THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
There are over a hundred pyramids in Egypt. As far as I know, almost all are built on the west side of the Nile River because the sun sets in the west, representing death, and the pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs who ruled Egypt. Most of the pyramids are in various stages of ruin, many not being rediscovered until modern times.
By far the best-known, and best-preserved, are the three pyramids at Giza, built on a plateau which is actually now within the city of Cairo, which was not there in ancient times but was founded by the Fatimids in the year 969. When someone refers to "The Pyramids", it is almost inevitable that it is these three that are meant, and it is the Pyramids of Giza that we will focus on here.
From northeast to southwest, the three pyramids of Giza are that of Khufu, Khafre and, Menkaure. The three were kings of Egypt, in the early Old Kingdom and, in the order listed above, were father, son and, grandson. The earliest, that of Khufu, is the largest of the three pyramids, Khafre's is somewhat smaller, and Menkaure's is much smaller. These pyramids were completed by 2500 B.C.
This is the world-famous view of the Pyramids of Giza. The one in the distance is the largest, that of Khufu. The one in the middle, with some of the white limestone casing remaining at the top, is that of Khafre. The smallest, nearest the camera, is that of Menkaure. The three small pyramids in front of that are queens' pyramids:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giza_pyramid_complex#/media/File:Pyramids_of_the_Giza_Necropolis.jpg
There was once an elaborate complex around these three pyramids, with temples and boats put in pits around the pyramids. This may be so that the dead could "sail" into the afterlife. Statues of all three kings have been found in the pyramid complex. There was also once a stone wall around the entire complex, and a village to house the workers who built the pyramids, as well as extensive cemeteries for important figures and relatives of the three kings. The site of the "Valley Temple" is now buried beneath a nearby village.
As can be seen at the top of Khafre's Pyramid, all three were originally cased in white limestone that must have shone brilliantly in the sun. Some of this original casing also remains around the bottom of Khufu's Pyramid, although none on that of Menkaure. It is thought that this white limestone may have been pillaged when Cairo was being built.
The names of these three kings are often seen in their Greek form. More than two thousand years after these pyramids were built, Alexander would conquer Egypt and found his namesake city of Alexandria. When Alexander's empire broke up after his death, Egypt would be ruled by the dynasty known as the Ptolemies. They also ruled Israel, until control passed to another fragment of Alexander's empire, the Seleucids, against whom the Israelites would later launch the Maccabean Revolt. The Ptolemies are famous for being wrong in their model of the universe with the earth at the center, and everything else moving around it.
This was the era that produced the saga of Cleopatra, although all Ptolemaic queens actually took that name. Jews around a century or so before the time of Jesus had a thriving community in Alexandria. As they spoke Greek and began to forget Hebrew, they had the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek. Seventy scholars carefully did the translating, and this is why it was called the Septuagint and is the foundation of our modern Bible. These scholars added writings that had not been in the Hebrew Bible, such as stories of the Maccabean Revolt, which the Protestants later removed, and this is why there is a difference between the Protestant and Catholic Bibles today.
The Greek form of Khufu is Chepos, of Khafre is Cephren, and of Menkaure is Mycerinus. Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom, after the Pyramids of Giza were built but long before the time of Alexander, is also the Greek version of the earlier Egyptian name. Egypt itself is actually a Greek name. For that matter, Jesus is the Greek version of the name Joshua.
A LOOK AT THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
The "Great Pyramid" refers to that of Khufu (or Cheops). The building of this pyramid showed use of mathematical concepts that were not previously known to have existed that early, as the perimeter to height ratio of the Great Pyramid is almost exactly 2 pi. This is the Great Pyramid, the first of the three Giza pyramids to be built:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#/media/File:Kheops-Pyramid.jpg
This is the entrance to the inner passages and chambers of the pyramid. Medieval Moslems in the area are believed to have carved what is known as the "Robber's Tunnel":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#/media/File:Pyramid_of_Khufu_-_Entrance.jpg
Here is a diagram of the interior of the Great Pyramid. There is a Grand Gallery, and doors with handles, inside the pyramid. The pyramid is built over a small hillock, with one chamber led to by a passageway below ground level. Some believe that this underground chamber was originally intended to be the burial chamber, but then Khufu (Cheops) decided that he wanted to be buried higher up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#/media/File:Great_Pyramid_S-N_Diagram.svg
Khafre's (Cephren) pyramid is the one that retains some of the original white limestone casing at the top, and the one adjacent to the Sphinx. This pyramid may appear larger than the Great Pyramid because it is built on an elevation of about ten meters higher, and because it's height to base ratio is greater. But Khafre's Pyramid is somewhat smaller. In Khafre's Pyramid, the burial chamber was actually in the bedrock, and Khafre's associated temple complex survives in better condition than that of Khufu's:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Khafre#/media/File:Pyramid_of_Khafre_Giza_Egypt_in_2015_2.jpg
The Sphinx has been buried in sand, and then excavated, more than once since it was built. There is believed to have once been a temple at the paws of the Sphinx. The Sphinx is believed to be from the time of Khafre. The face of the Sphinx, with the body of a lion, may be that of Khafre. A few believe that the amount of water erosion evident on the Sphinx, the area was once wetter than it is today, indicates that the Sphinx is much older than the pyramids:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx#/media/File:Great_Sphinx_of_Giza_-_20080716a.jpg
The youngest of the three kings, the grandson of Khufu, was Menkaure (Mycerinus). His pyramid is far smaller than the other two, and retains none of the original white limestone casing. He may have died before the pyramid was completed, because it seems to be partially unfinished. In medieval times, nearby Moslems around the end of the Twelfth Century set about dismantling the pyramids, and began with this one. The damage can still be seen on one side of the pyramid:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Menkaure#/media/File:Giza_Plateau_-_Pyramid_of_Menkaure.JPG
Here is a look around the Pyramids of Giza. Remember that, if there is a compass showing on the right of the image, it is a 360 degree view, if not then it is a still photo. You can get more viewing space by clicking the arrow to "Hide Imagery". But if you click that on the first image, it seems that it may stop the following images from loading. You can pull the screen up or down or around with the mouse:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.977803,31.132831,3a,75y,20.03h,99.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.001396%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.977803,31.132831,3a,75y,20.03h,99.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4U0hWZMxXfdfGpfpw8_nVg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D88.001396%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656
We shouldn't be surprised that there are any number of theories about the real origin and meaning of the pyramids. One popular pyramid theory, that has been around for several decades, is the Orion Correlation Theory. The sides of all three of the Pyramids of Giza are aligned perfectly east-west and north-south. They are aligned by the stars, in other words true north, and not the north of a magnetic compass, which is not exactly the same thing.
But yet the three pyramids are not arranged, relative to one another, in a line with the compass directions. They are aligned from northeast to southwest. It has been pointed out that the spacing and alignment of the three pyramids matches that of the three stars of the belt of the constellation Orion, which is the most prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere winter sky. Ever since I learned the stars in my youth, I have noticed that when I first sight Orion in the late Autumn, it means that winter is not far away.
Orion is the constellation representing the hunter. The three stars are supposed to be the belt across his torso. The companion of Orion is his dog, the constellation Canis Major. The Latin Canis is where we get our word "canine". The point where the dog's neck joins the body is represented by the star Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky in apparent magnitude.
This is the constellation Orion, with other stars dimmed for clarity. The name is pronounced like O-Ryan. When I first learned about Orion, when I was eight years old, I mistakenly thought that it was pronounced in the same way as "onion". The top two stars represent the shoulders of the hunter. The two stars below the belt represent his knife:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#/media/File:Orion_3008_huge.jpg
I used to be a stargazer, when I was in my early teens. The earth faces in a different direction with each season, and one good thing about winter is that the winter stars were my favorites. Some of the best-known stars are in the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse, in the top left or the right shoulder of the hunter, is such a giant star that if it were put in place of the sun, it would extend out the around the orbit of Jupiter and the earth would be in the central region of the star. Rigel, the left foot of the hunter, is far away but is actually more then a hundred thousand times as bright as the sun.
About 70% of the stars in the sky have Arabic names. This is due to the extensive charts made of the sky during the early days of Islam. But you may notice that the brightest stars, such as these stars in Orion, do not have Arabic names. This is because these stars that stood out had meanings to, and were named by, the ancient people long before the dimmer stars were named.
The three stars forming the "belt" of Orion, from northwest to southeast, are Mintaka, Alnilam and, Alnitak. Other stars represent the blade of the "sword" hanging from Orion's "belt". Two of the stars have Greek names, Theta Orionis and Iona Orionis. The other, seen as a patch of light is actually the Orion Nebula.
It is well-known that the night sky was very important to the ancient Egyptians, there is abundant documentation of it online. They did not recognize Orion as the constellation of The Hunter, that was from much later Greek mythology, but it is the most prominent arrangement of stars in the winter sky. The belt of Orion points directly toward Sirius, which is the brightest star in the sky, in the order that the Pyramids of Giza were built. One of the shafts in the Pyramid of Khufu aligns directly with the direction to Sirius in the sky.
Indeed, the arrangements of the Pyramids of Giza do line up very well in terms of spacing and alignment with the stars of the belt of Orion. This Orion Correlation Theory also points out that the famed Sphinx with the Pyramids of Giza could represent the constellation of Leo, the lion, which is near Orion in the sky. Furthermore, the Nile River near the three pyramids could then represent the Milky Way, which is the dense band of stars across the sky looking along the plane of our galaxy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory#/media/File:Orion_-_pyramids.jpg
The Orion Correlation Theory, that the three Pyramids of Giza were arranged in alignment with the three stars of Orion's belt, makes a lot of sense. The spacing is perfect and we have to wonder why the three pyramids were not built in a straight line. The first two pyramids, those of Khufu and Khafre, have a line from the center to corner, as seen from above, a continuous line for both pyramids, but yet the location of the Pyramid of Menkaure is slightly offset from this line, just as the southeastern-most star of Orion's belt is offset from being a straight line.
THE FAULT OF THE ORION CORRELATION THEORY
The problem with the Orion Correlation Theory is that of compass direction. In the belt of Orion, the stars are aligned from northwest to southeast, with the southeastern-most star being offset to the north from a straight line. The directional alignment of the three pyramids is the opposite. The Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure are aligned from northeast to southwest, with the southwestern-most Pyramid of Menkaure being offset from a straight line to the south. It is as if the pyramids are actually some kind of reverse mirror image of the stars, rather than a direct image.
The Orion Correlation Theory was a popular concept of how these pyramids were arranged and makes so much sense, but yet it unfortunately just does not fit perfectly due to this mismatch in directional alignment.
THE UNDERGROUND ORION CORRELATION THEORY
I was reading about this theory when I noticed a simple solution that would make it fit perfectly. I looked extensively online and did not find that anyone else had thought of it. I am going to call my version of this theory "The Underground Orion Correlation Theory". I do give credit to the original theory, because without that I wouldn't have thought of this.
The concept of the "underworld" was very important to the ancient Egyptians. It was where they went to be judged after death. The sun, which was the God named Ra, passed through the underworld each night to rise on the opposite side of the sky the following morning. There is a detailed Wikipedia article about the Egyptian concept of the underworld, titled "Duat".
To the ancient Egyptians, west represented death because the sun set in the west each evening. This is why the pyramids, which are tombs, were built on the west side of the Nile River. It is thus logical that ancient Egyptians might be buried facing west, with their heads to the east.
Now, imagine being a deceased pharaoh buried, with his head to the east and facing west. Suppose that you look up from the underworld, and can see through the ground. You would see the three Pyramids of Giza, arranged exactly as the pharaoh would have seen the stars of the belt of Orion arranged, as seen from the earth's surface. Incredibly, the pyramids were arranged to match Orion, but were meant to be viewed from below.
We know that the Pyramid of Menkaure was the smallest of the three, and the last to be built, and the one that is offset from being a straight line with the other two. But now we see that it was offset to the south as it is so that it would appear as offset from a straight line in the same way as the southeastern-most star of Orion's belt, which is offset to the north, if it was viewed from below the ground looking upward.
If we keep trying to make the Orion Correlation Theory fit in terms of the compass directions, we will never arrive at the answer. Instead, see it in terms of left and right, up and down. With an ancient Egyptian buried below the complex, facing west, and looking up the three pyramids would appear just like the stars in Orion's belt including the offset.
The three pyramids become literally Orion's belt on earth with the associated temples and cemeteries around the pyramids filling out the rest of the constellation of Orion. This makes the Orion Correlation Theory fit perfectly, and it is the only way that it will fit perfectly.
Here again is the well-known image of how the spacing and alignment of the Pyramids of Giza fit perfectly with the arrangement of the three stars in Orion's belt. The trouble is that one of the two lines, either the stars or the pyramids, has to be inverted to make this image match. This is because the line of stars run from northwest to southeast, with the southeastern-most star (Alnitak) offset from a straight line to the north, while the line of pyramids runs from northeast to southwest, with the southwestern-most pyramid (Menkaure) offset from a straight line to the south. The arrangement of the pyramids in the following image are correct, seen from the north, but the stars have been rotated 180 degrees and then mirror-imaged north to south, to make it fit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory#/media/File:Orion_-_pyramids.jpg
Here is a satellite view of the three Pyramids of Giza, with southernmost Pyramid of Menkaure seen as offset slightly to the south. Press the down arrow to hide the other images, in order to see the Pyramid of Menkaure:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9760345,31.1327128,1263m/data=!3m1!1e3
Imagine looking at this arrangement from below, from under the ground, with your head facing west (left in the image). What you would see is the arrangement of the pyramids and the Sphinx that exactly matches the arrangement of the stars of the belt of Orion, as the deceased pharaoh remembered looking up at them when he was alive on the surface of the earth.
You can see the four bright stars as the two shoulders and two feet of Orion, the belt diagonally across the middle, with the southeastern-most star offset slightly to the north, and there we have our mystery of the alignment and offset of the three pyramids solved. Look closely at the lowest star in the belt, and you will see that it is offset slightly to the north, just as the Pyramid of Menkaure is offset slightly to the south:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#/media/File:Orion_3008_huge.jpg
This also reveals that the ancient Egyptians intended the pyramids not only as tombs, but also as representations of stars. Remember that the Pyramids of Giza were originally cased in white limestone that would have shone brilliantly in the sunlight. Some of this casing remains at the top of the Pyramid of Khafre. They didn't have structural glass or electric lighting, but this was as close as the ancient Egyptians could come to recreating a star.
Look at the telescopic image of the cluster of stars, not far in the sky from Orion, known as the Pleiades. Notice the horizontal and vertical lines emanating from the brightest stars. This is the "points" of the star, the optical illusion known as halation. Notice also how these vertical and horizontal lines resemble the vertices of a pyramid, emanating from the apex (peak) as seen from either above or below. The pyramids were the best that they could do to build copies of the stars that they wondered at in the night sky:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star#/media/File:Pleiades_large.jpg
THE SPHINX AND THE UNDERGROUND ORION CORRELATION THEORY
The Orion Correlation Theory only indirectly involves the Sphinx, which is clearly a very important part of the complex at Giza. The theory has the Sphinx as possibly representing the nearby constellation Leo, the lion.
Notice that the Sphinx is south of the line of the three pyramids, just as the "sword" of Orion is south of the belt, and the positioning is identical. Just as the similarity between the arrangement of the pyramids and of the stars of the belt are unmistakable, so is the position of the sword of Orion and the Sphinx.
But if the stars are a reverse mirror image of the pyramids, meant to be "viewed" from under the ground, we end up with the Sphinx being on the wrong side of the pyramids. The Sphinx is south and east of the line of the pyramids, but the sword is south and west of the line of the stars in Orion's belt. If "viewed from below ground, the Sphinx would appear to be "above" (north) of the line of the pyramids, rather than "below" (south) of it.
But consider Egypt at the time all of this was built. Egyptians were crowded around the Nile River, which was the source of life. All around was barren desert. The Sphinx is a lion that acts as a "guard" to the pyramid complex. People approached the complex from the east, the direction of the Nile. If the Sphinx had been built on the other side of the line of the pyramids, it would be further into the desert and would not have people passing it as they approached the pyramid complex from the direction of the Nile.
My conclusion is that the ancient Egyptians knew this, but built it not to be seen from below ground like the pyramids themselves, but to be seen by the people as the "guard" when approaching the pyramid complex. When we view it in this way, the Sphinx falls right into place as representative of the blade of Orion's sword, which are the two stars Theta Orionis and Iota Orionis and the Orion Nebula, even though it is on the "wrong" side of the line of the pyramids if viewed in the same way as the pyramids were meant to be viewed. Other than that, the positioning is identical.
#/media/File:Orion_3008_huge.jpg){kind=link}
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