The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids to inspire awe , but could they have have a go at it that they would also inspire amentia ? For millennia , person have gazed upon these edifice , seeing them not as they are , but as projection of their own beliefs . Here are ten of the unusual theories — no aliens command .
1) The Pyramids Were Built To Store Grain
Medieval Europeans believed the Great Pyramid were garner draw in the Old Testament . Egypt ’s pharaoh was disturbed by dreams in which seven skimpy cows pig seven fatty cows and seven withered ears of grain consumed seven healthy I . Joseph interpreted the dreams to mean that there would be seven years of copiousness in Egypt follow by seven years of shortage . He apprize pharaoh to start put in surplus cereal .
The description of the Great Pyramid as “ Joseph ’s Granaries ” stretches as far back as the sixth 100 , when they were identify as such by Gregory of Tours in his account of the Franks . The theory was further popularized by works such as The Book of John Mandeville , a hugely popular 14th century travelogue that at one pointnotes :
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 lay in the wheat for voiceless metre . They are made of well - hew out Edward Durell Stone . Two of them are amazingly large and improbable and the others are not so boastful . And each granary has an entranceway for going inside a little above the priming coat , for the country has been ravage and ruined since the garner were build .
Inside they are completely full of snakes ; and out of doors 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 within , nor would they have entryway for start inside , nor are tombs ever made of such a declamatory size and such a height — which is why it is not to be believed that they are tombs .
A depiction of the Egyptian pyramids as Joseph ’s granaries appears in a 12th - century photomosaic on one of the domes of St. Mark ’s Basilica in Venice ( see picture above ) .
2) Noah Built The Great Pyramid
In 1859 , a British publisher named John Taylor write his ownbook , The Great Pyramid : Why It Was make and Who Built It . Taylor had never seen the Pyramid of Giza , but , after studying its measurement — which had been compiled by Oxford astronomer John Greaves and the Gallic engineers who had accompanied Napoleon during his expedition in Egypt — he concluded that the massive social organisation was a repository for the “ godlike scheme ” of all numerical truths .
Taylor ’s detailed calculations included the observation that , if you separate the pyramid ’s height into twice the side of its groundwork , you cease up with a closemouthed idea of private eye . And , he argued that the social organisation was built using a unit of measurement of mensuration he called the “ Pyramid column inch , ” which was one twenty - twenty percent of the “ sacred cubit ” and nearly identical to the British inch . Taylor refer this as proof that the modern system of measurement was divinely inspired .
Taylor believed that Noah , not the Egyptians , was the dependable architect : “ He who built the Ark was , of all manpower , the most competent to direct the edifice of the Great Pyramid . ”
The parameter was not very convincing to the American Metrological Society , whichnotedin its annual proceeding :
There seems to be something border on the ludicrous in the ascription to a man posit as Noah was at that metre — a man just escaped from a catastrophe so frightful as the wipeout of the whole human raceway … to set about afresh the fight of life history amid the wreck of a ruined human beings a project so gaga , so almost doltishly imbecile , as that of heap up a big money of massive rock a million and a half cubic yards in volume .
3) The Great Pyramid Foretells The Date Of The Apocalypse
Inspired by John Taylor ’s writings , Charles Piazzi Smyth , the Astronomer Royal for Scotland , undertook his own studies . He conclude that there were even peachy divine truths encoded within the Great Pyramid than Taylor had realise .
Smyth ’s 664 - pagebook , Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid , published in 1864 , “ discover ” that Biblical prophecies had been embed in the computer architecture . When the passageways are measured in pyramid in , he argued , one could find a complete chronology of the Earth ’s history , both retiring and futurity .
Smyth claim , for representative , that the beginning of a sloping passage called the Grand Gallery marked the birth of Christ and—33 inches later — the Crucifixion ( the figure 33 corresponding to the year of Christ ’s death ) . Depending upon how one measure the complete duration of the Grand Gallery , it terminated at a distributor point between 1,881 and 1,911 pyramid inch . Smyth interpreted this to be the geological period of Great Tribulation preceding the Second Coming of Christ .
Smyth ’s computation contribute to the opinion among some Christians that the Apocalypse would come in 1881 . The idea was satirized in a January , 5 , 1881columnpublished in the New York Times :
The distinguished stargazer , as every one knows , has long since proved to his own satisfaction that the pyramid is a neat and handy collection of history and prophecy … In the great gallery of the Pyramids of Egypt , which , fit in to this theory , stand for the Christian dispensation , there are precisely eighteen hundred and eighty - one nick … hence if the pyramid is trustworthy and really knows its business , we have arrived at the last year of the earth . There are a Brobdingnagian issue of people who believe in this remarkable theory of the Great Pyramid , and they are one and all dead sure that the pyramid can not tell a lie and that the secret judgement of Piazzi Smyth when interpreting the pyramid is infallible .
These pyramidical Christians are , therefore , set themselves for the Last Day , and in slip they should take place to be let down and to be under the unpleasant necessity of making New Year ’s cry in the coke on the First of January 1882 , they will probably blaspheme the pyramid and lose all religion in man and gemstone .
4) Satan Built The Great Pyramid
Joseph T. “ Judge ” Rutherford , a loss leader of the early Jehovah ’s Witness movement , was determined to put an end to the “ Christian Pyramidology ” espoused by his forerunner , Charles Taze Russell .
Rutherford write a two - partarticle — appear in the November 15 and December 1 , 1928 editions of the Watch Tower — titled , “ The Altar in Egypt , ” wherein he declared :
It is certain that the pyramid of Gizeh was not build by Jehovah God ; nor was it work up at his command . It is more fair to conclude that the great Pyramids of Egypt of Gizeh , as well as the other pyramids thereabout , also the sphinx , were built by the rulers of Egypt and under the direction of Satan the Devil . Then Satan put his knowledge in beat stone , which may be called Satan ’s Bible , and not God ’s stone informant . In rear the pyramid , of course , Satan would put in some true statement , because that is his method acting of practicing fraud and deceit .
Satan is a wily Foe . He resorts to all manner of system to draw men away from Jehovah and his service of process . One of the most insidious schemes Satan has yet adopted to accomplish that intention has been and is the use of the pyramid of Gizeh . There are those who rely upon the pyramid who exact to be of Christ and his followers . We now wonder why we ever believed in or devoted any time to the survey of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh . Not only will we vacate such a study now , but we will postulate God to forgive us for wasting the time that we put in on it and redeem the clip by hurrying on to obey his commandments .
5) The Pyramids Were Originally Hills
An clause appearing in the October 12 , 1884editionof the Fort Wayne Journal - Gazette report on a scientific league held in Philadelphia , where a theme was represent that offered a unequalled hypothesis of how the pyramids were constructed :
The object of the paper was to establish the fact that pyramids were build up from the top downward … The theory is that the pyramids were isolate hills , used as stone pit from which stones were drawn for edifice , and hence the excavations . The Hill were , in the path of clip — under the management of contend railroad engineer — cut into Pyramid as they now look .
There are illustration where isolated hills are found , and the theory is not in that regard altogether unbelievable . That monarch conceived the idea to have the previous quarries cut in form so as to become monuments commemorate events is not at all improbable .
The idea may be the right one , and if set up will explain many things which have been tangible mystery to this day in wish to the monster structure know as the Egyptian Pyramids .
6) Atlantis Built The Pyramids
Ignatius Loyola Donnelly , a former Congressman from Minnesota , became haunt with the caption of Atlantis and , in 1882,publisheda popular “ history , ” titled Atlantis : The Antediluvian World . Among his theories , list in the first chapter of the book :
That there once existed in the Atlantic Ocean , opposite the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea , a large island , which was the remnant of an Atlantic continent , and known to the ancient world as Atlantis .
That the verbal description of this island given by Plato is not , as has been long supposed , fable , but bona fide history .
That Atlantis was the region where man first uprise from a state of barbarism to civilization .
That the implement of the “ Bronze Age ” of Europe were derived from Atlantis . The Atlanteans were also the first manufacturers of iron .
Donnelly argued that , at the altitude of their civilisation , the Atlanteans established settlement around the world — and that the oldest of these was probably in Egypt , “ whose refinement was a reproduction of that of the Atlantic island . ”
As grounds for his title that the Atlanteans had set up colonies around the universe , Donnelly pointed to the terrific similarity between the pyramids of Egypt and those of Mesoamerica . It ’s a theory that still hang on among “ true believer ” today . But , as archaeologist Kenneth Feder haspointed out , there ’s abundant evidence to the opposite :
The pyramids of the Old and New Worlds do not look the same . New World Great Pyramid are truncate with flat tops ( that is , their four faces are not triangle , they are trapezoid bone ) , while Egyptian pyramids are reliable geometrical pyramid ( four triangular faces bring together at a coarse apex ) . New World pyramid have stairs ascending their faces , Egyptian pyramid do not . New World pyramids served as platforms for temples ; Egyptian pyramid were burial chambers for dead Pharaoh of Egypt ( only a very few Mesoamerican pyramids contain burials ) . The construction method acting were dissimilar ; most Egyptian pyramid symbolise a single construction episode , whereas Mesoamerican Great Pyramid usually represent several construction episodes , one on top of another .
Finally , if Mesoamerican and Egyptian pyramid are speculate to have been derived from the same source ( Atlantis or elsewhere ) , they should date from the same ecumenical period . But Egyptian pyramids were built between about 5,000 and 4,000 years ago . Those in Mesoamerica are all less than 3,000 year former — and most are considerably young , dating to less than 1,500 year ago . Furthermore , the pyramids on both incline of the Atlantic appointment to well after the supposed wipeout of Atlantis some 11,600 yr ago .
Nonetheless , the survival of this myth was vividly revealed last year , when two German nationals , Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann , werearrested for vandalizingthe Great Pyramid of Giza :
Goerlitz and Erdmann notice their acts , and even went so far as to place exposure and videos of themselves vandalizing the archeological sites . However , they claimed their goal was a baronial one : to prove their “ alternative history ” confederacy possibility that the pyramids were not build up by ancient Egyptians .
The men are plain convinced the cartouche identify Khufu as the creator of the Great Pyramid at Giza is a fake , and they hoped to do an depth psychology on the pigment to prove they were not as old as the pyramids themselves . In substance , they claimed , pharaoh Khufu simply put his name on ( and took credit for ) Pyramids of Egypt that had been build thousands of yr originally by mass from the fabled urban center of Atlantis . They accuse mainstream archaeologists of covering up — or wilfully ignoring — evidence pointing to non - Egyptian origins of the pyramids .
7) Israel Is Plotting To Steal The Pyramids
Egyptian researcher Amir Gamal recently told Elaph newspaper that Israel has launcheda plotto falsify history to show the Jews progress the pyramids :
Gamal [ say ] Israel does not send its own Judaic archeological squad to Egypt because that would expose its plot . Instead , Israel sends missions to Egypt “ under the pretense of other nationalities ” while making sure the leaders of the extraneous - archeological missions are Jewish , he enunciate .
In addition to claiming the Jews reconstruct the pyramids , Gamal said Israel is plotting to prove that the Egyptian King Sheshonq I , the founder of the 22nd Dynasty in the middle of the 10th century BCE , was the Biblical King Shishak . Biblical business relationship say Shishak invaded Judah during King Rehoboam ’s reign and take hoarded wealth from the First Temple in Jerusalem . Gamal believe Israel is seeking to claim that Au and jewelry found at an ancient burial land site at Tanis in Egypt are part of Solomon ’s treasures .
This is not the first time the alleged role of the Jews in ancient Egyptian account has caused controversy in Egypt . Earlier this year , Egyptian journalist Ahmad al - Gamal call on Cairo to process Israel for the costs of the 10 baneful plagues chat on the Egyptians during the time of Moses . And , in 2003 , a prominent Egyptian legal scholar announced he was preparing a lawsuit against Jews around the human race over gold that was stolen during the exodus from Egypt .
8) Levitation Was Used To Build The Pyramids
Levitation appears as a common theme among fringe Great Pyramid theorists . The famed psychic Edgar Cayce — who believed the pyramids were built by a pool of Atlanteans , Egyptians and Caucasians from southwesterly Russia — lay claim the ancient used their extraordinary mental tycoon to hook the monumental block into place .
Andrew Collins , source of thebook , Gods of Eden : Egypt ’s fall back Legacy and the Genesis of Civilization , cite a 10th - century Arab historian who recorded a folk tarradiddle :
Inscribed magical papyri were inserted beneath the rock blocks used in the structure of the pyramids , before the latter were struck by an instrument of some sort , plausibly a rod or round . Somehow this induced them both to rise into the airwave and journey for a aloofness of “ a bowshot . ”
Collins concludes that :
By striking the stones , the Ancient Egyptians were able-bodied to set up some kind of free burning profound vibration that enabled the building blocks to defy gravity and move over the ground for a aloofness of around 86.5 metre , before they would have to be struck again to achieve the same consequence . After produce an initial thrust , they would have been able to take advantage of Newton ’s First Law of Motion . ”
Recent ( legitimate)researchinto the field of “ acoustic levitation ” has been seize upon as further evidence that the Egyptians — along with the builder of Stonehenge and the statues on Easter Island — had master this scientific discipline .
9) The Pyramids Align With The Constellation Of Orion
uranology played a role in the excogitation and twist of the pyramids . The great pyramid of Khufu , for example , contains four shafts aimed toward the peak in the sky . When it was built ( 2,500 BC ) , these shafts were aimed at the transportation system points of Thuban , Sirius , Kochab and Orion ’s Belt . seemingly , the putz serve to take the spirit of the dead pharaoh towards these cardinal principal . Thuban and Kochab were circumpolar “ Imperishable unity ” ( star topology that never pall ) , while Orion present the deity Osiris and Sirius his consort , Isis .
But Robert Bauval , in hisbookThe Orion Mystery , took Egyptian uranology a step further , claiming that that there is a correlation between the locating of the three largest pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex and the three stars that make Orion ’s Belt . However , that alignment would only be potential if the pyramids had been make 12,000 years ago .
The “ Orion correlational statistics hypothesis ” remains popular , though it ’s been debunk by two prominent astronomers .
Ed Krupp , the theater director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and a well - have a go at it expert in archaeoastronomynoted :
Readers of The Orion Mystery are express an ethereal photograph of Giza paired with a mental picture of Orion ’s Belt . There is something wrong with these figure of speech , however . The picture of the pyramids is orient with north at the bottom of the page . Hunter ’s Belt , on the other script , has north at the top . To make the pyramids meet the sky , you have to turn Egypt upside down . In fact , all of the book ’s maps of Egypt are print upside down , with south at the top .
Although an Hunter - enigma partizan might argue that the inversion is not really significant , or that the Egyptians deliberately upturned their configuration for arcane reasonableness known only to them , these rationalizations wo n’t wing .
And , accordingto Anthony Fairall , a prof of astronomy in Cape Town :
My own probe show that , while the line of the two out Great Pyramid is specify 38 degrees from due north , the angle of Orion ’s Belt to north in 10,500 BC is close on 50 academic degree ! Hardy an precise match .
Bauval ’s choice of 10,500 BC ( when Orion is farthest south in its precessional cycle ) also purportedly equip with the Milky Way aligning with the Nile . But the class of the Nile is variable , and we do not now know where it ran in 10,500 BC with any truth .
10) Pyramid Power!
The idea that the very anatomy of the Pyramids of Egypt ca-ca them capable of harnessing regenerative big businessman probably trace its origin to the first discoveries of the well - preserved mummy in Egypt . In the early 20th one C , Gallic researcher Andre Bovis tested the theory by work up a scale - down reproduction of the Great Pyramid and point bleak meat at bottom to see if it rot . Hearing of these experiments , Czech radio railroad engineer Karl Drbal built a composition board Pyramids of Egypt and arrogate that it had actually sharpened his razor blade . In 1959 , he was grant a commercial-grade patent for his Cheops Razor Blade Sharpener .
But , pyramid power ’s golden age was the 1970s . At the time , San Francisco - based author Bill Sievert wrylyobservedthat it was the gross pop phenomenon for the Jimmy Carter era . “ It ’s simple , it require no great commitment , and anyone who can yield a musical composition of cardboard can participate . ”
“ As has been the case so oft during the past 500 X , ” Sievert compose , “ Great Pyramid can still make fools of many learned mass . ”
pyramids
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