THE GREAT PYRAMID AND THE BIBLE
CHAPTER 1
The Great Pyramid and the Universe
Throughout history, scholars have studied all that was available to them about the Great Pyramid. But not until our modern era has interest become so widespread and information so readily available that now, many thousands, perhaps millions, have studied this ancient wonder in one form or another.
Serious pyramid research may be said to have begun in 1765 with Nathanial Davison. Napoleon and his team of researchers led by Jomard and Coutelle followed in 1798. Colonel Howard Vyse conducted extensive research in the 1830s, followed by the English amateur astronomer and mathematician John Taylor in the 1850s. Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, Piazzi Smyth took careful measurements in the 1860s. Famed Egyptologist Professor William Flinders Petrie surveyed the area in the 1880s and Professor John Edgar and Morton Edgar, his brother, followed with their findings in the early l900s along with Adam Rutherford, David Davidson and Herbert Aldersmith.
From the discoveries of these and other investigators, the Great Pyramid's dimensions have been found to teach principles of mathematics, geography and astronomy.
Mathematics
The Pi Proportion
One of man's oldest mathematical quests has been to accurately determine the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. Mathematicians denote this ratio by the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, À ('pi'). This value, which we know today as 3.141592 +, was first accurately determined by Rudolph Van Ceulin in the sixteenth century. It is a ratio fundamental to the study of physical things, as it gives a mathematical link between straight and circular geometric figures. A proper ascertainment of this ratio is vital to mathematicians, astro-physicists, architects, and many others.
The pi ratio is one of the first mathematical features discovered in the Great Pyramid. In the 1850s John Taylor discovered that the original vertical height of the Great Pyramid was to its base perimeter as the radius of a circle is to its circumference. John Taylor noted that this pi proportion feature could only work with the unique Great Pyramid angle of 51° 51'. Thus no other pyramid contains this relationship.
According to both Smyth's and Petrie's measurements, the Great Pyramid demonstrates the pi proportion accurately to four decimal points. The significance of this demonstration is doubly impressive when one realizes that pi had not been worked out to this accuracy until the sixth century, more than 2700 years after the Great Pyramid's completion.
[The pi portion works with no other pyramid.]
[Twice the height x pi = circuit of base]
[When the radius of a circle equals the height of the Great Pyramid. then the circumference of that circle equals the pyramid's base circumference]
Geography
Orientation
Orientation, when applied to a building, means the direction of its sides with reference to the cardinal points of the compass. Orientation is an important part in the planning of almost every building, whether it be a solar home positioned to maximize sun exposure or an observatory set to get the best possible view of the heavens.
In the late 1800s, Piazzi Smyth took careful observations at the base of the Great Pyramid to test its orientation. He was astonished to find that the central meridian line north and south of the Great Pyramid deviates only 4' of arc from astronomical true north. Later Professor Flinders Petrie's observations confirmed those of Smyth. Petrie added that he felt the Pyramid builders accurately oriented the Great Pyramid to true north. From the data of his measurements, he says there is a strong indication that the north point itself has changed, probably by the moving of the earth's crust.
What Smyth's discovery actually revealed was that the builder of the Great Pyramid had a more accurate surveying mechanism that we thought possible of his ancient day.
Many architects and builders since have tried to orient their structures accurately to true north with little success. Even the casual observer will here notice that the architect's purpose for such a precise orientation in the Great Pyramid was to monumentalize his knowledge of the four cardinal points.
Geographical Position
The Great Pyramid is probably in a more important geographical position than any other building in the world. Piazzi Smyth recorded an important discovery by Mr. William Petrie, father of Flinders Petrie. William Petrie found that there is more earth and less sea in the Great Pyramid's meridian than in any other meridian on the earth. Therefore, the Great Pyramid's meridian is the natural zero meridian of the earth, much more suitable than that of Greenwich or Paris. Also, Smyth claimed that there is more land surface in the Great Pyramid's general parallel of 30° than in any other parallel on the earth. Additionally, the Great Pyramid's nether meridian, (the meridian continuous with it on the other side of the globe) is found to pass almost entirely through water, making it the most suitable international dateline.
Piazzi Smyth also wrote that Egypt is in the geographical center of the dry habitable land mass of the whole earth. He demonstrated this with his chart: 'Equal Surface Projection of the Earth's Sphere.' Smyth explained that the amount of land surface east of the Great Pyramid is equal to the amount of land surface west of the Great Pyramid. Further, the amount of land surface north of Egypt is equal to the amount of land surface south of Egypt.
Another incredible discovery relative to the Great Pyramid's position was found in its location at the geometric focus of the Nile Delta sector. Acting as a geodetic compass, the Great Pyramid encloses the entire Nile Delta region within its extended northeast and northwest diagonals, forming a perfect quadrant.
There is another interesting fact to note: The Great Pyramid sits between the two major regions of our earth. The land east of the Mediterranean is called the Orient, while the land west of that point is called the Occident. This is why the eastern Mediterranean area is called the 'Middle East.' It lies in the middle, between East and West.
Unit of Measure
Throughout history each nation or region adopted a set of measures to its own needs, producing a great variety of measuring schemes. Scientists had discussed for many years the need for a standard system of measurement to replace the variations that made scientific communication troublesome, but not until after the French Revolution in the 1790s did the discussion solidify into a forthright attempt to establish what is now called the metric system. One of the major distinctions of the metric system is that it uses the earth's measurement as the basis for a definition.
For the new unit of measure, the French Academy of Sciences decided it should be a one ten-millionth part of the length of the earth's quadrant passing through Paris. The French arrived at what is now called the meter, equalling 39.3 British inches.
Later, in the l9th century, Sir John F. W. Herschel noted that the French meter was deficient as a standard because it was determined from a curved meridian of the earth, which changes in length with each meridian around the globe. Herschel suggested that the only dependable basis for a standard unit of measure was the polar axis of the earth.
Herschel calculated that one ten-millionth the polar radius of the earth equalled a little over 25 British inches. He felt this was a more earth-commensurate unit of measure, since the polar radius of the earth never changes. Herschel's figuring was confirmed by orbiting satellites in the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 and was refined to 25.02614284 British inches.
In the mid 1800s John Taylor, a devoted student of the Great Pyramid, studied the measurements of the Great Pyramid and their relationship to one another. During his calculations he concluded that the ancient builders may have used a cubit of about 25 British inches in addition to the 'royal' cubit of 20.63 British inches. He was astonished to find that Sir Isaac Newton had earlier calculated the ancient Hebrew cubit, the sacred cubit, to be about 25 British inches. Piazzi Smyth suggested that the same cubit of 25.025 British inches was used in the construction of Noah's Ark, Moses' Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple and the Great Pyramid. Smyth then divided the sacred cubit into 25 parts which he called 'pyramid inches'; each pyramid inch equals 1.001 British inches.
The measurement of a single sacred cubit is found three places in the Great Pyramid.
A) The distance between the center of the boss on the Granite Leaf to the easternmost edge of the Granite Leaf.
B) The distance between the centermost line of the Queen's Chamber and the centerline of the niche.
C) The inclined distance from the beginning of the Grand Gallery to the beginning of the Well Shaft.
The 35th course of masonry on the exterior of the Great Pyramid displays the sacred cubit also. It is exactly two sacred cubits tall.
Astronomy
Distance to the Sun
William Petrie, father of Professor Flinders Petrie, was the first to discover how the Great Pyramid reveals the distance to the sun. William Petrie found that by climbing a corner of the Great Pyramid, for every ten feet he traveled toward its center, he rose a vertical nine feet. This suggested to him the factor of ten to the ninth power (10"). William Petrie found that the height of the Great Pyramid multiplied by 10" equalled the distance to the sun. Today, from the measurements taken by his son, Flinders Petrie, we can confirm his discovery.
The vertical height of the Great Pyramid from the mean socket level to the apex is 5807.05" +7 British inches, according to Flinders Petrie. This height, multiplied by the 10" factor, renders an earth-to-sun distance of 91,651,673 + 110,480 miles.
This distance, even with its plus or minus factor, falls nicely between the perihelion and aphelion of the earth, the closest and farthest distances of the earth's oblong orbit around the sun. The perihelion occurs in early January when the earth is 91,341,000 miles from the sun. The aphelion occurs in early July when the earth is 94,448,000 miles from the sun.
[Height x 10^9 = 91,651,673 miles]
Duration of Our Solar Year
The solar year is the length of time it takes our Earth to complete one revolution around the sun.
John Taylor was the first to suggest that the base length of the Great Pyramid measured as many sacred cubits as there are days in one solar year. By his persual of this suggestion he unwittingly began what in retrospect was probably the most bitter debate about the Great Pyramid.
John Taylor was hampered in his research by conflicting measurements of the base. The bases were heaped over with sand, so every time an explorer would measure the base, another level of masonry was covered or exposed by the shifting sands of the Giza Plateau.
Before his death, John Taylor was fortunate enough to keep his theories alive in the mind of the respected and earnest astronomer and mathematician, Piazzi Smyth. Taylor's theories were valid enough to convince Smyth to go to Egypt in 1864 and perform the most thorough measurements of the Great Pyramid up to his time.
While in Egypt Smyth confirmed much of what Taylor had theorized, including the base-year length measurement. Smyth claimed that the southside socket base length was 9140.18 British inches equalling 9131.05 pyramid inches or 365.242 sacred cubits, the exact number of days in our solar year. Thus the perimeter of 4 times this base side length is 36,524.2 pyramid inches which equals the number of days in one century.
[Base Side = 365. 242 Sacred Cubits
[Base Circuit = 36.524.2 Pyramid inches]
Smyth returned to Scotland with his measurements and theories. After presenting his thoughts in his books, he was scoffed at by his fellow mathematicians who could not admit that perhaps the ancients were more learned than they.
The next serious explorer to perform measurements on the Great Pyramid was Sir William Flinders Petrie, son of William Petrie. As a young boy, Flinders Petrie was intrigued by Piazzi Smyth's empirical doctrine. Petrie, a surveyor and archaeologist, decided to go to Egypt himself and see if these things were true. Petrie returned to Scotland and gained much praise for his refutation of Smyth's work.
In particular, Petrie claimed that the south-side base length measured 9069.5 British inches, much less than Smyth's 9140.18 British inches. Many academicians were perfectly content with Petrie's much desired refutation and sought no further explanation on the matter. However, the 70.68" difference between the two measurements was not due to error on the part of either surveyor. Both men were very accurate in their measurements but each had measured the length of a different base level. Smyth measured the socket base length reasoning it to be the foundation level of the Great Pyramid. Petrie measured the length of the casing base on the top of the 20" platform. Petrie found that the core masonry was at least four times more accurate in true square than were the socket corners, therefore he felt the sockets 'only show the size of the pyramid, where it was started.' Petrie stated that the true base of the Great Pyramid is defined by the lowest level of casing which rests upon the platform. Later on in the same book, Petrie calmly confirmed Smyth's socket base length in a footnote. Petrie's measure showed Smyth accurate to within 0.18".
[Petrie measured the platform level. Smyth measured the socket level.]
Much argument filled the corridors of the scientific community following Petrie's assertions. However, the basic facts still remain: Petrie's base measures were at the platform level, while Smyth's were at the socket level.
The scientific theories about the Great Pyramid were further developed and much of Smyth's doctrine was vindicated by pyramid investigators such as John and Morton Edgar, Adam Rutherford, David Davidson and Herbert Aldersmith. Discoveries made by these and other Great Pyramid explorers have uncovered an enormous amount of scientific data hermetically detailed in the measures and proportions of this ancient wonder. So many facts and figures of our earth and universe are displayed by this modern mystery that it evokes serious doubt that uninspired man could have originated the blueprints for the Great Pyramid.