The generally accepted historical narrative for the land of the Pyramids is that it was part of the Roman Empire for hundreds of years. Until such time that a book is found showing a collection of depictions of the Giza Pyramids from the Roman Empire, this page will indicate a gap in history as observed by New Chronology researchers.
This page is divided into the following sections -
- Examples of what depictions may resemble.
- Did Khufu simply clean-up the largest Pyramids, and carve the head of the Sphinx?
- Technology of the Great Pyramids of the Giza Plateau.
- List of pyramids in Egypt.
- Chronological catalog of descriptions and drawings for the Great Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza.
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Depictions may resemble the following examples:
* Image from "The Thousand and One Nights" translated by E. W. Lane:
* Engraving detail, full image at [archive.is/w9n3q]:
* 1799 sketch by Napoleon:
* A scientific layout [archive.is/yCoVW] showing how the Giza Pyramids would look from 11 different vantage points
* From [archive.is/9vmLF]:
- Circa 1900 The pyramids at Giza on the banks of the River Nile
- (captionless)
===*===*===
Did Khufu simply clean-up the largest Pyramids, and carve the head of the Sphinx?
* "The Inventory Stele: Great Pyramid not built by Khufu?" [archive.is/VwmTo], a forum thread that includes a translation of The Inventory Stele [archive.is/idxTz] with context [is.gd/UDfMsj].
Khufu is credited with building other pyramids...
Unlike the temples of Ancient Egypt, there are no stone freizes (sophisticated rock carvings) within the Great Pyramid, neither Hieroglyphs nor visages of the many Ancient Egyptian deities anywhere within the few hallways yet discovered. Despite this, a set of painted Hieroglyphs are described as being the official statement by King Khufu that he built the Great Pyramid. Yet, for such a sophisticated edifice, such as pathetic display of King's name meant for posterity may indicate something fraudulent in how the Khufu Cartouche was originally discovered...
* Photographs of the Khufu Cartouche: The complete set of Hieroglyphs [archive.is/jrHFi] (shown below), with a closeup of Khufu's name [archive.is/lw1GG], with defacement (shown in the green circles) [archive.is/io2EB], which had occurred in 2006. The Cartouche is located within the Great Pyramid of Giza, at the position where the gentleman is pointing in this photograph [archive.is/EUn1S], alongside a crude graffiti drawn Aug. 1948 by Maclean Gordons [archive.is/wgmRY]. All photos attached to the article, "THE GREAT PYRAMID 'CARTOUCHE SCANDAL': The full (ongoing) story" (2014-02-18, myblog.robertbauval.co.uk) [archive.is/Ar0y5].
* "Khufu seal" (retrieved 2017-03-04, wikipedia.org) [archive.is/1r3w4]: Clay seal inscribed with the name of Khufu from the great pyramid of Gizah. On display at the Louvre.
* Alleged "hieroglyphs" recorded in an inaccessible room within the Great Pyramid (2011) [archive.is/shLe2] [archive.is/CteHs]
* "The World's Oldest Papyrus and What It Can Tell Us About the Great Pyramids; Ancient Egyptians leveraged a massive shipping, mining and farming economy to propel their civilization forward" (2015-10, smithsonianmag.com) [archive.is/pvajU], map [archive.is/zdKx2], full chart [archive.is/M44Lp]. From the article:
- Photo caption: A papyrus Tallet found at Wadi al-Jarf from 2,600 B.C., the world’s oldest, refers to the “horizon of Khufu,” or the Great Pyramid at Giza. (Courtesy of Pierre Tallet)
- Photo [archive.is/BaALN], caption: The Saqqara complex held a stone inscription depicting the transport of large columns by boat—rare evidence of the actual building methods used by ancient Egyptians.
- Photo [archive.is/1xQ7u], caption: An antiquities ministry employee points to where a causeway used for transporting material led up to a pyramid at Saqqarah.
- Photo [archive.is/vlPzC] caption: The Saqqara complex is a vast burial site near Giza that predates the Great Pyramid.
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Technology of the Great Pyramids of the Giza Plateau:
* "15 Facts that prove the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by an extremely advanced ancient civilization" (ancient-code.com) [archive.is/HXLKn]
* "EARLY TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS TO THE PYRAMIDS" (touregypt.net) part 1 [archive.is/NBFy], part 2 [archive.is/zoiLe], part 3 [archive.is/5m5Ig]
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 68 [begin excerpt]: The base circuit of the Pyramid rests on a platform of finely finished limestone blocks which project beyond the end of the casing stones for an average of 2 feet on the south, east and west sides, and are still in place some 33 feet from the north edge. This platform is so finely leveled that the official survey of the Egyptian government found it does not exceed 7/8 inch from dead level, and this variation may be due to subsidence. At present it is not possible to say how far the platform extends under the building; but where the platform stones have been removed, the bed-rock is found to have been cut and leveled to receive each individual stone, sometimes as deep as 2 inches. On the north side the plat-form stones have been deliberately laid at Irregular angles, each corner being carefully cut out to receive the next Irregularly angled stone. [end excerpt]
Compare to Kircher's depictions of of a level platform for Babylon [http://is.gd/uW5xIl] and the City of Nineveh [http://is.gd/n5WYt3]
* "Discovery of the Casing Stones" by Colonel Howard Vyse (Drawings by J.S. Perring)
* Photo caption from "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 105: The casing stones of the Great Pyramid (looking east), showing the platform on which they rest, the pavement in front, and the leveled natural rock.
To manufacture just two blocks with a tolerance of .010 inch and place them together with a gap of no more than .020 inch is a remarkable feat. The Great Pyramid had at one time over 100,000 similar casing stones. Did the ancient Egyptians have advanced technology?
Fragments of Casing Stone from the Great Pyramid fitted into a frame to show the angle of the face 51 degrees 51 minutes
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 87 [begin excerpt]:
This photograph was taken by Piazzi Smyth and sold at auction after his death. It shows Mrs. Smyth sitting on the edge of what Smyth calls Shafre's burial chamber north of the Great Sphinx. It was taken at high noon to show that the tomb was correctly oriented along the meridian so that with the sun at its zenith,, no light would fall on either the east or the west wall.
To ascertain the correct moment for noon Piazzi Smyth spent the previous night observing the stars with his telescope.
Piazzi Smyth photographed the Great Pyramid with the same scientific thoroughness with which he measured it, despite the difficulties of developing in the desert. He brought all his own chemicals, and used a special 1-inch plate "as small as an ordinary microscopic slide," which gave results that could be blown up with almost the detail of the larger photographic plate. To light the interiors of the Pyramid he used magnesium flares, experimenting with varying amounts so as to obtain the best exposure and the clearest detail. He had to wait hours between exposures in the King's Chamber, which filled up with smoke from each magnesium flare.
Smyth also achieved some remarkable stereoscopic effects by shooting with two cameras, and is responsible for the innovation of placing his cameras much farther apart than the standard 2 inches.
For lack of funds Smyth was unable to publish some four-score photographs thus obtained at the Great Pyramid. The positive prints which he made were lent to scientific exhibitions or donated to friends interested in pyramidology, and gradually became lost, with the exception of this rather poor reproduction. [end excerpt]
Photograph by Lepsius (1843), on commission by King Frederick William IV of Prussia [archive.is/5m5Ig]
"Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 221 [begin excerpt]: The limestone blocks with which the Pyramid is built appear to have been mostly quarried on the spot, or across the Nile in the Mokattam hills about 20 miles away, or from the Turah and Maura quarries opposite Memphis. The 22 acres of casing stones are from the same quarries.
The granite blocks for the Pyramid are believed to have come from Aswan, near the First Cataract, where they were quarried from the face of the rock about a mile from the right bank of the Nile.
Hillsides were hollowed out to provide uniform limestone blocks for the outer casing of the Pyramid.
Limestone was quarried in layers from the top down. [end excerpt]
* Photo showing unfinished stoneblocks still at the quarry [archive.is/MO8jc]
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 221 [begin excerpt]: Nilometer discovered by the French at Elephantine, near Syene, used by the Egyptians for measuring the rise of the Nile at flood time, and marked in cubits very close to the royal cubit of Memphis.
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 91 [begin excerpt]:
Stereographic photo taken by Piazzi Smyth of Mr. Inglis and Arab workers in the northeast socket cleared in April of 1865. The Royal Engineer surveyor went all over the floor of the socket with a spirit level and found it absolutely level. [end excerpt]
* " 'Primitive Machine' Within Great Pyramid of Giza Reconstructed" (2016-07-11, livescience.com) [archive.is/shIMl] [begin excerpt]: The ancient Egyptians created a simple yet elaborate system of blocks and grooves within the Great Pyramid of Giza to protect the King's Chamber from tomb robbers. In an upcoming episode of the Science Channel's "Unearthed," that system comes to life via computer animations. In the episode, Egyptologist Mark Lehner describes the system for viewers, calling it a "very primitive machine." [...]
To protect the pharaoh's chamber, ancient Egyptians constructed a series of grooves and blocks that are hidden beneath the walls of the pyramid. While scholars have known about this system since at least the 19th century, the TV show uses computer animations to present a reconstruction. The animations show how blocks were dropped down grooves near the King's Chamber after the pharaoh' burial. [...]
In addition to the security system, the pyramid also contains four small shafts: two that originate at the King's Chamber and two more that originate at the Queen's Chamber. Robot exploration of the shafts has revealed what may be three doorways with copper handles. [end excerpt]
* Air vent in the north wall of the King's Chamber
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 17 [begin excerpt]: The sole item within the King's Chamber is a lidless coffer cut from a solid block of chocolate-colored granite, whose granules of feldspar, quartz and mica are even harder than those of the chamber walls. They were fabled to have come not from the Egyptian quarries up the Nile at Syene but from the mythical Atlantis or even from America.
Because the coffer is 6 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 3 inches wide and 3 feet deep and could comfortably accommodate a human body, it has been called a sarcophagus and is believed by Egyptologists to have been the tomb of the Pharaoh Cheops.
A ridge along the top edge of the coffer indicates it may have once had a sliding lid, though no trace of the lid has been found. [end excerpt]
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 119 [begin excerpt]: The Giza complex of pyramids, as depicted from the air, showing the north-south meridian through the center of the Great Pyramid.
According to Soviet space engineer Alexander Abramov the three largest pyramids on the Giza Plateau are arranged in a special geometric configuration known in ancient Egypt as an "abaka". Ballard found that several Pythagorean triangles could be formed by the perimeters and centers of the pyramids. [end excerpt]
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 219 [begin excerpt]: According to Peter Kolosimo in "Terra Senza Tempo", published in Milan in 1969, the Russians have recently brought to light some fascinating secrets of Egyptian archeology.
The Russians are said to have found astronomical maps of surprising correctness, with the position of the stars as they were many thousands of years ago. The Russians are also reported to have dug up several objects, many not yet identified, including crystal lenses, perfectly spherical, of great precision, possibly used as telescopes. Kolosimo says similar lenses have been found in Iraq and central Australia, but they can only be ground today with a special abrasive made of oxide of cerium which can only be produced electrically.
Several attempts to check these data with Soviet academicians have so far been without result. [end excerpt]
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg.103 [begin excerpt]: All of this tended to corroborate Smyth's theory that the builders of the Pyramid had been possessed of an advanced science of mathematics. But Petrie also found in the Pyramid an extraordinary mixture of brilliant workmanship and astonishing clumsiness. He was amazed to find that the granite in the antechamber had never been dressed: many of the stones had been left unfinished and some were even defective. From such indications Petrie concluded that "the original architect, a true master of accuracy and fine methods, must have ceased to superintend the work when it was but half done." From a careful scrutiny of the coffer in the King's Chamber, Petrie established that the ancients had used saws with 9-foot blades, their teeth made of hard jewels, to cut the sides of the coffer out of a single solid block. To hollow it out they had used drills with fixed cutting points also made of hard jewels, probably diamond or corundum. Petrie estimated that in order to cut through the hard granite a pressure of 2 tons would have had to be placed on the drill. How this could be done was a mystery to Petrie, who concluded: "Truth to tell, modern drill cores cannot hold a candle to the Egyptians .. . their fine work shows the marks of such tools as we have only now reinvented." With such tools the ancient Egyptians were somehow able to cut sharp hieroglyphs into incredibly hard diorite, and also to turn stone bowls to paper-thin surfaces. [end excerpt]
Ancient electrical technology could be reflected in this [archive.is/UEdCm]
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List of pyramids in Egypt
No other pyramid within old KMT (Egypt) replicates the type of construction for the pyramids at the Giza plateau.
* "Pyramids of Giza & the Sphinx" (2014-10-09, livescience.com) [archive.fo/KXDBu] [begin excerpt]: Recently, archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the former Egyptian minister of state for antiquities, told Live Science [archive.fo/9CMit] that he believes these shafts lead to Khufu’s real burial chamber. "There is no pyramid of the 123 pyramids in Egypt that have these type of doors with copper handles," Hawass said. "Really, I believe they're hiding something." [end excerpt]
---
* "The Pyramid of Amenemhet III at Hawara" (touregypt.net) [archive.is/zkF2]
---
The Pyramid of Snefru
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Chronological catalog of descriptions and drawings for the Great Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza:
[archive.is/hnMT8], caption (1989, "Mysteries of The Unknown: Secrets of the Alchemists", edited by George Constable): In a facsimile of a 3,400-year-old tomb painting, Egyptian goldsmiths practice their already long-established craft. At top left, gold is weighed in, and at bottom left, two men carry finished work, including a collar and bracelets.
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century BC, regarded as the father of history wrote the earliest description in existence of the pyramids. When Heroduotus visited the period in 440 B.C., it was as old to him and his period is to us. He wrote that each of the pyramids four faces were still covered with highly polished limestone (casing stone). Also the joints were so fine that they could hardly be seen.
* "Twenty years were spent in erecting the pyramid itself: of this, which is square, each face is eight plethra, and the height is the same; it is composed of polished stones, and jointed with the greatest exactness; none of the stones are less than thirty feet." -Herodotus, Chap. 2, paragraph 124.
The earliest known depiction of Egypt in the Roman Realm does not depict the Pyramids at the Giza Plateau.
The depiction is titled "Life on the Nile during the flood", image at [archive.is/TQWUA], it is a mosaic located on the floor of an artificial cave at Palestrina in Italy, dated to 100s BCE (2100 to 2200 years BM), according to the source cited at [archive.is/FZCHd]. Although not depicting the pyramids and colossus at the Giza Plateau, the mosaic was utilized during the 1620s AD (c.380 years BM) as a mobile tourist attraction, an action which lead to its dispersal for centuries before being recovered and restored by archivists, in which case, many sections are speculated to be missing, although if these sections did contain anything as wondrous as the section now recovered, this was never recorded by the men who tore down the mosaic from its original setting c.380 years BM.
* "Nile Mosaic of Palestrina" article (archaeologicalworld.blogspot.de) [archive.is/irCjf]
* adapted from "Nile mosaic of Palestrina" (retrieved 2015-10-17, en.wikipedia.org) [archive.is/LeHdM] [begin excerpt]: The Nile Mosaic and its companion piece, the Fish Mosaic, were apparently still to be seen in the Italian city of Palestrina, ancient Praeneste, in the 15th century, according to Claudia La Malfa, "Reassessing the Renaissance of the Palestrina Nile Mosaic", published in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 66 (2003), pp. 267-272, which notes the mosaic's appearance in a manuscript De antiquitati Latii, a description of sites and antiquities in Lazio, by Antonio Volsco, now in the British Library (Harley Ms 5050); the manuscript is dedicated to Gerolamo Basso Della Rovere, who died in 1507.
When first noticed shortly before 1507 by Antonio Volsco, a humanist in the circle of Pomponio Leto, the mosaics were still in situ among the vestiges of Sulla's sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia. At that time the town was owned by the Colonna family of Rome, whose palazzo in Palestrina occupied a section of the ruins.
The mosaic may have been indicated in a well-known passage in Pliny's Natural History concerning mosaic floors in Italy: "Mosaics came into use as early as Sulla's régime. At all events there exists even today one made of very small tesserae which he installed in the temple of Fortune at Palestrina".
Volsco added that these were "arranged in the pattern of a picture" (Quoted in La Malfa 2003:268).
Maurizio Calvesi, in identifying Francesco Colonna as the author of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, identifies passages in Hypnerotomachia depending on Pliny that were enriched by direct experience of the mosaics themselves (Calvesi, "Il sogno di Polifilo prenestino", Rome, 1980, noted by La Malfa 2003:270 and note).
In the 17th century, Palestrina passed to the Barberini family, who between 1624 and 1626 removed most of the mosaic from its setting, without recording the overall composition, and, after further movements and damage, put it on exhibition in the Palazzo Barberini, Palestrina, where it remains (Paul G. P. Meyboom, The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina: Early Evidence of Egyptian Religion in Italy, Leiden:Brill 1995, pp. 80ff). The mosaic was restored and repaired on numerous occasions, but careful watercolors of the sections were made for Cassiano dal Pozzo before the initial restoration in the opificio of St. Peter's. Helen Whitehouse's rediscovery of the long-lost watercolors enabled a reconstruction of the surviving segments in a more meaningful way (Helen Whitehouse, The Dal Pozzo Copies of the Palestrina Mosaic, [Oxford:British Archaeological Reports], 1976), although much remains uncertain about the original composition. The mosaic has been a major feature of the Museo Nazionale Prenestino in Palazzo Barberini, Palestrina (not the one in Rome) since 1953. Meybloom (Paul G. P. Meyboom, The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina: Early Evidence of Egyptian Religion in Italy, Leiden:Brill 1995, pp. 80ff, p. 6) generally agrees with Whitehouse, except over the placing of one section. Commons has a selection of images from the Dal Pozzo copies. [end excerpt]
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: It appears that the Great Pyramid was never finished since the top is flat, and not pointed, as it should be. It has a truncated summit which is coarse and uneven and measures about 30 square feet. Most pyramids were crowned with a top-stone that completed their structure. This pyramid does not currently have one and it appears that it never did. One of the earliest references to the missing top-stone (or capstone) is from Diodorus Siculus (60 BC). He tells us that in his day, when the Pyramid stood with its casing stones intact, the structure was "complete and without the least decay, and yet it lacked its apex stone". Since the top-stone could not have been dismantled without first demolishing the smooth casing-stones, so that the core masonry formed steps of approach to it, this statement of Diodorus supports the theory that the top-stone had never been added to the structure. Also it appears that between the different courses of stones there is a thin cement which is absent on the upper surface of the highest course. Why the pyramid was never finished remains a mystery. [end excerpt]
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: Strabo, a geographer, visited the pyramids in 24 BC. He describes an entrance on the north face of the pyramid made of a hinged stone which could be raised but which was indistinguishable from the surrounding stone when closed. The location of this moveable door was lost during the 1st Century AD. Strabo also stated that this entrance led into a narrow and low passage, about 4 feet by 4 feet, which descended 374 feet into a damp, vermin-infested pit dug from the bedrock 150 feet below the base of the Pyramid.
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 219 [begin excerpt]: The only major historian of ancient Egypt was Manetho, a priest, who wrote a history of Egypt for Ptolemy II, but it was lost. Only scraps of it, translated by authors who lived about six hundred years after his death, have survived. His list of dynasties, checked and modified, forms the framework on which the history of Egypt has been reconstructed. But very little detail is known concerning the political history of the first two dynasties, other than the nearly twenty names of Pharaohs listed by Manetho. [end excerpt]
* "History of the Franks" (500s AD, by Gregory of Tours) identifies the pyramids as "Joseph's Granaries"
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: In 813 AD, an Arab, Abdullah Al Mamum came to the throne and was fascinated with the Great Pyramid. He searched for a secret entrance into the pyramid but could not find one. In 820, his workman tried to burrow straight into the solid rock of the pyramid in hope of running across a passage that led to the interior. They tunneled into the solid core of the pyramid for over 100 feet and were about to give up but they heard the sound of something falling to the east of the tunnel. They altered there tunneling to the direction of the sound and eventually broke into the descending passage. The workers stated that it was "exceeding dark, dreadful to look at, and difficult to pass." The passage was 3 1/2 feet wide by 3 feet 11 inches high. It sloped down at an angle of 26 degrees. Struggling up the passage the Arabs discovered the original entrance about 90 feet to the north. It had been placed 49 feet above the base of the Pyramid, ten courses higher than Al Mamun had guessed, and 24 feet east of the main axis of the north face of the Pyramid. They found the entrance to the ascending passage but it was blocked by 3 large granite blocks. Unable to cut through these, they bore around the granite plugs through the softer limestone blocks. Once clear of the plugs, they forced there way into the ascending passage. They went up the ascending passage and found themselves in the Grand Gallery, and from there explored the Queen's Chamber and the King's Chamber. The men searched everywhere for treasure but the only thing they found was a large lidless coffin of highly polished granite.
* 10th-century Arab historian who recorded a folk tale:
Inscribed magical papyri were inserted beneath the stone blocks used in the construction of the pyramids, before the latter were struck by an instrument of some sort, plausibly a rod or stave. Somehow this induced them both to rise into the air and travel for a distance of "a bowshot."
The earliest depiction of the Great Pyramids found within the Roman Realm -
* 1100s AD (up to 899 years BM), a mosaic from the San Marco, Venice, on one of the domes of St. Mark's Basilica, more images at [archive.is/9s6BT], and as described by "Basilica di San Marco" turistic book [archive.is/Rq8lK]. The mosaic contains a scene from the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt. The pyramids may be patterned on the pyramids around Rome and the Italia Peninsula, such as the Pyramid of Cestius.
* The Book of John Mandeville (1300s AD) is a travelogue that writes [begin excerpt]: I will speak about something else that is beyond Babylon across the Nile River towards the desert between Africa and Egypt: these are Joseph's Granaries, which he had made to store the wheat for hard times. They are made of well-hewn stone. Two of them are amazingly large and tall and the others are not so big. And each granary has an entrance for going inside a little above the ground, for the land has been ravaged and ruined since the granaries were built. Inside they are completely full of snakes; and outside on these granaries are many writings in different languages. Some say that they are tombs of the great lords of antiquity, but that is not true....if they were tombs, they would not be empty inside, nor would they have entrances for going inside, nor are tombs ever made of such a large size and such a height—which is why it is not to be believed that they are tombs. [end excerpt]
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: In the 14th century a series of earthquakes destroyed parts of northern Egypt. The Arabs decided to strip the pyramid of its casing stones to use in rebuilding bridges, mosques, palaces, etc. Eventually the pyramid was completely stripped of its beautiful casing stones and the core masonry was exposed to weathering. The core blocks proved to be of either pure limestone or nummulitic limestone containing large quantities of fossil shells resembling coins.
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 18 [begin excerpt]: One of the more renowned of the several hundred minareted mosques in what came to be known as "Grand" Cairo was built in 1356 by Sultan Hasan almost entirely with stones removed from the Pyramid. Forty years later, in the reign of his successor Barluk, when the French Baron d'Anglure traveled to Egypt, he was able to see and report on the continued dismantling of casing stones by Arab stonemasons. D'Anglure was naive enough to fall for the historical canard that the pyramids had been built as granaries by the biblical Joseph to store Pharaoh's grain in years of plenty; but his old French gives a vivid pisture of the despoilers tumbling the massive blocks from the summit: "... certain ouvriers massons qui a force desmuroient les grosses pierres tailles qui font la couverture de desdits greniers, et les laissoient devaller a val." ("Certain masons demolished the course of great casing stones which covered these granaries, and tumbled them into the valley.")
The stripping of the limestone left the core masonry exposed in a series of gradually ascending and receding steps to be weathered and worn by wind, sand and rain. Some of the underlying core blocks proved to be of pure limestone, others of nummulitic limestone containing large quantities of fossil shells resembling coins.
Around the stripped Pyramid, fragments of limestone and rubble were piled so high that they finally obliterated the entrance which Al Mamun had forced in the north face. [end excerpt]
Engraving (c.1880s, Europe), caption: The Mosque of Sultan Hasan in Cairo, built in 1356 with limestone blocks removed from the covering of the Great Pyramid.
* Information from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
AD 1378, SA'IM AL-DAHR -- (A SUFI):
Take a look at another intriguing account written by historian Muhammad al-Husayni Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (died AD 1442), from a book called al-Mawa`iz wa al-i`tibar fi dhikr al-khitat wa al-athar (G. Wien, ed., 1913).
In vol. 2, page 157 of the Wien edition, al-Maqrizi states that the face, specifically the nose and ears, were demolished in 1378 by Sa'im al-dahr -- a Sufi from the khanqah of Sa`id al-Su`ada.
The reasoning behind the vandalism, according to al-Maqrizi, was to "remedy some religious errors." At that time some Egyptians were still burning milk-thistle (shuka`a) and safflower (badhaward) at the foot of the Sphinx while murmuring a verse 63 times in hope that their wishes would be fulfilled.
"From the time of this disfigurement also," al-Maqrizi wrote, "the sand has invaded the cultivated land of Giza, and the people attribute this to the disfigurement of Abul-Hol (i.e., the Sphinx)."
* World Map (c.1450, by Frau Mauro, at Venice city, in the northern Adriatic Sea, south-central subcontinent of Europe; via https://mostre.museogalileo.it/framauro/en/interactive-exploration/explore.html], extracts showing the Giza Pyramids:
* "Noah and The Flood" (1452, by Lorenzo Ghiberti):
* "Panorama with the Abduction of Helen Amidst the Wonders of the Ancient World" (1535, Maerten van Heemskerck) [archive.is/IIhiE], full-size painting [archive.is/KNBj2]
* Illustration of the pyramids from "Cosmographia" (1554, by Sebastian Munster)
Map extracts from "Cosmographia" (1544, by Sebastian Munster):
* "Tertium mirabile mundi pyramides aegypti in quibus Reges Sepeliebantur" illustration (1500's):
* from "Cosmographie de Levant" (1554, by Andre Thevet, illustrations attributed to Bernard Salomon):
* Illustration from "Seven Wonders of the World" book series (1572, Maarten van Heemskerck):
* Map extract, from "Cairus, quae olim Babylon" (1572, Hogenberg & Braun) published in various editions with contributions from various authors, with the Sphinx itself looking different in the various editions...
- Extract from map archived at (freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
- Extract from map archived at (egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) [archive.is/Pxvvs]:
* "The Great City of Cairo" (1575, by Donato Berttelli), map extract as archived at (egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) [archive.is/qtRLI]:
* Illustrations (1579, by Johannes Helferich or Helfrich, of Germany):
- Pyramids of Giza:
- The Sphinx:
* Information from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]: Johannes Helfreich, a much-quoted visitor of Giza, tells in his travelogue of a secret passage by which the ancient Egyptian priests could enter the Sphinx and pretend to be its voice. His writings do suggest that he was reasonably familiar with the site. The woodcut he had made for publication in 1579 would suggest the opposite: this Sphinx is blatantly female and about all that has come through of the real situation of the monument at Giza at the time is that the breast is shown buried in the sand and, perhaps, that the hair resembles the damaged head-dress of the Great Sphinx. Helferich thought the Sphinx was an image of Isis.
* Illustration from "Voyages en Egypte des annees 1589 (Voyageurs occidentaux en Égypte, vol. 3)" (1589, by Jan Sommer, Institut de France, unpublished):
* "The pyramids of Egypt under construction, workmen rest in the foreground" illustration credited to Antonia Tempesta; Plate 7 from "Septem orbis admiranda (The Seven Wonders of the World)", 1608 [archive.is/Xn8LW], :
Earliest realistic display of the Pyramid at Giza.
* "The Egyptian Pyramids and The Colossus", from "Relations of a Journey" (1610, by George Sandy), description concerning The Sphinx [begin excerpt]: Not far off from these the colossus doth stand… wrought altogether into the forme of an Ethiopian woman and adored heretofore by the countrey people as a rurall Deity. [end excerpt]
Illustration:
- as archived at (egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) [archive.is/zMYXO]:
- as published in "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 22:
- Information from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]: In 1610 George Sandys etched this image of the Giza Plaza, with a view of the Sphinx of Giza. The illustrator of George Sandys' Relations of a Journey began in 1610 made a much better job of depicting the Sphinx. Sandy must have made a pretty detailed sketch of it in the field, for the woodcut in his book is really remarkably apt in showing the erosion of the neck, with knobbly protuberances, and the damage to the head-dress, with grooves and notches. What is more, this illustration of Sandys' book largely avoids the cultural contamination with the classical style that spoils many of the contemporary renditions of Egyptian art.
* "Le Grand Caire" (1615, by Henry de Bauvau), map extract as archived at (egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) [archive.is/ojHQb]:
* (c.1620s, author unknown):
* The entrance in to the Great Pyramid, engraving (1621, George Sandy):
* "Civilis Sedito (Civil Discord)" (1643, by Wenceslas Hollar, or Wenzel Hollar):
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: The earliest investigator to give any really scientific data of the Great Pyramid was the Oxford astronomer John Greaves. He visited Egypt in 1637 in order to explore thoroughly its pyramids, and in particular the Great Pyramid. He made a new discovery that others had missed. At the beginning of the Grand Gallery towards one side, a stone block had been removed and a passage appeared to have been dug straight down into the depths of the pyramid. He had discovered the entrance to the so called "Well Shaft". The opening was a little over 3 feet wide and notches were carved opposite one another on the sides of this shaft so someone could climb down with support. Greaves lowered himself down to about 60 feet, where he found that the shaft was enlarged into a small chamber or grotto. The shaft continued below him but it was so dark and the air was foul that he decided to climb back up. The purpose of this Well Shaft puzzled him. He published his investigations under the title, Pyramidographia: A Description of the Pyramids in Egypt (1646). This was the first book ever published just on the Great Pyramid. His work gave a great stimulus to other investigators, and he was soon followed by English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian explorers.
* Sir John Greaves' 1646 depiction
Earliest presentation of the Great Pyramids at Giza on a Roman map.
* Images from "Obelisci Aegyptiaci" (1652, by Athanasius Kircher):
- "Temple of Isis in Rome" [is.gd/w3gIVd]. Also see "Isis" [archive.is/CTGws], full image [archive.is/TAgHy] from "Oedipus Aegyptiacus" (1652, by Athanasius Kircher); and see frontispiece to "Ars Magna Lucis" (1646, by Athanasius Kircher; 2nd edition) [is.gd/nNPZ99]
- "Ancient and modern Egypt" map [is.gd/H7VIKN]:
- "Oedipus Aegyptiacus" frontispiece [is.gd/b5xdRS] showing a Sphinx
- "Pyramids and the mummy crypt" [is.gd/BIDRgS]
- "Pyramids of Dashur" [is.gd/FctpBZ]
- Lamp fragment in the form of a Sphinx [is.gd/5GXp8K]
* Illustration from "Les Voyages et Observations" (1653, by François de La Boullaye-Le Gouz):
* Illustration from "Description de l'Afrique" (1665, by Olfert Dapper), with two different displays of The Sphinx, another photo [archive.is/5SwLI].
* "ANNUAL EGYPTOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY" (1978 By Jac. J. Janssen; via books.google.com) [is.gd/oSBmDx]: The present volume is published by Jean-Claude Goyon after a manuscript discovered and prepared for publication by the late Georges Sanguin. Gabriel Bremond, probably from Marseille. a man about whose life almost nothing is known, travelled through the Near East and visited Egypt between 1643 and 1645, staying in Alexandria and Cairo. His description of Egypt written with didactic aims dates from 1668. An Italian translation has been published in 1673 and 1677. Bremond heavily relies on the "Description de l'Afrique" by Jean Leon l'Africain, from which source descriptions of towns and monuments are drawn which Bremond himself never visited. From his own additions we mention descriptions of a sarcophagus at Matariya and the necropolis of Gin as well as of his excavation of a tomb at Saqqara.
* Engraving of finding mummies in Sakkara (1674, by Pietro Della Valle, via commons.wikimedia.org) [archive.is/jCBZM]:
* from "Turris Babel" (1679, by Athanasius Kircher) [is.gd/Q5yCpU]:
- "Great Pyramid and Sphinx of Giza" [is.gd/HiDjuE], the author already has produced depictions of the Sphinx of mythology, but upon presenting the Sphinx statue, appears to not know how it looks:
- "City of Nineveh" [http://is.gd/n5WYt3]
- "Monolithic temple" [http://is.gd/x5ak5n]
- "Ninus and Semiramis hunting" [http://is.gd/CuXroJ]
* from (2014-02-19, oldworldauctions.com) (.pdf) [is.gd/7hB8lD]:
Egypt (Egypte), Duval, Le Monde ou la Geographie Universelle, Paris, [1682]. 4.1 x 5”. (HC) A charming miniature map of Egypt, extending south to Quesir (Cossir). The pyramids are depicted just south of Giza. Pierre Duval was Nicolas Sanson’s nephew and pupil. He published a wide range of atlases and individual maps including a fi ne miniature world geography with many of the maps based on Sanson. Ref: King (2nd ed) pp. 132-135; Pastoureau, Duval XI Fa. A nice impression on watermarked paper with attractive old color that has been lightly refreshed and light toning along centerfold and sheet edges. (B+)
* "De L'Afrique" (1683, by Manesson Mallet):
* These pyramids and sphinx were drawn by Cornelis de Bruijn, who is described to have had actually visited Egypt. On his return to Holland (after a visit to Venice) in 1698, he published his book. His illustration of The Sphinx accurately displays the erosion damage, though he shows an alignment of the pyramids that is entirely based on "The Egyptian Pyramids and The Colossus" (1610, by George Sandy).
* Title piece to "World History" (1717, by Urbain Chevreau):
* "Pyramides Aegyptiacae" (1721, by Fischer von Eriach) [archive.is/WW92T]:
* Egyptian tomb, with The Sphinx in the background (1721, by Fischer von Eriach):
* "Aegyptus hodierna" map extract (1724, by Johanne Baptista Homann):
* Mummies and Embalming, from an English translation of "A Compleat History of Drugs" (1725, by Pierre Pomet, physician to Louis XIV):
* [archive.is/6Q9yn], caption (1989, "Mysteries of The Unknown: Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects", edited by George Constable): Seated behind a table, Frederick the Great presides over initiation rites for his brother-in-law at the Potsdam lodge in 1740. Both wear the aprons and neck ribbons emblematic of the lodge. The Prussian moarch glowingly characterized the society as "bringing forth the fruit of every kind of virtue."
* Illustration from "A description of the East and some countries" (1743, by Richard Pocoke) [is.gd/tX5fmx], an account of the author's travels in Egypt, appears to be a near mirror image of the illustration by Bruijn (1698), including the people surrounding the monument.
- version archived at (egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) [archive.is/cJy0V], dated 1737:
* Engraving of the Great Sphinx and the Second Pyramid (1744, book by M. Tuscher, drawing by Norden) Danish marine architect Frederick Louis Norden published the story of his travels in 1755 "Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie":
- "Profil de la tête colossale du Sphinx" (1757, by Frederik Ludvig Norden):
- (1757, by Frederik Ludvig Norden):
The 4th Great Pyramid at Giza -
Scientifically described in 1757, important because the era contains altering depictions of the Great Pyramids of Giza. What follows the 1757 description is a set of depictions showing the altered depictions of the 3 Great Pyramids at Giza showing 4 or more. Explanations for this include, 1) The explorer did not visit the site of the 3 Great Pyramids and instead relied on the trustworthy depictions of centuries passed to scientifically lay out the position of the Great Pyramids; 2) a series of smaller, yet sophisticated, pyramids are built by succeeding cultures, and are torn down by the Egyptian government during the 1840s during an economic growth and cultural cleansing campaign.
* "Voyage d’Egypte et de Nubie (Travels in Egypt and Nubia)" (by Frederic Lewis Norden, a Danish naval captain and explorer)
translated from the original... and enlarged with observations from ancient and modern authors that have written on the antiquities of Egypt, by Dr Peter Templeman.... 1757 (.pdf) [is.gd/YvPP3F]:
[begin excerpt]:
The principal pyramids are at the east, south-east of Gize …..There are four of them; that deserve the greatest attention of the curious,; for tho we see seven or eight others in the neighborhood, they are nothing in comparison to the former. ……. ……..The two most northerly pyramids are the greatest and have five hundred feet perpendicular height. The two others are much less, but have some particularities, which occasion their being examined and admired.
It is s without coating, closed and resembles the others, but without any temple like the first. It has however, one particular deserving remark; which is, that its summit is terminated by a single great stone, which seems to have served as a pedestal…the fourth pyramid has been made, upwards above the middle, of a stone more black than the common granite, and at least as hard. Its summit is of a yellowish stone. I shall speak elsewhere of its top, which terminates in a cube. It is, moreover, situated out of the line of the others, being more to the west…it makes a series with the three others. [end excerpt]
* "Vue des Pyramides de Memphis" (1780, by Marcus Tuscher):
* Pyramids by Hubert Robert (1760):
* "Fantasie egyptienne" (1760, by Hubert Robert):
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: The next important contributor was Nathaniel Davison, British Consul at Algiers in 1763. He was the first to discover the lowest of the series of five spaces (called "Construction Chambers") over the King’s Chamber. The story is that at the top of the Grand Gallery, he noticed that his voice was echoed in a strange way and seemed to resonate from above him. Davison tied a candle at the end of two long canes, raised it up, and noticed at the top of the Grand Gallery a small rectangular hole about 2 feet wide. He put 7 ladders together to climb to the top. He found 16 inches of bat dung in this 2 foot hole that had accumulated throughout the centuries. Davison put a kerchief over his face and made his way into the hole. After crawling 25 feet, he reached a chamber about 3 feet high but as wide and as long as the Kings chamber beneath. He observed that the floor consisted of the tops of 9 rough hewn granite slabs each weighing up to 70 tons. The ceiling of the King's Chamber was formed by the under sides of these blocks. He also noticed the ceiling of this chamber was also constructed of a similar row of granite blocks. This is a far as he went. This chamber referred to as "Davison’s Chamber" was named after him. His measurements also confirmed the fact that the pyramid was constructed so that its sides faced the cardinal points of a compass.
* (1769, by G. B. Piranesi):
* "Repose in Egypt" (1776, by James Barry):
The European interest in the study of the Great Pyramids of Giza during the 1700s through 1900s is motivated in part by the crypto-societies such as the Freemasons and higher grade Illuminati.
* "Freemasonic Symbolism and Georgian Gardens" (by Patrizia Granziera, esoteric.msu.edu) [archive.is/Ritk]
* c.1776
* 1778 USA $50 Continental currency note, drawn by Hopkinson, full image here [archive.is/dp8dE]
* Sketch (1785, by Louis-Francois Cassas):
* from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
WAS the SPHINX of GIZA MODELED AFTER an AFRICAN?
Count Constantine de Volney
In 1787, Count Constantine de Volney -- a French nobleman, philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician -- embarked on a journey to the East in late 1782 and reached Ottoman Egypt were he spent nearly seven months.
Constantine de Volney was troubled much by the institution of slavery. His expressed opinion that the ancient Egyptians were black Africans much departed from the typical European view of the late eighteenth century, but it gave many people cause for reflection. During his visit to Egypt he expressed amazement that the Egyptians – whose civilization was greatly admired in Europe – were not White!
* "Travels through Syria and Egypt in the Years 1783, 1784, and 1785" pgs. 80-83 (1787, by M. Constantine de Volney; London) [begin excerpt] All the Egyptians have a bloated face, puffed-up eyes, flat nose, thick lips – in a word, the true face of the mulatto. I was tempted to attribute it to the climate, but when I visited the Sphinx, its appearance gave me the key to the riddle. On seeing that head, typically Negro in all its features, I remembered the remarkable passage where Herodotus says: 'As for me, I judge the Colchians to be a colony of the Egyptians because, like them, they are black with woolly hair...'
When I visited the Sphinx, I could not help thinking that the figure of that monster furnished the true solution to the enigma (of how the modern Egyptians came to have their 'mulatto' appearance)
In other words, the ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same type as all native-born Africans. That being so, we can see how their blood, mixed for several centuries with that of the Greeks and Romans, must have lost the intensity of its original color, while retaining nonetheless the imprint of its original mold.
Just think that this race of Black men, today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of speech! Just imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of people who call themselves the greatest friends of liberty and humanity that one has approved the most barbarous slavery, and questioned whether Black men have the same kind of intelligence as whites!
In other words the ancient Egyptians were true Negroes of the same stock as all the autochthonous peoples of Africa and from the datum one sees how their race, after some centuries of mixing with the blood of Romans and Greeks, must have lost the full blackness of its original color but retained the impress of its original mould. [end excerpt]
* "The Ruins, or, Meditation on The Revolutions of Empires: The Law of Nature" (1793, by C. F. Volney, Deputy to the National Assembly of 1789, and author of "Travels in Egypt and Syria," "New Researches on Ancient History," etc.) [is.gd/s7xE3I], PUBLISHER S PREFACE (1890) [begin excerpt]:
An example of an important omission of this kind may be found on the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth pages of this volume, which may be appropriately referred to in this connection. It is there stated, in describing the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia, and the ruins of Thebes, her opulent metropolis, that " There a people, now forgotten, discovered, while others were yet barbarians, the elements of the arts and sciences. A race of men, now rejected from society for their sable skin and frizzled hair, founded on the study of the laws of nature, those civil and religious systems which still govern the universe."
A voluminous note, in which standard authorities are cited, seems to prove that this statement is substantially correct, and that we are in reality indebted to the ancient Ethiopians, to the fervid imagination of the persecuted and despised negro, for the various religious systems now so highly revered by the different branches of both the Semitic and Aryan races.
This fact, which is so frequently referred to in Mr. Volney's writings, may perhaps solve the question as to the origin of all religions, and may even suggest a solution to the secret so long concealed beneath the flat nose, thick lips, and negro features of the Egyptian Sphinx. It may also confirm the statement of Dioderus, that " the Ethiopians conceive themselves as the inventors of divine worship, of festivals, of solemn assemblies, of sacrifices, and of every other religious practice."
That an imaginative and superstitious race of black men should have invented and founded, in the dim obscurity of past ages, a system of religious belief that still enthralls the minds and clouds the intellects of the leading representatives of modern theology, that still clings to the thoughts, and tinges with its potential influence the literature and faith of the civilized and cultured nations of Europe and America, is indeed a strange illustration of the mad caprice of destiny, of the insignificant and apparently trivial causes that oft produce the most grave and momentous results.
The translation ^here given closely follows that published in Paris by Levrault, Quai Malaquais, in 1802, which was under the direction and careful supervision of the talented author; and whatever notes Count Volney then thought necessary to insert in his work, are here carefully reproduced without abridgment or modification.
* "View of the Colossal Head of the Sphinx and the Second Pyramid of Egypt" (c.1790, by Louis-Francois Cassas):
* from "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: A Picture Book for Children" (1790, by Friedrich Justin Bertuch):
* extract from "Fetilization of Egypt" engraving (1791, by William Blake), full image at [archive.is/YJL3L] [archive.is/LCnMJ]:
* Top of the first pyramid of Giza (1794, by Thomas Milton):
* "Introduction and Overview of The Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/DNWXW] [begin excerpt]: Following Davison, there was the important survey of the Great Pyramid carried out by the French savants who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1799. Napoleon came to conquer Egypt with a force of 35,000 soldiers in 328 sailing vessels. Besides his military, he brought a collection of 175 French civilians (known as savants) who had a knowledge of Egyptian antiquities. There job was to explore, measure, study, etc. the pyramids and monuments of ancient Egypt. They did not discover anything sensational in the pyramid because of the hindrance of bats. They did notice that if they shot their pistols at the top of the Grand Gallery, a repeated echo occurred that sounded like thunder moving away into the distance. They were the first to survey the site trigonometrically and to discover two of the corner sockets at the base. As far as we know, no other pyramid has corner sockets. They published their monumental work at the order of Napoleon. This work was completed and published over a 25 year period and consisted of 9 folio volumes of text and 12 folio volumes of plates. Actually the most important discovery the French made was the Rosetta stone uncovered in a branch of the Delta near Rosetta. This three foot diorite slab was engraved with hieroglyphics, demotic Egyptian, and Greek. The Rosetta stone enabled J.F. Champolion the means for deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
* from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
Vivant Denon's etching of the Sphinx of Giza, 1798 -
Is the nose still there? Is it the depiction of a man or woman?
Vivant Denon, who had joined Napoleon's expedition to Egypt as an archaelogist and an artist , published in 1802 his sketches of Egyptian monuments and art objects in his Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte (Journey in Lower and Upper Egypt). Denon would later become the first director of the Louvre museum. [...]
Vivant Denon etched the image of the Sphinx of Giza around 1798. This image and written account is from the 1803 issue of Universal Magazine. What is most intriguing is that Denon does not mention any damage to the nose or lips of the Sphinx. From that same magazine, here is the written account about the Sphinx of Giza in Denon's own words: "...Though its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure and graceful; the expression of the head is mild, gracious, and tranquil; the character is African, but the mouth, and lips of which are thick, has a softness and delicacy of execution truly admirable; it seems real life and flesh. Art must have been at a high pitch when this monument was executed; for, if the head wants what is called style, that is the say, the straight and bold lines which give expression to the figures under which the Greeks have designated their deities, yet sufficient justice has been rendered to the fine simplicity and character of nature which is displayed in this figure..."
* "View of the Sphinx, near Cairo":
original page [archive.is/rsCWo], auction description [archive.is/hLWLN]
- Popular print:
* Classical Ruins (1798, by Hubert Robert):
* "Traveller of the imagination" (1798, by Hubert Robert):
* "The Battle of the Pyramids" (1798, by Francois-Louis-Joseph Watteau):
* "Egyptian Sketches" (1799, by Hannah Humphrey), a satire of Napoleon's campaign in Egypt:
* "Napoleon after the battle of the Nile" (1799, by Nathaniel Dance-Holland):
* (1801, by Luigi Mayer):
- "Pyramids":
- "View of the Great Pyramid":
- "Pyramids and Sphinx":
- "The pyramids at Ghiza":
- "Head of the Great Sphinx":
* from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
Painting of The Great Sphinx by Luigi Mayer, 1801
Views in Egypt : from the original drawings in the possession of Sir Robert Ainslie, taken during his embassy to Constantinople by Luigi Mayer: engraved by and under the direction of Thomas Milton: with historical observations , and incidental illustrations of the manners and customs of the natives of that country London : Thomas Bensley ... for R. Bowyer, 1801. Item held in the Overstone Library, Reading University Library by Fiona Barnard Rare Books Librarian
"Luigi Mayer, a watercolorist and draughtsman, is renowned as the most accurate delineator of the Near East before David Roberts, who produced the monumental volumes The Holy Land (1842) and Views in ancient Egypt and Nubia (1846), copies of which are also held in the Overstone Library. Despite the success of Mayer's publications, very little is known about his life." ...Overstone Library, Reading University Library
* "Corridoor from the second to the third gallery at the great pyramid" (1803, by Luigi Mayer):
* "Chamber and sarcophagus in the great pyramid of gizah" (1804, by Luigi Mayer):
* "View of the Pyramids of Memphis and Colossal Sphynx's Head" (1804, published by C Brightly Bungay):
* from "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
FROM THIS POINT ON [...] NO IMAGES DEPICT THE SPHINX WITH NOSE & LIPS.
In his book, "The Complete Pyramids," Mark Lehrner states, "Examination of the Sphinx's face shows that long rods or chisels were hammered into the nose, one down from the bridge and one beneath the nostril, then used to pry the nose off towards the south..."
If this is true, then the destruction to the face of the Sphinx was not accomplished with cannonballs fired at the nose and lips.
* "The 5th Plague of Egypt" (1808, by J. M. W. Turner):
* "The 5th Plague of Egypt" (1808, by J. M. W. Turner):
* "The entrance to Cheops pyramid" (1808, by Vivant Denon):
* "Description de l'Egypte (Description of Egypt)" book series published 1809 to 1829, composed of field reports, sketches and descriptions made by the members of Napoleon's scientific team during the expedition in Egypt.
- General view of pyramids and Sphinx (by Charles-Louis Balzac):
- caption from (freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]: The Great Sphinx of Giza in Description de l'Egypte (1809, Panckoucke edition), Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823), also published in the Imperial edition of 1822.
- "View of the Sphinx and the Grand Pyramids" (1809, by Nicolas-Jacques Conte), from Description de l'Egypte
- "View of the Sphinx and the Grand Pyramids" (1809, by Nicolas-Jacques Conte), popular edition:
* "Allegory of the State of France before the Return from Egypt" (1810, by Jean-Pierre Franque):
* (1817, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
- "Sphinx under Excavation":
- "Sphinx under Excavation" (by Henry Salt):
- "Sphinx under Excavation" (published 1872):
- "Entrance to the sepulchral chamber near Sphinx" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
* "The temple between the fore legs of the Sphinx" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
* "Exploring the Pyramid of Chephren" (1819, by Lt.-Colonel George A. F. Fitzclarence) [archive.is/NybmV], an account of a visit in 1817 inside Chephren's Pyramid with the company of Giovanni Belzoni who had only a few weeks earlier found the entrance and explored its' interior.
* "Cephren Entrance" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Belzoni):
* "Exploration of the Great Pyramid of Giza" (1820,by Gaetano Zancon):
* "Construction of the Great Pyramid" (1820, by Antoine-Yves Goguet):
* "Lettres écrites d’Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829: Lettre cinquième - GIZEH" (1828-10, via egyptologue.fr) [archive.is/UEfBu]* "The 5th Plague of Egypt" (1808, by J. M. W. Turner):
* "The 5th Plague of Egypt" (1808, by J. M. W. Turner):
* "The entrance to Cheops pyramid" (1808, by Vivant Denon):
* "Description de l'Egypte (Description of Egypt)" book series published 1809 to 1829, composed of field reports, sketches and descriptions made by the members of Napoleon's scientific team during the expedition in Egypt.
- General view of pyramids and Sphinx (by Charles-Louis Balzac):
- caption from (freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]: The Great Sphinx of Giza in Description de l'Egypte (1809, Panckoucke edition), Planches, Antiquités, volume V (1823), also published in the Imperial edition of 1822.
- "View of the Sphinx and the Grand Pyramids" (1809, by Nicolas-Jacques Conte), from Description de l'Egypte
- "View of the Sphinx and the Grand Pyramids" (1809, by Nicolas-Jacques Conte), popular edition:
* "Allegory of the State of France before the Return from Egypt" (1810, by Jean-Pierre Franque):
* "The Pyramids from Old Cairo" (1813, by Scott):
* "Flight from Egypt" (1814, by George Cruikshank):
* "Entrance to the Principal Pyramid of Djiza (from Denon)", from "Travels in various countries of Europe Asia and Africa", Volume 2 (1813, by Edward Daniel Clarke):
* (1817, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
- "Sphinx under Excavation":
- "Sphinx under Excavation" (by Henry Salt):
- "Sphinx under Excavation" (published 1872):
- "Entrance to the sepulchral chamber near Sphinx" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
* "The temple between the fore legs of the Sphinx" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Caviglia):
* "Exploring the Pyramid of Chephren" (1819, by Lt.-Colonel George A. F. Fitzclarence) [archive.is/NybmV], an account of a visit in 1817 inside Chephren's Pyramid with the company of Giovanni Belzoni who had only a few weeks earlier found the entrance and explored its' interior.
* "Cephren Entrance" (1818, by Giovanni Battista Belzoni):
* "Exploration of the Great Pyramid of Giza" (1820,by Gaetano Zancon):
* "Construction of the Great Pyramid" (1820, by Antoine-Yves Goguet):
* "Seventh Plague of Egypt" (1823, by John Martin):
* "The Hiding of Moses" (1825, by William Blake):
* "Le Sphinx" (1830, by I. J. S. Taylor):
* 1831 - illustration from View of ancient and modern Egypt by Michael Russell engravings by Branston
* Geometric elevations of the west fronts to show the relative sizes of each (1831, by Thomas Hutchings Clarke)
* Watercolored etchings (1839, by David Roberts)
The Sphinx at Giza (rear view, 1839) / Dust-storm at the Sphinx at Giza (1839)
- "The Pyramids of Chephren and Cheops" (1839):
* "The Pyramids of Gizeh: Vol. I, The Great Pyramid (1839); Vol. II, The Second and Third Pyramids (1840); Vol. III, The Pyramids to the Southward of Gizeh and at Abou Roash... (1842). Three volumes bound in one" (by PERRING, JOHN SHEA; E. J. ANDREWS (ENGRAVINGS AFTER SKETCHES TAKEN ON THE SPOT), description (via abaa.org) [is.gd/noS5s5]: This monumental work is due to the collaboration of John Shea Perring, a civil engineer and explorer, and British archaeologist Richard William Howard Vyse, who, between January and August 1837 were involved in making a survey of the pyramids at Gizeh, and in the execution of plans, drawings, and maps of these monuments. In 1838 and 1839, Perring explored and surveyed the pyramids at Abou Roash, and those to the southward, including Fayoom. As part of his work Perring created several maps, plans and cross-sections of the pyramids at Abu Roasch, Gizeh, Abusir, Saqqara and Dahshur. He was the first to explore the interior of the Pyramid of Userkaf at Saqqara in 1839, through a robber's tunnel first discovered by Orazio Marucchi in 1831. Perring thought the pyramid belonged to Djedkare. The pyramid was first correctly identified by Egyptologist Cecil Firth in 1928. Perring added some graffiti inside the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, which can still be viewed today. "The Pyramids of Gizeh" consits of 3 parts: Part I: The Great Pyramid. Part II: The Second and Third Pyramids, the three smaller to the southward of the third, and the three to the eastward of the Great Pyramid. Part III: The Pyramids to the southward of Gizeh and at Abou Roash: Also: Campbell's Tomb, and a section of the Rock and Gizeh. Accompanied by notes on the hieroglyphics by S. Birch.
- "A small quarry north of Chephren's Pyramid" (by E.J. Andrews):
- "The Gateway in the Southern Dike" (by E.J. Andrews), adapted from the original illustration (1837, by Richard Vyse):
- "The Small Pyramids South of Menkaure's Pyramid" (by E.J. Andrews):
- "Casing stones on the North face of Cheops' Pyramid" (by E.J. Andrews):
- "The North face of Menkaure's Pyramid and the mysterious pit there" (by E.J. Andrews):
- "The entrance and casing stones of Menkaure's Pyramid" (by E.J. Andrews):
- "The Pyramid of Menkaure" (by E.J. Andrews):
* "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" (amazeingart.com) [archive.is/lMkHe] [begin excerpt]: The 19th century tyrant Mohammed Ali, who obliterated many of Egypt's greatest temples for their stone in order to build factories and modernize his country, once made similar plans to tear down the Great Pyramid—and probably would have done so, had it been economical. [end excerpt]
* Map showing the realm of Egypt under the Dynasty of Muhammad Ali [archive.is/Xe3bN].
* "The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, for the Year 1842" Volume 171, pgs. 53 to 55 (via books.google.com) [is.gd/AaD1jr]
* "Pathway to the Great Pyramid" (1840s, by Ernst Weidenbach):
* (1842, by Russ Leander, b.1809):
* (undated):
* (1849, by Howard Vyse; from the Photographic Collection of the New York Public Library), showing the Sphinx under excavation by Caviglia.
* "Chephren's Pyramid" (1859, by Francis Frith):
* (1860):
* "The Pyramids at Giza" (1862, by Francis Frith):
* (1865, by Charles Piazzi Smyth):
* "Bonaparte Before the Sphinx" (1867, by Jean Leon Gerome):
* (1867):
* "Ulysses S. Grant on Egypt: Fascinated by its antiquity, he finds it more interesting than any other place he has visited" (1878-01-25) [is.gd/0srIid], part of Ulysses S. Grant's tour around the world [is.gd/E6QISS].
* "Secrets of the Great Pyramid" book (1971, by Peter Tompkin) pg. 103 [begin excerpt]:
President Ulysses S. Grant visited the Pyramid as part of a world tour. In the archives of the Library of Congress lies a faded daguerreotype, with the un-mistakable features of the general. Piazzi Smyth describes the arrival of a party of enthusiastic Yankee tourists atop the Great Pyramid while Smyth was making early-morning observations.
"In the short time they were there," writes Smyth, the Americans "arranged themselves into a meeting on constitutional principles of Anglo-Saxon derivation, with a chairman, secretary and audience; wherein a resolution was proposed, recorded and carried unanimously, to the effect—'that whereas this here pile whips everything in the way of building we've seen in all our grand tour through the used-up, worn-out world, yet we calculate King Cheops, Its builder, must have been such a horrid old tyrant and cruel oppressor of the people, that it is hereby resolved by us free and independent citizens of the Unyted States that we won't give him a cheer.' "
After offering thanks to their "excellent chairman for his well-balanced conduct and Impartial attitude on his very elevated seat," says Piazzi Smyth, "the gentlemen liquored up, the ladies, as they bashfully expressed it, consented to take a swallow, and the whole party disappeared down the steep slope of the pyramid ... every man of them with little Confederate flags picked out on the soles of their boots, so that they might have pleasure in trampling on the hated ensign of the South wherever they went." As an indication of how tutto il mondo e paese, Cheops is said (by Sir Gardiner Wilkin-son) to have engraved the figures of the Gods of Egypt on the public roads "in order that they might be trodden under foot by man and beast." [end excerpt]
* Albumen print of The Great Sphinx (c.1880s, by G. Lékègian & Co.):
* "Climbing the Great Pyramid" (c.1880, by J. Pascal Sébah):
* Photograph of Sphinx of Giza (1887, by Henri Bechard):
- "The Valley temple of Chephren" (1887, by Henri Bechard):
* "The Giza Pyramids at sunrise" (1895, by Jean Gerome):
* 1898, artist's reconstruction as to the original appearance of The Colossus known as The Sphinx, republished in "Purnell's History of The 20th Century" vol. 1, pg.8 [archive.is/znQbu]:
1929
Émile Baraize would excavate the sphinx in 1936 completely.
* Photo (c.2000):
* Photo (2018-01, cgtn.com)
* Photo (2018-01, presstv.com), related articles: "Tourism promotion: Egypt hosts tallest man, shortest woman at Pyramids" (2018-01-30, broadcast transcript, cgtn.com) [archive.is/8NgcO], screenshot [archive.is/yqACa]; "World’s tallest man meets world’s shortest woman in Egypt" (2018-01-30, cgtn.com) [archive.is/K5QkW], photo [archive.is/zjP8X]
* "Damage reported at Giza Pyramids, Looters turned back at Karnak – Dr. Gerry Scott, ARCE director, provides an update from Cairo" (2011-01-31, unreportedheritagenews.com) [archive.is/sEi5t]
* "Murgan Salem al-Gohary, Egyptian Jihadist, Wants Pyramids And Sphinx Destroyed" (2012-11-13, huffingtonpost.com) [archive.is/tQHLX]
===*===*===
RAW DATA -
To be added to this page:
* "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
* "The Origin of the word Pyramid" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/3sRa6]
* "Visualising Giza" (by Paulalorla, egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) part 1 "The early renderings and influence (1200 - 1800)" [archive.is/tayL7], part 2 "The artists on the plateau (1800 - 1900)" [archive.is/ztg1D]
* "EARLY TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS TO THE PYRAMIDS" (BY JIMMY DUNN WRITING AS ALAN WINSTON) [archive.is/NBFy]
---
A Sphinx set [archive.is/Caeop] [archive.is/P1yBM] [archive.is/Fidqu] [archive.is/R6SDa], from [archive.is/ht6z3]
* "Old photos of the Pyramids and Sphinx" (gizapyramid.com) page 1 [archive.is/0RlBL], page 2 [archive.is/quF07], page 3 [archive.is/iTjRU]
* "A Picture Tour of the Great Pyramid of Giza" (gizapyramid.com) page 1 [archive.is/9ftrT], page 2 [archive.is/SXgoc], page 3 [archive.is/TZVoT], page 4 [archive.is/ACy3H], page 5 [archive.is/PwyhL], page 6 [archive.is/FW4GF]RAW DATA -
To be added to this page:
* "The Nose, Lips, Gender & Ethnicity of THE SPHINX OF GIZA, AD 639 - 21st Century: A Truthcentric Perspective" (original retrieved 2016-12-27, freemaninstitute.com) [archive.is/AVR34]:
* "The Origin of the word Pyramid" (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/3sRa6]
* "Visualising Giza" (by Paulalorla, egypt.musicfilmbroth.com) part 1 "The early renderings and influence (1200 - 1800)" [archive.is/tayL7], part 2 "The artists on the plateau (1800 - 1900)" [archive.is/ztg1D]
* "EARLY TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS TO THE PYRAMIDS" (BY JIMMY DUNN WRITING AS ALAN WINSTON) [archive.is/NBFy]
---
A Sphinx set [archive.is/Caeop] [archive.is/P1yBM] [archive.is/Fidqu] [archive.is/R6SDa], from [archive.is/ht6z3]
* "Old photos of the Pyramids and Sphinx" (gizapyramid.com) page 1 [archive.is/0RlBL], page 2 [archive.is/quF07], page 3 [archive.is/iTjRU]
* Description of the Great Pyramid from Volume 2 of Chamber's Encyclopedia published in 1847 [archive.is/Is7k4], and from the 1884 edition of Chamber's Encyclopedia, Volume 6 [archive.is/MDLnQ]
* Pyramid meditation temple built 2002 in India (report by gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/AQj0g] [archive.is/0BNVK]
More articles from (gizapyramid.com) [archive.is/mcX5X] [archive.is/1udFI] [archive.is/fWZ1N]
25 facts about the Great Pyramid of Giza [archive.is/ri3VR]
* "15 extremely rare, ancient images of the Pyramids of Giza you’ve probably never seen" [archive.is/9vmLF], including the following photos:
- Pyramids and Sphinx Giza, Egypt 1860-1890. Photographium – Historic Photo Archive
- Great Sphinx Before Clearance. 1900
* "10 extremely rare, ancient images of the Great Sphinx you’ve probably never seen" [archive.is/tVn7y], a worthwhile repository, including this photo:
* from "A Description of the East, and some other Countries. Volume the First. Observations on Egypt", vol. Ι (1743, by Richard Pococke, via eng.travelogues.gr), set of engravings at [archive.is/NdpTS], full image [archive.is/DXWBg], caption [archive.is/4DV1j]:
View of the ruins of the fortress of Babylon, in the Coptic quarter of Cairo. View of the Pyramids of Dahshour, Saqqara and Giza.
View of Jebel Jehusi the Old babylon. View of the Pyramids of Dahsour and Saccara. View of the Pyramids of Gize.
===*===*===
* "Archeologists discover 3,500-year-old burial sites in Egypt's Aswan" (2017-12-14, xinhuanet.com) [archive.is/gudws]
The following photo shows an engraved ostrich egg which is allegedly the oldest depiction of the three Giza pyramids, although no other artifact approximating its layout exists. One egg whose depiction is debatable inspires some to present it as evidence of their belief the Great Pyramids are over 7 thousand years old [archive.is/qS9B2] [archive.is/2DAOx].
* caption (touregypt.net) [archive.is/hxz2B]: Ostrich egg with engravings of animals, dating to Nubian prehistory
megalith in Plovdiv Bulgaria [archive.is/K5t9W]; [archive.is/Qx4sc] [archive.is/xd9Wz] [archive.is/a1xDE] [archive.is/1kRs3] [archive.is/d9wFJ] [archive.is/CqntY]
* "The Pyramids of Egypt" (pymd.com) [archive.is/Pi0QR], reproducing images and accounts of exploration from 1800s.
* "Great Pyramid - PYRAMIDS AND GEOPOLYMERS - 14. The Rise of Pyramids" (2012-05-21, hercolano2.blogspot.com) [archive.is/dtHN0] [begin excerpt]: The Great Pyramid is one of the earliest pyramids (Fig. 61). More than seventy pyramids are known, and others may be concealed beneath the desert sands.Any still buried would not be great pyramids,but small,ruined structures.All known pyramids are situated in groups located at several different geographical areas of the necropolis on the West Bank (Fig. 62). [end excerpt]
[...]
A pyramid located at Zawiet el-Aryan, not far from Giza, is known as the Layer Pyramid and belongs to the first phases of Egyptian architecture. It has not been attributed adequately. Pharaoh Kha-ba’s name is found in the nearby cemetery, making him the most likely builder (Fig. 63). The Layer Pyramid was poorly constructed and is in a state of ruin. The use of small limestone blocks here still prevails, but they have become somewhat larger. The block quality is inferior and is believed to originate from a quarry to the south. This quarry may well be the origin of the aggregates used to produce blocks for the pyramid. No chemical analysis has been made of these blocks, but their inferior quality could be the result of several factors.
Figure 63: Depiction of projected outline of Kha-ba's pyramid, which was never completed, rises over ruins (J.P. Lauer).
[...]
It seems that Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty performed an experiment on Huni’s pyramid. Huni’s large step pyramid had been beautifully constructed at Meidum, forty miles south of Mem- phis. It originally had seven tiers and stood ninety-two meters (304 feet) high. Some of its blocks weigh about 0.25 tons x (550 pounds).
Figure 64: Huni's pyramid at Meidum (1988).
[...]
What direct evidence of molding is to be found in the Great Pyramid? The casing blocks are clearly the product of stone casting. As mentioned, most were stripped for cons- truction in medieval Cairo after an earthquake destroyed the city in AD 1301. Those that survive are at ground level, buried beneath the sand in 1301. Joints between the casing blocks are barely detectable, fitting as closely as 0.002 inch according to Petrie’s measurements. The casing blocks are smooth and of such fine quality that they have frequently been mistaken for light-gray granite. The English scholar John Greaves (1602- 1652) thought, at first sight, that they were marble.
Figure 75: Three possible positions for casting casing stones.
The casing blocks were angled to produce the slope of the pyramid. Because of their shape, casting them was more complicated than casting rectangular blocks. In Fig. 75, A, B, and C show three casting methods: casting from the top, casting upside down, and side casting. B and C are feasible when making fluid or semi-dry concrete. Filling a mold using method A is somewhat more difficult because the slurry must be pushed constantly against the inclined lid to prevent gaps from forming (this is possible with the pisé or rammed earth technique).
In 1982 the German Egyptologists Rainer Stadelmann and Hourig Stadelmann-Sourozian discovered that the inscriptions on the casing blocks of the Red Pyramid of Sneferu were always on the bottom [78]. This applies to the Great Pyramid as well and could indicate that the casing blocks were cast in an inverted position (method B or method C) against neighboring blocks. Once they hardened and were demolded, they were turned upside down and positioned. To find inscriptions consistently on the bottom is good evidence of the method by which they were made. Had the casing blocks been carved, inscriptions would be found on various surfaces.
[end excerpt]
* "Great Pyramid of Giza Is Slightly Lopsided" (2016-06-20, livescience.com) [is.gd/WXmBEN]
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* "Photos: Amazing Discoveries at Egypt's Giza Pyramids" (2014-01-21, livescience.com) [is.gd/rOVta6] [begin excerpt]: Archaeologists working at the Giza Pyramids have made several new discoveries that shed light on life at the time the pyramids were being built, and the period afterward. Among the discoveries is a basin, seen here, full of groundwater, which may have been part of a thriving harbor that kept Giza supplied with goods, including wood from the eastern Mediterranean and granite from Aswan on Egypt's southern border.
Additionally in this image you can see the newly excavated "silo building complex," dating to just after the pyramids were built and including grain silos and bakeries. There, researchers have found numerous bones from the forelimbs of cattle, popular offerings in ancient Egypt, suggesting royal cult priests perhaps venerating the pharaoh Khafre occupied the complex. A seal containing the pharaoh's name has been found there and his pyramid looms in the background. [end excerpt]
- Photo 2 of 13 [archive.is/88zTW], caption: The newly discovered basin is located about 0.6 miles (1 km) from the nearest channel of the Nile River and may be an extension of a harbor or waterfront, said Mark Lehner, the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates.
---
Pyramids at Meroe [archive.is/WLl9O], archive the images
* "In Photos: Beautiful Pyramids of Sudan" (2013-02-09, livescience.com) [is.gd/GwnjFx]:
- Clustered Pyramids [archive.is/i0cqY]: This aerial photo shows a series of pyramids and graves that a team of archaeologists has been exploring at Sedeinga in Sudan. Since 2009 they have discovered at least 35 small pyramids at the site, the largest being 22 feet (7 meters) in width. Although the tops are not attached, the base of the pyramids can be seen. The pyramids date back around 2,000 years.
- Solar Orbs [archive.is/3Ucs5]: The capstones of the pyramids discovered at Sedeinga in Sudan were shaped as either a bird or, as in this case, a lotus flower on top of a solar orb.
- Inner Circles [archive.is/MB99h]: Among the discoveries are pyramids with a circle built inside them, cross-braces connecting the circle to the corners of the pyramid. Outside of Sedeinga only one pyramid is known to have been built in this way.
- Kingdom Kush [archive.is/SR8dr]: Located in northern Sudan the site of Sedeinga was part of the kingdom of Kush during the time that the pyramids were built. The ancient Kushite capital of Meroe can be seen on this map as can the modern-day capital of Sudan, Khartoum.
- Small Skeleton [archive.is/rTpI2]: People were buried beside the pyramids in tomb chambers that often held more than one individual. This image shows a child who was buried with necklaces.
- Copper Bowl [archive.is/osHCB]: A copper alloy bowl was found in the tomb holding this skeleton.
- Colorful Beads [archive.is/SgF4J]: One tomb held over 1,500 colorful beads as well as Nile spiral shells. They appear to be the remains of one or more necklaces. Researchers were able to re-assemble them showing what they may have looked like if they formed a single necklace.
- Fertility God? [archive.is/PSCYZ]: Another find from Sedeinga is this amulet of the god Bes made of glazed faience. Bes was a god often associated with children and pregnant mothers.
- Stellar Discovery [archive.is/vsBC6]: An almost complete bowl decorated with a frieze that resembles double axes with stars in between them.
- Dinner with Grandma? [archive.is/fdejZ]: Artifacts with ancient Meroitic writing were also found at Sedeinga. This offering table measures roughly 17 by 14 inches (43 by 35 cm) and depicts the jackal-headed god Anubis and a goddess believed to be Isis. The name of the deceased is "Aba-la," a word that may be a nickname for "grandmother." The inscription asks, among other things, that she be "served a good meal."
- Isis and Osiris [archive.is/VPRYN]: Archaeologist Vincent Francigny shown with a stela discovered at the site. The name of the deceased is lost, but the text has an invocation to Isis and Osiris.
- Pyramid Study [archive.is/So9Sm]: Fieldwork underway at Sedeinga, the pyramids with graves were clustered closely together.
* "16 Pyramids Discovered in Ancient Cemetery" (2015-09-16, livescience.com) [archive.is/nVSiW]:
The remains of 16 pyramids with tombs underneath have been discovered in a cemetery near the ancient town of Gematon in Sudan.
They date back around 2,000 years, to a time when a kingdom called "Kush" flourished in Sudan. Pyramid building was popular among the Kushites. They built them until their kingdom collapsed in the fourth century AD.
Derek Welsby, a curator at the British Museum in London, and his team have been excavating at Gematon since 1998, uncovering the 16 pyramids, among many other finds, in that time. "So far, we've excavated six made out of stone and 10 made out of mud brick," Welsby said. The pyramids are located in a large cemetery that was surveyed in 1993.
The largest pyramid found at Gematon was 10.6 meters (about 35 feet) long on each side and would have risen around 13 m (43 feet) off the ground. [See Photos of 2,000-Year-Old Pyramids Discovered at Another Site in Sudan]
Wealthy and powerful individuals built some of the pyramids, while people of more modest means built the others, Welsby said. "They're not just the upper-elite burials," he said.
In fact, not all the tombs in the cemetery have pyramids: Some are buried beneath simple rectangular structures called "mastaba," whereas others are topped with piles of rocks called "tumuli." Meanwhile, other tombs have no surviving burial markers at all.
Burial goods -
In one tomb, archaeologists discovered an offering table made of tin-bronze. Carved into the tableis a scene showing a prince or priest offering incense and libations to the god Osiris, the ruler of the underworld. Behind Osiris is the goddess Isis, who is also shown pouring libations to Osiris.
Though Osiris and Isis originated in Egypt, they were also venerated in Kush as well as other parts of the ancient world. The offering table "is a royal object," Welsby said. The person buried with this table "must have been someone very senior in the royal family."
Most of the tombs had been robbed, to some degree, in ancient or modern times. The only tomb with a pyramid that survived intact held 100 faience beads (faience is a type of ceramic) and the remains of three infants. The fact that the infants were buried without gold treasures may have dissuaded thieves from robbing the tomb, Welsby said.
Kingdom's end -
The Kushite kingdom controlled a vast amount of territory in Sudan between 800 B.C. and the fourth century A.D. There are a number of reasons why the Kushite kingdom collapsed, Welsby said.
One important reason is that the Kushite rulers lost several sources of revenue. A number of trade routes that had kept the Kushite rulers wealthy bypassed the Nile Valley, leaving the Kushite rulers poorer. Additionally, as the economy of the Roman Empire deteriorated, trade between the Kushites and Romans declined, further draining the Kushite rulers of income.
As the Kushite leaders lost wealth, their ability to rule faded. Gematon was abandoned, and pyramid building throughout Sudan ceased.
Wind-blown sands, which had always been a problem for those living at Gematon, covered both the town and its nearby pyramids.
- Photo [archive.is/KMJlL] caption: A tin-bronze offering table was found in one of the tombs beneath a pyramid in the cemetery in Sudan.
- Photo [archive.is/pj2Zb] caption: One of 16 pyramids uncovered in a cemetery in the ancient town of Gematon in Sudan. The pyramid likely rose more than 39 feet (12 meters) in height.
- Photo [archive.is/ap3K7] caption: Beneath this pyramid in Sudan, archaeologists found a burial chamber holding the skeletal remains of three young children, buried with faience beads.
---
* "Ancient Egyptians made the arduous trek to Chad new research suggests" (2011-03-09, unreportedheritagenews.com) [archive.is/VpCwU]
---
* "The Great Sphinx of Giza" (2016-10-26, ancient.eu) [archive.is/daYJE] [begin excerpt]: The statue was never known as 'the sphinx' by the ancient Egyptians. The word 'sphinx' is Greek and came to be applied to the Egyptian sculpture at Giza, according to Verner (and others) through a translation of the Egyptian name shesep-ankh ("living image") by which the Egyptians referred to the piece as well as to other representations of royal figures. [...]
The 4th-century CE Coptic Christians called the statue Bel-hit (The Guardian), and this name is still used today. Egyptians of the present day do not refer to the statue as 'the Sphinx' unless they are discussing it with foreign tourists. The piece is known in Egyptian Arabic as Abu al-Hawl, 'The Father of Terror,' and has been claimed to be an idolatrous abomination by some extreme factions of Islam. [...]
Further evidence that the Sphinx was created after the pyramids comes from an inscription on the left paw of the statue dating to 166 CE. The inscription commemorates a restoration project by the Romans of the walls which surrounded the statue at that time. The inscription was first discovered in 1817 by Caviglia (1770-1845 CE) in his excavations at Giza and was translated and published by the English polymath and occasional rival of Champollion, Thomas Young (1773-1829 CE), in the Quarterly Review, Volume 19 of 1818 CE. Although this inscription does not verify any given date of construction it does suggest that, during the period of Roman Egypt, the statue was understood to be younger than the pyramids as it states how the creators of the monument "near the pyramids have bid thee stand" and how the purpose of the Sphinx was to watch over the "beloved prince" buried nearby (Leitch, 200). The inscription could be interpreted, however, to mean the Sphinx watches over the present monarch of Egypt in 166 CE - the Roman Emperor - and the earlier line merely a poetic way of saying the Sphinx was located near the pyramids at that time. The inscription can be read either way and, further, is missing some lines near the end. [...]
A more significant argument for the earlier construction of the monument is that, although archaeologists have found inscriptions and evidence relating to the construction of the pyramids of Giza in the 4th Dynasty, how the workers were housed, what they ate, how they were paid, there is never any mention of the Sphinx. This fact is especially significant when one considers how carefully the Egyptians documented building projects. Even if one were to claim - as some have - that such evidence simply has not yet come to light, it still seems odd that so large and obviously significant a structure would not be mentioned anywhere by anyone at the time it was supposedly built. [...]
Writers regularly repeat the absolute falsity that Napoleon's troops shot off the nose on their campaign to Egypt in 1798-1801 CE. The French artist Frederic Luis Norden's drawing of the Sphinx from 1737 CE shows the Sphinx's nose already destroyed and the draftsman Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825 CE) who accompanied Napoleon on his campaign shows the same. The nose could have been damaged in the Arab Invasion of the 7th century CE, as some have claimed, or by a Muslim cleric of the 14th century CE who was enraged at finding Egyptian peasants still venerating the statue as a deity. [end excerpt]
---
The confusion of providing artifacts with dating models beyond stratigraphy.
Artifacts and traditions attributed to the "Ancient Roman" Realm, or, to the aeon (c.0 AD to 365 AD) before the catastrophe and subsequent aeon of the "Dark Ages":
So that even during a time when "classic Egyptian" styles are prevalent, it is not recorded in the art of the time?
* "Noah’s Ark, Red Sea mosaic uncovered in ancient Galilee synagogue" (2016-08-05, dispatch.com) [archive.is/S7daW], photo caption: A mosaic discovered at the ancient synagogue at Huqoq shows a fish swallowing one of Pharaoh’s soldiers during the parting of the Red Sea.
The Pyramids are popular destinations during Ancient Roma for those seeking "immortality" after death. Yet no depictions of the Great Pyramids exist.
* "The Hidden Stories Behind Their Eyes: Unearthing the Secrets of Fayum Mummy Portraits" (2016-06-30, ancient-origins.net) [archive.is/hxhYo]
* "The million mummy question: Why are there a million mummies buried near Snefu's Seila pyramid?" (2010-06-09, heritage-key.com) [archive.is/6Z3zO] [begin excerpt]: Making this question more enticing is that this wasn’t just a local cemetery. People seem to have come some distance to be interned here. “It’s such a huge cemetery it’s hard to account for where all these people would have lived – the population centres around there don’t seem to substantiate that many burials,” said Professor Muhlestein. “Maybe these are people coming from a variety of communities, all around, being buried in this place. We’re not sure what would account for such a large number of burials.”
Could there be a connection to the pyramid? Despite the fact that it was built thousands of years before most of these people were buried? Muhlestein believes that it’s a real possibility – but one hard to prove unless textual evidence is found. [end excerpt]
* "Paupers and the pyramids: 400 'poor' burials unearthed near Giza" (2010-11-25, unreportedheritagenews.com) [archive.is/zGj6V], illustration [archive.is/HSMQZ] caption: The "Wall of the Crow" is depicted in this 1837 illustration by Richard Vyse.
* "Cemetery with one MILLION mummies unearthed in Egypt: 1,500-year-old desert necropolis is the largest ever found" (2014-12-17, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.fo/JeSR9]
Mummified body of a seven feet tall man also found folded into one grave [...]
It is thought that the mummies were buried around 1,500 years ago, between the 1st and 7th Century AD, when Egypt was controlled by the Roman and Byzantine Empire.
Unlike many famous mummified remains discovered in Egypt, these were found in mass graves and appear to be ordinary citizens rather than royalty or other important figures. [...]
Yet scientists are baffled about where the huge numbers of mummies came from - the remains of a nearby village is too small to warrant such a large cemetery and the nearest town, named Philadelphia after King Ptolemy II Phiadelphus, has its own burial sites.
Archaeologists have also uncovered a bizarre range of mummies, including one man who is more than seven feet (213 cm) tall.
They have also discovered that the mummies appear to be clustered together by hair colour, with those with blond hair in one area and all of those with red hair in another. [end excerpt]
* "Ancient 'Mad Libs' Papyri Contain Evil Spells of Sex and Subjugation" (2016-05-20, livescience.com) [is.gd/qA7zam] [begin excerpt]: Researchers date the two spells to the third century A.D., but the names of the ancient spell writers are unknown. The spells are written in Greek, a language widely used in Egypt at the time.
Archaeologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt discovered the spells in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, more than 100 years ago, among a haul of hundreds of thousands of papyri. Over the past century, scientists have gradually studied and translated the papyri. Many of them are now owned by the Egypt Exploration Society and are housed and studied at the University of Oxford in England.
Maltomini is part of a larger group of editors and contributors from multiple institutions who analyzed and translated the most recent batch of these magical texts, which will be published in an upcoming volume of "The Oxyrhynchus Papyri," a series a books devoted to publishing the papyri from Oxyrhynchus. [end excerpt]
- Photo [archive.is/JCjmY], caption: This papyrus includes a love spell that invokes several gods to "burn the heart" of a woman until she loves the person who cast the spell.
* "A flax merchant from Egypt! Owner of 4th century New Testament papyrus identified" (2011-01-02, unreportedheritagenews.com) [archive.is/c3zjp], photo [archive.is/APsRA] caption: This papyrus contains the first seven verses of Paul's Letter to the Romans. Beneath the scripture a different author has scribbled in random phrases. It has been suggested that this papyrus may have been a writing exercise. New research has identified the owner of this document - a man named Aurelius Leonides.
* The "Sphinx"
- "Memphis Sphinx":
- "Colchester sphinx", Roman sculpture found in Colchester [archive.is/bbSpY]:
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Artifacts and traditions attributed to the aeon after the "Ancient Roman" Realm:
Coptic, Slavonic, Greek, "Heinsohn Horizon"
[archive.is/H1gEC]
* "Scribbled by a community of nuns – Ancient Coptic graffiti adorns walls of 3,200 year-old Egyptian temple" (2011-04-21, unreportedheritagenews.com) [archive.is/yUg9D], photo showing temple [archive.is/FBy24].
* Christian icons overlaying ancient Egyptian fresco at the Djehutihotep tomb
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