesetextsisexotic,ladenwiththedualisticthinkingthat

layattheheartofancientEgyptiansocietyandthatmayhavebeentheengineofits greatest achievements. In the Pyramid Age, as we have seen, the gigantic‘image’ofOsirisappearstohavebeenphysicallydefinedonthegroundwiththecreation of the ‘Lower’ landscape of theMemphite Pyramids—adevelopmentreferred to in thePyramidTextsbymeansof theobviousmetaphor‘WhenhisnamebecameSokar’.Likewise, itshouldcomeasnosurprise that thegiganticcelestial‘image’ofOsirisintheskyisreferredtointhesametextsbymeansofthe same metaphorical device, i.e. ‘When his name became Orion’: ‘Horuscomes, Thoth appears ... They raiseOsiris from upon his side andmake himstandup...whentherecameintobeingthishisnameofOrion,longoflegandlengthyofstride,whopresidesover“Upper”Egypt...Raiseyourself,OOsiris...the sky is given to you, the earth is given to you ...’[606] SelimHassan, againalmostbutnotquitegettingthepoint,commentsasfollows:‘thislineshowsthatOsiriswasgiventhedominionofheavenandearth.’[607]

57.(Left)Thesky-DuatofOsiris‘inhisnameofOrion’.(Right)Theground-DuatofOsiris‘inhisnameofSokar’.

Yetclearlythereismoretosay.These‘dominions’werebynomeansvagueandgeneralbutweredefinedintheskybythepatternofOrion’sstars,andweredefinedontheground—inthelandof‘Sokar’(i.e.theMemphitenecropolis)—bythepatternofthePyramids.Wewonderwhetherthefirstmajor‘station’ofthequest-journeyoftheHorus-

King, reached after he had been prompted to ‘find the astral body of Osiris’,mightnothavebeentheinitiate’sdawningawarenessthatthebodyinquestionwasadualitythatcouldonlybeapproachedbylinkingOrionwiththepatternoftheGreatPyramidsintheMemphitenecropolis.

Ridingthevernalpoint

The reader will remember that the starting point of the Horus-King’s‘journey in the sky’waswhen the sun’s position along the zodiac (during thesolaryear)wasclosetotheHyades,atthe‘head’oftheconstellationofTaurus,standing,asitwere,onthebanksoftheMilkyWay.IfwenowtransposethisskyimagetothegroundthentheHorus-Kingwould

havetoplacehimselfnearthe‘Bent’andthe‘Red’PyramidsofDahshursome20miles south ofGiza (but nevertheless still verymuch part of the extensiveMemphite necropolis). As we saw in the last chapter, the trigger for theconstructionofthesetwoFourth-DynastymonumentsappearstohavebeentheslowprecessionaldriftofthevernalpointintotheHyades-Taurusregionoftheskyinthethirdmillenniumbc.Indeeditismorethanpossiblethatbybuildingthose Pyramids (which map the two brightest stars in the Hyades) Pharaoh

Sneferu(2575-2551bc)wasdeliberatelylayingdownamarkerforthepositionofthevernalpointinhisepoch.Ifhewasdoingthat,asall theevidenceseemstosuggest, thenit isprobable

that such a highly initiated Horus-King would also have known that bymetaphorically‘boarding’thesolarbarkatthespringequinox,andcrossingtheMilkyWay,hewouldeffectivelybe‘sailingbackintime’—againsttheflowofprecession—ridingthevernalpointtowardsthedistantconstellationofLeo.Butwhy, then,all thisparallelemphasis in the textsonOrion-Osirismoving

fromsomewhereinthedistant‘south’tohisfinalrestingplaceintheMemphitenecropolis?

Secretspell

WesuspectthatforthousandsofyearsbeforethePyramidAge,hundredsofgenerations of Heliopolitan astronomer-priests had kept the constellation ofOrioncontinuouslyunderobservation,payingparticularattentiontoitsplaceofmeridian-transit—i.e. the altitude above the horizon at which it crossed thecelestial meridian. We think that careful records were kept, perhaps written,perhaps orally encoded in the ancient ‘mythological’ language of precessionalastronomy.[608] And we suppose that note was taken of Orion’s slowprecessional drift—the effect of which was that the constellation would haveseemedtobeslowlydriftingnorthwardsalongthewest‘bank’oftheMilkyWay.It isourhypothesisthat themythicalimageofthevastbodyofOsirisslowly

beingcarried to thenorth, i.e. ‘drifting’on thewatersof theNile, isaspecificpiece of astronomical terminology coined to describe the long-term changesbeing effected by precession in Orion’s celestial ‘address’. In the MemphiteTheology,asthereaderwillrecall,thisdriftwasdepictedashavingcommencedin the south, symbolically called Abydos (in archaeological terms the mostsoutherly‘shrine’ofOsiris),andtohavecarriedthe‘body’ofthedeadgodtoapoint in thenorthsymbolicallycalledSokar, i.e. theMemphitenecropolis (themostnortherly‘shrine’ofOsiris).AswesawinPartIII,theShabakaTextstellusthatwhenhereachedthispoint:

Osiriswasdrownedinhiswater.IsisandNepthyslookedout,beheldhim,andattendedtohim.HorusquicklycommandedIsisandNepthys tograspOsirisandpreventhis [submerging].Theyheeded in timeandbroughthimtoland.[.HeenteredthehiddenportalsinthegloryoftheLordsofEternity.ThusOsiriscame into the earth at the Royal Fortress [Memphis], to the north of the land to which he had come[Abydos].[609]

58.TheeffectofOrion’sslowprecessionalslideupthemeridianbetween10,500bcand2500bcisthattheconstellationwouldliterallyhaveappearedtobe‘drifting’veryslowlynorthwardsalongthecourseoftheMilkyWay.

InthelightofwhatwenowknowitishardtoimaginethatthereferencetoOsiriscoming‘into theearth’ (ordowntoearth?)couldsignifyanythingotherthanthephysicalconstructionofthe‘bodyofOsirisontheground’onthewestbanks of the Nile—in the form of the great Pyramid-fields of the sprawlingMemphitenecropolis.SinceOsirisisOrionthedesiretoachievesuchaneffectwould more than adequately explain why the three Pyramids of Giza shouldhavebeenarranged in thepatternof the three starsofOrion’sbelt.Moreover,sinceweknow that the statedgoal of theHorus-King’s questwasnot only tofind the astral ‘body’ ofOsiris but to find it as itwas in the ‘FirstTime’,weshouldnotbesurprisedbythefactthatthePyramids,aswesawinPartI,aresetout on the ground in the pattern that they made at the beginning (i.e.‘southernmost point’) of that constellation’s upward (i.e. ‘northerly’)precessionalhalf-cycle.Sowewonderwhether it is possible that thequest of theHorus-Kingmight

havehadas itsultimateobjective theacquisitionof knowledgeconcerning the‘First Time’—perhaps even the acquisition of specific knowledge from thatremoteepochwhenthegodshadwalkedtheearth?Several passages in thePyramidTexts invite such speculation.For example,

wearetoldthattheHorus-Kingmust‘travelupstream’—i.e.mustpushagainstthe natural drift of ‘time’—in order to reachOrion-Osiris in his proper ‘FirstTime’setting:

Betake yourself to theWaterway, fare upstream [south], travel aboutAbydos in this spirit-form ofyourswhichthegodscommandtobelongtoyou;mayastairway[road]totheDuatbesetupforyoutothePlaceWhereOrionIs...[610]

TheyhavefoundOsiris...‘WhenhisnamebecameSokar’[Memphitenecropolis]...Wakeup[Osiris]forHorus...raiseyourself...faresouthward[upstream]tothelake,crossoverthesea[sky],foryouarehewhostandsuntiringinthemidstofAbydos...[611]

BetakeyourselftotheWaterway,fareupstream...traverseAbydos.ThecelestialportaltotheHorizonisopentoyou...mayyouremoveyourselftothesky,fortheroadsofthecelestialexpanseswhichleaduptoHorusarecleanedforyou...foryouhavetraversedtheWindingWaterway[MilkyWay]whichisinthenorthoftheskyasastarcrossingtheseawhichisbeneaththesky.TheDuathasgraspedyourhandatthePlaceWhereOrionIs...[612]

LikewisethereisastrikingpassageintheCoffinTextswhichreferstosomesecret‘spell’orformulatoallowthedeceasedtousethe‘pathofRostau’onthelandandinthesky(i.e. thepathtotheGizanecropolisonlandandtoOrion’sbeltinthesky)inorderto‘godowntoanyskyhewishestogodownto’:

Ihavepassedon thepathofRostau,whetheronwateroron land,and theseare thepathsofOsiris[Orion], theyare in the limitof the sky.As forhimwhoknows the spell [formula] forgoingdown intothem, he himself is a god in the suite of Thoth [meaning he is aswise as Thoth, ‘the controller of thestars’[613]][and]hewillgodowntoanyskyhewishestogodownto...[614]

Specialnumbers

Wesuspectthatthephraseto‘godowntoanysky’suggestsanawareness—and recording—of precessionally induced changes in the positions of the starsover long periods of time.Andwe also note its implication that if the choseninitiatewasequippedwiththecorrectnumericalspellthenhewouldbeabletoworkout—andvisualize—thecorrectpositionsof thestars inanyepochofhischoosing,pastorfuture.OnceagainSellersstandsoutamongstEgyptologistsforbeingthefirsttohave

entertainedsuchapparentlyoutlandishnotions.‘Itispossible’,shewrites,‘thatearlymanencodedinhismythsspecialnumbers;numbersthatseemedtorevealtoinitiatesanamazingknowledgeofthemovementofthecelestialspheres.’[615]Such numbers, she argues, appear to have been derived from a sustained,

scientific study of the cycle of precession and ameasurement of its rate and,puzzlingly,turnouttobeextremely‘closetothecalculationsmadewithtoday’ssophisticatedprocedures’.Intriguingly,too,thereisevidencenotonly‘thatthesecalculations were made, and conclusions drawn’, but also that ‘they weretransmittedtoothersbysecretencodingthatwasaccessibleonlytoanélitefew’:[616]Inshort,Sellersconcludes,‘ancientmancalculatedaspecialnumberthathebelievedwouldbring this threatening cycle [of precession] back to its startingpoint...’[617]

The‘specialnumber’towhichSellersisreferringtois25,920(andmultiplesand divisions of it) and thus represents the duration, in solar years, of a fullprecessionalcycleor‘GreatYear’.[618]Sheshowshowitcanbederivedfromavarietyofsimplecombinationsofothernumbers—5,12,36,72,360,432,2160,etc., etc.—all of which are in turn derived from precise observations ofprecession. Most crucially of all, she shows that this peculiar sequence ofnumbers occurs in the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris where, notably ‘72conspirators’aresaidtohavebeeninvolvedwithSethinthemurderoftheGod-King.[619]AswasshowninFingerprintsoftheGods,thesun’sperceivedmotionthrough

thesignsofthezodiacatthevernalequinoxproceedsattherateofonedegreeevery seventy-two years. From this it follows that a movement of the vernalpointthrough30degreeswilltake2160yearstocomplete,60degreeswilltake4320years,andafull360-degreecyclewillrequire25,920years.[620]Curiouslyenough,asthereaderwillrecallfromPartI,theGreatPyramiditself

incorporates a recordof theseprecessionalnumbers—since itskeydimensions(its height and the perimeter of its base) appear to have been designed as amathematicalmodeloftheearth’spolarradiusandequatorialcircumferenceonascaleof1:43,200.Thenumber43,200is,ofcourse,exactly600times72.Whatwehaveinthisremarkablemonument, therefore, isnot justascalemodelofahemisphereoftheearthbutalsooneinwhichthescaleinvolvedincorporatesa‘special number’ derived from one of the key planetary motions of the earthitself—i.e.therateofitsaxialprecession.InshortitseemsthatsecretknowledgeisindeedavailableinthemythofOsiris

andinthedimensionsof theGreatPyramid.Withthissecretknowledge, ifwewantedtofixaspecificdate—say1008yearsinthefuture—andcommunicateittootherinitiates, thenwecoulddosowiththe‘specialnumber’14(72x14=1008).Wewouldalsohavetospecifythe‘zeropoint’fromwhichtheyweretomake their calculations—i.e. the present epoch—and thismight be done withsome kind of symbolic or mathematical marker to indicate where the vernalpointpresentlyis,i.e.movingoutofPiscesandintoAquarius.Asimilarexercisecould likewisebecarriedout in reverse.By following the

‘eastwards’directionalongtheeclipticpathwecan‘find’(calculate,workout)wherethevernalpointwasatanyepochinthepast.ThusiftodaywewishedtousetheprecessionalcodetodirectattentiontowardsthePyramidAgewewouldneedtoconfidetootherinitiatesthe‘specialnumber’of62.5(72x62.5=4500yearsago=approximately2500bc).Again,wecouldruleoutanyambiguityastothezerodatefromwhichthecalculationsweretobemadeifwecouldfinda

waytoindicatethepresentpositionofthevernalpoint.We have seen that this is what Sneferu appears to have done with the two

PyramidsatDahshur,whichmapthetwosidesoftheheadofthecelestialbull—the‘address’ofthevernalpointinhisepoch.Andinasense,thoughwithagreatdealmorespecificityandprecision,thiscouldalsobeexactlywhatthebuildersof theGreatPyramidweredoingwhen theydeliberately targeted the southernshafts of the King’s and Queen’s Chambers on the meridian-transits of suchsignificantstarsasOrionandSiriusintheepochof2500bc.Tobeclearaboutthis,itseemstouswellworthinvestigatingthepossibilitythatbysettingupsuchobviousandprecise‘timemarkers’theyweretryingtoprovideanunambiguouszero point—circa 2500 bc—for calculations that could only be undertaken byinitiates steeped in the mysteries of precession, who were equipped by theirtrainingtodrawoutthehiddenportentsconcealedincertain‘specialnumbers’.WenoteinpassingthatiftheHorus-Kingcouldhavebeenprovidedwiththe

‘specialnumber’111.111,andhaduseditinthewaydescribedabove,itwouldhaveledhimbackto(72x111.111years=)7,999.99yearsbeforethespecified‘ground zero’, i.e. to almost exactly 8000 years before 2500 bc—in short, to10,500bc.Weknowthisseemslikewishfulnumerologyoftheworstsort—i.e.‘factoring

in’ an arbitrary value to a set of calculations so as to procure spurious‘corroboration’ for a specific desired date (in this case the date of 10,500 bc,twelve and a half thousand years before the present, that we have alreadyhighlighted in Chapter 3 in connection with the Sphinx and the Pyramids ofGiza).Theproblem, however, is that the number 111.111maywellnotbe anarbitraryvalue.Atanyrate,ithaslongbeenrecognizedthatthemainnumericalfactorinthedesignoftheGreatPyramid,andindeedoftheGizanecropolisasawhole,istheprimenumber11—aprimenumberbeingonethatisonlydivisibleby itself toproduce thewholenumber1.Thus11dividedby11, i.e. the ratio11:11,producesthewholenumber1(while11dividedbyanythingelse,i.e.anyotherratio,would,ofnecessity,generateafraction).What is intriguing is the way that the architecture of the Great Pyramid

responds to the number 11 when it is divided, or multiplied, by other wholenumbers.Thereaderwillrecall,forexample,thatitssidelengthofjustover755feet is equivalent to440Egyptian royal cubits—i.e.11 times40cubits.[621] Inaddition,itsheight-to-baseratiois7:11.[622]Thesloperatioofitssidesis14:11(tan51degrees50’).[623]AndthesloperatioofthesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber—theshaftthatwastargetedonOrion’sbeltin2500bc—is11:11(tan45degrees).[624]

Arguably, therefore, the ratio 11:11, which integrates with our ‘specialnumber’ 111.111, could be considered as a sort of mathematical key, or‘stargate’ toOrion’s belt.Moreover, aswe shall see, amovement of 111.111degrees‘backwardsalongtheeclipticfrom‘ground-zero’attheHyades-Taurus,the head of the celestial bull, would place the vernal point ‘underneath’ thecosmiclion.Isitnotpreciselysuchalocation,underneaththeGreatSphinx,thattheHorus-

King is urged to investigate as he stands between its paws ‘with his mouthequipped’and faces thequestionsof theAkhuswhose initiationshave ledhimthis far? Indeed,does itnot seemprobable that the ‘quest-journey’devisedbythe‘FollowersofHorus’wascarefullystructuredsoas tosharpen themindofthe initiate by requiring him to piece together all the clues himself until hefinallyarrivedattherealizationthatsomewhereunderneaththeGreatSphinxofGizawassomething (writtenorpictorial records,artefacts,maps,astronomicalcharts)thattouchedon‘theknowledgeofadivineorigin’,thatwasofimmenseimportance,andthathadbeenconcealedtheresincethe‘FirstTime’?In considering such questions, we are reminded of the Hermetic doctrines

which transmit a tradition of the wisdom god Thoth who was said to have‘succeededinunderstandingthemysteriesoftheheavens[andtohave]revealedthem by inscribing them in sacred books which he then hid here on earth,intendingthattheyshouldbesearchedforbyfuturegenerationsbutfoundonlybythefullyworthy’.[625]Dothe‘sacredbooksofThoth’,ortheirequivalent,stilllie in thebedrockbeneath theGreatSphinxofGiza,anddo the‘fullyworthy’stillseekthemthere?

Seekersaftertruth

Other questions, too, have been raised implicitly and explicitly in theforegoingchapters:

1. WeretheGreatSphinxandthegreatPyramidsofGizadesignedtoserveasparts of an immense three-dimensional ‘model’ of the sky of the ‘FirstTime’?

2.Couldotherfeaturesofthenecropolisalsobepartofthismodel?3. Ifso,thenhasenoughsurvivedforustocomparethemodelwithcomputer

simulationsoftheskiesaboveGizainpreviousepochsandthusarriveatan

accurate archaeoastronomical dating for the ‘First Time’, i.e. for the true‘genesis’oftheextraordinarycivilizationofEgypt?

4. By looking at simulations of the ancient skieswouldwenot, to use thelanguage of the Egyptian funerary texts, be ‘going down to any sky wewishedtogodownto’?

5. Isitanaccidentthatsomanyofthesetextshavesurvivedforthousandsofyears,orcould theircompilershave intended themtosurviveandcarefullydesignedtheminsuchawaythathumannaturewouldensuretheircopyingand recopying down the ages (a process that has been promiscuouslyresumedinthelastcenturyandahalf,sincethedeciphermentoftheancientEgyptianhieroglyphs,withtheCoffinTexts,thePyramidTexts,theBookofthe Dead, etc., etc., now translated and reprinted in dozens of modernlanguagesandeditions—andevenavailableonCD-ROM)?

6. Inotherwords, is itnotpossible inour readingsof the texts, and inouranalysisoftheritualstowhichtheywerelinked,thatwehavestumbleduponamessageofprimordialantiquitythatwascomposednotjustforthePyramidAge,andnotjustfortheHorus-KingsofancientEgypt,butforall‘seekersafter the truth’—fromanyculture, inanyepoch—whomightbe‘equipped’toputtextsandmonumentstogetherandtoviewtheskiesofformertimes?

Chapter16

MessageinaBottle?‘Wehavereachedthisfascinatingpointinourevolution...wehavereachedthetimewhenweknow

wecantalktoeachotheracrossthedistancesbetweenthestars...’

Dr.JohnBillingham,NASAAmesResearchCenter,1995

Togetherwiththeancienttextsandritualsthatarelinkedtothem,couldthe

vast monuments of the Giza necropolis have been designed to transmit amessage from one culture to another—amessage not across space, but acrosstime?Egyptologists reply to such questions by rolling their eyes and hooting

derisively. Indeed theywouldnotbe ‘Egyptologists’ (oratanyrate theycouldnotlongremainwithinthatprofession)iftheyreactedwithanythingotherthanscorn and disbelief to suggestions that the necropolis might be more than acemetery, that theGreatSphinxmight significantlypredate the epochof 2500bc,andthatthePyramidsmightnotbejust‘royaltombs’.Bythesametoken,noself-respectingEgyptologistwouldbepreparedtoconsider,evenforamoment,the outlandish possibility that some sort of mysterious ‘message’ might havebeenencodedintothemonuments.Sowhomshouldwe turn to foradvicewhenconfrontedbywhatwesuspect

may be amessage from a civilization so far distant from us in time as to bealmostunknowable?

Anti-cipher

The only scientists actively working on such problems today are thoseinvolved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence—SETI for short. Theyendlessly sweep the heavens for messages from distant civilizations and theyhavethereforenaturallyhadtogivesomethoughttowhatmighthappeniftheyever did identify such a message. According to Dr. Philip Morisson of theMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology:

Tobeginwithwewouldknowvery little about it. Ifwe received itwewouldnotunderstandwhatwe’re getting. But we would have an unmistakable signal, full of structure, full of challenge. The bestpeoplewouldtrytodecodeit,anditwillbeeasytodobecausethosewhohaveconstructeditwouldhavemadeiteasytodecode,otherwisethere’snopoint.Thisisanti-cryptography:‘Iwanttomakeamessagefor

you,whonevergotintouchwithanysymbolsofmine,nokeynoclue,neverthelessyou’llbeabletoreadit...’Iwouldhavetofillitfullofcluesandunmistakablecleverdevices...[626]

In his book, Cosmos, Professor Carl Sagan of Cornell University makesmuch the same point—and does so, curiously enough, with reference to theancient Egyptian hieroglyphic system. He explains that the ‘Egyptianhieroglyphicsare,insignificantpart,asimplesubstitutioncipher.Butnoteveryhieroglyph is a letter or syllable. Some are pictographs ...’ When it came totranslation,this‘mixoflettersandpictographscausedsomegriefforinterpreters...’ In the early nineteenth century, however, a breakthroughwasmadeby theFrenchscholarChampollionwhodecipheredthefamous‘RosettaStone’,aslabof black basalt bearing identical inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphics and inGreek.SinceChampollioncouldreadtheGreek,allheneededwassomekindof‘key’torelatespecifichieroglyphstospecificGreekwordsorletters.ThiskeywasprovidedbytheconstantrepetitionintheGreektextofthenameofPharaohPtolemy V and an equal number of repetitions in the Egyptian text of adistinctive oblong enclosure—known as a cartouche—containing a repeatedgroupofhieroglyphs.AsSagancomments:

Thecartoucheswerethekey...almostasthoughthePharaohsofEgypthadcircledtheirownnamestomakethegoingeasierforEgyptologiststwothousandyearsinthefuture...Whatajoyitmusthavebeen[for Champollion] to open this one-way communication channel with another civilization, to permit aculture that had beenmute formillennia to speak of its history, magic, medicine, religion, politics andphilosophy.[627]

Professor Sagan then offers a comparison that is highly apposite to ourpresentinquiry.‘Today,’hesays:

weareagainseekingmessagesfromanancientandexoticcivilization, this timehiddenfromusnotonlyintime,but inspace.Ifweshouldreceivearadiomessagefromanextraterrestrialcivilization,howcoulditpossiblybeunderstood?Extraterrestrialintelligencewillbeelegant,complex,internallyconsistentandutterlyalien.Extraterrestrialswould,ofcourse,wishtomakeamessagesenttousascomprehensibleaspossible.Buthowcouldthey?IsthereinanysenseaninterstellarRosettaStone?Webelievethereisacommon language that all technical civilizations, no matter how different, must have. That commonlanguageisscienceandmathematics.ThelawsofNaturearethesameeverywhere.[628]

Itseemstousthatifthereisindeedaveryancient‘message’atGizathenitislikelytobeexpressedinthelanguageofscienceandmathematicsthatSaganidentifies—and for the same reason. Moreover, given its need to continue‘transmitting’ coherently across thousands of years (and chasms of culturalchange),wethinkthatthecomposerofsuchamessagewouldbelikelytomakeuseof thePrecessionof theEquinoxes, theoneparticular ‘lawofNature’ thatcan be said to govern, andmeasure—and identify—long periods of terrestrialtime.

Durablevehicles

ThePyramidsandtheGreatSphinxatGizaare,aboveallelse,aselegant,ascomplex, as internally consistent and as utterly ‘alien’ as the extraterrestrialintelligence thatSaganenvisages (alien in thesenseof the tremendous,almostsuperhuman scale of these structures and of their uncanny—and in our termsapparentlyunnecessary—precision).Moreover, returning briefly toDr. PhilipMorisson’s remarks quoted earlier,

we think that theGiza necropolis also qualifies ratherwell for the description‘packedfullofcluesandunmistakablecleverdevices’.[629]Indeed,itseemstousthat a truly astonishing quantum of ingenuity was invested by the Pyramidbuilders to ensure that the four fundamental aspects of an ‘unmistakable’messagewerethoroughlyelaboratedhere:1. thecreationofdurable,unequivocalmarkerswhichcouldserveasbeacons

toinflamethecuriosityandengagetheintelligenceoffuturegenerationsofseekers;

2.theuseofthe‘commonlanguage’ofprecessionalastronomy;3. theuseofprecessionalco-ordinatestosignalspecifictime-referentslinking

pasttopresentandpresenttofuture;4. Cunninglyconcealedstore-rooms,or‘HallsofRecords’thatcouldonlybe

foundandenteredbythosewhowerefullyinitiatedinthe‘silentlanguage’andthuscouldreadandfollowitsclues.

In addition, though themonuments are enabled to ‘speak’ from themomentthat their astronomical context is understood, we have also to consider theamazingprofusionoffunerarytextsthathavecomedowntousfromallperiodsofEgyptianhistory—allapparentlyemanatingfromthesameveryfewcommonsources.[630] As we have seen, these texts operate like ‘software’ to themonuments’ ‘hardware’, charting the route that theHorus-King (and all otherfutureseekers)mustfollow.WerecallaremarkmadebyGiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechendin

Hamlet’s Mill to the effect that the great strength of myths as vehicles forspecific technical information is that they are capable of transmitting thatinformation independently of the knowledge of individual story-tellers.[631] Inotherwordsaslongasamythcontinuestobetoldtrue,itwillalsocontinuetotransmitanyhighermessagethatmaybeconcealedwithinitsstructure—evenifneitherthetellernorthehearerunderstandsthatmessage.

So, too,we suspect,with the ancient Egyptian funerary texts.Wewould besurprisediftheownersofmanyofthecoffinsandtombwallsontowhichtheywerecopiedhadeventhefaintestinklingthatspecificastronomicalobservationsanddirectionswerebeingduplicatedattheirexpense.Whatmotivatedthemwaspreciselywhat the texts offered—the lure of immortal life.Yet by taking thatluredidtheynotinfactguaranteeakindofimmortalityforthetextsthemselves?Did they not ensure that somany faithful copieswould bemade that some atleastwouldbeboundtosurviveformanythousandsofyears?We think that therewere alwayspeoplewhounderstood the true ‘scienceof

immortality’connectedtothetexts,andwhowereabletoreadtheastronomicalallegories in which deeper secrets, not granted to the common herd, layconcealed.We presume that these people were once called the ‘Followers ofHorus’,thattheyoperatedasaninvisiblecollegebehindthescenesinEgyptianprehistoryandhistory,thattheirprimarycultcentrewasatGiza-Heliopolis,andthat they were responsible for the initiation of kings and the realization ofblueprints. We also think that the timetables they worked to—and almosteverythingofsignificance that theydid—was inonewayoranotherwritten inthestars.

Hintsandmemories

The powerfully astronomical character of the Giza necropolis, althoughignored by Egyptologists, has been recognized by open-minded and intuitiveresearchers throughout history. TheHermeticNeoplatonists ofAlexandria, forexample,appeartohavebeenacutelysensitivetothepossibilityofa‘message’andwerequicktodiscern thestrongastralqualitiesof the textualmaterialandthemonuments.[632] The scholar Proclus (fifth century ad) also acknowledgedthat theGreatPyramidwasastronomicallydesigned—andwithcertainspecificstarsinmind.Indeed,inhiscommentaryonPlato’sTimaeus(whichdealswiththe story of the lost civilization of ‘Atlantis’), Proclus reported strangely that‘theGreatPyramidwasusedasanobservationforSirius’.[633]Vaguememoriesofanastronomicallyconstructed‘message’atGizaappearto

havefiltereddowntotheMiddleAges.AtanyratetheArabchroniclersinthisperiod spoke of the Great Pyramid as ‘a temple to the stars’ and frequentlyconnected it to the Biblical ‘Flood’ which they dated to circa 10,300 bc.[634]AlsoofrelevanceisareportwrittenbytheArabgeographerYakutalHamawi(eleventh century ad) to the effect that the star-worshippers of Harran, theSabians (whose ‘holy books’ were supposedly the writings of Thoth-Hermes)

cameatthattimeonspecialpilgrimagestothePyramidsatGiza.[635]Ithasalsobeenpointedout that theverynameof theSabians—inArabicSa’Ba—almostcertainlyderivedfromtheancientEgyptianwordforstar,i.e.Sba.[636]AndthereaderwillrecallfromPartIthatasfarbackastheearlysecondmillenniumbc—i.e. almost three thousand years beforeYakut al Hamawi left us his reportconnecting the Sabians to the Pyramids—pilgrims from Harran are known tohavevisited theSphinxwhich theyworshippedasagodunder thenameHwl.[637]

Intheseventeenthcentury,theBritishmathematicianSirIsaacNewtonbecamedeeply interested in the Great Pyramid and wrote a dissertation on itsmathematicalandgeodeticqualitiesbasedondatathathadbeengatheredatGizabyDr.JohnGreaves,theSavillianProfessorofAstronomyatOxford.[638]Later,in1865 theAstronomerRoyalofScotland,CharlesPiazziSmyth, launchedaninvestigationintotheGreatPyramidwhichhewasconvincedwasaninstrumentofprophecythatincorporatedaMessianic‘message’.ItwasPiazziSmythwhofirst accurately measured and demonstrated the intense polar and meridionalalignmentsofthemonument,theprecisionofwhichheassignedtosightingsoftheancientPolestar,AlphaDraconis.[639]Inthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury,asuccessionofeminentastronomers

—such asRichardProctor,EugeneAntoniadi, JeanBaptisteBiot andNormanLockyer—made persistent attempts to draw attention to the astronomicalqualities of the Gizamonuments. Their efforts, however, had little impact onprofessional Egyptologists who by this time felt that they had got the wholeintellectualbusinessofthenecropolis‘wrappedup’(itwasacemetery),didnotunderstand astronomy at all (and claimed that the ancient Egyptians didn’teither), and routinely ganged up to debunk, deride or simply ignore anyastronomical‘theories’whichdivergedfromtheirconsensus.Despitethishostileintellectualclimate,weareoftheopinionattheendofour

ownresearchthatthebigquestionisnolongerwhetherthemonumentsofGizawere designed to express key astronomical and mathematical principles, butwhy.Onceagain,thecluemaylieinthenarrowstar-shaftsoftheGreatPyramid.

Thelanguageofthestars

The first major breakthrough in understanding the function of the GreatPyramid’sshaftswasmadeinthesummerof1963bytheAmericanastronomerVirginiaTrimbleandtheEgyptologist-architect,Dr.AlexanderBadawy.Itcame

aboutbecausetheydecidedtofollowupBadawy’s‘hunch’thattheshaftsmightnot be ‘ventilation channels’ asEgyptologists supposed,[640] butmight insteadprove to have a symbolic function related to the astral rituals of the Pyramidbuilders. Virginia Trimble was able to buttress her colleague’s intuition byshowing that theshafts fromtheKing’sChamberhadpointed, in theepochof2500bc, tomajor star systems thatwereofcrucial importance to thePyramidbuilders.AsreaderswillrecallfromPartI,thenorthernshafthadbeentargetedonAlphaDraconis—thePoleStar in thePyramidAge—andthesouthernshafthadbeentargetedonOrion’sbelt.[641]TodayVirginiaTrimble isa seniorprofessorofastronomyatUCLAand the

University of Maryland and is also the Vice-President of the AmericanAstronomical Society. Her views, as well as being enlightened by acomprehensivegraspofastronomy,accordfullywithcommonsense:

WhichconstellationstheEgyptianssawintheskyisstillsomethingofamystery...buttheyhadoneconstellation thatwasanerect standingman,Osiris, thegod.And theoneconstellation that looks likeastandingmantoeveryoneisOrion,andtheidentificationbetweenadeceasedPharaohandthegodOsirismadeOrionimmediatelyacandidateforashaftwhosesolepurposewastoenablethesoulofthePharaohtocommunicatebetweenearthandsky...[642]

When we met Virginia Trimble we immediately realized we were in thepresence of an acute and formidable thinker. Alexander Badawy had passedawayinthelate1980syetsheremainedundaunted.Shehadconcludedthattheshaftswereastronomicallyaligned,shesaid,andthattheyhadanastronomicalfunction,becauselogicandevidencedictatedthatthiswasthecase.Trimble’sviewshavewongeneralacceptanceamongstseniorastronomers.To

giveonerecentexample,Dr.MaryBruckofEdinburgh,writingintheJournaloftheBritishAstronomicalAssociation in1995,had this to say about the shafts:‘Their alignments are ... compatiblewith the hypothesis that they indicate theculminationofcertainimportantstarsaroundthe25thcenturybc...Theadditionof a Sirius shaft [southern shaft of the Queen’s Chamber] to the Orion onestronglysupportstheclaimthattheyhaveanastronomicalsignificance.’[643]

Thought-tools

Wesuggest thatoneofthemajorobjectivesoftheunseenacademy,whosemembers were known as the ‘Followers of Horus’, was to ‘fix’ the epoch of2500 bc (i.e. 4500 years before the present) by using the Great Pyramid, itsprecisely angled shafts, and the stars of Orion’s belt. We suggest that theyenvisagedthosestarsratherlikethegaugeofagiganticslidingscalesetacross

thesouthmeridian.Oncethis‘thought-tool’wasinplacealltheyneededtodoinordertodetermineadateeitherinthepastorinthefuturewasmentallyto‘slide’thebeltupordownthemeridianfromthe‘zeropoint’targetedbythesouthernshaftoftheKing’sChamber.We also suggest that a second and somewhat similar ‘thought-tool’ was

attachedtotheecliptic(theapparentannualpathof thesunthroughthetwelveconstellationsofthezodiac).Herethegaugewasthevernalpoint.Bymentallyslidingittotheleft(east)ortotheright(west)ofa‘fixed’markerontheeclipticthe ‘Followers of Horus’ would once again have been able to determine anddenominateeitherapastdateoradateinthefuture...Inourownepoch,circaad2000,thevernalpointispoisedtoenterthesignor

‘Age’ of Aquarius. For a little over 2000 years it has been passing throughPisces(160bctoad2000)andbeforethatitwasinAries(2320bcto160bc).InthePyramidAgethevernalpointslowlysweptthroughTaurus(4480bcto2320bc).Goingfurtherbackwereachthe‘Ages’ofGemini(6640bcto4480bc)andthenCancer(8800bcto6640bc).Aftersix‘GreatMonths’wereachtheAgeofLeo(10,960bcto8800bc).NowimaginethatwefindanancientdocumentatGizawhichstatesthatitwas

composedwhenthevernalpointwasinthesignoftheRam—i.e.whenthesunonthespringequinoxroseagainstthestellarbackgroundoftheconstellationofAries. Armedwith this information all that we can do is roughly bracket thedocument’s date as being somewhere between 2320 bc and 160 bc,Whatweneedinordertoarriveatamoreprecisechronologyissomemeansto‘fine-tune’the vernal point. It is here that the specific utility of the sliding scale at themeridian becomes apparent because if the ancient document not only statedwhichzodiacalsignhousedthevernalpointbutalsoadvisedthattheloweststarof Orion’s belt crossed the meridian at an altitude of 50 degrees above thehorizon then we would be able, using precession, to calculate with greataccuracythatthedateinquestionmustbeverynear1400bc.[644]ThePyramidAge occurredwhen the vernal pointwas inTaurus and, aswe

have seen, the fine-tuning permitted by the 45-degree angle of the GreatPyramid’s‘Orionshaft’drawsparticularattentiontothedateof2500bc.Withthisdate,4500yearsbefore thepresent,wecanuseprecessiontocalculate theexactpositionofthevernalpoint—which,asthereaderwillrecall,wasneartheheadoftheHyades-Taurusatthattime,closetotheright(i.e.west)bankoftheMilkyWay.The readerwill alsonothave forgotten that this is the ‘address’given in the

PyramidTexts as the startingpoint for thecosmic journeyof the solarHorus-King.Itisherethathereceiveshisinstructionstoboardthesolar-barkand‘sail’

across the Milky Way towards the ‘horizon’ to meet up with Horakhti. Hisdirectionoftravelis,therefore,eastwards,i.e. totheleftofthevernalpoint.Intermsof thechronologyof the‘GreatYear’ofprecession(asdistinctfromthesolaryear),thismeansthattheHorus-Kingisnowpoisedtotravelbackintimetowards the age of Leo-Horakhti and to a specific spot on the ecliptic path—‘TheSplendidPlaceof the“FirstTime”’ ... ‘theplacemorenoble thananyplace’.[645]Butwhereisthatplace?HowistheHorus-King(initiate,seeker)tofinditin

the 2160-year, 30-degree swathe that the constellation ofLeo occupies on theecliptic?The answer is that he would have to use the gauge of Orion’s belt at the

meridiantofine-tunetheexactplaceofthevernalpointandhencealsotoarriveat anexactdate. Inhismind’seyehewouldhave to slide thebelt ‘down’ themeridiantoits‘FirstTime’andthenseehowfartotheeast thatoperationhad‘pushed’thevernalpointalongtheecliptic.Whereverthatplacewaswouldbethecelestialdestinationthatthe‘Followers

ofHorus’wereurginghimtoreach.And it would, of course, have its counterpart on the ground at Giza, in the

vicinityofthelion-bodiedSphinx.

Chapter17

ThePlaceofthe‘FirstTime’‘KnowthatwewouldbeuniversalscientistsifitweregiventoustoinhabitthesacredlandofEgypt

...’

Manetho,Egyptianhighpriest,thirdcenturybc

‘Ihavecometothisplacemorenoblethananyplace...’

PyramidTexts

The epoch of the ‘FirstTime’,ZepTepi,was frequently referred to as the

‘FirstTimeofHorus’,the‘FirstTimeofRe’andthe‘FirstTimeofOsiris’.[646]Theimplicationofthisterminologyisthatthepositionofthe(vernal)sunalongtheeclipticpath,whichdenotedthe‘FirstTime’,wasalsoseentobemarked—perhaps‘controlled’wouldbeabetterword—bythepositionofOsiris-Orionatthemeridian.Aswehaveseen,theancientbrotherhoodofastronomer-priestswhodesigned

theGreat Pyramid, andwhowere later responsible for the compilation of thePyramid Texts, were well aware of Orion’s slow precessional drift‘upwards’—‘northwards’ in the allegorical language of the texts—when theconstellationwas sighted at themeridianover longperiodsof time.Theyalsoknewthattheywere‘fixing’aspecificlocationtowhichthe‘bodyofthegod’had drifted (and a specific date in time—2500 bc in our calendar)when theytargeted the meridian at 45 degrees with the southern shaft of the King’sChamber. They knew, in otherwords, that the belt starswould rise to higheraltitudes above the horizon (i.e. drift further ‘north’) in future epochs and,conversely,thattheyhadbeenatloweraltitudes(i.e.‘furthersouth’)inpreviousepochs.The readerwill recall fromChapter1 that the lowest (‘southernmost’)pointintheentireprecessionalcycleofOrion’sbelt—the‘FirstTimeofOsiris’inallegoricalterms—occurredin10,500bc.Mostmysteriously,itistheprecisedispositionofthesestarsintheskyatthatdatethatisfrozenonthegroundintheformofthethreegreatPyramidsofGiza.Itwas themystery of this perfectmeridian-to-meridianmatch, togetherwith

the equinoctial alignment of the lion-bodied Sphinx (and the vast antiquity ofthat monument as indicated by geology) that provoked us to undertake thepresent investigation.Forwhilewedidnotdispute theorthodoxEgyptological

datingof thePyramids to theepochof2500bc,wehadastrong intuition thattheir layout in the image of Orion’s belt some 8000 years earlier was mostunlikelytohavecomeaboutbychance.Wearenowsatisfiedthatchancewasnotinvolved.Afterfactoring-inthedata

preserved in the vast storehouses of ancient Egyptian funerary ‘software’, itseems to us obvious that what was created—or rather completed—at Giza in2500bcwasanentirelydeliberateworkofsky-grounddualism.Itwasamodel(onalavishscaleintendedtodojusticetoitscosmicoriginal)ofthe‘kingdom’established by Osiris in the sky-Duat in the remote epoch ‘when his namebecameOrion’—i.e.inhis‘FirstTime’.Itwasalso,foralltime,the‘KingdomofOsiris’ontheground—‘whenhisnamebecameSokar’(inthelowerDuat,i.e.theMemphitenecropolis).Itmayhavebeenthecasethattheground-planofthethreegreatPyramidswas

physicallyestablishedin10,500bc—perhapsintheformoflowplatforms.Oritmayhavebeenthatpreciseastronomicalrecordsfromthatepochwerepreservedandhandeddown to the astronomer-priests ofHeliopolis by the ‘Followers ofHorus’.Eitherway,wearestillreasonablycertainthatthePyramidsthemselveswere largely built in 2500 bcwhenEgyptologists say theywere.We are alsosure,however,thatthesitewasalreadyvastlyancientbythenandhadbeenthedomainofthe‘Followers’—theSages,the‘SeniorOnes’—fortheprevious8000years.We think the evidence suggests a continuous transmission of advanced

scientificandengineeringknowledgeover thathugegulfof time,and thus thecontinuouspresenceinEgypt,fromthePalaeolithicintotheDynasticPeriod,ofhighlyenlightenedandsophisticatedindividuals—thoseshadowyAkhussaidinthetextstohavepossessed‘aknowledgeofdivineorigin’.

Fine-tuningLeo

Thebasisforthisconjecture,aboveandbeyondtheastronomicalalignmentsoftheGizanecropolis,isthegeologicalconditionoftheSphinxwhichwehavedescribed inPart I.To statematters briefly: the signsof intenseprecipitation-inducedweatheringvisibletothisdayonthegreatmonumentitself,andontherock-hewntrenchsurroundingit,areconsistentwithanageofmorethan12,000years.Thegenesisdateindicatedbyastronomyforthesiteasawholeis10,500bc.

That is what the layout of the Pyramids says, even if they themselves areyounger.And that, too, aswe saw inChapter 3, iswhat is proclaimed by thedue-eastorientationoftheSphinx.Itsastronomicalandleoninesymbolismdoes

notmakeanysenseunlessitwasbuiltasanequinoctialmarkerfortheAgeofLeo.But when, exactly, in the Age of Leo? The constellation spans 30 degrees

along theeclipticandhoused thesunon thevernalequinoxfrom10,960bc to8800bc—aperiodof2160years.Sowheninthatperiod?Thereisnowaytoanswerthisquestiononthebasisofthealignmentsofthe

Sphinxalone,oronthebasisofwhatonemaydeducefromitsalignmentsanditsgeology viewed together.What is needed is precisely what the ‘Followers ofHorus’provideduswith—athought-toolwithwhichtofine-tunethedate.Thatthought-toolistheslidingscaleofOrion’sbeltandthedatethatitfine-tunesfortheGreatSphinxis10,500bc.Butitalsodoessomethingelse.Asthescale‘slides’downthemeridianitalso

‘pushes’thevernalpointsteadilyeastwardsalongtheecliptic,bringingittorestin10,500bc(the‘bottomofthescale’)ataspecificstellaraddressthatcanbeidentifiedbyprecessionalcalculations.Intermsofthesky-grounddualismoftheinitiatoryquestoftheHorus-King,it

isobviousthat thevernalpoint’s‘stellaraddress’ in10,500bc—i.e. itsprecisewhereaboutsontheeclipticwithintheconstellationofLeo—islikelytohaveaterrestrialanalogue.Onceweknowwhat’swhatwiththesky,inotherwords,weshouldknowwheretolookontheground.And would it be entirely unreasonable to suppose that what we would find

there,ifwehadcalculatedexactlywheretolook,mightturnouttobeaphysicalentrance into that mythical ‘place more noble than any place’, the ‘SplendidPlaceofthe“FirstTime”’?

Settingstars

Asthoughtorewardsuchconjectures,likeaone-armedbanditcoughingupthe jackpot, all the bells and lights of the Giza necropolis start ringing andflashing at oncewhen the sliding scale of Orion’s belt is pushed down to its‘FirstTime’in10,500bc.WealreadyknowfromChapter3thatwhattheprincipalmonumentsseemto

model is an unusual astronomical conjunction that occurred at the springequinox in that distant epoch.Not only did theGreat Sphinx gaze at his owncelestialcounterpart in theskybutalso themomentofsunrise (at thepointonthe horizon targeted by the Sphinx’s gaze) coincided, to the second, with themeridian-transitofOrion’sbelt(whichiswhatthethreePyramidsmodel).If thesewere theonlycorrespondences theywouldalreadybe toodetailed to

be attributed to coincidence. But there is a great deal more. For example,

immediately south of the third and smallest of the three great Pyramids is agroupofthree‘satellite’pyramids.Egyptologistsgenerallyrefertothemasthe‘tombs’ofqueensofthePharaohMenkaure.Sincetheycontainnoinscriptions,nor the slightest trace of human remains or funerary equipment, such anattributioncanneverbeanythingmorethanamatterofopinion.Howeverthese‘satellite’pyramidsdohaveanunambiguousastronomicalalignment:theyformarowrunningeast-west—theequinoxsunrise-sunsetdirection.The British geometrician and pyramid researcher, Robin Cook, has recently

shownthatthesethreesatellitepyramidsbearadesignedrelationshiptotheGizanecropolisasawhole.[647]Theyappeartobelocatedontheboundaryofacircle,or artificial ‘horizon’, the focus of which is the Pyramid of Khafre and thecircumferenceofwhichenvelopsthewholenecropolis.Anangleof27degreeswestofsouth[648]—correspondingtoanazimuthof207degrees[649]—seemstobedefinedbyastraightlineextendingfromthemeridianaxisofthePyramidofKhafre to these three ‘satellite’ pyramids of Menkaure.[650] In general thesatellites give the impression of being ‘reduced models’ of the three GreatPyramids.Whatisnotablydifferenthowever,isthatthelatterlieatanangleof45degreestothemeridian,whiletheformerrunfromeasttowestatright-anglestothemeridian.Thisapparentarchitecturalanomaly,togetherwiththeircuriouslocation at azimuth 207 degrees on the artificial ‘horizon’ of Giza, begs anobvious question: are we again looking at datable sky event frozen inarchitecture?

59.Epochof10,500bc:settingof the threestarsofOrion’sbelt in linewith the threesatellitePyramidsonthesouthernrimoftheHorizonofGiza.

Thecomputerconfirmsthatweare.In10,500bc,ontherealhorizonofGiza,thelowestofthethreestarsofOrion’sbelt,AlNitak,setat27degreeswestofsouth—i.e. at azimuth 207 degrees. Moreover, the belt stars at that momentwouldhaveformedanaxisrunningeast-west—thealignment that ismimickedbythethreesatellitepyramids.

Sirius

Anotherbitofthe10,500bc‘jackpotofcorrespondences’concernsthestar

Sirius,whichsymbolizestheveryheartoftheancientEgyptianmystery.Allstars, includingourownsun(andoursolarsystemwithit)movethrough

space. Because of the vast distances involved, however (hundreds and oftenthousandsoflight-years),this‘propermotion’registersbarelyperceptibleeffectsonthepositionsintheskyofthemajorityofstarsasviewedfromearth.Wherethesestarsareconcernedtheonlysignificantfactorisprecession(which,asweknow,isaperceived‘motion’thatisactuallycausedbyawobbleontheaxisoftheearth).Sirius is one of the major exceptions to this rule. As many readers will be

aware,itisthebrighteststarinthesky.Itisalsooneoftheneareststarstoearth,being only 8.4 light-years away. Because of this proximity it registers a verylarge‘propermotion’inspacerelativetoourownsolarsystem—largeenoughtobring about observable changes in its celestial address, over and above thosecausedbyprecession,withinjustafewthousandyears.Tobespecificaboutthis,thepropermotionofSiriusisestimatedtobeinthe

range of 1.21 arc-seconds per year (about 1 degree every 3000 years). Thismeansthatforanepochasfarbackas10,500bc,thechangeinitscelestialco-ordinates resulting frompropermotion could exceed3 full degreesof arc, i.e.aboutsixtimestheapparentdiameterofthemoon.[651]Once this rapid and noticeable rate of movement is taken into account

alongside the effects of precession, computer simulations indicate a ratherintriguingstateofaffairs.CalculationsshowthatwhenSiriusreachedits‘FirstTime’—i.e.itslowestaltitudeabovethehorizon—viewersatthelatitudeofGiza(30degreesnorth)wouldhaveseenitrestingexactlyonthehorizon.Moreoveritwasfromthislatitude,andthislatitudeonly,thatsuchaconjunctionofstarandhorizon could be witnessed. The implication is that a special co-relationshipexistsbetweenthelatitudeofGizaandthestarSiriusatits‘FirstTime’.[652]

60.Artist’s impressionofthe‘FirstTime’ofSirius, intheepochof10,500bc,whenthebrightstarofIsiswouldhavebeenseentoberestingexactlyonthehorizon.

Becauseofits largepropermotionthereisuncertaintyoverwhenexactlythe‘FirstTime’ofSiriuswouldhaveoccurred.Thereisnodoubt,however,thatitwould have been somewhere between 11,500 and 10,500 bc.[653]Wewonder,therefore,whetherthedecisiontoestablishthesacredsiteofGizaat30degreesnorthlatitudecouldhavebeenconnectedtothis‘FirstTime’ofSirius?Andwerecall thatin1993RudolfGantenbrink’srobotcameradiscoveredamysterious‘door’insidetheGreatPyramid,morethan200feetalongthenarrowsouthern

shaftoftheQueen’sChamber.[654]Theshaftinwhichthe‘door’wasfoundwas,ofcourse,targetedonthemeridian-transitofSiriusin2500bc.

Cross-quartercauseways

Amongst the strangest and most unaccountable features of the GizanecropolisarethemassivecausewaysthatlinkeachofthethreegreatPyramidswiththeNileValleybelow.Todayonlyfragmentsoftheirflooringsremain,butaslateasthefifthcenturybcatleastonecauseway,thatoftheGreatPyramid,wasstillalmostintact.WeknowthisbecauseitwasseenanddescribedbytheGreek historian Herodotus (484-420 bc)—who reflected that its constructionalmostmatched,inengineeringprowessandarchitecturalsplendour,thatoftheGreatPyramiditself.[655]Recentarchaeologicalresearchhasconfirmedthattheinformationprovidedby

Herodotus iscorrect.Moreover,wenowknowthat the roofsof thecausewayswerespangledontheirundersideswithpatternsofstars[656]—highlyappropriatesymbolismif,aswebelieveisthecase,thesegrandandcuriouscorridorsweredesignedtoserveasViaeSacrae—ceremonial‘roadways’whichinitiateswouldfollowontheirwaytothe‘Pyramid-stars’ofRostau-Giza.[657]ThecausewayfromtheThirdPyramid(thePyramidofMenkaure)isdirected

due-east,[658]likethegazeoftheSphinx,andthusconformstothegeneralnorth-south and east-west grid structure of theGiza necropolis.By contrast the twocauseways linked to the other twoPyramids definitely donot conform to thatgrid structure. As a result of the work of geometrician John Legon, who hasundertaken a detailed analysis of the site-plans and grids provided bymodernEgyptologists (suchasSelimHassan,Reisner,Holscher,RickeandLauer),wenowknowthatthisanomalousnonconformityneverthelessincorporatesitsownstrictsymmetry:‘whilethecausewayoftheThirdPyramidisaligneddueeast-west,thecausewaysoftheSecondandGreatPyramidsbothhaveabearingof14degrees—theformertothesouthandthelattertothenorthofdueeast.’[659]

61.ThecourseofthesunthroughouttheyearasviewedfromthelatitudeofGiza.Afullrangeof56degrees isdefinedbetweensummersolsticeat28degreesnorthofeastandwintersolsticeat28degreessouthofeast(withtheequinox,ofcourse,atdueeast).The‘cross-quarter’sunrisesthereforeoccurat14degreesnorthofeastand14degrees southofeast respectively, thusdividing the sun’srangealongthehorizonintofourequalparts.

62. The Khufu causeway runs 14 degrees north of east in perfect alignment with the cross-quartersunrisethatfallsbetweenthespringequinoxandthesummersolstice(andthusalso,onthesun’s‘returnjourney’,betweenthesummersolsticeandtheautumnequinox).

63. The Menkaure causeway runs due east in perfect alignment with sunrise on the springequinoxandontheautumnequinox.

64. The Khafre causeway runs 14 degrees south of east in perfect alignment with the cross-quartersunrise that fallsbetween thewintersolsticeand thespringequinox (and thusalso,on thesun’s‘returnjourney’,betweentheautumnequinoxandthewintersolstice).

LegonhasalsoprovidedconclusiveevidencethatthedesignoftheKhufuandKhafrecausewaysisinfactintegratedwiththegeometryoftheGizacomplexasa whole—and not merely with that of the individual Pyramids themselves.Furthermore, far frombeingconditionedby the topographyof the site (ashadpreviously been supposed) the direction of these causeways (14 degrees northandsouthofeastrespectively)showseverysignofbeingpartofa‘unifiedplan’whose ‘hidden purpose’ and impetus ‘possibly resided with the priests ofHeliopolis’.[660]Butwhat ‘hiddenpurpose’ coulddictate thedecision todirectonecauseway

dueeast,another14degreessouthofdueeast,anda third14degreesnorthofdueeast?When sunrise is observed conscientiously throughout the course of the year

fromthelatitudeofGiza,theanswertothisquestionbecomesobvious.Here,aseverywhereelseontheplanet,thesunrisesdueeast—inlinewiththeMenkaurecauseway(andthegazeoftheSphinx)—onthespringequinox.WhatisuniqueaboutthelatitudeofGiza,aswehavenotedseveraltimespreviously,isthatonthesummersolstice(thelongestdayoftheyear)thesunrises28degreestothenorth of due east whilst on the winter solstice (the shortest day) it rises 28degreestothesouthofdueeast.Thisgivesafullvariationof56degreesanditisasimplematteroffactthatwhatastronomersrefertoasthe‘cross-quarters’ofthis variation, i.e. the sunrise-points located exactly half way between eachequinoxandsolstice,areat14degreesnorthofdueeastand14degreessouthofdue east respectively. In short the three causeways signal and bracket theequinoxwith twogigantic ‘arrows’ pointed at the cross-quarter sunrises and athird arrow (theMenkaure causeway) pointed at the equinox sunrise itself. Inthis fashion the sun’s range throughout the year along the eastern horizon isarchitecturallydividedintofourequalsegmentseachwitharangeof14degrees—i.e.intoitsastronomical‘cross-quarters’.Now a focus on the cross-quarter days, together with the equinoxes and

solstices,isanextremelywell-documentedphenomenonamongstmanyancientastronomicallymindedpeoples(dictatingthealignmentoftheirtemplesandthedatesoftheirmostimportantfestivals).[661]ItisthereforenotsurprisingtofindsuchafocusexpressedinthearchitectureoftheGizanecropolis.Neithershouldwe be surprised by the accuracywith which the causeways define the cross-quarters since all the other alignments of the necropolis were achieved withequallyhighprecision.

65.Epochof10,500bc:therisingofLeoonthecross-quartersunrisebetweenthewintersolsticeand the spring equinox. This sunrise occurs at 14 degrees south of east, the point on the horizontargetedbytheKhafrecauseway.

66. Epoch of 10,500 bc: gaze of the Sphinx on the cross-quarter sunrise between the wintersolsticeandthespringequinox.NotetheprofileoftheconstellationofLeowithonlyitshead,backand shoulders protruding above the sky-horizon and compare with the profile of the Sphinx, asviewedfromthesouth.

67. TheGreat Sphinx in the ‘ground-horizon’ of Giza, with only itsmassive head, back andshoulders protruding into view above ground level. Once again the images in the sky and on theground‘lock’at10,500bc.

There is one feature of the layout, however, that is truly exceptional andremarkable.Computer reconstructions of the ancient skies reveal that if we could travel

backintimetothecross-quarterdaythatfellbetweenthewintersolsticeandthe

vernalequinoxin10,500bc,andpositionourselvesatthe‘top’,i.e.thewesternend,oftheKhafrecausewaygazingalongittowardstheedgeofthe‘Horizon’ofGiza,thenwewouldwitnessthefollowingcelestialeventsatdawn:1. Thesunwouldriseat14degreessouthofeastindirectalignmentwiththe

causeway;[662]

2.ImmediatelytotheleftofthispointwouldbethegreatconstellationofLeo-Horakhti, with only its massive head and shoulders protruding above thehorizon line (it would, in other words, appear to be partially sunk, or‘buried’inthe‘HorizonoftheSky’).

Nowletuslookdownfromtheskytotheground.Followingthesoutheasterlydirectionof thecausewayfromthesameviewpointwenote that it sinksdownwith the general slope of theGiza plateau and passes just to the south of thesouthern edge of the Sphinx enclosure. The Sphinx itself—Hor-em-Akhet—standspartiallysunk,or‘buried’inthatenclosure(andthusinthe‘HorizonofGiza’) with only its massive head and shoulders protruding out of thegroundline.Onceagaintheimagesofskyandgroundmatchperfectlyat10,500bcandin

nootherepoch...

Treasuremap

Wesaidearlierthatinthearchitectural-astronomicalsystemofthePyramidbuilders the position of the vernal point along the ecliptic which denoted the‘SplendidPlaceof the“FirstTime” ’wasconsidered tobe ‘controlled’by thepositionofOsiris-Orionatthemeridian:‘slide’Orion’sbeltupfromitslocationat2500bcand thevernalpoint is ‘pushed’westwardsaround theecliptic (andforward in time) in the direction Taurusà Ariesà Piscesà Aquarius; ‘slide’ itdown and the vernal point is pushed ‘east’, i.e. back in time, in the directionTaurusàGeminiàCanceràLeo. So in 10,500 bc,with the belt stars fully ‘sliddown’ to their lowest possible altitude above the horizon, how far around theecliptichasthevernalpointbeen‘pushed?WeknowitisinLeo.ButwhereinLeo?Computer simulations show that it lay exactly 111.111 degrees east of the

station that it had occupied at 2500 bc. Then it had been at the head of theHyades-Taurusclose to the rightbankof theMilkyWay;8000yearsearlier itlaydirectlyundertherearpawsoftheconstellationofLeo.Aswehavehinted,thisisalocationthatislikelytohaveaterrestrial‘double’.

The three starsofOrion’sbelthave their terrestrialdoubles in the formof thethree Great Pyramids. The constellation of Leo-Horakhti has its terrestrialdoubleintheformofHor-em-Akhet,i.e.theGreatSphinx.The‘HorizonoftheSky’ has its terrestrial double in the form of the ‘Horizon of Giza’. And theGreatSphinxcrouchesliterallywithinthis‘Horizon’.ItwastothebreastoftheGreatSphinx,atthesummersolsticeinthePyramid

Age,thatthequestoftheHorus-Kingled.ThereheencounteredtheAkhus:‘Howhasthishappenedtoyou’,saythey,theAkhuswiththeirmouthsequipped,‘thatyouhavecome

tothisplacemorenoblethananyplace?’

‘I have come ... because the reed floats of the skywere set down forRe [the sun-disc and cosmic‘double’oftheHorus-King]thatRemightcross[theMilkyWay]onthemtoHorakhtiattheHorizon’...[663]

In other words, the Horus-King has successfully understood and used thecluesprovidedintheritual.Hehasnotedandfollowedthepathofthesunduringthesolaryearfromitsstartingpoint—designatedinthetextsasbeingbesidetheHyades-Taurus, i.e. the ‘Bull of the Sky’—and thence across theMilkyWayuntilthemomentofitsconjunctionwithRegulus,theheart-starofLeo.Hehasthentakenthiscelestialtreasuremap,transposeditsco-ordinatestotheground,madehiswayacross theRiverNileandascended to theGizaplateau, comingeventuallytothebreastoftheSphinx.Wethinkthathereceivedtherethenecessarycluesorinstructionstofindthe

entrance to the terrestrialDuat, to the ‘KingdomofOsiris’ on the ground—inshorttothe‘SplendidPlaceofthe“FirstTime”’wherehewouldhavetogoinorder tocompletehisquest.Andwesuggest that thesecluesweredesigned toencouragehim to track the vernalpoint, just aswehavedone, to the locationthat it would have occupied in 10,500 bc when Orion’s belt had reached thelowestpointinitsprecessionalcycle.InotherwordsitisourhypothesisthattheGizamonuments,thepast,present

andfutureskiesthatlieabovethem,andtheancientfunerarytextsthatinterlinkthem,conveythelineamentsofamessage.Inattemptingtoreadthismessagewehave done nomore than follow the initiation ‘journey’ of theHorus-Kings ofEgypt. And like the ancient Horus-Kings we, too, have arrived at a mostintriguingcrossroad.Thetrailofinitiationhasguidedus,directedusandfinallyluredustostandinfrontoftheGreatSphinxand,likeOedipus,toconfronttheultimateriddles:‘Wheredidwecomefrom?’‘Wherearewetogoto?’ThegazeoftheSphinxurgesustoseethroughtheshadowyveilandseekthe

‘First Time’. But, having done that, it also provokes us to ask whether theremightnotinfactbesomethingatGiza,somethingphysical,thatwouldgiveformtothesite’sstrangeauraofvastandexceptionalantiquity.

WerememberapassagefromtheCoffinTextswhichinvitesustoconsiderthepossibility that some great ‘secret’ of Osiris may remain hidden within orbeneath the monuments of Rostau-Giza in a ‘sealed’ container: ‘This is thesealedthing,whichisindarkness,withfireaboutit,whichcontainstheeffluxofOsiris,anditisputinRostau.Ithasbeenhiddensinceitfellfromhim,anditiswhatcamedownfromhimontothedesertofsand;itmeansthatwhatbelongedtohimwasputinRostau...’[664]WhatcanitbethatwasputinRostau?Whathiddenthingwithfireaboutit?Andwhereindarknessdoesitlie?IfwelookatourcomputersimulationoftheskiesoverGizain10,500bcthe

answerappearstobestaringusintheface.Inthatyear, inthepredawnonthespringequinox,theconstellationofLeocouldbeseenrisingslowlyintheeast.By around5 a.m. itwas fully risen, exactly straddlingdue east—a lion in thesky, with its belly resting on the horizon. At the same moment, the sun—markingthevernalpoint—laysome12degreesbeneathitsrearpaws.

68.TheHorus-King’streasuremap:theheliacalrisingofLeoonthespringequinoxin10,500bc.Thesun,markingthevernalpoint,liesbelowthehorizon,some12degreesbeneaththeconstellation’srearpaws.Whenthisimageistransposedtotheground,thelogicoftheHorus-King’squestsuggeststhepossibilityofahiddenchamberdeepinthebedrockoftheGizaplateau,approximatelytoofeetbeneaththerearpawsoftheSphinx.

Whenwetranslate thissky-imageonto theground, in theformofacolossal,

leonine,equinoctialmonumentwith itsbellyrestingon thebedrockof therealphysical environment of the ‘Horizon of Giza’, we do indeed find ourselveslookingattheHorus-King’streasuremap.Itisamap,notburiedintheearthbutcunninglyconcealed in time,where‘X’almost literally‘marksaspot’directlyundertherearpawsoftheGreatSphinxofEgyptatadepth,wewouldguess,ofabout100feet.

69. Possible locations of an underground system of passageways and chambers beneath theGreatSphinx suggestedby astronomical correlations andby seismographic tests (seePart I of thepresentwork).

Ifwehave read themessageof the ‘Followers ofHorus’ right, then there issomething of momentous importance there, waiting to be found—by seismic

surveys,bydrillingandexcavations,inshortbyarediscoveryandexplorationofthehiddencorridorsandchambersoftheearthly‘KingdomofOsiris’.Itcouldbetheultimateprize.

Conclusion

ReturntotheBeginning‘Istandbeforethemasterswhowitnessedthegenesis,whoweretheauthorsoftheirownforms,who

walkedthedark,circuitouspassagesoftheirownbecoming...Istandbeforethemasterswhowitnessedthetransformationof thebodyofamanintothebodyinspirit,whowerewitnessestoresurrectionwhenthecorpseofOsirisenteredthemountainandthesoulofOsiriswalkedoutshining...whenhecameforthfromdeath,ashiningthing,hisfacewhitewithheat...Istandbeforethemasterswhoknowthehistoriesofthedead,whodecidewhichtalestohearagain,whojudgethebooksoflivesaseitherfullorempty,whoarethemselvesauthorsof truth.And theyare IsisandOsiris, thedivine intelligences.Andwhen thestory iswrittenandtheendisgoodandthesoulofamanisperfected,withashouttheylifthimintoheaven...’

AncientEgyptianBookoftheDead(NormandiEllistranslation)

The dictionary tells us that, separately from its modern usage, the word

‘glamour’ has a traditional meaning roughly equivalent to ‘magic spell’ or‘charm’, and is theOld Scottish variant of: ‘grammar ... hence amagic spell,becauseoccultpracticeswerepopularlyassociatedwithlearning.’Is it possible that men and women of great wisdom and learning cast a

‘glamour’overtheGizanecropolisatsomepointinthedistantpast?Weretheythepossessorsofasyetunguessed-atsecretsthattheywishedtohidehere?Anddidtheysucceedinconcealingthosesecretsalmostinplainview?Forthousandsofyears,inotherwords,hastheancientEgyptianroyalcemeteryatGizaveiledthepresenceofsomethingelse—somethingofvastlygreatersignificanceforthestoryofMankind?One thing we are sure of is that unlike the hundreds of Fourth-Dynasty

mastaba tombs to thewest of theSphinx and clustered around the three greatPyramids, the Pyramids themselveswere never designed to serve primarily asburialplaces.WedonotruleoutthepossibilitythatthePharaohsKhufu,KhafreandMenkauremayatonetimehavebeenburiedwithinthem—althoughthereisnoevidencefor this—butwearenowsatisfied that the transcendenteffortandskill that went into the construction of these awe-inspiring monuments wasmotivatedbyahigherpurpose.Wethinkthatpurposewasconnectedtothequestforeternallifewrappedupin

a complete religious and spiritual system that the ancient Egyptians inheritedfromunknownpredecessorsandthattheylatercodifiedintheireerieandother-worldlyfuneraryandrebirthtexts.Wesuggest, inshort, that itwasthegoalof

immortality, not just for one Pharaoh but for many, that the corridors andpassages and hidden chambers and concealed gates and doorways of theGizacomplexwereultimatelydesignedtoserve.DepictedintheBookofWhatis intheDuatasbeingfilledwithmonsters, thesenarrow,claustrophobic, terrifyingplaces,hemmedinonallsidesbysheerstonewalls,wereinourviewconceivedastheultimatetestinggroundforinitiates.Heretheywouldbeforcedtofaceandovercome their most horrible and debilitating fears. Here they would passthroughunimaginableordealsofthespiritandthemind.Heretheywouldlearnesotericwisdom through acts of concentrated intelligence andwill. Here theywouldbeprepared,throughpracticeandexperience,forthemomentofphysicaldeathandforthenightmaresthatwouldfollowit,sothatthesetransitionswouldnotconfuseorparalyse them—as theymightother,unprepared, souls—andsothattheymightbecome‘equippedspirits’abletomoveastheywishedthroughheavenandearth,‘unfailingly,andregularlyandeternally’.[665]Suchwas the loftygoalof theHorus-King’squestand theancientEgyptians

clearlybelievedthatinordertoattainittheinitiatewouldhavetoparticipateinthe discovery, the unveiling, the revelation, of something of momentousimportance—somethingthatwouldbestowwisdom,andknowledgeofthe‘FirstTime’,andof themysteriesof thecosmos,andofOsiris, theOnceandFutureKing.WearethereforeremindedofaHermeticText,writteninGreekbutcompiled

inAlexandriainEgyptsome2000yearsago,thatisknownastheKoreKosmu(orVirginoftheWorld).[666]Likeothersuchwritings,thistextspeaksofThoth,theancientEgyptianwisdom-god,butreferstohimbyhisGreekname,Hermes:

Suchwasall-knowingHermes,whosawallthings,andseeingunderstood,andunderstandinghadthepowerbothtodiscloseandtogiveexplanation.Forwhatheknew,hegravedonstone;yetthoughhegravedthemontostonehehidthemmostly...Thesacredsymbolsofthecosmicelements[he]hidawayhardbythesecretsofOsiris ...keepingsuresilence, thateveryyoungerageofcosmic timemightseekfor them.[667]

Thetextthentellsusthatbeforehe‘returnedtoHeaven’Hermesinvokedaspellonthesecretwritingsandknowledgethathehadhidden:

Oholybooks,whohavebeenmadebymyimmortalhands,byincorruption’smagicspells...freefromdecay throughouteternity remain,and incorrupt from time.Becomeunseeable,unfindable, foreveryonewhosefootshalltreadtheplainsofthisland,untilOldHeavendothbringforthmeetinstrumentsforyou...[668]

What instrumentsmight lead to the recoveryof ‘unseeableandunfindable’secretsconcealedatGiza?Our researchhaspersuadedus thatascientific languageofprecessional time

and allegorical astronomy was deliberately expressed in the principal

monumentsthereandinthetextsthatrelatetothem.Fromquiteanearlystageinour investigation, we hoped that this language might shed new light on theenigmatic civilization of Egypt. We did not at first suspect, however, that itwouldalsoturnouttoencodespecificcelestialcoordinatesorthatthesewouldtransposeontothegroundintheformofanarcane‘treasuremap’,directingtheattentionofseekerstoapreciselocationinthebedrockdeepbeneaththeSphinx.Nordidwe suspect, untilwemet them, thatothers suchas theEdgarCayce

Foundationand theStanfordResearchInstitute—seePart II—mightalreadybelookingthere.

Osirisbreathes

Throughoutthisinvestigationwehavetriedtosticktothefacts,evenwhenthefactshavebeenverystrange.Whenwe say that the Sphinx, the threeGreat Pyramids, the causeways and

other associatedmonuments of theGiza necropolis form a huge astronomicaldiagramwearesimplyreportingafact.WhenwesaythatthisdiagramdepictstheskiesaboveGizain10,500bcwearereportingafact.WhenwesaythattheSphinxbearserosionmarkswhichindicatethatitwascarvedbeforetheSaharabecameadesertwearereportingafact.WhenwesaythattheancientEgyptiansattributedtheircivilizationto‘thegods’andtothe‘FollowersofHorus’wearereporting facts. When we say that these divine and human civilizers wererememberedashavingcometotheNileValleyinZepTepi—the‘FirstTime’—weare reportinga fact.Whenwesay that theancientEgyptian records tellusthis‘FirstTime’wasanepochintheremotepast,thousandsofyearsbeforetheeraofthePharaohs,wearereportingafact.Our civilization has had the scientific wherewithal to get to grips with the

manyproblemsoftheGizanecropolisforlessthantwocenturies,anditisonlyinthelasttwodecadesthatcomputertechnologyhasmadeitpossibleforustoreconstructtheancientskiesandseethepatternsandconjunctionsthatunfoldedthere.During this period access to the site, and knowledge about it, has beenmonopolized bymembers of the archaeological andEgyptological professionswhohaveagreedamongstthemselvesastotheorigin,andage,andfunctionofthemonuments.Newevidencewhichdoesnotsupportthisscholarlyconsensus,andwhichmightactivelyundermineit,hasagainandagainbeenoverlooked,orsidelined,andsometimesevendeliberatelyconcealedfromthepublic.This,weassume, is why everything to do with the shafts of the Great Pyramid—theirstellaralignments,theironplate,therelics,andthediscoveryofthe‘door’—hasmet with such peculiar and inappropriate responses from Egyptologists and

archaeologists.Andweassumethatitexplains,too,whythesamescholarshavepaidsuchscantattentiontothesolidcasethatgeologistshavemadeforthevastantiquityoftheSphinx.[669]TheGizamonumentsarea legacyforMankind,preservedalmost intactover

thousands of years, and, outside the privileged circles of Egyptology andarchaeology,thereistodayabroad-basedexpectationthattheymightbeabouttorevealaremarkablesecret.Thatexpectationmayormaynotprovetobecorrect.Nevertheless in an intellectual culture polarized by public anticipation andorthodox reaction, we feel it is only wise that future explorations at thenecropolisshouldbeconductedwithcomplete‘transparency’andaccountability.Inparticular theopeningof the‘door’ inside thesouthernshaftof theQueen’sChamber, the videoscopic examination of the northern shaft, and any furtherremote-sensing and drilling surveys conducted around the Sphinx, should becarried out under the scrutiny of the internationalmassmedia and should notagainbesubjectedtobizarreandinexplicabledelays.We cannot predict what new discoveries will bemade by such research, or

evenwhetheranynewdiscoverieswillbemade.However,aftercompletingourown archaeoastronomical investigation, and following the quest of theHorus-King, we are left with an enhanced sense of the tremendous mystery of thisamazingsite—asensethatitstruestoryhasonlyjustbeguntobetold.Lookingattheawe-inspiringscaleandprecisionofthemonumentswefeel,too,thatthepurpose of the ancient master-builders was sublime, and that they did indeedfind away to initiate thosewhowould come after—thousands of years in thefuture—bymakinguseoftheuniversallanguageofthestars.Theyfoundawaytosendamessageacrosstheagesinacodesosimpleandso

self-explanatorythatitmightrightlybedescribedasananti-cipher.Perhaps the time has come to listen to that clear, compelling signal that

beckons tousoutof thedarknessofprehistory.Perhaps the timehas come toseektheburiedtreasureofourforgottengenesisanddestiny:

Starsfadelikememorytheinstantbeforedawn.Lowintheeastthesunappears,goldenasanopeningeye.Thatwhichcanbenamedmustexist.Thatwhichisnamedcanbewritten.Thatwhichiswrittenshallberemembered.Thatwhichisrememberedlives.InthelandofEgyptOsirisbreathes...[670]

Appendix1

TheScalesoftheWorld‘WethreekingsofOrionare;Bearinggiftswetraverseafar;Fieldandfountain,Moorandmountain,Followingyonderstar.Oh!Starofwonder,Starofmight,Starwithroyalbeautybright!Westwardleading,Stillproceeding,Guideustothyperfectlight.HEistheKingofGlory.’

InherthesisontheastronomicalcontentofancientEgyptianfunerarytexts,

JaneB.SellersobservesthatSpell17oftheBookoftheDead,whichisdrawnfromextremelyancient sources,alludes incosmic terms to the ‘unification’orjoiningofthe‘TwoLands’:[671]‘Horus,sonofOsirisandIsis...wasmaderulerin the place of his father, Osiris, on that day the Two Lands were united. ItmeanstheunionoftheTwoLandsattheburialofOsiris...’[672]Following this statement,Spell 17 alsomakes specific reference to the ‘sun-

god’andhowhewasnotobstructedbythecelestialriverbutrather‘passedon,havingbathedintheWindingWaterway’.[673]Sellers notes the conclusion of Yale astronomer-Egyptologist Virginia Lee

Davisthatthe‘WindingWaterway’ofthePyramidTextsistobeequatedwiththeMilkyWayand that this featureof the sky ‘divides’ the cosmic landscapeintotwohalves.[674]Shethenadds:‘Ihavecontendedthatthejoiningofthetwolandsisajoiningofskytoearth.’[675]Infact,bothSellersandDavisarriveat thesameconclusion,namelythatthe

‘divider’of thecelestial landscapeis theMilkyWay,andthatwhichcrosses itfrom one side to the other is the sun. Sellers also observes that the point of‘crossing’oftheeclipticpathisneartheV-shapedHyades-Taurusconstellation.[676]

Ifweseektobepreciseaboutthesematterswewilldiscoverthatthepointofcrossingisinfactalittlefurthereastalongtheeclipticpath,markingaspoton

thewesternshoreof theMilkyWaywhere todayisfoundtheM1nebula,alsoknownastheCrabNebula.[677]Sellers, oddly, does not pursue the logical sequence of events in Spell 17,

namelythatthesuncontinuesalongitsjourney,reachesthe‘otherside’(i.e.theeastern side)of theMilkyWay, and thenceheads towards the constellationofLeo.Indeed,Spell17bidsthesolar‘Horus’,i.e.thesun-disc,to‘run,runtothis’location: ‘Howwell built is your House, O Atum, howwell founded is yourmansion,ODoubleLion...’Atum or Atum-Re, as was shown in The Orion Mystery, was originally

veneratedasa‘pillar’inHeliopoliswhich,asmanyresearchershaveconcluded,was also seen as his ‘phallus’.[678] A somewhat similar ‘pillar’, the so-calledDjedpillar,wasalsoassociatedwithOsiris.[679]Bearing this inmind,Spell17makes a most telling statement: ‘As for the Lion whose mouth is bright andwhose head is shining, he is the Phallus of Osiris. Otherwise said, he is thePhallusofRe...’[680]EarlierinSpell17wearespecificallyinformedthatAtumis:

...inhissun-disc.OtherwisesaidheisRewhenherisesintheeasternhorizonofthesky.

Tomebelongsyesterday,Iknowtomorrow.

Whatdoesitmean?Asforyesterday,thatisOsiris.Asfortomorrow,thatisReinwhichthefoesoftheLordOfAllweredestroyedandHoruswasmadetorule.Otherwisesaid:That is thedayof the‘Weremain’festival,whentheburialofOsiriswasorderedbyhisfatherRe.

TheBattle-Groundofthegodswasmadeinaccordancewithmycommand.

What does it mean? It is theWest. It was made for the souls of the gods in accordance with thecommandofOsiris,LordoftheWesternDesert.Otherwisesaid:ItmeansthatthisistheWest,towhichRemadeeverygoddescendandhefoughtfortheTwo[Lands]forit.

IknowthatGreatGodwhoisinit.

Whoishe?ItisOsiris...[681]

Fromthistextwecanseethataspecial‘landofthegods’wasenvisagedashavingbeenestablishedintheWesternDesertatthetimeoftheburialofOsiris—thatisinthefar-offepochoftheFirstTime.ThiswasalsothedayonwhichHorus united theTwoLands and inherited this ‘battle ground’ or ‘land of thegods’.

70.TheDjedpillarofOsiris,flankedbyIsisandNepthys.Aboveitisthesymbolof”theHoriansun-god,probablymarkingthemeridian-transitofthesolardisc.

WehaveseeninearlierchaptershowtheMemphiteTheologyintheShabakaTextsnominatestheareainwhichthese‘unification’eventstookplaceasAyannearMemphis.[682]Oddly,theprocessof‘theUnificationoftheTwoLands’isalso referred to in these same sources as ‘the Balance of the Two Lands, inwhichUpperandLowerEgypthavebeenweighed...’[683]Inthepresentworkwehavebroughtforwardadditionalevidenceinsupportof

Sellers’s contention that the ‘Two Lands’ in question were indeed ‘sky’ and‘earth’andwehavealsoshownthatveryspecificpartsoftheskyandearthweremeant—i.e. the ‘Orion-Leo-Taurus’ sky-region and the ‘Giza-Heliopolis-

Memphis’earth-region.Buthowcouldthesetwosky-to-earthregionsbe‘balanced’and‘weighed’?

Astateofperfectorder

Thepoint of ‘balance’ is definedon theground as: ‘...Ayan, thatwas thedivisionoftheTwoLands...inthenameofthe“WhiteWall”[Memphis]...’[684]Wehave seen how this terrestrial location corresponds to a point in the sky

alongtheeclipticpathmarkingthespotonthewesternshoreoftheMilkyWaywheretheM1CrabNebulaislocated.AcloserlookattheMemphiteTheology,however,revealsthatwhileAyanis

envisagedasthepivotor‘balancepoint’oftheTwoLands,theactualprocessof‘weighing’ is described as taking place somewhere else—specifically in ‘theland...[ofthe]burialofOsirisintheHouseofSokar...’[685]Sincewehavealreadydemonstratedthat‘thelandoftheHouseofSokar’was

Rostau,i.e.theGizanecropolis,wecanconclude—byasimpletranspositionofsky-ground terminology—that the ‘weighing’ or ‘balancing’ of the land wassomehowdoneatGiza,andmostlikelybesideorwithintheGreatPyramid,theoriginal‘House’ofSokar-Osiris.[686]ButwhyshouldtheGreatPyramidhavebeenseenasan‘instrument’bywhich

the‘TwoLands’—skyandground—couldbe‘balanced’ataspecificspot,i.e.atAyan-Memphis?

71. Sun-boat on the back of the double-lion hieroglyph for Aker. [Top] is a scene ofrevivification,showingthesolarpathfromeasttowest.Notethehawk’sheadbeneaththesolardiskatthemeridian.

Wemustremindourselvesthatthechronologyandcontextofthe‘unification’eventswas setway back in the cosmic landscape of the ‘First Time’. Let us,therefore, transfer the imagery thatnowconfrontsusback to theepoch10,500bc, and see how the supposed ‘perfect balance’ was achieved at the cosmic‘Ayan’,i.e.atthelocation,markedbytheM1CrabNebulathatwehavealreadyidentifiedontheeclipticpath.The three great Pyramids of Giza, of course, become Orion’s belt at the

meridian—with the Great Pyramid itself being represented by its specificcelestialcounterpart,AlNitak,thelowestofthethreebeltstars.

Thediagramreproducedonpage283[#74]showsOrion’sbeltwithAlNitakatthemeridianin10,500bc.Atthisprecisemoment,aswesawinChapter17,thevernal-equinox point lay due east, just below Leo. Meanwhile the ‘opposed’autumnalequinoxpoint laypreciselyduewest (justbelowAquarius). Inshort,thiswasa timewhen the ‘TwoSkies’—oneoneachsideof theMilkyWay—wereinperfectbalance,perfectlydivided,justasthetextsdescribe.Muchsuggeststhatthe‘FollowersofHorus’envisagedtheeclipticpathofthe

sunarchinglikethehugebeamofascaleacrossthevisiblesky.OneendofthisbeamwasmarkedbyLeoatthevernal-equinoxpoint,andtheotherbyAquariusat the autumnal-equinoxpoint. So,whenAlNitakcame to rest at the celestialmeridianonthevernalequinoxin10,500bctheskycouldrightlybesaidtohavebeeninastateofperfectorder.

Maat

CosmicOrder, in the symbolic terminology of the ancient Egyptians, wasknownasMaat.Thesamewordalsomeans‘justice’and‘law’—forexamplethejustice that was exercised by the ‘council of gods’ of Heliopolis when theyjudgedinfavourofHorus,afterhisconflictwithSeth,andpassedontohimthelegacyoftheOsirianthrone.TheancientEgyptianreligioustextstransmitdetailsofoneofthehighrituals

of the Osirian liturgy—the ‘weighing of the soul’ of the dead in the GreatJudgementHallofOsiris.Thisisasortofarchetypal‘JudgementofSolomon’,withtheweighingbeingdoneontheGreatScalesofMaat.ThePapyrusofAniintheBritishMuseumprovidesuswithaparticularlyvivid

depiction of theGreat JudgementHall, and also of theGreat Scales ofMaat.These latter have a name—Mekhaat[687]—whichmeans in other contexts ‘thebalanceoftheEarth’.[688]

72.TheScalesofMaat.(Source:BritishMuseumpapyrus9901-3).

Thehieroglyphicdeterminativesignfor theverb‘toweigh’showsatriangle,orbuilder’s ‘square’,withaplumb-bob suspended from theapex[689]—asignwhichcanalsomeanto‘balancetheearth’.[690]Thetriangledistinctlyrecallstheprofileorcross-sectionofapyramid.Aswe have seen in Part II of this book, a curious stone sphere, a length of

wooden rod,andabronzehookwere found inside theGreatPyramid in1872,sealed since the timeof the constructionof themonument in the shafts of theQueen’s Chamber.Mr. HenryWilliams Chisholm, the Head of the StandardsDepartmentoftheBoardofTradeinLondon,carefullyexaminedtheserelicsintheyearof theirdiscoveryandconcluded that thespherewasmostprobablyastandard weight and that the rod and hook might also have had functionsconnectedwithweighingandmeasuring.Hepublishedtheseconclusionsintheprestigiousjournal,Nature,on26December1872.SimilarviewswereheldbytheAstronomerRoyalofScotland,CharlesPiazzi

Smyth,whoalsoexaminedtherelicsin1872.[691]AndacertainMr.E.H.Pringlesuggestedina letter toNature that thestone

spherecouldhavebeena ‘mason’splumb-bob’ and that the ‘bronzehookandthecedarrodmayhaveformedpartofthesametool’.[692]A ‘plumb-bob’ of some sortmust have been used to align the slopes of the

shafts.Andwehavealsoseenhowa‘plumb-bob’wasusedinthehieroglyphicsignmeaning‘weighing’and,byextension,‘thebalance’.Perhaps theGreatPyramid—the terrestrial counterpart of the starAlNitak—

was seen as aweighing device or ‘instrument’ playing its part in some as yetunexplained attempt to restore the ‘balance’ or cosmic order of theworld, i.e.Maat,asitwasinthe‘FirstTime’.Letusconsiderthispossibility.

Jugglingforbalance

We saw in Chapter 3 that the Great Pyramid functions as amathematicalscalemodelofthenorthernhemisphereoftheearthonascaleof1:43,200.[693]By transposition and extension, therefore, it should be obvious that themonumentcanalsoserveasanarchitecturalandmathematicalrepresentationofthenorthernhemisphereofthesky.[694]Nowifwelookatacross-sectionoftheGreatPyramid,wenoticethateachof

itstwosetsof‘star-shafts’—i.e.thenorthernandthesouthernintheKing’sandQueen’s Chambers respectively—are theoretically intended to emerge at thesameheightsonthenorthandsouthfacesofthemonument.Theyappeartohangoutlikegiganticarmsbalancing,asitwere,thewholegeometricalschemeofthePyramid.Butthereissomethingcuriousaboutthepositionofthetwochambersfromwhich these shafts emanate.TheQueen’sChamber liesalong thecentre-lineofthePyramid.TheKing’sChamber,ontheotherhand,isoffsetsomewhattothesouthofthecentre-line—almostasthoughthe‘counterweight’onahugesetofscaleshadbeenslidtotheleftinordertoachieve‘balance’.Theconsequencesofthiscuriousarchitecturalanomalyareasfollows:

1. Queen’sChamber: the ‘designed’ average angle of the two shafts is 38degrees 08’, thus forming a right anglewith the faces of the pyramid (51degrees52’+38degrees08’=90degrees).[695]

2.King’sChamber:the‘designed’angleofthesouthernshaftis45degrees00’andthatofthenorthernshaftis32degrees30’.Thiscounteractstheeffectsof the offset of the chamber and restores the ‘balance’ of the generalgeometricaldesign.

73.Cross-sectionsoftheGreatPyramidshowingthe‘balancing’ofthemonumentwiththestar-shafts.

The altitudeofAlNitakat themeridian in 2500bcwas45degrees—in linewith the southern shaft of theKing’sChamber.The readerwill recall that thevernal point in this epoch was just over the Hyades-Taurus, whose terrestrialcounterpartwehaveidentifiedastheregionoftheDahshurPyramids.[696]But letussee inwhatepochAlNitakwouldhavecrossedthemeridianat38

degrees 08’ altitude—i.e. in alignmentwith the southern shaft of theQueen’sChamber?Precessionalcalculationsshowthatsuchanalignmentwouldhaveoccurredin

circa3850bc—adate that isextremelyclose to that favouredbymanyearlierEgyptologistsfortheepochofthe‘Unification’whichwassupposedlysealedat

Ayan-Memphis.[697]It isthereforesurelyofinteresttonotethatin3850bcthevernalpointwaspositionednear theM1CrabNebula, thespotonthecelestiallandscape—and along the ecliptic path—that we have identified as the sky-counterpartofAyan-Memphis.

ThreeWiseMen

In10,500bcthestarAlNitakinthebeltofOrionwasatthelowestaltitudeof itsprecessional cycleandLeohoused thevernal-equinoxpoint. Inourownepoch—the epoch of ad 2000—the other extreme of the curious ‘balancingmechanism’ofGizaisabouttobereached:AlNitaktodaystandswithinafewarcsecondsofthehighestaltitudethatitwillattaininitsprecessionalcycleandthevernalpointisabouttodriftintotheconstellationofAquarius.Betweenthe‘First Time’ and the ‘Last Time’, in other words, the skies have reversedthemselves—literally flipped left to right—with Aquarius now marking thevernalequinoxandLeomarkingtheautumnalequinox.WewonderwhetheritispossiblethatthesagesofHeliopolis,workingatthe

dawnofhistory,could somehowhavecreatedanarchetypal ‘device’, adevicedesigned to trigger off messianic events across the ‘Ages’—the Pyramid Agewhen thevernal pointwas inTaurus, for example, theChristicAge inPisces,[698]andperhapsevena‘NewAge’inAquarius?We note in this connection that in circa330 bc,when the vernal pointwas

beginningitsprecessionaldriftintothe‘AgeofPisces’,thealtitudeofAlNitak(viewedfromthelatitudeofGiza)was51degrees52’—theangleofslopeoftheGreatPyramid.AtthistimetheconquestsofAlexandertheGreat(356-323bc),and the resulting merger of the Eastern and Western worlds, triggered greatexpectationsofamessianic‘Return’intheEast.FirstatAlexandria,thenacrosstheLevant,ageneralagitationbegan,asiftriggeredbysomeprophetic‘device’,whichculminatedinthegreatmessianiceventsofChristianity.[699]

74a.The sky aswill be seen in 2450 ad at the ‘LastTime’ ofOrion.Note the vernal (spring)equinoxinthewest.

74b. The sky aswas seen in 10,500 bc at the ‘First Time’ ofOrion. Note the vernal (spring)equinoxtotheeast.

ThethreestarsofOrion’sbeltaredepictedinthefolkloreofmanycountriesastheheraldic‘ThreeWiseMen’,or‘Kings’,or‘Magi’fromtheEast,whofeaturein the Christic nativity story.[700] Interestingly, as we saw in Part I, the star-worshipping Sabians of Harran—archetypal Magi—appear to have performedannualpilgrimagestoGizafromatleastasfarbackasthesecondmillenniumbcuntil as late as the eleventh century ad.[701] Interestingly, too, as seen fromHarran—whichiseastofBethlehemandatahigherlatitudethanGiza—thebeltstarAlNitakwouldhaveculminatedatthemeridianat51degrees52’in4bc,thegenerallyacceptedbirthyearofChrist.Inthatyearalsothe‘birthstar’Siriuswouldhaverisenandbeenbrightlyvisibleintheeastasthesunsetatdusk.[702]Is there something—someancient tradition,veiled,but stillverymuchalive,

that issubtlycarryingblueprintsandplansacross theagesaimedatgenerating

messianic fervour, and changing the course of history, at certain crucialmomentswhichare‘writteninthestars’?Andissuchamomentnowapproaching?Isthe‘device’abouttoreactivateitself?Weshallreturntothesequestionsinournextbook.

Appendix2

CorrespondencewithMarkLehnerConcerningChapter5TheEgyptologistMarkLehnerwas sent the firstdraftofChapter5of this

book, a chapter that largely concerns himself. His comments and correctionsweretakenintoaccount,andthedraftwasrewrittenintheformthatispublishedherewith.WhenDr.Lehnerwassentthereviseddrafthewroteusthefollowingletter making further comments which we agreed to reproduce in full as anAppendix.OurownreplytoDr.Lehner’sletterisalsoappended.From:MarkLehnerTo:Mr.RobertG.BauvalandMr.GrahamHancockNovember16,1995

DearGrahamandRobert,

Thankyou for your letter of 12November 1995 and for the seconddraft ofyour Chapter 5, ‘The Case of the Psychic, the Scholar And the Sphinx’(!). Itappears tobemuchmoreaccurate than the firstdraftconcerning theeventsofwhichIwasapart.I have the following observations tomake and corrections to suggest (again

opentothepublic):p.86: ‘hispronouncements ... spawnedmulti-milliondollar industry ...

embroiled...withmainstreamEgyptologicalresearch...firstlearnedabout...whenreviewing...MarkLehner.’DoyoumeantoconveythatCaycealone(withouttheosophy,anthroposophy,

freemasonry, astrology, sacred metrology, channeling, UFO aficionados, andShirleyMacClaine)spawnedamulti-milliondollarindustrythatfeddirectlyintomyinvolvementwithEgyptology?Thatwouldbealittleabsurd.p. 92: ‘The equipment for RSI’s work ... Immediately afterwards the

projectwasstopped.’

This is still not quite right. The drilling equipment was tested and used

elsewhere, for example, west of the Second Pyramid, before it was broughtdown for the two holes in the Sphinx Temple. The project was not stoppedimmediatelyafterwards.RSI/SRIdrilledtwomoreholesinthesoutheastcorneroftheflooroftheSphinxandunderthesouthforepawoftheSphinx.ThentheprojectkindoffizzledtoanendbecauseofthefallingoutbetweenRSIandSRIand, as I remember, because the SRI team had been inEgypt for a couple ofmonthsormoreandhadotherwork.p.92:‘didnotappreciate...ledto...fallingoutbetweenRSIandSRI.’

As I recall, although RSI did not appreciate particularly the Cayce

involvement, the falling out between RSI and SRI was over fiduciary issues.Whydon’tyoucontactSRIandaskthem?p. 93: ‘Adding to the intrigue ... yet another project financed by the

EdgarCayceFoundation.’Youdowanttohangontothatintrigue!No,thiswasnotyetanotherproject.

The down-hole immersion acoustical sounding was done in the last days ofSRI’s fieldworkat theSphinx in1978,not1982,not anotherproject. Idonothave, at present, a copy of this Venture Inward but if it says this is anotherproject in 1982, it is wrong. All that I describe in the quote you excerptedhappenedthelastfewdaysofthe1978project.p. 93: ‘a survey, as the readerwill recall, ... abrupthalt ...Antiquities

Organization.’Youseeminclinedtosee‘abrupthalts’.Youshouldnotcitemetoverifythis

pointbecauseIwasnotattheseevents,butmyimpressionisthatSchoch,West,and Dobecki were not thwarted in their first season of work at the Sphinx.Permission for such work is granted or denied by a large committee of theSupremeCouncilforAntiquities(formerlyEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization).p. 94: ‘Pulling Away. When, exactly, Professor Lehner began to pull

awayfromthe influenceof theEdgarCayceFoundationandcrossedoverinto the mainstream of professional Egyptology and its orthodoxy is notespeciallyclear.’

Areyousuggesting,basedonyourownunderstandingofhowbeliefsystems

operate, that there are definite lines where ‘now you believe’ and ‘now youdon’t’?Youseemparticularlyinterestedinthisquestion.Thewayyouframeitreminds me of the US Congressional hearings on the Watergate cover-upconspiracy:‘WhatdidthePresidentknow,andwhendidheknowit?’‘WhatdidLehnerbelieve,andwhendidhenotbelieveit?!’Letmeoffersomebiographytouseifyousochoose.I already had doubts when I went to Egypt in 1973, since Cayce’s ancient

historydidnotagreemuchwithanthropologycoursesItookattheUniversityofNorthDakota.ButasI indicatedinmylastletter,Ididindeedhavehopesthatevidence could be foundof past events bearing some agreementwithCayce’sstory.During my two years at the American University in Cairo I majored in

anthropology,andtookmyfirstcoursesinEgyptianarchaeologyandprehistory.Ialsospentmostofmyfree timeatGiza,andIvisitedotherancientsitesandarchaeological projects. I did not find ‘footprints of the gods’. By becomingacquaintedwith avast amountofprevious archaeological researchwithwhichthe Cayce community and like-minded Egypt-enthusiasts are only minimallyfamiliar, I found the ‘footprints’ of people—their tool marks, names, familyrelationships,skeletons,andmaterialculture.In 1974 I read social psychologist Leon Festinger’s work on ‘cognitive

dissonance’, inparticularhisbook,WhenProphecyFails.Festingerdealswithpeople reacting to conflict between a revealed belief system and empiricallyderivedinformation, that is,physicalevidence.Inhiswork,IrecognizedmanyattributesoftheCayceworldview,myownbelief,andmygrowingdoubts.When I returned to Virginia Beach I would outline in lectures and

conversations the real achaeological evidence surrounding the Sphinx and thePyramidsanditsconflictwith theCaycepictureofEgypt. Ispoketomygoodfriends and supporters, like Hugh Lynn and Joseph Jahoda (are your twounnamedAREmensupposedtoremainasmysteriousas‘TheScholar’?),aboutmydoubts,andhowtheCaycecommunityandbeliefsystemfitsmanyaspectsdiscussedbyFestingerandothersocialscientists.InthesetalksIbegantosuggesttotheCaycecommunitythattheylookatthe

Egypt/AtlantisstoryasamythinthesensethatJosephCampbellpopularized,orthatCarlJungdrewuponinhispsychologyofarchetypes.Althoughthemythisnot literally true, itmay in someway be literarily true.TheCayce ‘readings’themselves say, in their own way, that the inner world of symbols andarchetypesismore‘real’thantheparticularsofthephysicalworld.Icompared

Cayce’sHallofRecordstotheWizardofOz.Yes,weallwantthe‘soundandfury’ and powerfulwizardry to be real,without having to pay attention to thelittlemanbehind the curtain (ourselves). In archaeology,manydilettantes andNewAgerswanttobeonthetrailofalostcivilization,aliens,yes,‘thegods’,without having to pay attention to the real people behind time’s curtain andwithout having to deal with the difficult subject matter upon which so-called‘orthodox’scholarsbasetheirviews.(Anaside:SoaJohnWestcanblastEgyptologistsforsuppressingthesacred

science inherent in Egyptian culture without being able to read Egyptianlanguage—a little like saying one knows Shakespeare’s real meaning withoutreading English. Another pyramid theorist said, in an animated dinnerconversation, ‘Where’s the evidence? The pyramid stands out there with noevidence of how the ancient Egyptians could have built it.’ I ticked off fourEgyptological titles—all in English—devoted to ancient Egyptian tools,technology, stone building, and materials and industries. Although he hadpublished a widely acclaimed book with a new theory on the pyramids, headmitted to not having read a single oneof these basicworks. Itwould be somuchmore fun and challenging if such theorists did actually read and absorbsuchprimarysources,andthenlaunchedthedialogue.)TheseideaswereonmymindasIjoinedmyfirst‘mainstream’excavationin1976.TheyarereflectedinmystatementthattheHallofRecordsisworthlookingfor,butnotinatangibleway.Youknow,liketheHolyGrail.In1977-78IhadtheopportunitynotonlytoworkwiththeSRIprojectatGiza,

butalsotoworkwithZahiHawassinexcavationsofancientdepositsneglectedbyearlierarchaeologistsinthenortheastcorneroftheSphinxfloor—justbesidethenorthforepaw,andontheflooroftheSphinxTemple.Werecoveredpottery,parts of stone tools, and other material directly on the floor, filling deepcrevassesandnooksandcrannies—materialincontextsthatonlymakesenseasleftbytheOldKingdomSphinxandpyramidbuilders.Such findings, and the negative results of the SRI project, sealed it forme.

That is, I knew there was an extremely low probability that Cayce’s story ofEgypt and the Giza monuments (and his ancient ‘history’ involving Atlantis,etc.)reflectedrealevents.MyinterestintheCayce-likegenreofliteratureashavinganythingtodowith

thearchaeologicalrecordwasgone,althoughIamstillinterestedinthisgenreasasocialandliteraryphenomenon.Myencounterswithbedrockrealitywerefarmore fascinating. Iwas excitedby theprocess of reconstructing thepast fromempirical evidence. I put asidemy interest in the dynamics of beliefs, and ingeneralquestionsofphilosophyand religion, as I spent thenextdecadedoing

archaeological fieldwork for projects at various places in Egypt. AtGiza,myinterestandresearchwasno longerpremisedonCayceoranysimilarpointofview. In 1982 I carried out the research and writing for an Egyptologicalmonograph on the tomb of Hetepheres (published in 1985 by the GermanArchaeologicalInstitute).Cayceideashadnothingtodowiththiswork.MeanwhileHughLynnCayce(untilhedied),CharlesThomasCayceandother

membersof theCaycecommunity remainedveryclose friends.Some (butnotall)werestillinterestedincontributingtoresearchatGiza.TheirsupportofthePyramidsRadiocarbonDatingProjectwasawaytodosomethingusefulforthearchaeologyof thepyramids,aswellas to test their ideasabout theoriginanddateoftheGreatPyramidandSphinx.I remember a very personal moment in 1983 when I was working for an

expedition atAbydos, the cult center ofOsiris inUpperEgypt. The tombs ofEgypt’searliestpharaohsweresunkintoaspuroflowdesertfartothewestofthecultivation,nearthebaseofthegreatcleftinthehighcliffs,probablyseenbythe ancients as symbolizing the entrance to the Netherworld. Many centurieslater,oneofthetombsofarealmanwhoruledasoneoftheFirstDynastykingswas outfitted as the Tomb of Osiris. Over subsequent centuries hundreds ofpilgrims left pottery offerings, resulting in mounds of millions of shards thatmasked thesite,prompting itsArabicname,Ummel-Qa-ab, ‘MotherofPots’.OneeveningnearsunsetIwalkedfromthedighousetoUmmel-Qa-ab.Istoodon themounds above these tombs andwondered if the ancient pilgrims reallybelievedthegodOsirishimselfwasburiedhere,andif ‘thosewhositnear thetemple’(asaZenproverbwouldsay)—thelocalpriests—knewtheyhadsimplyoutfittedoneoftheFirstDynastytombsofapharaohto‘symbolize’theburialofOsiris. I thought ofmy own pilgrimage that broughtme to Egypt in the firstplace, and themyth of theHall of Records. I realized that this was part of aworld view that had moved far away from me, like a chunk of ice that hadseparatedfromacontinentandwasnowmeltinginadistantsea.Sorrytobesolong-winded.ButGraham,Iagreewithyourstatementinyour

last letter that readers should be in possession of the facts to evaluate theopinionsofacademicauthorities.Sincerely,MarkLehnerPSDetails: Itprobablydoesnotmattermuch for apopular readership,but

thedifferencebetweenanAssistantProfessor—mytitleattheOrientalInstitute

—andProfessor issignificant in the tenure-trackworld. I resignedmyfulltimepost, but I am still aVisitingAssistantProfessor at theUniversityofChicagoandOrientalInstitute,Ireturneveryotheryeartoteach.cc:BruceLudwigDouglasRawlsTo:MarkLehnerFrom:GrahamHancock8December1995DearMark,Thankyou foryour further letterof16November1995 in response toour

reviseddraftofChapter5.Wegreatlyappreciateyouropenness.Ifyouhavenoobjections,weproposetopublishthereviseddraftofChapter

5asyouhaveseenitandtopublishyour16November1995letterinfullasanappendix to our book. We consider this to be a fair and reasonable way topresent thewholematter to the public. Ifwedon’t hear back fromyou in thenextcoupleofweekswewillassumethisisOKwithyou.

MerryChristmasandahappyNewYear!Warmbestwishes,GrahamHancockPS We remember one Egyptological title (not four) that you ‘ticked off’

during a certain ‘animated dinner conversation’. The one titlewasClarke andEngelbach’sAncientEgyptianConstructionandArchitecture.We’vebothreadit since and weren’t overly impressed. Robert Bauval, as you know, is aconstruction engineer by training and spent twenty years actually buildingenormousbuildings in theMiddleEast. Inmyopinion—ClarkeandEngelbachnotwithstanding—this gives him a rather good basis fromwhich to engage in‘fun and challenging’ dialogue about the construction logistics of the GreatPyramid.There’snosubstituteforrealexperiencenomatterhowmany‘primarysources’we‘readandabsorb’. (Andby theway, inwhatsenseareClarkeand

Engelbach a primary source?Were they presentwhen the Pyramidwas built?Didtheybuildit?)

Appendix3

HarnessingTimewiththeStars:TheHermeticAxiom‘AsAboveSoBelow’andtheHorizonofGizaAn observer at Giza, as anywhere else on the globe where the horizontal

viewisnotobstructed,willperceivethelandscapeasahugecirclewhoseedgeisthe horizonwith himself at the centre—hence the term ‘Horizon’ used by theancientswhenreferringtotheGizanecropolis.Makingapparentcontactwiththehorizonisthecelestiallandscape,thelatterperceivedasahugecirculardomeorhemisphere.The ‘below’, earth-landscape, is steadfast. The ‘above’, sky-landscape,

however,appearstorotateinperpetualmotionaroundanimaginaryaxiswhichpassesthroughthetwopolesoftheearthandextendstothe‘celestialpoles’inthesky.Theapparentrotationoftheskymakesthecelestialorbs—thestars,thesun, themoon and the planets—rise in the east, culminate at themeridian (animaginary loop runningduenorth-southdirectlyover theobserver’shead)andsetinthewest.Observations of sunrise through the year will fix four distinct points,

sometimescalled thecolures,on theeclipticpathof thesunaroundthe twelvezodiacal constellations.These are the two equinoxes (spring and autumn), andthetwosolstices(summerandwinter).Todaythesetakeplaceinthefollowingzodiacalsigns:1.Springequinox(21March)withthesuninPisces.2.Summersolstice(21June)withthesuninTaurus.3.Autumnequinox(22September)withthesuninVirgo.4.Wintersolstice(21December)withthesuninSagittarius.

The tablebelowshows inwhichzodiacalsigns the four ‘colures’ fell foravarietyofdifferentepochs:

EPOCH 10,000bc 5000bc 3000bc 1000bc 2500adS.Equinox Leo Gemini Taurus Aries AquariusS.Solstice Scorpio Virgo Leo Cancer TaurusA.Equinox Aquarius Sagittarius Scorpio Libra Leo

W.Solstice Taurus Pisces Aquarius Capricorn Scorpio

Strictly speaking, the term ‘colures’ denotes the two great circles of the

celestial spherewhichareat rightangles toeachother,pass through thepolesandintersectthetwoequinoxpointsandthetwosolsticepointsrespectively.The diurnal or daily apparent motion of the sun is from east to west. The

annualoryearlyapparentmotion ismuchslowerfromwest toeastagainst thebackground of the starry landscape through a path known as the ecliptic, orzodiacal circle (containing the twelve zodiacal signs). Also because of thephenomenonof theprecessionof theequinoxes, the fourpointson thecolures(the twoequinoxesand the twosolstices)willappear todriftwestwardsat theveryslowrateof50.3arc-secondsperyear (a fullcircuit inapproximately25,920years).These apparent cyclicalmotionsof the sky are, of course, causednotby the

skyitselfmovingbutbytheearth’sownspinonitsaxis inoneday, itsorbitalrevolutionaround the sun inoneyear, and its slowwobble-likemotion inoneGreat Year (of 25,920 ‘solar’ years). As we have already said, the mostnoticeableeffectof the latter is that the fourpointson thecolureswhichmarkthe twoequinoxesand the twosolsticeson theecliptic,willdrift inclockwisedirectionalongthegreateclipticor‘zodiacal’circle.Every day there is a moment when these four points on the colures find

themselves in precise alignmentwith the four cardinal points of the terrestrialglobedefinedbythedirectionsdueeast,duesouth,duewestandduenorthonthecircleofthehorizon.Thisiswhenitcanbesaidthattheskyandeartharea‘reflection’ of each other. In archaic terminology, this iswhen the ‘Hermetic’axiomof‘asabovesobelow’canbemostfaithfullyexpressed.At this exact moment the colure containing the two solstice points will be

loopingabove theheadof theobserver fromnorth tosouth,and thusbecomestheprimemeridianoftheobserver.Thecolurewhichcontainsthetwoequinoxpointswillloopfromeasttowestandwillintersectthehorizonatdueeasttoduewest, and thus define the parallel of the observer. Again, using archaicterminology,thisiswhentheobserverisatthe‘centreofthevisibleuniverse’.Asimpleyetquiteprecisewayofknowingwhen this idealistic ‘asaboveso

below’ conjunction takes place is tomake use of a bright star that sits on thecolure containing the two solstice points. The choice of a bright star on thecolureasneartothewintersolsticepointaspossible,willpermittheobservertolock the sky in themost favourable conditionpossible: theprecisemomentofthe rising of the vernal (spring) point in the east. This is simply achieved bywaitingforthestarinquestiontotransitthesouthmeridian.Whenthishappens,

the winter solstice point is due south, and all the other colures lock to theremainingcardinaldirections.Theeffectoftheprecessionofthevernalpoint,however,willcausethechosen

startochangepositionwithtime.Afteracenturyorsothestarcannolongerbeused.TheGreatPyramidisoftensaidtobeperfectlysettothefourcardinalpoints.

What seemsmore likely, aswe shall see, is that it is set perfectly to the fourcolure points when they transit the cardinal directions. The setting-out of thePyramid, therefore, is not merely directional but also, and perhaps moreespecially,dependenton‘time’.In 1934 the French astronomer E.M. Antoniadi correctly noted that the

‘astronomicalcharacterofthepyramids(ofGiza)isestablishedbythefollowingfacts:1. Theyarealmostexactly,and intentionally,on the thirtiethparallelof the

latitudeNorth.2.Theyaremarvellouslyorientatedonthecardinalpoints.3. Their inclined passageways were, with their closing, colossal meridian

instruments,byfarthelargesteverconstructed.’[703]

These confirmed facts, and also the fact that the Great Pyramid is a near-perfect mathematical model of the celestial dome or hemisphere, make thismonument a material and earthly representation of the sky-landscape. Whenlinked to a specific star, however, the element of ‘time’ is introduced into theequation.Werecallthattheancientbuildersfixedthemainnorth-southaxisoftheGreat

PyramidtothesouthmeridiantransitofthebrightstarAlnitak,thelowestofthethree stars inOrion’s belt.We also recall that the general layout of the threePyramidsofGizaisat45degreestothemeridianaxisandthatthispeculiarity,in turn, is reflected in the sky-image of the three stars inOrion’s belt as theyappeared in c. 10,500 bc. This was no arbitrary date, however, because itdenotedthelowestpointor‘FirstTime’in theprecessionalcycleofOrion.Totheancients,Orionwas‘Osiris’,andthelatter,too,hada‘FirstTime’orgenesis.Computerreconstructionsoftheancientskiesof10,500bcshowthatthestar

Alnitakwas locatedpreciselyon the colure containing the two solsticepoints,andnearertothewintersolstice.Ifanobserverwasthereto‘lock’theperfect‘asabovesobelow’conditionin10,500bc,theimageoftheskycontainingthestarAlnitakwouldconvertintoa‘hologram’onthegroundpreciselyinthemannerwefindatGizatoday.Thatsuchaperfectsky-to-earthcorrelationcannotbethe

resultofsomeincredible‘coincidence’isconfirmedbytheequinoctialrisingofLeo,which tookplace inprecisely the sameepochof10,500bcandpreciselywhen the star Alnitak transited the south meridian. This brought the vernal(spring)equinoxpointinperfectalignmentwiththeGreatSphinx,theterrestrialcounterpart of the image of Leo. The conclusion thus seems inevitable: theancientsappeartohaveestablishedaglobalprime-meridianatGizalockedintothetimeframeof10,500bc.All this implies, however, that the ancients were somehow attempting to

‘navigate’notonlyindistance(‘space’)butalsoin‘time’.Whatdidtheyhaveinmind?Howcan‘time’benavigated?Hypothetically at least, a time-related apparatus locked into the colures of

10,500 bc would present the ‘reincarnated’ Horus-King with a subliminallandscapeor‘magicaltheatre’,at theheightofhisextensiveinitiation,toworkoutintuitivelyhowfarintimehis‘soul’hadtravelledfromitspointofgenesis.InPartsIIIandIVofthisbookwehaveshownhowtheHorus-Kingmayhaveusedthephenomenonoftheprecessionoftheequinoxestoperformsuchataskbyinducinghismindtoundertakeajourneyorquesttofindhis‘ancestors’usingthesubliminalarchitecturalsettingor‘cosmicambiance’ofGizaassomesortof‘star-memory’device.Todayweuseacomputertore-createtheancientskiesona television monitor. We are suggesting that the Horus-King initiate couldperformthistaskintuitivelywiththe‘computer’ofhismindandthe‘monitor’ofhisinnerperception.Thisconclusiondoesnotpresentaproblemtous.Wehavefoundthatbyfullyfamiliarizingourselveswiththeapparentmotionsoftheskiesandbyconstantlyreconstructingancientskieswiththeaidofcomputers,images,coordinates and epochs subliminally enter themind andbecome logged in thememory.Wehavediscoveredforourselvesthatthese‘files’areeasilyretrievedatwillwithout themechanistic aid of the computer.Hypothetically then,withsuch‘star-memory’loggedinthemind,shouldwesuddenlyfindourselvesflungintoafuture‘timezone’,sayad6000,wecouldrelativelyeasily‘workout’howfaraheadintimewehadmoved.Byextensionof such rhetoric, therefore, it couldbe said that the functionof

theGizablueprintistoprovideavirtuallyindestructible‘holographic’apparatusfortheuseof‘reincarnated’or‘reborn’entitiesoftheHorianlineageinordertoinduce‘remembrance’ofa‘divine’geneticorigininEgyptinthetime-frameof10,500bc.Theultimate function,however,appears tohavebeen toperpetuatethe ‘immortality’ of their souls into ‘time’—in short, the ultimate gnosticexperienceentailingthereleaseofthespiritualpartofthelivingentityfromitsmaterial, inert, part. To put it in other terms, ‘living’ man is the result of aholographicunionbetweenmatterandspirit.Itwouldverymuchappearthatthe

‘FollowersofHorus’understoodthecosmicmechanismtosomehowre-separatethetwo.Such questions, we are well aware, lead us into the misty realm of

metaphysics,extrasensoryperceptionandpsychicthinkingfromwhichwehavetriedtosteerclear.Nonetheless,wemustrespondtoourintuitivefeelingthataformofmetaphysicalthinkingverymuchlikethiswasusedbythosemysterious‘Followers of Horus’ who set their initiatory and ‘astronomical’ academy atHeliopolis—and whose genius resulted in the construction of the amazing‘holographic’ star/stone (spirit/matter) apparatus ofGiza.All references in theancienttextstothismysteriousbrotherhoodsuggestthatwearedealingnotwith‘priests’ butwithhigh adeptswho fullyunderstood theworkingof thehumanpsycheandthesubliminaltechniquesneededtoevoke‘remotememory’throughdeep-feltinnerperceptionsof‘time’.Theesotericteachingsandinitiationsintosuch cosmic mysteries using the skies are certainly not prosaic ones, asEgyptologists maintain, to develop and refine calendrical systems for ‘landirrigation’ and ‘religious ceremonies’, but far more subtle: somehow to reachandharnesstheextrasensorycapabilitiesofthehumanmindinordertolinkuptotheinvisibleandimmaterial,yetveryperceptible,‘fluxoftime’.The questions, for those looking for ‘scientific’ explanations, can be

formulatedinanotherway:Dowehumanscarry‘remotememoryfiles’lockedinourgenes?Andifso,canitnotbepossiblethatsuch‘files’couldberetrievedbyusingthecorrectsubliminalkeys?Moreprovocativestill:isour‘consciousness’umbilicallylinkedto‘time’such

that itmerelypassesthroughbiologicalmatter,ourselves, likea threadpassingthroughpearlsandstones?Ithaslongbeenappreciatedbystudentsofintellectualhistorythatmonumental

architectureandarchetypal imagescanserveaspowerfulsubliminaldevices toevokedormant‘memory’inthemindsofthosewhoaremadereceptivethroughinitiation.ThemuralsandpanelsofgothiccathedralsorthepaintedceilingssuchasthoseintheSistineChapelarebutobviousexamplesofsuchpowerfulmind-games—aptlycalled‘silentpoetry’bythefourth-centurybcpoet,SimonidesofCeos. These ancientmemory-aids, and the techniques refined for using them,which are loosely termed ‘mnemotechnics’ today,were the subject of amajorthesis byDameFrancesA.Yates in 1966 entitledTheArt ofMemory. In thisbook Yates shows that powerful cerebral techniques were taught in ancientGreece which were rooted in the so-called ‘Egyptian hermetic tradition’.[704]Recently,theauthorMurryHope,inathesisentitledTimetheUltimateEnergy,tackledthecomplexsubjectof‘timetravel’asaformofenergy,andsuggestedthat pre-dynastic Egyptian adepts may have understood and harnessed ‘time’

through a yet-to-be discovered ability to break away from the confines ofbiological‘time’andintoanothermentalrealmoftime-perception.MurryHopetermedthisrealm‘OuterTime’.Likewise,inanotherrecentstudy,FromAtlantistotheSphinx,theauthorandphilosopherColinWilsonboldlyproposesthattheancients may have cultivated powerful extrasensory capabilities through ‘adifferent knowledge system’ based on intuitive thinking (as opposed torationalisticor‘solar’thinking)inordertoenterhigherstatesofconsciousness.Suchhigherconsciousnessmighthavebeenthekeyintoalteredperceptionsof‘time’.That such untapped abilities to perceive dilated time-fields might be an

intrinsicpartofhumanmentalmachinerywasveryseriouslyinvestigatedbyoneof America’s most prestigious scientific foundations, the Stanford ResearchInstitute in California—better known as SRI International. In 1972 SRIInternationalwasrecruitedasmainconsultantfortheso-calledremoteviewingprogrammes run by theCIA and other government agencies including theUSnavy, the US army and the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Theseprogrammes were managed by a highly respected physicist, Dr. Hal Puthoff,who sought out and employed renowned psychics (called ‘remote viewers’ inSRI jargon) to ‘locate’ enemy military targets and installations usingextrasensorycapabilities.The reader will recall that SRI International (which has been described as

‘America’ssecondlargestthink-tank’)wasalso,in1973,involvedinhigh-techarchaeological projects in Egypt and, at least on one occasion, worked inparticipation with the Edgar Cayce Foundation (ECF) in a series of remotesensingprojectsatGiza(seeChapter5).Many‘remoteviewers’ involved in the remoteviewingprogrammes,suchas

the psychic Ingo Swann andNel Riley, the latter a sergeant in the US army,openly claimed tohave the inner abilities toundertake a formof ‘time travel’into any remote locations on the globe. Such claims are in many waysreminiscentofthosemadebytheEdgarCayceadeptswhomaintainthat,whenin an altered state of consciousness such as deep trance or hypnosis, they can‘remember’ past lives, i.e. ‘time travel’ mentally to remote locations. Caycehimself,whoisdubbedAmerica’sbest-knownmediumandpsychic,claimedtohavehadapreviouslifeinEgyptin10,500bc—aclaimwhichatonetime,aswehaveseeninChapter5,wasconsideredworthyofinvestigationbyEgyptologistMarkLehnerintheearly1970swithintheframeworkofhisscientificresearchatGiza.

Appendix4

Carbon-datingtheGreatPyramid:Implicationsofalittle-knownStudyTheevidencepresentedinthisbookconcerningtheoriginsandantiquityof

the monuments of the Giza necropolis suggests that the genesis and originalplanning and layout of the site may be dated, using the tools of moderncomputer-aided archaeoastronomy, to the epoch of 10,500 bc. We have alsoargued, on the basis of a combination of geological, architectural andarchaeoastronomical indicators, that theGreatSphinx, itsassociatedmegalithic‘temples’, andat least the lower coursesof the so-called ‘PyramidofKhafre’,mayinfacthavebeenbuiltatthatexceedinglyremotedate.It is important to note that we do not date the construction of the Great

Pyramid to 10,500 bc. On the contrary, we point out that its internalastronomicalalignments—thestar-shaftsoftheKing’sandQueen’sChambers—are consistent with a completion date during ancient Egypt’s ‘Old Kingdom’,somewhere around 2500 bc. Such a date should, in itself, be uncontroversialsince it in noway contradicts the scholarly consensus that themonumentwasbuilt by Khufu, the second Pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, who ruled from2551-2528bc.[705]Whatplacesourtheoryinsharpcontradictiontotheorthodoxview, however, is our suggestion that the mysterious structures of the Gizanecropolis may all be the result of an enormously long-drawn-out period ofarchitectural elaboration and development—a period that had its genesis in10,500bc,thatcametoanendwiththecompletionoftheGreatPyramidcome8000yearslaterin2500bc,andthatwasguidedthroughoutbyaunifiedmaster-plan.According toorthodoxEgyptologists, theGreatPyramid is the resultofonly

just over 100 years of architectural development, beginning with theconstructionof the step-pyramidofZoser atSaqqaranot earlier than2630bc,passing through a number of ‘experimental’ models of true Pyramids (one atMeidum and at two Dashour, all attributed to Khufu’s father Sneferu) andleadinginexorablytothetechnologicalmasteryoftheGreatPyramidnotearlierthan2551bc(thedateofKhufu’sownascensiontothethrone).Anevolutionary‘sequence’ in pyramid-construction thus lies at the heart of the orthodox

Egyptologicaltheory—asequenceinwhichtheGreatPyramidisseenashavingevolvedfrom(andthushavingbeenprecededby)thefourearlierpyramids.[706]But suppose those four pyramids were proved to be not earlier but later

structures? Suppose, for example, that objective and unambiguousarchaeologicalevidencewere toemerge—say, reliablecarbon-datedsamples—which indicated thatworkon theGreatPyramidhad in factbegun some1300yearsbefore thebirthofKhufuand that themonumenthadstoodsubstantiallycompletesome300yearsbeforehisaccessiontothethrone?Suchevidence,ifitexisted, would render obsolete the orthodox Egyptological theory about theorigins, function and dating of the Great Pyramid since it would destroy theSaqqaraàMeidumàDashouràGiza ‘sequence’ bymaking the technologically-advanced Great Pyramid far older than its supposed oldest ‘ancestor’, the farmorerudimentarystep-pyramidofZoser.Withthesequencenolongervalid, itwouldthenbeevenmoredifficultthanit,isatpresentforscholarstoexplaintheimmensearchitecturalcompetenceandprecisionof theGreatPyramid(sinceitdefiesreasontosupposethatsuchadvancedandsophisticatedworkcouldhavebeen undertaken by builders with no prior knowledge of monumentalarchitecture).Curiously, objective evidence does exist which casts serious doubt on the

orthodoxarchaeologicalsequence.Thisevidencewasprocuredandpublishedin1986 by the Pyramids Carbon-dating Project, directed by Mark Lehner (andreferred to inpassing inhis correspondencewithus, seeAppendix III above).With funding from the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Lehner collected fifteensamples of ancient mortar from the masonry of the Great Pyramid. Thesesamples of mortar were chosen because they contained fragments of organicmaterialwhich,unlikenaturalstone,wouldbesusceptibletocarbon-dating.Twoof the samples were tested in the Radiocarbon Laboratory of the SouthernMethodist University in Dallas Texas and the other thirteen were taken tolaboratories in Zurich, Switzerland, for dating by the more sophisticatedaccelerator method. According to proper procedure, the results were thencalibratedandconfirmedwithrespecttotree-ringsamples.[707]Theoutcomewassurprising.AsMarkLehnercommentedatthetime:Thedatesrunfrom3809bcto2869bc.Sogenerallythedatesare...significantlyearlierthanthebest

Egyptological date for Khufu ... In short, the radiocarbon dates, depending on which sample you note,suggest that theEgyptological chronology is anything from200 to 1200 years off.You can look at thisalmostlikeabellcurve,andwhenyoucutitdownthemiddleyoucansummarizetheresultsbysayingourdatesare400to450yearstooearlyfortheOldKingdomPyramids,especiallythoseoftheFourthDynasty...Now this is really radical ... Imean it’llmake a big stink.TheGiza pyramid is 400years older thanEgyptologistsbelieve.[708]

DespiteLehner’sinsistencethatthecarbon-datingwasconductedaccordingto rigorous scientific procedures[709] (enough, normally, to qualify these datesforfullacceptancebyscholars)itisastrangefactthatalmostno‘stink’atallhasbeen caused by his study. On the contrary, its implications have been andcontinue to beuniversally ignoredbyEgyptologists andhavenot beenwidelypublishedorconsideredineithertheacademicorthepopularpress.Weareataloss to explain this apparent failure of scholarship and are equally unable tounderstand why there has been no move to extract and carbon-date furthersamples of the Great Pyramid’s mortar in order to test Lehner’s potentiallyrevolutionaryresults.What has to be considered, however, is the unsettling possibility that some

kindofpatternmayunderliethesestrangeoversights.AswereportedinChapter6,apieceofwoodthathadbeensealedinsidethe

shafts of theQueen’sChamber since completion of constructionwork on thatroom, was amongst the unique collection of relics brought out of the GreatPyramidin1872bytheBritishengineerWaynmanDixon.Theothertwo‘Dixonrelics’—the small metal hook and the stone sphere—have been located afterhaving been ‘misplaced’ by the British Museum for a very long while. Thewhereaboutsofthepieceofwood,however,istodayunknown.[710]Thisisveryfrustrating.Beingorganic,woodcanbeaccuratelycarbon-dated.

Since this particular piece of wood is known to have been sealed inside thePyramidatthetimeofconstructionofthemonument,radiocarbonresultsfromitcould,theoretically,confirmthedatewhenthatconstructiontookplace.Amissingpieceofwoodcannotbe tested.Fortunately, however, aswealso

reported inChapter6, it isprobable thatanothersuchpieceofwood is still insituatsomedepthinsidethenorthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber.Thispiecewasclearlyvisibleinfilm,takenbyRudolfGantenbrink’srobot-cameraUpuaut,thatwasshowntoagatheringofseniorEgyptologistsattheBritishMuseumon22November1993.[711]Weare informed that itwouldbea relativelysimpleand inexpensive task to

extract the piece of wood from the northern shaft.More than two and a halfyearsafterthatscreeningattheBritishMuseum,however,noattempthasbeenmadetotakeadvantageofthisopportunity.Thepieceofwoodstillsitsthere,itsage unknown, andRudolfGantenbrink, aswe saw inChapter 6, has not beenpermittedtocompletehisexplorationoftheshafts.

Appendix5

TheDoorInsidetheGreatPyramid;TunnelsandChambersUndertheGreatSphinx

Furtherdevelopments

Since the first English-language edition of this book went to press inFebruary1996therehavebeenanumberofsignificantdevelopmentsconcerningtheopeningofthedoorintheGreatPyramidattheendofthesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber(seeinparticularChapter7)andthesearchfortunnelsandchambers under theGreat Sphinx (see in particularChapter 2 andChapter 5).Weanticipate that therewillbefurtherdevelopments—quitepossiblyofmajorhistoricalsignificance—whichwewillcoverinafuturebook.Itisourintention,meanwhile,tomonitorthis‘runningstory’andtoupdateourreadersinaseriesof appendices thatwill be published in future editions ofTheMessage of theSphinx.The update presented herewith covers the period fromMarch to end-August

1996.

TheGreatPyramid

Attheendof1995,asreportedinChapter6andChapter7,thepositionofthe Egyptian Antiquities Organization regarding the ‘door’ at the end of thesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamberwasapparentlyoneofofficialdisinterest.ThereaderwillrecallthatDr.NurElDin,ChairmanoftheEAO(nowrenamedtheSupremeCouncilofAntiquities)haddeclinedRudolfGantenbrink’soffertodonatetherobottotheEgyptiangovernmentandtotrainanEgyptiantechnicianto operate it: ‘Thank you for your offer to train the Egyptian technician ...Unfortunatelyweareverybusy for the timebeing, thereforewewillpostponethematter...[712]SimilarlyDr.ZahiHawasshaddeclared:‘Idonotthinkthisisadoorandnothingisbehindit.’[713]In March 1996, however, Dr. Hawass changed his mind, declaring in the

EgyptianGazettethatGantenbrink’sfindwasofhugeinterestandthatthedoor

wouldbeopenedinSeptember1996byamultinationalteamledbytheEgyptiangeologist(andNASAconsultant)Dr.FaroukElBaz.RudolfGantenbrinkwouldnotbeinvolvedand‘anotherrobot’—notUpuaut—wouldbeusedtoexploretheshaft.Participatingintheexplorationwouldbea‘Canadian’contingent.[714]TheCanadianelement,‘Amtex’,isheadedbyPeterZuuring,awealthyDutch-

Canadian businessman,who told us that he had shown theEgyptians how thedoor could be opened ‘relatively inexpensively ... We’re working with SparAerospace to design a miniature arm with tools that could first tap the door,knockitandtrytoleverthingsalittlebittoseeifthere’sanythingloose.ButIthinkultimatelywe’llgostraightthrough.’Intwoconversations,Souringtoldusthathethoughtitunlikelythattheproject

couldstartasearlyasSeptember1996:thefollowingyear,hesaid,1997,wasfarmore likely.Theobjective,whichmight takesometime,was toraise thehugesum of tenmillion dollars to promote a staged ‘live opening’ of the door oninternational television networks. ‘I’m working with a private guy who is apersonal friend of Hawass and we are absolutely going to drum this thing todeath.Whatevertheeventwearegoingtostage,itwillbetelevisedlive.’[715]

TheGreatSphinx

In 1993-4 (seeChapter 2 andChapter 5)Dr. ZahiHawass appeared to beadamantlyopposedtothenotionthattheSphinxmightbefarolderthanancientEgypt—and thus theworkofa lost civilization.The readerwill recall that theEAOofficialwasparticularlyincensedbytheNBCtelevisionfilm,TheMysteryoftheSphinx,thatwasmadeabouttheworkofJohnAnthonyWest.InadditionHawass had been personally responsible for expelling John West and hisresearch team from the Sphinx enclosure. The team included the geologistRobertSchoch,aProfessoratBostonUniversity,and theseismologistThomasDobecki (who was to identify a large rectangular chamber concealed in thebedrockatadepthofabouttwentyfeetbeneaththefrontpawsoftheSphinx).TheNBC documentary linked the Sphinx toAtlantis and suggested that the

chamber that Thomas Dobecki’s seismograph had detected beneath its pawsmight contain some sort of ‘time capsule’ of Atlantean wisdom and history.Hawass called these claims: ‘American hallucinations. West is an amateur.Thereisabsolutelynoscientificbaseforanyofthis.Wehaveoldermonumentsin the same area. They definitely weren’t built by men from Atlantis. It’snonsense and we won’t allow our monuments to be exploited for personalenrichment.TheSphinxisthesoulofEgypt.’[716]

An article in the Egyptian press responding to the NBC film quoted Dr.Hawass on his further reasons for expelling JohnWest and his team from theSphinx enclosure: ‘I have found that their work is carried out by installingendoscopesintheSphinx’sbodyandshootingfilmsforallphasesoftheworkinapropaganda...butnotinascientificmanner.Ithereforesuspendedtheworkofthis unscientific mission and made a report which was presented to thepermanentcommissionwhorejectedthemission’sworkinthefuture.’[717]The NBC film was produced by Boris Said (see Chapter 2) and partially

financed by investments from members of the Association for Research andEnlightenment (ARE). Headquartered in Virginia Beach in the United States(see Chapter 5), the ARE is a multimillion dollar organization that exists topromulgatetheteachingsandpropheciesoftheAmericanpsychicEdgarCayce,who died in 1945. Prominent amongst Cayce’s pronouncements were manystatements—someofwhichwere reported in theNBC film—to the effect thatthe Sphinx had been built in 10,500 bc by the survivors of Atlantis who hadconcealedbeneathita‘HallofRecords’containingallthewisdomoftheirlostcivilization and the truehistoryof thehuman race.Cayceprophesied that thisHallofRecordswouldberediscoveredandopenedbetween1996and1998.Heconnected the opening to the second coming of Christ and asserted that thecontents of the Hall would not be shared with the general public until manyyearsafterithadfirstbeenenteredby‘threewhowouldmakeoftheperfectwayoflife.’[718]In 1995 John West and Professor Robert Schoch of Boston University (in

cooperation with the prestigious Princeton Engineering Anomalies ResearchLaboratory, better known as PEAR) put in an application to the Egyptianauthoritiestoresumetheirresearch.Theirapplicationwasignored.AttheendofMarch1996theEgyptianauthoritiesgrantedaone-yearlicense

to a new team to conduct surveys around the Sphinx and theGiza necropolisusing seismic equipment and ground-penetrating radar. This team, whichclaimed academic sponsorship from Florida State University (and reportedlyinvolved the participation of four geologists from that university),was largelyfinanced,throughtheSchorFoundationofNewYork,byDr.JosephSchor,anAmericanmultimillionaire.Dr.Schorisalife-memberoftheAREandwasoneof the twoAREmemberswhometusatVirginiaBeachwithCharlesThomasCayceinMay1994(seeChapter5).Laterthatmonthhewrotetousofhisgreatpersonal interest in corroborating ‘the Cayce records which indicated that theculturewhichledtothebuildingofthePyramidsdatesfrom10,500bc.’Healsostatedhiswish‘tofurtherdelineatethatcivilization.’[719]

On11April1996,whenweinformedJosephSchorthatweintendedtowriteabout these matters in the LondonDaily Mail, he threatened us with a libelaction and stated: ‘We do not work for the Edgar Cayce group ... ThemajorpurposeoftheSchorFoundationandtheFloridaStateUniversityistoaidinthepreservation and restoration of the Pyramids and Sphinx. In addition we aresurveying the underground of theGiza Plateau to find faults and chasms thatmightcollapse.Thiswillincreasethesafetyoftheplateaubecausechasmsandfaults can be collapsed or roped off for the protection of tourists and plateaupersonnel.’[720]On14April1996Dr.ZahiHawassgavearatherdifferentaccount,mentioning

hiddentunnelsaroundthePyramidsandtheSphinx.Hemadenomentionofthequestionofpublicsafetybuthintedthat‘excavationofthetunnelswouldrevealmanycluesregardingtheestablishmentoftheGizapyramids.’[721]Nor did that question appear to be the main thrust of a short video, Secret

Chamber, in which Dr. Hawass took part. Filmed on location in Cairo inNovember andDecember 1995, the videowas produced andwritten byBorisSaidand,accordingtohim,financedtothetuneofonehundredthousanddollarsby Joseph Schor. In this video, as we reported at the end of Chapter 5, Dr.Hawass is shownscrambling intoa tunnelunder theSphinx.Whenhe reachesthebottomheturnstofacethecameraandwhisperstotheviewer:‘EvenIndianaJoneswillneverdream tobehere.Canyoubelieve it?Wearenow inside theSphinx,inthistunnel.Thistunnelhasneverbeenopenedbefore.Noonereallyknows what’s inside this tunnel but we are going to open it for the firsttime.’[722]The narrator of the video drives home an interesting point: ‘Edgar Cayce,

America’s famous “Sleeping Prophet”, predicted that a chamber would bediscovered beneath the Sphinx—a chamber containing the recorded history ofhumancivilization.Forthefirsttimeeverwe’llshowyouwhatliesbeneaththisgreat statue—a chamber which will be opened, live, for our televisioncameras.’[723]In July 1996, after worldwide protest over the activities of the Schor

FoundationandFloridaStateUniversityat theSphinx,Dr.HawassclaimedonSouthAfricanradiothathehadhaltedtheproject:‘Ifoundthattheirworkisnotfollowingthecorrectsteps...Iwrotealettertothemsayingthattheycannotdoworkagainbecausetheyarenotreallyfollowingthecorrectwork.’[724]That same month, however, rumors began to circulate that the team had

identified nine further tunnels or chambers under the Giza Plateau. In all ofthem,apparently,theirremote-sensingequipmenthadidentifiedobjectsmadeof

metal.By the endofAugust 1996, despiteHawass’s statement, teammembers still

appearedconfidentthattheirprojectwouldgoaheadandBorisSaidwasreputedto be negotiating with major television networks in the United States for anexclusivedocumentaryontheSphinx.

TheEdgarCaycelegacy

AswesawinChapter5,EdgarCayce(knowninAmericaas the‘SleepingProphet’becausehegavehispsychic‘readings’ ina trance-likestate)believedhimselftobeareincarnatedpriestcalledRa-Ta,asurvivorofAtlantiswhohadsettledinEgyptin10,500bc.Throughoutthe1930s,untilhisdeathin1945,heused the contacts made through his ‘readings’ to ‘pick up players’—artists,bankers,businessmen,universityprofessorsandevenpoliticians—whowereallconvinced that in their ‘past lives’ they toohadplayeda role in theunfoldingdramaofAtlantis.[725]One of these players, perhaps the most active the ARE would know, was

Cayce’seldestson,HughLynn(1907-1983),agraduateofHarvardUniversitywhotookoverthemanagementofthenewlyfoundedAREin1931whenhewasjusttwenty-fouryearsold.Withyouthfulenthusiasm,hevowedthatonedayan‘ARE sponsored expedition’ to Giza would vindicate his father’s propheciesconcerningtheHallofRecords.[726]PerhapsHughLynnhadbeeninspiredbytheso-called‘BaraizeExpedition’to

the Sphinx which was already well underway in 1930 when the ARE wasfounded. Led by the then Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, aFrench archaeologist named Emile Baraize, this expedition stripped off theancientskinof ‘repairblocks’ fromthe lowerpartsof thebodyof theSphinx.Whileremovingsomeoftheblocksfromtherumpofthestatue,Baraizecameacrosstheentrancetoatunnel.Then,forsomeextraordinaryreason,heresealedthemouth of the tunnel with rock and cement and never reported thematter.WithBaraizeatthetimewasayoungArabboycalledMohamadAbdelMawgud—whosedescendantsstillliveatGiza.[727]TheBaraizeexpeditionranfrom1926to1936.Butitwasnotuntil1972that

HughLynnCayce,by then inhissixties, finallyset inmotion theplan thathehad long ago conceived for getting the ARE into mainstream archaeology atGiza.Hisfirstmovewastorecruita‘collegedropoutnamedMarkLehner’(theAREPresidentthoughtherecognizedtheyoungmanfromapastlife),andthenarrange for him to take a post-graduate degree at the AmericanUniversity in

Cairo. Today the Visiting Professor of Egyptology at the University ofChicago’s prestigious Oriental Institute, we saw in Chapter 5 how Lehnerbecame theARE’s ‘man’atGiza,participatingduring the1970sand1980s inalmosteveryimportantprojectundertakenaroundthePyramidsandtheSphinx.Despite a number of setbacks experienced by the ARE as a result of these

projects, anofficialbiography reports thatHughLynnCayce ‘hadnosenseofdefeat...Hewouldstaywiththesearchaslongasittook,buildingallianceswithothergroupsandindividuals.OneofthelatterwastheEgyptianChiefInspectorat Giza, Hawass, who he had met through Lehner in 1975. In 1980, Hawassaccommodated the ARE by conducting an excavation in front of the Sphinxtemple...’[728]InOctober1980MarkLehnermadecontactwithMohamadAbdelMawgud,

the‘youngArabboy’(bynowinhissixties)whohadseenEmileBaraizesealupthe tunnel under the Sphinx in 1926. Together with AhmedAl Fayed, AbdelMawgud’s son,LehnerwaspermittedbyZahiHawass to remove the seal andenterthetunnel.Butagain,apparently,nothingwasfound.Thetunnelreacheda‘deadend’inthebedrockunderneaththeSphinx.[729]SoonafterwardsAhmedAlFayedwenttosettleinVirginiaBeachandindue

coursejoinedthestaffoftheARE.HawassalsotraveledtotheUnitedStatesatabout this time to expandhis formal education inEgyptology.AsHughLynnCayce’s biographer reports: ‘If Zahi Hawass was to advance within the[Egyptian] government to further his own career and open doors for HughLynn’s project, he could do it best on the wings of higher education at anAmerican Ivy League college.’ Just before he diedHugh Lynn Caycewas toexplain how: ‘I got him [Zahi Hawass] a scholarship at the University ofPennsylvania inEgyptology, to get his Ph.D. I got the scholarship through anAREpersonwhohappenstobeontheFulbrightscholarshipboard.He[Hawass]hadaidedMark[Lehner]toworkontheSphinxandIamveryappreciative.’[730]Interviewed on South African radio in July 1996 Hawass responded to an

earlier interview given by ourselves in whichwe hadmentioned his apparentconnectionswith the EdgarCayce Foundation.He accused us of lying, statedthat we were merely claiming these things to make ourselves famous, andinsistedthathediscreditedEdgarCayce,addingemphatically:‘TheEdgarCaycetheory is wrong.’ The interviewer (John Robbie of Radio 702, Johannesburg)then read out on the air the passage quoted above from Hugh Lynn Cayce’sbiographyinwhichtheformerAREPresidentclaimstohavebeeninstrumentalin obtaining a Fulbright scholarship for Hawass. Hawass replied: ‘That’s nottrue.Imethim,I lecturedtotheEdgarCayceFoundationmanytimes.Hewas

suchaniceman.Ineverbelievedhistheories.Heneversupportedafellowshipformetostudyoutsideatall.HejustonceattendedadinnerthatIinvitedhimtoin Cairo with one of the Fulbrights ... but he did not support any study. TheEgyptian government supported my studies for five years and the FulbrightsupportedmystudiesattheUniversityofPennsylvaniafortwoyears.Ithadnosupportfromsuchanorganizationlikethat.’Hawass was then asked about Secret Chamber, the short video referred to

abovemade byBoris Said inNovember andDecember 1995 and financed byJoseph Schor. The interviewer pointed out that this video makes positivereferencetoEdgarCayceandhispropheciesandincludesanappearancebyZahiHawass inwhich theEgyptianofficial stated thata tunnelunder theSphinx isabout to be opened. ‘How come you’re involved with that?’ asked theinterviewer.

Hawass:Thisisnottrue!I’mapublicfigureandIgetinterviewseveryday!Everydayifyoucometomyofficeyouwill see almost threeTVs fromallover theworld. I ...my interviewsalwaysexplainmydiscoveries.ThisvideoistalkingaboutthetunnelthatIfoundinsidetheSphinxbasedonmywork.Itisnotbytheworkthatisdonehere,it’sbyFloridaUniversity.ItisnotbyCayceoranything!AndwefoundeventhatFloridaUniversityarenotfollowingthescientist’sstepsthereforeIwrotealettertwomonthsagothatthosetype...eventheuniversities,theuniversitiesarenotfollowingtheexactstepsthattheysupposedtodo.

Interviewer:Itseemsacoincidence...itseemsacoincidence,Dr.Zahi,thattheCayceprophecytalksabouttunnelsundertheSphinx.You’vediscreditedit.You’vebannedvariousresearchersaccordingtoTheMessageof theSphinx—people like JohnWestwhoare trying todoworkon this theory—andnowyouseemtobetakingitoveryourself.Isthattrue?

Hawass:No!I’mnottakingovermyself...Ifthereisevidence,actualevidencefromaninstitution,totellusthereissomethingundertheSphinxwe’llexcavateit.Butallofitisjusthallucination!Wecannotrunafterhallucinationsatall.

Interviewer: But in that video, where you are actually filmed in a tunnel under the Sphinx, youindicatedthatthismightleadtosomethingvery,veryexciting...Isawthatmyself,Zahi!

Hawass:IfIdidfound...Itoldyou!Iexcavatedthistunnel.AndIdidexcavateitandI’mexcavatingit.Ifitleadstosomethingimportant,we’llannounceit.YouknowwhatI’msaying?I’mnotdenyingthat...Maybeitwillleadtosomethingexciting.

TheintervieweraskedDr.Hawasswhyhehadnottakenlegalactionagainstus,theauthorsofTheMessageoftheSphinx,‘becausetheymakesomeseriousaccusations against you.’ Hawass replied: ‘You know, if I make legal actionagainst them I will make them famous. But I will never, err, make themfamous.’[731]On15August1996, inan interviewwith theEgyptianGazette inCairo,Dr.

Hawass made an oddly similar remark concerning the Japanese team from

WasedaUniversity, ledbyProfessorSakujiYoshimura,who in1988hadusedadvancedtechnologytoidentifyahiddenchamberinsidetheGreatPyramidandanotherbeneaththeleftforepawoftheGreatSphinx.‘Ibelievetheseteamswerenot serious enough,’ stated Dr. Hawass, ‘and their equipment was not welltooled. The members of these teams were merely interested in acquiringfame.’[732]

MarsandGiza:

StrangeconnectionsandsynchronicityInourresearchwehavestumbledacrossatangledwebofclues,connections

and overlapping interests appearing to suggest that American scientists withlinkstoNASAmayhavequietlyinvolvedthemselves,sinceatleastthe1970s,incovert‘expeditions’tounveilthesecretsofthegreatpyramidsandtheGreatSphinxofGiza.Thestory,oddlyenough,appearstoberunninginparallelwithresearch stemming from the existence of curious pyramidial structures (and agigantic Sphinx-like ‘Face’) that were photographed on Mars by NASAspacecraftduringthe1970s.In 1971NASA’sMariner 9 probe took the first ever photographs of strange

‘pyramid’structuresonMarsonaregionoftheplanetknowntoastronomersasElysium. Dr. James Hurtak, a graduate in remote sensing technology (and anacquaintance of Mark Lehner’s) was one of the earliest researchers to showinterest in theElysium‘pyramids’—whichwereofficiallydismissedbyNASAas ‘tricks of light’. In 1975, despite NASA’s apparent indifference, Hurtakpredicted that further finds of similar structures, including a Sphinx-likemonument, would be made on Mars and that they would all prove to beconnectedinagreatcosmicblueprinttotheGizamonumentsinEgypt.[733]Hurtak is an active campaigner against the secrecy of the United States

militaryandrelatedagencieswithregardtoUFO‘cover-ups’andothersimilarissues.He also claims to have had close linkswith researchers atCalifornia’sprestigious Stanford Research Institute, America’s second largest scientificthink-tank (whichhas an annualbudget from theUnitedStatesgovernmentofover three hundred million dollars). The SRI’s projects have included the‘Remote Viewing Program’ (started in 1972), funded by the CIA as anintelligence-gathering exercise, which recruited top psychics to ‘remote view’enemymilitaryinstallationsandothersites.In1973,aswesawinChapter5,theEgyptianAntiquitiesOrganization(EAO)

grantedanofficiallicensetotheSRI,permittingittoconductsurveysaroundtheGreat Sphinx at Giza using ground-penetrating radar and seismographs. ThelocalsponsorofthisprojectwasCairo’sAinShamsUniversity.WerecallthatinthesameyearHughLynnCaycesentMarkLehnertotheAmericanUniversityinCairowithfundsraisedbyAREmembers.In1976asecondNASAprobe,VikingI,went intoMarsorbit. In theregion

knownasCydoniaitphotographedseveralmorepyramidialstructures(includingthe five-sided ‘D&M Pyramid’) and the famous ‘Face’. Complete with itsdistinctiveSphinx-likeheaddress,thislatterfeaturehasbeencalculatedfromtheNASAimagestobe1.6milesinlengthfromcrowntochin,1.2mileswide,andjustunder2,600 feethigh.NASAhasarguedofficially that it isnothingmorethanasmallmountain,naturallyweathered.Buthowmanymountainshavetheirleftand right sides so intricately similar? Imageanalysts say that the ‘bilateralsymmetry’oftheFace,mimickinganatural,almosthumanappearance,ismostunlikely to have come about by chance.And this impression is confirmed byother characteristics that have subsequently been identified under computerenhancement.Theseinclude‘teeth’inthemouth,bilaterallycrossedlinesabovethe eyes, and regular lateral stripes in the headpiece—suggestive, to someresearchersatleast,ofthenemesheaddressofancientEgyptianpharaohs.[734]Back inEgypt in 1977, a year after theViking images had first reached the

Earth,MarkLehnermadecontactwithNASA’sDr.LambertT.Dolphin,leaderof theStanfordResearch Instituteproject at theSphinx.The readerwill recallfrom Chapter 5 that Lehner was by then already well acquainted with ZahiHawass.Laterin1977LambertDolphintraveledtoVirginiaBeachtonegotiatefunding

fromtheEdgarCayceorganizationforaproposednewSRIprojectatGiza.Thepurposeofthisprojectwastousethelatestremotesensingtechnologytosearchfor hidden chambers around and under the Sphinx—with Lehner again‘participating as the Edgar Cayce Foundation’s “man in Cairo”.’ Severalunderground‘cavities’weredetectedbythisSphinxExplorationProject.In 1978 Mark Lehner proposed a project on the Sphinx to the American

Research Centre in Egypt. The project, again partially financed by the EdgarCaycegroup,wasapprovedandwent aheadwithLehner as itsFieldDirector.Soon afterwards aUnited States registered company calledRecovery SystemsInternational(RSI)appearedonthescene.AswesawinChapter5,itundertookcore drillings in front of the Sphinx to investigate the promising undergroundcavitiespreviouslypinpointedbySRI.In1983HughLynnCaycediedandthemanagementoftheEdgarCaycegroup

was handed to his son, Charles Thomas Cayce. In the same year ‘The

IndependentMarsProject’wassetupintheUnitedStatesbyRichardHoagland,aformerNASAconsultant,andLambertDolphin.Meanwhilein1987Dr.ZahiHawasscompletedhiseducationintheUnitedStatesandreturnedtoEgypttobeappointedastheEAO’sDirector-GeneraloftheGizaPlateau.InMarch 1996Dr.Hawass announced that theEgyptian scientist FaroukEl

Baz (whose name,meaning Hawk, translates into ancient Egyptian as Horus)hadbeenchosentoleadateamtoopenthesecretdoorinsidetheGreatPyramidattheendofthesouthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamber.Thereaderwillrecallthat Amtex, the Canadian company participating in the project, claim to be‘workingwithSparAerospace’todeviseatooltoopenor‘gostraightthrough’the door. Spar Aerospace are better known for manufacturing hydraulic armsused inNASASpaceShuttles.Aswenotedat thebeginningof thisappendix,Dr.ElBaz,agraduateofCairo’sAinShamsuniversity, isaNASAconsultant.Hehasbeen involvedformanyyearswithstudiesofgeological formationsontheMoonandonMarsandheisaone-timepersonalfriendofastronautsBuzzAldrin andNeilArmstrong. ItwasElBaz,nicknamed theKingbyhisNASAcolleagues,whoin1969chosethespotfortheApollo11Moonlanding.ElBazis the founder of the Centre of Remote Sensing at Boston University andpresentlyservesasitsDirector.[735]Also inMarch 1996 the EAO granted a one-year renewable license for the

projectatdieSphinx—seeabove—financedbyJosephSchor.Projectmembersinclude Boris Said, ThomasDobecki, and four senior geologists from FloridaState University, who began work with a million dollars worth of ground-penetratingradarandseismicequipmentat theirdisposal.ItwasreportedtousthatteammembershadconsultedwithDr.JamesHurtakandRichardHoaglandinAugust1996.

SelectedBibliography

Allen,RichardH.,StarNames:TheirLoreandMeaning,DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1963.AncientEgyptianBookof theDead (trans.R.O.Faulkner),BritishMuseumPublications, 1989.Ancient

EgyptianPyramidTexts(trans.R.O.Faulkner),OxfordUniversityPress,1969.Antoniadi,E.M.,L’AstronomieEgyptienne,Paris,1934.Aristotle, De Caelo, see translation in Schwaller de Lubicz, R. A., Sacred Science, Inner Traditions

International,NewYork,1982.Baines,JohnandMalek,Jaromir,AtlasofAncientEgypt,Time-LifeBooks,1990.Bauval,RobertandGilbert,Adrian,TheOrionMystery,WilliamHeinemannLtd.,London,1994.Black,JeremyandGreenAnthony,Gods,DemonsandSymbolsofAncientMesopotamia,BritishMuseum

Press,London,1992.Bonwick,James,Pyramids:FactsandFancies,KeganPaul,1877.Breasted,JamesHenry,AncientRecordsofEgypt,HistoriesandMysteriesofManLtd.,London,1988.Bro,HarmonHartzell,EdgarCayce:ASeerOutofSeason,SignetBooks,NewYork,1990.Bunson,Margaret,TheEncyclopaediaofAncientEgypt,NewYork,Oxford,1991.Cayce,EdgarEvans,CayceSchwartzer,Gail, andRichards,DouglasG.,MysteriesofAtlantisRevisited:

EdgarCayce’sWisdomfortheNewAge,Harper&Row,SanFrancisco,1988.Ceram,C.W.,Gods,GravesandScholars,BookClubAssociates,London,1971.Cook,Robin,ThePyramidsofGiza,SevenIslands,Glastonbury,1992.David,Rosalie,AncientEgyptianReligion,BeliefsandPractices,Routledge&KeganPaul,London,1982.Davidovits,Dr. JosephandMorris,Maggie,ThePyramids:AnEnigmaSolved,DorsetPress,NewYork,

1988.DiodorusSiculus(trans.C.H.Oldfather),LoebClassicalLibrary,London,1989;HarvardUniversityPress,

1989.Edwards,I.E.S.,ThePyramidsofEgypt,PelicanBooks,London,1949.Emery,W.B.,ArchaicEgypt,PenguinBooks,London,1987.Fakhry,Ahmed,ThePyramids,UniversityofChicagoPress,1969.Faulkner,R.O.,TheBookoftheDead,BritishMuseumPublications,London,1972.Fix,WilliamR.,PyramidOdyssey,MercuryMediaInc.,Urbana,Va.,1978.FlindersPetrie,W.M.,ThePyramidsandTemplesofGizeh,HistoriesandMysteriesofManLtd.,London,

1990.Fowden,Garth,TheEgyptianHermes,PrincetonUniversityPress,NewJersey,1993.Frankfort,Henri,KingshipandtheGods,TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1978.Goidin,J.P.andDormion,G.,Kheops:NouvelleEnquête,EditionsRecherchesurlesCivilisations,Paris,

1986.Goyon,George,Le Secret des Batisseurs desGrandes Pyramides: Kheops,Pygmalion,GerardWatelet,

Paris,1990.Grimal,Nicholas,AHistoryofAncientEgypt,Blackwell,Oxford,1992.

Habachi,Labib,TheObelisksofEgypt,TheAmericanUniversityPress,Cairo,1988.Hancock, Graham, Fingerprints of the Gods, William Heinemann Ltd., London 1995, and Crown

Publishers,NewYork,1995.Hart,George,ADictionaryofEgyptianGodsandGoddesses,Routledge&KeganPaul,London,1988.Hassan,Selim,ExcavationsatGiza,GovernmentPress,Cairo,1946.——TheSphinx:ItsHistoryintheLightofRecentExcavations,GovernmentPress,Cairo,1949.Heinberg,Richard,CelebratetheSolstice,QuestBooks,WheatonIll.,1993.Herodotus,TheHistory(trans.DavidGrene),UniversityofChicagoPress,1988.Heyerdahl,Thor,TheRaExpeditions,BookClubAssociates,London,1972.Hoffman,MichaelA.,EgyptbeforethePharaohs,MichaelO’MaraBooksLtd.,London,1991.Ions,Veronica,IndianMythology,Hamlyn,London,1983.James,T.G.H.,AnIntroductionToAncientEgypt,BritishMuseumPublicationsLtd.,1987.Keable,Julian(ed.),HornThePyramidsWereBuilt,ElementBooks,Dorset,1989.Kees,Hermann,AncientEgypt:ACulturalTopography,UniversityofChicagoPress,1977.Krupp,E.C.,InSearchofAncientAstronomies,Chatto&Windus,London,1980.Lamy,Lucy,EgyptianMysteries,ThamesandHudson,London,1986.Lehner,Mark,TheEgyptianHeritage:Basedon theEdgarCayceReadingsAREPress,VirginiaBeach,

Norfolk,Va.,1974.Lichtheim,Miriam,AncientEgyptianLiterature,UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1975.Low,Sampson,SeventyYearsInArchaeology,Marston&Co.Ltd.,London,1931.Lucas,AncientEgyptianMaterialsandIndustries,Histories&MysteriesofManLtd.,London,1989.Mackenzie,DonaldA.,MythsandLegendsofIndia,TheMysticPress,London,1987.Malek,Jaromir,IntheShadowofthePyramids,Orbis,London,1986.Maspero,Gaston,ThePassingofEmpires,NewYork,1900.——TheDawnofCivilization,SPCK,London,1894.Noakes,Aubrey,Cleopatra’sNeedles,H.F.&G.WitherbyLtd.,London,1962.Piazzi Smyth, Charles, Our Inheritance in The Great Pyramid, W. Isbister, London, 1880 edition.

(ReprintedrecentlybyBellPublishingCo.,NewYork,1990,underthetitleTheGreatPyramid.)Pick,FredL.andKnight,G.Norman,ThePocketHistoryofFreemasonry,FrederickMullerLtd.,London,

1983.Reymond,E.A.E.,TheMythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,ManchesterUniversityPress,Barnesand

NobleInc.,NewYork,1969.Rundle-Clark,R.T.,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,ThamesandHudson,London,1991.——TheLegendofthePhoenix,UniversityofBirminghamPress,1949.Sagan,Carl,Cosmos,BookClubAssociates,London,1980.Santillana,GiorgiodeandDechend,Herthavon,Hamlet’sMill,DavidR.Godine,Boston,1977.Scheel,Bernd,EgyptianMetalworkingandTools,ShireEgyptology,Bucks,1989.SchwallerdeLubicz,R.A.,SacredScience,InnerTraditionsInternational,Rochester,Vt.,1988.Sellers,J.B.,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,PenguinBooks,London,1992.Seton-Williams,VeronicaandStock,Peter,BlueGuide:Egypt,A&CBlack,London,1988.Short,Martin,InsidetheBrotherhood,GraftonBooks,London,1989.Singh,SarvaDaman,AncientIndian

Warfare,MotilalBanarsidass,Delhi,1989.Sitchin,Zecharia,TheStairwayToHeaven,AvonBooks,NewYork,1980.Spence,Lewis,Egypt,BrackenBooks,Myths&LegendsSeries,London,1986.——AncientEgyptianMythsandLegends,DoverPublications,NewYork,1990.Sugrue,Thomas,There isaRiver:TheStoryofEdgarCayce,AREPress,VirginiaBeach,Norfolk,Va.,

1988.Temple,RobertK.G.,TheSiriusMystery,DestinyBooks,Rochester,Vt.,1987.Tomas,Andrew,FromAtlantistoDiscovery,RobertHale,London,1972.Tompkins,Peter,SecretsoftheGreatPyramid,AllenLane,London,1972.Vercoutter,Jean,TheSearchforAncientEgypt,ThamesandHudson,London,1992.Vyse,ColonelHoward,Operations carried out at the Pyramids ofGizeh in1837:With an account of a

VoyageintoUpperEgyptandAppendix,JamesFraserofRegentStreet,London1837.WallisBudge,E.A.,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1978.——AHistoryofEgypt,London,1902.——TheGodsoftheEgyptians,DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1969.——TheEgyptianBookoftheDead,DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1967.——TheLiteratureofFuneralOfferings,KeganPaulLtd.,London,1909.——FromFetishtoGodinAncientEgypt,DoverPublications,NewYork,1988.West,JohnAnthony,SerpentintheSky:TheHighWisdomofAncientEgypt,QuestBooks,Wheaton,111.,

1993.——TheTraveller’sKeytoAncientEgypt,HarrapColumbus,London,1989.Yates,FrancesA.,GiordanoBrunoandtheHermeticTradition,UniversityofChicagoPress,1991.

[1]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,GovernmentPress,Cairo,1946,Vol.VI,PartI,pp.34-5[2]Ibid.[3]E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,DoverPublications Inc.,NewYork,

1978,Vol.I,p.469.[4] Selim Hassan, The Sphinx: Its History in the Light of Recent Excavations,Government Press,

Cairo,1949,p.76.SeealsoVeronicaSeton-WilliamsandPeterStock,BlueGuideEgypt,A.&C.Black,London,1988,p.432.

[5]ZahiHawassandMarkLehner, ‘TheSphinx:WhoBuilt It andWhy’,Archaeology,September-October1994,p.34.SeealsoE.A.WallisBudge,HieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.II,p.752.

[6]Wehavemanysurprisingsurvivals fromtheancientEgyptian language in theEnglish language.For example the small species of greyhound that we know as the ‘Whippet’ derives its name from theancient Egyptian canine deity Upuaut, the ‘Opener of the Ways’. Normandi Ellis in her excellentAwakening Osiris, Phanes Press, Grand Rapids, 1988, cites other examples: ‘armen/arm; heku (magicutterance)/hex; neb (spiralling force of the universe)/nebulous; Satis (goddess of the flood, or meaningenough)/satisfy;aor(magiclight)/aura’.

[7]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,PelicanBooks,London,1949,p.106.[8]AhmedFakhry,ThePyramids,UniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago,1969,p.159.[9]Mark Lehner, ‘Computer Rebuilds theAncient Sphinx’,NationalGeographicVol. 179,No. 4,

April1991;MarkLehner,‘ReconstructingtheSphinx’,CambridgeArchaeologicalJournal,Vol.1,No.1,April1992.

[10]NationalGeographic,April1991,op.cit.[11]Ibid.[12]Ibid.[13]CambridgeArchaeologicalJournal,op.cit.,pp.10and11.[14]Ibid.,p.9.[15]Ibid.,p.20.[16] John Anthony West, Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt,Quest Books,

Wheaton,111,1993,p.231.[17]Ibid.,p.232.[18]AmericanAssociationfortheAdvancementofScience,Chicago,7February1992,debate:‘How

OldistheSphinx?’[19]CambridgeArchaeologicalJournal,op.cit.,p.6.[20] For a fuller discussion of the dating issue see Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods,

WilliamHeinemannLtd.,London,1995,andCrownPublishers,NewYork,1995,p.51.[21]Hassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.75.[22]CambridgeArchaeologicalJournal,op.cit.,p.6[23]E.A.WallisBudge,‘StelaoftheSphinx’inAHistoryofEgypt,London,1902,Vol.IV,p.80ff.[24]Ibid.,pp.85-6.[25]JamesHenryBreasted,AncientRecordsofEgypt,HistoriesandMysteriesofManLtd.,London,

1988,VolumeII,p.324.[26]Ibid.[27]Ibid.[28]NationalGeographic,April1991,op.cit.[29]GastonMaspero,ThePassingofEmpires,NewYork,1900.[30]JamesHenryBreasted,AncientRecords,op.cit.,Vol.I,pp.83-5.[31]GastonMaspero,TheDawnofCivilization,SPCK,London,1894,p.247.[32]GastonMaspero,AManualofEgyptianArchaeology,p.74.[33]Hassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.91.[34]AmericanAssociationfortheAdvancementofScience,1992,debate‘HowOldistheSphinx?’,

op.cit.[35]Archaeology,September-October1994,op.cit.,pp.32-3.[36]Ibid.,p.34.[37]R.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,InnerTraditionsInternational,RochesterVt.,1988,p.

96.[38]JohnAnthonyWest,Serpent,op.cit.,pp.1-2.[39]Ibid.,p.186.[40]Ibid.,p.187.[41]Ibid.,p.226.[42]Ibid.,p.225.[43]Ibid.,p.226.[44]Ibid.,p.227.[45]Ibid.[46]Ibid.[47]Ibid.,pp.226-7.[48]Ibid.,p.228.[49]InterviewedinNBCtelevisiondocumentaryMysteryoftheSphinx,1993.[50]JohnAnthonyWest,Serpent,op.cit.,p.227.[51]QuotedinAnAkhbarElYom,8January1994.[52]JohnAnthonyWest,Serpent,op.cit.,p.229.[53]BostonGlobe,23October1991.[54]LosAngelesTimes,23October1991.[55]JohnAnthonyWest,Serpent,op.cit.,p.229.[56]Ibid.[57]Ibid.[58]Ibid.[59]Ibid.,p.229.[60]Ibid.,p.230.

[61]Ibid.,p.229.[62]MysteryoftheSphinx,op.cit.[63]Ibid.,andKMT,Vol.V,No.2,Summer1994,p.7.[64]Forblockweightssee I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.215;JohnAnthony

West, Serpent, op. cit., p. 242; John Anthony West, The Traveller’s Key to Ancient Egypt, HarrapColumbus,London, 1989, pp. 143-5;Mystery of the Sphinx,op. cit.;Dr. JosephDavidovits andMargieMorris,ThePyramids:AnEnigmaSolved,DorsetPress,NewYork,1988,p.51.

[65]MysteryoftheSphinx,op.cit.[66]Interviewedinibid.[67]See forexample I.E.S.Edwards,PyramidsofEgyptop.cit.,p.220;JohnBainesandJaromir

Malek,AtlasofAncientEgypt,Time-LifeBooks,1990,pp.138-9.[68] Themost thorough study is provided in PeterHodges (JulianKeable ed.),How the Pyramids

WereBuilt,ElementBooks,1989.[69]Ibid.,p.11.[70]Ibid.,pp.11-13.[71]Ibid.,p.13.[72] Jean Kerisel, a prominent soils engineer in France and also President of the Franco-Egyptian

Society, did an extensive studyon the haulingof largeblocks usinghuman labour andwooden sledges.Keriselkindlymadethisstudy—LuGrandePyramideetsesDerniersSecrets—availabletouspriortoitspublication (due 1996). The basis of his calculation is that the pressure on the soil cannot exceed 1.5tons/sq.m.forrampsmadeofcompactedsoil(probablycoveredwithstoneslabs)withslopesnotexceeding8percent.The frictioncoefficienthasbeencalculatedat15percentusingsoaked limeas the lubricant.Kerisel noted that a greater pressure than 1.5 tonswould cause the lubricant to seep away and thus thefrictioncoefficientwouldincrease,makinghaulingevenmoredifficult.Theaveragespeedhasbeenworkedouttobe0.3metres/secondwitha13-kilogramtractionforceproducedbyeachman.Thusthehaulingofa70-tonblockwouldrequire(70,000X0.15X1/13=)807menandwouldtakesome9.25hoursforarampofonekilometre.Keriselworkedoutthatifthetractionwasmuchhigherthan13kg/man—evenforashortperiodof time—the resultwouldbeseriousback injuries.Thus,assumingat least1clearmetredistancebetweeneachstandingman,807menin6rowswouldneedarampspaceof134.5metreslongand6metreswide. The problem, of course, is greatly increased for blocks of 200 tons within the confined workingconditions of the Sphinx andValleyTemples—a task almost impossible to imaginewith such primitivetechniques.

[73]RobertSchoch’sevidencepresentedinMysteryoftheSphinx,op.cit.[74]KMTVol.V,op.cit.,p.7.[75] The Sacred Sermon (Hermetica, Libellus III), translated by G. R. S. Mead in Thrice Great

Hermes: Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy andGnosis,SamuelWeiser Inc., North Beach,Maine, 1992,BookII,p.51.

[76]BritishMuseumManuscript25,619,pp.15-19.[77]W.M.FlindersPetrie,ThePyramidsandTemplesofGizeh,HistoriesandMysteriesofManLtd.,

London,1990,pp.50-1.[78]Chassinat,MonumentsetMémoires,FondationPiot,VolumeXXV,p.57.[79]ThorHeyerdahl,TheRaExpeditions,BookClubAssociates,London,1972,p.15.[80]Ibid.,pp.15-17.

[81]GrahamHancock,FingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.RobertBauvalandAdrianGilbert,TheOrionMystery,WilliamHeinemannLtd.,London,1994.

[82]GastonMaspero,TheDawnofCivilization,op.cit.,pp.366-7.SeealsoPeterTompkins,Secretsof theGreat Pyramid,Harper&Row,NewYork and London, 1978, p. 17 andW.M. Flinders Petrie,PyramidsandTemples,op.cit.,p.13.

[83]W.M.FlindersPetrie,PyramidsandTemples,op.cit.,p.13.[84]ThesupposeddiscovererwasArchimedes.[85]ForfurtherdiscussionseeFingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,Chapter48.[86]Ibid.[87]PiazziSmyth,TheGreatPyramid,BellPublishingCo.,NewYork,1990,pp.79-80.[88]Ibid.,p.80.[89] J. H. Cole, Paper No. 39, ‘TheDetermination of the Exact Size andOrientation of the Great

PyramidofGiza’,SurveyofEgypt,Cairo,1925.SeealsoI.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.87.

[90]Ibid.[91]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.208.[92]SeediscussioninFlindersPetrie,PyramidsandTemplesop.cit.,pp.83-4.[93]SeeFingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,pp.330-8,TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.41-5.[94]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.93.[95]WearegratefultoJamesMacaulayforthissuggestion.[96] Joseph R. Jochmans, The Hall of Records, unpublished manuscript, 1985, p. 175. See also

Hodges,HornthePyramidsWereBuilt,op.cit.,p.122.[97]FlindersPetrie,PyramidsandTemples,op.cit.,p.19.[98]Ibid.[99]VyseandPerringsfiguresquotedinEdwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.88.[100]Ibid.,pp.88-96.[101]Ibid.,p.88.[102]Herodotus,TheHistory,DavidGrenetrans.,UniversityofChicagoPress,1988,2:124,pp.185-

6.[103]CitedinJochmans,TheHallofRecords,op.cit.,pp.176-7.[104]R.Cook,ThePyramidsofGiza,SevenIslands,Glastonbury,1992,p.52.[105]JeanKerisel,‘ThePyramidofCheops:FurtherResearch’(OctoberandDecember1992),extract

fromhispaperintheRevueFrançaised’Egyptologie,1993,p.4.[106]Ibid,p.6.[107]Ibid.[108]Ibid,p.7.[109]Personalcommunication.[110] A. Badawy, ‘The Stellar Destiny of the Pharaoh and the so-called Air Shafts in Cheops’

Pyramid’,Mitt.Inst.Orient,zuBerlin,Band10,1964,pp.189-206.

[111]See,forexample,I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgyptop.cit.,pp.209-10.[112]ForfurtherdiscussionseeTheOrionMystery,op.cit.[113]Forexample,seeE.M.Antoniadi,L’AstronomieEgyptienne,Paris,1934,p.119.[114]SeeTheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.97-104.[115]Ibid.[116]Ibid.,pages105-37.[117]Ibid.[118]Ibid.[119]Ibid.,pp.179-96.[120]SeeTheOrionMystery,op.cit.,p.192.[121]Using the rigorous formulaofprecessioncorrected fornutation,aberrationofstarlight,proper

motion(fromthemost recentYaleBrightStarCatalog)andparallax,givescirca10,500bcas theepochthatOrion’sbeltreacheditslowestaltitude(9degrees25’measuredatthesouthmeridian,i.e.declination50degrees35’).

[122]Givingafullprecessionalcycleof25,920years.[123] For a detailed discussion seeGiorgio de Santillana andHertha vonDechend,Hamlet’sMill,

Godine,Boston,1977.[124]Ibid.,p.59.[125]SeeFingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,pp.454-8.[126]ForadiscussionseeJ.NormanLockyer,TheDawnofAstronomy,MITPress,1973,pp.60-1ff.[127]FromHermetica,SirWalterScotttrans.,Shambhala,Boston,1993,AsclepiusIII:24b,p.341.[128]FromtheeleventhdivisionoftheDuat,inthe‘BookofWhatisintheDuat’,SirE.A.Wallis

Budgetrans.,inTheEgyptianHeavenandHell,MartinHopkinson&Co,London,1925,p.240.[129]Ibid.,thetwelfthdivisionoftheDuat,p.258.[130]Ibid.,p.70.[131]ForadiscussionseeTheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.179-84;FingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,p.

380ff.[132] Ibid.See alsoE.A.WallisBudge,TheGodsof theEgyptians,DoverPublications Inc.,New

York,1969.[133]Thetraditionthatimportant‘records’werebroughttoEgypt‘aftertheflood’i.e.after10,000bc,

goesbacktoatleastthethirdcenturybc.Itisfound,forexample,inTheBookofSothis(commenteduponbytheByzantinehistorianGeorgiosSynecelluswholivedintheninthcenturyad)andwhichsomescholarsattributetotheEgyptianscribe,Manetho(SeeGarthFowden,TheEgyptianHermes,PrincetonUniversityPress,NewJersey1993,pp.29-33).The idea is alsoplanted in theKoreKosmou (ExcerptXXIIIof theHermeticwritings)ofthefirstandsecondcenturyad(SeeHermetica,op.cit.,p.461).IntheKoreKosmou(section8)thegoddessIsisclaimsthatThothdepositedinasecretplacethe‘sacredbooks’whichcontained‘thesecret thingsofOsiris ... theseholysymbolsof thecosmicelements’andthencastaspell that thesebooksshallremain‘unseenandundiscoveredbyallmenwhoshallgotoandfroontheplainsofthislanduntilthetimewhenHeaven,grownold,shallbegetorganisms[i.e.humans]worthyofyou...’

[134]2AndrewTomas,FromAtlantistoDiscovery,RobertHale,London1972,p.109.[135]IbnAbdAlhokimandtheArabManuscriptsofIbnKhurradhbihandLohfat,citedbyJosephR.

Jochmans, The Hall of Records, unpublished manuscript, 1985, p. 174. See also John Greaves,Pyramidographia,1646,translationfromtheArabicofIbnAlhokim.

[136]PeterTompkins,SecretsoftheGreatPyramid,AllenLane,1972,p.6.[137] The famousWestcar Papyrus in the (east) BerlinMuseum suggests that a secret chamber or

chamberswereconcealed in the ‘horizon’ofCheops—i.e. theallegedbuilderof theGreatPyramid (SeeThe Orion Mystery, op. cit., Appendix 3). The term ‘Horizon’, however, could mean either the GreatPyramiditselforthewholenecropolisofGiza,thusincludingtheSphinx.Spell1080oftheCoffinTexts(c.2000bc)speaksofasecret‘sealedthing’belongingtoOsirisofRostau(Giza)andspell1087suggeststhatitwas‘writingmaterial’linkedtoHeliopolis(Djedu,the‘PillarCity’),andhiddensomewhereinthedesertsands.

[138] These Coptic traditionswere recorded by theArab chroniclers Al Qodai, AlMasudi andAlMaqrizi,citedinJochmans,TheHallofRecords,op.cit.,p.210.

[139]Theso-called‘OldCharges’ofFreemasonryspeakofacertainHermenes(obviouslyHermes,i.e.Thoth)whopreservedthe‘crafts’bycarvingtheirknowledgeonsacredpillarsorobelisks(seeFredL.PickandG.NormanKnight,ThePocketHistoryofFreemasonry,FrederickMullerLtd.,London1983,p.32). It is generally accepted thatmuch of the ‘Egyptian’ esoteric strain in Freemasonry,Rosicrucianismand, toacertainextent, theTheosophists,comesfromtheso-calledHermeticTraditionthatdevelopedinEurope in the late ItalianRenaissancebutdrewitssourcefromtheGreekandCoptic textsknownas theHermetic writings (see Frances A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, University ofChicagoPress,Chicago1991;alsoTheRosicrucianEnlightenment,ArkPaperbacks,London1986,p.212).

[140]HarmonHartzellBro,EdgarCayce:ASeerOutOfSeason,SignetBooks,NewYork1990,pp.43-4.Cayce’slifelongsecretarywasGladysDavis,describedas‘anattractivehoney-blonde’,whomCaycebelievedtobehis‘reincarnated’daughter,Iso,fromAtlanteantimes(Ibid.,p.245).

[141] Edgar Evans Cayce, Gail Cayce Schwartzer and Douglas G. Richards,Mysteries of AtlantisRevisited:EdgarCayce’sWisdomfortheNewAge,Harper&Row,.SanFrancisco1988,p.xxi.

[142]Ibid.p.119.Wehavehadthepleasureofmeetingwiththeauthor,DouglasG.Richards,inJuly1995attheEdgarCayceFoundationinVirginiaBeach.

[143]Ibid.p.120.[144]EdgarCayce‘Reading’ontheGreatPyramidNo.5748-6.This‘reading’wasgivenathishome

onArcticCrescent,VirginiaBeach,Va.,on1July1932at4.10p.m.EST.[145] ‘Reading’ 378-16. See Mark Lehner, The Egyptian Heritage: Based on the Edgar Cayce

Readings,A.R.E.Press,VirginiaBeach1974,p.99.[146]‘Reading’No.5748-6.TheEgyptianHeritage,op.cit.,p.119.[147]‘Reading’No.294-151.SeeThomasSugrue,ThereisaRiver:ThestoryofEdgarCayce,A.R.E.

Press,VirginiaBeach,1988,p.393.SeealsoHarmonHartzellBro,ASeerOutOfSeason,op.cit.,p.247.[148]MarkLehner,TheEgyptianHeritage,op.cit.,p.92.SeealsoHarmonHartzellBro,ASeerOut

OfSeason,op.cit.,p.133.[149]EdgarEvansCayce,etc.,MysteriesofAtlantis,op.cit.,p.121.[150]Ibid,p.131.[151]ConfirmedbyDouglasG.Richards, inadocumentedconversationby telephone inSeptember

1995(Richardsisco-authorwithEdgarEvansCayceandGailCayceSchwartzerofMysteriesofAtlantisRevisited,op.cit.).WhenwequestionedMarkLehnerdirectlyonthismatterherepliedinwriting(pp.1-2ofletterdated15October1995):‘IbelieveIprobablyamthe“scholar”inquestion.ItwasneverexpectedthattheoutcomeoftheECF’ssupportofmyYearAbroadatTheAmericanUniversityinCairowouldbe

thatIwouldbecomea“respectedEgyptologist”.ARE-affiliatedpeoplesupportedmystintinEgyptbecauseHughLynnCayceaskedthemto.NeitherhenorIweresurewhereitwouldlead.IthinkHughLynnhelpedmetogotoEgyptbecausewebothhadsomesenseofdestinyaboutitinlinewiththecommonNewAgenotionthatitwas“meanttobe”.’

[152] Edgar Evans Cayce, etc.,Mysteries, op. cit., p. 131. In his letter of 15 October 1995MarkLehner commented on our draft text,whichwas supplied to himwithout footnotes: ‘I do not know thereferenceforyournote[20]butIsuspectthatratherthanaprospectuswrittenbeforeIwenttoEgyptasastudentatAUC,thissummarywaswritteninhindsightseveralyearslaterthan1973.’

[153]EdgarEvansCayce,etc.,Mysteries,op.cit.,p.132.[154]MarkLehner,TheEgyptianHeritage,op.cit.,backcovertext.[155]Ibid.,p.v.[156] Inhis letter tousof15October1995MarkLehnercommentedas follows: ‘Neither Inor the

Edgar Cayce Foundation had anything to do with the first two seasons of the SRI programme at thepyramids and elsewhere in Egypt. This is not clear in your text. The SRI “Science and Archaeology”Project picked up thework ofAlvarezwho used cosmic rays (before I arrived inEgypt) to analyze theSecond Pyramid for undiscovered chambers. I met the SRI team in 1977 about the time they didpreliminary resistivity measurements on the Sphinx. SRI was in the business of looking for hiddenchambersatGizawellbeforeIortheEdgarCayceFoundationmetupwiththem.’

[157]L.T.Dolphin,E.Moussaet.al.,‘ApplicationsofModernSensingTechniquestoEgyptology’,MenloPark,Calif,SRIInternational,September1977.

[158]Ibid.SeealsoZahiHawass‘Update’toSirW.M.FlindersPetrie’sThePyramidsandTemplesofGizeh,HistoriesandMysteriesofManLtd.,London1990,p.102.

[159]EdgarEvansCayce,etc.,Mysteries,op.cit.,p.132.[160]MarkLehner’slettertousof15October1995,p.3.[161]CitedinJochmans,TheHallofRecords,op.cit.,p.22ia.Confirmedindocumentedtelephone

conversationwithprojectfinancier,16February1995.ConfirmedalsobyMarkLehnerinhis letter tousdated15October1995,p.3.

[162]MarkLehner’slettertous,15October1995,p.3.[163]Ibid.[164]Ibid.[165]Ibid.[166]SeealsoPart Iof thepresentwork for furtherdetailsofMarkLehner’sARCEprojecton the

Sphinx.[167]EdgarEvansCayce,etc.,Mysteries,op.cit.,pp.142-3.Thediscoveryof thegranitewasalso

confirmedtousbyMarkLehnerinhisletter,op.cit.,p.4.[168]VentureInward,May-June1986,p.57.[169]Ibid.[170]SeeAmericanResearchCenter inEgypt (ARCE)NewsletterNo. 112,Fall 1980, p. 20 (‘The

AmericanResearchCenterGratefully acknowledges the support of the Edgar Cayce Foundation for theworkoftheSphinxProject’).SeealsoARCENewsletterNo.131,1985,p.44(MarkLehneroftheARCEwrote:‘Wewouldliketoacknowledgethefinancialsponsorshipof...BruceLudwigofTRWRealtyinLosAngeles...theEdgarCayceFoundation...JosephandUrsulaJahodaofAstronCorporationinFallsChurch,Va., ... Matthew McCauley of McCauley Music in Los Angeles ...’). Mr. Zahi Hawass, University of

Pennsylvania,isspecificallyacknowledgedasadvisorandassistanttotheproject‘andwelookforwardtocontinuedcollaboration’.TheEdgarCayceFoundationalsofunded(withUS$17,000)aprojectatGizain1983-4,whichinvolvedanattempttoapplyCarbon-14datingtothemortar(whichcontainscertainorganiccompounds)used in theGreatPyramid.ThisprojectwasarrangedbyMarkLehner through theARCE’sdirector,Dr.RobertJ.Wenke.WehavemetJosephJahodaseveraltimesattheEdgarCayceFoundationinVirginiaBeachin1994-5(seebelow),andalsoMatthewMcCauleyonceattheMovenpickHotelinGiza,Cairo,withDr.MarkLehnerinMarch1995whileresearchingthisbook.

[171]EdgarEvansCayce,etc.,Mysteries,op.cit.,p.138.[172]Smithsonian,vol.XVII,No. I,April 1986. In his letter to us, op. cit., pp. 4-5,Mark Lehner

commented: ‘By the time I started theMapping Project, Cayce support ofmyworkwas phasing out. Istopped accepting their support after the Pyramids Radiocarbon Project [see footnote 38 above and 44below for fuller details] becausemy interests and theirs were becoming too divergent. I would have tocheck the date of their last contribution, but if they did contribute to themapping project itwas a veryminimal percentage of total financial support. The primary financial sponsors have been the YaleEndowment for Egyptology, Bruce Ludwig and David Koch. Koch and Ludwig have supported theexcavationsthatwestartedin1988.’

[173]Archaeology,op.cit.,Sept-Oct1994,p.41.[174] TheAREMagazine,Venture Inward, ‘The Search forRa-Ta’, byA.Robert Smith, January-

February1985,p.7.[175]Ibid.,p.6.[176]TheEdgarCayceFoundationhadcommissionedandfundedaCarbon-14datingprojectofthe

GizamonumentsdirectedbyMarkLehner in1983-4.Apparently small charcoal sampleswere extractedfromtheancientmortarinthecore’sjoints.TheresultsgaveawiderangeofdatesfortheGreatPyramid—between 3809 bc to 2853 bc—which is a few centuries earlier than the c. 2600 bc date assigned byEgyptologists,butveryfar fromthe10,500bcdategiven in theCayceReadings.Althoughmanydoubtshave been raised concerning the validity of the results (seeVenture Inward issuesMay-June 1986 andNovember-December 1986), this, and other archaeological evidenceMark Lehner came across at Giza,appears to have undermined his beliefs inCayce’s readings. For further details of the carbon-dating seeAppendix5.

[177]VentureInward,May-June1986,p.56.[178]Ibid.,p.57.[179]Ibid.[180]KMTMagazine,Springissue1995,p.4.[181]Ibid.Inhislettertous,op.cit.,p.5,Lehnerelaborated:‘Iamhappythatmyprofessionalwork

developedoutofamorepersonalquest—callitwhatyouwill,philosophical,spiritual,ethical.Ratherthanlook only for agreement with notions I had already conceived before coming to Giza—that is, what Iwanted tobe true—I looked forways to test theseand, later,other ideasaboutancientEgyptianculturaldevelopment. I found few resemblances between the physical evidence and Cayce-derived ideas of anearliercivilizationatGiza.ButIdidfindthepyramidstobeveryhumanmonuments.BecausethereissuchanabundanceofevidenceofrealpeopleandanEgyptiansocietybuildingtheSphinxandthePyramids,itseemsculturallychauvinistic toascribe thesemonuments toadifferent,conveniently lost, civilizationonthebasisof “revealed” informationandambiguouspatterns.Mywork is still partof a lifelongquest formeaning.IwouldnotchangethepaththatledmetoGizaevenifIcould.’

[182]CharlesPiazziSmyth,OurInheritanceintheGreatPyramid,W.Isbister,London1880edition(reprinted recently byBell PublishingCo.,NewYork 1990 under the titleTheGreatPyramid).For theconnectionofthePetrieswithPiazziSmyth,seeH.A.BruckandMaryBruck,ThePeripateticAstronomer:

The Life of Charles Piazzi Smyth,Adam Hilger, Bristol 1988, pp. 28, 123-6, 133-6. It seemsWilliamMatthewFlindersPetrie’sfather,William,almostmarriedthedaughterofPiazziSmyth,Henrietta.Shewasto marry eventually, however, Professor Baden-Powell (the father of the founder of the Boy Scouts).WilliamPetriewaslaterintroducedbyMrs.PiazziSmythtoAnneFlinders,whomhemarried—hencethenameFlindersPetrie.‘SoMrs.(Piazzi)Smyth,’wroteFlindersPetrie,‘wastheagentbywhomscoutingandEgyptianarchaeologytooktheirpresentform’(seeSeventyYearsinArchaeology,SampsonLow,Marston&Co.Ltd.,London,1931,p.4).

[183]AlAkhbarAl Yomweekly of 8 January 1994, front page article entitled ‘Stealing of Egypt’sCivilization’.TranslationbyFouadNemahoftheofficialEgyptianTranslationBureau.

[184]Mysteryof theSphinxwasaMagicEyeNorthTowersProduction (ExecutiveProducer:BorisSaid;Producer:RobertWatts;DirectedbyBillCoteofBCVideoNY).

[185]Ibid.[186] Mark Lehner’s letter, op. cit., p. 5: ‘Yes, this sounds like the fine people of the Cayce

community,someofthenicestandmostpositiveindividualsIhaveknown.’[187]Asa resultof receiving this letter,whichclarifiedmanypoints,wewerepleased torevise the

presentchapterextensivelyintotheformthatappearsherewith.[188]MarkLehner’sletter,op.cit.,p.1.[189]CNNNews reportsOctober 1995;MiddleEastNewsAgency (MENA) 25October 1995.At

timeofwriting(November1995)ZahiHawassistheDirectoroftheGizanecropolisforEgypt’sSupremeCouncilofAntiquitiesandthushasoverallresponsibilityforallexcavationstakingplaceonthesite.

[190] Robert Bauval andAdrianGilbert,TheOrionMystery, op. cit.,Mandarin paperback edition,1995,epiloguepp.237-50.AlsodiscussedrecentlyinAmateurAstronomyandEarthSciences,‘OperationDixon’issue1,November1995(ChiefEditor:DaveGoode).

[191] Interviewed by filmmaker and producer Jochen Breitenstein in Los Angeles in April 1993.Footage shown on Sat. 1, Spiegel Reportage, 15 August 1995 (Gantenbrinks Reise in das Reich derPharaonen).

[192]TheTimes,London,28January1995,p.18.ArticlebySimonSeligman.[193]Sat.1,SpiegelReportage,op.cit.,15August1995.[194]PeterTompkins,SecretsoftheGreatPyramid,op.cit.,p.61.[195]Where,aftersomedifficulty,wewereabletoarrangetoviewiton7November1995.[196]BerndScheel,EgyptianMetalworkingandTools,ShireEgyptology,Bucks,1989,p.17.Fora

moredetaileddiscussionseeA.Lucas,AncientEgyptianMaterialsandIndustries,Histories&MysteriesofManLtd.,London1989,pp.235-43.

[197]AveryinterestingdiscussionisfoundinZechariaSitchin,TheStairwaytoHeaven,AvonBooks,NewYork,1980,pp.253-79.

[198]JosephR.Jochmans,TheHallofRecords,op.cit.,pp.194-5.[199]Ibid.,p.195.[200]SeeZechariaSitchin,TheStairwaytoHeaven,op.cit.,p.266.[201]Ibid.,pp.266,271-2,274.[202]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,PelicanBooks,London,1949,pp.95-6.[203]ColonelHowardVyse,OperationscarriedoutatthePyramidsofGizeh:Withanaccountofa

VoyageintoUpperEgyptandAppendix,JamesFraserofRegentStreet,London1837,vol.1,p.275.

[204]Ibid.,p.276.[205]Ibid.[206]W.M.FlindersPetrie’sThePyramidsandTemplesofGizeh,LeadenhallPress,London,1883

edition,pp.212-13.[207]ElSayedElGayerandM.P.Jones,‘MetallurgicalInvestigationofanIronPlatefoundin1837

intheGreatPyramidatGizeh,Egypt’inJournaloftheMetallurgySociety,Vol.XXIII(1989)pp.75-83.[208]Ibid.SeealsoRobertG.Bauval,‘InvestigationontheoriginoftheBenbenStone:wasitaniron

meteorite?’inDiscussionsinEgyptologyVol.XIV,1989,pp.5-17.[209]ElSayedElGayerandM.P.Jones,op.cit.,p.82.[210]Ibid.[211]Ibid.[212]Ibid.,p.123(lettertotheeditorofJHMStitled‘CommentontheIronPlatefromGizehpaper’).[213]LettertoRobertBauvaldated2November1993,ref.EA/AJS/JAC.[214]TheOrionMysteryop.cit.,Chapter3.[215] Ibid.,Heinemannedition1994,pp.204-11.Seealsoavery interestingpublicationbySydney

Aufrere,L’UniversMineraldanslapenseeEgyptienne,InstitutFrançaisD’ArchéologieOrientaleduCaire,pp.433-41.

[216]TheAncientEgyptianPyramidTexts,R.O.Faulknertrans.,OxfordUniversityPress,1969,lines1983-4.

[217]Ibid.,lines11-13.[218]Ibid.,lines1713-17.[219]Ibid.,lines820-2.[220]Ibid.,line904.[221]Ibid.,lines1014-16.[222]Ibid.,line852.[223]Ibid.,line907.[224]Dr.ZahiHawasscallshim‘thefatherofmodernEgyptology’(seeZahiHawass‘Update’toSir

W.M.FlindersPetrie’sThePyramidsandTemplesofGizeh,op.cit.,p.98;seealsoJeanVercoutter,TheSearch fur Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson, London 1992, pp. 152-5). A good account of Petrie’sinvolvementwiththeGreatPyramidisgiveninPeterTompkins,SecretsoftheGreatPyramid,op.cit.,pp.96-107.

[225]CharlesPiazziSmyth,OurInheritanceintheGreatPyramid,op.cit.,pp.535-634.[226]H.A.BruckandMaryBruck,ThePeripateticAstronomer,op.cit.,p.229.[227]Ibid.,p.38.[228]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,Heinemannedition,1994,epilogue.AlsoseeCharlesPiazziSmyth,

OurInheritance,op.cit.,pp.427-31.[229]CharlesPiazziSmyth,OurInheritance,op.cit.,pp.427-31.[230]Ibid.[231]Ibid.[232]Nooneknewof this attemptby theDixons toprobe the shaftswith an iron roduntilRudolf

Gantenbrink,inearly1992,exploredthenorthernshaftoftheQueen’sChamberwitharobotmountedwithamini-videocamera.Therodstillliesthere,insidetheshaft,atabout8metresfromtheentranceandrunstothe‘corner’,some24metresuptheshaft.Gantenbrinkcouldnottakehisrobotroundthecornerbuthemanaged tosee,with thevideocamera, that it runsfora further twometresorsoand then turnssharplybackontrack.Whatliesattheendisstillunknown.

[233]TheDixons,whowereironstructuralcontractorsfromNewcastle,werebuildingabridgeacrosstheNilenearCairo.Theironrodtheyusedseemstohavebeenpurposemadetoprobetheshaft.Itwascutinlengthsofapproximately12feetthenassembledtogetherwithsleeve-jointsastherodwaspushedwithintheshaft.Itseemstohavebeenstuckattheupperend,forcingtheDixonstoabandonit.

[234]Nature,26December1872,p.147.[235]LetterfromJohnDixontoPiazziSmythdated23November1872.[236]TheGraphic,7December1872,p.530.AlsoNature,26December1872p.146.PiazziSmyth

mentionstheserelics,anddescribeshowtheywerefound,inhisbook,OurInheritance,op.cit.,andalsoreferstothearticlesinTheGraphicandinNatureinthe1874editionofhisbook,pp.155and364.

[237]Thelastmentionbeforetheyre-emergedin1993,asfarasweknow,wasinaletterwrittenbyacertainMr.E.H.Pringledated20June1873(seeNatureof31July1873,p.263).Itispossible,however,thatsomeotherpublicationmentionedtheminmorerecenttimes.

[238]AubreyNoakes,Cleopatra’sNeedles,H.F.&G.WitherbyLtd.,London,1962,p.16.[239]Ibid.,pp.26-7.[240] Ibid., p. 26.See alsoMartinShort, Inside theBrotherhood,GraftonBooks,London, 1989, p.

119.[241]R.M.Hadley, ‘TheLife andWorksofSirErasmusWilson (1809-1884)’ inMedicalHistory

journal,Vol.III,1959,pp.215-47.[242]Ibid.,p.238.[243]FredL.PickandG.NormanKnight,ThePocketHistoryofFreemasonry,Muller,1977,pp.44-

5.SeealsoFrancesA.Yates,TheRosicrucianEnlightenment,op.cit.,pp.193-205.[244]IllustratedLondonNews,21September1878,p.286.[245]Independent,London,6December1993.SeealsoMartinShort,InsidetheBrotherhood,op.cit.,

p.120.[246]LettertoRobertBauvaldated28October1993.[247]Independent,6December1993,p.3.[248]Independent,13December1993.[249]BeaconsfieldAdvertiser(‘Roweruptsover“missing”relics’)12January1994,p.3.[250]TelephoneconversationwithDr.I.E.S.Edwards.[251]ThevideofilmswereshownattheBritishMuseumbyR.Gantenbrinkon22November1993.

AlsoshownonSat.1,SpiegelReportage,op.cit.,on15August1995.[252] J. P. Goidin and G. Dormion, Kheops: Nouvelle Enquête, Editions Recherche sur les

Civilisations,Paris,1986.SeealsoJeanVercoutter,TheSearchforAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.195.[253]JeanVercoutter,op.cit.[254]ForamoredetaileddiscussionseeFingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,pp.320-3.Theshaftswere

concealedyet, inacuriousmanner, theirpositionwasobviousoncea logical correlationwasmadewiththose in theKing’sChamber above—asWaynmanDixon finallydid in1872 (see I.E.S.Edwards,The

Pyramids ofEgypt,op. cit., 1982 edition, p. 123).Once the openingswere found, then natural curiositywouldurgeadeeperprobeintotheshafts.Dixon,infact,franticallyprobedinsidetheseshaftswithmetalrodsinthehopeoffindingrelicsora‘chamber’,buthistechnologywasnotyetsufficientlydevelopedto‘see’whathewasdoing.

[255]PresentedtotheGermanArchaeologicalInstituteinCairoanddatedMarch1991.[256]Thiswas theoriginal title given to thedocumentarymadebyRudolfGantenbrinkwhichwas

broadcaston theA&Echannel in theUSA(titlechangedtoTheGreatPyramid)on8January1995.AshortenedversionwasbroadcastinGermanyonSat.1on15August1995.

[257] Smithsonian,Vol.XVII,No. I, April 1986.UliKapp also assistedMark Lehner in theGizaMappingProjectin1985(ARCENewsletter131,1985,p.44).

[258]Documentedinformationprovidedtoauthors.[259]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,p.123.[260]Documentedinformationprovidedtoauthors.[261]AcuriousletterwasmailedbytheinspectorMuhammadShahytoRudolfGantenbrinkdated5

August1993—i.e. fivemonthsafter thediscovery.Shahy (better transliteratedasSheeha)wrote: ‘I’m introubles now because of your project ... I shall face questioning soon.’ The young inspector was alsoworriedthathecouldnotwriteareportonthisprojectbecause‘thereisnoreferencehere’(thisletterwasshown to the authors by R. Gantenbrink).We have been unable tomake contact withMr.MuhammadShahy.

[262] The statue went missing on the 19 January 1993, when it was supposed to be displayed toPresidentMubarakandhisguest,Libya’sPresident,MuammarGaddafi,onatableneartheSphinx.Itmayhave been stolen by the same smuggling gang that was rounded up inMarch 1995 (see The Times ofLondon12and13March1995).

[263]DocumentedinformationfromR.GantenbrinkandJochenBreitenstein.[264]Gantenbrinkhas,infact,enteredthehistorybooks.HisnameisfoundinI.E.S.Edwards,The

GreatPyramid,op.cit.,1993edition,p.151andalsoinvariouseducationmanualsontheGreatPyramid.Shouldamajorfindbemadewhenthe‘door’isopened—eventhough,asnowseemslikely,notbyhim—itwillbeentirelybecauseofhiseffortsandboldimagination.

[265]Allarticlesappearedbetween17and19April1993.[266] Several major international journals (Stern, Der Spiegel, etc.) also published articles and

pictorials.[267]NotpublishedinthepressbutmentionedinAncientSkiesmagazineNo.3/1993,17.Jahrgang,p.

4.[268]Reuterswire,Cairo16April1993.[269]SundayTelegraph,1January1995.[270]Ibid.[271]Ibid.[272]Ibid.[273]Documentedconversationwiththeauthors.[274]Ibid.[275]ReportedtousbyR.GantenbrinkinSeptember1995.[276]Sat.1,SpiegelReportage,15August1995.SeealsoLosAngelesTimes,30August1993.

[277]KoreKosmou(ExcerptXXIII-29)inHermetica,op.cit.p.473.[278]Ibid,p.457.[279]FromtheSecondDivisionof theBookofWhat is in theDuat,E.A.WallisBudgetrans.,The

EgyptianHeavenandHell,MartinHopkinson&Co.Ltd.,London,1925,Vol.1,page41.SeealsoThirdDivision,ibid.,p.56.

[280]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,1994edition,Chapter4.Therearethousandsofreferencesto‘stars’‘star-souls’,‘thesun-god’,‘thesky’,‘theMilkyWay’etc.,thatmakethePyramidTextsobviouscandidatesfor a proper astronomical investigation into their content and hidden meaning. The intense concept of‘time’—especially the ‘time’ of the ‘sky gods’ and of a cosmic ‘Creation’—that is found in these textsstrongly suggests that the science of precession is also an important factor to apply on such an esotericliterature.ThebesttranslationisgivenbyR.O.Faulkner,TheAncientEgyptianPyramidTexts,OUP,1969.

[281]GiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechend,Hamlet’sMill,op.cit.,p.132.[282]Ibid,p.373.[283]ForausefuldiscussionontheDuat,seeSelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,Cairo,1946,

pp.276-319.[284] A great deal of confusion has resulted from a failure to understand that theDuat is a fixed

locationinthesky(obviouslyencompassingOrion,CanisMajor,TaurusandLeo)whichhasitscounterparton the land and, as the case may be, underneath the land. Access to it was deemed possible by eitherascendingtotheskyorbygoingunderground.

[285]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.277.SeealsoTheOrionMystery,op.cit.,p.76.[286]ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.277.[287]Ibid.,pp.277-8.[288]Ibid,p.279.[289]Although their actual compositionmay longpre-date the thirdmillenniumbc.SeeTheOrion

Mystery,op.cit.,pp.69-70.[290]Observation stationsmay have been spread in a sort of ‘triangle’ extending fromHeliopolis,

MemphisandGiza.Itseemslikelythatthiswholeregionwassomehowconsideredtheoriginal‘landofthegods’,withitsepicentreatGiza.

[291] The conjunction of summer solstice sunrise, the rising of Sirius and the start of the floodoccurredin3400bcandthroughouttheearlyPyramidAge,whenthePyramidTextsweremostcertainlycompiled.

[292]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.119-24.[293]TheMilkyWayappearedrisingdueeastatthesummersolsticepre-dawnalongwithOrionand

Siriusinthethirdmillenniumbc.[294]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines343-57.[295]Ibid.,line508andUtterance317.[296]Ibid.,line1760.[297]E.A.WallisBudge,TheEgyptianBookoftheDead,DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1967,

p.cxxiii.[298]R.O.Faulkner,TheBookoftheDead,BritishMuseumPublications,London1972,p.90.Also

seeR.O.Faulkner‘TheKing&theStar-ReligioninthePyramidTexts’inJournalofNearEasternStudies,1966,Vol.XXV,p.154footnote7.Dr.VirginiaLeeDavisalsomakesthelinkbetweentheMilkyWayand

the‘WindingWaterway’inArchaeoastronomy,Vol.IX,JHAxvi,1985,p.102.ThearcheoastronomerandEgyptologist,JaneB.Sellers,alsoarrivesatthesameconclusionasV.L.Davis(J.B.Sellers,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,PenguinBooks,London,1992,p.97).

[299]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line2061.[300]Ibid.,line1717.[301]Ibid.,line882.[302]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,Thames&Hudson,London,1978,pp.

263-5.ClarkexplainshowthePharaoh’srolewastore-enactandcommemorateeventsthatwerebelievedtohavehappenedinablissfulgoldenagecalled‘TepZepi’[ZepTepi].

[303]Ibid.[304]Ibidp.27.[305]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,Utterance600.Herethe‘pyramids’arealsoplacedamidstthelandscape

of‘Creation’atthefirstsunriseoftheworld.[306]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbol,op.cit.,page264.[307]Ibid.[308]HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1978,pp.24-35.[309]Hamlet’sMill,op.cit.,pp.86-7.[310]BritishMuseumNo.498.TheShabakaStoneisfixedonthesouthwallofthegroundfloorofthe

‘Egyptian’wing.Itmeasuressome135x92cm.(approx.4x3feet)andisbadlydamagedatthecentre—apparentlyduetoitbeingusedasagrindingmillstonebeforeitsdiscoverybyarchaeologists.Itcontains62columns of hieroglyphic inscriptions. Miriam Lichtheim, who gives a full translation, wrote that ‘thelanguage is archaic and resembles that of the Pyramid Texts’ (Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient EgyptianLiteratureVol.1:TheOldandMiddleKingdoms,UniversityofCaliforniaPress,LosAngeles,1975,pp.3-57).

[311]MiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,op. cit.,Vol.1,p.52.Avariation toOsiris’sdeathisthathewaskilledbyhisbrother,Seth,andhisbodycutintofourteenpieces.

[312]Ibid.AyanmusthavebeenasacredlocationimmediatelynorthofthecitywallsofMemphis.Itisthepresent-daylocationofthevillageofMitRahin.

[313]WhereAyanexistedthereremain,today,thevestigesofaruinedGraeco-RomanfortwhichmusthavebeenbuiltintheEgyptianstyle(asthebrokencolumnswhichstillcanbeseenthereattest)andwhich,curiouslyenough,isknownbythelocalsasthe‘prisonofJoseph’(theBiblicalpatriarchwhowaskeptinthe‘roundtower’byPharaoh—seeGenesis39:21).ItcanbereachedalongthenarrowcanalroadoppositeandnorthoftheMemphisMuseum.

[314]MiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,op.cit.,Vol.1,p.53.[315]About15kilometressouthoftheoutskirtsoftheMaadisuburbsofCairo.[316]MiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,op.cit.,Vol.1,p.53.[317]E.A.WallisBudge,TheEgyptianHeavenandHell,op.cit.,Vol.III,p.131.[318]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,1993edition,p.10.[319]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbol,op.cit.,p.108.[320] James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part II, Histories & Mysteries of Man Ltd.,

London,1988,pp.320-4.[321]Ibid.,p.323.Online7ofthestela.

[322]MiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,op.cit.,Vol.1,p.53.[323]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line1717.[324]OrionMystery,op.cit,1994edition,pp.116-19.[325]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,pp.278,285.[326]Ibid.,p.265.[327]Ibid.[328]Ibid.,pp.302,315.[329]Ibid.,p.338.[330]Ibid.,p.265.[331]Ibid.[332]Ibid.,p.263.[333]Ibid.,p.265.[334]Ibid.[335]Ibid.[336]Ibid.[337]MarkLehner,TheEgyptianHeritage,op.cit.[338]Ibid,p.119.[339]J.B.Sellers,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.164.[340]R.O.Faulkner,TheAncientEgyptianCoffinTexts,Aris&PhillipsLtd.,Wiltshire,Vol.III,p.

132,Spell1035.[341]Ibid.Vol.I,p.190,Spell241.[342]Ibid.Vol.I,p.185,Spell236.[343]J.B.Sellers,TheDeathofGods,op.cit.,pp.164-5.[344]Ibid.[345]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,1994edition,pp.116-9.[346]JamesH.Breasted,AncientRecords,op.cit.,PartII,pp.320-4.[347]Innumeans‘pillar’ thusHeliopoliswas,quite literally, the‘Cityof thePillar’.All thatcanbe

seentheretodayisanobeliskofSesostrisI(12thDynastyc.1880bc)andafewremainsofatemple.[348]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,1993edition,pp.284-6.[349]Herodotus,TheHistories,BookII,2-8.SeePenguinClassicstranslation,1972,p.130.[350]Aristotle,DeCaelo,II,12,2923.SeetranslationinR.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,

InnerTraditionsInternational,NewYork1982,p.280.[351]E.M.Antoniadi,L’AstronomieEgyptienne,Paris,1934,pp.3-4.[352]DiodorusofSicily,TheLibraryofHistory,BookV,57andBookI,81.[353] ProclusDiadochus,Commentaries on the Timaeus, IV. See translation inR.A. Schwaller de

Lubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,p.286.[354]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.182-4,287note7.[355]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,pp.38-9.

[356]EdouardNaville,‘LenomduSphinxdanslelivredesmorts’inSphinx,Vol.V,188,p.193.[357]EdouardNaville,‘LeSphinxIIPinSphinx,Vol.XXI,1924,p.13.[358]Ibid.,p.12.[359]Ibid.[360]Ibid.[361]EdouardNaville,‘LenomduSphinxdanslelivredesmorts’,op.cit.,p.195.[362]SelimHassan,TheSphinx: ItsHistory in theLightofRecentExcavations,GovernmentPress,

Cairo,1949,p.129.[363]Ibid.[364]AspellfromtheancientEgyptianBookoftheDead,op.cit.[365]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines2081-6.[366]SelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.70,fig.13.SeeAlsoE.Navillein‘SphinxIII’,op.cit.,p.

19.[367] Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner ‘The Sphinx: Who built it, and why?’ in Archaeology,

September-October1994,p.34.

[368]Ibid.[369]GeorgeHart,ADictionaryofEgyptianGodsandGoddesses,Routledge&KeganPaul,London,

1988,p.46.[370] Rosalie David, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Beliefs and Practices, Routledge & Kegan Paul,

London,1982,p.46.[371]Ibid.[372]GeorgeHart,DictionaryofEgyptianGodsandGoddesses,op.cit.,p.94.Hartalsosaysthat‘the

element“Akhti”canbeadualformofthenoun“Akhet”,“Horizon”;theremaybeaplayonwordswhenthekingissaidtobegivenpoweroverthe“TwoHorizons”(i.e.eastandwest)asHorakhti’.

[373]QuotefromJaneB.Sellers,TheDeathofGods,op.cit.,p.89.Forfurtherdetails,seeHermannKees,AncientEgypt:ACulturalTopography,UniversityofChicagoPress,1977.

[374]Oftensittingdownonathrone,holdingtheroyalstaff.[375]GeorgeHart,Dictionary,op.cit.,p.94.[376]LewisSpence,Egypt,BrackenBooks,Myths&LegendsSeries,London1986,p.291.[377]SelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.94.[378]EgyptExplorationSocietyReport,FirstGeneralMeeting,1883,p.8.[379]Ibid.[380]AhmedFakhry,ThePyramids,UniversityofChicagoPress,1961,p.164.SeePyramidTexts,

op. cit., lines 1085, 926. See also E. A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, DoverPublicationsInc.,NewYork,1978,Vol.I,p.500b.

[381]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,figs.18,39,40,41,46,66.[382]SelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.76.[383]Ibid.[384]JamesH.Breasted,AncientRecords,op.cit.,PartII,pp.320-4.[385]Ibid.[386]LewisSpence,Egypt,op.cit.,p.158.[387]Ibid.[388]SelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.104.[389]LewisSpence,Egypt,op.cit.,p.157.[390]E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.I,pp.418b,500b,501b.[391]LewisSpence,Egypt,op.cit.,p.84.[392]AhmedFakhry,ThePyramids,op.cit.,p.164.[393]Ibid.[394]J.Malek,IntheShadowofthePyramids,Orbis,London1986,p.10.[395]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,p.323.[396]GeorgeHart,DictionaryofEgyptianGodsandGoddesses,op.cit.,p.88.[397]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines525-7.[398]Ibid.,lines928-9.[399]Ibid.,lines352-3.

[400]Ibid.,lines928-9.[401]Ibid.,line1961.[402]Ibid.,line820.[403]Ibid.,line151.[404]Ibid.,lines927-30.[405]Ibid.,line458.[406]Ibid.,line965.[407] E. C.Krupp, In Search of Ancient Astronomies,Chatto&Windus, 1980, pp. 186-90.Krupp

wrote:‘TheNile,withitsannualflooding,madecivilisationpossibleinEgypt...evenmorecompellingwasthe fact that the heliacally rising Sirius (the dawn rising) and the rising of the Nile coincided,approximately,with thesummersolstice.’ Interestingly,PyramidTexts lines1131and1172speakof the‘GreatFlood’whichisintheskyasseenintheeastoftheskyatdawn.Thismatchestheactualcelestialpicture in c. 2800-2500 bc, when theMilkyWay would rise due east on the pre-dawn of the summersolstice.

[408]PyramidTexts,lines360-3.[409]Ibid.,line2047.[410]Ibid.,lines1131-2.[411]Ibid.,line362.[412]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,op.cit.[413]Ibid.,p.121.[414]Ibid.,pp.121-2.[415]Ibid.,p.122.[416]E.A.WallisBudge,TheLiteratureofFuneralOfferings,KeganPaulLtd.,London,1909,p.2.[417]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1703,1710-20.[418]Ibid.,line1730.[419]Ibid.,line1860.[420]R.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,p.175.[421]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line632.SeealsoTheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.132,136.[422]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.220-5.[423] O. Neugebauer and R. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts,Brown University Press, Lund

Humphries, London, 1964,Vol. I, p. 70. For a summarized discussion seeTheOrionMystery, op. cit.,Appendix4.

[424]Ibid.[425]Ibid.Thefirstrisingofastarafteraprolongedperiodofinvisibilityisatdawn,aboutonehour

beforesunrise.SiriushasitsheliacalrisingtodayinearlyAugust.Inc.3000bcthisoccurredinlateJune.The‘shift’fromafixedpointsuchasthesummersolsticeisaboutsevendayseverymillennium.SeeR.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,p.175.

[426]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,Utterances606,609.[427]TheeclipticpassesafewdegreesnorthoftheHyadesandthusjust‘west’oronthe‘right’bank

oftheMilkyWayasviewedatthemeridian.Inc.2500bcthevernalpointwouldhavebeenlocatedthere.

[428]Dr.VirginiaLeeDavisseems tobeconvincedabout this inArchaeoastronomy,Vol. IX,JHAxvi,1985,p.102.SoisthearcheoastronomerandEgyptologist,JaneB.Sellers,inDeathofGods,op.cit.,p.97.

[429]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line2172.[430]Ibid.,line2045.[431]Ibid.,lines1704-7.[432]Ibid.,line1541.[433]Ibid.,line1345.[434]Ibid.,lines343-6.[435]Ibid.,lines525-7.[436]Ibid.,lines928-9.[437]AmongallmodernEgyptologistsitisonlySchwallerdeLubicz,asfarasweknow,whorealized

the immense implicationsof the stellar-solarconjunction inLeoduring thePyramidAge—aconjunctionthatcouldhardlyhavegoneunnoticedbytheancientssinceitoccurrednotonlyatthesummersolsticebutalsoattheheliacalrisingofSirius.Lubiczwrote:‘ItissignificantalsothattraditionhadalreadyrelatedtheheliacalrisingofSiriuswiththebeginningoftheNile’sfloodingandwiththeconstellationofLeo;indeedsincethefoundationofthecalendartothebeginningofourera,inEgyptthesunwasalwayssituatedintheconstellationofLeoatthedateoftheheliacalrisingofLeo’(SacredScience,op.cit.,p.176).Thetraditionwhich Schwaller is alluding to is also confirmed by several Greek and Roman chroniclers who passedthroughEgyptinancienttimes.Harpollon,forexample,whovisitedEgyptinthefifthcentury,commentedthat:‘LionswereasymboloftheinundationinconsequenceoftheNilerisingmoreabundantlywhenthesunwas inLeo.Thosewhoancientlypresidedover sacredworksmade thewaterspouts andpassagesoffountains in the formof lions ...’ (HarpollonBook I, 21). The same is stated byPlutarch,who came toEgypt in the first century ad. Plutarch is distinguished for being the only scholar in antiquity to havecompiled a full coherent account of theOsiris and Isismyth.Heheld a highposition as amagistrate inBoeotiaandalsobelongedtothepriesthoodofDelphi.Inaboutad50hecompiledhiscelebratedDehideetOsiride(OnhisandOsiris)afterconsultingEgyptianpriestsinEgypt,whoalsotoldhimoftheastralritualsof the summer solstice: ‘Of the stars, the Egyptians think that Sirius, the Dog Star, is the star of Isis,becauseitisthebringerofwater[i.e.theNile’sflood].Theyalsoholdthelioninhonour,andtheyadornthedoorwaysoftheirshrineswithgapinglions’heads,becausetheNileoverflows“whenforthefirsttimetheSuncomesinconjunctionwith[theconstellation]ofLeo”...’(seequoteinR.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,p.91).

[438]RichardH.Allen,StarNames:TheirLoreandMeaning,DoverPublications Inc.,NewYork,1963,pp.255-6.ItisthebrighteststarinLeo,aconstellationknownasthe‘DomiciliumSolis’(‘HouseoftheSun’).Allenmakes thiscuriouscommentbutgivesnoreference:‘Thegreatandrosphinx[ofGiza] issaidtohavebeensculpturedwithLeo’sbodyandtheheadoftheadjacentVirgo...’(ibid.,p.253).

[439]Memphis.[440]Forafulldiscussiononthe‘solarboats’seeSelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,pp.1-

156.Therearevariousboat‘pits’atGiza, twoofwhichcontainedactualboats(onefullyassembledinamuseumsouthof theGreatPyramid).RudolfGantenbrinkhas remarked that the size (and shape)of theGrandGalleryintheGreatPyramidwouldbeanidealstoreforsuchaboat.

[441]ProbablysomewherewithintheSphinxTemple.Thisideawas,infact,suggestedbytheGermanEgyptologist,AdolfErman,whowrote:‘Ro-setau,thegateoftheways,leddirecttotheunderworld.Itispossible that part of this shrine has survived in the so-called temple of the Sphinx ...’ (AHandbook ofEgyptianReligion,ArchibaldConstable&Co.Ltd.,1907,p.15).

[442]R.O.Faulkner,TheAncientEgyptianCoffinTexts,op.cit.,Vol.III,p.132,Spell1035.[443]Ibid.,p.109.[444]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1128-34.[445]Ibid.,lines924-5.[446]Ibid.,line1328.[447]Ibid.,line1657.[448]SeventhDivision,BookofWhatisintheDuat,E.A.WallisBudgetrans.,EgyptianHeavenand

Hell,op.cit.,Vol.I,p.143.[449]RobinCook,ThePyramidsofGiza,op.cit.,p.42.[450]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1710-18.[451]E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.I,p.580a.[452]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.184.[453]E.A.WallisBudge,Dictionary,op.cit.,Vol.I,p.579b.[454]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.184.[455]AdolfErman,AHandbookofEgyptianReligion,op.cit.,1907,p.15.[456]CoffinTexts,op.cit.,Vol.III,p.134.[457]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,1993edition,p.286.[458]Thecausewayof thePyramidofUnasatSaqqarahasa smallpartof theoriginal roofon the

ceilingofwhicharecarvedfive-pointedstars.Theceilingwaspaintedblueandthestarsprobablygoldoryellow.

[459] Jean Kerisel (La Grande Pyramide et ses Derniers Secrets, scheduled for publication 1996)discussesthismatteratlength.Thetableisabout10metresbelowthefloor-leveloftheSphinxenclosure.

[460]KeriselappearedontheBBCdocumentary,TheGreatPyramid:GatewaytotheStars,shownon6February1994.

[461]JeanKerisel,LaGrandePyramide,op.cit.,pp.196-8.[462]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1195-9.[463]The‘HeraldoftheYear’mentionedinthePyramidTextsimpliesthestarSiriuswhichfollows

Orion.Thelatter,bynecessity,mustbenearthe‘FieldofOfferings’.[464] See fig. 11 in R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Sacred Science, op. cit., p. 97. See also various

diagramsofso-called‘Sphinxstelae’showninSelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.[465]Keriselhas recentlyobtaineda scientific licence from theEgyptianAntiquitiesDepartment to

explore the subterranean chamber of the Great Pyramid and test a hunch he’s had for many years thatsomewhereunderthechamberisanaccesstoahiddenchamberitselfconnected,perhaps,bytunnelwiththevalleyoreventheSphinxarea.InJuly1995Keriselmanagedtouseahigh-precisiondrilltomaketinyboreholesintothewallofthehorizontalpassagewaythatleadstothechamberbutsofarnothinghasbeenfound.

[466]RobertBauval, ‘TheSeeding of the star-gods:A fertility ritual insideCheops’s Pyramid?’ inDiscussionsInEgyptology,Vol.XVI,1990,pp.21-9.

[467] The Orion Mystery, op. cit., p. 221. The ‘ritual’ was graphically recreated in the BBCdocumentaryTheGreatPyramid:GatewaytotheStars,showninFebruaryandSeptember1994.

[468]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line632.

[469]E.A.WallisBudge,Dictionary,op.cit.,Vol.II,p.654b.[470]SmithsonianContributionstoAstrophysics,Vol.X,No.2,5000and10,000YearStarCatalogs,

by Gerald S. Hawkins and Shoshana K. Rosenthal, Washington, DC, 1967, p. 154. For 2500 bc thedeclinationforRegulus isgivenas+24.1degrees.Thusfor latitude30degrees therisingpointwouldbevery close to 28 degrees.The sun’s declination at the summer solstice inc.2500 bcwas very near thispoint,at23.98degrees.Sincetheapparentangularwidthofthesunisabout0.5degrees,bothRegulusandthesunwouldhaveoccupiedthesame‘place’intheeasternhorizonatthesummersolsticeinc.2500bc.

[471]JamesH.Breasted,AncientRecords,op.cit.,PartII,pp.321-2.[472] ‘Egyptians of the New Kingdom were ... in the dark concerning it [the Sphinx] and it is

extremelydoubtfulifthereeverwasasinglepersonlivinginEgyptatthisperiod,whoknewasmuchofthetruehistoryoftheSphinxaswedoto-day...’(SelimHassan,TheSphinx,op.cit.,p.75).

[473]JamesH.Breasted,AncientRecords,op.cit.,PartII,p.323.[474]T.G.H.James,AnIntroductiontoAncientEgypt,BritishMuseumPublicationsLtd.,1987,p.

37.[475]Ibid.,p.38.[476]BostonGlobe,op.cit.,23October1991.[477]LabibHabachi,TheObelisksofEgypt,TheAmericanUniversityPress,Cairo,1988,p.40.[478]Ibid.[479]NicholasGrimal,AHistoryofAncientEgypt,Blackwell,Oxford,1992,p.12.[480]Ibid.[481]W.B.Emery,ArchaicEgypt,Penguin,London,1987,p.23.[482]MichaelA.Hoffman,EgyptBeforethePharaohs,MichaelO’MaraBooksLtd.,London,1991,

p.12.[483]Ibid.[484]W.B.Emery,ArchaicEgypt,op.cit.,p.32ff.[485]CambridgeAncientHistory,VolumeI,p.250.[486]HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,UniversityofChicagoPress,1978,p.90.[487]I.E.S.Edwards,ThePyramidsofEgypt,op.cit.,1993edition,p.286:‘Thehighpriestofthe

centreofthesuncultatHeliopolisborethetitle“ChiefoftheAstronomers”andwasrepresentedwearingamantleadornedwithstars.’

[488]GiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechend,Hamlet’sMill,op.cit.,p.58.[489] See for example C.W. Ceram,Gods, Graves and Scholars,BookClubAssociates, London,

1971,p.26ff.[490]SeeSarvaDamanSingh,AncientIndianWarfare,MotilalBanarsidass,Delhi,1989,p.7ff.[491]LabibHabachi,TheObelisksofEgypt,op.cit.,p.39.[492]Ibid.[493]Citedinibid.,pp.39-40.[494]ForadetaileddiscussionseeE.A.E.Reymond,TheMythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,

ManchesterUniversityPress,BarnesandNobleInc.,NewYork,1969.[495]JohnAnthonyWest,Traveller’sKeytoAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.412.

[496]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,p.4.[497]Ibid.[498]Ibid.,p.8ff.[499] Letter to Robert Bauval dated 27 January 1993: ‘I believe it [the mound] represented the

primaevalmoundonwhichlifefirstappeared.’[500]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,pp.28,39,46,48,etc.,etc.[501]Ibid.,p.42.[502]Ibid.,p.41.[503]Ibid.,p.44.[504]Ibid.,pp.27and31.[505]JeremyBlackandAnthonyGreen,Gods,DemonsandSymbolsofAncientMesopotamia,British

MuseumPress,London,1992,pp.163-4.[506]DonaldA.Mackenzie,MythsandLegendsofIndia,TheMysticPress,London,1987,p.141ff;

VeronicaIons,IndianMythology,Hamlyn,London,1983,pp.120-1.[507]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,pp.106-7.[508]Ibid.,p.55.[509]Ibid.,p.90.[510]Ibid.,p.113.[511]Ibid.,pp.109and127.[512]Ibid.,p.77.[513]Ibid.,p.112.[514]Ibid.,p.273.[515]CitedinR.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,pp.103-4.SeealsoHenriFrankfort,

KingshipandtheGods,op.cit.,p.90.[516]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,p.59.[517]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.37.[518]P.demBerlin,13603.FortheancienttraditionsassertingthatHeliopoliswasoriginallyfounded

inremotepre-DynastictimesseeJ.NormanLockyer,TheDawnofAstronomy,op.cit.,p.74.[519]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,p.122.[520]Ibid,pp.121-2.[521]MargaretBunson,TheEncyclopaediaofAncientEgypt,NewYork,Oxford,1991,p.110.[522]Ibid.,p.45.[523]E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.II,p.958.[524] Flinders Petrie, Royal Tombs II, Pl.v,3, cited in E. A. E Reymond,Mythical Origin of the

EgyptianTemple,p.136.[525]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,p.257.Seealsop.262.[526]Ibid.,p.262.[527]Ibid.,p.114;seealsoR.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbol,op.cit.,p.37ff.[528]EncyclopaediaBritannica,9:393.

[529]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,p.188.[530]Ibid.,p.17.[531]Ibid.,pp.203-4.[532]Ibid.,p.17.[533]R.T.RundleClark,TheLegendofthePhoenix,UniversityofBirminghamPress,1949,p.17.[534]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,p.212ff.[535]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbol,op.cit.,p.246.[536]RobertK.G.Temple,TheSiriusMystery,DestinyBooks,Rochester,Vt.,1987,p.186.[537]E.A.WallisBudge,HieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.II,pp.828-32.[538]Ibid.,Vol.I,p.11b.[539]MarkLehner,TheEgyptianHeritage,op.cit.,p.119.[540]E.A.WallisBudge,HieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,p.11b.[541]SeeforexampleW.B.Emery,ArchaicEgypt,op.cit.,p.22.[542]Manetho,W.G.Waddelltrans.,Heinemann,London,1940,p.3,note1.[543] R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Sacred Science, op. cit., p. 86; Lucy Lamy,EgyptianMysteries,

Thames&Hudson,London,1986,pp.68-9;JaneB.Sellers,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.94.

[544]SacredScience,op.cit.,p.86.[545]Ibid.[546]JaneB.Sellers,TheDeathofGods,op.cit.,p.94.[547]E.A.WallisBudge,HieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.I,pp.22-3.[548]Ibid.[549]SacredScience,op.cit.[550]HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,op.cit.,p.93.[551]LaterknownasButoandHierakonpolisrespectively.[552]Frankfort,Kingship,op.cit.,p.94.[553]Ibid.[554]TheAncientEgyptianPyramidTexts,R.O.Faulkner,trans.,op.cit.,lines478and1717,pp.94

and253respectively;Frankfort,Kingship,op.cit.,pp.93-5;R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbol,op.cit.,pp.122-3.

[555]E.A.E.Reymond,MythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,op.cit.,p.122.[556]JohnAnthonyWest,SerpentintheSky,op.cit.,p.1.[557]Manetho,op.cit.,p.xi.[558]Ibid,p.3.[559]Ibid,p.5.[560]Ibid,p.15.[561]Ibid,p.227.[562]DiodorusSiculus,C.H.Oldfathertrans.HarvardUniversityPress,1989,Vol.I,p.157.

[563]R.A.SchwallerdeLubicz,SacredScience,op.cit.,p.111.[564]Skyglobe3.6.[565]TheOrionMystery,op.cit,p.140ff.[566]TheOrionMystery,op. cit, pp. 29 and 281, note 1.Details are as follows: Sneferu, about 9

milliontons(twoPyramidsatDahshur)plusthreeGizaPyramids(about15milliontons)plusAbuRoashandZawayatAlAryan(about1milliontons)=25milliontons,i.e.about75percentofthetotalvolumeof‘PyramidAge’Pyramids(estimatedataround30milliontons).

[567]SeeforexampleAhmedFakhry,ThePyramids,op.cit.[568]Hermetica,op.cit,AsclepiusIII,24b,p.341.[569]Ibid,25,p.343.[570]SeeinparticularChapter4.[571]PyramidTexts,op.cit.Utterances471-3,pp.160-1.[572]T.G.H.James,IntroductiontoAncientEgypt,op.cit,p.41.[573]Ibid.[574]SeediscussioninW.B.Emery,ArchaicEgypt,op.cit,p.42ff.[575]TheAgeoftheGodKings,Time-Life,1987,p.56ff.[576]SeediscussioninW.B.Emery,ArchaicEgypt,op.cit,p.42ff.[577]Even his name is put into doubt.According toDr. JaromirMalek, for example, the name of

Menes‘couldbecompletelyfictitiousandbasedonaword-playwhichwasmisunderstoodasaroyalnamebythelatercompilersofking-lists’(JaromirMalek,IntheShadowofthePyramids,Orbis,London,1986,p. 29).As for his other name,Narmer, this, too, is plaguedwith confusion and doubt.On the so-calledvotivemace-headsandpalettesfoundatHierakonpolisthereisshowntheimageofachieftainor‘king’andonthefrontofhisfaceareshowncertainhieroglyphicsigns,insomecasesformingthesyllables‘Nar-Mer’andinothersshowingascorpion.ThishasledEgyptologiststoconcludethattheMenesoftheking-listsisthis Narmer or ‘King Scorpion’ (ibid., pp. 28-9). To overcome the obvious confusion of having thispresumed ‘last king of Predynastic Egypt’ bearing three names, Egyptologists have arrived at theunsatisfactory conclusion that the name ‘King Scorpion’ on the votive mace-head ‘is almost certainlywrong’ and that it must be regarded as some sort of ‘large ceremonial image’. Consequently ‘if King“Scorpion” is thus refuted,’ proposedDr.Malek, then ‘the likeliest candidate for identificationwith thefigureonthemace-headisNarmer’(ibid.,p.29).

[578] W. A. Fairservis Jr., ‘A Revised View of the Narmer Palette’, in Journal of the AmericanResearchCenterinEgypt,XXVIII,1991,pp.1-20.

[579]JaneB.Sellers,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,pp.93-4.[580]Ibid.,p.90.[581]Ibid.,p.94.[582]HenriFrankfort,KingshipandtheGods,op.cit.,pp.18-19.[583]Ibid.,p.33.[584]Ibid.,p.vi.[585]Sellers,DeathofGods,op.cit.,p.93.[586]Ibid.,pp.93ff,115ffand192ff.HavingdeterminedthattheancientEgyptiansmadeuseofthe

phenomenonofprecession,Sellersthenfocused, totheexclusionofallelse,ontheideathat theancientswere tracking the heliacal rising of Orion at the spring equinox. With this in mind she based all her

observations in the eastern horizon at the time of the spring equinox.This led her tomake precessionalcalculationswhichbracketedthe‘GoldenAge’between7300bcand6700bc,thetwoepochsmarkingthebeginningandendofOrion’sheliacalrisingwiththespringequinox(e.g.pp.28and43).AlthoughthecoreofherthesisthatthekeytotheancientmysteryistobefoundinthetrackingofOrion’sprecessionaldriftisspoton,herconclusionthatthemeasurementsaretobemadeattherisingintheeastofOrionatthespringequinoxisacuriouserrorofjudgement.ForwhatismostsurprisingaboutSellers’sanalyticalapproachisthat,whileshecorrectlyputsalltheemphasisofherthesisonOrionanditsprecessionaldrift,shemakesabsolutelynoreferencetothemostobviousastronomical‘Orionmarker’inancientEgypt:the‘Orion’star-shaftintheGreatPyramid.Indeed,SellerscompletelyignoresthePyramidsoranyotherstructureinEgypt,andinsteadcentresherattentiononlyonthetextualmaterial.ThefactisthatthePyramidbuildersandthecompilers of the PyramidTextswere not trackingOrion in the eastern horizon but high in the southernskies,atthemeridian.

[587]Precessionalcalculationsshowthatweliveintheastronomical‘LastTime’ofOrion,withthebelt stars inour epochapproaching thehighest altitude at themeridian that theywill ever attain in theirprecessionalcycle.

[588]GiorgiodeSantillanaandHerthavonDechend,Hamlet’sMill,op.cit.,p.11.[589]MiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,Vol.I:TheOldandMiddleKingdoms,p.52.[590]Ibid.,pp.52-3.[591]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1256-7,p.200.[592]Ibid.,1278,p.202.[593]ForabriefreviewseeBunson,TheEncyclopaediaofAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.130.[594]Ibid.[595]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,1657,p.247.[596]Ibid.,Utterance610,p.253.[597]Ibid.,lines2180-1,p.305.[598]Ibid.,lines882-3,p.155.[599]Sellers,DeathofGods,op.cit.,pp.90-3.[600]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,pp.194ff.[601]Pap.Louvre3292.[602]Ibid.,andseeExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.194.[603]ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.195.[604]ThefollowingpointmadebyE.A.E.ReymondinTheMythicalOriginoftheEgyptianTemple,

op. cit., p. 57, is of obvious relevance.Referring to the content ofPapyrusdem.Berlin13603henotes:‘Heliopoliswas regarded as the centre of creation.The primordial aspect ofHeliopolis is not described;however,thereisaclearallusiontothetheoryaccordingtowhichHeliopolisexistedbeforetheEarthwascreated. From the primaeval Heliopolis, so it is explained in our text, the Earth-God created the Earth,whichreceivedthenameMn-nfr,Memphis.’

[605]TheAncientEgyptianCoffinTexts,R.O.Faulknertrans.,Aris&Phillips,Warminster,Vol.III,Spell1065.

[606]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,Utterance477,p.164.[607]Hassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.198.[608]Itisthis‘language’—agreat,archaic,world-widesystem—thatistheprincipalfocusofGiorgio

deSantillana’sandHerthavonDechend’sground-breakingstudyHamlet’sMill,op.cit.[609]Lichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature,op.cit.,Vol.I,pp.55-6.[610]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,lines1716-17,p.253.[611]Ibid.,lines1256-61,p.200.[612]Ibid.,798-803,p.144.[613]See,forexample,LewisSpence,AncientEgyptianMythsandLegends,DoverPublications,New

York,1990,p.106.[614]Coffin Texts, op. cit., Spell 1035, Vol. III, p. 132. Interestingly, the Spell directly links the

acquisitionofknowledgeconcerningpastandformerskies to thedesiredattainmentof immortal lifeandexistence:‘Asforhimwhodoesnotknowthisspell,heshallbetakenintotheinflictionofthedead...asonewhoisnon-existent...’

[615]Sellers,DeathofGods,op.cit.,p.192.[616]Ibid.,p.193.[617]Ibid.[618]ForafullerdiscussionseeFingerprintsoftheGods,op.cit.,pp.256ff.[619]Ibid.,andseeSellers,DeathofGods,op.cit.,p.193.[620]Ibid.,andseeSellers,DeathofGods,op.cit.,pp.192-209.[621]AspointedoutinChapter10,theEgyptianroyalcubitmeasures20.6inches.[622] Mary Bruck, ‘Can the Great Pyramid be Astronomically Dated?’,m Journal of the British

AstronomicalAssociation,105,4,1995,p.163.[623]Ibid.,p.164.[624]Ibid.,p.163.[625]GarthFowden,TheEgyptianHermes,CambridgeUniversityPress,1987,p.33.Thereferenceis

totheHermetica,op.cit.,theKoreKosmu,5and6,pp.459-61.[626]InterviewedinTheSearchforExtraterrestrialLife,DiscoveryChannel,June[627]CarlSagan,Cosmos,BookClubAssociates,London,1980,p.296.[628]Ibid.[629]Indeed,whatweappeartobelookingathereisaveritable‘Hermeticlanguage’makinguseof

architectureandastronomy.[630] Of which the earliest surviving are the Pyramid Texts circa 2300 bc. Egyptologists accept,

howeverthatthesetextsarethemselvestranscripts(ortranslations?)ofevenearliertextsthatarenowlosttohistory, and that the scribes who initially wrote them down in Egyptian hieroglyphs often did notunderstandthewordstheywerecopying.AccordingtoE.A.WallisBudge,forexample:‘Severalpassagesbearevidence that thescribes—whodrafted thecopies fromwhich thecuttersof the inscriptionsworkeddid not understandwhat theywerewriting ... The general impression is that the priestswho drafted thecopies made extracts from several compositions of different ages and having different contents ...’ Inconsequence, Budge concludes: ‘The Pyramid Texts are full of difficulties of every kind. The exactmeaningsofalargenumberofwordsfoundinthemareunknown...theconstructionofthesentenceoftenbaffles all attempts to translate it, andwhen it containswholly unknownwords it becomes an unsolvedriddle.’ SeeE.A.WallisBudge,FromFetish toGod inAncientEgypt,Dover Publications,NewYork,1988,pp.321-2.

[631]Hamlet’sMill,op.cit.,p.312.

[632]ProcluswasaNeoplatonistwhostudiedatAlexandria.HiskeeninterestintheastronomyoftheGreatPyramid,described inhisCommentarieson theTimaeus,shows thatscholarsof the time,manyofwhomwereNeoplatonists,understoodthemonumenttoberelatedtothestars.Proclus’sideasformedthebasis of the nineteenth-century astronomer Richard Proctor’s thesis, The Great Pyramid: Observatory,TombandTemple(publishedbyChatto&Windus,London,1883),whoarguedthattheGrandGallerywasusedasasightingdeviceforthestars.

[633]JamesBonwick,Pyramids:FactsandFancies,KeganPaul,1877,p.169.[634]WilliamR.Fix,PyramidOdyssey,MercuryMediaInc.,Urbana,Va.,1978,pp.52-3.TheCopts

apparentlytookthe‘traditional’datefortheBiblicalFloodas10,000bc.[635]InthegeographicaldictionaryMo’gam-el-Buldan,citedinHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,

p.45.[636]Ibid.[637]Ibid.,p.34.HassannotesthatanalternativenamefortheSphinx,apparentlybestoweduponit

bytheseincomers,wasHwron.[638]SeePeterTompkins,SecretsoftheGreatPyramid,op.cit.,pp.30-1.[639]PiazziSmyth,TheGreatPyramid,op.cit.,page368ff.[640] Alexander Badawy, ‘The Stellar Destiny of the Pharaoh’, op. cit.; Virginia Trimble,

‘AstronomicalInvestigationsconcerningtheso-calledAirShaftsofCheopsPyramid’,inMitt.Inst.Orient,zuBerlinBand10,pp.183-7.

[641]AndseeTheOrionMystery,op.cit.[642]InterviewedonArtsandEntertainmentChannel,8January1995.[643]MaryBruck,‘CantheGreatPyramidbeAstronomicallyDated?’,op.cit.,pp.164and162.[644]Skyglobe3.6.[645]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,line932,p.161.[646]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.264.[647]RobinCook,ThePyramidsofGiza,op.cit.,p.60.[648]Plusorminus1degree.[649]Plusorminus1degree.[650]DerivedgeometricallyfromscaledplanofGiza.[651]Siriushasapropermotionof1.21arcsecondsperyear.For13,000yearsthiswouldgive4.36

degreesofmotion.Butthemotionisobliquetothemeridian,givingsome3degreesdecreaseindeclination.[652] Calculations using the rigorous formula for precession corrected for nutation, aberration of

starlight, proper motion (from the most recent Yale Bright Star Catalogue) and parallax was done byastronomerAdrianAshfordinAugust1995.Incirca11,850bcSiriuswouldtheoreticallybeatthelowestpointinitscycle,withadeclinationof-60degrees, thusjustonthesouthhorizon.In10,500bcitwouldhavehadadeclinationofnearly-59degrees,thusshiningbrightlyapproximately1degreeoverthesouthhorizonasseenfromGiza.

[653]Ibid.[654]SeePartIIofthepresentworkforadiscussion.[655]Herodotus,TheHistory, op. cit., II:124, p. 185. See also I. E. S. Edwards,The Pyramids of

Egypt,op.cit.,1982edition,p.147.

[656] Surviving examples of star-spangled causeway ceilings can be seen at the Pyramid of Unas(FifthDynasty)atSaqqara.

[657]ManypassagesinthePyramidTexts,op.cit.,speakof‘roads’tothestarsandtotheskywherethedeceasedwillbecomeagod.Forexample,Utterance6673, line1943: ‘Youhaveyour tombOKing,whichbelongsto[Osiris]...Heopensforyouthedoorsofthesky,hethrowsopenforyouthedoorsofthefirmament,hemakesaroadforyouthatyoumayascendbymeansofitintothecompanyofthegods...’

[658]JohnLegon,‘TheGizaGroundPlanandSphinx’inDiscussionsinEgyptology14,1989,p.55.[659]Ibid.AlthoughthebearingoftheKhafrecausewayat14degreessouthofeastisnotindispute,

therehasbeensomedisagreementamongstscholarsoverthedirectionoftheKhufucauseway—mosttracesofwhichhavebeen longagoobliterated.Someauthoritiesbelieve itproceededstraighton the14-degreebearing it takes from theMortuaryTemple of theGreat Pyramid, others believe that it startedwith thisbearingandthenchangeddirection,beforereachingtheValleyTempleoftheGreatPyramid.TogivesomeindicationoftherangeofopiniononthismatterseeGeorgeGoyon,LeSecretdesBatisseursdesGrandesPyramides: Kheops,Pygmalion,GerardWatelet, Paris, 1990, p. 140: ‘contrary towhat some have longbelieved,thedirection[oftheKhufucauseway]staysuniformanddoesnotchangedirectioninthevalleybelow.’ZahiHawassinThePyramidsofAncientEgypt,TheCarnegieSeriesonEgypt,Pennsylvania,1990,p. 22, also shows a straight causeway on the 14-degree bearing, but points out on page 18: ‘scholarsdisagreeovertheexactcourseofthecauseway,butitledtoKhufu’sValleyTemple,theruinsofwhichlieunderthepresent-dayvillageofNazlet-el-Sammam.’

[660]JohnLegon,TheGizaGroundPlan,op.cit.,p.60.[661]Forageneraldiscussion,seeRichardHeinberg,CelebratetheSolstice,QuestBooks,Wheaton,

111,1993,pp.11-14.[662] We note with interest that this ‘cross-quarter’ alignment appears to have been of major

importance at Heliopolis. InTheDawn of Astronomy, op. cit., p. 77, the British astronomer J. NormanLockyer,whowasabletosurveythesiteofancientHeliopolisbeforeitwasobscuredbythemodernsuburbthatnowcoversit,notedinpassingthattheprincipalmoundonthesitehadabearingof14degreessouthofeast—i.e. the identical bearing to the Khafre causeway. Lockyer also reminds us of ancient Egyptiantraditions that Heliopolis was founded by the Shemsu Hor, the ‘Followers of Horus’, long before thebeginningofDynastichistory(ibid.,p.74).

[663]PyramidTexts,op.cit.,Utterances471-3,pp.160-2.[664]CoffinTexts,op.cit.,Spell1080,Vol.III,p.147.[665]FromtheEleventhDivisionoftheDuat,‘TheBookofWhatisintheDuat’,E.A.WallisBudge

trans.,inTheEgyptianHeavenandHell,op.cit.,p.240.[666]Translatedas‘TheVirginoftheWorld’byG.R.S.MeadinThriceGreatHermes:Studiesin

HellenisticTheosophyandGnosis,op.cit.,Book III,p.59ff.TranslatedbySirWalterScottas theKoreKosmuinHermetica,op.cit.,p.457ff.

[667]‘TheVirginoftheWorld’,G.R.S.Meadtrans.,pp.60-1.[668]Ibid.,p.61.[669]SeePartIofthepresentwork.[670]ThequotationisfromtheNormandiEllis’stranslationoftheAncientEgyptianBookoftheDead,

AwakeningOsiris,Phanes Press,GrandRapids,MI, 1988, p. 43, and is drawn fromChapterXVof theAncientEgyptianBookoftheDead,PapyrusofAni.

[671]J.B.Sellers,TheDeathofGodsinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.157-9.[672]R.O.Faulkner,TheBookoftheDead,op.cit.,p.49.

[673]Ibid.[674]J.B.Sellers,TheDeathofGods,op.cit.,p.97.[675]Ibid.,p.159.[676]Ibid.,p.97.[677]TheM1CrabNebulaistheremnantofagreatsupernovaexplosionwhichoccurredinc.4500

bc, roughlywhen the vernal point occupied this specific place in the sky.However, the supernovawasabout5500light-yearsawayanditslightonlystartedreachingourplanetinc.ad1000.ItwasrecordedbytheChineseand,apparently,bytheNorthAmericanIndians.NooneseemstohaverecordeditinEuropeortheMiddleEast,whichisveryodd,sinceChristians,atthattime,ferventlyawaiteda‘sign’fromheaventoannouncethe‘SecondComing’ofChrist.

[678]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,p.200.SeealsoRobertG.Bauval‘InvestigationontheoriginoftheBenbenStone:wasitanironmeteorite?’inDiscussionsinEgyptology,Vol.XIV,1989,pp.5-17.

[679]R.T.RundleClark,MythandSymbolinAncientEgypt,op.cit.,p.235.[680]R.O.Faulkner,TheBookoftheDead,op.cit.,Spell17.[681]Ibid.[682]SeealsoMiriamLichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiterature;op.cit.,Vol.I,p.53.[683]Ibid.[684]Ibid.The‘WhiteWall’probablyreferstotheTuralimestonewallsoftheroyalpalaceandthe

boundarywallofMemphis.[685]Ibid.,p.54.[686]MostEgyptologistswouldcontest thispoint,butwefeel that theevidenceisoverwhelmingin

favourofadirectculticconnectionbetweenOsirisandtheGreatPyramid.Aninterestingarticletouchingupon this idea can be read in Steuart Campbell, ‘TheOrigin and Purpose of the Pyramids’ in theNewHumanist,December1990issue,pp.3-4,whowrotethat‘theGreatPyramidmighthavebeenintendedasadwellingplaceforthespiritofOsiris’.TheFrenchAntiquarianandFreemason,AlexandreLenoir(see‘AdissertationonthePyramidsofEgypt’inFMRNo.39,1989)wasalsotoclaimthat‘allconsideredit[theGreatPyramid]maybethetombofOsiris’.

[687]E.A.WallisBudge,AnEgyptianHieroglyphicDictionary,op.cit.,Vol.I,p.285b.[688]Ibid.[689]Ibid.,Vol.II,pp.6i4b,6223,688a.[690]Ibid.,p.6143.[691]CharlesPiazziSmyth,OurInheritanceintheGreatPyramid,Belledition,1990,p.429.[692]Nature,31July1873.[693]Thereaderwillalsorecallthat43,200is20x2160,the‘special’numberdenotingaprecessional

orzodiacalage.SeeChapter3ofthepresentwork.[694]Thispertinentpointwasraisedveryrecentlybytheeminentastronomer,Dr.MaryBruck:‘Can

theGreatPyramidbeastronomicallydated?’ inTheJournalof theBritishAstronomicalSociety,105, 4,1995,pp.161-4.

[695]25SeeJ.Legon,‘Theair-shaftsintheGreatPyramid’inDiscussionsinEgyptology27,1993,pp.33-44.SeeRobinCook,‘ThestellargeometryoftheGreatPyramid’inDiscussionsinEgyptology29,1994, pp. 29-36. Rudolf Gantenbrink, who remeasured the angles of the shafts recently, gave a higher‘adjusted’ value of 39.6 degrees for the southern shaft of the Queen’s Chamber. None the less, the

‘designed’intentiontohavetheshaftscomeoutatthesamelevelverymuchseemstobethecasefortheGreatPyramid.

[696]TheOrionMystery,op.cit.,pp.222-3.[697]Ibid.,p.34.[698]Hence the ‘Fish’ symbol amongst the earlyChristians, denoting the ‘newage’ofChristianity

markedbythevernalequinoxinPisces.ThevernalpointisnowpoisedtoenterthenewageofAquarius.[699]WhenAlexander theGreat liberatedEgypt fromPersian rule, hewas hailed by theEgyptian

priests as adivinehero and the returned ‘sonofAmmon’—andbyhisMacedonian followers as ‘sonofZeus’.Bothtitlesstand,ofcourse,for‘sonofgod’.Afterhisdeatha‘cultofAlexander’wasestablishedinAlexandriawhichspreadwithalmostmessianicfervouracrosstheFertileCrescent.ForthethreecenturiespreludingtheChristianera,Alexander(whohaddiedattheageofthirty-threein323bc)wasthearchetypeoftheconqueringmartyred‘hero-king’and‘sonofgod’ofquasi-solarpedigreewhohadunifiedtheknownworldonthebasisofadivineblueprintormission.Itwasthusthat,intheclosingyearsofthelastcenturybc,thewholeRomanworld,sickenedbytheendlesscivilandforeignwars,placedmuchhopeforthereturnofa‘saviour-king’modelledonAlexanderwhowouldunitetheempireandusherinanewgoldenage.ThishopewasverymuchpinnedonAugustusCaesar (Octavian)by theRomanpoetVirgil inc.42bc inhisfamousEclogues (‘seehowOlympianCaesar’s starhasclimbed thesky, thestar togladdenallourcornwithgrain...yourchildren’schildrenwillenjoythefruits...’).In12bcAugustusCaesarwasdeclaredheadof theRoman (thus ‘world’) religionandgiven the titleofPontifexMaximus—a title later todenote theCatholic pontiffs or ‘Popes’ of Rome. Ironically, in 4 bc—the assumed year that Christ was born—AugustusadoptedTiberius(secondEmperorofRomewhoruledfromad14toad37,thusintheministryofJesus)anddeclaredhimhisheir.YetbythemostunexpectedtwistoffateVirgil’sprophecywaseventuallytobefulfillednotby‘DivineAugustus’butbyaJewish‘saviour-king’,theChristosorChrist,fosteredfourcenturieslaterbyRomeitselfundertheruleofConstantinetheGreat(seeIanWilson,Jesus,theEvidence,PanBooks,London,1984,pp.134-44).ItmaywellbethatVirgil’s‘starofCaesar’influencedtheunknownauthorofthegospelofMatthew(‘Wehaveseenhisstarandcometopayhimhomage...’Matthew2:1-9)whousedtheastralprophesyforthebirthofJesus.Notunexpectedly,manyofthegreatItalianHermeticphilosophersofthelateRenaissance(Bruno,PicodellaMirandola,Campanella,etc.)oftenpresentedVirgilasa‘Gentileprophet’ofChristianityandthe‘Egyptian’HermesTrismegistos(i.e.theEgyptiangodThoth)inparwith theOldTestamentprophetMoses(seeFrancesA.Yates,GiordanoBruno,op.cit.).ManyoftheseHermetic‘Cabala’philosophersadamantlybelievedthatthe‘Egyptian’astralmagicasfoundintheancienttextswastheagencyor‘device’forgreatworld-changingevents(ibid,etal.).Itcanbethusarguedthatinthefirstcenturyofourerathescenewassetinthecollectivesubconsciousbyastrologer-prophetsofold to bring about a messianic event. In our next book, we will explore how such powerful ‘Hermeticdevices’wereactivatedthroughouttheagesandalso,asthecasemaybe,maybeabouttobegalvanizedinpresenttimes.

[700]RichardH.Allen,StarNames,op.cit.,p.316.[701]SelimHassan,ExcavationsatGiza,op.cit.,p.45.[702]WorkedonSkyglobe3.6.[703]E.M.Antoniadi,L’AstronomieEgyptienne.Paris,1934,p.119.[704]FrancesA.Yates,TheArtOfMemory,UniversityofChicagoPress,1966.[705]E.g. JohnBaines and JaromirMalek,Atlas of Ancient Egypt,Time-Life Books, 1990, p. 36,

156ff.[706] Ibid. See also Ahmed Fakry, The Pyramids, University of Chicago Press, 1969, and Kurt

Mendelssohn,TheRiddleofthePyramids,ThamesandHudson,London,1986.[707]VentureInward,VirginiaBeach,May-June1906,p.13.

[708]Ibid.[709]Ibid.,p.12-14.[710]SeeChapter6forfullerdetailsconcerningtheDixonrelics.[711] Those present included Dr. Vivian Davies, Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British

Museum,andDr.I.E.S.Edwards,authorofthestandardtextThePyramidsofEgypt.[712]SundayTelegraph,1January1995.[713]Sat1,SpiegelReportage,15August1995.[714]EgyptianGazette,31March1996.[715]DocumentedconversationswithPeterZuuring.[716]Serpent,op.cit.,p.229.[717]AlAkhbarElYom,8January1994.[718] Edgar Cayce Reading Ref. No. 3976-15, in Earth Changes circulating file, Edgar Cayce

Foundation,1993,p.38.[719]Schor’sMay94letter.[720]SeeDailyMail,London,2and3May1996.[721]EgyptianGazette,14April1996.[722]SecretChamber,MagicalEyeProductions,1996.[723]Ibid.[724]Hawassinterview,JohnRobbieShow.[725]HarmonHartzellBro,ASeeroutofSeason:TheLifeofEdgarCayce,SignetBooks,1990,p.

242.[726]QuotefromaseniorAREresearcherinalettertoCharlesI.Caycedated12June1996.[727]VentureInward,Jan/Feb1985,Vol.6,p.9.[728]A.R.Smith,HughLynnCayce:AboutMyFather’sBusiness,DonningCo.,Norfolk,Virginia,

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